The Christmas Train (19 page)

“I’m dressing, I’m putting my clothes on,” yelled the young man, ostensibly loud enough for the person on the other end of the walkie-talkie to hear. “You can cancel the one-four-two thing.”

Roxanne looked at him solemnly and slowly shook her head. “I’m afraid once it’s been ordered, we really can’t take it back. And it’s a long trip and for all I know you might try this nonsense again and somebody might see you, like a little kid or an elderly passenger, and get really upset.”

“I swear to you,” said the young man as he frantically dressed, “I will not take any of my clothes off. I will sleep in my clothes. I promise.”

“I don’t know. You feel that? The train’s already slowing down, and the engineer might get mad if I tell him it’s a no-go. You know how much it costs to make an unscheduled stop on a train this big?”

“Please, please. I promise. No more nudity.”

Roxanne sighed heavily and then said into her walkie-talkie, “Okay, service boss here again, let’s cancel that, repeat, cancel the one-four-two.” She stared at the young man, her expression that of a woman in complete control. “Now look here, baby, I see one inch of something of you I shouldn’t, then you going off this train. I don’t care where we are, middle of the desert or highest mountain. No more reprieves, we understand each other?”

He nodded meekly and then pulled the blanket over his head.

“Night-night, Arizona,” said Roxanne as she and Eleanor walked off.

The two women went down to the lower level, where Roxanne inspected the choir’s bathing operation. Satisfied with the progress, she and Eleanor headed to the lower lounge area and sat at an empty table.

“Boys’ choir, antidemon dust, and a naked man from Arizona. You’ve had a busy night.”

“Oh, honey, this was actually pretty tame. The things I could tell you.”

“I wish you would.”

“Well, maybe we can spend some time together off the train.”

Eleanor was beginning to think that she could get Max to make Roxanne a paid consultant on the film project when the train started to slow down noticeably.

“Is there a problem?” asked Eleanor.

“No, this stretch of track has speed restrictions and a few gate crossings. Come with me. I’ll show you a nice little benefit to train travel that you positively can’t enjoy on a plane.”

Roxanne led Eleanor down to one of the train’s vestibules, where she opened the upper window of the train door, allowing in a burst of refreshingly cold air.

“God, that feels wonderful,” said Eleanor.

“I come down here a few times each day, just to clear my head, smell the air, get a close look at this land without an inch of glass or nothing else in the way.” They watched the countryside pass by for a bit, and then Roxanne closed the window as the Chief picked up speed. “I got Regina to do this a couple times a trip too. Gives you some peace, recharge your batteries.”

“How many kids do you have besides Regina?”

“Nine, all grown of course. And twenty-three grandchildren.”

She shook her head. “You don’t look nearly old enough.”

“Well, I started really early, maybe too early.”

Roxanne shot Eleanor a glance. “You have any kids?”

Eleanor shook her head. “Never even been married.”

“Now, you want to tell me how a beautiful, smart, successful sort like yourself never landed a good man who loved her?”

“Maybe I’m really not that beautiful, smart or successful.”

“Baby, take one look in the mirror. And I doubt you’d be working with a man like Max Powers if you weren’t pretty well endowed in the brain and talent department.”

“Well, it happens, you know, people do end up alone. All sorts of people.”

“Yes, it does, and there’s always a reason for it too. Care to tell me yours?”

Eleanor looked away and fiddled with her fingers while Roxanne studied her closely. “Wait a minute, let me see if I can guess. You found you a good man who loved you, only it didn’t work out, maybe he never asked that all-important question that a woman desperately wants to answer yes to, and you finally went your separate ways.” She added quietly, “Until you saw him again on this train.”

Eleanor glanced at her sharply, a suspicious look on her face.

“The way you and Tom Langdon act around each other it’s pretty clear. Plus the train gossip grapevine is alive and well on the old Chief.”

Eleanor’s face flushed. “Well, my goodness, if I’d only known how transparent I was. I can’t tell you what a relief it is that so many people I don’t even know are aware of my romantic history—or should I say fiasco.”

“I’m not looking to pry, Eleanor, but I am a good listener.”

Eleanor finally took a deep breath and looked across at Roxanne. “Tom Langdon is a wanderer, always has been, always will be. He craves adventure, he craves change like other people need food. He’s the sort who couldn’t make a commitment if his life depended on it. And, no, he never asked me to marry him.”

“But I understand you haven’t seen him in years. Maybe he’s changed.”

Eleanor shook her head. “Men like him don’t change. He’s back in the States traveling around and writing fluff instead of covering wars overseas, but that won’t last. Six months from now he’ll be off doing something else. I lived with him for years. I know how he thinks.” She paused and added, “And he has a girlfriend. He’s going to see her in LA.”

“You think he’s made a commitment to her?”

“I doubt it.”

“You mean you hope not.”

Eleanor just looked away.

Roxanne said, “Let your heart be your guide, girl. If you truly love him, I say give him another chance. It may be your only chance for happiness.”

“What if feelings have changed over time? What if you’re not the same person you once were?”

“Eleanor, love is like a good piece of wood: It just gets stronger and stronger as the years go by. Take it from someone who had it and only lost it when the Lord decided it was time I shared Junior with Him. It sounds corny, I know, but it’s really the only thing that works between two people. The only thing.” chapter twenty-two

Kansas City was a major stop where many people got on and off and the train lingered awhile as it refueled and restocked. Roxanne escorted the woman heading to Denver by way of the California Zephyr to where she needed to go. Tom took the opportunity to step out for some fresh air before the bachelor party started. Recalling what Herrick Higgins had said, Tom watched as more pieces of America climbed aboard the train, no doubt flush with stories to tell, experiences to exchange, perhaps friendships, however short-lived, to form.

The snow was falling hard, and he sought shelter under one of the overhangs.

He glanced over in surprise as Eleanor climbed off the train and headed toward him.

“Little stuffy on the train,” she explained.

“Yeah, me too.”

They both stood there awkwardly, until she said, “I can’t tell you what a shock it’s been seeing you.”

“I thought a million times about contacting you over the years. But I never did. Call it pride, stubbornness, stupidity. Take your pick, they’re all there.”

“Well, I guess with the way things ended I can’t blame you.”

He drew closer. “Do you believe in second chances?”

She pulled back a bit. “Tom, I can’t take that hurt again. I can’t.”

“You left me, remember?”

“After all those years of being together, it was time to put up or shut up,” she said bluntly. “I needed a commitment, and I didn’t get it. I assumed your career took priority over everything else.”

“People can change, Ellie.”

“So I’ve heard. Do you really think writing about antique furniture will last? And you have a girlfriend you’re going to see for Christmas. Are you ready to commit to her?”

“It’s not that sort of relationship.”

“Of course not, you’re not that sort of man.” She shook her head and looked away.

Tom gripped her shoulder and turned her toward him. “It’s not that sort of relationship because I don’t love her. There’s only one woman I’ve ever loved, Ellie, you know that.”

“Tom, don’t do this to me, please.”

“So why did you come out here? It’s freezing.”

“I... I don’t know.”

“I don’t believe that. I think you know exactly why.”

“Maybe I do.”

“Nothing in my life has been as good as what we had. Nothing! I’ve been searching all these years for something.”

“I’ve been looking too,” she said, “and not finding it.”

“It can’t be just a coincidence that we’re both on this train. It’s an omen, don’t you see? It was meant to be.”

“You sound like Misty. Love doesn’t work that way. It’s not some magic fairy dust. It’s something you work at every day.”

As she flicked a strand of hair out of her face and the full force of those emerald eyes fell on him, it might as well have been ten years prior or a decade hence, it didn’t really matter to Tom. In the wash of lamplight, the woman’s gaze was as hypnotic and intoxicating a thing as Tom had ever experienced. He thought he was taking a step back, but he actually moved closer to her. He watched his hand slide another errant strand of auburn hair out of her face. Then his fingers moved to her cheek and gently rubbed it. She didn’t move to stop him.

“Well, maybe it’s time I started to work at it.”

He took a deep breath, glanced up for a second, and his lips parted and his gaze held on the figure walking his way. He shook his head in disbelief, because this was the second shock that he’d received in a little over twenty-four hours. How many more thunderbolts could he survive?

It was Lelia Gibson striding toward the train, a caravan of redcaps in her wake, tugging along her prodigious baggage. The woman was incapable of traveling light. It was one of her fortes, packing with indefatigable vigor, each outfit planned for a particular segment of the journey, each accessory judged with an eye as critical as the ablest general plotting battle tactics.

Tom took a step back from Eleanor, who’d closed her eyes, her lips searching for Tom’s but not finding them.

“Ellie.”

She opened her eyes, slid a hand across his cheek as he took another step back.

“What’s wrong?”

“Really quick, think of the worst bit of timing you’ve ever had in your life.”

“What?” she asked in a bewildered tone.

He glanced once more at Lelia. She was closing in. He wasn’t sure if she’d seen him yet, but it was only a matter of time. She obviously knew he was on this train.

“The worst piece of timing in your life. Think of it right now. Okay? Please?”

“I actually think this is pretty bad timing on your part,” she said in a very annoyed tone.

“Just think of it!”

“Okay, okay.”

“Have you thought of it?”

She hesitated for a moment. “Yes, so?”

He let out his breath. “So, I just beat it. I just crushed it, in fact. I’m the undisputed king of bad timing.” He pointed toward Lelia. “My sort of girlfriend in LA? That’s her. Lelia Gibson.”

Eleanor swung around and stared at the approaching group.

“Did you know she was boarding the train?”

“No, that one qualifies in the total, heart-stopping, shock-of-a-lifetime category.”

Eleanor folded her arms across her chest and moved away from Tom. It was then that Lelia saw Tom and waved frantically. As she barreled down on her target, Eleanor retreated even more, until she was just a shadow in the darkness. As Tom watched her recede, it was as though all the blood in his body was going with her. He turned to face Lelia. He took a little solace in the fact that things certainly couldn’t get any worse. Yet indeed they could. chapter twenty-three

The National Weather Service issued advisories for the far Midwest and Southwest regions, citing the potential of a severe winter storm that was making its way south down the spine of the Rocky Mountains. The full fury of the tempest it would become was considerably masked by adjacent meteorological conditions in the Pacific Northwest, ameliorating safeguards that would fall away as the weather system moved through Wyoming and then into Colorado. About the time the storm suddenly unleashed all its might on the border between Colorado and New Mexico, it would be too late to issue any more warnings. All that would be left would be to read about the land squall of the decade in the newspapers and recount it to future generations in hushed tones.

Herrick Higgins had taken advantage of the long stop in Kansas City to see the engineer. They’d discussed the weather reports coming in from Amtrak Central Dispatch. Though Higgins was no longer employed by the rail service, there was no one who worked passenger trains for a living who wouldn’t welcome his wise input and counsel. He and the engineer were friends going back twenty years, and when Higgins told him he didn’t like the way things were shaping up, particularly since they were heading into Colorado, the engineer took serious note. Higgins also told the man to pack on as much fuel as possible.

“We’ll all keep our eyes open,” said the engineer. “As soon as we hear anything new from dispatch, I’ll let you know.”