Home For The Holidays

I looked at him and felt my heart swell in my chest. Sometimes, like now, it’s hard for me to remember what my life was like before he came along. I wake up sometimes afraid that it’s all a dream. Those times he just loves me back to sleep and holds me wrapped in his arms until morning.

“Mom and dad will be okay, right? They’ll understand, right?” Now it was he who raised my hand to his lips.

“Come ‘ere.” He pulled my head down to his shoulder. “You told your dad you had a plan, right? And he gave you the go-ahead. I think if things go well your parents, in fact, your whole family will thank you. If they don’t, I’ll just set them straight.” I just love it when my nerd gets all manly.

We pulled up to the house, and I took a deep breath. My knees were actually shaking as I looked at the front door. Mom had gone all out this year as she does every year. There was a pair of six-foot nutcrackers standing guard on either side of the front door. A manger scene off to one side with a real carousel horse of all things and on the other ornament topiaries in black white and red her holiday colors this year.

Every window had a wreath with huge red bows and decorated with tweed ribbon in the red, black and white color scheme, and there were balls and tinsel on every damn thing as far as the eye could see. “Your home looks like Xmas.”

“What do your parents do for the holiday?”

“Ski. Come on, let’s go.”

Mom was her usual frazzled self when she met us at the door, and I was tickled at the shocked look on Jared’s face when she greeted him with the same kiss on the cheek as she did me. “I’ll be right back, kids; your dad forgot my bloody nutmeg.”

“That’s okay; I’ll have someone go get it for you. Nutmeg, you said?”

“Oh, aren’t you just the sweetest. Yes, thanks. Is that your driver sitting out there? He’s not going to stay there the whole day, is he?”

“No, ma’am, he’s going to head next door with the rest of my security team.”

“Your…”

“She looked from him to me, and I shrugged my shoulders. “Don’t look at me. Your son in law is nuts.”

“They’re more for her than me.” He threw me into the mix.

“A bit overprotective, aren’t we?” My dad joined us at the door, and I’m not understanding the look that passed between the two men.

“Come on in here; we’re about to open gifts. Sam, you know the drill.”

“Wait, Deidre and the girls…”

“On their way.”

“You can have your driver get the nutmeg, but he and the others are joining us for dinner.”

“Um, it’s about six of them.”

“The more, the merrier. I always make too much food, anyway.”

Jared looked undecided, so I took the initiative and ran back outside to knock on the door next door. “My mom says you’re all to come next door to eat. Don’t bother arguing because she’s more stubborn than me.” That got them hemming and hawing. “What time should we be there?”

“Now’s as good a time as any.”

“Pete was cooking, though.”

“The gorilla can cook?”

“I heard that.”

“Uh, sorry, Pete. Why don’t you do this? Just bring whatever it is you’re making to the house and finish it there.”

“Your mom gonna like someone else in her kitchen?” Pete is an almost seven-foot ex ballplayer of a darker persuasion. Built like a tank with the joviality of a toddler in a toy store. “She’ll be fine, less work for me to do with you there. Chop-chop.”

“Um, we have to check with the boss first.” Jonathan, one of my personal trailers, piped up.

I held up my ring and waved it at them. This says I outrank your boss.” He nodded and said, “yes, ma’am,” and I thought I had won until I looked back and saw Jared standing behind me, nodding that it was okay. Bummer!

That little side trip took my mind off things for a minute, but it didn’t last long. I was feeling tense as hell, and I hadn’t even seen Tom or the dingbat yet. Deidre was making her way down the sidewalk when we made it back to the front door, and I had to put all of my reservations to rest. “It’s showtime.” Jared must’ve seen the nerves in me when I said that because he drew me in close and kissed my forehead. “It’ll be fine; I’m here.”

I never realized until that moment how big a part he’d played in this whole thing. I wonder how much longer it would’ve taken me to get this far without his help? I couldn’t tease him about what he was getting out of this because the girls came bounding up the stairs as soon as they saw us.