Mr. C and the HO, HO, HOE Pt. 02

"Come, boys," she said to the two Doofs. The storm over her head returned to thundershowers. The doofs staggered to their feet and preceded her out.

Chris looked at Jeeves.

"Well? The 'position' still stands?? What the heck is THAT all about???"

Jeeves watched as the fine looking backside of the Earth Goddess sashayed out the door.

"She has been after me for a number of decades to come work for her, sir. I'm not interested."

Chris couldn't resist

.

"Why not?"

Jeeves turned back to his employer as the door closed on that magnificent ass.

"Simple, sir. Too much estrogen." With that he smiled and looked at the girls.

"Not cute estrogen, like we have here.

"Will that be all, sir?"

"Yes, Jeeves.

"And thank you for your loyalty."

"As always, sir." Another smile as he retrieved the tray and goblet, bowed slightly, and returned to his duties.

"Well, girls, daddy has some things to take care of in New Jersey."

I called the hangar and had them fuel up the F-10000 and have it ready, just in case. Them I told them to pre-flight the G-IV and get ready to leave for New Jersey. (It's nice to have unlimited funds, and I L-O-V-E toys. Heh, Heh, Heh.) I met with Cassie and Esmy and we looked over the particulars.

I have quite a large campus here for different people and small orphan children I pick up on my travels. Our school starts at third grade and runs to high school. The kids all get to go to college for all different subjects and some come back to live here, while others go out into the world. Their choice.

I left to go change and after selecting a conservative western-cut suit, I uttered the spell and changed back into 'Santa Clause', secret agent mode (GRIN). I grabbed my coat and my John Dutton stetson and left for the hangar.

The weather was severe clear, but starting to get dark. We spooled up and taxied out, breaking ground and turning southwest towards the East Coast. They changed the transponder codes and we were an oil company aircraft returning from Alaska.

Seven hours and nineteen minutes later, we landed in Newark. I picked up the rental car, at 1:00 a.m., and forty five minutes later, I pulled up at Mary's house. It was dark, and quiet. Snow on the ground, and twenty-nine degrees Fahrenheit. I went up to the door, and thought for a moment. It was almost two o'clock in the morning. How could I get in without waking up the whole house? Yeah, I could use magic,- and then maybe get shot as a burglar.

Then I remembered the SAT phone.

(I love it when a plan comes together!!)

I punched in the number on my SAT phone, and hoped she didn't have it set too loud. Five rings later, a small voice answered.

"Hello??", came the whisper.

Oh figgy pudding, what do I do now??

"HO, HO, HO", I whispered back. "Who is this?".

"I'm Constance. Who is this?"

.

"Uh, I'm a friend of your mom's, and I need ....."

"IS THIS SANTA CLAUSE?" shrieked the little girl on the other end.

"Why, yes, yes it is. Is this Constance?".

Then a very sleepy adult female voice said, "Who's on the phone, sweety?"

"IT'S SANTA, MOM. SANTA CLAUSE, ON YOUR NEW PHONE!!"

There was a scurrying of bed clothes, then a dull thud as someone fell onto the floor, then someone grabbing the phone.

"Hello? ....... Chris, is that you??"

In a more subdued voice, I said, "Ho, Ho, HO. Good morning, Mary. Did I wake you??"

"For God's sake, Chris, it's 2:00 o'clock in the morning. Where are you??"

"UHHH, on your front porch. Want to make us some coffee?"

"Just a minute. I'll be right down." Much scurrying and clomping around, complete with little voices and laughter.

"Mommy knows Santa, mommy knows Santa! Santa's here!!"

Lights went on and the door flew open to reveal a mature, slightly overweight middle aged woman with her hair a mess from sleep. She looked at me with a stunned expression, with me standing there in my good business suit.

"Well, you do clean up nice. Please, come in, come in." I took off my cowboy hat and entered their house. There in front of me were three children.

Constance's mouth was open, and her eyes were popping out of her head.

Sean was stunned. Not quite sure what to think.

Michael was bowing up and stepped in front of his mother.

"Who the hell are you? Why are you here so early in the morning??"

Mary covered her mouth. "MICHAEL SCOTT DI GUILIO, watch your mouth!"

"It's o.k., Mary. He doesn't know me and he was just protecting his mother and siblings." I dropped to one knee, and extended my hand to her son. "I'm Christopher, Christopher Cringle. I am a long time friend of your mother."

He stared at me, gasped, and said, "Chris Cringle??"

Grinning, I said,"One and the same, son." My hand was still out there, waiting. Finally he swallowed hard and took my hand. I didn't crush his, but gently squeezed it. He gave back as good as I gave him. I liked him. I stood up and surveyed the situation.

I don't usually use any magic on civilians, but occasionally it comes in handy. I have this 'pixie dust' that works really well on large dogs and cantankerous cats. It also is effective on wandering children, who should be in bed. I slyly slipped some from my pocket and sprinkled the kids.

"Now, it's late, so your mom and I need you to get back to bed and go back to sleep. Sleep till about 9:00 tomorrow morning, and get up, get dressed, and we'll go out for breakfast. Deal??"

"O.K., Chris. See you in the morning." The three of them turned and scampered up stairs to bed. I turned back to a perplexed mother and swallowed hard. Do I press immediately, or take it slow? It had been a while since I had 'dated', and I didn't want to screw this up. Besides, she may not be interested in that way. I may have been deluding myself.

I then I chuckled. I kind of blushed and looked at her.

"Mary, we need to talk." I have to stop reading "Loving Wives".

She stared at me, and went into no nonsense mode.

"Yes, Chris, I think WE do!"

Uh, Oh! Now what?

She led me into the dining room and motioned me to sit. She went into the kitchen and returned with coffee, and Entenmann's coffee cake. She wrapped her terry cloth bathrobe around her and sat opposite me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, Stanley and Igor told you I would be talking to you. So here I am," I stammered.

"AT TWO IN THE MORNING??"

"Oh, I hadn't noticed. Am I too early??" I stammered, blushed, and acted like a little boy who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Her eyebrows arched and her eyes bulged as she stared at me.

This was not going well. I murmured a small prayer, and hoped I had not used up all my points with God. I decided to throw myself on the 'mercy of the court', as they say.

"Mary, I know all about you, and your situation. I have come to care for you, and your children. I want you to come with me to my home, and live there while you figure out what you want. No strings. I will provide everything for you, and my daughters will keep it on the up and up. The kids will attend school; this will not be a vacation. I am only concerned for your welfare."

She studied me. "Your daughters?"

Her eyes narrowed, and I got the impression, from her expression, that I should have been packing heat to go with my Cowboy get-up.

'I screwed this up royally,' I thought.

"Yes, my daughters Cassandra and Esmeralda. Actually, they are my adopted daughters, but I love them more then myself."

She sighed, and gave me the look. If we were married, I would be sleeping on the couch for quite a while. She looked down at her hands and hesitated a moment. She was tearing my guts out. I was totally in her hands, and had no control.

"What will Mrs. Clause think, Chris?"

GULP!!

"UHHH, do you remember that 'thing' I had to attend to on Christmas just past?"

"Yes, you said that's what made you late, but you didn't elaborate. What happened?"

"I caught Mrs. Clause cheating on me. I divorced her. I'm sorry, but I really miss her. But apparently I was not enough for her any more. It's a long story. I'll tell you everything. Just come with me."

MARY

She stared at him for a long time, trying to decide what to do. It wasn't just her, she had three small children to worry about. But she had no other relatives, on either her side of the family, or her former husband's family.

Stephen Di Guilio had been a minor thug in a small crime family, and had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She thought she loved him, but he was abusive and running around on her. She just couldn't afford a divorce. She had been a bit of a party girl, very promiscuous. He had knocked her up and was forced to marry her. Then two more kids came along. Her life was rapidly spiraling down.

But all that changed after the hit.

He was gone, and it seemed like she was free.

But there was no money. She had a job as a waitress and her former husband's 'friends' were always sniffing around her. That's why she had let herself go. She didn't care what she looked like or how she dressed. Her health had started to suffer. Only the most hard up of Stephen's friends kept after her. She was desperate. She dropped her married name and resumed her maiden name. But her children were his. No doubt about that. So she kept his last name for them.

Then Chris came into her life. Santa Clause met her about eleven years ago, when she had gotten off work. Her husband was out, God knew where, (probably chasing some skank) and she had just finished a double shift. She walked in on this guy in a red suit, putting packages under her X-mas tree. She screamed, but then he turned and said, "Ho, Ho, Ho. You must be Mary. Merry Christmas, Mary."

"Who are you?," she said in a scared voice.

"Who do you think I am?," he replied, laughing.

"Some stupid burglar. I'm broke; I don't have anything worth stealing."

He had just stood there, then started to laugh, pointing to the wrapped packages under the tree.

"You do now. I'm Santa Clause."

"YEAH, RIGHT," she smirked. "Prove it," she said.

He hesitated, thinking what he could do. He didn't know many things about her history, just how many kids, what she did, that sort of thing. He needed something that would blow her away and remove all doubts from her mind. For some reason, her liked this woman.

Then it clicked. He grinned.

"Just a second," he said, pushing past a large canvas sack on the floor. He stopped in front of the fireplace, and turned to face her.

"How's this?," he said, laying his finger aside of his nose. He shook and up the chimney he rose. He called down to her. "Believe me now?" ...... "Mary?? MARY!" Her came back down to find her unconscious on the living room floor.

He rushed to her, picked her up, and put her on the couch. He rubbed her wrists and pulled a quilt up on her. She slowly came around, and the look of wonder on her face slowly morphed to terror.

"WHAT WAS THAT??", she whispered.

He chuckled. "That was me, showing off."

They sat and talked for a while, and she made some hot cocoa. (After all, he WAS Santa Clause).

They became friends. He tried to get there with enough time to spare so he could spent a little time with her. He felt like he was taking something from Vivianne and their time together, but Mary seemed to fill a void in his life. And it was only one night a year.

Then, THE NIGHT. And so here they were.

**********************************************************************************

Mary was torn. She didn't know what to do. But he had always been so nice. She always felt at peace with him. And she had no where else to turn.

She looked at him. "What if this is a mistake? How can I go back to my old life?"

He looked at her with sudden realization. "Would you really want to?", he said. It was go for broke time.

"Look, Mary, I have feelings for you. I have never acted on them, because above all, I'm honorable. My former life, ....well, I'll tell you later. Suffice it to say, I was not a good person. But I have changed, and I've never cheated. Let me make you happy." It's up to her, now.

She looked at him, possibly for the first time and in a different light. Truth be told, she had had these feelings also for a while now, but never thought there was a chance.

"O.K., Chris, how do we handle this?"

He looked at his watch. 7:30.

"How about you go get cleaned up, pack a couple of over night bags for you and the kids, I'll come back and get you guys for breakfast, and then we will take a little trip. I'll explain everything to you and you can make a final decision as to whether or not Santa is worth believing in."

So that's what we did. I went back to Newark Airport, and woke up the flight crew, and told them to get the bird ready, we would be back about noon. Going home, I told them, with guests. They grinned and said they'd be ready and so would the plane.

I turned around and went back to Palisades Park. Nine thirty a.m. They should be ready. I went to ring the door bell, and the door flew open before I could touch the button. Constance greeted me with a big grin, backed up by her two brothers. Sean was just staring, while Michael was giving me the evil eye. Constance started.

"Come in, come in. Mommy is just putting on her makeup and brushing her hair."

Sean wasn't too sure about this and kept eyeing me.

Michael, on the other hand, was guarded.

"Just so you know, my Mom isn't like that. She doesn't sleep around, and I won't let you hurt her. Like HE did."

I studied him. This family needed to be saved. I just hoped that I was the one to do it. I thought for a moment. This could be critical, how I handled this.

"Michael Scott, I would never hurt your mother." I leaned over. "I promise, man-to-man." I straightened up. "O.K.?"

He stared at me. "We'll see."

With that, Mary came in. She looked attractive. Not stunning, like Viv had looked, but cute. A girl next door look. She looked at me and her children, especially her oldest son.

Guardedly, she asked, "Everything alright?".

I looked at Mike.

He looked at me. Then he turned to his mother. "I think so," he answered.

I grabbed their bags and we went to the car.

"Where would you like to go for breakfast?", I asked. Two out of three little kids screamed "IHOP!!" Number one son sort of said it would be O.K. if it made his mother happy. She smiled as she stared out the windshield and said it would be fine. She was hungry.

We went and ate while the kids were beside themselves. At least the two younger ones were. Michael was subdued, but still managed to destroy the pile of flapjacks.

When we finished, we piled back into the Ford Expedition and left for the airport. Questions poured out of the back seat and even Mike was excited. Mary kept shooting me sideways looks and appeared to be a little antsy. But she didn't say anything.

We arrived at Butler Aviation's terminal and turned in the rental car. The big Gulfstream was waiting on the ramp with the APU running and our pilot waiting at the foot of the air-stair door.

"Good morning, boss,' Jeremy said, with a big smile. Jeremy was a young man I had rescued a while ago. He had been a soldier in Viet Nam who had gotten hooked on drugs. He was slowly killing himself till I found him on a street in Los Angeles. I took him home and we helped him out of his 'situation'.

He cleaned up, got a pilot's license, became commercial certified, and then typed in the G-IV.

Our co-pilot was a similar story.

Even the cabin attendant, Adriana, was a 'rescue'. She had been a gang member in Brazil, and was being 'passed around' amongst the thugs. Also with drug problems. Now she was an LVN and cabin qualified as a flight attendant. She adored me. She was also a single mother.

There were a lot of similar stories in my life. I had tried to be a good person and make up for my former existence. But obviously, I couldn't do enough for my former wife.

We boarded the aircraft amidst gaping looks from the kids (even Michael was awed) and Adriana made every one comfortable, making sure that Constance was buckled in, and even flirting a little with Mike and Sean.

Mary was in seventh heaven as Adriana fussed over her like she was the Queen of England.

Jeremy came over the intercom and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, prepare for the trip home. We will be serving a light snack after takeoff, if you didn't get enough pancakes, and some delicious coffee. Cabin attendant, prepare for flight. Flight time is approx. seven and a half hours, so sit back and enjoy the ride."

They lit off the engines, and contacted departure control, taxied out to wait in line, and in 15 minutes, we were cleared for takeoff. Amidst lots of noise and air pollution, XB-MAS 1 clawed her way into the sky. I had the all aircraft registered in Mexico so I could get the tail numbers I wanted. The Falcon-50 was XB-MAS 2. (Cool, HUH??).

Adriana moved about the cabin with juice boxes and sandwiches. She got Mary some tea and I got an R/C Cola.

(If Coca-Cola Co. finds out, SANTA will be on the naughty list. PERMANENTLY!)

Then she sat and talked to Mary. And talked; AND TALKED. Mary kept shooting me looks and when I went to sit with them, Adriana shooed me away, saying, 'Girl talk'.

'This could be trouble', I thought to myself. I went and talked to the boys for a while, describing what I knew about the aircraft's operational capabilities, all the while watching the two women with their heads together, talking and laughing.

Seven hours later, we began our descent to home. We broke through the force field surrounding the North Pole.

(Seeing as how everyone assumes the Pole is snow and ice, it must work pretty well.)

The landing gear came down, flaps came out, and Jeremy again earned his keep as we alighted at the North Pole International Air Terminal. (Again, MY STORY.) We taxied to the gate and were met by my girls. Cassie and Esmy rushed up as I stepped on the tarmac and smothered me with hugs. Esmy glanced sideways at Jeremy as he descended the air-stair door, and blushed slightly. He grinned and winked at her. Seems like there might be something there. HMM! I turned to Mary and her kids and, throwing my arms wide, I exclaimed, "Welcome to the North Pole!"

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Coming Home

We rode up to the big 12000 sq. ft. house and walked to the front door, which of course opened magically as we approached. Jeeves was standing there with a sedate smile on his face.

The effect on my visitors was total, and I figured I was almost home free. Their mouths were hanging open and their eyes bugging out.

Jeeves motioned them inside.

"Mrs. O'Brien, children, welcome to the North Pole. Please make yourself at home. If you want anything, please don't hesitate to ask.

"Children, get your suitcases and follow Lainie to your bedrooms. She will get you situated and help you with anything you need." The presence of the cute little elf girl and two large trolls stunned the children.

Mary was blown away. Even Michael was awestruck. Constance and Sean were the object of affection with Cassie and Esmy, and they were eating it up. Lainie led them upstairs to their bedrooms. I excused myself to go get cleaned up and changed. Cassie and Esmy looked at each other, nodded, and picked up Mary's bags and took her elbows.

"Come with us. We need to talk."

They led her upstairs to her room. They opened the double doors to the palatial bedroom suite and led Mary in. She was gobsmacked. The ceiling was twelve feet high and covered in filigree. The forty square foot room also sported an en-suite bath with garden tub and walk-in shower.

The centerpiece was a California-king sized four poster canopied bed, raised on a ten inch platform. Three plush arm chairs rested at the foot of the bed, fronting a small coffee table. Everything was done in a soft shade of blue. The floor was a six inch pile carpeting, in an off shade of beige. And this was not even the master suite.