Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
Grandma Joy’s Words of Wisdom:
‘When all else fails, a cup of tea and a quick nap can do wonders.’
Cara Collins ~ I thought I’d share my version of a popular Christmas Carol with my loyal Facebook friends. Here goes, sing along everyone: “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere I go ... the house is a bloody mess, kid spilled milk on my favourite dress ... no parking spots and stressed-out mums galoorrrre...
After getting to drink only half of her takeaway coffee (thanks to it being knocked out of her hand by her darling toddler), Cara realised what a mistake it was to bring Toby shopping. Armed with some money from her art sales, her search for a dress to wear to the New Year’s Eve ball had so far yielded no results, not for lack of suitable garments, but for the sheer difficulty of trying them on with a cheeky almost-three-year-old in tow. She should have realised the day was doomed when Toby wandered into her bedroom in the morning and dropped his rice milk on the clothes she’d laid out on her bed.
‘Toby, come back here!’ Cara peered out from behind the curtain of the fitting room in ‘Classique Formal Wear’. Toby had escaped the cubicle with Cara’s clothes, giggling and ducking in and out between the racks of clothing. The shop assistant, whose black hair appeared glued in place, and whose face resembled a cross between Morticia from The Addams Family and he-who-must-not-be-named from Harry Potter , tried to coax him back into the change room with a small pat on the back, which only made him run further away.
Cara tried ‘The Look’; that inherent motherly glare that lets a child know he’s being naughty, but only caught the attention of another woman suddenly entering the fitting room area who dropped her clothes in shock on coming across Cara’s scary face. There was no other option but to go after him.
Cara gathered the length of the dress she had put on, and tried to inconspicuously duck out into the store in the hope of catching Toby, while musing that she might need to hang him up by his t-shirt from a clothing hook until she finished appraising her choice of dresses. Instead, he hid under a rack of long dresses, right at the front of the shop. Just great! Cara got down on the floor, the too-loose strapless gown revealing God knows how much flesh, and slid him out by his feet. She could really have done with Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak, although it would have been a rather creepy sight watching a child moving backwards by himself along the floor. Months ago, she’d have simply bribed him out with chocolate, but with his newly discovered allergies, a delicious rice cake with tahini spread on it wasn’t nearly as enticing as a chocolate Freddo Frog.
Cara picked up her clothes with one arm, her son with the other, using him to hold the gown in place, and trudged back to the fitting room. They passed the mortified Morticia/Voldemort, and the stunned woman who appeared to have turned to stone from ‘The Look’, then closed off the outside stares with a swish of the curtain.
Cara pointed her finger accusingly at her son. ‘Toby Collins, if you ever run off like that again...’ she struggled to think of a consequence, ‘...um, well, what will happen is...’ Please, brain, give me an idea! What can I say when ‘no chocolate for a month’ is off the list of disciplinary actions for the rest of your son’s life? ‘...Santa won’t bring you any toys!’ She planted her hands on her hips. There. That should do it. Thank goodness it was December. She now had to resort to seasonal disciplinary actions, and would have to come up with something else for the other eleven months of the year.
Toby burst into tears. ‘Waaa! .... but ... Santa must come ... waaa! I’m good, I’m good .... pwease!’
Oh geez. ‘Well, if you promise to stay with me at all times while we’re shopping, and not run off with Mummy’s clothes again, then Santa will still bring you toys.’ Damn. She was as soft as a marshmallow.
Toby nodded, his adorable eyes melting Cara’s heart. How was it, that a child could be an absolute monster one minute and an angel the next?
The search for a dress would have to resume another day. Cara was resigned to spending the rest of the afternoon pushing Toby in a hired kiddy-car so she could buy various bits and pieces for Christmas. She grabbed two chocolate Advent calendars for Jacob and Lily, and searched aisle after aisle, shop after shop, for a non-chocolate Advent calendar for Toby. Eventually, she found one with a different sticker for each day of December. Hopefully, he wouldn’t try to eat them. Then, she felt guilty and thought she should have got sticker ones for all the kids so that Toby wouldn’t feel left out, but decided against the hassle of going back to replace the chocolate ones.
After buckling Toby into the car and putting away the shopping bags, Cara noticed her phone had a message from Pete, two hours ago. She hadn’t heard it ring, somewhere in between the escapee child incident and trying to stop Toby decorating her hair with tinsel as she bought Christmas items.
‘Hi, it’s me – I’ve been in an accident at work, I’m okay, but it was a close call. I’m leaving early, on my way home now ... hope you get home soon – love you.’
Cara gasped. An accident? What sort of accident? Cara cursed herself for not checking the phone earlier. She texted to say she was on her way, revved the engine, did the school pick up in record time, and burst through the door into Pete’s arms twenty-five minutes later.
‘My God, what happened, why are you wearing this neck thing?’ asked Cara.
‘It’s nothing, just a bit of whiplash. Hi, kids.’ Pete bent down awkwardly, his head kept rigid by the brace, welcoming the children with a hug.
‘Daddy looks weird,’ Jacob said, poking the brace.
‘Careful, sweetie, Daddy has a sore neck.’ Cara ushered the kids into the living room, put on a show, and returned to the kitchen in a flash.
‘Tell me everything.’ Cara gestured for Pete to sit down.
‘We were responding to a call out, driving along the highway, when a plumber’s Ute pulls in front of us, the driver’s music blaring even through the noise of the siren. We tried to slow down, but the driver must have then noticed us behind him, so he slowed quickly, but we couldn’t veer to the side in time and we crashed into his Ute. There were pipes and things sticking out the back, and they speared right through our front window. If I hadn’t forced my head to the side, they would have...’ Pete dropped his head, and Cara didn’t want to imagine what would have happened.
‘Oh, honey.’ Cara sat on her husband’s lap, cradling his face in her hands.
His eyes glistened. ‘When I realised what could have happened, all I wanted to do was come home and see you and the kids.’
She rested her forehead against his. ‘And there I was, looking for a silly dress for the ball, which I didn’t end up getting anyway, when you were going through that! I’m sorry I didn’t get your message earlier, and I’m sorry I’ve been so focused on myself lately. All that matters is you’re okay, and the kids are healthy. I’m not going to let anything get in the way of that.’ Cara pressed her lips to his.
‘There’s no need to feel guilty.’ Pete ran a finger through one of Cara’s curls, frizzy from the sprinkle of rain that began an hour ago. ‘You should spend time focusing on yourself, and you should go and buy a silly dress. Life’s too short not to enjoy it.’ He stood. ‘You know what? We need to have more fun. We need to enjoy our lives while we have them.’ Excitement brightened his eyes. ‘I’m taking tomorrow off, and we’re going to have a great day! You’re going back to the shops to buy whichever dress you want, while I stay with Toby. Then, we’ll take the kids somewhere for dinner, and go for a drive; show the kids all the Christmas lights around town. What do you say?’
Cara’s heart warmed at her husband’s new enthusiasm for life. ‘We could always go to Hooters.’ She smiled, remembering the budget anniversary dinner they’d had during their Easter holiday.
‘Hang on, don’t they have women who parade around in their underwear on roller skates?’ Pete winked. ‘Nah, seriously, there’s that new place on George Street that’s family-friendly, and has gluten free meals that Toby can eat.’
‘But, do they also have dairy free and soy free meals?’ asked Cara.
‘Only one way to find out.’ Pete grabbed the flyer from the fridge and called them. A minute later a table for five was booked for the following night, Toby’s needs assured to be catered for.
‘Mum, Jacob’s eating the chocolate from the Advent calendar,’ Lily said, entering the kitchen.
‘Well, today is the first of December, so you can both open the first window and eat the chocolate inside.’
‘But he’s already up to the ninth of December.’
Cara rolled her eyes and stomped out to the living room. She plucked the calendar from his sticky hands. ‘Jacob, you’re only supposed to have one each day! Now you’ll have to wait until the tenth of December to have another. And, don’t eat them in front of Toby, okay?’ Cara stomped back into the kitchen and hid the calendar on top of the fridge. ‘Geez, you buy things for your kids and they’re practically demolished in sixty seconds!’
Pete grasped her arm. ‘Honey, it doesn’t matter, really.’ He smiled and touched her cheek .
She softened. ‘You’re right. I always get so worked up about little things, but in the end, it doesn’t matter, does it?’
‘This is all that matters.’ Pete pulled her close and bent his knees to kiss her, keeping his head straight, while Cara rose up on her toes.
‘Ewww!’ said Lily, then rifled through the shopping bags in search of other Christmas treasures.
The next day, Cara floated back into the house a new woman. Three hours spent alone, wandering around the shops at leisure was equivalent to a therapy session. Maybe psychiatrists would have to start changing their prescriptions: ‘Mrs Collins, please go shopping on your own for three hours and call me in the morning.’ Cara had giggled as she spotted other mothers trying to juggle kids, prams, and shopping bags. Part of her wanted to go help them, but the rational part told her to turn away and continue browsing, a latte in her hand. Times like that were precious; it would be insane to disturb the bliss.
After wandering past several shops, albeit quickly past ‘Classique Formal Wear’ and the condemning glare of Morticia/Voldemort, Cara entered the ‘Emporium of Elegance’; a clothing store with its own doorman, just like City Health and Fitness, who looked ready to scan every customer with a metal detector. There’s no way she would have come in here with Toby.
And then she saw it. The perfect dress.
As though gravity had turned horizontal in the direction of the gorgeous creation, she was drawn towards it. A petite royal blue gown with an embellished shoulder strap running diagonally across the front, the full-length fabric fanning out from the waist. Without looking at the price tag, Cara carried the dress into the luxurious dressing room and stepped into it. As though made for her, it was a perfect fit, and as she turned side to side, admiring the radiant vision in the mirror, a tear escaped her eye. The only other time she’d felt like this was on her wedding day, and now, after years of jeans, tank tops, and comfortable shoes, she was instantly transformed into a beautiful woman.
Biting her lip at the price, she bought it and went straight home. She parked the car in the garage and eyed the large canvas painting she’d recently finished, resting against the wall. The cost of the dress could be counteracted if she managed to sell the artwork she’d titled ‘Cityscape,’ but she wasn’t sure if anyone would want it, or be prepared to pay a decent price for it.
‘Aren’t you going to show me your dress?’ asked Pete, as Cara smiled and walked straight past him through the kitchen, where he was making a mess with jars and bottles and saucepans.
‘Nope. You can wait until the ball, and no peeking, okay?’
‘Okay.’ He pouted. ‘Can you at least tell me what colour it is?’
‘Blue. And that’s all I’m saying.’ Cara stored the dress safely in her side of the wardrobe, covered by a protective slip, and walked back to Pete. She pulled him to her level and planted a big kiss on his lips.
‘Ooh, I’ll have to send you out shopping more often!’ He smiled, then popped a spoonful of something into her mouth. ‘What do you think? Nice, huh?’
Cara licked her lips. ‘Is this… ’
‘White sauce, yes.’
‘It tastes just like the normal one. Is it really free of all the nasties for Toby?’
‘Sure is! I finally perfected it. Took almost as many tries as Edison did to make the light bulb, but it was worth it.’ Pete held up a bottle. ‘Think I might even bottle it up and sell it. There’s gotta be other people out there who would want it, I mean, Toby’s not the only person in the world with allergies.’
‘Hmmm, ‘Pete’s White Sauce’,’ proposed Cara.
‘Well, maybe something more exciting, like White Delight , but that can be the working name. And look, I’ve tested it with different types of food. It goes well with chicken, salmon, and tuna.’ He popped another couple of spoonfuls into Cara’s mouth. ‘It can also be used as a sauce for a potato bake.’
‘It really is great, Pete, you’re such a better cook than me.’
‘Nah, it just takes practise. Like learning CPR.’
‘So how do you go about selling it?’
‘I’ll talk to my parents, they sell a few products in their restaurant so they should be able to tell me where to start, although the process is probably different in Australia. Who knows, this could be the start of something big!’
The Collins family enjoyed a meal out together that night, followed by a drive around town, spying on the Christmas tree lights emanating from other people’s homes. Although some homes were yet to join in the festive ambience, many had lights visible through their curtains, and some had gone all out; rooftop decorations of sleighs and reindeer, and fairy lights in trees on their front lawn.
‘Look! That is the beautifulest one I’ve seen,’ Lily kept saying, until she’d see the next one and say the same thing .
‘How many have we seen so far?’ Cara turned to ask the kids.
Jacob tried to count with his fingers, but Lily beat him to it. ‘Seventeen! Well, seventeen and a half if you count the wreath on that house back there.’
Toby swung his legs back and forth in the car seat, happily chewing on a rice cracker. ‘Santa!’ He pointed to an inflated Santa attached to the chimney of someone’s roof.
‘Mum, how does Santa deliver all the toys in one night? It’s mathematically impossible,’ asked Lily, who seemed to have jumped a few years ahead in age since her eighth birthday.
Cara and Pete exchanged glances. ‘Umm, it’s all magic, sweetie.’
‘Oh, okay.’ Lily seemed satisfied, but Cara looked knowingly at Pete, realising in the next year or two they’d have to reveal the big lie, unless Lily discovered it herself somehow. She was good at finding out the truth about everything.
‘Mum, I’d really like a little sister. Are you going to have another baby soon?’
Damn. Trust Lily to bring up the topic they still hadn’t fully resolved.