Home For The Holidays

“No, nothing like that. Sheesh, you break one Tiffany lamp by mistake when you’re like ten, and they never let you forget it. “It’s like this. I need you to back my plays no matter what for the next few days.” I held my breath and awaited his answer while he studied me. Hopefully, he was remembering all of my bright and resourceful exploits and not the more near-criminal crap I got up to as a teen.

“This have anything to do with what we talked about earlier?”

“If you mean about Tom, then yes.”

“Thank fu…I mean, thank goodness. Your mother and I are at the end of our rope with him, and I can’t wait to see the tail end of that Tessa person. She annoys the hell out of my wife, and you know that’s not allowed in my book.

You could’ve blown me over with a feather. Mom had never said, never let on that she still hadn’t accepted Tom’s new relationship. I knew she was going along with things for Tom’s sake, but she’s been so tight-lipped and accepting I’d have never guessed.

I hugged dad appreciatively and headed out of the study to finally go see mom in the great room. The smell of fresh pine from the twelve-foot tree that was waiting to be decorated hit me as soon as I reached the door bringing back memories that warmed my heart. “Oh Sam, good you’re here; where are your father and brother? It’s time to trim the tree.”

“Dad’s in his study, and Tom is upstairs somewhere. I’ll call dad, but then I have to run out for a few minutes.”

“Oh Sam, not now; we always trim the tree together. It’s a family tradition.”

“I know that, mom, trust me, I won’t be long. By the time you finish dragging out the boxes upon boxes of decorations, I’ll be back.”

I left before she could question me further and called out to dad on my way out the front door. Outside, the snow was starting to come down the way it has every Xmas season going back as far as I can remember. If things go as they always do, it’ll snow today, tomorrow, and the next day, which is Xmas eve, leaving a nice covering of snow on the lawns and sidewalks up and down the street.

I blew into my hands since I’d forgotten my gloves and walked the few doors down to Deidre’s home. She had the girls already dressed and waiting when I rang the doorbell, and my heart twisted when I saw their little faces, so like mine. I was back to wanting to kick Tom’s ass when I look at them.

“I thought you forgot about us; listen, are you sure you want to do this? I’m fine with it being just me and the girls.”

“I told you, you’re my family, and this year since the girls are a little older, they’re going to take part in all the family traditions. If anyone has anything to say, they can just deal with me.” She smiled, which helped loosen some of the knots in my stomach.

When I first came up with the idea, I worried about putting her in an awkward position. I know she still has a close relationship with my parents, ergo the reason dad bought her and the girls a home a few doors down from our family home, but the fact that Tom and Tessa were staying at the house for the holidays might make things a bit uncomfortable for her.

Too bad for the two of them that I don’t give a fig about their comfort, not if it comes at the expense of my nieces’. When I first brought up the suggestion to Deidre, who is the only other person except for Jared, who knew about my plans, she balked. But I talked her around. Now with Tom wavering, the decision was looking better and better.

I know he hasn’t seen them since the girls were born. He has gone out of his way to avoid so much as running into his ex-wife, so this would be a first on many levels. When it comes to the trifling bimbo, who cares? “Did you remember to pack their pajamas?”

“You’re really keeping them overnight?”

“Yes, of course, and I’ll make sure to let everyone know you have plans.”

“Not that anyone would care.” She meant Tom, of course, and as tempted as I was to tell her about our conversation earlier, I held my tongue and just gave her a commiserating hug. There’s no sense in jumping the gun when we were this close to operation ‘destroy the skank.’

“Come on, girls, let’s go help grandma and grandpa trim the tree.” I took a little hand in each of mine, and we headed out after their mother said goodbye to them like they were heading off to war. I took a few deep breaths in between answering questions from the two little ones. Now that it was crunch time, I was questioning myself. Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten the little ones involved.