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“Grandfather, would you tell us the story again?” the boy’s wide-eyed gaze held that of the old man.
“Oh, Robin, I’ve told you many times already, son…!” his ancient voice chuckled,
“Would you please, Grandpapa?” three younger voices squeaked in concert.
“Come now, my dears,” their grandmother gently chided, “It’s improper thing to discuss one’s romances.”
“Darling,” the old man replied with a sly look, “How many times have I told them of how I almost let you go? If it’s improper, then I’m infamous.”
The elderly woman swatted at him, but she was laughing, “Honestly, don’t encourage them.”
“Would you, Grandpapa?”
“Of course, Eliza,” the elderly man smiled fondly, “I almost let your Nana walk away from me. All because of…”
-----
Ebenezer Scrooge remembered every detail of that afternoon. It was burned into his mind.
“Be careful or you may regret
The choice you make someday…”
Ebenezer turned away as Isabelle ascended the bridge, hardly daring to believe that the woman whom he wanted to marry was rejecting him. He could hear the pain and disappointment in her voice, see it in her without having to look her in the eye; her shoulders drooped clearly and she hung her head.
Christmas hardly gave him joy. The years that his father sent him to boarding school and never brought him home for Christmas. Even when Fan, bless her precious soul, had successfully begged their father to let her poor brother come home, Ebenezer still felt awkward around him. Even now, with Fan recently married and expecting her first child, there remained that gulf between him and his father.
The years that Ebenezer had been apprenticed to Fezziwig had been decidedly happier. He might have been an employer, but he had been the closest thing to a father figure that Ebenezer had known. And had it not been for Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig, he would never have met their lovely daughter, Isabelle. His Belle.
The years that they had known each other were wonderful, but as he had become more concerned about building a home and a life for them he had taken for granted that they would be husband and wife. Ebenezer, neglected by his father and never assured of security, was frightened of poverty and did not want the woman he loved to know that burden. He just couldn’t let that happen. And his business ventures remained tenuous. How could he think of marrying Belle in the middle of such a precarious financial situation and thus pulling her into that?
And Fan! His beloved little sister's health was always as precarious as her heart was warm and compassionate, and her pregnancy was already beginning to strain her. Ebenezer was terrified of what that meant for her and her child. What would that mean for him?
Now, just as he was beginning to slough those painful associations with Christmas from his mind, Belle had broken their engagement. He was so sure that what he was doing was for her, to spare her from knowing hardship. But instead she was declaring to him that his love for her had been replaced by his pursuit of money, that she bore him no ill will but she could not bear this perpetual postponement of their wedding any longer.
Maybe she was right. What if she was just a passing fancy to him now that he had been so devoted to earning money? Perhaps it was better to let her go rather than marry her and have his finances drag her under with him. Maybe it was better to just turn away and let her go to find happiness elsewhere.
“Go after her! You stupid boy, go after her!”
The words sounded so faint that he wondered if he imagined it, but the tone of that nearly silent voice was so desperate and heavy that it stopped Ebenezer in his tracks, like the sound of somebody yelling from a great distance. The voice was that of an older man, and Ebenezer was sure that there was nobody near enough to him who fit such a description. Was he going mad?
“Don’t let her slip away! You’ll regret it forever if you do! Go!”
That same voice called him again, still hardly audible but still too raw and heavy with emotion to ignore. Though he had not heard this voice before and there was nobody nearby who could have spoken these phrases, there was something strangely familiar about the voice.
Ebenezer stood frozen in place, wondering if this phantom calling to him was his own strained sanity or a genuine, desperate warning for him. Should he go after Belle?
“Don’t stand there like an idiot, go after her!”
This time the voice was a primal scream. He could hear anger, but the main feelings that he heard were anguish and despair. This mysterious messenger had barely finished speaking when Ebenezer was dashing over the bridge and through the park after Belle as fast as he could, trying to avoid stumbling.
Belle, one of the few people who had actually showed him affection and love, was leaving him and he was letting her leave. Whoever had been trying to make himself heard to Ebenezer had awoken him to this sudden understanding that he was letting his chances at happiness slip through his fingers. Now as he ran, manners and image no longer seemed to matter.
“Belle! Belle, wait!!!”
Ebenezer’s frantic call caught Belle’s attention instantly. She was startled to see Ebenezer, who usually was so self-controlled and concerned with dignity, racing after her like a madman.
“Ebenezer-?”
“Belle, don’t do this, don’t leave me,” he gasped, “I can’t lose you!”
“Ebenezer,” her big green eyes were glassy, “I was already leaving and you hardly protested.”
“You’re right about me, Belle,” his own eyes were also watering, “I have been distant, not because I want to be but because I’m desperate to give you the life that you deserve.”
“The life that I deserve?” Belle raised an eyebrow before sighing in exasperation, “Ebenezer, I have never sought to be rich, only comfortably set. I only want a life where I am not concerned about food or shelter, about the security of my children…” she winced, “I know that these are not inexpensive, but neither do they require vast riches.”
“Spirit, I thought that you said that these were only the shadows of the things that have been. Spirit-?”
That mysterious voice was perplexed now, but he hardly paid it heed. Belle was his main concern now.
“No, they do not…” Ebenezer tried to keep his voice steady, “Belle, I know that I have told you about the coldness of my father, that I have been made to strive since I was a boy…”
“You have Ebenezer,” Belle’s voice quavered slightly, but she remained guarded.
“I could not envision sharing my life with anybody but you, Belle. I don’t want you or our children to know what I’ve known…!”
“And I do not want my children or myself to compete with gold for their father’s attention,” Belle murmured as her eyes glistened with unshed tears, “I don’t want to lose you, Ebenezer, but I cannot fight the terror that I already have and that we cannot admit it to ourselves.”
“It can’t be the case,” Ebenezer was desperate, “Not when I have suddenly found myself confronted with the realization that I have neglected you, Belle… I know not how, but I feel like I’ve been awakened with a jolt: a sudden, inexplicable understanding that I will regret it forever if I let you go... Meeting you is perhaps the best thing that has happened to me, Belle…! I cannot lose you…!”
Belle looked at him with glassy eyes.
“And it's not just the welfare of you and any children that we would have, Belle; I'm terrified for Fan, with her condition...!"
Ebenezer winced, trying to prevent tears from coursing over his cheeks as he thought of Fan, "I can't bear the thought of losing my little sister or her child...! And thinking about taking in her little orphan if we lack money frightens me."
Belle's eyes glistened as she tried to keep her own cheeks dry, "You have not told me that your fear for Fan's life extended this far, Ebenezer. I understand your fear, but why have you not spoken of this with me?"
"I didn't want to burden you with that-!"
"Burden me? Ebenezer, if we were to marry, I would want honesty about such matters, however severe," Belle countered, hesitating before she added, "I have had my doubts about us."
"I can’t deny that I’m imperfect. I’ve never considered the possibility of losing you, and now that I’ve been confronted with that possibility… All that I know now is that I don’t care what it takes...” Ebenezer gulped and tried to steady his voice, “If it means sacrificing some financial security to save my future with you, then I’m willing to make that happen. I have had to fight to survive since I was a boy, I’ve lost much of what is precious to me… I can’t lose you, too…!”
“I want to believe you, Ebenezer,” Belle’s lip was trembling with her voice, “But how can I be sure that this sudden realisation will have lasting force for you? Words mean little without action to support them.”
“All that I ask is that you give me a chance,” Ebenezer felt warm wetness course over his cheeks, a sensation that he had not let himself feel in a long time, but he persisted, “Three months. If you’re still unconvinced that I have changed, that I am only trying to keep you but still put greater value on gold, then I will accept your choice. But…I hope with all my being that I will prove you wrong. I hope very much that I can remember what is truly important and pursue wealth without being consumed by the hunt.”
“Love me,” she said. “That’s all I ask. Put your family before your business in your heart. That would be enough.”
“I will,” he vowed.
She nodded, her expression forgiving but still guarded, “Three months, Ebenezer. May my faith be well-founded.”
He couldn’t promise her that it wouldn’t be. No one could see the future and he had not even recognized the truth of the situation as it stared him in the face. But now that he had, a primal urge had reaffirmed how much that this young woman mattered to him. He was not going to lose somebody else...
-----
“Oh, Auntie Belle,” Fred chuckled as he and Clara tended to their newborn, “Where’s the harm in him retelling your story?”
Belle couldn’t help but smile as Ebenezer told their story to the new generation of their family. They had both changed with time, their life had not been without challenges, Ebenezer would never be rid of his demons, but since that Christmas Eve all those years ago when he almost let her end their engagement he had bent over backwards to change his ways.
They had agreed that riches would be lovely, but as long as they had all that they needed then the riches were icing on the cake. And as troubled as those early years had been, pinching pennies at times, the hard work and investment proved their worth. They had earned enough to send their children to the best schools that they could afford. And Belle had surprised him when she demonstrated her business sense. His astonishment still amused her.
“Ebenezer, it’s not like Mama and I learned nothing from Papa.”
“Why Isabelle… I expected that you were prepared to live as a well-to-do housewife.”
“I would be busy with children and running the household anyway, but I like the change of pace. I don’t want to sit idly.”
Their wedding was modest compared to what Ebenezer had envisioned for them, had envisioned for the woman he loved and had nearly lost, but Belle had been radiant with joy. That alone was often enough to sustain him as he built a business and they built a life together.
Raising their five children was not an easy thing to do, but Ebenezer had proven himself a far better father to them than his father had ever been to him, much to his surprise, and helping Fan raise Fred had been good practice. And when a third childbirth killed Fan and the baby, Ebenezer and Belle readily took Fred and the twins Felix and Felicity into their home when Fan’s husband abandoned them after hopelessly trying.
Ebenezer was heartbroken to lose Fan, but the compassion and support that he found surprised him. Belle and their circle of friends were even more precious to him then. And Fred, despite his tender age and his own grief, proved to be of great help. Ebenezer guarded his own children with his life, but he extended that same fierce protectiveness to his nephews and niece; they were all that he had left of his beloved sister.
Bob Cratchit, Ebenezer’s faithful clerk, despite the slight class difference between himself and his employer, was a close friend of the Scrooge family. He and his wife, Emily, watched fondly as their youngest child, Tim, walked confidently without his crutch as he played with the Scrooge grandchildren. When Tim had been born with some physical ailments, Ebenezer did not hesitate to help the Cratchits gain contact with doctors or increase Bob’s salary to help with medical expenses, and it had been worth the time and resources.
Bob and Emily Cratchit remained eternally grateful that Ebenezer Scrooge had been so generous to them and, as word spread of his philanthropy, Ebenezer was astonished to find that it suited him to work as a benefactor.
“I can’t thank you enough, Mister Scrooge,” Bob gushed as he took his gaze away from Tim, “What you’ve done for us…for him… it’s more than we could ever have hoped for!”
“I can’t help thinking how different life would be if you haven’t been so kind to us,” Emily agreed, eyes glassy as she smiled at Tim playing with the other children, “Bless you, Mister Scrooge, for all that you’ve done…!”
Belle listened to her husband of over thirty years regale their progeny as this Christmas Day turned to dusk, still astonished at their good fortune. All those years ago, she had almost ended their engagement and, in a sudden change of heart, he had become dedicated to building a future with her.
To this day, Ebenezer himself had no idea of who or what had spoken to him that Christmas Eve and made him change his perspective, but he and Belle had remained grateful to whoever had helped their future become a reality.