A Winter's Evening News    A Winter's Evening News by Kim Novak

  

 <pre>A Winter's Evening News 

 by Kim Novak
 Rated G
 This is marginally part three of my first two stories, Responsibilities
and Journey. Marginally because I think it can stand on it's own all
right, but it might make a bit more sense if you have read the other two
stories. I don't own Ray, the Vecchio family, or Fraser, but Madison and
Fiona are mine.
 Comments are always welcome, and thank you kindly for reading! KMN
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 Ray came home late. It was cold and the snow had started about an hour
ago. Close to two inches already covered the streets, making driving and
walking difficult. A good warm dinner and bed sounds pretty good right
about now, he thought as he crunched his way up the front steps of the
house. Fumbling for his house key, Ray was startled when the door opened.
Fiona stood there smiling at him. 

 "Oh, no! I forgot! I'm sorry," Ray exclaimed as he kicked the snow off
his shoes and came into the front hall. He was supposed to have taken
Fiona out to dinner tonight. She had said she had something to tell him. 

 "It's all right. I understood. Besides, your family never minds an extra
body for dinner and your mother made wonderful food tonight." 

 "Yeah, I know. Pasta Fazool- she makes it every Tuesday night." 

 "Well, there's leftovers, so come and eat. We can talk." She led him to
the cozy kitchen and sat him down with some garlic bread and salad while
she reheated the pasta. He flipped through his mail as he ate. Bills,
paycheck, mortgage payment, more bills, junk mail, and a small package.
The package was curious- there was no return address and a foreign
postmark. Ray could barely make out that the postmark was from Quebec. He
looked closer at the address, and realized how familiar the handwriting
was- it was from Fraser! He ripped it open and found an unlabeled
videocassette. No note, no explanation, nothing but the videocassette. 

 "Hey, Fiona?" 

 "Yeah?" 

 "Do you mind if we transfer dinner to the TV room? I think this video is
from Fraser and I want to take a look at it." 

 "Of course. No problem!" She picked up the rest of his salad and handed
him the plate of pasta. Balancing food and drinks, they made their way to
the couch in front of the TV. He plugged the tape in the VCR, turned the
TV on and pushed play. Ray laughed- it was Benny trying to get a video
camera settled on a tripod. He evidently had no idea the camera was
recording. Ray could hear someone talking in the background and he assumed
it was Madison. 

 "Is that Fraser?" Fiona asked. She hadn't met him, but Ray had told her a
lot about him. 

 "Yeah. I doubt he's ever used a video camera in his life, so this should
be pretty interesting. I would guess the kid in the background is Madison.
She's probably grown six inches since August." 

 "Hasn't he written you?" 

 "He can't. I'm surprised he could manage this. No one's supposed to know
he's in Canada. I mean, no one in Canada is supposed to know he's in
Canada. It doesn't really matter if we know or not." 

 "Why?" 

 "Well, part of the reason he was more or less assigned here is that some
of his fellow RCMP officers weren't too happy about him tracking down the
person who killed Fraser's dad, and they wanted to well, at least hurt
him, possibly kill him. So to keep him alive and healthy, they assigned
him to Chicago, which is pretty much out of these guys' reach." 

 "Wow. So, why is he in Canada now?" 

 "Because there is, or maybe it's was now, a kid who was in basically the
same situation Fraser was in a few years ago who desperately needed to get
out of Canada. They're sending that kid to be a liaison in Britain, I
think, but they couldn't send him right away, so Benny and this kid traded
places for a while. When they get this kid settled, Benny and Madison will
be coming back to Chicago. Oh, he got it set up. Watch. Yeah, that's
Madison. Gosh, she HAS grown!" On the screen, a small dark-haired girl was
squinting up at the camera from an armchair. Ray chuckled. She had the
exact same expression her father did when he was trying to decide exactly
what he was looking at. 

 "Come on, honey, it's just Mark's video camera," Ben said as he came
around the camera to tickle his daughter. She laughed and said something
Ray couldn't catch. "All right, then, I'll say hello first. Hi Ray, Hi
everyone! We thought we'd send our Christmas present early so it would
definitely be on time for Christmas. Madison wanted to come home for
Christmas, but we can't and we're sorry, and we figured that this would be
the next best thing. So I borrowed our next door neighbor's video camera
and here we go! Say hi, Madison." 

 "Hi! Hi Ray, hi Grace and Lucy and Mike, and Mama Vecchio, and Maria and
Tony and Frannie and Ryan and everyone!" Her four-year old voice was
excited. Apparently, she had warmed up to the video camera so long as her
dad was there too. 

 "As you can see, we're doing all right. We both miss everyone terribly,
but we have some pretty good news! We have a departure date! It's
tentative, but it looks like we'll be in Chicago before Independence Day.
The actual date is July 3rd. When I know more, I'll try to get you the
information, Ray. We may actually be coming home earlier, but the latest
right now is the 3rd." 

 "That is good news!" Ray said. Fiona smiled at him as she watched him
watch the video. She had only known him for three months, but she already
loved him. If someone had asked her before August if she believed that she
could love someone so completely in such a short time she would have told
them they were crazy. She had always been so cautious in love, but there
was just something about Ray that made you give yourself over to him
without hesitation. Fiona trusted him and her trust and love was even more
affirmed as she watched him bite back tears as he watched Fraser and
Madison say goodbye on the videotape. 

 "You miss them, don't you?" she asked. 

 "More than I realize half the time. I'm so glad they'll be home in July."


 "It's been hard for you, hasn't it?" 

 "Sometimes. I watch their house for them, and some days I walk in there
and I wonder if they're really ever coming back. I know they've only been
gone for about 3 months, but it feels longer. Especially since I can't
tell him how I'm doing, or see if he's all right." Ray looked at her and
saw that she was waiting patiently to tell him something. "I'm sorry. You
wanted to tell me something tonight, didn't you? That's why we were going
to go for dinner." 

 "Yeah, I did, but I didn't mind waiting. Well, first of all,...well, this
is kind of difficult. I want you to know I love you no matter what, all
right?" 

 "Of course. I love you too. What's up?" Ray asked. 

 "Don't rush, ok? I have to do this slow." 

 "All right. Take your time. We've got all night, I'm not in any hurry to
get anywhere." 

 "Ok." She sat silently for a long moment, then began again. "I think the
only way to say this is to just say it. I am...well, *we* are, if you
like...Oh, heck, Ray, I'm going to have a baby!" She finished in a rush. 

 Ray's eyes widened, but he sat silently. Then he grinned at her. "Oh,
Fiona. My sweet Fiona. Are you happy?" 

 "Yeah. Are you?" 

 "Oh yeah. You bet." 

 "Is your family going to be mad?" she asked cautiously. She knew how
important Ray's family was to him, and she didn't want to destroy his
family life. 

 "Oh, heavens no! They're going to be ecstatic! They love you to pieces,
and this will make them so happy. Another kid to run around and cause
chaos! They're just going to want to know one thing." 

 "What's that?" she asked as she snuggled into his welcoming arms. His
hands caressed her stomach and he paused to kiss the top of her head
before answering her. 

 "All they're going to want to know is what I want to know." 

 "And what is that?" 

 "If you'll marry me." He said it so simply, but with such love that her
eyes welled up with tears. He gently tipped her head up so he could see
her tremulous smile. 

 "I would love to marry you, Raymond Vecchio." 

 "And I would love to marry you, Fiona Marie Theresa McKenna." 

 

 The next day, Fiona came over for dinner again, and once again the food
was wonderful. Ray leaned over to her and whispered "I want to let
everyone get eating before I tell them, ok? If their mouths are full we
won't have to yell so loud!" She giggled and nodded. 

 As soon as a pause fell over the table so everyone could take a bite of
their hot sandwiches, Ray took a big gulp of water and stood up. "Well,
now that everyone's quieted down a bit, I have something important to
say." He paused to look around the table. The kids were paying more
attention to their plates than to their uncle, but Ray had both his
sisters' full attention. Tony and his mother came out of the kitchen. He
met his mother's eyes and her eyes lit up with recognition. Somehow she
knew what was coming. Ray felt a brief flash of sadness at the memory of
doing this many, many years ago with Angie, but his mood quickly recovered
and he took a deep breath and continued. "Fiona and I are going to get
married!" Fiona slipped her hand in his and squeezed hard as he sat down.
The table exploded with astonishment and laughter. Ray's mother came
around the table and gathered both of them into a big hug. 

 "I knew you would say that, Raymondo! I just knew it! Such wonderful
news!" 

 "Well, wait, there's more," Fiona said. Ray had left it up to her to tell
about the baby, if she felt she wanted to. It would become obvious in
time, and it was unlikely that the marriage would take place before the
baby came, but he felt she should let people know when she was
comfortable. Everyone stopped to look at her. "We're having a baby, too!"
Immediately, the laughter and congratulations resumed. They sat back and
watched their family. 

 "When's the wedding?" Maria asked. 

 "We haven't talked much about it, yet," Fiona said, "But, I think it
probably won't be until summer, huh, Ray?" 

 "Well, yeah. Probably July, which reminds me! Benny sent a video! He said
that they're doing great, and the latest they should be back is July 3rd!"


 "So, probably sometime after July 3rd, because I'm assuming you want to
wait for Fraser to come back to Chicago, right?" 

 "Seeing as I'm planning on asking him to be my best man, I think we'll
have to wait!" Ray laughed. 

 Later, they sneaked out to the front porch. They leaned against the porch
railing holding cups of hot chocolate and looked out at the snow. "Well,
little lady, was it what you expected it to be?" 

 "No, it was better than I expected it to be. I was scared there for a
minute when you looked at your mom before you said it." 

 "Oh. I'm sorry, I was just..." 

 "Remembering doing this before?" 

 "Yeah. But, I think it's going to be different this time. No, I promise
it will be different this time. I'm different now, and you're different
than Angie was. We were too young and in a career that was enough for a
kid to handle alone without trying to do it as a newlywed. Now, I'm
established and you're established, and we've been around the block a
couple more times." Ray said. She reached up and hugged him hard. 

 The door opened, and Maria stuck her head out. "Hey you too, get in here
before you freeze to death!" Laughing, they walked hand in hand through
the front door and into the beginning of their new lives. 

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