THE CAVERN OF DEEP HARMONY

PART FORTY-FIVE:

"Eden?" Martha said from the doorway to the parlor, where Eden was sitting on the couch beside Marshall. It was early afternoon on Christmas Eve and the two of them had been in deep conversation for a while.

"What is it, Martha?"

"I wanted you to meet our Christmas guests, a mother and her grown daughter."

Eden rose, turning to face the door. Her mouth literally dropped open. "CONNIE!"

Connie came into the room, a big, satisfied smile on her face. "You think Mom and I are doing without you for Christmas this year, you got another think coming, kid."

Her mother, Edith, was right behind her. Eden hurried around the couch, hugging both women at once, then stepped back, looking at her cousin. "You didn't tell me! How could you not tell me?"

"This, that look on your face. I didn't want to miss the look," Connie laughed. Peering past Eden, she whispered, "Is that...him?"

Marshall stood, turning, smiling because he had been able to hear the joy in Eden's voice.

"Oh, my God!" Connie said in Eden's ear. "Better than the picture in the paper."

Marshall acted like he hadn't heard. "Cousin Connie, I presume?"

Connie walked around the couch. He heard her steps and held out his hand, one corner of his mouth up in a bit of a grin. She put her hand in his and he laid his other atop it. "You've made Christmas even better for Eden with your surprise."

Connie, never having heard his voice, was fascinated by its deep, rich tone. She looked from Marshall back to where Eden was standing, her arm around Edith's waist, and made a thumb's

up gesture with her free hand. Eden grinned and dipped her head in an acknowledging nod. "And I cannot tell you how glad I am finally to meet you," Connie replied. "Not that Eden has really ever mentioned you to me, of course." She laughed lightly.

Eden came around, bringing Edith with her. "Marshall, I've got Connie's Mom, Edith, here with me. She's my aunt but has always been more another mother for me."

"Edith," Marshall said, as Connie withdrew her hand and he moved his in the other woman's direction."

Edith, a just slightly plump woman in her late 50's, with grey-streaked faded red hair that had once looked very much like Eden's, had to clear her throat before she could speak. For some years now she'd been worried about Eden, afraid she would spend the rest of her life alone. As she'd entered the parlor and stood by her niece, carefully observing the light in Eden's eyes as she looked at Marshall, the truth of what Eden had been telling her on the phone finally hit her. She cast a quick glance to her side at Eden, then took Marshall's proffered hand. Several dozen quick little thoughts were running through her mind all at once, things she might say...I see how much Eden loves you...I'm so glad you didn't die and leave her alone again...I can tell you've been terribly sick but you seem to be on the mend...do you love her as muchas she loves you...it's wonderful you live in Pittsburgh so she won't be moving away from us, not like her mother did....

"Merry Christmas, Marshall," was what she said.

"Merry Christmas, Edith," he returned. Both of his parents had been only children, so he'd never had aunts or uncles...or cousins. "And to you, too, Connie. There's nothing quite like having family for the holidays."

Connie, who was taller, thinner than Eden, and with short, curly red hair so dark it was almost a burnished brown, stood, still facing Marshall, a rather sloppy grin on her face, her eyes sparkling.

Eden pulled her back a few steps as Marshall and Edith spoke. "You've got the stuff?" she whispered.

"Sheesh, Cuz," Connie giggled, "you make me sound like a crack dealer. Of course I've got the stuff. Seemed better to bring it myself than wire it. Besides, you know I had to see him for myself."

"Good?"

"All good, better than good. Good is not nearly good enough," Connie whispered. She and Eden had grown up very much like sisters. Connie was Edith's only child and was two years older than her cousin. Her house was only two blocks from Eden's when they were kids and they'd spent the better part of their days going back and forth between the two homes. The two months Eden had been at the inn had been the longest they'd ever gone without seeing one another. Connie had been married for seven years in her 20's, a marriage that had ended in a rather bitter divorce. She had no children and lived now in an apartment a short drive from Eden's.

Martha looked in the door, smiling. All three women were in a semi-circle in front of Marshall. Her smile widened. Three women. He would have three of them now to be good to him. She'd rather enjoyed being in on Connie's little secret, handling the room reservation and not saying a word. Little secrets and Christmas, they went hand in hand. Then she returned to her kitchen. Her own family would be coming over for dinner this evening...all of them...all around the dining room table with Marshall and his ladies. Harold was even now adding the extra leaves to the table, making it big enough for everyone.

She'd invited Mike, too. He'd had Christmas Eve dinner with them for many years now. This year, though, she'd had to really work on him to get him to say he'd come. He'd never been reluctant before. An observant woman, she knew why, but she also knew he'd be alone if he didn't come. So she played up his close friendship with Ryan, her eldest son. Ryan was the only one of her children who'd not married. His job as a travel agent had taken him to several cities, but right now he lived in Cleveland. She smiled again, thinking of him, of how he was so
determined to see every bit of the world he could. At 41, he'd managed to see a huge part of it.

Elizabeth was in the kitchen along with Stuart's wife, Joan, two of Joan's daughters and three of Martha's daughters-in-law. Good thing it was a huge kitchen, Martha thought as she entered, what with so many cooks 'n all.

After Harold got the leaves in the dining room table, he set up three card tables over to the side for the kids. He was just finishing this when Luke came in, studied what his grandfather was doing, then announced, "I'm not eating at the little peoples' tables this year."

"And why would that be?" Harold asked, looking fondly across the room at his serious little grandson.

"Because I want to sit next to Marshall."

"You do, now do you?"

"I do."

"Well, you go clear that with your Grandmother and I'll make sure and fit in a chair for you, too."

As Marshall and the three women sat together in the parlor, Eden noticed his hand go to his breast pocket and that he had his dark glasses folded and tucked there. He was thinking about his eyes. He was meeting new people, a lot of new people today and wasn't used to not wearing his dark glasses. Damn Beatrice, she thought again, hating that he should feel the slightest discomfort, especially with Edith and Connie, with whom it was totally unnecessary. Then Martha and Harold's whole family would be coming over shortly. He must be thinking of them, too. She watched as his fingers ran across the top fold of the glasses, linger a moment, then drop back to his lap.

"Right, Eden?" Connie said.

"I...I'm sorry, Con. I didn't hear what you said."

"I asked if you thought a rural Christmas like this was kind of nicer than back in the city."

She didn't really care where she was spending Christmas. All Eden needed was that Marshall be there. "Uh, yes, yes, I do think it's nicer," she mumbled, getting a rather sharp look in return from Connie, who could easily see Eden's mind was elsewhere.

"Your parents, Eden," Marshall asked, "did they not come to Pittsburgh for the holidays?"

Eden realized she hadn't mentioned them to him, mentioned where they'd be. "No, they went to, where was it this year, Con...Aruba?"

Connie nodded. "Aunt Cerise likes warm for Christmas."

"That's my mother," Eden explained. "After she left the Pennsylvania snows behind, she hasn't been all that much for returning. She and my father like to travel," she shrugged, "so for the last several years, they've found some place more exotic to be for Christmas than Pittsburgh."

Unseen by Marshall, Edith reached out and cupped her hand over Eden's right arm. He did the same thing with her left. Edith and Connie both watched his movement and shared a pleased smile.

They talked for a good while, Connie and Edith getting acquainted with Wadsworth as well, then Eden noticed that Marshall was beginning to look really tired. "Why don't you two get settled in your rooms and Marshall can rest for a little bit before dinner?" 

He didn't protest.  It was still an effort for him to go up the stairs, and he still had to put both feet on each step. Watching him made his condition more real for the newly-arrived women.

At the top of the stairs, Eden said, "I'll come down in just a minute, ok?" 

In their room, Marshall lay on the bed, his forearm across his upper face. "Are you up for a big family dinner, darling?" she asked, concerned.

He didn't move his arm. "Just need to rest a minute. I'll be fine."

"You know you'd say you were fine if you were lying beside the tracks and a train had just severed your legs."

She saw his lips curve slightly. "I probably would."

"You sleep. I'll go visit with Connie and Aunt Edith. Their room is two doors down on the right if you need me."

He didn't answer and she could see his mouth had relaxed, so she went quietly out of their room, tapping on her family's door.

When Connie opened it, Eden said, "He's sleeping already."

"I don't think I really realized until just now how hurt he'd been, Eden."

"You should have seen him a week ago, Con. He looked like he'd arm wrestled a cement mixer. Most of the bruises are pretty faded by now, but the pneumonia has left him really weak, and

his right knee makes it hard for him to walk."  She sat down on the edge of one of the two beds, looking at her hands in her lap. "No body knows how he made it out of there. He was so sick, you have no idea how sick, and he kept falling over and over and over...the whole thing was a nightmare."

"But he did make it out, Eden," Edith said softly. "That's all that matters."

Eden nodded. "It is all that matters. It really is."

"I can tell," Edith said.

Eden turned large green eyes on her aunt. "I know I've only known him a couple of months, but he means more to me already than anything...anything...ever has."

Edith was aware of an intensity in Eden she'd never seen before. "I like him very much, darling," she said. "He seems to be everything you've said he was."

"I'm glad you came." Eden blinked back tears. "I'm so glad you came, both of you."

Edith had been widowed for 15 years now. These two young women meant the world to her. "Christmas wouldn't be the same without you, darling. And to have not only the three of us together, but to have him, too. We both just really wanted to meet him after all you've said. And he's a lovely man, he really is."

They talked a while longer then Eden suddenly remembered and asked, "They're not still in the car, are they?"

"Oh, they'll be fine, worry wart," Connie laughed.

"Let's go get them. Now. Please? I...I'd just feel better if I knew they were safe in your room."

After the younger women had made a trip out to Connie's car, and talked some more, Eden slipped quietly back into the room she shared with Marshall. He lay on his back, his arm now at his side rather than across his face, and seemed to be still sleeping. She knelt on the floor beside
the bed, just appreciating his aliveness. "Thank You, God," she whispered.

"For what?"

"You're awake!"

"You're thanking God I'm awake?"

"I'm thanking Him that you're alive."

He turned his head toward her. "I'm thankful you're alive, too."

"It's not the same thing. I haven't almost kicked the bucket twice in two months."

"And you better not, either."

She laughed. "I promise."

"But, Eden, it is the same thing, you know. That you are alive is the most important thing there is to me."  He moved his hand to the side of the bed, reaching out, finding her head, sliding his palm around her cheek. She turned her face into it, kissing his hand.

"Merry Christmas Eve," he said softly, and she got up, sliding onto the bed beside him, her arm over his chest, her face tucked against his neck. He put his hand atop her arm, sighing deeply.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"I'm thinking you are the best Christmas present I've ever had."  He moved his head enough to kiss her temple then sighed contentedly again.

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