Chapter 6

Christmas morning dawned bright and cold. It seemed as thought the late winter storms were prepared to give us a break for one day at least. The sun was already up and twinkling on the snow when I woke up. It was actually one of those odd mornings when I discovered that I had all the covers and neither Renee nor Stacy was curled up against me. Further reconnaissance showed them both curled up on either edge of the bed. I hummed softly to myself about having the whole bed before sliding down and off the far edge. As I got up, the bed sloshed a bit and Renee rolled over into my recently vacated warm spot. She murmured something in her sleep but made no other sign that she was even close to waking up. Stacy was still dead to the world and I couldn't bear to wake either of them. Instead I grabbed my robe and slippers along with some cotton sweat pants and headed quietly down the stairs. I went to the kitchen intending to pull out Christmas coffee cake - another family tradition - orange juice and make coffee to take up to my sleeping beauties.

When I got to there, I found Tori standing in front of the sliding glass door staring out at the white landscape beyond. She was wearing a long, heavy midnight blue robe, fuzzy brown slippers and holding a steaming cup of coffee. She didn't appear to have heard me come in so I gently touched her on the shoulder.

"Tori, you ok?" I asked.

She turned and gave me a sad look as she set her coffee cup on the nearby counter. "Yeah, I'm ok," she replied quietly, "it's just... hard to have a holiday without... Tom."

Unsure of what to do I put an arm around her shoulders and before I knew it she turned and buried her face into my chest and began sobbing. Under the circumstances, I did what I would have done for Renee or Stacy I stood there and held her while she cried it out. It didn't take long and she pulled away reaching for a tissue.

"Sorry," she said with a grimace after she blew her nose and dabbed away some of the wetness on her face. "I just woke up this morning really depressed and..."

"Don't worry about it," I soothed as I helped myself to a cup of coffee, "I'm sure this hasn't been easy for you."

"Yeah, it hasn't," she agreed quietly, "and overhearing you the past few nights didn't really help any."

I'm sure I blushed but I hid it by opening the refrigerator quickly and extracting two coffee cakes. I set them on the counter and without asking Tori found a knife and began cutting them for me. I shrugged and pulled out the juice, and creamer. She looked so depressed and vulnerable, I couldn't resist.

"You know, I came down here to get breakfast for the girls and then I was going to check on you because we do this thing at Christmas where I serve them breakfast in bed and we open stockings up there. So can you give me a hand here and we'll go on up together?"

"Oh, I wouldn't want to intrude..." she started to say.

"You won't be. Trust me, I think they're both covered up and there's plenty of room to sit up there. Besides, I mean I know you're a guest and all, but this isn't optional," I interrupted with a grin.

"No, I couldn't..." she tried again.

"Oh I don't expect you to carry anything up but your coffee and my own, those stairs are tricky in the morning with your hands full," I blithely continued, "and I need someone to open the door for me."

"J, I don't want to get in..."

"Good that's settled then, I'll run the stockings up real quick while you arrange breakfast on one of the serving trays. Oh and the plates you'll need for the coffee cake are in that cabinet at eye level there and the tray is in the cabinet over the oven. Be right back."

I'm sure I left her a little flustered, but I couldn't resist sticking my head back in right after I left the kitchen and saying, "And don't you dare try to lift that tray once you've loaded it up. I waited tables for too many years to let a guest in my house do any heavy labor."

Unsure of what to do, Tori just opened the cupboard and began pulling out plates while I gathered all of the stockings from the other room and quickly darted up the stairs. I quietly slipped into the room just as Renee sat up and stretched. She had put on a satin night shirt at some point during the night, but hadn't buttoned it all the way up. As a result, her stretching caused the material to fall away from her beautiful breasts a little and show some deep natural cleavage. I winked at her as I began putting the stockings down. I placed Stacy's on the small table on her side of the bed, then leaned over to hand Renee hers.

"Be right back with breakfast," I explained quietly as I leaned over Stacy's sleeping form to place the stuffed stocking down and give Renee a quick good-morning kiss. Renee nodded although she obviously was not quite sure what I was up to and I exited the room. Going back downstairs I found Tori rummaging through the cupboard to get out the large serving tray. She had cut several pieces of coffee cake and had them arranged neatly on a large plate next to three small glasses of orange juice and three steaming mugs of coffee. I watched as she found the large silver tray, set the plate of pastry in the middle of it and surrounded it with the glasses.

"No oj for you this morning?" I asked as I walked the rest of the way back into the kitchen.

"No, this is just for you and Stacy and Renee," she said, "I don't think I'm going to be very good company this morning."

"Nonsense, you're going to be fine and if I have to, I'll throw you over my shoulder right now just like I did the other day and drag you up there kicking and screaming before I take up breakfast." I mock threatened, "of course, I don't think Stacy would much appreciate the screaming since she's not always a morning person."

She gave me an aggrieved look and started to say, "You wouldn't..." was all she got out before I grabbed her about the waist and hoisted her up to my shoulder. "J... put me down... Dammit, put me down," she snapped as she hit me in the back with her small fist.

"Nope, one way ride, the next station is the bedroom," I replied coolly as I left the kitchen and began climbing the stairs. She struggled for a moment more, but realized that if she continued while I tried to go up the stairs we were both likely to go tumbling down. She sighed loudly and thumped me in the back once more as I got to the top of the stairs. I turned right and carried her into the room where I gently set her back on her feet with her back to my wife. Renee had a hand over her mouth as she tried to suppress her giggles while Stacy slept on, oblivious to what I'd just done.

Tori gave me this look that spoke volumes for how she felt, but didn't make any effort to get around me and out of the room.

"Next trip is for breakfast, I promise," I grinned at Renee as I went back out the door and down to the kitchen. As I came back up the stairs a few minutes later having put an extra oj on the tray along with Tori's coffee mug, I could hear a peal of laughter come from the bedroom and Renee saying, "... Oh he did it right in front of them too. Scooped me up on his shoulder with a loud grunt and some comment about how wonderful it was to see them and how they would have to show themselves out and down the hall we went. I was laughing so hard that I couldn't even make an effort to get away."

"You're kidding. What brought it on," Tori asked as I came back into the room.

"As I recall," I interrupted before Renee could speak, "it had to do with a snide comment about me being related to a Neanderthal. So I figured I could do worse and act like one too."

Stacy snorted from her position lying on her side and without opening her eyes retorted, "If you hadn't had that awful growth on your face, the comment wouldn't have been made in the first place."

"It was right before we got married and I had a fairly full beard," I explained to Tori as I made my way across the room to set the tray down on the dresser. "I knew Renee didn't really like it, but it was fun to threaten her with it still being around when we got married. Both of 'em used to give me grief about it. Neanderthal was one of the kinder remarks, as I recall."

"It looked awful," chimed in Stacy as she squinted around the room, "you did look like a caveman."

"I think back to that day," continued Renee as her giggles subsided, "whenever he does that to me, slings me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, I can't help it. I think back to my parent's shocked expressions and I just lose it. Here I was thrown over his shoulder waving goodbye to them. They looked shocked at first but as he carried me down the hallway, they just thought it was the funniest thing ever. Their one and only smartass daughter being manhandled by her fiancé, they loved it. So you truly made my morning."

"Oh my god, my father would have killed him," gasped Tori.

"Oh dad loves J. He always says that I got exactly what I deserved when I married him. 'A man who understands you, accepts you, isn't afraid to show you who's the boss, and loves you in spite of it all. Don't you ever forget that, young lady.' Dad told me that on our wedding day and he's mentioned it to me several times since."

I handed Renee her coffee and kissed her on the forehead, "Merry Christmas dear."

Grabbing two of the remaining three mugs I handed one to Stacy as she sat up oblivious to the fact that she was topless and gave her a quick good morning kiss. Turning to Tori, I extended my hand with the final mug and said, "Merry Christmas."

I got this exasperated look that quickly evaporated as she stepped forward and hugged me. "Merry Christmas, J. And thanks."

"Anytime, I just can't stand to see a pretty lady cry," I replied as I patted her on the back.

"Cry... why were you crying, what did he do to you?" exclaimed Stacy as she climbed out of bed followed quickly by Renee.

Tori gave me a wan smile as she took the cup and stepped back. "Oh, I was just blue about it being a holiday without Tom is all. You three are so happy together and I just felt... left out I guess."

"Left out? Oh honey, I'm sorry," exclaimed Renee as she put her arm around her friend, "I thought we had included you in everything."

"You did... I'm just... lonely," exclaimed Tori, looking for all the world like she was going to burst into tears again, "I mean... you three have each other and you look so happy together and me... I just managed to wreck my marriage and..."

"You're fine," murmured Renee as she wrapped her arms around Tori, "you're fine."

Tori sighed and placed her coffee cup on the windowsill, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be such a downer on the holidays and all, but... well... I've been really depressed and..."

"Here," I said with a grin while handing her a stocking, "maybe this will make it better."

Whatever protest she was going to make died on her lips as she looked at the stocking with her name on it. "Look, Tori," I continued, "We don't want you to feel left out and we really are happy you're here to spend a few days. Stacy and I put the stocking together and Renee just bought the stuff to go in it."

"Oh... wow... you guys are so sweet," she said quietly, "I don't know what to say."

"Say 'Thank you'," I prompted, "and then just smile and bear with us because it's a fun day around here. There are a few things under the tree, then I'm going to make a huge meal and we'll have a couple bottles of wine and after that who knows? It'll probably get a whole lot of silly around here, it usually does."

Tori just shook her head and quickly gave each of us a hug. "Thanks. I know I'm a bit of a downer, but you guys are really trying hard to cheer me up and I appreciate it."

"Prove it," challenged Stacy good-naturedly, "have a piece of coffee cake and open that flat one before it falls out."

"Ok, but only if you put on a shirt or something," replied Tori with a lopsided grin, "If you keep standing around topless I might not be able to contain myself."

Stacy had the decency to blush and ducked around us into the closet, emerging with her robe tied securely around her waist a moment later.

We had a great time that morning. Renee had gotten a whole bunch of little things for Tori as had Stacy, so she had a number of packages to open. All the tags were made out from the three of us, but I was having a great time seeing what they'd gotten her next since I hadn't been along on the shopping trip. As could be expected, Stacy got her the one thing I think would have made her blush, and that was a gift certificate to Victoria's Secret because, as Stacy put it "you never know when you're going to meet someone and want to have sexy new undies to show off." Depressed as she was, Tori couldn't help but smile about that.

Stacy, predictably, loved her new laptop. I don't think I've ever seen her so happy in my life. She hugged, kissed and thanked us both several times. She was just like a little kid about it as she opened it up and began playing around immediately, completely ignoring the rest of us for the next hour. We let her play with it while I pulled out my big presents for Renee. I'd gotten her two separate full-day treatments at her favorite spa, they were intended to be used on different occasions, but would be honored if she wanted to take Stacy along with her. She was thrilled since she never thinks I know what to get her and rarely gets pampered like that. Naturally, of course, she teased me later about running off with the shampoo person or masseuse. I'd also found a beautiful diamond pendant that she immediately put on.

For my big present, the girls had gotten me a gift certificate to Jerry's store that would just about cover the router I was looking at and some new weights for the workout room, specifically a new curling bar and two smaller dumbbells.

"Really, that's going to be just as much for me as you," teased Stacy, "so I can use your internet connection when I'm here."

"Oh, is that so," I retorted, "what if I just decide to buy a new printer or put it towards a new monitor or something? What makes you so sure I'm going to get a router?"

"Because you love me," she snickered, "and you want to be able to use your computer once in a while instead of letting Renee monopolize it when she's home."

Much as I hated it, she had a point. Renee's laptop could do as much or more than the desktop and she already had onboard wireless. At any rate, I got up after that and decided to start dinner before I got in the shower. I went into the kitchen and began pulling items out of the fridge. I'd bought a nice standing rib roast, months before and was really looking forward to using it as the centerpiece of a huge meal. It was nice to have an additional mouth to feed since I knew the leftovers wouldn't all get eaten before they went bad. I was in the midst of chopping some onions when Tori came into the kitchen to put the now empty coffee mugs in the dishwasher.

"Thanks again for this morning," she said, "it helped a lot."

"Glad to be of service. And any other time you want to be treated like a sack of potatoes, you just let me know ok?" I teased.