Christmas Miracle

CHRISTMAS MIRACLE?

"Honey, we need to . . . "

As soon as he heard those words, Corey zoned out.

"You know that I love you . . . "

That phrase confirmed his fears. Plan A was now in effect.

"Excuse me dear, there's something I need to get from the car."

"But Corey, this is important." He ignored her.

In a few minutes, he came back with a gift-wrapped box and a card.

"What is this?"

"You'll see, Melinda. Wait, I just need to do one more thing." He headed back outside.

She waited a minute until her curiosity was too great to resist. The envelope was addressed to her and he hadn't said to wait. She opened the envelope and saw the anniversary card. Their anniversary was still a few weeks away. "Why give it to me now?"

The outside of the card had a nice romantic message. When she turned to the inside, she found something else -- a handwritten note from her husband.

"Please feel free to wear what's in the box on your date with Todd on Friday night. Corey."

Melinda shuddered. "Oh shit, he knows." She calmed down. She was about to tell him about Todd tonight anyway. It was to be a 'take it or leave it' deal. The point was to make Corey jealous so he would pay more attention to her. She need that. Corey had worked overtime for so long it made it plain to her how little he cared for her.

She opened the gift-wrapped box and gasped. It was the emerald and diamond necklace she had fallen in love with many months earlier. He must have put down a deposit and paid it off later. Guilt smacked her hard in the face. "Oh my God, what have I done." She rushed to the door to see what was keeping Corey. His car was now gone from the driveway.

Melinda immediately called Todd and told him that Friday night was cancelled. She told him her husband knew. "So, what? You were going to tell him anyway. Come on, Melinda, you know you want it. You've been teasing me for weeks. You owe me at least one time."

"You prick. I can't believe I let you seduce me. I don't want to talk to you again."

"No problem bitch. I can find a better-looking woman and one with an ass that would fit through doorways. I only agreed to fuck you because you pursued me so hard. Just because you don't want to fuck me right now doesn't mean you're not a slut. Good luck with your husband."

"What am I going to do?" Melinda sat on the couch wondering what would happen with her marriage. "At least he didn't say anything about divorce. He'll come back tonight. I'm sure of it. We have 18 years of a good marriage and two kids. He won't walk away from that." She drank some wine and waited. Melinda was glad the kids were already in bed.

The next morning, Melinda awoke on the couch still clutching the box containing her necklace. She assumed Corey had returned and didn't want to disturb her. She ran up the stairs almost stumbling because of her haste. Calling out "Corey," she looked into the bedroom. The bed was still made. No one had slept there last night. Her daughter came out of the bedroom down the hall.

"Mom, isn't that the outfit you wore yesterday? What gives?" Barrett was her 14-year-old daughter. It was time for damage control.

"Barry, I fell asleep on the couch. I just woke up. I guess I drank enough wine to make me sleepy. I need to hustle to get ready for work."

"Is Dad downstairs? I need to tell him about the change of time of the soccer match. The junior varsity game got cancelled so the varsity is playing early. I hope he can make it. I'm going to be playing goalie for the first time. It kind of scares me."

"Your Dad got a call last night. He had to go out of town for a work emergency. I will tell him of your schedule change. You know he hates to miss your games. I'm sure he'll be there if at all possible."

Their son Brady came out of his room. He was in a surly mood. Melina said, "Good morning, Brady."

He kept his head down and grunted, "Yeah, right." He paused and added, "Dad's gone, isn't he?"

Melinda choked a second. "He's gone on a last-minute business trip. He'll be home soon."

Once again, she was rewarded with a, "Yeah, right." He looked like he was about to cry. Instead, he went downstairs.

Melinda arrived at work a couple of minutes late. She looked around in fear of someone knowing what had happened. She counseled herself that her fear was unfounded. Until.

Her secretary, Lynn, handed her a couple of messages. Melinda scanned them quickly in hopes that Corey would have sent one. No such luck. Instead, her secretary informed her, "Look, I don't know what's going on with you and this Todd fellow, but I don't appreciate him cursing at me when I told him you weren't in yet."

"Lynn, he's an asshole that you can hang up on should he call back. I'm sorry he did that to you." She worried that his call meant her secret was leaking out.

Melinda was not efficient in doing her work that morning. She finally gave in and called Corey's office. Barbara was his secretary with whom she had a good relationship.

"Hi, Melinda. What can I do for you?"

"Uh, I was hoping to speak to my husband." There was a pause in getting a response from Barbara.

"I assumed he was with you. He called and took a personal day off. I thought you two probably wore yourself out after he gave you your anniversary present last night. He did give it to you, didn't he?"

"Yes. How do you know he was giving me something?"

"Are you kidding? We have been wondering why Corey was always volunteering for more overtime. Why did he need the extra money? He was very secretive about it. We even had a pool on what the reason was. The men said it was to pay for an abortion for his girlfriend. The women said it was to pay a gambling debt. We were so ashamed when he came in one morning with a big grin on his face. He showed me the necklace first. I started crying it was so beautiful. The other women in the office flocked around.

"Melinda, I need to warn you. Several of the women said they wanted the first shot at Corey if you ever decide to get rid of him. I said there was no way a woman would get rid of a husband who would give her a gift like that. What was your reaction when you saw it?"

Melinda had to think quick. "I was . . . speechless."

"Now, why did you call?"

"Never mind, I just remembered where Corey is. Bye."

Melinda had no idea where Corey was, but she was afraid what he would do. She went to her computer and looked up their joint accounts online. There was a withdrawal of $1000 from their account. Melina was somewhat relieved. She had feared he would withdraw half in preparation for divorce or all of it in preparation for burning the bitch. She had no way of checking on the other action she feared. There were too many divorce attorneys to try calling each of them.

In the midst of Melinda's mental turmoil that afternoon, she received am email on her office account from Corey. Her heart was pounding as she anxiously read it.

"Melinda,

"It almost broke my heart when I heard that you might be planning a tryst with some guy named Todd. I had already bought the card and necklace. I decided to give you one chance. You would either tell me that you had realized you had made a mistake and were not going to meet Todd, or you were going to take on a lover despite having a husband. As you know, you took the latter option. That's when my heart broke all the way.

"You know now that my overtime was a means of getting the money to give you the necklace you wanted so badly. If I had known it would cost me my marriage, I would never had done it. I just never thought you would lose faith in me so quickly. It seems like even after almost 15 years of marriage, we don't know each other very well.

"The one thing I had hoped you knew about me was that I have been totally devoted to your happiness. That is still true regardless of what you just did. I am, therefore, letting you have the man of your choice and will not stand in your way for you to be happy with him. I am leaving. You can file for divorce. I will not sign it, but I will not challenge it. In addition, you can keep the necklace. Not only can I not return it, the necklace was purchased when I still thought we were a lifelong couple. Please consider it as the last token of my love for you.

"I have also emailed the kids about my departure. Leaving them is much harder than leaving you. The deciding factor in my being able to leave them was the knowledge that your new husband will need to make himself a part of the family you and I started. Visitations with me would only delay the successful blending of a new family. I hoped I conveyed my everlasting love for them and why I am doing what I think best for all of us. I apologize for any adverse reactions that this may cause them. Maybe you can arrange for therapy for them. I hope your new husband has money to replace my income. I only took $1000 because I knew you would probably need time to adjust to the loss of my income.

"It's time for me to leave. I sincerely hope that everything works out the way you had planned."

"Corey"

Melinda took sick leave the rest of the day and prepared for whatever reactions her children had. Her stomach was in knots.

*****

Barret and Brady got off the bus at the usual time. They were a little surprised to see their mom's car there. They figured it had something to do with their Dad.

"What's going on, Mom?"

"Have you read your email from your Dad?"

"No, we've been in school all day. What's the matter? Is something wrong with Dad? Does he have cancer?"

"No, no. It's not that. I think you need to look at the email and come back and talk."

The kids went up to their rooms. Brady went in his sister's room to read the email with her. In a few minutes they came down. Barrett was angry-looking, and Brady was crying.

Melinda asked, "Do you have questions?"

Barrett said, "When's your boyfriend moving in?"

"I have no boyfriend. I made a big mistake. No one is moving in. I am hoping I can convince your father to move back in. I have a lot of apologizing to do. It is my fault, not his."

Brady yelled out through his tears, "Stop it! It's my fault Dad left."

Melinda tried to console him. "Brady, it's not your fault. I know . . . "

"No! I'm the one who told him about you and Todd."

"What? How did you know?"

"You know how I like to mess around with electronic stuff. Well, I developed a way to tap your cell phone. I recorded some conversations. Dad caught me and took the recordings. I guess he played conversations you had with Todd. I have never seen him so sad. He made me promise not to tell. I'm sorry." Brady was now sobbing.

Melinda thought, "Well, now I know how he found out."

*****

Days went by. Weeks went by. After four months, there was finally news. Corey's car had been found crashed and abandoned. His wallet was in the glove compartment with all his money, ID, and credit cards removed. Melinda now knew the source of the mysterious credit card billings. There was no sign of Corey. The police assumed a carjacking gone bad. Corey was probably dead, but the location of his body was unknown.

When a year passed, Melinda filed for divorce under abandonment. She needed to do that in order to access the rest of Corey's assets she did not already have access to. It hurt her deeply to have to file. She had to take a part-time job in addition to her regular job. Barrett and Brady complained about having to do extra work to make up for their Dad's absence. They never failed to remind their mother of what her mistake was costing them.

Melinda never dated. She had offers from men to help her out, however, it was usually clear that they expected sex from her in exchange. There would be no other men until she knew what happened to Corey.

*****

It was now three years since Corey's disappearance without any information except his crashed car. They had been able to circulate missing person flyers in every town where the credit cards had been used to no avail. It was getting to be Christmas time. Barrett and Brady were asked what they wanted for Christmas. There wish was the same as their mother's and was the same as the year before and the year before that: Corey's return.

The phone call came one night. An Emergency Room doctor in Texas had treated a man with an old scar from a 22 caliber rifle. The doctor was one of the people with perfect memory. He had remembered that detail from the missing person flyer. Someone found an old copy and called Melinda. She asked where he was now. She almost fainted when they said, 'the local homeless shelter.'

Melinda got the shelter's number and called the director. "Do you have a Corey Johnson staying there?" She was devastated when the director said no. Melinda then went to describe Corey and the director.

"We have a man who has amnesia that we call Rustler. He worked for a local rancher who gave him the name. He swears he doesn't know his real name or where he came from."

"Please take a picture of him and send it to me. We've been looking for him for three years." The director agreed and within 15 minutes Melinda had a photograph of a bearded, sunburnt, skinny man. It took a while before Melinda could see enough resemblance to say it could be him. She showed the picture to Barry who immediately said, "That's Dad." Brady agreed. Melinda made arrangements to go pick him up. The director warned that the man might not want to go.

Melinda decided to take Corey's brother with her. She needed someone who would keep the speed of the car under 90 miles an hour and who Corey might recognize. She prayed during the time of the drive when her former brother-in-law drove. He prayed for his safety when she drove.

They arrived at the shelter after a 14 hour drive they made in 11 hours. Melinda went to the director and the man was called to her office. The man showed no sign of recognition to either Melinda or Rory, his brother. She went to hug him, and he spoke, "Whoa, lady. I ain't had a woman in a long time but I ain't about to hook up with you just because you think I'm your long, lost husband."

"Corey, I know it's you. I can tell by your voice. The long hair, beard and skinny body are different, but I know it's you. Don't you recognize your brother, Rory?"

"You're kidding. Corey and Rory? Who the hell would name their sons that? You trying to tell me we're twins?"

Rory interjected, "No, asshole. Our parents were too cute for their own good. Cut the bullshit. It's time for you to come home."

Melinda chimed in, "Your kids have grown so much since you've gone. They have never given up hope that you would come back. Here, I took a picture of them just before I left. The man saw the picture of two kids holding a sign saying, "Welcome Home, Dad."

"Nice looking kids. They favor you."

"They look like both of us, Corey."

"Whatever. Anyway, what's the story of you being here?"

Melinda explained what happened including the unfulfilled tryst with Todd. She was honest and apologetic. She told him they were divorced.

The man responded. "Let's see if I got this right. You cuckold your old man. He is such a wuss he doesn't even shoot your lover. He just takes off leaving you with two kids and a lover to take care of. Then you divorce him. Sounds like closure to me. What do you need me for?"

"I need you to be my husband. Your kids need you to be their father. We can get re-married. I only divorced you for economic reasons. I never stopped loving you even when I was using Todd to make you jealous. I still love you. You have a life waiting for you to pick up where you left off."

Rory butted in, "Get your head out of your butt, little brother and do what you should do."

"Fuck you 'brother.' It sounds like to me that this Corey fellow did the right thing except for not castrating his wife's lover. Anyway, what's in it for me if I go back with you?"

Rory again replied, "Like you've got better prospects here."

Melinda pled, "Corey come back and see what's waiting for you. A nice home, good food, and two children and a wife who love you."

"What will I do for money?"

"You might be able to get your old job back, but until then I'll provide you with some money to live on."

"Will you let me buy some booze with the money?"

"If that's what it takes."

"Okay, I'll give it a try, but I ain't promising nothing."

Rory interrupted, "Melinda, I'm not sure you should do it."

"What? I didn't come all this way to let him get away again. Once we get him home, he'll change. I know it."

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

They drove back. Before long they wished they had made him bathe before the trip. Melinda stopped at the first Walmart for new clothes and then went to a truck stop for their showers. The trip went much smoother although the man refused to shave his bread which was now clean.

The man got sick of being asked, "Does this seem familiar? Don't you remember when we ***** there? Surely, you know what that is." Soon, he just ignored the questions.

The door to the car was barely open before two kids came running up to hug the man. He barely hugged back. That did not stop their enthusiasm. They begged him for his story as they sat down to the kitchen table. He asked for some coffee.

"My life as I know it started on a stretch of road where I was wandering. I had a bump and a gash on my head. Dried blood covered half my face. Someone drove by me and called someone on the phone. A while later, a deputy Sheriff picked me up and took me to an Emergency Room. I had no memory and no wallet. The police checked my fingerprints and found no match on file. There was no missing person report that fit my profile. The Sheriff figured I had been carjacked and mugged. He suggested I stay around there until someone came looking for me.

"When I asked where I would stay and what I would do for money, he advised I go to the Double XX ranch. They were always hiring and gave room and board as part of the pay which was just enough to get drunk on every Friday. So,I became a ranch hand. I wasn't a very good ranch hand, but I worked hard. I was there over two years. One day I was fixing some barbed wire fencing and it tore loose from one of the posts and coiled back quickly with me in the middle of the coil. The head of the ranch took me to the ER and gave me my last paycheck. I was fired.

"The ER doctor asked me about the bullet wound on my shoulder. I told him that I didn't know where it came from. Then, I told him I had amnesia. I was sent to the homeless shelter. Before I could figure out what to do, the director of the shelter sent off a picture of me. Later she told me that she had gotten a call from a woman who said she was my wife and was coming to get me. I was hoping that I had some young, rich trophy wife, but your mother is not that bad looking. She doesn't seem to be my type though.

"She came with some guy who said he's my brother. I was given a photograph of you guys. I wanted to be able to recognize you, but nothing came to me. You look like you're great kids. I just don't know if I'm your Dad or not. I'm here for a while to see if I remember anything."

"You're our Dad and we're not letting you go again." This time the hug was fully returned.

Melinda wipe her eyes and said, "Let's get your stuff upstairs." They went up and she showed him the master bedroom. "I assume it's too soon for you to consider sleeping her with me. Let's put your stuff in the guest bedroom."

"Lady, it's been a long time since I had sex. You are definitely good-looking enough for me to want to do you. If we did have sex now though, it would just be fucking and not making love. If that's good enough for you, it's good enough for me."

"Maybe in a few days. I want to make love to my husband, not a homeless stranger."

*****

In a few days, Melinda had to go back to work. She was reluctant to leave the man by himself. She tried to get him to shave off his beard and go visit his old workplace. The man was not willing to do that yet.