A roaring fire crackled merrily at the hearth and cast its cozy light upon the room. The wide windows facing the garden were frosted over and outside the snow was falling fast and thick, washing the landscape with white. The tree, standing proud and tall in one corner of the room, was alit with a thousand stars, and the angel on top was smiling benevolently over the scene. Several gaily-wrapped packages sat under the tree and were merely waiting for someone’s happy hands to tear them open. In the dining room, three places had been set and a Christmas feast was laid upon the table, with two slender red candles burning bright.
Katherine Montgomery sat in one of the thickly padded easy chairs near the tree, her shoes lying on the floor in front of her, legs drawn up against her chest, her delicate face enthroned upon her knees. She was wearing a short silk dress of emerald green that matched the color of her eyes, and the firelight set her red-gold mane aflame.
A soft, sweet slow waltz played over the sound system, and she silently sat there staring into the fire, waiting for her partner to come and ask her to dance. The middle of the room had been cleared as a dance floor hours ago, she had made sure of that even before she had put her five-year old son to sleep.
But her partner was nowhere to be found.
It was Christmas eve, and Zachary Montgomery had
not yet come home.
Keith Zachary Montgomery, all of five years old, sat at the third step from the top of the staircase, his head stuck through the wooden banisters and was silently seeking a glimpse of his Mommy. He had wakened from a restless sleep, too wound up with anticipation for the morrow’s orgy of present opening to settle into a deep, dreamless sleep. And then there was also the unfamiliar feeling of not having his Daddy there on Christmas. In the span of Keith’s short life, Daddy had never, ever missed Christmas.
He had caught a glimpse of his mother’s red-gold hair in the living room, and he carefully made his way down the stairs, one hand clinging to the banister as his parents instructed and the other clinging to a rather worn blue flannel baby blanket.
Katherine looked up from her perusal of the fire at the faint scuffling sound coming from the stairs, and her eyes widened at the sight of her young son in his rocket pajamas coming down the stairs with his blanket, dark hair tousled from bed, dark eyes wide awake. She stood up from her chair and walked to him, picking him up just as he got off the last step, blanket and all.
“What are you doing awake, little man?” she asked him, drawing warmth from his sturdy, little body snuggling up against her in trust. He had put his head upon her shoulder and had put the blanket in his mouth, gnawing reflectively. She sat back down into the chair, gathering him to her, and gazing into his wide eyes sternly.
“Is Daddy back now?” Keith asked, his small face furrowed into a frown.
Katherine gently took out the blanket from his mouth, and sighed. “No, Keith, Daddy isn’t home yet,” she said softly, laying her head upon the dark head of unruly hair not unlike Zachary’s.
“But Daddy’s never, never missed Christmas,” he told her, trouble in his voice. “Where is he, Mommy? When’s he comin’ back?”
Katherine struggled to hold on to her composure as she heard her son ask the same questions she had been asking in her mind for the past two weeks. Commodore Zachary Montgomery had been due back from his latest mission in the Far Galaxy three weeks ago and on orders his team should have begun making contact with Galaxy Garrison again two weeks ago, but nothing had been heard from them. Katherine was beginning to fear that something had gone wrong.
She kissed the top of Keith’s head gently. “Daddy will be back soon, hon. He’s just a little bit late coming home this time,” she explained with a bright smile, keeping her voice cheerful for his sake.
“Will he be back for Christmas, Mommy? He’s never, never missed Christmas.”
“I can’t tell for sure,” she said soothingly, her voice breaking slightly nonetheless. “But he’s never let us down before, honey.”
Keith suddenly sat up straight in her lap, face first alert then breaking into a smile. “It’s your song, Mommy!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together in delight. “Are you gonna be dancing tonight?”
“When Daddy comes home, little man,” she whispered,
barely meeting her son’s eager eyes, so like Zach’s. “When Daddy comes
home.”
A Christmas Waltz -- Zachary: First Sight