Merry Humbug Christmas (27 page)

On the sixth day of Christmas,

Murphy’s Law gave to me . . .

six ER visits,

five frozen thiiiings!

four yapping dogs,

three wrenched necks,

two mismatched gloves,

and a big rockin’ Harry Winston ring.

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6

“They took him down to X-ray,” Damian told his mom over

the phone. “It’s pretty black and blue, and he’s in a lot of

pain, but it doesn’t look like anything’s broken . . . against all odds.

He’ll walk with a limp for a couple of days but no cast or crutches.”

“I think your father’s cane is still in the bedroom closet. Should we come to the hospital then?” she asked him.

“Not unless Sofia insists. But tread lightly when you tell her, huh, Mom? Reese is pretty shaken up, and a Puerto Rican tornado in her face isn’t going to help.”

“Well, sweetheart, it was an accident. Did you tell her you know

it wasn’t her fault?”

“I did,” he replied with a smile. “But she still ran over your son’s foot with a car.”

His mom chuckled. “No one’s going to blame her. You’re sure

your brother is going to be all right?”

“I’m pretty sure. I’ll call you with an update, but I think we can get him back to the house and onto the sofa without further incident.”

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Merry

Humbug Christmas

Reggie sat down in the chair next to him and smiled. “We live in

hope.”

Damian heard Sofia in the background, chattering in her ver-

sion of fast-forward Spanglish. She must have heard Jeane ask if “his brother” would be all right.

“Okay, Mom. I’ll call you later and let you know what’s going

on.”

As soon as he disconnected the call, Reggie touched his arm and

nodded in Reese’s direction.

Reese stood at the window, gazing out, a long and serious

expression on her face. As he got up from his chair, Hannah rounded the corner carrying a foam cup with a teabag string hanging over the edge. She offered it to Reese as Damian joined them.

“It’s herbal,” she said. “The nurse said it’s good for calming your nerves.”

Reese chuckled as she accepted the cup. “Thank you, Hannah.

How old are you again?”

“Thirteen.”

“Going on thirty,” Reese told her with a grateful smile. “You’re

very sweet, especially considering the fact that I just ran over your uncle.”

Without missing a beat, Hannah pointed out the obvious. “Not

my whole uncle. Only one foot of him.”

Damian laughed out loud.

“What’s that? Like, 10 percent of my whole uncle?”

Reese giggled as she slipped her arm around the girl’s shoulder

and pulled her in close, taking a sip of tea. “Thank you, Hannah.”

Matthew had just joined them in the waiting room to announce

that Eli had been released when Sofia pushed through the glass doors like a mother bear in search of her missing cub.

“Where is he,
Domion
?”

It always tickled him the way she pronounced his name.

He headed straight toward her. “Everything is fine, Sof. He’s just been released, and we’re taking him back to the house.”

“I want to see him. Where
iss
he?”

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“Come on,” Matthew told her. “I’m headed back there now.”

As she passed Reese, Sofia narrowed her eyes and glared at her.

Damian slipped his arm around Reese’s shoulder and tucked her in

close. “Let’s go back to the house.”

“The car,” she muttered. “If it snows again today, we might never get it out.”

“Right.” He looked to Reggie and asked, “Can you drop us at my

car?”

“Sure thing. Are you going with us, Hannah?”

She nodded happily and jogged after them.

“Why don’t you ride shotgun with Regg,” Damian told Hannah.

“Reese and I will get in back.”

Once they settled into the car, Damian opened his arms to Reese,

and she fell into them. A few minutes passed before he felt her body shake and realized she’d been crying. Reggie must have noticed it in the rearview mirror, because she commented to Hannah, “Well, that was an eventful morning, wasn’t it?”

Hannah chuckled. “Word!”

“Elijah has always had two left feet,” she said. Then, glancing into the mirror, she said, “Reese, one time he walked right up behind one of the wild burros that roam around up here in the spring. That thing must have kicked him ten yards! Remember that, Damian?”

Damian laughed, more for Reese’s benefit than at the recollec-

tion. Eli’s ribs had been bruised for a month.

“There are wild burros up here?” Hannah exclaimed. “Like . . .

donkeys?”

“Oh yeah,” Reggie told her. “The rumor is that they escaped or

were left behind by miners. But they walk around in small herds, and they’ll mosey right up to your front door.”

“Remember when they demolished Mrs. Hillsborough’s straw-

berry patch?” Damian piped up.

“Oh, she was so mad,” Reggie cried. “She chased the whole herd

of them down the road with a shovel.”

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Merry

Humbug Christmas

Reese giggled, and Damian felt the rumble of it against his chest.

Relief surged through him, and he kissed the top of her head, breathing in the citrus scent of her shampoo.

“Can we see them?” Hannah asked.

“They’re harder to find in the winter months,” Reggie told her.

“A few years back they rounded up about ninety of them,”

Damian said, “relocating them to an adoption program in Ridgecrest.

There are a couple of herds still roaming around, but they tend to move to the lower elevations when the snow falls.”

Hannah groaned in disappointment. “I want to see them.”

“Then you’ll have to come back again in the spring,” Reggie sug-

gested with a smile.

Hannah seized the opportunity. “Maybe I could come and visit

Reese and Uncle Damian for a while over summer break. After they

get married and everything. Could I, Uncle Damian?”

“We’ll have to talk to your mom and dad about that,” he replied.

Hannah’s obvious connection to Reese came as no real surprise

to Damian. He’d seen her with a few of her patients in the time that he’d known her, and kids just seemed to respond to her in profound and immediate ways. When he’d initially realized the depth of his feelings for her, he’d imagined what a wonderful mother she would make one day, knowing he only had the most remote chance of wit-nessing that first hand. When Reese had confessed she’d fallen in love with him as well, Damian had been astonished, wondering how such

a perfect and amazing woman could have settled for the likes of him.

“Are you joking?” she said when he revealed his fears. “I can’t

believe you would want to be with
me
! I’m a total mess, and you’re

. . . perfect.”

Time had exposed those imperfections in both of them, but even

their shortcomings fit together well.

“Like pieces of a puzzle,” Reese had once observed, and the con-

clusion had stayed with him. Since she’d come into his life, Damian did feel a bit like a finished jigsaw puzzle.

Reese squirmed a little closer, and he smiled and wrapped his

arms tightly around her.

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“I love you,” he whispered into her ear, and she sighed.

BY EARLY AFTERNOON, THINGS seemed almost right in the world

again, although Reese didn’t want to take anything for granted. Paul Sr. moved the plump loveseat close to the massive window looking

out over the backyard, and Jeane helped Eli get settled into it with a cup of hot chocolate, a bowl of her traditional trail mix, and a cro-cheted red blanket he said smelled of Christmas. Damian queued

up a few holiday CDs on the stereo, and Eli seemed unexpectedly

content to watch the action through the window. To the soundtrack of Judy Garland’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Matthew and several of the kids flew down the hill on inner tubes and sleds.

Reese slipped into her coat and tugged on a pair of slightly too

small gloves she’d found in the mudroom, and she stepped out the

front door and closed it behind her. The snow had let up for the time being, and the sky had turned dark gray as the temperature plummeted. She closed her eyes and lifted her face, sharply breathing in the brisk air.

In with the good air, out with the bad.

After half a dozen of those, she felt invigorated again. She opened her eyes and sighed before she processed the bizarre sight before her.

When clarity came to rest on her, she gasped.

Just twenty feet away from her—right in the middle of the

snow-drifted yard—stood a huge buck, his massive antlers held high and his black-brown eyes perfectly round and fixed squarely on her smaller blue ones.

He had a meaningful sort of expression on his deer face, and he

held her gaze so tightly she couldn’t possibly squirm out of it. She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to.

“Hi,” she uttered, and it took all of the breath she had.

The deer didn’t even blink. He just stood there, staring at

her, conveying some important secret message she couldn’t quite

understand.

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Merry

Humbug Christmas

“Are you okay?” she asked him. Strangely, Reese waited, as if

she expected him to speak up and tell her the reason for his return visit. When he didn’t respond, or move a muscle, she willed herself to breathe again before telling him, “I’m really sorry about the car hitting you.” With a chuckle she added, “You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve said those words since we first met. It seems like I have something to apologize for every couple of hours.”

The buck’s chest twitched, and he jerked his tall antlers, but he remained planted in his spot, his saucer eyes alert and fixed on her.

“Well, you look strong now,” she said softly. “Much better than

when we first met. And I’m so glad. I wish you could tell me if you need something because I’d be happy to get it for you.”

And with that he bobbed his massive head at her, breaking the

connection between them. Then he turned and dashed way.

It took Reese several minutes to pull herself together after the

encounter. Finally she took a couple more cleansing breaths and

pushed the front door open.

Reggie and Sofia sat on barstools at the island chopping and

dicing while Jeane attended to an enormous pot on the stove, and

Damian and Paul unpacked the final box of ornaments and hung

them on the massive Christmas tree.

“Hey, Mom,” Eli called out over Bing Crosby’s rendition of “Let

it Snow, Let it Snow.” “Are there any more sugar cookies?”

Jeane flashed a smile. “Yes, honey. Give me one minute and I’ll

get them.”

“I’ll do it,” Reese said as she removed her coat and gloves.

Jeane handed her a sealed canister, followed by a paper plate covered in poinsettias and a matching napkin. “Just give him a couple,”

she said softly. “If he gets his hand on the container, they’ll disappear.”

Reese carefully chose a Christmas tree covered in green sprin-

kles and a red glittery bell, and she placed them on the small plate.

She took a deep cleansing breath before heading across the great

room toward Eli.

He looked up at her strangely before reaching for the cookies.

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out the best way to speak her mind. Eli gave her a “What do you

want?” look, and she smiled.

“Eli . . .” She sat down on the edge of the nearby table and tried again. “Eli, I just wanted to say how sorry I am.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“I keep replaying that moment in my mind, and I just . . . can’t . . .”

“I know the feeling.”

“It was just . . . horrible,” she said, and she gingerly reached out and touched his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“I get it, Reese,” he replied. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that, but the pain . . .”

“I know. I know.”

“. . . I was just out of my mind with it, you know?”

“Yes! I know. And I’m so sorry.”

“Will you do me one favor?” he asked her.