Chapter 26

Christmas morning started with a phone call. I reluctantly got out of bed and looked for my pants, finding them in the hall. I dug my phone out and answered the call. “Hi, Mom,” I said sleepily, walking down the hall to the kitchen to talk. It was early, but my mother loved Christmas. Today was her Superbowl. She had a big gathering there in Phoenix every year, so she was probably calling me between getting the turkey in the oven and starting on the sides that hadn’t been prepared yesterday.

“Merry Christmas, Johnny!” she said. My mother was the only person in the world who was allowed to call me Johnny, but that was because she’d started doing it when I was too young to object.

“Merry Christmas,” I said with a smile. “How many do you have for dinner today?”

“Not many,” she said with a sigh. “Only fourteen. I was hoping that you’d come with everything that’s been going on between you and Barbara. Your cousin Larry is in the middle of something at work and couldn’t get away, so we’re missing him and his wife, Tracey and their two little ones. It’s still not too late for you to get in the car. I can hold dinner for you,” she offered.

I chuckled. “Larry’s a cop, Mom,” I reminded her. “He was probably tagged to work the holiday. And thanks for the offer, but I’m good. Arthur and Janice decided to come down for the holiday. I can be civil for a couple of hours.”

“After what that woman did to you?” she asked, her voice turning hard.

“I landed on my feet, Mom,” I told her. “Barb’s sister found out that she was out of the picture and couldn’t shove her out of the way fast enough.”

“Her sister?!!?” Mom exclaimed. “That little girl that was at the wedding?! John!”

“Mom, that little girl is twenty now,” I pointed out. “She came here to make sure that I knew that I wasn’t getting away from her just because her sister dropped the ball.”

“And how do you feel about her?” she asked guardedly.

“I feel ... complete. I love her,” I told her. “She’s an athlete, like me. She’s planning on moving out here after she graduates next year with her business degree. We have a lot more in common than Barb and I have in years. Barb’s turned ... pretentious. She likes the finer things in life, trendy restaurants, cultured speech, museums and art galleries and things like that. Jane is better for me. We’re very much in love. Poor Arthur is going to have the distinction of walking both his daughters down the aisle to the same man.”

“You’re that serious about her?” she asked, surprised.

“Yeah, Mom,” I told her. “She said she fell in love with me the first time that she saw me. That was seven years ago. I’ve loved her for the same seven years, but it was like a sister. Since she came up, she’s changed the way I look at her. She’s the woman that I deserve to be with after all the bad things that Barb has put me through.”

She sighed and I knew that she was still picturing me standing next to the girl she remembered from our wedding. “I hope you’re right about her,” she said uncertainly.

“I’ll send you a picture of us together,” I told her. “You haven’t seen her in a while.”

“That’s true,” she admitted. “You said she’s twenty now?”

“She’ll be twenty-one in June,” I said lightly.

“And her parents haven’t killed you?”

“Arthur’s more disappointed that Barb’s fairy-tale marriage is breaking up,” I chuckled. “Janice knew how she felt. She’s been reading Jane’s diary for years to make sure she wasn’t getting into anything she shouldn’t be.”

“Well, if she makes you happy, that’s good enough for me. I don’t know how your father will feel, but I know you sound better than the last time we talked.”

“Dad’ll love her,” I predicted. “She has yet to meet the person who’s immune to her eyes.”

“Maybe you should keep her away from your father,” she said dryly.

“At his age, he’s not gonna be able to keep up with her,” I told her. “She’d take him jogging and he’d come back in a taxi or he’d end up in the hospital.”

She made a sound of agreement and I could hear her checking on something in the kitchen. “He’d still follow her down the driveway.”

“Maybe, but he’d never catch her,” I laughed. “Anyway, I think we should probably start our day,” I told her, putting on coffee while we talked. “We’ll have to sit down and talk some. The past few weeks have been hectic here. There’s a lot to talk about, but I don’t want to blurt it out without the right background, you know?”

“I do,” she said. “Sort of like blurting out that your sister-in-law is now your girlfriend.”

I laughed and promised to email her a picture later today. I asked her to give my love to the family and then we hung up. We didn’t talk often, but this made me think I should rethink that policy. It had been a good conversation. She and Dad had both been sympathetic when I’d told them, but their lives were in Phoenix and I didn’t want to uproot them to be in the middle of this mess.

With coffee started, I decided to make omelets for breakfast and started cracking eggs and adding ingredients. Jane wandered out into the kitchen, as naked as I was and came to kiss me, walking delicately in her discomfort. “Who was on the phone?” she mumbled, pouring herself a coffee and going to the fridge. She poured in a splash of breast milk and then mixed in sugar to sweeten it. Even more than I had, Jane had taken a liking to breast milk.

“My mother,” I told her. “It was my Christmas phone call since I wasn’t there in person. I told her about us.”

That woke her up in a hurry. “What did she say?” she asked delicately.

I laughed. “She only remembered you from the wedding,” I said lightly. “She had visions of me sneaking around with a fifteen year-old girl.”

She chuckled throatily. “I wish you had,” she confessed. “I’d have been the happiest little bridesmaid in the world.”

“You’d have been disappointed in me,” I predicted. “Part of why you love me is that I’m not a creep. If I’d done that, I’d have definitely been a creep.”

“That’s true,” she admitted and sat down while I poured half the eggs into a pan for her omelet. “So what time do we have to go to dinner with the fam?” she asked. They’d talked us into dinner today, but neither of us were really enthusiastic about it.

“I’ll call over there in a little while to find out,” I said. “Right now, we’re having a pleasant breakfast and enjoying our first Christmas together.”

“That sounds nice,” she confessed. “Why don’t we just skip dinner and stay here today?”

“Because we have gifts for your parents and Barb,” I told her. “Because your mother’s asked us to and she’s been a good sport about how close we’ve gotten. Because Barb is still your sister and still my wife for now. Because Arthur needs to see us together to get a handle on how to react to us. Because you want Barb to see you trying to walk around today. Because I promised my mother that I’d email her a picture of the two of us. Should I go on?” I asked, amused.

“Ugh!” she groaned in surrender. “Fine! But if she makes me want to throw up, I’m telling her it’s morning sickness,” she grumped while I cooked.

I roared with laughter at that and the two of us descended into a display of affection that was so cute, Pixar might buy the rights to it. She was feeding me from her plate and I was feeding her from mine while we chatted and gazed at each other lovingly.

After breakfast, I decided that it was late enough to call without waking anyone and picked up the phone while Jane went to get dressed.

“Merry Christmas!” Barb answered with an almost manic cheer. “What time are you guys coming over?” she asked eagerly.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I was calling to find out what schedule you were working on. Are you planning dinner for lunchtime or for dinnertime?”

“Well, Mom’s already running around the kitchen,” she told me. “She’s decided that dinner will be around 12:30. I was planning on us doing dinner and then presents.”

“Okay,” I said lightly. “Does your mother need help or is she okay with running dinner?”

“I’m sure she’d love to spend some more time with you and Jane,” she told me. “Why don’t you come over when you’re ready and we can spend the morning helping out.”

“Alright,” I said. “We’ll be over in a little while. We’re just finishing up breakfast here.” We hung up after that and I got dressed and ready while Jane packed up the presents for her parents and her sister. We still had gifts for little Brad and for Doris under the tree, but those wouldn’t be opened until Tuesday when we got Doris moved in here.

Jane was very clearly not looking forward to this. It was the first time we’d all been in the same room since leaving the hotel after Barb’s office party.

We drove over to the house and parked behind Barb’s Lexus. It wasn’t likely that she’d be running off to bang Brad until well after we said goodbye, so I didn’t worry about blocking her in.

Jane looked at me with eyes that said she was already counting down the minutes until we could leave. I smiled comfortingly and we both took a deep breath. The bags with our presents in them weren’t overly heavy, but they were awkward. I’d cheated on Christmas presents, getting a lot of them in the same place. Ganju’s brother did wood carving. I threw him a lot of business, including Sissy’s jewelry box and the presents for Barb and her parents.

Arthur answered the door and looked to be in good spirits. “Merry Christmas!” he greeted us brightly. We put our presents under the tree, having gone as far as to bring along our presents to each other, since this was supposed to be a family event. We’d dressed up a little, anticipating that Barb would want to make this a more formal dinner. When she came out of the kitchen to greet us, she smiled at us.

“Merry Christmas!” she gushed. She had an apron worn over her blouse and skirt, looking a little like she was auditioning for a talk-show cooking segment.

“Merry Christmas,” I said, wondering how she’d managed to get poor Arthur out of bed and dressed for company this early in the day. Jane echoed me with about as much enthusiasm.

“Can I get you guys anything to drink?” she asked with a grin.

“I’m good,” I told her. “I’m gonna go say hi to Janice though.” I excused myself and slipped into the kitchen to talk to her mother for a few minutes.

She grinned and kissed me on the cheek. “How’re you doing?” she asked gently, glancing toward the archway between the kitchen and the living room.

“Not so bad,” I assured her. “Jane’s probably in a worse mood than I am. She would have skipped dinner if not for you and her father, I think.”

She nodded. “Just be patient. She’s trying to sort things out. You’re all going to need to find your way back to whatever ‘normal’ will be at the end of all this.”

I nodded and shrugged. “I think Jane’s helped me find my balance again.”

She nodded and smiled. “She loves you,” she said and sighed. “So does Barb, deep down. She really doesn’t see all the harm she’s done to you.”

“I know,” I admitted. “I think this is the solution that gives everyone what they need out of this. The papers are getting served this week. I warned her that they were coming before you and Arthur went back so that you’d be here to help her through it all. She’ll need you, I think.”

She nodded and we chatted a little more while she worked. I helped out with minor tasks and Barb and Jane filtered in and out of the room while I kept her company.

I spent time with both of the parents and didn’t exactly avoid Barb, but I wasn’t giving her a chance to push for reconciliation, like she obviously wanted. We sat down and had a nice dinner together. There was no hair-pulling, no screaming or threats. Jane didn’t throw the potatoes and Barb didn’t fling the gravy boat at her in response. The closest we came to getting tense was when Jane sat down next to me, claiming the spot that Barb had picked out for herself, since she’d put her father at the head of the table and her mother across from him.

Barb came back in and looked at the two of us and there was only a slight tightening of her eyes to suggest that it wasn’t exactly how she’d wanted us to sit. She took the chair across from us without complaint though and we made polite conversation, complimenting Janice on the work she’d done to put this all together.

As a matter of fact, if you didn’t know where to look and who all the players were, it would look like a perfect family dinner. The five of us got along reasonably well, we talked some about current events. That Captain America kid was in the news again for something, but none of us had heard what, only that there were pictures of him in the papers again. There was some talk about the incoming President. Barb was liberal and staunchly feminist in college, so she rolled her eyes at the thought of the country being led by a man with the attitude he had toward women. We talked about movies and Arthur even brought up fighting without it turning things sour, but that could have just been because it was a safer topic than Trump, since he was a life-long Republican.

After dinner, we sat down with in the living room and passed out presents. More to the point, Barb stationed herself beside the tree and passed them out one at a time, so we could all watch.

We’d gotten Janice a stationery box carved by Ganju’s brother. It had slots and drawers for paper and envelopes, pens and pencils, paper-clips and staples and numerous other odds and ends suitable for writing. We’d stocked it with a supply of high-quality materials. She was amazed at the craftsmanship in the box and told me that she’d treasure it.

Arthur’s present was similar. I’d had a cigar box made for him and filled it with a box of his favorite vintage. It was the kind of piece suitable for the corner of a successful businessman’s desk and he smiled at it approvingly.

“Where did you get them?” he wanted to know.

“One of my trainers is a Gurkha,” I explained. “His brother does wood carving and I asked him to make these pieces,” I told him. “They were each hand-carved for you specifically.”

“They’re both lovely, John,” Janice told me. “Thank you.” She was still turning hers so she could admire it from different angles, her fingers tracing the carvings in amazement.

Barb plucked out her own gift from me eagerly and found that I’d gotten her a set of bookends that Bahadur had carved. It was a tiny dig at her, but she wasn’t likely to pick it up. The bookends represented the end of our relationship. We started in the middle of our third year of college and we were ending in the middle of Jane’s third year. It was a subtle reference, but I wasn’t looking to poke her in the eye. She loved the pieces. Each was carved to look like waterfalls spilling into pools of water with small animals dipping their heads to drink from the pools. It was the kind of piece that she’d like. It was artistic, unique and she could spin it any way she wanted. She could tell people they were made with sustainably harvested wood or talk about it being carved by a Gurkha or any number of other things that would make it seem like she’d carefully selected the piece for her living room.

After that, she handed me the gift that Jane had gotten me. I was prepared for it to be something small and simple, but extremely heart-felt. I knew she’d shopped for it at a clothing store, but not much else.

When I opened it, there was a collection of six ties in different colors and fabrics.

“I had to get you a new one anyway,” she explained to me with a grin. “I took the one you wore to Barb’s Christmas party. That was our first night together and I wanted the souvenir. I know you need to wear a suit for a lot of your press conferences and public appearances, so this seemed perfect.”

I grinned and kissed her. “I love it,” I told her sincerely. I loved the fact that she’d taken the tie I wore that night as her prize even more.

Barb smiled briskly, glossing over the mention of that night as she passed Jane my gift to her. This was her first time seeing it and she looked at me suspiciously as she took the wrapped box from the jewelry store. She opened it and looked at the sapphire necklace and earrings. “John,” she breathed. “These are beautiful. They must have been expensive. I thought we agreed not to spend a lot of money.”

“We did,” I agreed. “I didn’t get diamonds, but I wanted you to have some jewelry to wear, the next time we have a formal event to attend. These will compliment your eyes.”

Barb came to look at the set and nodded in agreement. “They’re too much for everyday wear,” she said critically, “but he’s right about your eyes.”

The box got passed to her mother and father to look at and they approved before Jane got it back. She gazed at them longingly and then closed the box and slipped it into the bag of gifts we were bringing home.

Janice and Arthur came next and Barb passed them their gifts from each other. His was an antique pocket watch. She had the provenance and the watch’s history in a display plaque. Arthur collected watches fervently and he was thrilled with it. He knew the watch-maker’s name and his eyes lit up at being able to add this piece to his collection.

Janice’s gift was a trip to Paris to celebrate their anniversary. She shrieked in delight and showered him with kisses before going through the brochures and information he’d collected along with the tickets.

After Janice got her present, the rest of us got ours. Barb and I had made everyone promise not to go all-out on us in years past, telling everyone that we were well-off and didn’t need anything really. Barb’s gift was a bottle of perfume that she liked and mine was a new set of cuff-links and a tie clasp to match. They were thoughtful gifts and not particularly extravagant for someone who was a real-estate developer.