Chapter 6

Trixie lay on the hardwood floors and stared at the multi-coloured lights twinkling above her. The sharp aroma of fresh pine tickled her nose. Shifting slightly, she grimaced as several presents were jostled out of position. Finally comfortable, Trixie breathed deeply and savoured the sensation of once again lying under the Christmas tree. How long has it been? she wondered. How long since I snuck downstairs on Christmas Eve to wait for Santa?

Trixie was drawn out of her reverie by the unmistakable sound of someone creeping down the stairs. She listened carefully in an attempt to identify her fellow insomniac. Moms and Daddy walked quietly, but didn’t creep. Brian possessed a natural grace that allowed him light feet when necessary. Bobby was incapable of doing anything quietly, much less avoiding the creaks and groans of the ancient staircase. The person on the stairs was expertly manoeuvring past the creaks, but stepped so heavily as to render the attempt at stealth singularly ineffective. It could only be Mart.

Trixie held her breath and listened intently as Mart headed straight for the kitchen. She allowed herself a small smile as she heard him rummage through the various containers of Christmas goodies and pour himself a glass of milk. Expecting him to stay in the kitchen, Trixie was surprised when instead of the clatter of dishes on the table and the scraping of a chair across the floor; she heard footsteps approaching the living room. She closed her eyes. Maybe he won’t see me. Maybe he’ll be so distracted by his food that he won’t even look under the tree. Or, if he does look, if I lie still, maybe he’ll think I’m a really big present.

“Trixie?” Mart whispered as loudly as he dared. “What are you doing?”

She reluctantly opened her eyes. “Keeping watch over the presents?”

Mart eyed her warily. “Mmhmm. And how many presents have you poked and prodded?”

Trixie sat up indignantly and bumped into several ornaments, causing a quiet musical tinkling. “I was not poking and prodding. I was merely,” she paused, “enjoying the spirit of Christmas.”

Mart snorted and placed his food on the coffee table. With a small smile, he joined Trixie under the tree. Hands behind his head, he lay back. “That’s okay, Trix. I’m sure you would never use your super-hero power of curiosity for evil. Just tell me if my sweater from Aunt Alicia is blue or brown.”

Trixie grinned. “No, and no. I think you got purple.” Her grin erupted into suppressed laughter at the horrified expression on Mart’s face. “Hey, don’t complain. I’m pretty sure mine is pink.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste.

Both Trixie and Mart jumped in surprise at the sound of the quiet voice in the darkness. “I thought blondes were supposed to look good in pink.”

“Brian!” Trixie glared at him through the dim light. “You startled me!” A smirk quickly covered her initial surprise. “And brunettes look good in yellow, right?”

Brian paled noticeably. “Are we talking butter, lemon, or neon?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Brian groaned and joined them, lying on his back underneath the tree on the other side of Trixie. “You realize we’re going to look like an Easter egg in the picture,” he said, referring to the picture of the new sweaters the siblings would be obliged to send to their aunt.

“Yes, well, just be glad you’re not Bobby.”

Both Brian and Mart turned to Trixie expectantly. She merely smiled enigmatically.

“This is one that has to be seen to be believed. Maybe I should video tape Christmas morning,” she continued thoughtfully.

They lay silently, lost in their own thoughts. Several moments later, Brian commented, “You two do realize that Christmas Eve isn’t for another two days, right? It’s highly unlikely that Santa will put in an appearance tonight.”

“Don’t look at me,” Mart defended himself. “I was getting a snack when I saw Trixie hiding under the tree.”

“I wasn’t hiding!” Trixie protested. “I just couldn’t sleep. I think I dozed almost all the way here. Poor Dan. I didn’t do a very good job of keeping him company.”

Both brothers fell silent at the mention of Dan.

“And I’m still a little worked up from the party,” Trixie continued.

This was a topic Brian and Mart could handle.

“You did cause quite a sensation,” Mart acknowledged.

Trixie shook her head. “Bobby is such a nut,” she said affectionately. “I don’t know who was more surprised; Moms, or me.”

Brian and Mart looked at each other uncomfortably. “Oh, I think there was a pretty clear winner, and it wasn’t you or Moms,” Brian reluctantly replied.

Trixie looked at her brothers in surprise. “What are you talking about? Moms was so flustered she could barely pour the eggnog. That never happens to her.”

Brian sighed and looked away. “Evidently, you didn’t see the look on Jim’s face when Honey spotted you.”

Trixie’s breath caught in her throat and her heart thumped painfully. “He was pretty surprised, then?” she asked in a tiny voice.

“You could say that.”

The uncomfortable silence was broken when Trixie asked, “So, how is Jim doing?”

Mart shrugged. “He works a lot.”

More silence.

“He looks good. Does he date much?” she asked, biting her lower lip.

“Do you really care?” Brian asked. “Aren't you the one living with another man?”

Lulled by the beauty of the tree and Christmas decorations, Trixie refused to be baited, but knew that Brian’s concerns had to be addressed.

“Dan is hardly 'another man'. We’re roommates. And friends.” She paused and thought twice about her next words. “And, in case you’ve forgotten, he’s your friend, too.”

Mart's voice was quiet. “He was my best friend.” He looked at Trixie. “I think that's why it's so hard. My best friend and my almost-twin both seemed to drop off the face of the earth at the same time. And Jim was left looking like death warmed over. I don't know what to think. All I know is that we hardly ever see you, and that Jim is miserable.”

Trixie's heart ached as she felt Mart's pain. “Okay. Just so you know, Dan and I are not together. We’re not seeing each other, dating, sleeping together, or whatever else you want to call it. We share an apartment because we’re good friends. It saves us money and the hassle of finding roommates.”

Brian and Mart remained silent.

“What about Jim?” Mart finally asked.

“What about him?” Trixie’s patience was wearing thin.

“How does he fit in? I thought, we all thought…”

Trixie sighed. “Everyone thought Jim and I would be together. Well, life doesn’t always work out the way you expect.”

“That’s just it. Why didn’t it turn out that way? Why are you in Virginia? Why aren’t you with Jim?” Mart turned to Trixie with his round blue eyes seeking answers. “Do you have any idea how devastated Jim was after you graduated university and stayed in Virginia? And we've only seen you a handful of times since then. What's the deal, Trix?”

Trixie closed her eyes. How could she explain what she didn’t really understand herself? Surreptitiously studying her oldest brother, she thought longingly about how he and Honey had somehow managed to stay together through Brian's medical training, Honey's education, and the launching of both their careers. She turned back to Mart thoughtfully.

“Well,” she said slowly, “I think we’re a lot like you and Di.”

Mart’s eyes widened until they were in serious danger of dislocating. His voice was quietly incredulous. “How on earth are you and Jim like Diana and me?”

Trixie stared at the tree instead of facing her brother. “Why did you break up?”

“Trixie, that was a long time ago.”

“Why did you break up?” she repeated.

Mart sighed. “I was going away to school. I thought we should see other people to make sure we really wanted to be together.”

“And?” Trixie prompted.

“And what? That’s why we broke up.”

“No. What I mean is, why didn’t you get back together?”

Mart sighed. “I don’t know. When I came home for Christmas that first year, she seemed,” Mart paused, “different. Everything seemed different. I didn’t know what to make of it.”

“Had your feelings for her changed?”

Mart took his time. “I don’t know if my feelings changed, but I changed. That first year of school was tough. I didn’t know anybody, and it was a lot harder than I expected to make friends. Nobody laughed at my jokes.” He smiled. “There’s probably a good reason for that, but at the time, I didn’t know how to handle it. I wasn’t part of a cool group of friends anymore. Everything was just so different from Sleepyside, and I didn’t know what my place was. I started staying in the background because it was easier than trying to make friends. And then when I came back home, I was so grateful to be part of a group again, that I didn’t want to do anything to mess it up.”

“Did you talk to Diana about any of that?”

Mart rolled his eyes. “What was I supposed to say? ‘I broke up with you so we could meet other people, but nobody likes me and I don’t know who I am anymore, and I don’t know what to do?’”

Trixie shrugged. “I’m not saying what you should or shouldn’t have done. I’m only asking what you did.”

Mart paused thoughtfully. “Is that what happened with you and Jim?”

Trixie reached up and gently fingered a glass ornament. She plucked the small angel from the tree and traced its graceful curves. “Of course not.” She replaced the ornament on the tree. “You can’t break up with someone you never officially dated.”

Brian broke his silence. “Are you serious? Jim never so much as looked at another girl the entire time he was in school. If you weren’t together…”

Trixie shrugged her shoulders and kept her eyes on the tree. “I know we had feelings for each other. We may not have really been dating, but,” she blushed, “we did have some good times. But we weren’t together, and I had to decide what to do with my life.” She quietly turned the crank on a music box ornament and allowed the soothing melody to play itself out. “I don’t regret my decisions. I have a great education and a job I really enjoy.”

“And an interesting choice for a roommate.” Brian’s voice was flat.

“Are we back to that?” Trixie sighed. “Let’s finish this, Brian.” She sat up and faced both her brothers. Luckily, her frustration overrode most of her nervousness. “First and foremost, Dan is a Bob-White. If you can’t trust a Bob-White, then we’re in worse shape than I thought. Do you honestly think that Dan would take advantage of me? And, if by some fluke he tried, do you really think I’d let him get away with it? We’re talking about Dan. The Dan who rescued Bobby even though some of us—well, I wasn’t nice to him. The Dan who turned his life around and never looked back. The Dan who donated time and energy to the game preserve to help Mr. Maypenny, long after his debt was paid. The Dan who,” she swallowed, “the Dan who made sure I didn’t drop out of university because I was so homesick I didn’t know what to do with myself. The Dan who moved in with me because I needed him.” She let the statement hang in the air, then concluded quietly. “This is the Dan we’re talking about.”

“I still don’t see…” Mart began.

Trixie shook her head. “That’s fine. You don’t have to understand. I just want you to accept that my life is my decision. You don’t have to agree with everything I do. It would be nice, though, to be able to get along when we see each other.”

Brian and Mart looked at each other. “So, you’re telling us to lay off Dan,” Mart summarized.

Trixie looked at them sadly. “No, I’m asking you to treat your friends like friends.”

Mart groaned. “Well, I still don’t understand everything, but...” He struggled with his awkward position under the tree, then hugged Trixie. “I do know that I sure miss you and Dan and all the fun we used to have.”

They looked at Brian expectantly. He rolled his eyes, but smiled. “Okay, okay. I promise to lay off on the big brother routine.” He rose and joined Mart and Trixie. “I still get the feeling that there’s more to your story than you’re telling us, but I want to enjoy our time together, too.”

The three settled on the couch. Trixie smiled and watched as Mart attacked his plate of goodies.

With his mouth half full, he suddenly turned to her and said, “Wait a minute. You never did explain how you and Jim were like Di and me.”

Trixie sighed. “People change. Grow apart. Life happens. It’s not always just about how you feel. That’s all.”

Mart raised his eyebrows and prepared to grill her. Trixie effectively distracted him by gesturing to his plate of food.

“Enjoying the shortbread cookies I made?”

Mart choked. “What? You made shortbread cookies?” He looked at his plate in consternation. “You made good shortbread cookies?”

Trixie rolled her eyes and took one of the few remaining cookies on his plate. “Well, if I do say so myself, they are pretty good, aren’t they?”

Brian raised his eyebrows and took the last cookie on Mart’s plate. He looked at Trixie in surprise. “It’s round!” He took a bite. “And edible! Very impressive, little sister.”

Trixie smiled. “Who wants milk?”

Standing slowly and stretching, she made sure the shadow in the hallway completely disappeared. Hoping she had given Dan enough time to get back to the main floor guest room, she led the way to the kitchen.

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Author’s Notes

Are you feeling the love yet? Yes? No? At least they’re talking… And I promise we’ll see more of Jim soon.

Thanks to MaryN and Vivian for editing, and to MaryN for graphicing.

Disclaimer: Characters from the Trixie Belden series are the property of Random House. They are used without permission, although with a great deal of affection and respect. Title image from istockphoto; graphics on these pages copyright 2007 by Mary N.

Copyright by Ryl, 2009

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