Christmas in Cabin Row

Beverly prepared herself to be nice to James but to not gush all over him like she felt like doing. She was going to tell him she was happy and getting along fine. If she just said that, maybe he’d not stay to talk and she could go home and cry.

When James walked up to her and sat down in the chair Mark had left empty, Beverly felt her heart speed up again and wanted to tell him what she really thought.

Don’t let this happen, she thought. It won’t do any good anyway. He’s still going to leave.

She was surprised when James touched her hand.

“Beverly, this will be the last set. It’s hard to talk here and I have some catching up to do. There’s a pancake place in Johnson City that’s open all night. Would you like to go there once everything’s over?”

Beverly wanted to say she had to get home, but when she opened her mouth, what came out was, “I guess that would be OK”.

James didn’t say anything during the half-hour drive, and Beverly was afraid to say anything for fear all her thoughts would come tumbling out. It wasn’t until the waitress sat their cups on the table and then left that James looked at Beverly and smiled.

“I lied about you not changing, Beverly. I remembered you these last years like you were when you were eighteen. You look older now and you’re pretty instead of cute.”

Beverly smiled.

“You drove me all the way to Johnson City to tell me I was pretty?”

James swirled his coffee cup.

“No. I needed to tell you some things I couldn’t tell you back there.”

“Like what?”

James took a deep breath.

“I did cut one CD of songs, but that was a year ago. Evidently, I’m not as good as everybody thought I was because my agent hasn’t been able to get anybody to buy it. I don’t think I’m ever going to be famous like you said.

“I’m still playing with a band on the weekends, and I make a little money doing that, but now, I have a full time job at the tire factory in Nashville. Have for almost two years now.”

Beverly smiled.

“That’s why you haven’t been back home then, isn’t it?”

James nodded.

“Yeah. Everybody was so proud when I went to Nashville. Some even said I was going to be another Doyle Lawson. I didn’t think that, but I thought I might be able to at least make a living. When that didn’t happen, I couldn’t come back home.”

“Then why did you come back home this year?”

James looked up from his coffee.

“Because I needed to see if you were still single and to talk to you if you were.”

Beverly’s mouth fell open for a moment.

“James, what are you trying to say?”

James smiled.

“Beverly, I knew you liked me in high school, because your mother told my mother. I also knew I could never make any kind of life for you if I stayed in Cabin Row. That’s why I went to Nashville in the first place. I couldn’t tell you anything then because I didn’t know if it was going to work out or not. When it didn’t…well, I couldn’t ask you to give up what you have just to starve with me. That’s why I went out and got a job – so I’d have a way to give you the things you want if I could convince you to come to Nashville with me.

“I don’t know if you’ll believe this or not, but I thought about you every night since I went to Nashville – what you were doing and if you’d gotten married and all that. When I saw you with that guy tonight, I figured I’d come back for nothing, but when he left, I wondered if…well, do you still feel anything for me after so long?”

Beverly just stared at James because she didn’t know how to tell him she’d done the same thing without seeming to be some crazy woman bearing a torch for him.

James looked at her and frowned.

“I guess you don’t. It was too much to hope for anyway. I’ll take you back to Cabin Row now.”

Beverly felt her eyes fill with tears and then felt those tears streaming down her face. She fished in her purse for a tissue, wiped her eyes, and then kept wiping the tears as she spoke.

“James, I thought about you every night too, but I thought you’d probably found some other woman and that’s why you stopped writing and never came home.”

James smiled a hopeful smile.

“So, there’s still something there?”

Beverly nodded.

“There has been since high school. That’s why I’m crying. I finally heard you say you felt something for me.”

“It doesn’t matter to you that I just work in a factory?”

Beverly sniffed.

“I just work at Walmart. Why would it?”

James shrugged.

“I don’t know. I just always wanted to be able to give you anything you wanted. I want to start seeing you, but I can’t because I still can’t do that.”

Beverly wiped her eyes again and then put her hand on James’.

“All I ever wanted was to be with you. It doesn’t matter to me how much we have as long as we have each other.”

James had to go back to work, but on Sunday night, he took Beverly to Johnson City to eat. When he parked in front of her parent’s house, he shut off the engine and then turned to her.

“Beverly, I had a great time tonight. I know I’m pushing you pretty fast, but could I take you out to eat next Saturday too?”

Beverly smiled.

“James, you’re not pushing me faster than I want to go. I’ve waited over two years for this.”

James reached over and took her hand.

“I won’t leave you for so long again, I promise. I can’t now. I’ll be back next Saturday and I won’t leave until Sunday night. I’d uh…well, the factory shuts down between Christmas Eve day and New Year’s Day. I planned on coming home then too, so if you’re not busy, maybe we could do something like go to a movie in Johnson City or something.”

Beverly felt him gently squeezing her hand and put her other hand over his.

“I have to work from the day after Christmas to New Year’s eve, but we could do something at night.”

“Well, you think about what you’d like to do then. I better let you go inside before you freeze out here. I’ll walk you to the door.”

Beverly didn’t want him to leave, but she knew James would get home late as it was. She started to open the door, but then turned back to James and put her arms around his neck.

“I can’t just let you leave, not after tonight. If you don’t kiss me, I’m going to kiss you.”

Beverly didn’t have to ask James to kiss her the next Saturday night, and when he kissed her on Sunday night, Beverly held her lips to his until she had to stop to breathe. When she eased back down from her tiptoes, she smiled.

“Promise you’ll kiss me again on Christmas Eve?”

James stroked her cheek.

“I don’t want to stop kissing you, not ever. I’ll give you a special kiss on Christmas Eve.”

}{

The afternoon of Christmas Eve, James called Beverly’s parent’s house, and her mother smiled when she handed Beverly the phone.

“Beverly, it’s James. He wants to talk to you.”

Her mother was still smiling when she tapped Beverly’s father on the shoulder.

“Honey, can you help me in the kitchen a little.”

Beverly waited until they left and then said, “Hi James.”

“I’m at Mom and Dad’s house, and I thought if you aren’t busy tonight, we could just eat at the diner in Cabin Row and then go see the nativity scene at the church. I always liked that nativity scene.”

Beverly said that would be fine and she’d be ready at five.

James was a little quiet at dinner and as they left the diner, Beverly asked him if something was wrong. James shook his head and smiled.

“No, everything’s perfect, or at least I hope it will be. Ready to go see the nativity scene now?”

The nativity scene was the same Beverly had seen every year since she could remember. The people who dressed up like Joseph, Mary, and the three wise men had changed over the years as had the two sheep and one cow, but the stable made from rough lumber was the same. In the manger was the same doll she’d seen before.

If she hadn’t been with James, she’d have just walked quickly past and then gone home. After he put his arm around her shoulders though, she wouldn’t have left for anything.

They stood there until James chuckled.

“I think Janice has gotten a little fatter since the last time I saw this. I don’t think Mary would have looked like that after she just had a baby.”

Beverly smiled.

“Janice isn’t fat. She’s expecting, but she still wanted to play Mary this year. I don’t think she looks that big. She’s only about four months along. She’s really happy about being expecting. She told me she and Jack have been trying for almost a year.”

James looked up at the sky.

“See that star up there between the trees? Suppose that’s what the wise men saw and followed to the stable?”

Beverly laughed.

“James, they couldn’t see that star way over in Bethlehem.”

“I know, but it’s the star that brought me back to you though. I saw it when I drove to your house tonight.”

James took his arm from his shoulder and gently turned Beverly until she was facing him.

“Beverly, I was going to wait until spring, but I let you go once, and I don’t want to risk that again. Would you want to take this so I won’t lose you again?”

He took a small box from his pocket and handed it to Beverly. When she opened it, she caught her breath and looked up at him.

James grinned.

“I couldn’t afford a very big diamond, but it’s a real diamond, not just glass, and the ring is real gold.”

Beverly looked at the ring and then back at James.

“You’re asking me to marry you?”

“I am if you’ll have me. I know this is pretty fast, so I don’t expect you to give me an answer tonight. I know you’ll need some time to think about it.”

Beverly threw her arms around James’ neck.

“I don’t have to think about it, James. Just put the ring on my finger and then kiss me.”

}{

From January until the end of May, James drove from Nashville to Cabin Row every weekend. The last day of May, Beverly quit her job at Walmart, and on the next Sunday afternoon, she and James were married in the First Baptist Church in Cabin Row.

This Christmas, they’re coming back to Cabin Row for the Christmas party, but this year, there will be a difference.

Beverly will bring a side dish and a pie, just like she has every Christmas since she was old enough to be thinking about a husband. James will bring his guitar and after the meal, he’ll sit in with the other men and play the old time music of the Tennessee mountains.

The difference will be what Beverly does. She found a job at the Walmart closest to their apartment in Nashville, and because she had experience, she was hired as a supervisor and didn’t have to work Saturday nights anymore. She started going with James when he played with his group of hobby musicians, and would sit at a table, tap her foot to the music and smile.

One Saturday night when she was fixing their dinner, James heard her singing “Dixie Darlin’” in the kitchen. He walked in and listened for a while, and then touched her on the shoulder.

Beverly jumped because she didn’t know he was there, but smiled when James said, “You sing pretty good. Why don’t you sing “Dixie Darlin’” with the band tonight? The folks would love it”.

That night, Beverly took a deep breath, stepped in front of the microphone, and started to sing. Her voice was a little shaky at first, but when she saw the people smiling, she stopped shaking and let her voice flow. She’s been singing with the band on Saturday nights since then.

This Christmas, she’ll sing “Dixie Darlin’” while she smiles at James, but together, they’ll sing several other songs too. They’ll end the last set by singing, “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” together.

Beverly picked that song because it reminds her of Christmas Eve the year before. The star she and James saw that night wasn’t in Bethlehem, but just like that star brought the wise men to the manger, this one brought James back to her. That’s what she’ll tell the people sitting in the basement of the First Baptist Church, and then she’ll try hard not to cry when she and James hold hands and sing it together.