AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tristan
“Ho! Ho! Ho!”Remi pushes through the front door. “Seeing as I forgot to bring my elves, could I have a hand dragging in the major haul of presents?”
The kids’ eyes widen at the idea of a “major haul” of presents.
“Me and Tommy and Jared’ll be your elves, Emmie!” Wendy shouts.
“You three, finish eating dinner.” I stand. “I’m at your service, sir.” I join Remi in the entryway and stick my feet into my boots.
Together, we lug in a boatload of presents—more than this family has ever seen.
When we return to the entryway, I pull off my coat and boots and fill in Remi on the topic of today’s heated debate. “The kids have been begging Tara to let them open your gifts tonight while you’re here.”
“What did she say?” Unsure as to whether he’s invited to stay for a while, Remi hasn’t yet taken off his coat.
“Well, Tara said no. I think she’s nervous that there won’t be enough presents under the tree to wow them tomorrow morning if they open your gifts now.”
“You saw the number of gifts I brought—I got what was on the list and a bunch of other stuff that caught my eye. The kids can open half of them tonight and the other half tomorrow morning and be wowed both times.”
He’s right. “I guess you should talk to Tara about it.” I’m doing what I can to let my sister make this decision, but my heart screams its desire to spend every single second of Christmas Eve with Remi.
While Remi chats with Tara about plans for tonight, Dacia and I carry the presents into the living room. It takes five trips. There isn’t enough room for all the gifts under the tree; they spill out all over the floor.
“Okay, kids, the decision has been made,” Tara announces as the kids dutifully clear the table. “You’ll each get to open three presents tonight. Remi will choose which ones.”
“Yes!” Jared yells.
“Cool!” Tommy and Jared jump to slap a high five.
“Cool beanies!” Wendy joins in. “Bah-Bah Black Sheep won’t have to sleep in a box.”
“I’ll wash the dishes,” I offer. “You guys get started in the living room.”
Everyone except Remi rushes out of the kitchen. He steps so close behind me that I can feel the warmth of his body. “Want some help with the dishes? It’ll go quicker.”
“Three children’s heads will literally explode in the living room if you don’t get in there now.”
“I hear you,” he replies and saunters from the room, none too eager to leave me.
Fifteen minutes later, I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Wendy, admiring two matching Bah-Bah Black Sheep—yeah, a pair of scarily lifelike gray stuffed sheep with silky black faces.
“Emmie got me twin baby black sheeps!”
Tommy has already opened his new set of watercolors and a package of special art paper and is in the kitchen, filling a cup of water so he can paint at the coffee table. Jared is trying to figure out how to set up an electronic soccer game in the hallway. We’ll be stepping over it for the next six months.
Remi excuses himself to run outside. “I forgot something in the SUV—Tristan, you want to come along?”
I follow him without asking questions. We run down the street to his SUV, and I carry in one of two heavy boxes wrapped in colorful snowman paper, both with Tara’s name on the tags.
“What the hell is this?” she asks, eyeing Remi warily.
“You’re not going to believe this, but Santa Claus stopped by my house with these boxes,” Remi explains. “He told me there was no more room in the sleigh and asked if I’d take care of the delivery for him.”
Wendy is listening. “Lucky for Mommy that Emmie had room in his car for her presents!”
“You didn’t have t-to d-do this,” Tara stutters.
“You don’t even know what Santa got you—it could be a real live lamb.”
Wendy’s eyes widen. “Huh?” When nobody replies, she drags her new stuffed sheep to the bedroom to meet Bah-Bah Lamb Baby.
The adults laugh at Tara’s grimace; the thought of having a live animal to contend with is too much for her to consider. When she tears off the wrapping paper on the larger of the two boxes, her eyes widen. “Oh, God—an air purifier!”
“It’s a two-piece system, so you can put one in Wendy’s bedroom and the other out here,” Remi says.
I shake my head. “It’s too expensive of a gift.”
He glances at me uneasily and then back at my sister. “The tags say Tara’s name, but it’s a gift that will ease Wendy’s suffering. Which will make life better for the whole family.”
“I want to keep it so much, even though I feel like I shouldn’t,” Tara cries and rushes across the room to where Remi stands. She throws her arms around his waist. “Thank you!”
Tara’s decision to accept the gift has already been made. And I’m fine with it—it isn’t my call.
“Please don’t feel awkward about the gift, Tara. I have too much money to know what to do with and…” He gulps and adds, “well, you’re entirely welcome.”
Wendy stumbles into the living room with an armful of stuffed animals, and Dacia graciously changes the touchy subject. “Hey, what do you know? Remi, is that card for me?” She picks up a red envelope with her name on it.
Remi is choked up too, but he grinds out a few words. “I didn’t forget you, Dacia—I got you a few gift cards to the Wining Painter, but you’ll have to take me as a guest at least once.” Before she can thank him, he walks back into the kitchen. When he returns, he’s wearing his coat and boots and holding a slim rectangular package wrapped in brown paper that is decorated with sketches of pine trees and snowflakes and packages tied up with ribbons. “This is for you, Tristan.”
I take the gift from his trembling hands into mine. “For me?”
“Thank you for letting me share Christmas Eve with you.” I know he’s referring to the whole family, but his damp gaze is on me. I stare back into the dark eyes I love and bite my bottom lip to stop its quivering.
When he turns and rushes from the room, I watch in silence.
