Read The Christmas Train for Free Online

levels, and, as Regina had informed him, there were also larger showers on the lower level, which he’d probably be using since he wasn’t going to risk getting stuck in the one in his compartment. In the deluxe car section, because of their larger size, the compartments were situated on one side and the aisle on the other. In the standard section, the smaller compartments ran down both sides of the car, with the aisle in the middle. Tom noticed that across this corridor were stretched a pair of hands, holding one to the other.
    As he drew closer, he saw that it was the young nervous couple. They had compartments right across from one another, with the guy on the right and the girl on the left.
    “Okay, do I have to pay a toll to pass through?” he said jokingly.
    They both looked at him and returned the smile.
    “Sorry,” the guy said, while the girl looked away shyly. They were about twenty and looked like brother and sister, with their blond hair and fair skin.
    “So, on your way to Chicago for the holidays?”
    “Actually,” began the young man a little sheepishly.
    “Steve,” interrupted the woman, “we don’t even know him.”
    “Well,” Tom said, “it’s different on a train. We’re all on this long journey together. It opens people up. I’ll go first. I’m a writer, doing a piece about a trip across the country. There’s my story, so what’s yours?”
    The two looked at each other, and Steve said, “Well actually, we’re getting married.”
    Tom knelt down and extended his hand to them both. “Congratulations. That’s great. I’m Tom, by the way.”
    “Steve. My fiancée is Julie.”
    “So are you tying the knot in Chicago?”
    “Uh, no, we’re getting married on the train,” Steve said.
    “The train? This train?”
    “No,” said Julie. “On the Southwest Chief, on the way to LA. It leaves tomorrow afternoon.” Her accent sounded Southern to Tom, while Steve’s speech cadence suggested New England origins.
    “That’s great. I’m going to be on that train too.”
    Tom had actually planned to propose to Eleanor on a train heading back to Frankfurt after their visit to the great cathedral in Cologne, Germany. They were riding in third class on the train even though they had purchased first-class tickets but hadn’t realized it, because their German wasn’t very good. Back then the train route paralleled the Rhine, and Tom had been wondering when would be the best time to pop the question. His original plan had been to ask her in the cathedral, but there’d been lots of tourists with cameras and screaming kids around, and it just didn’t seem right. He only planned to do this once in his life, and he wanted to get it absolutely perfect.
    The smooth ride of the train, the busy day behind them, a couple of glasses of Pilsners and thick German bread and juicy sausages inside them, coupled with the moonlight reflecting off the legendary and romantic Rhine, all combined to make it seem like the ideal time.
    Tom envisioned himself getting down on one knee in the aisle, pulling out his ring, pouring out his love for her, and proposing right there. He imagined her crying and then him too. The entire third-class section of economy-minded Germans would stand up and give them an ovation, because obviously the marriage proposal ritual would transcend all language and culture barriers. When they arrived in Frankfurt perfect strangers would wish the newly engaged couple the best in both German and pretty good English, and some of them would even press crumpled Marks in their hands.
    And yet none of that had happened because he hadn’t proposed that night to Eleanor, or any other night. He just sat in his seat, the ring in his pocket feeling like a cannonball; he couldn’t begin to lift the thing and place it on her finger.
    He refocused on the couple. “So, is the wedding party and your family already on board, or are they meeting you in Chicago?”
    Now Julie looked away, and Steve licked