Annie Crow Knoll: Sunrise
Chapter Eleven 
Winter 1965-66
The photographer from Elegant Southern Life was scheduled to come out to Annie Crow Knoll in a few days. Annie had yet to make the garland her mother constructed every year for the front gates, using evergreen boughs, pinecones and wild mistletoe.
Annie hoped that Big Black Bo would come out to hunt so she could ask him to shoot down bunches of mistletoe that grew high in the trees behind Cattail. Her father had always done this for Liz. However, the first winter following Luke’s death, Bo didn’t appear. Maybe he didn’t like to hunt by himself, or perhaps he went elsewhere now with other buddies. Either way, Annie was going to have to load up Luke’s shotgun and head up the beach to Cattail by herself.
Annie’s boots crunched in the first snow of the season. A sudden image of Bunky Watson’s patrol car in the snow made the crisp air burn in her lungs. Tears again? She felt annoyed and rubbed a gloved finger under each eye. I won’t be able to shoot straight, she told herself but hiked on up river determined to bag some mistletoe.
Packard heard the gunfire. He was in the woods taking photographs from which he’d select pictures to paint during the worst winter weather. Annoyed when the following shots were closer, Pack decided he’d better alert the hunter to his presence.
“Hold your fire,” he bellowed in the direction of the last shot.
Pack’s breathing tightened when he saw Annie round the bend of trees. The morning sun lit up the auburn in her dark curls. Her father’s orange hunting vest hung loosely on her frame.
He let out a deep breath. “Good morning, Annie.”
“Hey, Packard,” she smiled. “Looks like we meet again while aiming to shoot something.”
“But I only have my Nikon,” he said good-naturedly and lifted his camera up a bit.
“My folks gave me a Nikon last Christmas. The camera I was using on loan from the community college for my photography classes was pretty bad.”
“I’m sorry this will be your first Christmas without them,” Pack said gently.
“Thanks.”
Pack hadn’t been much older than Annie when he lost both his parents within several months, but when she said no more, he changed subjects.
“So why the shotgun? Have you taken up hunting?”
“Only mistletoe, and let me tell you, it’s a lot harder to hit the stem of a bunch of it than it is to hit a tin can.”
“Or a terrified intruder running for cover.”
“Yeah, well … ” She smiled again and blushed a little.
“If it’s mistletoe you’re wanting, there’s a fair amount of it within reach at the top of your father’s old hunting stand. What we can’t cut down, you can shoot from a closer range from up there.”
Annie unchambered the shells and dropped them into the pocket of her dad’s hunting vest. They hiked through the blanketed landscape. When they reached the stand, Pack went up first to make sure that the unused and weathered ladder rungs were stable.
Annie handed him her shotgun. Pack gave her a hand up. He knew she didn’t need it, but he wanted to touch her. Then Packard took a knife out of his pocket and opened it. He began harvesting clumps of wild mistletoe that clung to branches surrounding the platform and handed them to Annie.
“Would you like to come to Christmas dinner?” she asked.
“Oh…thanks, but I don’t want to intrude on your holiday.”
“The Finches are coming, too, Jim and Naomi, Maizie, Sam and the children. J.J. is going to his in-laws, but Birdie and her crew may come, too.”
“I’m not so good with crowds. I told Drew that on Wednesday night when he invited me.”
“Oh?” Annie sounded surprised.
“You knew that he was out to play chess,” Pack said.
“Yes. I just didn’t know that he had invited you already,” Annie explained.
“Is this enough, or do you want to reload your shotgun?” Pack asked, as he closed his knife and put it back in his pocket.
“No, this is more than enough. Thank you.”
Packard and Annie gently dropped the boughs of berries down to the ground.
He went down from the hunting stand first, and Annie handed down the rifle and Nikon.
When she reached the bottom of the ladder and turned to take the rifle, Packard couldn’t take his eyes off her.
She met his gaze. He didn’t look away. They were only inches apart, but after a moment, she said, “Well, I’d better get all this mistletoe back to the Knoll.” And she began gathering the branches from the ground.
“I’ll help you,” Packard said.
Laden with bunches of mistletoe, Annie and Packard left the woods and started up the beach together. The receding water had melted the snow below the high tide line, and they walked in the sand along the river’s edge.
“Thanks for not minding that Drew comes out to play chess,” Packard said, as they started up the steps to the Knoll.
“Of course not.”
“I mean, some women…”
“Don’t even finish that stereotypical comment.”
“You could be lonely, that’s all. With your folks gone and Bo done for the season.”
“I miss my parents, but I’m getting used to being alone. I’m glad to see Drew on the weekends, and I’m glad that he has his own life as well.” She thought for a moment and then added, “I enjoy my time to myself.”
“Better be careful or you’ll turn into a recluse like me,” Packard said and smiled.
Annie laughed. “Maybe we’re two of a kind.”
After unloading his clumps of mistletoe onto Annie’s porch, Pack turned to go.
“At least think about Christmas. We’d both like to have you,” Annie said.
“I’ll think about it,” Packard said and headed back out for more photographs.
***
Sunrise Cottage smelled of sugar cookies, pine needles and a roasting turkey. If Annie hadn’t woken up in Drew’s arms that morning, she wasn’t sure she could have faced the first Christmas without her folks. Now that the Finches were there, too, she was distracted enough with food preparation and general merry spirits, and she felt calmer.
Naomi was finishing her famous sweet potato dish while trying to keep Jim’s fingers out of everything that she, Annie and Maizie dished up. Annie checked the turkey that was filled with her mother’s delicious chestnut stuffing, and Maizie was putting the finishing touches of icing and candies on her double-decker chocolate cake in the shape of a Christmas tree.
The door opened and a blast of cold air accompanied Drew and Sam, who had taken Sammy and Sarah down to toast marshmallows in the fireplace in the pit. Their cheeks were rosy from the cold air.
“Go wash up now,” Maizie instructed her children. Then she turned to her husband. “I hope you didn’t let them eat too many, Sam. They’ll ruin their appetite for dinner.”
“Only a dozen,” Sam said, holding up what was left of the marshmallows in a plastic bag.
“A dozen!” Maizie cried.
“Each,” he said with a wink.
“Would you carve the turkey?” Annie asked Mr. Jim as she carried glasses out of the kitchen. “My dad’s carving knives are on the counter.”
“With pleasure.”
“Be sure to put on an apron, Jim,” Naomi instructed.
Annie took a look at the crowded dining and living room. All one big space really, with an open arch between them. Sunrise Cottage was the biggest cottage on the Knoll but still tiny for this many guests.
“It’s a good thing Birdie couldn’t come. I’m sorry the twins came down with the flu, but I don’t honestly know where we would have put everyone,” Annie said.
“Your tree is lovely, Annie,” Naomi remarked.
“Drew picked it out himself and brought it as a surprise for me.”
“So many lovely ornaments. Didn’t your mother make some of these?” Maizie asked.
“Most of them. And she gave me a new one every year. Felt funny not opening one this morning.”
“I wish you had told me,” Drew said, as he put his arm around her. “Next year, I’ll be sure to give you one.”
“You gave me the tree. That was more than enough.”
Naomi and Maizie exchanged glances, but Sam was the one to ask what they were wondering.
“Sounds like you’re becoming a permanent fixture here, Drew.”
“If Annie will put up with me,” Drew said and pulled her closer into him.
Annie felt safe and warm in Drew’s arms. She missed him the minute she had to go back into the kitchen to check on the gravy.
As the dishes of food were being brought to the table, Drew leaned closer to Maizie’s husband. “Sam?’
“Yes?”
“Would you be willing to give the blessing this evening?”
“Of course.”
“Annie had asked me, and I’m honored, but I didn’t have the privilege of knowing her parents as you did. I’d really appreciate it, if you’d make some reference to them.”
“Certainly, Drew.”
Annie’s voice called from the kitchen, “Would someone bring the gravy boat in here?”
“Where is it?” Drew asked.
“On the buffet.”
“The turkey is carved,” Jim announced, walking in from the kitchen wearing one of Liz’s old aprons.
“Don’t you look cute, Dad,” Maizie said with a laugh.
“Hey, just following orders.”
The last of the food was placed on the table, and everyone finally gathered in close quarters and stood behind their chairs. Maizie’s youngest, while eyeing the delicious food spread out in front of her, noticed an extra place setting.
“Who’s going to sit there?” Sarah asked.
“Mr. Packard is invited,” Drew told her.
Sam, who was next to the empty chair asked, “Would you like me to clear it? We’d have a bit more room.”
“No, please leave it,” Annie interrupted. “He may still come.”
Everyone joined hands as they stood circling the feast.
“Our heavenly Father,” Sam began. “We thank you for the blessing of this holiday and the meal we are about to share. We thank you for the coming together of these friends and our family. We ask you to bless the souls of our dearly loved and sorely missed Liz and Luke.”
Maizie squeezed Annie’s hand tighter.
“Please comfort us in our loss on this first Christmas without them. We are grateful for our trust that they are well provided for in your kingdom, as we are blessed with your bounty here on earth. Amen”
“Amen,” everyone chorused and they began to take their seats.
Just as they settled, the front door burst open and in the doorway stood a clean shaven Packard Marlboro dressed in new jeans, a madras plaid shirt, navy sports jacket and a red tie. He carried a small gift-wrapped package in one frozen hand and balanced a large covered dish in the other hand.
“I’m sorry I’m late. I didn’t time my grandmother’s Christmas pudding recipe properly.”
Drew rose and rushed toward him with so much enthusiasm that Pack nearly dropped the pudding.
Suddenly Sam, Maizie, Jim and Naomi were all up and talking to Packard.
“Merry Christmas.”
“Come in, come in.”
“You must be frozen coming over here without an overcoat.”
“Did you walk in this cold?”
“Get the man a drink.”
Packard forgot that he didn’t own a dress coat to wear over his new clothes. He was late, and hadn’t even bothered to wrap a scarf around his neck when he bolted out of his door and across the field to Annie’s cottage. But seeing her now, standing at her place at the table across the room, Packard didn’t feel cold or even hear the voices swimming around him. Looking at her made him realize that accepting this Christmas dinner invitation was correct. He’d done the right thing pushing past his fears and misgivings.
His eyes and Annie’s locked long enough for him to see her face burst into a smile which made him certain that, at the very least, she was clearly glad that he had arrived.
“You only missed the blessing. We were just about to start dinner,” Drew said as he guided Pack to the table.
Someone had taken the covered dish out into the kitchen, but he still held the small gift.
“Merry Christmas, Annie,” Packard said, and he handed her the box.
As people settled into their seats, including Packard, Annie carefully lifted the lid of the prettily wrapped box. Inside she found a hand carved black crow with a gold ribbon attached to its back. She held it up for all to see.
“For the tree?” she asked.
Packard nodded.
Annie crossed to hang her new ornament on the Christmas tree, and Mr. Jim gave a whistle of admiration. “You carve that yourself, Packard?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You do nice work.”
“Thank you.”
“Can we eat yet?” Young Sammy asked.
“Mind your manners,” Maizie instructed.
“But you always say to eat our food before it gets cold.”
“Yes, everyone, let’s get started,” Drew said, and glanced at Annie, who stood at the tree for a moment admiring the tiny Oliver whose shiny black paint reflected all the colors of the lights and other ornaments.
“Thank you,” she said as she briefly put her hands on Pack’s shoulders on her way back to her place next to Drew.
Food was being passed at a furious pace. Conversation was humming, and Annie felt content.
***
After the chocolate Christmas tree cake and Christmas pudding were polished off, Packard made his excuses, making sure to thank Annie and Drew for a wonderful time.
“I’ll walk out with you,” Drew told him.
Once they were out on the porch, Drew said, “Keep an eye on Annie while I’m on the West Coast, will you?”
“Sure,” Pack said.
“Between visiting my parents and grandparents and going through the whole dissertation process, I’ll be gone nearly a month. I’m even going to miss her birthday, and I don’t like her out here by herself.”
“She’ll be fine.”
“I won’t worry so much if I know you’re close by…I’m…I want you to know that on Valentine’s Day, I’m planning on asking Annie to marry me.”
Packard sat down on a porch chair. He held his empty covered dish in his lap.
“I know it’s soon, which is why I didn’t pop the question for Christmas. It’s her first one without her folks. I’ll be away on New Year’s and her birthday. Besides, I wanted to discuss it with my mom and dad. I’m going to ask my mother to help me select the ring while I’m out there. She and Dad haven’t even met Annie, and I thought they’d like to know about my plans first. And you. I haven’t told anyone, but you. You’ll keep it a secret, right?”
“Yes,” Pack said and got to his feet. “Congratulations.” He palmed the dish in one hand and shook Drew’s hand with the other.
“Thanks!” Drew’s smile was huge. “I’m very happy about it.”
“I’m sure Annie will be, too.”
“Gosh, I hope so.”
“It’s cold. I’m going to get going.”
“Yeah, sure. Goodnight, Pack. And Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, Drew.”
When Packard cleared the fence, he began to run. His warm breath made clouds of smoke in the air. When he reached his back door, Packard slammed into his kitchen. Tossing the covered dish onto the table, he sat down to catch his breath and think. However, there was no reasoning to be discovered.
“My God, I love her,” Pack said aloud. “I love Annie.”
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