Christmas Surprises (3 page)

"Sure." 

And with that, Barbara was gone, and Rachel pressed a button and murmured, "Hello?"

"Hi, Rachel." 

Natalie.  Her mother-in-law.

Rachel let out a long breath and smiled. 

Natalie was the kind of woman Barbara regularly applauded.  Early to college on her own merit, studying in an engineering field that was still very much a boy's club, and at the top of all of her classes even though she was four years younger than all of her classmates, she was the model of young feminism.  And, to make things even better, she was a minority student, bilingual and the first person in her family to go to college, making strides not only for women everywhere but for Hispanic women especially.

And then, she got married at eighteen.  And had a baby at nineteen.

A risky couple of moves, of course.  Because those things, love and children?  Can slow a woman down in the modern world.

But even this would be lauded by Barbara, because a teenage Natalie had swaddled Micah right up, taken him to class with her, and had perfected the art of nursing, soothing, and rocking a baby to sleep while simultaneously taking notes on physics and computing calculus, sketching schematics for projects and contributing to group discussions while she took excellent care of her son.

Yes, women can have it all. 

And Natalie had gotten more than most women have when Joy had been born a few years later with special needs that required all of her attention.  She left her career for a few years but got back to it when Joy went to school, and in the years since, she'd raised both of her children, seen them into adulthood, and had lost her husband in a car accident. 

Rachel wasn't sure if it was hardship or the grace of God that had made Natalie the woman she was, but she was thankful for her understanding heart and the grace she always showed, from the first moment she met her until now.

"Natalie," she said, smiling even as she went about her work, no longer measuring each breath like she had with her own mother.  "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine," she said, an uneasy edge to her voice.

"Is something wrong?," Rachel asked, hearing it immediately, concern for her mother-in-law already mounting.  Natalie never had a problem, ever, so Rachel prepared herself for something big.

"No, nothing's wrong," Natalie murmured. "I just... I'm so sorry to do this to you at the last minute.  I know how busy you must be as you're getting everything ready for everyone --"

"I'm not too busy for you," Rachel said, meaning it entirely.

She honestly meant it.  Even with all that she had going on, this was something she excelled at, putting everything together, planning for everyone, and arranging it all just so. 

They should have done this years ago.

"I was just calling to see if I can bring another guest with me to dinner," Natalie said, bringing Rachel's attention back to the issue.

Well, of course.  There was probably another widow from Natalie's church group who she wanted to bring along.  How like her, noticing someone else's grief, wanting to help alleviate it at Christmas.

How thoughtful.

"Of course, you can," Rachel said.  "Grant's cooking, so we'll have more than we need, like always.  Is it someone from your widow's group?"

There was a long pause, long enough that it made Rachel wonder what exactly was going on with her mother-in-law.

"Yes, actually," Natalie said, a tiny uncertain laugh in the answer.  "But if it's going to cause a big fuss, I don't want to bring the drama on you and all --"

"No drama in bringing a nice little widow over for dinner," Rachel grinned, thinking about how glad Micah would be to see that his mother had made a new friend, given how much he worried about her now that she was a widow.  Rachel hadn't been in the picture when they lost his father, but she'd seen the concern and responsibility Micah carried ever since grow more and more.

"But, Rachel," Natalie said, "my guest is --"

"Knock, knock..."

And all talk of Natalie's guest was forgotten as yet another guest came into the room, held closely in Micah's arms.

"Surprise, surprise," he whispered, looking to the girls' room, where the door was still shut and the twins were still sleeping.

Rachel put down all that she was working on in the kitchen, the snacks that she planned on having out before the meal Grant was making, the snacks that he would likely criticize. 
Rachel, did you just pick up that awful ready made cookie dough?!  I could have made you better stuff!

But it would give him five minutes with his wife to have someone else do it, something that he didn't have all that often, given his time constraints with the restaurant.

(None of her business, of course, but anyone could see how lonely Maddie was after spending just five minutes with her.  Five minutes that she wasn't getting with her husband, but hadn't Rachel already mentioned that?)

Pushing her brother's troubles to a back corner of her mind, Rachel made her way over to her husband, her hand to her mouth, barely concealing her grin.

"Hey, Natalie, I gotta let you go.  Micah just came home with the girls' gift!"

"Oh," Natalie breathed, and Rachel could hear the smile in her voice.  "Well, then, we'll see you tonight, okay?"

"Sounds good," Rachel said, hanging up the phone and grinning at her husband.

"What do you think?," he asked.

"Aww," she whispered, looking at what he held.  "She's perfect!"

"Told you this would be the most amazing Christmas gift," he said, leaning over to kiss her, such pride in the smile he gave.  "Are the girls still asleep?"

"Sure are," she said, reaching out for the small bundle.  The towel Micah had been holding fell open to reveal a ball of white fuzz, a quivering little nose, and a tiny pink tongue, which darted out and licked Rachel as she cuddled the bundle close.

"A puppy for Christmas," Micah murmured.  "Best dad of the year, right here."

"Except it was my idea, too," Rachel insisted, looking the puppy over.  "Any special instructions from the breeder?  Any particular type of food she needs to eat?"

"Taylor's bringing it in, along with the crate, the leash, the collar, the food bowls, the puppy pads, the pet bed, the toys, the paperwork for her vet visits... already spent a fortune on this dog," he said.

"And it's just starting!," Rachel murmured, her nose right on the furry little dog's nose.  "Maybe Seth will give us a discount on the shots, huh?"

"Doubtful," Micah muttered.  "Even though I give him a discount on all of the dental work all of his kids are always needing."

"You do that for him, and yet you charged Grant full price for his root canal," she chided.

Micah grinned.  "That's payback for all the meals he's refused to comp us over the years.  The tightwad.  The lack of family discounts goes both ways, you know."

"Family discounts?"  Taylor had heard that as he'd come through the door, his arms full of puppy products.  "Who's giving family discounts?"

"Not Micah," Rachel answered, reaching over to put her arm around her brother-in-law and hug him close.  "Taylor, what do you think about the puppy?"

"She peed on me in the truck," he said, frowning, pointing to the large wet spot on his shirt.

"Oh, no," Rachel murmured.  "Well, that's to be expected, right?  A puppy and all."

"She peed a lot," Micah confirmed.  "Taylor, let me help you get all that stuff hidden so the girls won't see it when they wake up.  Then, I'll get you something dry to wear."

But Taylor was still focused on the issue of the pee.  "And she peed on the truck seat, too."

Uh-oh.  The drive was only a ten minute drive.  Did this puppy have a bladder that huge?

"Really?," Rachel asked.

"Yeah, Joy's cleaning it up," Taylor sighed, handing off things to Micah.  "That dog kept going and going and going --"

"And going," Joy added as she came through the door, too, her hands full of paper towels.  "It was a mess."

"But the puppy is cute, right?," Rachel asked, holding the dog up to her face. 

"No," Joy frowned.  "She bites, and --"

And sure enough, she did, licking Rachel's cheek right before she clamped her little puppy teeth down on her lip.

"Ow!," Rachel cried.  "You little --"

"Just a puppy thing," Micah said, coming in and taking the puppy into his arms.  "I think we should suggest the name Sugar to the girls.  Because she's white like Sugar, obviously --"

"But she's not all that sweet," Taylor said.  "Look, Micah.  Rachel's lip is bleeding."

Sure enough, Rachel could taste the blood.  The dog probably could, too.

Well, good grief.  They'd adopted a miniature vampire dog.  For Christmas! 

Happy birthday, Jesus.  Look at what we got our children -- a tiny minion of Satan!

Rachel scowled at the dog and looked at the blood on the tips of her fingers.

"Yeah, that's an abrasion, not a puncture," Micah murmured, his thumb brushing against her lips.  "You'll live."

"Maybe I need a second opinion," Rachel muttered, "from an actual doctor."

"It's your mouth," he said.  "And a dog's teeth did it.  Both my areas of expertise.  Lips and teeth.  You'd be selling yourself short if you saw anyone but a dentist for those problems."

"Thank you, Dr. Johnson," she said, moving to the sink to wash her hands.  "But it --"

Before she could finish, all four adults heard the sound of a bed creaking and shrieking laughter, likely Mia joining Zoe in her bed, which meant if this was like every other day, both girls would be rushing out of their bedroom in five, four, three...

"Hide the dog!  Hide the dog!," Micah whispered, holding onto the little blood sucker and looking for some place to conceal her, pacing the kitchen frantically as Taylor and Joy followed him.

"Micah, have Taylor and Joy take her to their room!," Rachel whispered.

"She'll pee on our bed!," Joy hissed.

"Take the puppy pads!," Micah hissed back, shoving the dog into Taylor's arms and grabbing one of the pet store bags to thrust into Joy's arms.  "Go, go, go!"

"We'll come relieve you in a bit!  No pun intended!," Rachel called after them, just as Taylor and Joy disappeared down their hallway and Zoe and Mia appeared from theirs.

"Merry Christmas Eve!," Micah shouted, rushing to the two girls, doing his best to distract them from the noise their aunt and uncle were making even as they climbed the stairs to their room.

As Rachel watched Micah pick their squealing daughters up into his arms and twirl them around, she smiled again.

This really was going to be the best Christmas ever.

Natalie

It was probably going to be the worst Christmas ever.

She was likely making a mistake, bringing him to dinner like this without an explanation beforehand, but as he reached across the seat so as to hold her hand in his as he drove, she concluded that she didn't care if it was a mistake.