Hearing his name, Danny approached them on the sofa. ‘What about my condition?’ he asked.
Holly smiled and put her arms around him, pulling him close. ‘I said that I needed to be paying more attention to you, playing nursemaid and getting you back to health.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Mom, I’m fine, you don’t need to worry about me.’
‘Even so, I can’t very well continue this wild goose chase, not with my only son injured.’
‘But you already have so many clues!’ Danny insisted. ‘So I cracked my skull open a little bit … no big deal, I’m OK.’
‘Well, we’ll see … ’
Holly idly turned her attention back to the newspaper, and opened it to the crossword. She picked up a stray pencil nearby and started reading through the clues.‘I agree with Danny – you certainly can’t give up now,’ Kate persisted. ‘Think about it. Someone is out there, frantic about losing their precious bracelet, and searching high and low for it. You are the person who is going to make that happen. You know, if you think about it, there’s a reason this ended up in your hands, Holly. It’s karma or something. You are the perfect person - the vessel even - to deliver the treasured memories associated with that bracelet back into the hands of its rightful owner.’
Holly’s eyes widened. ‘Seriously Kate, you should run for office with a speech like that.’ She laughed. ‘And of course I’m going to try my best to get it back to the owner but, right now, I’m going to try my best to finish this crossword.’
Kate got up for another refill, and Danny once again turned his attentions to his iPad.
Holly sat back on the sofa and immersed herself in following yet another line of clues – this time from the crossword. It seemed far simpler to uncover those mystery words than finding a proverbial needle in a haystack in New York City.
But as she started to decipher the crossword, her inbuilt radar for intrigue and mystery began to go off as, bit by bit, she uncovered the clues. As she gazed at the page, something was becoming clear, but she wasn't sure what.
Five across: Singer of ‘Two Lives’ five letters.KAREN(Carpenter)
Seventeen down: Mr Darcy’s maiden. Seven letters.BENNET(Elizabeth)
Two down: Editor ofNYTcrossword. Three letters.WILL(Shortz)
Sixty-four across: Not I, me, him, or her. Three letters.YOU
Fifty-two down: ‘_____ the night’ by Gaga. Five letters.MARRY
Fifteen across: Not I, him, her, or you. Two letters.ME
Ten down: Barry's Westdale high school student. Four letters.GREG(Brady)
When Holly finally finished encoding the message plain for all to see in the crossword, her eyes widened. ‘Oh my goodness … ’ she swooned, putting a hand to her mouth. ‘Kate, you have to see this, how romantic … what an absolutely amazing thing to do.’
Kate came and peered over Holly’s shoulder. ‘What is it?’
She held up the newspaper. ‘Look, someone’s being proposed to via theNYTcrossword. On Christmas morning, can you believe it?’
Kate read the message aloud. ‘Karen Bennet, will you marry me?’ Oh wow, that’s so amazing!’ Ever the softie, tears appeared in her eyes. ‘That’s possibly the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen – or read even. What a way to pop the question! I hope she sees it, this Karen Bennet.’
‘I’m sure she has – or will. She must be a crossword addict, otherwise why would – ’ she looked back down at the message – ‘Greg do it this way otherwise?’
Kate was staring dreamily into the distance. ‘Oh I really hope she says yes!’ she exclaimed, getting carried away by the drama of it all.
Holly read the message again. ‘Well, of course she will. Clearly this guy went to a lot of trouble putting this together, just for her.’ She looked at her friend, for once sharing in Kate’s mushy sentimentality. ‘What woman would say no to a proposal like that?
47
Greg was up on Christmas morning just as the sun was starting to emerge above the horizon. He had barely slept the night before, so nervous was he in anticipation of what would unfold on this day. Still, he felt wide-awake and completely alert. Not to mention excited.
He gingerly got out of bed, slipped on a robe and padded silently across the bedroom, stealing a glance at Karen’s sleeping form. He didn’t want to wake her until he was absolutely sure everything was ready to go downstairs.
Quietly opening the closet door, he sought out the jacket he’d been wearing a couple of nights before at Cipriani. Reaching into the inside pocket, he found the ring box and slipped it into the pocket of his robe. He momentarily considered changing out of his pyjama pants and getting ready for the day, but that wasn’t how they typically did Christmas morning here and he didn’t want Karen to suspect anything amiss.
Smiling, he patted his robe pocket and left the bedroom, shutting the door quietly behind him.
