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Christmas day at Brinkley Court was, as per tradition, a rather raucous affair. In addition to the place bring stuffed to the gills with festive cheer and good will towards men and all that, the guests were so generously plied with all sorts of mulled beverages that come evening they were so deep in their cups and requisite merrymaking that it was unlikely they'd notice an elephant enter the room.
It was at this point in the festivities that I sidled up to Jeeves. He was very dutifully waiting by the side table, ready to ladle out more of that mulled concoction for any who felt they hadn't quite had enough yet.
"May I steal you for a moment, Jeeves?" I whispered, laying a hand on his arm and giving him a wink for good measure.
"Of course, sir," Jeeves said, following me out of the room.
I nipped into a side parlor that was blessedly deserted, the party having not spilled out quite this far as of yet. I settled onto a divan and patted the seat next to me. It was something of a Christmas miracle that Jeeves joined me without any of his usual grousing about the impropriety of the thing, and I was glad to see the fellow getting into the festive spirit.
“I have a little something for you, Jeeves.”
“Indeed, sir?” Jeeves’s eyebrow was quirked halfway up his map as it does when the fellow is feeling particularly perplexed, and whether that was because we had already exchanged gifts before heading down to Brinkley, or because I was at this juncture shaking my arm rather vigorously, I was unsure.
After a few more shakes, the Christmas cracker I had stuck up my sleeve finally dislodged itself and I was able to pull it free, although somewhat less suavely than I had hoped. There was less of the air of the stage magician and more of the air of a rather disheveled clown, but nevertheless I persisted.
“Pilfered this from the supper table tonight, Jeeves. Thought you might want to have a go.”
“That’s very kind of you, sir.”
I proffered the Christmas cracker, holding it out between the two of us.
“Give me a tug, would you, Jeeves?” The joke was a bit bawdier than my usual fare, as I’d had quite a bit of whatever it was that had been mulled, but I was rather gratified to see Jeeves try and fail to suppress a twitch of the lips that counted as a smile for the fellow.
“As always, sir, with pleasure.”
With that Jeeves took hold of the other end of the cracker and a moment later there was a rather loud POP accompanied with a yelp from this Wooster. After the thing had been done, in his hand Jeeves held the lion’s share of the decimated cracker, with me left holding not much more than a scrap of ribbon.
“Good show, Jeeves!”
“Thank you, sir.”
“To the victor go the spoils.”
I pulled a paper crown out of the cracker. The thing was a rather gaudy shade of yellow, the sort of hue that Jeeves would never normally allow within the Wooster adobe, much less on his person, but it being Christmas the fellow lowered his head and allowed me to place it on his brow.
“For my prince among men,” I decreed, tucking an errant strand of hair beneath the crown.
Jeeves caught my hand in his as I removed it from his brow, and kissed my fingers in such a way that made my insides go all warm and gooey. Jeeves had a particular talent for turning this Wooster to a fine jelly. I wished rather fervently for a moment that there was no party to return to, and that I could keep Jeeves all to myself for the rest of the evening.
Sounds from a particularly loud bout of laughter next door filtered into the room.
“Perhaps we ought to be returning to the party, sir, before we are missed,” Jeeves said.
“Just a tick, Jeeves. You haven’t gotten your prize yet.”
I reached into the cracker and plucked out one of those metal puzzle thingummies, you know the sort with a bunch of rings all stuck together and it’s your job to untangle the thing.
“Oh! I had one of these as a lad. I could never work the thing out,” I said, giving the rings a tug. They stayed firmly latched together.
“If I may, sir,” Jeeves said, extending his hand. I handed the thing over, half expecting it to be solved the instant Jeeves laid a finger on it. I could tell from the rather smug expression on his map Jeeves thought so too.
But instead I was treated to several minutes of Jeeves struggling to untangle the bally things.
“Goodness Jeeves, have we finally found the thing to stump that massive brain of yours?” I teased.
“I am confident, sir, that its secrets will be revealed in time,” Jeeves said, twisting the rings into even more tangled positions.
“Perhaps, in the meantime, you deserve another prize,” I said, leaning forward and cupping the fellow’s face in my hand. I ran a thumb over his lips before bringing them to my own.
I believe we could have stayed like that for the rest of the night if I hadn’t heard someone shouting my name from the other room.
“Where’s Bertie gone off to? We need him at the piano, dash it!”
“I’m afraid duty calls, Jeeves,” I said, pulling away from the fellow with some reluctance.
“Indeed, sir.”
“Happy Christmas, Jeeves.”
“Happy Christmas, sir,” Jeeves replied, pulling me into one last kiss before we returned to the fray.