* All ages
Disclaimer: The characters aren’t mine. They belong to Golden Press but I’ve borrowed them for now because of my love of Trixie Belden and of writing. And I thank you for letting me use them. I hope everyone enjoys this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
New Year, New Beginnings
by Alora
Trixie Belden sighed loudly as she looked at the clock hanging on the wall in the police station. She knew that a watched pot never boiled, or however that phrase went, but did it have to apply to clocks as well? Glancing up again she noted that the hands still hadn’t move to four o’clock.
Normally Trixie enjoyed her part time job at the police station. Sgt. Molinson and she still didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of matters but she could tell that he was starting to respect her opinions more and that was almost worth more than the money she earned. He also grudgingly admired her for solving some difficult mysteries. The mysteries weren’t her doing though. They just seemed to be attracted to her, not that she really was looking. Her job at the station was mostly research and odd jobs that were suppose to keep her out of trouble. At least it was more fun that watching Bobby had been.
Today was special though. It was New Year’s Eve. Her older brothers were coming home for the weekend. Brian was in his third year of premed and Mart had just started his first year towards his agricultural degree. Besides her brothers, her friends Jim Frayne and Dan Mangan were also coming back from college. Jim and Brian both went to the same school, however Mart was further upstate in New York and Dan had gone to Chicago. He’d be flying in for a week's stay with his uncle starting tonight.
With her best friend Honey Wheeler, and Mart’s girlfriend, Diana Lynch, it was truly going to be a reunion of the Bob-Whites, the semi-secret club the seven teenagers had started after Honey had moved to Sleepyside and they’d found Jim, who’d run away from his stepfather. He’d later been adopted by Honey’s family. Di and Dan had joined afterwards.
Trixie’s attention was distracted from the clock by big white flakes drifting past the window. She’d just die if the storm all the forecasters were calling for came and the boys didn’t make it home. Mr. and Mrs. Belden had okayed the idea of a New Year’s Eve party and, as an added bonus, they were going to a party thrown by friends from the bank Peter Belden worked at. And Bobby was sleeping over at Diana’s with her twin brothers. Since Brian and Mart would be down for the whole weekend, the parents weren’t making a big deal about spending time with them this particular night.
The person Trixie was most looking forward to seeing was, in fact, the tall, handsome, red-headed brother of her best friend. If Jim couldn’t make it down, she really did think she’d just die. She really cared about him and they’d always been close - even sharing the duties of president for their club - but she still didn’t know where she stood with him. Were they just friends? Or did his feelings run as deep as hers? It was the start of a New Year, her senior year as a matter of fact, and she desperately wanted to find out.
Trixie looked up at the clock again and was startled to realize it was actually 4:05. She’d been so busy daydreaming about Jim she hadn’t even been paying attention. Grabbing her jacket, she ran outside to what used to be the Bob-Whites’ station wagon. When Jim had graduated from highschool, Mr. Wheeler had given him one of his cars and Brian still had his jalopy. Mart had bought a secondhand van, but mostly used his bike around campus. The station wagon was now used by Honey, Di and Trixie as they needed it.
Once she got home, Trixie quickly dashed up to her room and threw everything that had been on the floor into her closet. The room at least looked clean. She then headed into the kitchen.
"Knock, knock," Honey called as she came in. Since it was winter break, the girls worked more hours and didn’t get as much time to hang out as they used to. Both still enjoyed the occasional mystery though. Trixie quickly walked over to her friend and gave her a hug.
"Thank goodness you’re here. You know what a klutz I am in the kitchen!" Honey looked as unruffled as always in her soft pink sweater and black jeans. "Brian is going to melt when he sees you." Trixie couldn’t help teasing her best friend. Honey felt for Brian what Trixie felt for Jim and both were looking forward to, hopefully, a bright new year.
"Tell me you aren’t wearing that!" Honey exclaimed, looking at Trixie’s oversized sweatshirt that Brian had sent her and faded blue jeans.
"Cripes, no. I need to change but figured I’d wear this while I cleaned up the place a little. Get ready for everyone and everything," Trixie laughed, shaking her head of sandy curls.
"Hi there, I’m not too late, am I?" Diana peeked her pretty head in around the kitchen door. She still was the prettiest girl in the school with her black hair and violet eyes.
"No silly, the guys probably won’t get here till 8 or 9 tonight. We’ve got plenty of time. I was just astonishing Honey here that I’d actually straighten the place up. But I’m not dusting!!" Honey and Diana laughed cause they knew how much Trixie hated dusting.
"I think Honey and I should take over the kitchen or there won’t be anything to eat," Di offered as she shrugged out of her lavender coat and hung it over a chair. She felt more at home at the Belden’s than her own mansion and had spent countless hours in this kitchen with Mart and Trixie and the rest of the Bob-whites.
While Trixie worked around the living room, straightening it up and getting ready for the guys, the girls in the kitchen made some lasagna, a salad, and warmed up some rolls. Just as it was turning 7:45, the telephone rang. Trixie’s heart stopped in her throat as she realized that the party might actually be canceled after all. The snow still wasn’t coming down in mass, but it hadn’t let up all day and, as it got colder, it was starting to stick to the roads. "Hello?"
"Hey, Trix? It's Dan. Listen, I’m stuck in Chicago. I missed my earlier flight and now they’ve canceled all flights into your area because of the storm. So I won’t be able to make it tonight. But I’ll try and catch up with you and Honey later this week when I get a different flight okay?" After Trixie assured him that they’d definitely make plans for later in the week she hung up the phone and told the other two that Dan wasn’t going to make it after all. So much for a reunion. Trixie started biting her nails in worry. Jim just had to make it.
"Hey, Trix, staring out the window isn’t going to help, go upstairs and get changed and maybe by the time you get back the guys will be here," Honey said in a calming voice, though she, too, was worried about the guys traveling in this kind of weather.
Trixie ran upstairs and hopped into the shower quickly to wash away the dirt and grime she’d accumulated from work and cleaning. She then changed into a good pair of jeans, a white turtleneck, and her light blue denim shirt buttoned over it. She added a necklace and Jim’s ID bracelet for luck before heading back downstairs to worry. What if they got into an accident and she never got a chance to tell Jim how she felt? What if she never saw her brothers again? Trixie’s active imagination was conjuring all sorts of horrible possibilities. She didn’t dare tell her friends her worries because they looked as if they had enough worries of their own.
As it got close to 10:30, Trixie’s eyes started drifting closed despite her worry and her intense desire to stay awake for when, or if, they did arrive. They’d tried calling Brian and Jim’s dorm early and was told they’d left for the weekend. Mart’s roommate said the same. Now, it was just a matter of waiting. Honey was already curled up on the couch resting, and Di had claimed a recliner and lost her battle with sleep. Trixie had chosen to stretch out on the rug in front of the fire and the flickering lights of the flames were hypnotizing her into sleep.
Trixie drifted back to consciousness, aware that someone was gently stroking her hair and whispering for her to wake up. Suddenly Trixie’s eyes snapped open to see Jim grinning down at her from where he was kneeling beside her. Before she even realized what she was doing, Trixie bounced up and launched herself into his arms, almost knocking them both over in her exuberance. Suddenly embarrassed, Trixie drew back and smiled at him. "It's good to see you, buddy."
She mentally cursed herself. First you throw yourself at him and now you call him buddy?? What a mess. It was just so good to see him again. He was looking even more handsome than ever with his dark green flannel shirt and jeans. They definitely needed to talk.
Jim chuckled as Trixie stood up and dusted herself off. She’d grown up into a beautiful woman. The blue of her shirt set off her eyes perfectly and there was no mistaking her happiness at seeing him even though she now tried to backtrack a little. He looked over to where his best friend had just succeeded in waking up his sister. She still looked a little dazed by Brian’s hello kiss. Maybe he should have tried that.
"What took you guys so long?" Trixie asked Jim, unable to take her eyes off of him for long. He was really truly here. Oh Gleeps, how could she move this in the right direction?
"Well, the snow really slowed us down. It's pretty slippery out there, plus we got a late start cause Brian wanted to check the postings for the grade on his last anatomy test. But you didn’t think a little snow would keep us from making it here did you?" Jim joked as he ruffled Trixie’s hair.
Oh, please don’t do that. Don’t act like I’m just your friend. Trixie pleaded silently in her heart. "Dan isn’t going to be able to make it till later this week. And there still hasn’t been any sign of Mart."
"Did I hear the mention of my name? Why if it isn’t a gathering of my extensive irrecoverable comrades." The voice was coming from the doorway. And Diana, who’d been sitting quietly in her chair, launched herself at the snowman standing in the kitchen. Mart had finally arrived. The Bob-whites, minus Dan, were finally together again.
Just as Trixie went to greet her brothers and tease Honey about the obvious smile on her face, two arms wrapped themselves around her waist and she heard a voice in her ear, "Can we talk for a moment? Alone?"
Trixie drew Jim into a small room used for storage off the living room and closed the door. Suddenly she realized that Jim looked as nervous as she felt. Could it be? Did she dare hope?
"The reason I wanted to catch you alone is because I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the last few months. You and I have always had a lot of fun together, and just a special interaction. I guess I’m not doing very well at this." Jim ran a hand nervously through his hair. "What I’m trying to say is that I love you, Trixie. I have for quite a long time now. That’s probably why I give you such a hard time when you’re on one of your cases, because I’m worried that something will happen to you. I don’t think I could bear losing you. Driving here tonight in that storm, and on the ice, it made me think. Something could have gone wrong and you’d never know how I felt, I’d never get a chance to kiss you, or hold you in my arms and know that’s where you wanted to be. I made myself a promise that if we made it here tonight, I’d tell you how I felt. I’d like to see where this relationship can go, don’t you?"
"Oh Jim, you had me so worried tonight. I didn’t know if I was going to see you or if you’d wind up in an accident. I care so much about you. It's frightening in a way, but I do love you and I want so much to see where our relationship can take us." Trixie once again found herself in Jim’s arms and received a very satisfying kiss. Wait till Honey heard this. Although from the looks of things before they came in here, things would be going good for her and Brian also.
That night as the three couples sat around the table, eatting, joking and remembering times gone by, each of them gave thought that this was definitely a time of new beginnings, as the old year closed around them and the new year began.
The End