Twenty-One
Micah hardly reached the front door when it opened, and Graham grabbed his hand and drew him inside, out of the weather. “I was about to call and suggest you not drive back over here in this storm.” He untucked Micah’s scarf and peeled his overcoat off his shoulders, hanging it on the rack by the door. He smiled and kissed Micah on the mouth. “But I’m really glad you’re here.”
“I would havecrawledback over here, if necessary.”
Graham chuckled. “Yeah? You want to spend Christmas Eve with me that much?”
Combing his fingers into Graham’s hair, Micah whispered against his lips, “I want to spendevery daywith you that much.”
Graham pushed into the kiss. “I want that, too.”
Upon entering the living room, the lights were turned down low and lit candles placed on the mantle. A bottle of wine and two glasses sat on the coffee table before the sofa. But the one thing that grabbed and held Micah’s focus was the Christmas tree adjacent to the fireplace—decorated and glowing with a rainbow of lights.
“When…?” He looked at Graham, stunned. “Where did you get the tree?”
Graham smiled and slid his arm around Micah’s shoulders. “From the car lot. Earlier, when I leased the car, they offered a free tree along with it. I turned them down because I didn’t think I would need it. But I decided to go back and see if it was still available to me if I wanted it. It was.”
“You went out in this weather to get a tree?”
“Yeah.” He walked Micah to the tree and gazed at it with a distant, almost sad look on his face. “Right after you left, I was looking in my father’s bedroom and in the back of his closet, I found a bunch of brand-new, unopened tree decorations. And those.” He pointed to the three gifts under the tree that Micah hadn’t taken notice of. “They were already wrapped and…” he swallowed thickly, “…had mine, and Seth, and Gloria’s names on them.” He looked at Micah with tears in his eyes. “I think he was hoping that one of these holiday seasons, a miracle would happen that would bring us back to him. I don’t think he really believed it would happen, but he was prepared just in case.”
Micah swallowed past the lump in his throat. “But why weren’t the decorations opened?”
“Maybe he wanted to put up the tree with us. I don’t know.” He cleared his throat. “I did it for him,” he whispered. “The tree. I want him to be able to look down from heaven and see his home filled withChristmas.” He blinked and drew Micah closer, kissing him softly. “Filled withlove.”
Micah hugged him. “Are you going to open your gift?”
“Yeah,” he murmured. “I was just waiting for you to come back.”
“How long ago do you think he bought the gifts?”
“I don’t know,” Graham said. “The wrapping looks old, and a little worn as if they’d been moved a lot, possibly from home to home until he finally ended up here.”
Retrieving the gift from under the tree, Graham and Micah sat down on the sofa. Graham held the present in his hands, just staring at it, eyes shimmering. He cleared his throat and carefully peeled off the wrapping then opened the plain white box.
Micah smiled. “It’s a camera.” Nothing fancy or overly expensive, but something one might buy for a young teenager.
Graham blinked and pressed his lips tight, his throat working with emotion. “For the last two Christmas’ before he left us,” Graham whispered, “I kept asking for a camera. I wanted to take pictures of nature and…things I thought were beautiful or wonderful. My dad…he thought it was sissy of me to want a camera. I don’t know why. But it was all I wanted.”
Micah wiped his eyes. “There’s a note inside,” he said quietly.
Blinking back his tears, Graham picked up the note and unfolded it. His chin trembled. “Son…never close your eyes to the beauty around you. Capture it and cherish it. Love…dad.” He ducked his head and pressed his fingers to his eyes. “Why did I have to keep pushing him away when he came back?” He shuddered brokenly. “I wasted months that I could have spent with him.”
Micah curled his arm around him. “What matters most is that you did let him in,” he whispered. “You gave him the miracle he’d been praying for all those years. I think, most of all, he just didn’t want your last words to him to be ones of hurt and anger. And you saved him from that. You let him in and you loved him, and heknewyou loved him.” He kissed his hair. “You gave him everything he ever wanted. You and Seth and Gloria. He just wanted his family to know he loved them…and to have their love in return.”
Raising his head, Graham looked at him through a well of tears. “Thank you, Micah,” he whispered softly. “Thank you for being there that night in the diner, and for caring enough to offer a helping hand to an old man.” He touched Micah’s face. “And thank you for beingyou.”
Graham placed the camera and note on the coffee table and poured wine into the glasses.
“I want to tell you something,” he murmured and handed a glass to Micah, looking deep into his eyes. “About how I came to be in love with you.”
Micah trembled. He wasn’t talking about their meeting at the airport. His deep emerald eyes spoke of something more, something that Micah wasn’t aware of. He swallowed thickly, his heart stuttering. “Tell me.”
∞∞∞
Graham began telling the story with a nervous stomach, a distant part of him fearful of Micah’s reaction to him already being in love with him when he arrived here. But his tension eased as Micah’s heart crept into his eyes and he felt the other man fall a little more in love with him with each word Graham spoke.
“In my heart,” he whispered. “I knew you were the one. Every time my father spoke of you, I fell a little deeper. I couldn’t imagine my soulmate being anyone but you.” He paused and twisted his glass in his hand then took a sip. “When I encountered you in the airport…and we had thatmoment…” He swallowed thickly. “I was so upset and confused. Even a little angry. I wanted that moment withyouand no one else. I felt like it had been stolen from me.” He gazed at Micah. “I couldn’t get you out of my head after the airport, but I didn’twantto think about you, I didn’t want to feel the things I felt when I looked into your eyes.” He lowered his eyes and sniffed. “And then, when you walked in the diner and it wasyou…”
