Jasper stood with the knife and fork already in the big bird and growled again, before bowing his head.
Jasper stood ten minutes, getting angrier by the minute. Finally, the reverend said amen. Jeanne opened her eyes, her fingers clutching the cross and gold chain that Jasper had removed from Henri. She crossed her hand over her chest, stared up at him with pleading eyes and smiled.
“This is such a special Christmas for us. I’m so glad you could join us for our first meal cooked in my new kitchen,” she said as she set the bread on the table.
“It’s wonderful of you to ask,” Charlotte said. “I was dreading eating alone. My mother sent a tin of fish, but it would make a poor repast compared to this.”
“This would have been a smoked ham, if Delmar …show more content…
“To love, happily ever after,” he said.
“Merry Christmas,” Dovie said at the same time as Charlotte. They all shared the toast, then sat down to talk about the interesting Melungeons and their wine-making skills.
“You know I had a chance to get to know the Bridgers. Fascinating people. They are proud to be Melungeon, but none of them are really the same people. The father and son, boasted of their Cherokee blood, and you could see it in their faces. Bailey and little Joey, well, she says they are descended from Portuguese sailors, some of which are Moors. But those two are dark and have curly hair.” He waved his hand as though having a different opinion.
“The Mother though, she claims to be part Romany gypsy. She and the son, Gabriel, they had visions. You know, she claimed he knew when he left how he would die. But they could not persuade him to stay away from this woman, Alma Daniel. He loved her that much. What do you think of that?”
“I had them as students when they were children. They were both so smart. You could tell then, that they had a special connection.”
“Poppycock,” the reverend said, holding his glass out for more …show more content…
She really felt sorry for Charlotte. With Delmar playing all the time, she didn’t have a chance to step around the big kitchen.
Henry was asleep in his cradle beside the bed, worn out from all the noise and excitement of being passed around and sung to. When Delmar had played and sang “There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, Charlotte had sung the dear Henry lines. The baby had turned from one to the other and Jeanne had slipped from the kitchen to the blanket chest. The rest of the gifts could wait, but she didn’t want Jasper to miss out on anything else.
When he had pulled the cloth off the mysterious shaped object she handed him, she studied his face carefully. He raised it up, looked confused. She took it and placed the tip in his good ear and he put his hand up to clasp it, keeping it there as she sat on his lap, placed both hands on his chest.
She whispered into the trumpet end, “I love you darling. I want you to be able to hear everything, even Henry’s first words and our new babies first breath. Merry Christmas.”
He nodded. As the couple sang and the baby in Dovie Watkin’s lap, clapped with her help, Jasper smiled for the first time at the beautiful music.