Chapter Nineteen

Nineteen

Christmas Day - Grace Cottage

About two weeks prior to Christmas, Sandy had announced to Oliver because they were new to the island, and thousands of miles away from their families, they were going to host a Christmas day party. This was one of those times when Oliver knew enough to simply go along with his wife’s big ideas and he found himself nodding and smiling in agreement. Sandy set out to specifically invite people on the island who might find themselves alone on Christmas day.  “That’s simply not okay,” she’d said with great conviction.

Under Sandy’s meticulous instruction the Grace brothers had shopped, decorated and prepared for a party. The tree, freshly cut from nearby Prince Edward Island had been decorated to perfection. Gifts for the family and guests had been purchased, wrapped and placed under the tree.  

On early Christmas morning Grace Cottage had taken on a beautiful glow and the delicious smell of wonderful foods cooking in the kitchen. Oliver and Sandy, along with Demetrius were abuzz with the hubbub that comes prior to a holiday party. 

“Take it easy, Sandy!” Demetrius encouraged. Turning to his brother, he said,  “Oliver, your wife, and more importantly the mother of my nephews or nieces needs to put her feet up and relax!”

“San,” Oliver said in a semi-stern manner, “Seriously, just because it’s Christmas doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself getting ready! Deme and I have this! It’s okay. Please sit down and put your feet up! That’s an order!”

Sandy could tell she was beaten, and her feet were killing her, so she reluctantly sat down on the sofa. “Okay, I’ll admit, I’m defeated. But, did you remember to pre-heat the oven? And Ollie, did you put the nice guest towels out in the downstairs bathroom? And did you wash the wine glasses?”

“Done. Done. And done,” he smilingly said. “We are only having two non-family guests. It’ll be okay. Seriously.”

“Well, when one of the guests is going to be none other than Mrs. Penelope Gourmand, you’d better believe I want everything to be perfect!” she replied.

“It’ll be just fine. Did you see the look on her face when we stopped by to invite her? Demetrius, you could have knocked her over with a feather. I honestly think this is the first time she’s ever been invited anywhere.” Oliver said in complete sincerity.

“Did you put the champagne on ice? Do we have enough? You did buy the brand I told you to, right? No cheap stuff today!” Sandy continued on. Anxiously looking around the room making a mental checklist, she paused and with gratitude in her voice said, “Oh, I know you two are doing everything you can, I just want things to be nice.”

Oliver stepped over giving his precious one a gentle kiss on the forehead. “It’ll be perfect,” he said in his best Sandy impersonation. She smacked him playfully across the bottom. “Hey! What was that for?” came his mock shocked reply. “You know darn well what that was for!” she laughed.

All they needed now was their guests. 

Just then a knock was heard at the door and it made its usual squeak as Andi poked her head in, “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!” she said cheerfully with her best Santa Claus voice. The Grace’s were surprised to see Andi dressed was wearing a fake beard and Santa’s hat. The laughter didn’t stop for several minutes amongst the dear friends.

“Who knew Santa had a runner’s body?” Sandy said with joy.

“What can I do to help? Ooh… and I brought some wine. You are really, really going to like this! We know a thing or two about great wine. This one is from a vineyard in the Cana area of Israel. Very old vintage! And I’m counting on you, Demetrius to keep my caffeine levels satisfied.” 

“Not a problem. Would you like a cappuccino? I’ve got a new espresso roast from a little farm in El Salvador. It’s amazing.” Demetrius replied.

“Count me in.”

A little later Mrs. Gourmand’s limousine was seen driving up the road to Grace Cottage. Sandy began to stress out at a new level until Andi walked over and gently took her hand. “It’ll be okay, Sandy. Trust me.”

When the bell rang, Oliver opened the door to welcome their guest of honor and was quite surprised to discover she wasn’t alone. 

“Oliver Grace,” he said while reaching out his hand to the young man standing next to Mrs. Gourmand. Given the young man’s arms were filled with beautifully wrapped presents, Oliver realized his mistake. “Oh, my gosh, how stupid of me!” he said, “Here, let me help you!”

“Oliver, this is my nephew, Achilles Brulte. He is staying with me for a while. I knew you wouldn’t mind if I brought him with me,” Mrs. Gourmand said by way of explanation.

“No, of course not. Achilles, welcome! I’m so glad you are here! Welcome to our little home. Merry Christmas!”

“Thank you, Mr. Grace. It’s an honor. My aunt has told me a great deal about you.”

“Please call me Oliver. And,” he said turning to the others, “this is my wife, Sandy, my brother Demetrius and our dear, dear friend Andi. Welcome, please come in and get out of the cold!”

Demetrius stepped up and offered to take Mrs. Gourmand’s coat. She relinquished it to him with a warm smile. He bent down and kissed her cheek saying, “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Gourmand!” 

She laughed in surprise and delight. 

“And a very Merry Christmas to each of you! Thank you for having us in your lovely home. I’ve always admired this cottage, and you’ve made it beautiful! Oh, and before I forget, please call me Penelope. It is an honor to be here, I must tell you I felt like a child waiting for Santa Claus last night! I could barely sleep!” she said somewhat breathlessly.

Demetrius stepped over to the kitchen, and said, “Who wants a Christmas latte?” And a chorus of voices replied immediately.

Sandy watched in wonder considering what had occurred in their lives since the previous Christmas in Pasadena. Here they were - on the other side of the continent - on a tiny island in a beautiful home celebrating with delightful people! She’d been afraid of being terribly homesick this holiday season, but so far she’d felt nothing but joy, love and amazing amounts of gratitude at what God had done for them.

The afternoon was spent talking, telling stories, laughing and remembering Christmases past and dreaming about what the future Christmases would be like with three active children in the Grace home. Much coffee, wine and sparkling punch was consumed as the day wore on. The presents had been opened and joy filled the house. Everyone was having a wonderful time, when much to their surprise an unexpected knock at the door was heard.

“I wonder who that is?” Sandy said while Oliver walked to the door. Everyone was pleasantly surprised to see it was the entire Sharp family along with Niels. 

“Merry Christmas everyone! We just wanted to stop by and wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas!” Axel said in joy.

“C’mon inside! We were just about to have dessert. And there is plenty! Will you join us?” Sandy said excitedly. Demetrius wisely walked to the kitchen to make a fresh pot. 

“Are you sure, we didn’t mean to horn in on your celebration?” Greta asked sincerely. 

Sarah walked right in. “Come on mom and dad, we’ve been invited in!” 

“Well, that cinches it! Thank you!” Axel replied.

The party moved to a new level with the addition of the Sharp’s and Niels. The laughter grew louder, the jokes increased in number and the celebration got better and better. Demetrius recruited Sarah to help keep the coffee flowing for the partygoers. She was rapidly becoming an excellent barista and they were already in conversation about specialized training for competitions.

It gets dark early in late December in northern Maine and Oliver made sure to keep the fire burning in the fireplace. Shortly after dark, yet another knock was heard at the door. “Now who?” said Sandy aloud.

The crowd grew quiet in anticipation as Oliver opened the door and Sandy started screaming in joy. The hardwood floors of Grace Cottage shook as she jumped for joy at recognition of who was on her front porch.

“Mom!” she shouted gleefully. “What are you doing here?”

“Iris, we thought you’d be enjoying Christmas on the beach in San Diego!” Oliver said excitedly.

“Mom! Come in! Come in! Oh my goodness! Wow! I cannot believe it!” she said as she wrapped herself around her mother in shock and total joy. “Mom! Wow! Wow! Wow! I’d better sit down, I’m getting light-headed.”

Oliver rescued her from falling, helping her to her seat and then turned to give his mother-in-law a hug and kiss. “Mom! Thank you for coming! Wow! How on earth did you get here today of all days?” Turning to his guests he asked, “Is the ferry even running today?”

“I hope so, because I was on it a few minutes ago!” Iris Seguro said with a smile. “You know, I woke up yesterday and I thought to myself, ‘Self,’ I said, ‘your daughter and son-in-law are all alone on a North Atlantic island for Christmas, and she is pregnant with your grand babies. You need to get on a plane and spend Christmas with them.’ And so, sixteen hours, three planes, and two ferry boats and a taxi cab later, here I am!”

“Oh my gosh, mom.” Sandy said through tear filled eye, “I love you so much! This is huge! It means the world to me, and to Oliver too!” He nodded in complete agreement. Turning to her assembled guests, Sandy said by way of introduction, “Everyone, this is my mother, Iris, all the way from San Diego. Mom, this is everyone!”

Hugs and general mayhem broke out at the Grace Cottage. Even more wine, coffee and food was consumed. And the joy took on an even greater intensity. 

After Iris had been fed, Penelope and her paired up and began to talk. As the oldest women in the room, it seemed like a natural connection. Iris’ casual Southern California sense of humor seemed to strike a chord in Penelope and it was obvious the two women were quickly becoming friends. 

“You’ve actually lived on this island your whole life?” Iris asked with wonder.

“Yes. My whole life. I married young and was widowed in my 20's. Since then, well... the truth is, I’ve made a number of mistakes in my life, and I’m starting to see what some of them were. When my husband died I vowed to never love again. Consequently, I never had children. I regret that.” Penelope confessed candidly.

“I, too, was widowed young, but at least I had my children. But even then, in order to deal with the loss of my husband, I threw myself into my career and largely abandoned the girls to figure things out on their own. That was wrong.” Iris shared honestly.

“Hmmm…” Penelope said thoughtfully, “well, it seems we have a great deal in common. There is one more thing we have in common, you know?”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“We both love your daughter. She is a very special young woman. You must have done something right.” 

“Thank you for saying that,” Iris said with an appreciative smile. “It means a lot to me to hear it. I’ve carried a great deal of guilt over some of my decisions regarding my girls.”

Andi came by taking drink orders. “What can I get you two girls to drink? We’ve got wine, champagne, and a variety of coffee drinks. I can heartily recommend the Christmas latte with a splash of heat.”

“Splash of heat?” Iris asked.

“Yeah. Trust me. You’ll be glad you did,” she said laughingly. “Demetrius doesn’t serve that at his coffee house.”

The three women laughed together. 

“Sounds good to me. Penelope?” Iris asked.

“Bring it on, Andi!”

Well after midnight, long after the last guests had reluctantly left, Sandy and her mother were lying next to each other on the bed in the guest bedroom. Talking quietly and enjoying just being together they were catching up with each other about the day-to-day of their lives.

“Mom.” Sandy said. 

“Yes, honey.”

“I know I’ve already said it, but I want you to know from the bottom of my heart just what it means to me that you came here today. I never dreamt you’d do it, and then, there you were! Halfway around the world from San Diego and suddenly there you are, on my front porch. I love you so much!”

“San… I need to tell you something. I didn’t know exactly what to expect. I mean, I knew you’d be glad to see me. But…”

“But what?”

“But I didn’t expect to see you so different than just a couple of months ago when you left Pasadena.” Taking a deep breath Iris continued, “Honey… you’ve changed. You’ve got something you didn’t used to have. And it’s really quite beautiful. I am so proud of you.”

“Mom…” Sandy cooed.

“Hang on… it’s more than that,” Iris paused grasping for the right words. “I hope you’ll understand what I’m about to say, although I’m not sure even I do.”

“Go on!”

“San, you have joy. You have peace. You have something I’ve never seen, but I’ve always wanted. What’s more, you didn’t have it when you left California. This is new and frankly, I’m jealous. Honey, I want what you have.”

Something shifted in the Grace Cottage. Sandy felt a Presence and immediately she knew exactly what to say to her mother.

“Mom. I found God. Yeah, I know, I’ve been a Christian for a long time, but this is different. I’ve found God, or actually I should say, He found me and the result is those things you were talking about. All of us including Oliver and Demetrius too have been profoundly changed because we’ve had encounters with God like never before. And it wasn’t like we were looking for Him, He came in search of us!”

“Well, that’s great,” said an obviously disappointed Iris, “No, I mean it, I’m really happy for you. But you know I’m not a particularly religious person. I do go to church, but...”

“Mom, I didn’t say I found religion. I’ve had that in the past and it wasn’t satisfying. This is different. I’ve met God and I’ll never be the same. This is as different as it can be from religion.” Sandy considered how to express what had been written so indelibly upon her heart, “This is real, it’s freeing and I’ve never felt more alive than I do right now. The surprise is I just keep getting more joyful. Mom, I’ve never been happier a day in my life as I am right now.”

“Thank you for sharing with me. I’m grateful to you sweetheart. Wow. It’s been quite a day. I’d better get some sleep. These old bones need some rest, and I’m sure your pregnant ones do too!” she said by way of dismissal.

“I love you, mom. You are right.  I’m pretty tired. You get some sleep. Sleep as late as you want in the morning. Merry Christmas Amazing Mother of Mine!” she said as she reached over and kissed her.

Sleep came easy for everyone except Iris. Less than an hour after falling into a light sleep she woke up, wide awake. At first she attributed it to being over-tired, or perhaps it was the strange environment, but regardless she lay there awake listening to the sound of her heart beating in her chest and the waves washing on the not too distant shores.

It wasn’t long before she was reflecting on Sandy’s words during their late night conversation. “Encounters… met God… He came searching for me…” She wondered about what Sandy had said. Was it possible? Could she have such an experience? Would God even want her? Sandy has always been a good person, so it’d make sense God would want her, but me… well I’ve made my mistakes, that’s for sure.

These and other messages raced through Iris’ active mind. She got out of bed and wrapped a quilt around her chilled body and walked to the patio door. As she slid the door open, the rush of cold, wet wind came into the room, but she stepped out on the porch anyway. She was shocked to see the sky ablaze with myriads of stars, planets and galaxies. This was something one didn’t see in the brightly lit city skies around San Diego. She took it all in with a sense of awe. Thinking about the vastness of space and her seemingly insignificant part in the universe.

It was then she felt a presence near her. 

“Sandy? Oliver?” she asked fearfully.

“No, Iris. It’s me,” spoke the Voice. “I came because you asked me to.”

“I did? When?”

“Just now. You were wondering if God could care about you. I came to answer your question.”

“Who are you, anyway?”

“You know.” The Voice said calmly. 

“Yes, I do.” Iris replied soberly. “But how did you know what I was thinking about?”

“It’s what I do. And here is the answer to your question. I do. You are important to Me. I’m all about love, Iris. I want you to know my love.”

“I don’t understand. You caused my husband to be killed by some freakin’ towel-headed terrorist, he was all-alone some 10,000 miles from home, and you couldn’t protect him. And you left me with two young girls to raise by myself!” Iris stated angrily.

“That was a terrible day.”

“You bet it was.”

“Your husband wasn’t alone.”

“What do you mean by that?” she said accusingly.

“He wasn’t alone. I was with him, and I helped him. He didn’t feel any pain, and he was taken immediately into Heaven!”

With those words, Iris began to sob. “The Army wouldn’t tell me anything. What little they did say is he suffered terribly for two days before dying. And you tell me he died instantly?”

“No. I didn’t say that. I said he didn’t feel any pain. I made sure of that. He felt nothing but peace. And even though his body somehow survived for about two days, I was with him the entire time surrounding him with love and kindness. He never felt any loss!”

After a few minutes of silence, the Voice spoke again, “You’ve carried enough pain, sorrow and baggage it’s time for healing, joy and freedom. Will you choose to believe me?”

Iris felt like she was on one of those spinning carnival rides where the floor falls out from underneath you and you are stuck to the wall by centrifugal force. This was way out of her comfort zone and previous experience, yet she was being drawn in with a great sense of anticipation.

“Do I believe You?” she pondered aloud. Thinking about it a moment or two longer, she heard herself say: “Do I believe You? Well, I know I want to.”

It was at that moment an explosion of love, filled with light, overwhelmed her and created incredible and unprecedented joy. Suddenly she knew, like she had never known before what it meant to be loved. Deep within her she felt love permeate perfectly. Love filled her dark places. Love tore away the deceptions she had embraced in defense. Love made her a little girl again. 

And she smiled.  She smiled the smile of someone who was being transformed.

It wasn’t long before the laughter came. And when the laughter came, the porch lights went on and Oliver came out with his flashlight wondering what all the noise was about. He leaned back into the house and said, “Sandy, you’ve gotta see this.”

A few moments later, Sandy stepped onto the porch and in that instant knew her precious mother had willingly opened herself up to the love of God. She walked over to her mother, wrapping her arms around and quietly said, “And now you know, don’t you?”

“I do,” she replied quietly, “I do.”