Angels of Christmas Ch. 02

"My vehicle is an SUV, and I thought it might not be easy to climb into, Aunt Clarissa." Teresa said. "Heck, I have enough trouble climbing up into it."

"That's very thoughtful of you, my dear." Clarissa said.

As they pulled out onto the road and traveled south-by-southeast towards the Northwest corner of Town, Clarissa said "Our rooms are at the University Hotel."

"I canceled those reservations." Teresa said. "Todd's company, BOW Enterprises, has a condo in the building next door, called Tower Condos. No reason for you to spend money on a hotel room when the two-bedroom apartment is a lot nicer."

"That's also very thoughtful of you, my dear." said Clarissa. "But I don't want to trouble you in any way."

"Oh, it's no trouble." Teresa said. "I was going to have you stay at my house, which has a fully handicapped-accessible bedroom and bathroom. And then I realized that the girls might be annoyed with three young boys running around."

"I'm sure they're delightful." Clarissa said politely. She obviously had not met little Jack Burke yet, Teresa thought to herself.

"After we get you settled in," Teresa said, "we'll go to Don's home for lunch. His home is next to mine, and it's called 'The Cabin'. Don's mother has come to Town and will be staying there, and she asked me to bring you to her there. She said she's known you for years, Aunt Clarissa, but never really said how you met. And you never mentioned having met her, either."

"Oh!" Clarissa said, not having expected that. "Yezzz, Mrs. Troy and I met many, many years ago. I didn't even think of it when you first came to visit, and only after the Iron Crowbar visited with you did I even realize that the 'Troy' name might not be just a coincidence."

"How did you meet Mrs. Troy? Did you meet her husband, too?" asked Teresa.

"Oh yes, both our husbands were alive and well and just starting out in life at the time." Clarissa said. "But we can talk about that later. Tell me more about this lovely Town..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Oh, those are lovely roses and carnations!" Callie Carrington said as she came into Laura's office and saw the bouquet that had just arrived. "From Don?"

"Yes." said Laura, but not happily. "But the card only says 'I love you'. No apology on it."

"You were expecting an apology?" Callie asked. "Did y'all have a fight?"

"We were on the edge of one." Laura replied. "Carole didn't mind her manners again, then lied about it. She's never lied before, that I know of. But Don won't let me punish her, and he and I are not seeing eye-to-eye on this. So he sent flowers, like I expected he would, but he didn't apologize."

Callie chose discretion as the better part of valor, and did not ask if Don had said or done anything for which an apology was necessary...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Oh, what a lovely home." Clarissa said as she stepped into The Cabin, followed by Beatrice, Eugenia, and Teresa.

'Thank you." I said as I closed the door behind them. "I believe you know my mother Phyllis."

"Yes." Clarissa said as she hugged my mother. "It's wonderful to see you again, Phyllis. My, you look as young as your son."

"You're way too kind." Phyllis said. "It's good to see you again, too. And these are your nieces?"

"Yes." said Clarissa. "Beatrice and Eugenia. Girls, this is my friend Phyllis Troy. She also happens to be the Iron Crowbar's mother." Beatrice and Genia politely said hello.

"Unfortunately, my wife had to attend a meeting with other University Faculty." I said. "But let me introduce you to everyone else." We went into the greatroom, the back part of The Cabin, where several adults and 'older kids' were waiting.

"This is Deputy Chief Tanya Muscone." I said. Tanya was in her uniform, as was I; we were still on duty, but our duty station was her for the moment. It's good to be Police Commanders, I thought to myself.

"Please, call me Tanya." said Tanya as she shook Clarissa's hand.

"Thank you, Tanya, and you call me Clarissa." said Clarissa. "I've heard so much about you." She sat down at the end of the sofa, the side part that faced the back wall, and said "I use a wheelchair at home when I get tired, and I get tired all too easily these days. And I daresay I can give you a run for your money in a wheelchair race."

As everyone chuckled, Tanya said "You're on! Let me introduce my stepdaughters. This is Tiffany, she's 13, and Jennifer is 11."

"Girls, come over here." Clarissa said to her nieces after saying hello. When they came over, Clarissa said "Beatrice is 16, almost 17, and Genia is 14." All the girls said polite hellos.

Teresa said "Why don't you girls help me with the placesettings and getting lunch on the table." The girls dutifully followed Teresa to the kitchen.

"You know my cousin Cindy." I said, introducing her to Clarissa.

"I see you've been busy." Clarissa said, noting Cindy's advanced pregnancy. We all laughed.

"And... where's Callie?" I said, looking around.

"There she is, coming out of the kitchen." said Cindy. "Clarissa, this is my wife Callie."

"What a lovely young lady you are." said Clarissa, having been forewarned by Teresa about Cindy and Callie's relationship. She turned to Cindy and ask "So when is your baby due?"

"Not long, now." Cindy said. "Middle of next month."

"Ah, so you are on leave from the Police Force now?" Clarissa asked.

"No ma'am." said Cindy. "I'm technically retired, and I'll be starting up with the Sheriff Department next month. Long story."

I said "And plenty of time to hear it. Clarissa, this is Nextdoor County Police Chief Molly Evans, who is also Cindy's sister."

As Clarissa and Molly shook hands and exchanged greetings, Molly said "I am on vacation, unless a disaster comes up."

"Ah yes, you Officers are always on call, are you not?" Clarissa said. "I do appreciate your service and devotion to your work."

"Thank you, ma'am." I said. "The Sheriff should be here in a moment------"

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

That was followed by Sheriff Griswold opening the front door and peering in. "Come on in, Sheriff!" I called out.

"Sorry I'm late." growled Griswold gruffly as he took off his warm 'work' coat, a brown coat with the Sheriff Department emblem sewn over the heart. Teresa had come out of the kitchen and went over and guided the Sheriff to the greatroom.

"Aunt Clarissa, this is the greatest Sheriff in the world, Antonio Griswold." Teresa said. "Sheriff, this is my Aunt Clarissa."

"Oh, I've heard so many good things about you, Sheriff." said Clarissa as the Sheriff bowed slightly and took Clarissa's hand in an 'old school' kind of way.

"I've heard a lot about you, too, madame." said the Sheriff. "It's good to finally meet you."

"Brace yourselves." I said. "I'll call the children in." As I did, I heard the Sheriff compliment Teresa on her 'kissing up' skills. I went up the stairs to the second floor landing, and blew three short blasts on my Police whistle (yes, I have one).

"Let's go, boys! Get down there!" I heard Carole say, followed by a stampede down the stairs from the attic room. I scurried back down to the main floor, then Carole came out from the bottom of the stairs, followed by Marie and Tasha. Then the boys appeared, including young Pete Feeley.

"Let's go, boys!" Carole ordered. "You're moving like pond water!"

"Knock it off, Carole." Jim replied as he went by her. "Or I'll tell Mom to yell at you some more." I felt as much as saw the anger on Carole's face.

"Jim, that'll be enough of making threats like that." I said as Jim came by.

"Yes sir," Jim said dispassionately.

The seven kids were followed by the redoubtable Bowser and Buddy as they came into the greatroom and, to my mild surprise, lined up in 'formation' with the kids in front of Clarissa.

"This is Tanya's son Pete, and these are my boys Jim, Ross, and Ian." I said. They politely greeted Clarissa as well as Beatrice and Eugenia, who had come over after helping set up the dinner tables.

"Oh my, a whole handful of trouble." said Clarissa. "Where are your sons, Teresa?"

"With their dad at his work." said Teresa. "You'll meet them later today."

"This is my daughter Tasha." I said, introducing Tasha.

"Hello Tasha." said Clarissa. "You look just like your dad in the face." It was a correct observation, though most did not see it because they did not get past Tasha's darker skin color.

"And this is Carole, my oldest child, and her best friend Marie." I said.

"Hello, Marie." said Clarissa. Then she turned to Carole and said "Ah, so you're Carole. I've heard a great many things about you."

"All good, I hope!" Carole said brightly. We all chuckled at that.

"Oh yes, especially what your grandmother told me." Clarissa said. "And you're the girl------ oh! Goodness..." Buddy had jumped onto the sofa next to Clarissa and rested his front paws on her thigh, half sitting on her. Bowser had sat down in front of Clarissa, almost between her and Carole.

"That's Buddy." Carole said. "He was Amy's dog, and Aunt Teresa found them, and brought them here on Christmas Eve. Then Amy died, so we're keeping Buddy for her."

"Ohhhh." Clarissa said as she petted Buddy. She looked at Teresa and said "She was the girl you told me about."

"Yes ma'am." said Teresa quietly, melancholy in her voice, which Clarissa noticed.

"And this is Bowser." Carole said. Clarissa patted the sofa on the other side from Buddy, and Bowser jumped up, but sat and watched Clarissa instead of lying down on her or next to her, as Carole continued: "Bowser saved Marie's life. He led Daddy and Aunt Cindy to the ditch Marie was laying in, freezing to death, and they took her to the hos-pit-al. Then Mommy's friend Dr. Steele and her husband adopted Marie, and she's my bestest buddy now."

"That's very sweet." said Clarissa. "You're a good dog, Bowser." she added as let Bowser sniff her fist, then petted him. Bowser 'endured' the skritchins, as did Buddy.

Phyllis said "Clarissa, Carole is the little girl your niece saved on Christmas Eve three years ago."

"Oh my." said Clarissa. "I was told about that."

"But not everything, ma'am." said Carole, very sure. "Daddy, we need to take Aunt Clarissa to see the Angels in the Park."

"We will." I said. "After lunch."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After lunch, the boys went back to their work on New Lego City and the great Troy Transcontinental Railroad, and I sent Carole, Marie, and Tasha to take the dogs out and pet the cats, if the cats would permit themselves to be petted. The adults and the older girls crowded into the front room to watch a short film made by Cindy and saved to DVD.

"It's hard to believe this was just three years ago." Cindy said as she started it.

"Seems longer to me." I said. The images began with news reports and the Amber Alert of Carole's kidnapping by the late Thomas P. Cook and deceased reporter John Hardwood.

"That must have been terrifying for you, Phyllis." Clarissa said, knowing Phyllis had been TASERed during the kidnapping attack.

"Fortunately, I don't remember a lot of it." my mother said. "I ended up in the Hospital overnight."

The next images showed the Ward Harvester warehouse, and the interruptions of the television signals with the chilling messages from Thomas P. Cook. Then an image from a drone showing Teresa going into the warehouse.

"I've never seen that before." I said.

"No one has seen a lot of this." Cindy said. "I spent hours going through every bit of camera footage we had, and my Media source (Priya) helped me get what they had."

We watched in fascination as grainy images of Teresa in the warehouse running to the 'Ring of Fire' pallet of explosives, but none had caught her running out with Carole. Then the images of the building blowing up suddenly jarred us.

"Oh myyyyy." Clarissa gasped. "And... you survived?"

"We'll talk about that later." Teresa said. Meanwhile, the DVD showed me running to the remains of the building, then the Media drone's images of Teresa being carried out, followed by Cindy guiding me and Carole out. I was vividly remembering every emotion of those moments, even the smell of the smoke...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thirty minutes later, we were at Ward Harvester Park. Everyone had come, even the boys. Tanya had provided Clarissa her extra, non-motorized wheelchair to make things easier on the older woman.

The boys went to play on nearby swingsets, and the Sheriff supervised them. The rest of us went to the Public Service Memorial statue. As we came up to it, with the two angels overlooking the equipment of Public Service people, Carole took over the narration of the story.

"This whole park used to be the warehouse." she said. "There used to be a pit here, to work on vehicles. Daddy had them put the statue in the exact place he found us in that pit."

"You remember all this, Carole?" Phyllis asked, and a bit concerned.

"Yes, Grandma, every bit of it." Carole said. "I was chained to the chair and Aunt Teresa jumped over the bags piled up around me. She cut me out and told me to sit still, and that she would pick me up and run with me. And that's what she did after she used a crowbar to break through the wires."

Carole continued: "Aunt Teresa ran with me to that pit and slid like a baseball player into it. She was holding me to her, but when the building ecks-plo-ded, it knocked me out of her arms. And that was lucky, because a big piece of metal fell down and it had a piece of metal attached to it that stabbed Aunt Teresa in the back. If she had still been holding me, I would have been stabbed, too."

Carole had never told me this before, and I suspect she'd told no one else either. I looked at Teresa, who just said "I don't really remember that. That explosion was jarring, and it immediately turned dark. I remember seeing the crossbeam coming down and rolling my back to it, then nothing until I opened my eyes and saw you looking down at me."

"What happened then, Carole?" asked my mother Phyllis, who was fascinated and wanted to keep Carole talking, and also to have Carole let it all come out.

"Daddy came and got us." Carole said. "He always takes care of his family, and he thinks Aunt Teresa is his family, too." A wave of emotion hit me, and I barely felt Teresa put her arm around my waist and squeeze me in a hug. She was feeling the emotions too, I realized.

"All three of my Angels here are family." I said.

"Awwww." chorused my three Angels. Clarissa and Phyllis smiled at that.

Carole continued. "So when Old Mr. Ward built the park, he had this statue made. And Daddy went to the sculp... sculp... er, person who carved the statue, and had them make the faces like Amy and Alexis. I saw them standing above us, helping Daddy find me and Aunt Teresa."

"You saw them too?" I asked, totally stunned. I had told Teresa the story of the angels guiding me to the right place, but we were alone. And I'd never discussed it anywhere near Carole.

"Yes, Daddy." Carole said. "They were standing above us. Their dresses had lights in them and they were glowing." To say I was stunned at what I was hearing would be a huge understatement.

Clarissa was gazing at the angels of the statue. She finally said "The taller girl looks like those photos of Alexis you showed me, Teresa. And Amy was just a teenager when she died?"

"Yes ma'am." Teresa said. "She wasn't with me very long. She was already sick when I found her. And that's one reason I gave my mother's inheritance to the Hospital; to find cures for rare diseases like the one she had."

Beatrice was taking photos with her iPhone, and had Teresa and Carole and Clarissa pose in front of the statue. "Mr. Crowbar, will you get in the picture too?" she asked.

"Why don't you girls get in the picture, too." my mother said, taking the iPhone from Beatrice. More photos were taken.

As we were leaving and walking to our cars, I said "Carole, you never mentioned seeing those angels on that day."

"I know, Daddy." Carole replied. "Mommy never believes me when I talk about things like that, and I didn't know if you'd believe me either."

"Well, I do believe you." I said. "And that's because I saw them myself. They led me to the right place to find you."

"Good!" Carole said happily. "Because it was dark and scary in there. And Aunt Teresa was hurt." I was not fooled: Carole was happier at being believed than for any other reason...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We took the kids home, then Teresa offered Clarissa, Beatrice, and Genia a tour of Police Headquarters. My mother said she was going to visit Laura in Laura's office, and Our Sheriff volunteered to drive her there. Hmm, I wondered to myself.

I also went to Police Headquarters, and to my office. I thought the Belvedere Clan would want to see Teresa's office first. I was wrong. They followed me to my office. I observed that Clarissa was still making use of the wheelchair.

"So this is where everything is centered." said Clarissa, looking around as all first-time visitors to my office did.

"A small part of it, ma'am." I said. "Everything we do is a team effort."

"I was warned about your modesty." Clarissa said, her eyes boring into me. "And like your Sheriff, I will also excuse it." She turned and said "Young ladies, perhaps your cousin Teresa will be kind enough to give you a tour of the Police Station... and I hope you will never see the inside of one again. In the meantime, I hope the Iron Crowbar will indulge me in a moment of conversation."

"Certainly." I said, then said to Teresa "Don't take them through the Booking Line or the holding cells. Criminals might remember their faces."

Teresa said "Yes sir. Aunt Clarissa, just call me on the cellphone when you're ready." She and the girls exited the office, closing the door behind them.

Clarissa said "You're always thinking of your family's safety. I had not thought of that possibility of a threat to my nieces."

I replied "I've been thinking that way for years, now. It's just become habit. The Sheriff also created a few lines about my paranoia."

Clarissa nodded, then said "But it's more. So you're the one who had those statues sculpted to resemble Alexis and young Amy. That is much, much more than being a friend. And it shows me why Teresa is so devoted to you. I'm grateful to you for that. You are the anchor in her life that she has needed, especially after years of living with a father that treated her so poorly."

I said "Madame, I must ask you not to make such a hasty judgement. I also thought along those lines, then I learned a great many things. And we know a lot more about mental health and mental illness than we did all those years ago. Whatever else you think of your brother-in-law, he did raise Teresa and raised her right, and he was a genuine Army hero who spent the last years of his life alone in a nursing home, his mind gone. Certainly more Purgatory than needed, whatever his sins were."

Clarissa nodded. "Perhaps. Much sadness has followed my family, and I'm sorry that it has befallen Teresa as much as the rest of us. But as I said, Teresa has been blessed to have you in her life, and that you are watching over her as much as anyone can."

"Certainly." I said. "And it seems that Teresa's life and mine were destined to be intertwined. After all, she married my sister's son... and of course, there is your own connection with certain members of my family."

Clarissa eyes widened in total shock; she had not expected that. Then she peered at me. "What they say is true: not much gets past you. But how much do you truly know about all of that?"

"All of it." I said. "Literally, all of it."

"Did your mother tell you?" Clarissa asked, her voice sounding surprised.