Merry's Christmas: A Love Story (17 page)

I fear to say what is so very true:

I love
the sister that she gave in you.

Hayden couldn’t bring herself to look up
from the sonnet for the longest kind of time. In fact, it was all she could do
to finish it. When she finally raised her eyes she saw that Tara’s cheeks were
also traced with tears. She saw her Gramma wipe her eyes, then reach over and
squeeze her dad’s hand.

Hayden handed the sonnet back to Tara
sheepishly. “I only got a ‘B’ on it,” she admitted. “Iambic pentameter got kind
of funky.”

Tara threw her arms around her sister. “I
don’t care,” Tara cried. “I love you, too, Hayden.”

Ollie looked around at his sisters, his
misty-eyed dad and Gramma. “Why is everybody crying?”

Daniel pulled Ollie into a cheerful hug.
“It’s okay, Buddy. It’s the good kind.”

Just then, the doorbell rang. Daniel
rose. “That must be Catherine.”

Hayden flopped onto the sofa.
“Fa-la-la-la-blah,” she groaned.

♥    ♥    ♥

Before long,
the Bell family had gathered around their festively decorated dining room
table. Catherine backed through the door from the kitchen, carrying a perfectly
browned turkey on a large platter. Joan made room on the table amongst dishes
of steaming baby green beans, parsnips, and yams with browned marshmallows on
top. There was chunky cranberry sauce, apple-pecan dressing, and a cut glass
bowl of bright red watermelon rind pickles.

Daniel rose. “Catherine, let me help you
with that.”

“No, sit, sit,” Catherine insisted. “This
is my gift to all of you.”

As soon as Catherine set the turkey down,
Daniel broke into a grin. “Well, Mom...look at that,” he remarked. “You made a
new platter to pass down, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Joan nodded, pleased that Daniel
had noticed.

“A vast improvement over the last one,”
Daniel added.

Ollie held up his matching plate. “I like
our new dishes,” he enthused, tracing his finger across the rim. “Look-it, they
all have Merry’s name right on them.”

Catherine noticed that Joan stifled a
smile as Ollie showed his dad how each dish was edged with holly along with the
words
MERRY CHRISTMAS
, painted into the glaze.

Daniel gazed at the platter, making the
connection. “Oh, look at that. I guess they do.”

Catherine absorbed it pleasantly, doing
her best to let their references to Merry roll off her arching back. “Daniel,
would you like to do the honors?” she said, passing the cutlery set.

Hayden looked around. “Hey, where is
Merry?”

“Yeah,” Tara chimed in, “isn’t this
supposed to be her big day?”

“Yes,” Catherine interjected, her
discomfort growing. “That’s why I told her I’d take care of things for her, so
she could have some time to herself, and we could all enjoy Christmas dinner
together.”

Catherine couldn’t miss the
disappointment that flickered across each of the kids’ faces. She coaxed
herself to rise above it.

Ollie quickly appealed to his father.
“But when is Merry coming, Dad? I want to show her the fishing rod you got me.”

“And wait till she sees my sonnet,” Tara
said.

“And my room,” Hayden added.

Tara turned to her twin. “Merry was
totally in on that, you know.”

Suddenly, a mortified expression crossed
Joan’s face. “Did anybody get her anything?” Joan searched around the table.
Tara, Hayden, and Ollie looked at each other blankly. Catherine saw Daniel
grimace, clearly mortified at the oversight.

“I gave her the day off,” Catherine
mentioned.

Hayden rolled her eyes. “How about
something that she actually wanted? Face it. We’re all total Scrooges.”

Daniel shook his head. “No, it was my
place. I should have thought of it.”

Tara moped. “It’s her birthday today,
too. This is bad.”

Ollie tugged at his dad’s sleeve. “Let’s
call her, Daddy.”

Catherine couldn’t help interjecting.
“I’m sure she’d much rather—”

Tara whipped out her cell phone. “Yeah,
let’s see if she’ll come over.”

“Oh, I know,” Hayden said. “Put it on
speaker and we can all completely grovel.”

Tara’s eyes lit up. “Or carol to her! She
would love that. What’s her number?”

Unable to take it any longer, Catherine
flatly conceded. “555-7463.”

Daniel turned to Catherine as she
abruptly rose from the table, “How did you know—”

“If you’ll excuse me,” Catherine replied.
Then, with as much dignity as she could preserve, she strode back toward the
kitchen.

“What’s with her?” Hayden asked.

Daniel pushed out his chair and stood up
immediately. “No call to Merry just yet,” he instructed. “Mom, could you carve,
please?”

With that, Daniel quickly followed
Catherine out of the room.

As soon as the kitchen door flapped
closed behind her, Catherine burst into tears. When Daniel appeared, she tried
in vain to dry them. Unable to hide her emotions, she quickly turned away.

“Catherine?”

“I’m fine,” she whimpered. “I’m just...
Who am I kidding? I’m a certifiable mess.” Catherine threw her hands up in
despair.

Daniel circled around her and faced her.
“You look nice to me,” he replied.

“That’s just because I cry pretty,”
Catherine blustered. “Mother taught me never to scrunch.”

Daniel nodded, beginning to understand.
“This is about Merry, isn’t it?”

“You think?” Catherine blurted. “It’s not
like I blame you. I mean, she’s impossibly appealing. Even when she throws the
ball completely into my corner, she’s still the unwitting belle of it.”

Daniel looked mystified. “What are you
talking about?”

“Last night,” Catherine admitted. “It was
all her idea—every enchanting, infuriatingly generous bit of it—right down to
hiring Skeeter.”

Daniel reached out for Catherine’s hand,
but for the first time, she refused it. “Catherine...”

“I don’t know why I can’t do this,” she
mourned. “Sure. I can hold court with the best of society; I can schmooze with
heads of state. But put me with a family and I’m completely out of my depth.”

“They can’t help loving her,” Daniel
explained.

“Oh, I know,” Catherine replied. “Even I
can’t help it. The question is: can you?”

Daniel took the query to heart. When he
finally opened his mouth to respond, Catherine cut him short.

“No, no. Please don’t answer that,” she
said. “No. Let me just...” Catherine took a moment to gather her composure.
“You know,” she continued, “I’ve been thinking about things, and I realize we’d
planned to exchange gifts tonight, but the truth is, if we did go through with
all that, I...I suppose I’d miss my corner office.” Catherine inhaled, rallying
her poise. “Or travel,” she mustered. “Yes. Maybe Paris. Or I might visit my ex
in Rome. He sent me a lovely card this year and, well, quite by surprise, I
find myself vaguely charmed, and wanting to at least... give it a chance,
explore the possibilities. Forgive me?”

Daniel nodded. He brushed Catherine’s arm
affectionately. It told her that he understood all that she couldn’t bring
herself to say.

Catherine removed her holiday apron. Her
eyes glistening, she gave Daniel one last kiss on the cheek. “You’ll say my
goodbyes, won’t you?”

“I will,” Daniel assured.

Catherine picked up her clutch and
crossed to the door. “My best to Merry,” Catherine concluded, “when you see
her.”

♥    ♥    ♥

Night had
fallen. Far across town, Merry set a dish out for Rudy, and then sat down to a
bowl of clam chowder. Trying her best to be grateful, she bowed.

“So... Merry, here,” she prayed. “Just
me. Again. Sorry to be so droopy, especially today, but—”

The toot of a car horn outside
interrupted Merry’s thought.

Merry looked up as she continued. “I
guess this wasn’t exactly the Christmas I hoped it’d be.” As she paused,
remembering, a sheepish grin crossed her face. “But I didn’t get evicted. And
you did get me through it, like I asked. And it was good...good to see a family
come together, even if it wasn’t mine. So, thanks for letting me be part of
it—”

Again, the horn blasted outside, twice in
close succession.

“Thanks for Rudy, and this chowder and—”

Yet again, the horn blared, insistently.
Merry glanced toward the window as she heard Mr. Grabinski yell toward the
street. “Cut the racket, will ya? How’s about a little peace on earth?”

Curious, Merry rose and went to her
window, murmuring to herself, “What is...?” Merry looked outside toward the
street. To her stunned delight, there stood the whole Bell family at the curb.
Catherine was nowhere to be seen. Merry threw open the sash, overjoyed.

Seeing Merry in the window, Joan cued the
family, and they all started to sing at the top of their lungs:

We
wish you a Merry Christmas,

We
wish you a Merry Christmas,

We
wish you a Merry Christmas

And
a happy New Year!

Merry listened, delighted. Though the sun
had set, Christmas was suddenly far from over for Merry. It was only just
beginning.

“Hi!” Merry called out. “Am I glad to see
you! Come on up!”

Daniel stepped forward from the rest.
“Not yet,” he answered. “You come down first!”

It wasn’t two seconds before Merry
grabbed her coat and went bounding down the stairs. As she passed his first
floor apartment, Mr. Grabinski poked his head out and yelled after her. “Would
you keep it down?” he groused. “Some people trying to have Christmas, you
know!”

As Merry burst out of her building, she
could see the Bell family bubbling with excitement.

“Here she comes!” Ollie shouted. “Here
she comes!”

Tara clamped a hand over his lips. “Shhh!
Act natural.”

Daniel prompted his kids. “Okay, get
ready...”

Merry bounded across the snowy walk. She
slipped gawkily, then regained her footing just in time to hear the whole clan
shout out, in unison:

“Surprise!”

Merry skidded to a stop as the Bells
presented a wrapped gift. She looked at the package, stunned. “You didn’t.”

Ollie nodded enthusiastically. “We did.
We all made it. For your birthday.”

“All of you...you made this?” Merry
replied as she tore off the paper and opened the box. Inside, she found a
framed family photo. It was the picture she was in from the Christmas tree
hunt. She stopped to examine the frame, a gift in and of itself. It was a
mosaic of their broken family china, put together in beautiful new way. At the
top, a banner read:
MERRY’S CHRISTMAS
. Tears sprang to Merry’s eyes.
“This is...it’s like a family photo.”

Daniel smiled fondly. “Yeah, it really
is. “

Merry couldn’t take her eyes off the
picture. “Oh... I can hardly believe this,” she said.

“Why are you crying?” Ollie asked. “Don’t
you like it?”

Merry hugged the boy tightly. “No, I love
it. It’s just...a really big first for me and...I don’t even know how to—”
Merry embraced Joan and Tara, then turned to Hayden. “Thank you so much! Thank
you! Hayden, I know you don’t do hugs much.”

Hayden opened her arms. “I make
exceptions,” she said wryly.

Merry squeezed Hayden, then gazed at the
family photo again. “This is the greatest present ever!”

Ollie tugged on Merry’s sleeve. “Hey,
Merry,” he blurted. “You want to help me plant my worm farm?”

Merry feigned appropriate surprise.
 
“Really? You got your worm farm?”

“Thanks to you,” Daniel said, “we all got
what we wanted for Christmas.” Daniel’s expression took on a hint of mischief.
“Well, almost,” he toyed. “There is one other thing I wanted to give you.”

Merry beamed. She checked around to make
sure he was actually referring to her as the Bell kids prodded their dad to
give her his gift. Merry couldn’t help being a little puzzled, seeing Tara link
pinkies with Ollie.

Daniel stifled a shy grin, and then
turned to his family. “I do believe there’s a snowman just begging to be built
around that corner.”

The kids dutifully ran away, but Joan
lingered momentarily.

“You, too, Mom,” Daniel intoned.

Joan smiled knowingly, then followed the
kids around the building. Daniel turned back to Merry, his eyes reflecting his
heart.

Merry wasn’t sure what to think. “You don’t
have to give me anything else,” she said. “This photo is way more than I ever
in a million years expected. What more could you possibly—”

Daniel put a finger to Merry’s lips,
stopping her. Everything in Merry tingled inside, but still she searched his
face, confused.