Chapter 40: There Has Been No Maternal Love
Cathryn's heart suddenly tightened, and then her lower lip protruded in a sulky pout. She moved her head obediently. There was a deathly silence in the car. Mr. Riley was driving and had been observing the mother and daughter's expressions in the mirror. He knew his wife was very tolerant of her own affairs, but as long as it involved Cathryn's issues, she couldn't bear it.
"There had been no gush of maternal love." Mr. Riley thought in his mind. The atmosphere between the mother and daughter changed from the initial warmth to stiffness in the middle and then finally to embarrassment.
Mrs. Riley asked Cathryn to sit a bit away from her, and Cathryn reluctantly moved. Then Mrs. Riley said, "Do you think that what I said today is to allow you to continue wasting your youth being an actress. You must get your Teacher Certification this year."
The atmosphere became not as tense as before because of Mrs. Riley's words, and Cathryn smiled and replied, "Okay!" When they arrived home, Cathryn and her parents returned to their consistent pattern of getting along with each other.
On Christmas Eve, Mr. Riley prepared a table full of delicious dishes. To Cathryn's surprise, the wristband did not ring once, and she enjoyed the meal a lot. After having Christmas Eve dinner, Mrs. Riley went to bed early, Cathryn and Mr. Riley still stayed in the living room and watched TV together, waiting for the arrival of Christmas.
Around midnight, the sound of firecrackers outside gradually began to start. An explosion of color and light dazzled the crowd. The atmosphere of Christmas was compelling; it was bright and had a festive glow. Deafened by the fantastic and sometimes scary sound, Cathryn looked out of the window. Then she immediately jumped off the sofa and headed to the balcony. It was as though Cathryn was still a child, Mr. Riley smiled and reminded her, "Put on your coat!"
Cathryn grinned and walked back to the living room to put on her coat and then went to the balcony again. The midnight bell was about to ring, and Christmas would soon begin. The fireworks ended in a fury of light and muffled noise. Cathryn looked at the colorful fireworks blooming in the sky, and she remembered spending Christmas with Jordan last year.
Taking a deep breath, Cathryn wrapped her coat tighter, placed her arms on the railing, and took out her cell phone. She opened her address book and saw only one number on her favorites list. She smiled faintly and dialed the number.
The time difference in Germany was six hours, and Keith is probably not up. She decided to call anyway.
Cathryn said to Keith with a smile, " Merry Christmas, Keith!"
"Thank you, and the same to you!" Keith chuckled and replied, his voice sounded naturally sensual and enticing. Cathryn imagines what it would be like to fall asleep in his arms and wake up with his embrace and view every morning.
"I just finished watching the fireworks," said Cathryn, looking up at the sky. The dark night was lit up by colorful fireworks, which also illuminated half of her face and the sadness in her bright eyes. Cathryn felt a bit lonely.
Whenever she was alone, she would often recall the past things. Whenever she looked into Keith's eyes, she never hid her emotions because she knew that he would tolerate everything about her.
Keith listened to the sound of the firewood burning in the fireplace, with the small flames leaping slightly in his blue eyes, and asked, "Are the fireworks beautiful?
"Yes, really beautiful."Cathryn said, "I want to set off my own fireworks."
"I'll accompany you to set off fireworks after I come back." Keith appeased her tenderly.
"But I want to do it on Christmas," said Cathryn like a spoiled child.
The other end of the line fell into a profound silence.
It was a long time before she heard Keith's low voice, "Next year. I'll accompany you to set off fireworks next Christmas." He was afraid to frighten away the happiness in front of him, Keith gingerly asked, "May I?"
"Yes, of course," replied Cathryn. The blood vessels, which had been entwining around her heart tightly, scattered instantly. She felt relieved and burst into laughter off in the distance, she could still hear the fireworks exploding, but Cathryn knew it was late and wanted to let Keith go back to bed.
She said goodbye to him and hung up the phone. She then wrapped her coat tighter and looked off in the distance and could see the endless fireworks blooming in the sky. As she was standing there admiring the view, her phone suddenly began to ring. She looked down at the screen, and it was a strange call from Jonathan City.
"She had no idea who it could be. She didn't have many friends from Jonathan City, and she had all their numbers on her cell phone. Who was this unknown phone number? Could it be one of her friends who got their number changed? Maybe whoever it was, was only calling to wish her a Merry Christmas?" Cathryn wondered.
Cathryn put the phone up to her ear and answered, "Hello, this is Cathryn."
The sound of fireworks was starting to fade away. However, unlike the jollification of this end of the phone, the other end was entirely silent.
"Hello? Who is this?" Cathryn frowned tightly and asked, but the other end of the phone still kept silent.
Looking at the beautiful sky that was still lit up outside, Cathryn started to shake from the cold. She thought it might be someone who had dialed the wrong number, and then without hesitation, she hung up the phone.
Outside the house, no one had noticed that there was a man standing with a hat on.
He quietly looked up at the building where Cathryn was and then put down his cellphone in silence.
As the Christmas bells rang, it took her mind back to her childhood memories. She remembered the people gathering outside. They had risen very early in the morning while it was still dark. The children were running and screaming with excitement. They would look up at the dark sky and laugh, looking for a glimpse of Santa.