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So…Trixie and Jim have now
been dating for two months…in secrecy from the rest of the
Bob-Whites. The others had just been too pushy, trying to
force them to date (or, in Brian’s case, trying his best to keep them
apart in an
effort to prevent ANYONE from dating his sister.) Dan had caught
them out on a
date, so he knew. And of course, all the adults knew from the
beginning. Even Bobby had
managed to discover the secret.
“An
honest-to-goodness see-crud”
The Bob-Whites
were having a Christmas mega-dinner at the Manor House, having
convinced
their parents that they wanted to spend the holiday with their family
AND their friends. Since 22 people was
more
than even Crabapple Farm’s stretchy walls could handle, everyone would
eat Christmas dinner at the Manor House. Mrs.
Belden and Mrs. Lynch would handl most of the cooking, although the
Bob-Whites females wanted to help in order to have some quality
mother-daughter time. The Bob-White males had volunteered to hang
up decorations, set the table, and chop up wood for the fireplace
(although, for some reason, Dan didn’t volunteer for that, he
was
going to let Jim, Mart, and Brian take care of that chore.) Honey, Trixie, and Diana were currently sitting in the formal dining room, trying to figure out where to seat everyone. They had gotten out some etiquette books that were left by Ms. Lefferts, Honey's former governess, and were leafing through them. According to the books, the host and the hostess, Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, should sit at opposite ends of the table with the highest-ranking guests (i.e. the other two sets of parents) closest to them. That was the easy part. Now they were trying to figure out where to put everyone else. Diana wanted to be next to Mart and didn't want to sit next to her brothers and sisters. Honey wanted to be next to Brian and didn’t care about anything else. Trixie’s main requirement was that she wanted to be as far away from Mr. Lytell as possible. She also wanted to be near Jim, but couldn't mention it since they had been keeping their dating relationship a secret from everyone. She thought about suggesting that she sit across from him but the table was way too wide to allow her to play footsie. Besides, she had learned her lesson that Thanksgiving. “So Trixie, do
you want to sit near Jim?” Diana said,
with
a sly grin. “Oh, I don’t care. I wouldn’t mind though, I do enjoy talking to him,” Trixie said, trying to sound casual. All of a sudden, Honey started giggling. Trixie and Diana looked over in confusion. “Care to share the joke, Miss Wheeler?” Trixie asked. “Oh, I was just thinking of Thanksgiving dinner, and how Trixie slipped under the table in the middle of the meal,” Honey replied after she managed to stop giggling. Trixie blushed as Diana turned to look curiously at her. “How on earth did you manage that?” Di asked. “Well, you know how slippery those stupid slips can be. I just must have gotten off balance and wasn’t paying attention to how I was sitting in the chair. It was pretty embarrassing when I fell, everyone stared at me.” Diana laughed. “Well, I hope you won’t do anything like that at the mega-dinner. Just think what Mr. Lytell would say.” Trixie groaned. “Remind me again why he’ll be there?” “Because Miss Trask invited him.” Honey told her. “Oh well. Remember, as far away as possible.” The girls settled down and tried to figure everything out. They initially created the seating chart according to proper etiquette until they realized that not only would this leave Mrs. Wheeler twenty people away from her husband, but it would also leave her with only Mr. and Mrs. Lynch for company and then Bobby and the 4 Lynch twins. The girls burst into laughter at the thought of Mrs. Wheeler surrounded by all that mayhem. “Mother would die,” Honey managed to sputter out. They closed the etiquette books. “Well, what do you guys think of a kid’s table? We could fit another table in that corner for them,” Diana suggested. “No way,” Trixie answered vehemently. “Aunt Alicia used to always shunt us off to a separate table. I hated it. I’m not doing that to my brother.” “Well then, I suggest that we just stick them at the end of the table. Bobby would love to be at the head, right? Then we’ll place Larry and Terry next to him, we'll just skip all the boy-girl spacing since we have too many men anyway.” Honey bent back over the paper, redoing the diagram. By the time they were done, they had crossed and recrossed out people’s names. But they thought everyone would be happy with the arrangement. The parents were at one end, the younger children at the other. The Bob-Whites took up the middle of the table, “being a bridge between the adults and the children,” as Diana put it. Diana was next to Mart and Honey was next to Brian. Trixie was across from Jim and between Dan and Honey. They had let Mart and Brian sit next to the kids, figuring that Brian was used to dealing patiently with younger children and, as Trixie put it, Mart was often on the same level as the kids. “Oh, guys, I have to get home to take care of dinner. Moms is out at a PTA function so I’m preparing dinner.” “You’re cooking?” Diana asked. “Sure thing. Moms has been teaching me. I actually enjoy it.” Honey and Diana looked at Trixie incredulously. Honey shrugged. “Well, as long as you don’t start enjoying dusting. Then I’ll wonder if you’re really a pod person.” Trixie laughed as she put on her blue fleece-lined jacket. “No worries there. So tomorrow we’re going shopping for decorations, right? I’ll meet you here tomorrow at 10:00am with the BWG station wagon.” After she left, Diana turned to Honey with a mischievous grin. “OK, talking about decorations, I say we hang mistletoe everywhere to FORCE Jim and Trixie into kissing. They’re so stubborn.” Honey smiled. “That they are.” * * * * * Decoration shopping had been gone pretty quickly. The girls had spent the morning shopping and had headed over to Wimpy’s for lunch. As the girls entered the diner, Diana excused herself to run back to Crimpers, explaining that she had forgotten her scarf in the bathroom. Once she got there, Diana grabbed her scarf where she had purposefully left it and then went back to the decoration section and purchased stacks of mistletoe. Meanwhile, Trixie and Honey had placed everyone’s usual orders and were waiting for the meal. “Trixie, why are you staring at Sergeant Molinson? That’s not polite.” “I’m not staring at him,” Trixie protested. “Yes, you are.” “No, I’m staring at the man next to him. Doesn’t he kinda look like Molinson, only older?” Trixie asked, cocking her head as she looked at the man sitting next to the police sergeant. He was dressed in civilian clothes, but somehow Trixie thought his bearing was very…policeman-like. The mystery man was pointing at something in the newspaper he had been reading and both he and Molinson were laughing. Trixie was shocked, she wasn’t sure she could remember Molinson ever laughing. She shifted in her seat as Molinson and the man got up to head to the register. After paying the bill, they turned around and the man looked right at her. He whispered something to the sergeant who immediately grimaced and rolled his eyes. They walked over to the girls. “Hello Trixie. My brother tells me you were staring at him while we were eating. Any particular reason why?” Trixie looked smugly at Honey with a see, I told you look in her eyes before turning back to Sergeant Molinson. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to stare, I know it’s impolite.” Trixie was starting to pick up some manners from her continued exposure to Honey. “I just noticed the similarities between the two of you and wondered if you were related. I didn’t realize you had a brother.” Molinson grunted. “Yeah, and I have a mother and father too, does that shock you? Anyway, Winston, this is Honey and Trixie. Ladies, this is my older brother Winston Molinson.” He stressed the word older, earning him a glare from Winston. “Oh, these are the two girls that keep beating you to catching the criminal, huh? I always knew I was the better cop,” he teased back. Trixie and Honey were both staring now, shocked to see Sergeant Molinson crack a joke and being teased in return. “Yeah, well, trust me, if you had any of the Bob-Whites at your university, I assure you they’d find some crime the second they got there.” “Oh, you’re a university cop? Where?” Trixie blurted out. She paused for a second. “Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that. It’s really none of my business.” It was Molinson’s turn to stare at Trixie this time. Winston laughed and then said, “Well, it was very nice meeting you both but my baby brother and I need to get going. And girls, please stay safe. I’ve heard all the stories from Wendell about your investigating.” Molinson grunted. “Well, they’ve actually been good lately. Trixie hasn’t found a mystery since she started da…” He paused and looked at Honey. “Since October.” They said their goodbyes and left, passing Diana as she came back inside. They could clearly hear Molinson muttering to his brother, “Well, what do you know, maybe she’s actually maturing.” Trixie blushed. Honey smiled at her and said, “Well, I’m proud of you for suppressing your curiosity. You are maturing.” “Yeah, whatever. I’m going to go and see what they were laughing at in the newspaper, they left it in their booth.” She got up as Diana sat down. Honey grimaced and said, “Or…maybe not.” Trixie came back a few seconds later. “Hmmm…I guess you get a cynical sense of humor when you’re a cop. The article was about Arnold Schwarzenneger’s drive-by shooting on Rodeo Drive. They must have been laughing because he didn’t manage to actually hit anyone, even with an automatic weapon.” Diana shrugged as she picked the burger that had just been delivered to the table. “Well, I knew he should have just stuck to movies rather than government. No ‘I’ll be back’ for Ah-nold for a long time.” * * * * * Christmas morning began bright and early. Trixie had promised her mother that she’d get up at the crack of dawn to help prepare the Christmas mega-dinner. They had decided to cook a number of different meat dishes since everyone had requested something different. Dan wanted Christmas ham. Trixie wanted turkey. Honey and Jim wanted Christmas goose. And Mart wanted it all. Mrs. Lynch had even volunteered to prepare crown rack of lamb. “Now that we have the money, I say spend it. Besides, we’re saving so much by preparing it ourselves,” she had told Mrs. Belden, overcoming her objections. Trixie got ready
that morning while worrying what everyone would say when she and Jim
finally revealed that they had been dating. Well,
at least we’ve only been dating in secret for two months, not six years
like that crazy dream I had. She giggled to
herself, remembering that dream. Bobby
in a bridesmaid dress really was the funniest part. They had already loaded up Moms’ car with her cooking supplies the night before so once they had gotten ready, they just slipped out and drove up to the Manor House. The men weren’t even up yet at Crabapple Farm. However, at the Manor House, one man was already awake. Trixie was thrilled to see Jim waiting for them in the kitchen. “I figured you could use some help unloading,” Jim said. “Sorry I’m not completely dressed yet.” To Trixie’s disappointment, that just meant that although he had the majority of his clothes on, he had only managed to put on one sock. But he looked so cute in the morning; his red hair was rumpled and sticking up all over the place. After he finished putting on the remaining sock and his shoes, he ran his hands through his hair in an effort to smooth it out. “Here, let me try,” Trixie said as she stood on her tiptoes and ran her fingers through his hair. Mrs. Belden kindly went out to the car by herself to give them a moment alone. Trixie pulled Jim’s head down for a very thorough kiss. They broke apart as Mrs. Belden came back in with her roasting pan and cookie trays. She looked at Jim for a minute and laughed. “No improvement, your hair looks even more rumpled now.” Jim blushed as he headed outside to unload the car. Within a few minutes, they had managed to unpack all of Mrs. Belden’s cooking implements. Although the Manor House’s professional quality kitchen probably had everything that she would need, she felt more comfortable with the cookware that she had been using for years. A couple of minutes later, Mrs. Lynch and Diana came in to the kitchen, lugging a big box of cookware. “You know, I haven’t cooked for so long, I almost couldn’t find the stuff I used. It’s all been replaced by all this fancy foreign stuff. But I finally found this box in the attic. Thank God we didn’t throw away my mother’s cast iron skillet, it’s perfect for cooking the sausage for the stuffing,” Mrs. Lynch said as Jim ran to grab the box from her. The woman got to work preparing for the dinner. It was much easier when Miss Trask came down and helped them find everything in the big kitchen. Jim wandered out eventually and went outside to chop some wood, perhaps that would ease his nervousness at telling everyone, especially Brian. Honey wandered down an hour or so later. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that you were here already? I so wanted to help.” “We’ve just gotten a lot of the things prepped. But don’t worry, Honey, there’s still plenty to do,” Mrs. Belden assured her. “Yeah, Honey. Why don’t you come over here and clean the turkey?” Trixie said with a grin at Diana. “Clean it, what do you mean?” Honey said, with a puzzled look on her pretty face. “Well, first you have to make sure you get out all the innards. There’s two packages of them in there,” Trixie said, as she walked over to the turkey. “Just reach up there and grab them.” Honey looked a bit timid as she put her hand in the bird. “I don’t know Trixie. This just feels…obscene,” she whispered. Mrs. Belden laughed as she overheard Honey. “I remember the first time I cooked a turkey. At first, I only managed to find one package. I thought they must have forgotten to include both packages. Luckily, when I was stuffing the bird, I went to the front cavity and found the other one. It would have been disgusting if I hadn’t found it.” Renee Lynch laughed. “You were luckier than I was then, Helen. I didn’t know about the little gift packages in there my first Thanksgiving and totally ruined the turkey. But Colin was so understanding. We ended up going out to eat and that was before so many restaurants stayed open on Christmas. We had to grab what we could at a convenience store.” Diana smiled at her mother. “I’ve never heard that story before.” Mrs. Lynch smiled back. “Well, it wasn’t actually my finest moment. Our first Thanksgiving as husband and wife and we ended up eating turkey sandwiches and potato chips. Colin said that at least we were getting turkey and potatoes.” The ladies laughed and told stories the entire day as they cooked. Mrs. Wheeler even wandered in around noon and participated in the story telling, not about cooking, of course, but about some of the bad chefs they had had in the past. Mrs. Wheeler didn’t pay much attention to the going-ons in the kitchen, but she did watch closely when Mrs. Belden made her special cheesecake. Mrs. Belden whispered something to Mrs. Wheeler after she put the cake in the oven. Trixie couldn’t hear all of it,but she distinctly heard something about “that’s just like sex on a plate.” She laughed to herself, she already knew that was her Dad’s phrase for Moms’ seductively smooth cheesecake. In the meantime, the men had gathered in the den, watching television. They were ready for football to start, having already watched the pre-game show, the pre-pre-game show, and the pre-pre-pre-game show. The younger children were having fun playing with the presents that they had been allowed to unwrap the night before and trying to figure out what was in the presents still under the tree for the gift exchange that evening. Dan, Jim, Mart, and Brian had already hung up all the decorations, and all of the men were definitely looking forward to the woman coming out of the kitchen so they could take advantage of the tons of mistletoe that had put up around the entire Manor House. Mart was playing DJ and was organizing various CDs to play during dinner. “How about this one?” He grinned mischievously at Dan, Mart, and Jim. “Love in an
elevator “Martin Belden, don’t even think about playing that song,” Diana said as she walked into the dining room, placing her hands on her hips. “What? It’s about love, right? And Christmas is the season of love, right?” Mart said, grinning widely. “No, Mart,” Dan said. “It’s about sex. And Christmas is not the season of sex.” “What the hell are you guys talking about?” Mr. Belden asked, walking through the dining room. “Oh, nothing, Dad.” Mart stammered. “Just choosing music for dinner tonight.” “And this is on the playlist?” Mr. Belden asked, listening to Aerosmith’s eloquent lyrics. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I can’t believe how graphic your music is.” “No, of course not.” Mart said as he switched CDs. “We were thinking more of something from your generation. Wholesome stuff like this…” With a push of a button, the lyrics of The Who’s Momma’s got a squeezebox started playing over the sound system. He smiled at his father. “What, it’s about playing the accordion, right, Martin?” Mr. Belden said while trying to keep a straight face. “Anyway, you made your point. Now point me towards your mother, is she still in the kitchen?” “No, Dad,” Trixie answered. “She went upstairs to change into her dress. I can go get her.” Diana, Honey, and Trixie had already gone upstairs and changed clothes. In a pique of cuteness, the mothers and daughters had all decided they’d each wear mother-daughter dresses. Mrs. Belden and Trixie were wearing blue velvet dresses with lace trim. Mrs. Wheeler and Honey were wearing green silk dresses with gold trim. Mrs. Lynch, Diana, Mary, and Kerry were wearing purple dresses made of chiffon. After telling her mother than her father was looking for her and taking a detour to the bathroom, Trixie looked for Jim. She finally found him in the den where most of the group had gathered. Mrs. Belden had already gotten there and was trying her best to stop laughing while telling her husband something. It took her a while since she kept giggling, but once he got the gist of the story, he glared over at Jim, who turned very red. “What did you do now?” Trixie said as she walked up to Jim. Even though Trixie hadn’t thought it physically possible, Jim turned redder. “Nothing…nothing. Never mind, Trix, OK, I don’t want to talk about it.” Trixie looked at Jim curiously. At that moment, Brian walked up to them. He too, looked embarrassed. “Oh, God, I can’t believe what I just did. Why didn’t you girls tell us you were doing mother-daughter dresses? I just grabbed Mrs. Wheeler and tried to kiss her under the mistletoe.” He covered his face with his hands, trying to hide his embarrassment. Trixie again looked at Jim, realization dawning on her face. Before she burst out laughing, she excused herself and went out into the hallway. Once she was safely out of sight and hearing, she leaned against a wall and laughed so hard that she had to sit down. “It’s not funny, Trixie,” Jim said as he found her. “I didn’t realize it was her. She was heading down the hallway and no one was around, so I grabbed her, spun her around, and dipped her down for a kiss. Thank God I realized it was your mother before actually kissing her.” Trixie finally stopped laughing enough to stand back up. “Oh really, Mr. Frayne.” She said, lifting up one eyebrow. “Is that the truth? Perhaps you’re actually already tired of me.” She poked Jim in the chest, backing him up to the wall. “Maybe you’re looking for an older woman.” Jim looked at Trixie. “Oh, right, Trixie. You figured me out. It’s all been a…” Jim shut up as Trixie pinned him against the wall and soundly kissed him.
Mistletoe? We don’t need no stinkin’
mistletoe. Trixie thought to
herself. She also was thoroughly enjoying the sensation of doing
the pinning rather than being pinned. Now that's power. * * * * * Finally, it was time for dinner. Dan had enjoyed himself greatly while waiting for dinner, figuring the mistletoe was the perfect way to kiss all the girls without getting punched by their boyfriends. He had even accidentally kissed Mrs. Belden, thinking it was Trixie, but after figuring out that this wasn’t really a *bad* thing, he also managed to “accidentally” meet Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Lynch under the mistletoe. As he sat down at the table, he was humming “Mrs. Robinson” to himself. Trixie looked at him curiously as she sat down next to him. Everyone settled down and grace was said and then they all dived into the food. With all the meat dishes present, each fathers got to carve the various critters served. Mr. Maypenny even got into the act and carved the goose. Dinner was an incredibly loud affair. The end of the table with the adults was a bit more subdued, but there were a couple of loud outbursts of laughter following whispered words of “And he kissed me, thinking I was my daughter.” Mart blushed
when he heard that. It’s not my fault
that Di and her mother are wearing the same outfit. How
was I supposed to know? He almost missed Jim asking Dan about his love life. “Whatever happened to that girl you were dating from Sleepyside, Dan? Jenn, wasn’t it?” Dan looked disgruntled. “Actually, she broke up with me. She decided she liked the artsy sensitive type better and is now dating Nick Roberts.” “That’s OK, Dan, she was an Indians’ fan anyway. I’m sure you’ll find another girl soon, and maybe she’ll root for a better team,” Mart said, standing up for his friend. “Well, she’s actually very nice, and she’s so happy with Nick, he’s such a sweetheart,” Diana said. “Is that why you don’t date women from Sleepyside, Dan?” Trixie asked, grinning at him. “Are you afraid that they’ll leave you for some other Sleepyside guy?” “No, I just preferred having privacy and not letting everyone know who I was dating. You can understand wanting privacy with dating, can’t you, Trixie? Dan asked, flashing her a wicked smile. Trixie narrowed her eyes at Dan. “Well, it’s not like Trixie is going to be dating anytime soon,” Mart said. “You know, we got one of those ‘Are you single’ dating club flyers in the mail, and I was so tempted to give it you, Trixie.” Trixie transferred her annoyance from Dan to her almost-twin. “Mart, it really is none of your business whether or not I date. Nor yours either, Brian,” she said, glaring at her older brother. “Hey, I didn’t say anything, Trixie. Why are you jumping all over me?” Brian asked. “Because you’re so overprotective. You seriously need to realize that I’m growing up.” “I do. Well, OK, I’m trying to. But it’s hard, you’re my baby sister.” “She’s going to be your baby spinster if she keeps hiding her feelings. I mean seriously, Trixie, when are you and Jim going to admit to your feelings?” Mart asked, for the first time actually bringing it up in front of both of them. I’ll just force them to admit it, he thought. Jim slammed his hand on the table, causing everyone to jump and stare at him. He stood up, looking very determined. “You know what, Mart? You’re right. Trixie and I have been hiding our feelings from everyone for far too long. And I’m tired of it.” He strode around the table and came to Trixie, grabbing her hand and gently pulling her up to her feet. “Beatrix Belden. I’m done with hiding my feelings for you. I want the whole world to know that I love you.” Trixie stared at Jim. Although she knew they were going to tell everyone, she hadn’t quite expected him to be quite so grandiose about it and… Did he just
say he loved me? Ohmygod, he did. “I…I love you too, Jim,” Trixie managed to get out. Jim smiled at her and, dipping her backwards, planted a deep kiss on Trixie, enjoying himself the entire time. He brought her back up, pulled out the chair for her, and gently pushed the chair back in. Ignoring everyone's shocked expressions, he walked back over to the other side and sat down in his seat. There was complete silence. It was broken thirty seconds later. “So, is it time for dessert yet?” Mr. Wheeler asked calmly. “What??!!” Mart asked. “Jim just…Trixie just…they…they just kissed and you’re asking about dessert?” “Well, yes. I can’t wait to have that cheesecake, actually.” Trixie looked around the table at everyone. The adults, of course, even Mr. Lytell, didn’t look surprised. But Mr. Belden was seriously glowering at Jim. On the other side, the kids, other than Bobby, looked surprised but not shocked. Now the Bob-Whites on the other hand… Brian was sitting there with an open mouth, alternating his stare from Trixie to Jim. Diana had her hand over her mouth and her violet eyes were open wide in surprise. Mart was sitting there, opening and shutting his mouth. Trixie laughed to herself. Just like in her dream, she thought that Mart looked like a blond, blue-eyed goldfish. And Honey was….Honey was calmly finishing her dinner. Trixie looked at her best friend in surprise. Honey noticed and looked up. She swallowed and asked, “Yes, Trixie? How can I help you?” “Why aren’t you surprised?” Jim asked, also having noticed Honey’s lack of shock. “What?” Honey asked, raising an eyebrow. “You think I wouldn’t have noticed my brother and my best friend dating? Come on, I figured it out ages ago.” This time everyone jumped as Brian slammed his hand on the table. “Ages ago? What do you mean ‘ages ago’? How the hell long have you been dating?” Mrs. Belden tried to shush Brian from her end of the table, but he couldn’t hear his mother. Not that it would have mattered if she had been right next to him, he was totally focused on Jim and Trixie. Jim looked at Brian. He had not intended to declare his love for Trixie in such a dramatic fashion, but he just couldn’t resist the set-up Mart had accidentally given him. Now he had to try and smooth things over. “Well, Brian, Trixie and I have actually been dating for a while now. But we deci…” Brian interrupted. “A while? How long?” “About two months,” Trixie said at the same time that Jim said, “Two months, seven days and two hours.” Trixie looked across the table at Jim, loving him all the more in that split second of time. For a moment, she almost forgot that her brother was really, really angry… “And you didn’t tell us?” Brian bellowed, his brown eyes flashing. “Brian Peter Belden,” Mr. Belden got up at his wife’s insistence and walked down to Brian. “Look, I can understand you being upset, but you need to calm down.” “But Dad! They were hiding their relationship from everyone! How can you just stand there and be calm about…” “Not from everyone, Brian. All the adults were informed. Perhaps you all need to calm down and ask Jim and Trixie why they chose not to tell the Bob-Whites.” “Why did you just choose not to tell the Bob-Whites?” Mart asked angrily. “Yeah, why? We’d be the happiest for you since we kept trying to get you guys together,” Diana asked, looking hurt. “Well , that’s just it, Di,” Trixie said, hoping that she could at least calm down Diana. “You guys were all pushing us together so much. It was so annoying that you kept pressuring us. So when WE decided we were ready to date, we chose to keep it a secret for a while. But we didn’t think we’d be this good at keeping it a secret. You four were all so involved with your own relationships, you never discovered our secret. Well, except for you, Honey.” Trixie said, looking curiously at her best friend. She just had to find out how Honey had figured it all out. “But Dan knew?” Mart asked, looking accusingly at his best friend. “How come he knew?” “Because I figured it out, Mart. I noticed they had changed their behavior, heck, they didn’t even watch as many movies as they used to.” With this, Dan smiled at Trixie and Jim. “And it was their secret to tell so I wasn’t going to get in the middle of it.” Brian jumped back in the conversation after trying to calm down. “I wasn't trying to pressure you into dating. I was doing my best to prevent it. I had no urge for my baby sister…” “Who’s the same age as my sister,” Jim interrupted. “Older actually.” “And besides, Brian.” Mr. Belden added, heading back to his seat. “It’s my job to be overprotective of Trixie and menacing towards her boyfriend, not yours.” Everyone laughed, easing the tension in the room. Jim smiled at Mr. Belden, thankful that he was able to joke right then. Jim stopped smiling when he looked at Mr. Belden and realized he was dead serious. Mrs. Wheeler took that time to break in. “I know that everyone has many more questions to ask these two, but why don’t we start on dessert. I’m also dying for a piece of that cheesecake.” Dessert was
served and everyone settled down, occasionally throwing glares at Jim
and Trixie. Diana finally smiled at Trixie
and Jim and whispered, “Congratulations you two. I
knew you’d make a great couple..” After
all, all we wanted was for them to date. We
evidently got our wish much earlier than we thought. And
at least this time, I wasn’t the only one left out of the loop. She glanced over at Mart, who still appeared to be fuming. She whispered to him, “Did you know that this cheesecake is called sex on a plate? I don’t get it, Marty. How could anyone ever manage to have sex on a plate? It’s too small and would be very uncomfortable.” She gave Mart her best innocent and naïve look. Mart looked at her blankly and then began to laugh. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, thankful that Diana was able to cheer him up. Besides, what should I be upset about? I wanted Jim and Trixie to date. He’s the only guy I’d trust with her. But they shouldn’t have kept it a secret. He scowled. Then again, it’s not like Diana and I told everyone the instant we started our relationship. He stopped scowling. Then again, it sure as hell wasn’t two months. He scowled. But hey, at least that means I didn’t have to know when Trixie actually kissed somebody. He stopped scowling and looked over at Trixie. She looked over at him, obviously wanting his forgiveness. Ah, who am I to judge? Mart smiled at Trixie and Jim, whispering “Congratulations.” Brian looked
over at Mart. Well, I guess I can’t
resist peer pressure. But I’m sure as hell
going to have an interesting talk with one James Winthrop Frayne the
Second. If he goes too far with Trixie,
he’s a dead man. Brian also whispered his congratulations to the pair. Jim leaned back and sighed in relief… it hadn’t gone as well as he had hoped, but, hell, he was still alive. * * * * * The men had all been banished into the kitchen to clean up, giving Mr. Belden the perfect opportunity to talk to Jim as they dried the dishes. “You know, Jim, I really, really, really didn’t need to see that. It’s hard enough knowing that someone has kissed my daughter, I don’t need to actually witness it.” "I’m sorry, sir. I just, well, couldn’t resist the set-up that Mart had given to me. And I do want the entire world to know that I’m dating Trixie. It’s been really hard hiding it. I’m so much happier now that we’re not dating in secret.” “Even with Brian glaring at you constantly?” Mr. Belden said, nodding his head at his eldest son who was, in fact, glaring at Jim. “Yes, even with that Your daughter is worth all of that and more. And I’ll do my best to be worthy of her.” Mr. Belden smiled at Jim’s sincerity. “Well, you remember that, Jim. And I’ll try and talk to Brian a bit and calm him down a bit.” “Thank you, Mr. Belden. I’d appreciate that.” Jim started to go to put the plates away. “You’re welcome. Oh, and Jim?” Jim turned around. “From now on, no more kissing my wife, OK?” Peter did his best to glare at Jim, but couldn’t keep himself from laughing when Jim once again turned red. “Yes, sir.” Jim laughed, finally relaxing and recognizing
the humor. In the den, Trixie was talking to her mother about that same almost-kiss. “So, Mother. I understand that you and Jim were kissing all alone in some dark hallway.” Mrs. Belden laughed. “Why yes, Trixie. Your boyfriend is pretty smooth. I guess he was just practicing that dip for his big production in the dining room.” Trixie smiled. “Yeah, I guess so. I can’t believe he did it that all so dramatically. I had envisioned something quiet and serious.” “Well, I don’t know if would have mattered to Mart, Brian, and Diana. They would have been angry and hurt regardless. I didn’t realize that Honey knew though.” Trixie looked over at Honey who was adding wood to the fireplace. “No, me neither. I’m going to have to ask her how she knew. Oh, and Moms?” “Yes, dear.” “Stop trying to
steal my boyfriend. I thought that kind of
stuff only happens on silly soap operas like Passions.” Mrs. Belden laughed. “Hey, if this was Passions, we’d have an orangutan taking care of all the dishes.” Mrs. Belden and Trixie had a secret addiction to the afternoon soap opera, loving it for its absurdity. They both were laughing as Trixie walked over to Honey. “OK, Honey. Seriously, how did you know? Have you really known forever?” “Well, actually, I just figured it out this week.” “How?” Trixie asked, wondering what she or Jim had done to give it away. “Well, remember when you spent the night and Jim came home early from school?” “Oh, God, Honey. Don’t tell me any more. Please tell me you didn’t…oh, God you did.” That night, Trixie had snuck over to Jim’s room to talk to him and they had talked. But the talking had quickly turned into kissing. They had stopped when they heard something in the hallway. But when they peeked out, no one was there. Evidently there had been someone there. Trixie’s blush rivaled Jim’s earlier one. “I did. I woke up and noticed you had left and that there was a light coming from Jim’s room. I figured you were over there talking to Jim and walked over to join you. But when I crossed the hallway… well…you didn’t sound like you were talking. I mean, you were saying things, but they mainly consisted of “Oh Jim” and “Oh Trixie.” “This is so embarrassing. I mean, we weren’t doing that much. We were just, you know, kissing, and …and...oh God this is embarrassing.” “It’s OK, Trixie. I know you weren’t doing that. But whatever you were doing, you sounded like you were enjoying it.” “Oh, God.” Trixie blushed even more furiously. At that moment, Jim walked back in the room, followed by most of the menfolk. Brian and Mr. Belden were still in the kitchen, having that talk. Jim walked over, trying to figure out why Trixie was so embarrassed. “What did you kiss my Dad now, thinking it was me?” “No, no, it’s worse than that. No, wait, I mean it’s nothing. Really, nothing at all.” Trixie said, deciding that it would be best to spare Jim from this knowledge. Jim, on the other hand, was now seriously curious. He kept insisting until Honey told him…and then he really wished he hadn’t. For the umpteenth time that day, Jim turned red. “Oh God. I can’t believe that my sister…oh, hell.” He shut up and looked over at Trixie. Honey smiled at him. “Well, aren’t you glad it wasn’t Brian that caught you?” Jim glared at his sister. “Well, yeah, cause I’d wonder what Brian was doing in the house that late at night.” “Well, evidently nothing more than what you and Trixie were doing.” With that, Honey smiled smugly, stood up, and crossed over to where Brian had just entered the room, managing to snag him under one of the many mistletoe bunches. Jim and Trixie looked at each other. “Thank God it’s over,” Trixie said. “No, love, it’s just beginning.” And once again, no mistletoe was required for these two.
It
contains: 1. Some part of the story must take place during
a holiday that falls between November 1 and New Years Day and have a
general holiday theme or feel to it. It’s
all for Christmas. 2. There must be a kiss by mistake. Definitely got that one. Jim kissing Mrs. Belden, Brian kissing Mrs. Wheeler, Mart kissing Mrs. Lynch. Dan kissing Mrs, Belden…or Mrs. Wheeler…or Mrs. Lynch. Pick one. And be glad, I was also going to have Mr. Lytell accidentally kiss Trixie, but decided against it. 3. You must include the song Love In An Elevator by Aerosmith. Mart plays it while picking out songs for dinner. 4. Someone must receive an "are you single" dating solicitation The Beldens receive one and Mart almost gave it to Trixie. 5. Cheesecake that is referred to as "sex on a plate". Mrs. Belden and Diana both call it that. 6. Someone other than Dan chopping wood. Brian, Mart, Jim did it as part of their manly jobs to prepare for dinner. 7. A single sock, placement optional. That was, sadly, the only thing that Jim wasn’t wearing. 8. People putting up decorations. The guys do that, especially placing mistletoe. 9. Appearance of another author's created character. Ideally, this should be limited to a "cameo" appearance unless otherwise agreed to by both the creating author and the borrowing author. Kyrie was kind enough to agree to loan me Winston Molinson, Wendell’s brother. He’s from Kyrie’s Love and Other Catastrophe’s universe. Kyrie, if you don’t know, kinda likes Brian. The stories are wonderful and Brian is anything but boring. J 10. A carryforward item from one of the three previous regular CWPs. I mention Nick Roberts, carrying over CWP 1’s mention of a secondary character. 11. A shooting star Well, this, of course, is the story the Molinsons read about Arnold Schwarzenneger doing a drive-by shooting. See, it’s a shooting star. Get it…he’s a star and he’s shooting and…hello, where’d everybody go? Oh come on, it’s not that bad of a pun. No, wait, it is. Sorry.
(Jenn’s note: The Bob-Whites are
living in New York, of course they are not Indians fans. They
root
for the Mets. ☺) Author’s note: Not! At
least some of them root for the Yankees! And
thanks also to Random House. Although I don't have their
permission to use their characters (and, of course, I'm not making any
profit from these stories), I'm so happy that they are reprinting the
Trixie stories and introducing them to a new generation. Even
with the pink shirt. Background
information for story: Jim and
Trixie first decide to hide their relationship from the others in "It's a
see-crud" MY TRIXIE HOME PAGE AND OTHER STORIES |