Early the next morning, Felix was very lucky in running into a merchant from Carmody who offered him a ride at least that far. If it had not been Christmas Eve, the merchant would have taken him the whole way home, but he wanted to get home to his family too, which Felix understood. He wished the merchant a Merry Christmas when he was dropped off on the Carmody-Avonlea Road, and set off the rest of the way on foot.
The roads were mostly clear as the snow was not deep on this section of the island, and Felix made good progress in spite of his leg. He arrived at King Farm about midnight, and limped silently to the door. It was only then, looking at the dark house, that he noticed the black crepe on the door, and the lack of Christmas decorations as he looked in the window. "What happened, who died?" he asked himself, and then gasped as he took a closer look at the fireplace mantle, where stood a picture of himself in his army uniform, surrounded by the same black crepe. ME!! They think I’M dead? How can that be? Felix thought as his mind raced in a million directions at once. Common sense told him that he could not come into the house, back from the grave, at this time of night, so he set out for the barn to sleep in the hayloft.
His mind still racing, he covered himself in a couple of horse blankets and took more than a few swigs from the flask he was able to refill at the tavern, and finally passed out in a state of confusion over how to handle this unexpected twist of events.
Christmas morning came brightly to the little village of Avonlea, but its sunlight did little to cheer the inhabitants of King Farm. Even little Daniel found himself hard pressed to be enthusiastic, and only half-heartedly looked at the pile of presents sitting under an unadorned tree. Alec had dragged the tree in for Daniel’s sake, but nothing further was done. The only Christmas ornament on it was a small white snowflake which Felix had made when he was about Daniel’s age. Janet liked to hold the fragile ornament from time to time; it made her feel closer to Felix.
"Are we still going to go to Aunt Hetty’s today for dinner?" queried Cecily.
"I think we should," said Alec. "After all, she just got home from the hospital, and I think it is better that we should be with family on this first Christmas without…" Alec’s voice broke and Janet put her hand on top of his and gave it a tender squeeze.
"I agree with your father, family is more important now than ever," finished Janet. "I guess we’d best start our day. Daniel, go outside and collect the eggs, please. Cecily, help me mix up some pancake batter."
"Okay Mother," Daniel grabbed his coat, pulled on his boots and ran out the door to the barn. He got in the door and picked up the egg basket and started his search. The startled hens made a racket which drew a groan from the semiconscious Felix, whose arms flailed against the haystack to get him into a sitting position. Daniel heard the noise and dashed out the door in fright, dropping the egg basket and its contents on his way.
"Someone’s in the barn, Father. He made some horrible noise and came after me!" wailed Daniel as he hid his face in his mother’s skirts. Alec headed for the door, but stopped when he heard Janet call after him.
"Alec, take your gun. Remember the thief they found lurking at the McDonald place," Janet called out, and then whispered to herself, "and please be careful."
"You’re right," said Alec as he grabbed his rifle and loaded it with bullets, and then headed out the door. Alec approached the barn quietly and slipped in the partially open door. By then Felix had forgotten about getting up, and after putting his flask back in his coat pocket he hunkered back down into the hay, not remembering where he was.
It didn’t take long for Alec to notice the blankets laying atop the haystack, and he approached them cautiously. As he neared the stack and found no movement under the blankets, he used the barrel of the rifle to move the blankets aside and ordered the person under them to stay still. The shock of this brought the slightly hungover Felix to consciousness, but in the shadows of the barn all he saw was a faceless figure pointing a gun at him. This brought Felix’s military training to the forefront of his clouded mind, and forgetting his leg, he leaped up, wrested the rifle from Alec’s hands and tackled him to the ground. Just as he did that, though, he realized that the voice which had ordered him to stay still was that of his father. Alec, for his part, only saw a grubby face with gaunt cheeks and a days growth of brown beard on it. He did not recognize his son, and Felix saw the lack of recognition in his eyes. >Felix rolled off of his father, and the twisting motion caused another unpleasant reminder of his bad leg, and said in a choked voice, "Father, it’s me, it’s Felix."
Alec, who was about to go back on the offensive once his attacker moved off of him, instead found his jaw fall open at the voice he thought he would never hear again. Alec gasped and tears sprang to his eyes and blurred his vision, but once he concentrated on the face of the stranger, looked [ast the scars and the beard and the hollow cheeks, he saw his first born son. "Felix," his voice cracked. Alec grabbed his son to his chest, "I can’t believe it’s you. We were told you were dead."
"I know that now, Father. Last night I came up to the house and saw my photograph swathed in the black crepe. It was then I realized you were mourning me."
"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry," Alec sobbed as he continued to clutch his son.
"Father, it wasn’t your fault, you didn’t know. It is you who should forgive me. I thought you all had forgotten about me when I was in France. I should have known there was another reason why I didn’t hear from you."
"We should never have given up hope," Alec moaned as he finally released Felix and rose to his feet. He turned to his son, still on the ground, and saw he was trying to get up.
Alec reached down just as Felix asked, "Could you please hand me my...no, never mind, I can reach it," and Felix took hold of the crutch and used it to get to his feet, ignoring his father’s hand, still outstretched to him. It was only then that Alec noticed the leg, that it was bent and that Felix favored it. As Felix stood, a beam of sunlight fell on him and Alec was finally able to gauge the physical toll the war had taken on his son, his throat choked up and he put his hand to his mouth, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Father, it’s alright," he said, seeing the same look in his father’s face as Tommy was lucky enough to miss in the Barretts’ faces. A pang of pain struck his heart but he tried to be brave, "Let’s just go in the house. I want to see everybody."
"Yes, yes, of course," replied Alec distractedly; knowing there was no way to lessen the shock the rest of the family would feel upon seeing Felix. The two men left the barn in silence.
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