Christmas Surprises (9 page)

"You sound like Sadie," Jacob sighed, looking over to Brian.  "My sister Sadie, is training for her third Ironman."

"Wow," Brian said, grinning appreciatively.  "That's impressive."

"Annoying and impressive," Jacob said.  "She's a real bully about working out.  Likes to make jokes about how out of shape I am."

"Well, you are out of shape," Gracie noted. 

"But still," Jacob added.

"You know," Brian said, "I've thought about doing one of those.  Not the full thing, of course.  I'm not crazy like your sister or anything."

"Amen on the crazy," Jacob nodded.

"But the half distance," he said.  "Natalie and I have been talking about destination trips, loading up my bike and all my gear next fall and just making a vacation out of it."

They had.  She'd even sectioned off some time from work for a few of the possibilities, thoughts of seeing different parts of the country with Brian pleasantly on her mind as she'd done so, marveling that this would be how she'd spend retirement, not sad and alone like she'd figured just a year ago.

"Vacations together?," Micah asked.  "Huh."

Just that.  Huh.  Disapproval and irritation, so easy to discern in that voice of his.

Where had he gotten his attitude from anyway?  She was so much more easygoing than that, and Chris had never been as snooty as Micah was being.

"I think it sounds wonderful," Rachel said.  "Micah, if you remember correctly, you and I once planned an entire trip to Europe together, not long after we first met."

"Yeah, but we were just friends then," Micah said.  Then, a pointed look at Brian.  "Are you and my mother just friends?"

"I think your mother can answer that herself, Micah Emmanuel," Natalie said tightly. 

"Oh, the middle name," Jacob murmured.

Micah looked at her with interest.  "Then, let me ask
you
.  Are the two of you just friends?"

My goodness.  It would have to be like this, then, wouldn't it?  Her answering him as rudely as he was questioning her. 

So be it.

"Not that it's any of your business, but we're more than friends," she said.

"Then, is it appropriate for the two of you to be traveling all around together like that?," he asked.

Wow.  Her own father hadn't been this protective when she'd been a college freshman at seventeen, in a world much too mature for her.

She was, all at the same time, impressed and irritated by his boldness.  She was about to tell him that it would be just fine for her to do whatever she wanted to with Brian because she'd be his wife by then --

"You know what?," Rachel asked, her voice desperately trying to sound calm and peaceful.  "Speaking of seeing places and exciting vacations, I think it's time to open up some Christmas gifts, huh?"

And this was enough to move Micah's attention from his mother and her suitor.

For a while, at least.

Madison

There were some gifts exchanged to get things started, as the evening began to get darker and as Maddie finished off the snack that Grant had insisted she eat.

She was so full.  How much food could one pregnant woman whose husband wouldn't leave her alone eat anyway?

Andrew opened a gift from Zoe.  Mia opened one from Lydia.  The kids tore through paper, gasped with delight, and filled the house with the sounds of toys being played with, buttons pushed, and electronic beeps and buzzes.  The dog would bark in her sleep occasionally from where she laid in Brian's lap, completely content.

Then, the adults exchanged some gifts.  From Joy to Rachel, a set of romance novels from one of her favorite writers.  "But Maddie is my most favorite," Joy had said so devotedly.  To Joy from Maddie, a proof copy of the newest book, not even available yet, which Joy immediately began reading after nearly knocking Maddie over with her exuberant embrace.

From Taylor to Micah, a tie covered in giant sets of teeth.  "Because you're a dentist," Taylor clarified.  From the twins to Taylor, a T shirt covered in smiley faces, "Because you're the smiliest guy we know, Uncle Taylor."

On and on they went as the kids continued playing until there were just a few more left to give, one of which Rachel put into Maddie's lap with a smile.

"For you and Grant," she said.  "From Micah and me."

They were always so thoughtful.  Maddie figured it would be something for the baby or something for the house they hoped to have soon.  So, with Grant by her side watching, she smiled as she began to unwrap the package, opening the box and picking up the papers inside.

It didn't make sense at first as she read a few words then glanced up at Rachel, at Micah, too, as they smiled.

An itinerary.  A list of attractions.  A map.

Oh.  Oh, wow.

"Grant," she said, "they're tickets for a cruise. They've given us a vacation."

It was too generous.  Maddie knew this.  But she was still thankful as she looked up to see Rachel watching her hopefully, understanding in her eyes.

She understood Grant.  She understood what was happening with them.  In part, at least.

"You can't..."  She shook her head.  "You can't give someone a vacation for a gift... can you?"

"Micah tried to do the same for me once," Rachel said.  "But we had to postpone it indefinitely, since the girls were born a week before we were set to arrive in Rio.  You won't have that problem, though.  You can take the cruise in January.  Or February.  Whenever you decide.  But long before the baby comes.  A babymoon, Maddie."

Before Maddie could murmur her thanks, her heart hopeful at the thought of getting away with Grant on this vacation...

Well, Grant shook his head, took the information out of her hand, and put it back in the box.

"We can't take this, guys," he said.

"Why not?," Rachel asked. 

"Because," he said, his eyes not meeting anyone's, "this is too much.  We appreciate it, but we can't take it."

"Grant," Rachel began, "do you remember when you paid off my house, back when I was single, and refused to let me give you your money back when I found out what --"

"Paying back the money you put into the restaurant," he interrupted his sister.  "Totally different."

"I didn't put that much into the restaurant!," she said.  "You paid me back with interest, and you told me you wanted to do it.  And I want to do this!"

"Yeah," Micah said.  "And if it makes you feel better, you paid for the cruise yourself when you came in and had me do that root canal for you.  Actually, Grant, you paid for about ten cruises with that root canal.  It was bad."

But Grant ignored the joke.  "Even still, though," he muttered. "We don't have time to take a cruise.  I can't get away from the restaurant that long."

And there it was.  The reason behind everything Grant did these days.

The restaurant.

She remembered another Christmas, back before they were married, back when she was only trusting him for one day at a time, not yet for a lifetime of days.

He'd taken off for the evening.  He did that back then.  What was even more wonderful, though, was that he'd taken off a Saturday night, which meant that with the restaurant closed on Sunday, he had all the time in the world for her, for their first Christmas celebration together.

There had been dinner, of course, cooked together in the apartment she was living in, enjoyed sitting on the couch in the living room close together, as they'd talked about the best Christmases of their lives.

He'd told her about the Christmas when he'd been eight and Rachel had been five.  She'd asked for an Easy Bake Oven, but their parents -- well, mainly his mother -- had gotten her a doctor's kit instead.

"And Rachel," he'd told Maddie as she'd smiled at him, "told our mother,
'But I want to be a mommy!
'  And Mom answered,
'That's all good and well, but you can have a real job as a doctor.'
So, Rachel opened up the kit and pretended to be..."

"A nurse," Maddie had laughed, imagining Barbara's reaction. 

"Yes," Grant had grinned.  "A nurse who took care of babies."

"Your mother only has herself to blame for Rachel's job now, then, huh?"

"She loves it," Grant had said.  "And our grandmother ended up getting Rachel the Easy Bake Oven.  Which she never ended up using.  But I did, of course.  Got made fun of a lot for that, actually."

"I can picture that," she'd murmured, smiling at him, reaching out to touch his face.  "Little Grant, cooking in a kitchen with a tiny oven, settling in his heart that this would be his future."

"Yeah," he'd answered softly, leaning in to kiss her.  "Little Grant didn't know the half of it, though, that he'd be sitting here with the most gorgeous woman in the world, all these years later.  Take that, kids who made fun of me for using an Easy Bake Oven."

"Mmmhmm," she'd murmured against his lips.

"How about you?," he'd asked.

"I would never make fun of you for using an Easy Bake Oven."

"No," he'd grinned.  "Most memorable Christmas."

Only one had come to mind.  She'd hesitated to even bring it up, but Grant had made her so brave, so very brave in the months they'd known one another.

So, she'd told him.

"My dad bought my mother an iron one year," she'd said.  "Passive aggressive move because what she'd really wanted was a necklace.  Not even an expensive one.  Just a necklace that she'd seen and wanted."  And she'd touched the necklace and the tiny silver M charm that Grant had given her months ago, thinking about how he'd given it to her just because.  No reason.  Just because even then, he'd been falling in love with her.

"That's not nice," Grant had said.

"Well, Kaci wasn't very nice to him either," she'd said, thinking about the fights that had gone on the week before Christmas.  "The old one she had broke, along with some other appliances that week.  Our fridge specifically.  They had about a hundred fights back and forth about replacing that and how much it was costing.  So when the iron broke?  She'd just been at the end of her rope and had gone on and on about how broke we were, how he couldn't take care of us, how she couldn't even afford to get a new iron now because he didn't make enough money, and..."  She'd trailed off, thinking about it.  "Well, he showed her.  Bought her the nicest iron he could find."

"She wasn't happy, though, was she?," Grant had asked, knowing the answer. 

"Oh, no," Maddie had sighed.  "She threw the iron out a window.  I mean, literally.  Went over to the window and tossed it out.  Broke the glass.  Ended up having to replace the whole thing.  Cost more than an iron, even that fancy one.  So, I guess
she
showed
him
, huh?"

No, they'd showed her.  Her and her sister, Kait, who had gotten her a journal for Christmas, the first one she'd ever owned.  The first words she'd ever written in it were details from that night, about how much she hated the fighting, how much she wished they would just get along.

"Hey," Grant had said, taking her face in his hands, before she could even start to regret all that she'd just shown him of her heart, "I love you.  And I'm never, ever going to buy you an iron for Christmas."