Chapter 37: Holiday Season

December 23, 1986 Chicago, Illinois

"I was wondering how we were going to manage this!" Jessica said with a smirk upon seeing the tree in our bedroom.

"Honestly, nobody would really care," I chuckled. "But I thought a bit of privacy was probably appropriate. I bought this tree on Monday. It has our previous 'year' ornaments. The one in the great room is the 'family' tree, if you will."

"Who all is going to be here?"

"The three of us, my sister, Nick, Bethany, Jennifer, Josie, Jesse, Leila, Sofia, and Charlie."

"I knew Leila wasn't flying back to Turkey, but Charlie didn't go home?"

"No. She and her parents are still at odds over her involvement in the cheating scandal. She told them she had to work on Friday. She volunteered to do that, by the way. Sofia will be here for dinner on Christmas Eve, and for gifts in the morning, but she's having Christmas dinner at Stavros' parents' house in Racine."

"Two dinners?" Jessica asked.

"Yes. The plan is to do two dinners and two celebrations. Everyone is invited to both dinners, but our gift-giving tomorrow evening is just the three of us. On Christmas morning, we'll have one that includes everyone else. Jen and Josie want to keep the Christmas Day tradition in their family."

"That works out well," Jessica said. "We can have ours, with our joint kids on Christmas Eve, and then your extended family on Christmas Day."

"Things may change over the years," I said. "But for now, that'll work. I'm not sure what Elyse will want to do once she has her baby. Changing the subject, did you want a sauna before bed?"

"Yes, definitely!" Jessica agreed.

Ten minutes later, we were relaxing in the sauna as steam began to rise from the heated rocks.

"Jess, you never did tell us about your deep, dark secret," I said.

She was quiet for a moment, took a deep breath, and then told the story.

"When I got my driver's license, my dad helped me buy a used Mustang. I found out pretty quickly that I liked to drive really fast, and so did some of my guy friends. We used to go to this long stretch of highway outside of Plano and race. A few times we almost got caught by sheriff's deputies, but none of us ever got into any real trouble. We just had some fun seeing who could run fastest. Sometimes I won, sometimes I didn't.

"Then one night, just before my seventeenth birthday, I met the guys out by the usual spot for our races. We were by the side of the road waiting for one of our friends, who showed up about ten minutes later. It was clear he'd been drinking beer. I told him he couldn't race with us, but all the guys didn't care, and so when they went to line up, he and this other friend of mine, I got in my car and left.

"The next morning, deputies came to talk to me. It turns out that the friend who'd been drinking had crossed the double-yellow line and hit a car that was going the other direction head-on. You can guess that didn't go well for anyone. My friend, and the mother and daughter in the other car all died. I ended up not getting in any real trouble with the law because I'd left before they started racing. But I sure got a lot of grief from my parents."

"That was one of those times they were talking about when they had to set you straight?"

"Yes. The other one was a bit more of a problem, but it was before that. I got caught smoking pot when I was fourteen. The silly thing was that it was the first time I'd done it and it didn't really do anything for me. But because I was only fourteen, the cops sent me back to my parents. You can imagine how THAT went."

"But your dad helped you buy a car," I protested.

"That was the reward for staying out of trouble after that."

"And you immediately decided that drag racing on the street was not going to get you in trouble."

"I was a wild, rebellious teenager. The one thing I didn't do was fool around."

"You drank?" I asked.

"Yes, of course. Everyone drank beer. The problem I had wasn't my friend drinking, but that he was going to race after drinking."

"What other rebellious stuff did you do?" I asked.

"Just the usual teenage stuff. We cut classes in Junior High and High School, spiked the punch at dances, played practical jokes on people, that kind of thing. I guess the craziest thing we did that I haven't mentioned was skinny dipping in the public pool at 2:00am."

I chuckled, "None of that seems so bad, except for the crash. What ended up happening?"

"My other friend who was racing was charged with vehicular manslaughter. He was under eighteen, so he ended up in juvie for two years until he turned eighteen. His records were sealed, and he went to college at UTEP."

"UTEP?" Kara asked.

"University of Texas, El Paso," Jessica replied. "He studied mining technology and works for a mining company in Colorado."

"You guys were lucky," I said.

"We were," Jessica said. "My friend, because he was charged as a juvenile, and me, because I wasn't there. I was grounded for nearly a year, but it sure could have been a lot worse."

"And the Camaro?" I asked.

"A college graduation present from my parents. For a 4.0 GPA and staying completely out of trouble for all four years, I was in college in Texas for pre-med."

"I think I understand you a bit better now," I said. "It explains why you were so focused on school and totally conservative in your behavior."

"It's certainly worked out better, although it certainly wasn't as much fun. I became totally boring."

"Not anymore!" Kara giggled.

"You're benefiting from six years of good behavior!" Jessica smirked.

"I think it also explains why you don't drink," I said.

"Partly, yes. Doctor Barton influenced that as well. And I never smoked pot again after I got caught. Have you?"

I shook my head, "No. No drugs; just alcohol and caffeine."

"And nicotine," Jessica added.

"Yes, and nicotine," I said.

"Kara?" Jessica asked.

"Like Steve, minus the smoking," she said.

"Jess, how did you feel after the accident?" I asked.

"Lousy," she said. "I didn't know what else I could have done once he said he was going to race."

"Did you think about calling the sheriff?" I asked.

"By the time I arrived home, it had already happened. I was probably only a couple of miles away. Maybe if I'd had a CB radio or something I could have called, but I don't know anybody who has one of those car telephones like they have on TV."

"Have you seen the new mobile phones? They work on some kind of distributed radio system called 'cellular'."

"No."

"Basically, it's a portable, battery-operated radio-telephone. They're cool, but they cost a small fortune. We looked into them for NIKA and decided on pagers. I think you just hit on a reason to have one as soon as they're even remotely affordable. You could have called someone and maybe prevented the accident."

"That would be cool. I'm going to have to carry a pager full time, and that means finding a payphone. Having a phone that I could carry in my purse or pocket would be a huge advantage."

"Someday, Babe."

December 24, 1986 Chicago, Illinois

"I think everything is ready," I said, taking the Christmas ham from the oven.

"If we're having ham today, what are we having tomorrow?" Jessica asked.

"Pot roast. I prefer having turkey for Thanksgiving only. It keeps it special."

Jessica, Kara, Bethany, and I took all the food to the dining room and called our friends and family to the table.

"Nice spread!" Nick said. "Ham, potatoes, corn, two kinds of salad, and homemade bread!"

"Nick, would you slice the ham?" I asked, handing him the carving knife.

Everyone enjoyed the meal, and when we finished eating, Kara and Jessica brought out apple and pecan pie and Oberweis ice cream, while Stephanie and I served coffee.

"Damn, Steve, this was amazing," Nick said. "Where did you learn to cook?"

"Self-taught, mostly. I started simple and used cookbooks. Over the years, I've worked out my own ideas and my own tweaks. I've been doing all the cooking for myself and my roommates or housemates for the past six years. At home, I was able to cook sometimes, but my mom didn't appreciate it, so I didn't get to do it as often as I would have liked."

"I eat on-base most of the time, and the best I can say is that it's edible."

"You're welcome here any time," I said.

"Thanks," he said.

When we finished dessert and coffee, everyone pitched in to clean up and put away the leftovers, and then Kara, Jessica, and I went up to our room to exchange gifts and celebrate Christmas.

"Merry Christmas!" Jessica and Kara said together.

"Merry Christmas!" I responded.

"How do we do this?" Jessica asked.

"I think when we have kids we let them open theirs first, then we adults open ours," I said.

"All together? Or one at a time?"

"For now, I think one at a time," I said.

We took turns opening our gifts, and when we finished, Kara and I made love under the tree. After a quick shower, the three of us went down to the sauna to soak in the whirlpool tub. I put up the 'Privacy Please' sign so we wouldn't be disturbed, and filled the tub with warm water. The girls and I got in, and they snuggled close to me, and we put on the water jets.

"I wish I didn't have to go back to Indianapolis tomorrow," Jessica sighed.

"We're driving down with you and we're staying until Sunday. Just keep your eyes on June! When do you know where you Match?"

"March 19th. I have to come on January 9th for an interview at Loyola. The one at Northwestern is on the 12th. I'll have a long weekend here then. I just wish I could be here full time."

"Soon, Babe. Soon. Just keep it together for six months!"

"So I can disappear for days at a time into Residency hell?" she sighed.

"What's wrong, Babe?" I asked.

"I'm just frustrated, I guess," she sighed.

"Why, Jess?" Kara said. "Aren't things going really well?"

"They are. I guess it's just that after seven-and-a-half years of school, I just want to be done."

"But you called it Residency hell," Kara said. "Why?"

"Because it will be. But it's a hell I want."

"You are NOT making sense, Babe," I said.

"Just ignore me," she said. "I'm excited. I'm bored. I'm frustrated. I'm anxious. It just depends on which minute of the day it is."

"We can't ignore you," I said. "But we can love you!"

"I'll settle for that," she replied. "And I appreciate it. You do know you're going to have to put up with this for years, right?"

"You wanted us, Babe. And we wanted you. It's fine."

"Thanks," she sighed, snuggling close.

December 25, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

"That was wonderful, Tiger," Jessica said as I moved from on top of her.

Kara lay down with us and the three of us cuddled for a bit before we took a shower together, and then got dressed. We went downstairs to eat breakfast, and just after 8:00am we went to the great room where our friends and housemates had started gathering.

"Good morning, everyone!" Josie called out as she, Jennifer, and Jesse came into the house through the back door.

"Merry Christmas!" Bethany called out. "We're in the great room."

"Dada!" Jesse called out when they came into the room.

"Merry Christmas, Jesse!" I said.

"Mer' Chri'tmath!" he squealed.

"Been working on that one, Jen?" I asked with a grin.

"For a week!" she said with a grin.

"We're all here now," Stephanie said. "Who goes first?"

"Jesse," I said. "He has the biggest pile of presents!"

"That's because everyone bought him something," Kara said. "There are gifts here from my mom, from Jessica's parents, from Steve's parents, from Josie's parents, and even something from Russia!"

"There's one from Francesca, too," I said.

"Why did the rest of us bother?" Josie asked with a laugh. "She could give him a box of dirt and he'd treasure that over everything else! Did you get something for her from him?"

"Yes," I replied with a grin. "I was thinking diamond engagement ring, but I decided on a cute little necklace. I didn't spend much, and Carol didn't spend much on what's in that box."

"Then I say we let him have at it!" Josie said.

Jennifer sat Jesse in the middle of the floor and Josie and I moved his gifts next to him. Jennifer helped him open the first gift, which was from her and Josie. Jesse was good at tearing the paper, but couldn't manage the box. Rather than let him get frustrated, Jennifer just opened it for him.

"What is that?" Bethany asked.

"BRIO tracks!" I said. "It's from a Swedish toy company. You can build and configure the tracks and then run trains on them. There are lots of different parts, including switches, trestles, and so on. And the best part is, it's all manual. When Jennifer asked for a suggestion, it's the first thing I thought of."

Jesse looked a bit confused, but I'd show him how to play with the trains later. He opened the rest of his gifts, with help from Jennifer, and as I'd expected, when he was told the gift was from Francesca, he clutched it tight to his chest and said her name twice.

"That's a cute baseball cap," Nick said. "But the Reds?"

"Steve and Jennifer are from Cincinnati," Charlie said. "I can't imagine him telling Carol to get Jesse a Cubs or White Sox cap!"

"But what are you going to do when he outgrows it?" Nick asked.

"It'll be a keepsake," I said. "Kind of like Sofia's hockey stick."

"Hockey stick?" Nick asked.

"He gave it to me when he returned home after his exchange year in Sweden," Sofia said. "I brought it with me and it's on the wall of my room upstairs."

The rest of us exchanged and opened our gifts. I'd made sure that there were gifts for Charlie and Leila from Jessica, Kara, and me, because they didn't have anyone in Chicago who could be called family, and neither of them was serious enough with a guy to bring him to the house.

"You know, I'm a Muslim, so Christmas isn't something we celebrate," Leila protested.

"And the last time you went to a mosque or spoke with an Imam was..." I grinned.

"Uhm, never!" she replied, laughing softly.

"Then nobody can complain!"

"Thank you all for the gifts," she said.

"Yes, thank you!" Charlie said.

Both of them gave me a kiss on the cheek in turn, and Leila winked at me and licked her lips. Kara saw her and smirked, and Jessica just rolled her eyes. Sofia got up and went to the kitchen and came back with a tray full of steaming mugs of «glögg». She'd checked with Jessica and had a cup of hot chocolate for her. We each took a mug and carefully sipped the hot liquid.

"This is interesting," Nick said.

"It's a traditional Swedish drink," Sofia said. "Come for New Year's Eve. Steve and I are doing a full «smörgåsbord» for the party. Assuming Bethany will have you, that is."

I suppressed a chuckle. She was going to have him all right, and soon, unless I missed my guess. She saw my thought in my eyes and surreptitiously stuck her tongue out at me.

"I've already invited him," Bethany said.

"Great!" Sofia responded.

After we finished our «glögg», I excused myself to go next door to give Penny her gift. I'd discussed with Jessica and Kara what to get her, because I didn't want to give a gift that would give her the wrong impression. At some point, I would replace the diamond pendant with a larger one, as I'd promised, but that would have to wait for her attitude to change a bit.