December was busy for Sybil, getting ready for Christmas and for Andy to come home. She had presents for everyone, including the Butterfields. The two families got together to decorate an enormous tree in the ballroom, as the Butterfields had always done. Charlie and Blake went to pick up a tree, and they all worked on it, hanging decorations they found in the garage. Bert had told them where they were. Alicia’s husband, José, helped them, as the Gregorys chatted with each other and people he couldn’t see. He decided that Alicia was right and they were all slightly crazy.
“They all have imaginary friends,” she had told him, “even the grown-ups.” But the Gregorys paid them well and were kind employers, so he didn’t care if they talked to themselves, and told Alicia not to pay attention to it either. It was none of their business if they were eccentric.
—
On Christmas morning, they all gathered in the ballroom, and everyone’s presents had found their way there. The Gregorys had exchanged a few presents on Christmas Eve as they always did, but they’d decided to follow Butterfield tradition this year, and exchange their presents with them on Christmas Day. Phillips served eggnog, with the adults’ portions laced with brandy, and Magnus and Charlie took a sip before they got caught, and Phillips pretended not to notice. He was very fond of the boys.
Both sets of parents had told them that Santa Claus had left the presents during the night, and they still believed it. Charlie got a new bicycle from his parents, and they had bought one for Magnus too, a bright red one, and he loved it, and rode it around the ballroom and the Christmas tree as fast as he dared.
Everyone else loved their gifts too. Bettina received a number of them for the baby, all handmade by her female relatives. Augusta and Gwyneth were in a frenzy of knitting and sewing these days. She said she felt like an elephant now, and the midwife had said the baby was a good size and could come at any time. Bettina just wanted it over, and the baby in her arms and out of her body. It felt as though it had been there forever, making her feel sick.
The two families shared another big dinner that night, and the next morning, the Gregorys left for Aspen, with all their ski equipment and clothes. They planned to come back the morning of New Year’s Eve, so they could see in the New Year together. They had received other invitations, but they wanted to spend it with the Butterfields, who had become like family to them now. And Sybil had bought a new silver dress for the occasion.
They had a wonderful week in Aspen, and skied together a lot of the time. Andy was full of stories about school in Scotland, and he picked up lots of girls on the slopes and went out at night. And he and Caroline talked about colleges a lot. She had applied to ten of them, and wanted to stay in the west if she could. Stanford was her first choice, and then UCLA. She wasn’t ready to go as far afield as her brother, although he loved Edinburgh.
—
Their faces were tanned with goggle marks from skiing and they were happy and rested when they got back to San Francisco at noon on New Year’s Eve.
When they came downstairs that night, Sybil was wearing her new silver evening gown, and Blake said she looked spectacular. Gwyneth was in black lace with jet beads all over it and looked like a John Singer Sargent painting with her upswept hair and a long string of diamonds around her neck and at her ears. Augusta had worn black velvet and was very dignified. And Blake had surprised Sybil and bought a set of tails. He had decided he could use them for dinner at the house, and wore them for the first time that night.
“Finally!” Augusta said with approval when she saw him. “It took you long enough,” she teased him, and then she told him how handsome he was, and Sybil agreed. Augusta liked Blake. He was always respectful and attentive to her.
They played charades after dinner, and then adjourned to the ballroom to dance. They used the music system the Gregorys had installed, and Blake swept Sybil away for the first dance, as the children watched and giggled. Bettina felt like a whale in a black velvet gown she could barely get into. She had outgrown everything she owned, but she looked pretty and young, and very maternal, with her enormous round belly under the dress. Gwyneth and Bert danced, and then stepped out onto the terrace in the moonlight, and they were both thinking of their son. They walked back into the ballroom to join the others, and as they did, Josiah came through the ballroom doorway in his uniform, waving at everyone. He was back! Everyone gave a cheer to greet him. It was cause for celebration, and Blake and Sybil smiled at each other, happy for their friends.
“There is something so perfect about their world,” Blake said as he danced with her again. “It all comes full circle in the end. You don’t have to wait to find out what happens and how it all turns out. We already know. Maybe the secret is that we can’t influence their world, in the past, but they can still influence ours, by what we learn from them. Maybe that’s right and the way it should be.”
They all kissed each other at midnight, and embraced Josiah, who looked more handsome than ever in his uniform. Everyone was thrilled to have him home. It had taken him four months to get back to them. Sybil wondered if Bettina’s husband would join them too. But this wasn’t his home, and he knew he hadn’t been welcome here. There was no mention of ghosts in Bettina’s book, and almost no mention of Tony, although he was her daughter’s father. But since her second husband had adopted her, Tony had faded rapidly from her life. And she wasn’t alone for very long, before Louis de Lambertin appeared.
Josiah danced with all of them, his sister Bettina too, in spite of her enormous shape, but she only danced to celebrate his return for a few minutes before she sat down. And then he danced with Lucy, and Caroline, who looked lovely in a midnight blue satin dress and high heels, with her blond hair piled on top of her head.
“They’ll have to marry her off soon,” Augusta said to Gwyneth, watching her. “She’s growing up fast.” She had just turned seventeen, and Augusta thought the time was right, and said as much to Gwyneth, who laughed. She knew that Sybil wouldn’t have agreed. Their ideas about when girls should marry were very different from what Gwyneth and her mother were used to.
Everyone was exhausted when they left the ballroom at three A.M. A new year had begun. Bert had toasted 1918 at midnight, and he hoped it would be an exceptional year for all of them. It had been the perfect way to see in the new year, and Josiah was home again. What more could they ask?
Chapter 10
They all looked a little rough around the edges on New Year’s Day. A great deal of champagne had been poured the night before, especially since Josiah was home. They had all felt very festive. And they were quiet at dinner that night, still recovering. Everyone wanted to talk to Josiah, and tell him what they were doing. They were careful not to ask him any questions about the war. But Sybil noticed that he seemed more mature than when he left. His portrait was complete by then, hanging in the front hall, and was a perfect likeness.