Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's story is a continuation of A King's Christmas. This week, we're poking our nose into Trunk Mahoney's life. Scroll down for the link back to Tuesday Tales. Thanks for stopping by.
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Across
town at The Savage Beast
When he walked in the door, the delicious
aroma of roasting turkey greeted Trunk Mahoney. He salivated. His wife, Carla,
was busy behind the bar, setting up glasses.
Her black hair was pulled back into a pony tail, with a few stands
escaping to tickle her neck. She wiped her hands on a towel and looked up. She
broke into a wide grin.
His heart swelled at the warm greeting she
gave him. He hadn’t been lucky in his life to grow up with people who loved
him. When he was a kid, after his parents died, he bounced around in cold,
neglectful homes until he went out on his own. Even his first wife didn’t truly
love him and left him for another woman.
According to Al “Trunk” Mahoney, his life
began when he met Carla. He’d fallen for her while he was married, but never
did anything about it. They became fast friends, but that was it. Trunk vowed
he’d never be a cheater and he’d lived up to that. Now beautiful Carla was his,
and his heart skipped a beat every time he looked at her, and thought about what
happiness lay ahead.
The contractors had finished the rebuild on
the cottage in the back of their property that had burned down. Carla’s parents
were coming to stay for Christmas. Trunk could hardly wait. He’d not had warm,
loving family and had missed it, especially around the holidays.
He thought Carla had been close to her mom,
so Trunk hoped he could fit right in and be part of their cozy circle. The
cottage was beautiful, rebuilt to be roomy and comfortable with a fireplace,
efficient small kitchen, and a big bed with a down comforter.
He could hardly wait until he moved his
inlaws there for a two-week stay. The idea of preparing for Christmas with
these surrogate parents gave him butterflies in the stomach. He looked forward
to the best holiday he’d had since he was thirteen and lost his folks.
He’d been making plans in his head for
weeks of the places he wanted to take them, the gifts he wanted to give them.
And the nights doing jigsaw puzzles in front of the fire while watching a
football game. Of course, he might be playing. But if he wasn’t, he’d be
content to be with them. He’d conjured up a Currier and Ives Christmas in his
mind –the fulfillment of an old dream. Could a guy like him get much
luckier?
