Episode 24: Wake Up Call

Previously:

Baby Jolie got a second chance at life.

Patrick pondered his future at the winery.

Cody Stiles came to Claypool to pay his respects.

Episode 24
Wake Up Call

    As Louisa and Suzanne bade goodbye to their last guest, Natalie began to pick up trash that had accumulated on the floor.  She looked at the leftover cake and tea sandwiches and sighed.

    “What are we going to do with all this food?”  Suzanne asked.

    “I’ll take some home,” Natalie replied. “If nothing else, I can feed some to my cat.”

    “Nothing doing!  You’re not going to feed any cats with this! Do you know how long Blaine and I slaved over these sandwiches?”

    Natalie looked dumbfounded.  “Well, uh...no...”

    “Can’t let any of these go to waste, anyway,” Suzanne said.  “I’ll fix a bag for you. Would you like some tea bags, also?”

    Natalie shook her head. “Not unless you have chai.”

    “Oh, we have chai,”  Suzanne replied. “And a few other teas.”

    “OK. I’ll have some tea bags, then.”

*****

    Cody sat on the love seat in the parlor, mind drifting to the portraits of the Carroll family lining the walls.  His eyes focused on the little girl in dark brown pigtails taking the wheel of a sailboat.

    I wonder who that is, he thought. Was it Louisa as a little girl?

    Louisa walked in with a pillow and pillowcase in hand. She was about ready to fluff it up to take upstairs when Cody approached her.

    “I’m in town for a few days and wondered if you could provide me with a place to stay,” he said.

    “Well, I’m afraid we’ve been booked for the funeral,”  she replied. “Unless--”

    “Unless what?”

    “Oh, nothing,” she said. “Give me a few minutes to think of something.”

*****

    “I’ve given it some thought,” Noelle told Ryan, “and I’d really like to try out for Canada’s Talent Showcase.” 

    “Have you thought about what you’re going to sing?”  Ryan asked.

    “I think I’d like to sing ‘Still the One’ by Shania Twain.”

    “What? No Ave Maria?”

    “That’s for church,” Noelle replied. “I thought the show wanted something more, you know, popular.”

    “That Shania song is all wrong for you!  You can’t sing country!”

    “Well, let’s hear your suggestions if you think you’re so smart!”

    “I was thinking more along the lines of Celine Dion.  Wasn’t that what the producer told you at the funeral?”

    “Celine?”

    “Maybe something in French.”

    Noelle pondered for a moment.  “OK. One of Celine’s French songs, then.”

*****


    Jeff tossed around in bed for a little while. The alarm clock next to his bed read 2:45.  In an hour and fifteen minutes, he would have to be at the studio, all dressed and ready to go.  He still wasn’t used to it yet, though he had been on the job at Breakfast in Canada for all of three weeks.  He was also still getting used to driving to work rather than walking or taking the subway since the subway didn’t start its daily run until five-thirty.

    What was he dreaming?  That he would call another victorious game for the Cannons?  Or that he would go to Hollywood to find a different kind of fame?  Or that he would flub the interview with Patrick MacPherson later this morning?  Whatever he was dreaming, it wouldn’t keep him asleep for much longer.

    As the alarm beeped, he mutttered a few choice words under his breath and slammed the snooze button.  Just fifteen more minutes--please? Just fifteen more.

    Fifteen minutes later, he bolted for the shower.

Episode 23: Fields of Gold

Previously:

Patrick meets his baby niece for the first time.

The reception gets underway at the Vineyards.

Louisa and Suzanne welcome a special guest.

Episode 23
Fields of Gold

“Oh, my God!” Suzanne exclaimed. “The Cody Stiles?”

Louisa shook her head. “I don’t get it.  What’s so famous about him?”

“No, you really don’t get it, do you?  Cody is only the ‘bad boy’ of world class skiing. He’s won races all over the place and is getting ready for the Olympics. The only thing that’s eluded him is a gold medal.”

Cody laughed. “I’m not exactly what the media thinks I am.  After you get to know me, you’ll think I’m a pretty nice guy.”

“So, what brings you here, Mr. Stiles?”  Louisa asked.

“Please...call me Cody.  Mr. Stiles is my father.  He was Mr. MacPherson’s lawyer.”

Louisa let out a long breath. “I see. So I guess I’ll have to deal with him some time in the  future.”

She showed him to the sitting room, where there were several sofas and a table and chairs.  Various tea sandwiches and cakes sat on tables lining one wall, and the other walls were decorated with several portraits of the Carroll family, formal and otherwise. She offered Cody some tea, to which he declined.  Cody preferred his Molson.

“Dad’s been gone for years,” Cody told her. “My sister’s taken over the firm now. So I suppose you’ll have to deal with her.”

“So, I’ll ask you again. What brings you here? Aren’t you supposed to be training?”

“Well, yes. I’m supposed to be training, but I took a few days off to come here to pay my respects.  Mr. MacPherson was a good friend of my family.  In fact, Seth’s uncle founded MacPherson, Tate and Stiles.”

“Ahh.”  She paused.  “Have some cake?  Blaine and Suzanne made it just for the reception here.”

“I really shouldn’t,”  Cody replied.

“Come on. A little slice won’t hurt.”

“All right.”

They walked over to the table where Cody picked up a slice of cake. Natalie did a perfect job with the yellow and green buttercream flowers.  One could hardly tell she wasn’t a professional cake decorator.

*****

Patrick stared at the large stainless steel fermentation tanks lining the walls of the MacPherson winery.  The job was left up to him now.  All these years he had resisted, insisting that he’d make his own way in the world, without his family’s help.  This was payback time.

The breeze wafting into the fermentation room did little to cool him.  He broke out in a sweat from head to toe. What would I do now?, he thought.  He had a reputation to live up to. The winery had made the best wines in southern Ontario. The ice wine was especially prized, having won awards throughout the province.

Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped the sweat away from his forehead. He took several deep breaths. Exhaling again, he sighed.

“Dear Jesus,” he whispered. “If this is Your plan for me, then let me do the best I can to see it through.”

Taking his handkerchief, he began to wipe a tear from his eye.

*****

Noelle walked over to Jolie’s crib and began to pick up the tiny baby. Noelle noticed something was wrong.  She began to gently shake Jolie.

“Ryan!” she called out. “Come here! Stat!” 

He rushed over to the nursery. “What is it?”

“She’s not breathing!”

“Put her down. Is her heart beating?”

Noelle took two fingers to Jolie’s neck. “I can’t feel a pulse!”

“I’m starting CPR.”

After several seconds of compressions and a round of mouth-to-mouth, Jolie let out a loud cry.  Noelle let out a sigh of relief and threw her arms around Ryan.

“Thank God you came. I could have done this myself, but I’m so glad you were here,” she cried.  “Jolie needed her père tonight.”

*****

Episode 22: What's Love Got to Do With It?

Previously:

Patrick asked Noelle for her forgiveness.

The Carrolls get ready for a large reception at the Vineyards.

Jeff and Paige prepare for Monday’s show.

Episode 22
What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Just then, Jolie began to cry in the next room.  Noelle went in to try to comfort her.  She came out with the tiny baby in her arms and offered her to Patrick.

    “Would you like to hold her, oncle Patrick?”

    “I’m afraid I may drop her,”  Patrick responded.

    “Come on to the sofa,” Noelle motioned.  “It sounds like she needs a bottle.  I’ll show you how to feed her.”

*****
    Suzanne and Blaine had just finished baking a large sheet cake and were letting it cool when Natalie walked in.

    “Oooh, what flavor is it?”

    “Chocolate,” Blaine replied.
   
    “With chocolate icing?” Natalie asked.

    Suzanne nodded.

    “How good are you at making buttercream flowers?”

    “You’ll have to show me,” Natalie said. “I can do little stars and things, though.  And I can write ‘Happy Birthday’.”

    “We’ll have to think of something else to write,” Suzanne said. “What do you think?”

    Blaine replied. “We should leave it blank.  It would be tasteless if we wrote anything.”

    Suzanne and Natalie thought about it for a second, and agreed.


*****

    As Patrick was feeding baby Jolie, his cell phone rang. She began to cry.

    “I think she wants her maman,” Patrick said. He looked at the caller ID on his phone.  The number was unfamiliar to him, but he did recognize a Toronto area code.

    “Patrick MacPherson here. What can I do for you?” he answered.  The conversation was punctuated with “uh-huh”s, “yes”s, and other forms of agreement.

    “The 6:30 segment?  That’ll be fine. And you’ll be in touch?”

    After he hung up, he let out a long breath.

    “I hope you’ll be somewhere near a TV next week,” Patrick said.  “Jeff Perkins wants to interview me about my book for Breakfast in Canada.” 

*****

    The sitting rooms at the Vineyards began to fill with people. It seemed that all of Claypool was there to remember Seth and his life.

    Louisa sat in a corner and began to cry, the emotion and exhaustion overcoming her already.  Natalie walked up to her.

    “Is there anything else I can do for you?”  Natalie asked.

    “Just see that our guests are well taken care of,”  Louisa replied.  “I’ll be out there when I can.”

    Louisa took a tissue to her tear stained face and blew her nose with it.  “I’ve got to put on a brave face,” she muttered to herself. “People expect it.”

    Just then, she heard a knock at the door.  “Come in!”  she called out.  A tall, auburn haired man with a mustache and maple leaf toque stood in the doorway, Molson in hand.

    Louisa took a second look.  The man had a vaguely familiar look about him, as if she had seen him before.  She couldn’t place where.  Did he work at the mall?
    “Well, come on, don’t stand in the doorway,”  Suzanne said, looking at Louisa and the stranger.  “Aren’t you going to invite him in?”

    “Of course.  And you are...?”

    “Cody Stiles,” he supplied. 

    “Louisa Carroll.”

    She escorted him in.

    “Ms. Carroll, I’m so sorry for your loss.”

    “Did you say...”

    “Oh, my God,”  Suzanne said.  “The Cody Stiles?”