A Gansett Island Christmas #2
As if he could read his father’s thoughts, baby Mac patted his daddy’s face with a chubby hand.
Mac nibbled on the baby’s fist and got the deep belly laugh he loved so much. He went to enormous lengths to make his son laugh as frequently as possible just so he could hear that joyful sound.
“Are you trying to remind me to count my blessings, buddy?”
“Is he answering you?” Maddie asked.
“We have our own language, don’t we, pal?” Mac asked the baby, who looked at him like he was crazy. “We don’t understand why people are so excited about a white Christmas that ruins everyone’s plans.”
“You’ll survive one Christmas without your mommy.”
“I don’t know if I will,” Mac said, sitting on the bed.
“You’re a grown up now, Mac. You have your own family. If we have to spend the holiday just the five of us, then so be it.”
“Why do you have to be so mean to me?”
Maddie laughed, rolled her eyes at him and reached for baby Mac, bringing him to her breast to feed him.
Mac loved to watch her feed their babies. She was an amazing mother and wife, and he felt lucky every day to be taking this journey with her.
“Why don’t you go back to sleep for a while?” she asked.
“I’m awake now. That ship has sailed.”
“It’s gonna be a long-ass day around here.”
“Yep, and no grandparents to help. It’s us versus them.”
“And there’re more of them than there are of us.”
“Whose big idea was it to let them outnumber us?”
Maddie laughed and shook her head. “Not the best idea we ever had.”
“I don’t know about that.” Mac smoothed his fingertip over the baby’s foot. “This guy may turn out to be the best idea we ever had. How can we go wrong with another Mac McCarthy?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?”
“Come on, admit it. The world needs more Mac McCarthys.”
“You’re delusional.”
Mac laughed. “You love me.”
“For some reason, I really do.”
“Will you take good care of me today, so I don’t miss my mom too much?”
“Don’t I take good care of you every day?”
“I’ll need extra care today, especially at nap time.”
“I see where this is going. You do realize that’s how we ended up outnumbered around here, don’t you?”
Mac nuzzled her neck and then kissed her. “It was so, so worth it.”
Big Mac McCarthy stood at the big sliding doors that looked out over the deck and the Salt Pond below.
Through the driving snow, he could just barely make out the marina that was boarded up for the off-season, and the hotel that was closed for the holiday.
They had some bookings coming in later in the week, but for now, all was quiet in their waterfront fiefdom.
He drank from his mug of coffee and tried to shake off the morose mood that had descended upon him since waking to the raging blizzard that would keep the kids from coming home for the day. That was particularly vexing since all of them were close by, but the snow would leave them stranded.
Usually Big Mac loved snow. Today, not so much.
The thought of Christmas without his kids and grandkids made him sad and put a serious damper on his holiday spirit.
“Ugh,” Linda said when she joined him downstairs and took a look at the weather. “What the heck am I going to do with all the food I bought for today?”
The lights flickered.
They held their breath while they waited to see if the power would go out.
It didn’t, not yet anyway.
“Please tell me we have gas for the generator,” she said.
“All set.”
“I suppose we can postpone Christmas dinner to tomorrow or the next day.”
Storms tended to settle in over Gansett Island, lasting for days sometimes.
“Won’t be the same without the kids underfoot.
” He still missed having little ones at home on Christmas morning.
They’d grown up shockingly fast, and Christmas wasn’t the same without them waking up at the crack of dawn to see what Santa had brought.
Those had been the best years, but these years, with their kids settled into happy relationships and five grandchildren—and counting—to spoil were pretty great, too.
On days like today, his mind wandered back in time to when he and his brothers, Frank and Kevin, still lived at home with their parents.
His folks had been gone a long time now, but holidays always brought back fond memories of precious time with family.
The phone rang and Linda went to grab it. He heard her talking to his best buddy, Ned, about the weather.
“We’ll miss you guys today,” she said. “You, too. Here he is.” She handed the phone to Big Mac.
“Hey,” he said. “Merry Christmas.”
“Ya don’t sound too merry.”
“Not gonna get to see my kids today. Bums me out.”
“I hear ya. Not a holiday without the little ones.”
“What’re you guys doing?” Big Mac asked.
“Same as you. Poutin’ about not gettin’ ta see our babies.”
“Damn snow.”
“Thought ya loved it?”
“I do til it messes with my plans.”
Ned laughed and then went silent for a few seconds. “What if…”
“What?”
“Nothin. Just an idea I had.”
“What idea is that?”
“Let me think on it a little more, and I’ll let ya know if I can make it happen,” Ned said.
“What’re you talking about, old man?”
“Gotta run. I’ll call ya back later.”
The line went dead, and Big Mac stared at the phone. “What the heck?”
“What’s Ned up to?” Linda asked as she made a pot of coffee.
“Hell if I know. He’s up to something, though.”
Linda’s cell phone made a sound he hadn’t heard before. She picked it up to check it. “It’s an alert from Blaine,” she said of the Gansett Island police chief. “Asking people to stay off the roads today.”
Big Mac sighed. If the police were asking people to stay home, that meant the roads were bad.
Then the lights flickered again, and this time the power went out.
“Christmas is doomed.”
“Don’t be silly,” Linda said. “We have each other, a fridge full of good food and a generator. We’ll be fine.”
They would be fine, but the holiday wouldn’t be the same without the kids.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Francine asked, following Ned to the mudroom where he donned his heaviest parka and pushed his feet into boots.
“I gots an idea.”
“What kind of idea?”
He kissed her cheek. “The kind that’s gonna save Christmas.”
“You’re not going out in this.”
“I ain’t goin’ far, so don’t worry.”
“Ned, seriously, it’s a blizzard. You have no business being out there.”
“This ain’t nothing. I been out in much worse over the years.”
“That was before you had a wife at home who will worry about you.”
That gave him pause. Until the last couple of years, he’d never had anyone at home to worry about him.
Now he had his dream girl, and knowing she would worry made him question the sanity of this mission.
But then he thought about how depressed Big Mac had sounded.
It had reminded Ned of how his best friend had been after he suffered a head injury a few years back.
Ned couldn’t bear to hear him so down, and if there was something he could do to fix it for everyone, then that’s what he’d do.
“Ned…”
“I’ll be back before you miss me,” he said. “Promise.”
“What’ll I do if you don’t come back?”
“Call Blaine. But that won’t be necessary. I’ll be back.”
She sighed. “You’re a crazy old fool.”
“Ya knew that when ya married me.” He kissed her again. “Pack up yer stuff to go to Linda’s.”
“We’re not going to Linda’s. We’re staying home like our son-in-law the police chief told us to.”
“We’re going to Linda’s. Get yerself ready and pack us a bag just in case we get stuck there. I’ll be back to getcha soon.” This idea got better with every passing minute.
“Ned—”
“Get ready,” he called over his shoulder as he went out into the howling wind and snow to fire up the woody station wagon he used as a cab.
After pulling out of his driveway, he discovered the roads were bad.
Worse than bad, in fact. But he knew this island better than anyone and took it nice and slow.
He made his way past the Southeast Light, which was barely visible through the snow.
Ned wondered if Slim and Erin had made it back to the island ahead of the storm or if they’d hunkered down in Florida to wait it out. Big Mac would know. He kept tabs on their pilot friend Slim.
He crept along at five miles an hour, the station wagon fishtailing here and there. Francine might’ve been right about this being a fool’s errand, but if he could pull it off…
He went by the entrance to Martinez Lawn and Garden. Alex and Paul were no doubt hunkered down with their families, their houses walkable to each other even in the blizzard.
Half an hour after he left home, what should’ve been a five-minute ride landed Ned at the home of Gansett Island Town Councilman Royal Atkinson. Ned parked the car but left it running as he dashed through the snow to ring the doorbell.
The rotund councilman pulled open the door. “Ned? What the heck are you doing out in this?”
“I need a favor.”
Adam McCarthy woke up cold and realized the power had gone out while he and Abby were sleeping. “Crap.”
“What?” Abby asked, her voice sleepy and sexy.
He curled up to her. “We’re going to have to share body heat. We lost power.”
“I love sharing body heat with you.”
“We’ll have no choice but to stay in bed all day so we don’t freeze.”
She laughed at his shameless ploy. “There are worse ways to spend Christmas than snuggled up to you in bed.”
“Far worse ways.”
“It won’t be the same without naked boy, naked girl,” Abby said, referring to last Christmas when Adam’s nephew Thomas and his cousin Ashleigh had coined a new term when they ran through the family gathering completely naked.
“We can play naked boy, naked girl all by ourselves. It’s my favorite game.” He worked his hand under her T-shirt.
She screamed. “Adam! Your hand is freezing!”
“Warm me up.”
She shivered. “It’s too cold.”
“I’ll go downstairs, build a fire and then come back for you.”
“Hurry. I’ll freeze without you.”
“I’ll be quick.” He got out of bed and grimaced at the smack of cold air that greeted him. “Damn, this house gets cold quick.”