AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mary Paige spied the smashed ornaments. One was an heirloom. She glanced at her mother, who had that expression that said, “let it go.”
“What are you doing here?” Mary Paige asked again, shifting Tango to her hip as Izzy sniffed about her feet.
“I needed to talk to you.” He seemed as comfortable as a prisoner faced with the hangman’s noose. “Maybe we could talk outside?”
Freda walked to the door and pushed it closed. “It’s too cold to talk outside. Plus, Mary’s in her nightgown. Better take this into the kitchen.”
Caleb grunted and flailed his arms before thumping one on the tray affixed to his table. He’d removed the computer and voice synthesizer he used when at school because both Freda and Mary Paige understood him through modified sign language, which he used now.
“Let’s go ahead and open, Mom.” Mary Paige bent to grab Izzy’s lead then handed it to Brennan. “Caleb wants to open gifts, and we’ve already made him wait while we fixed coffee and let Tango out. Talking will have to wait.”
Her voice was firm because she was still mad at him. Still hurt by his actions…and inactions.
He nodded. “Sure. I brought some gifts, though I wasn’t exactly sure what your brother or mother might like.”
“Put them under the tree,” Mary Paige said, setting Tango down near Izzy. “Make friends, Tango, and stop being such a wuss.”
While Tango and Izzy eyed one another, Freda swept the shattered glass. Brennan perched on the couch, still looking like he faced execution. Caleb grew still and watched Brennan, fighting against his twitching muscles to achieve some sort of coolness.
“Brennan, this is my brother, Caleb.”
“Nice to meet you, Caleb,” Brennan said, stepping over to Caleb, who extended his hand. Brennan shook it, overlooking the way Caleb’s arm jerked spasmodically.
Her brother made a few guttural sounds and then signed to Mary Paige. “He said, ‘back at you’ and he likes your hat.”
Brennan smiled, touching the elf hat as if he’d forgotten he wore it, and resumed his position on the couch, keeping one eye on Izzy and darting measuring glances in Mary Paige’s direction. She tried to ignore him, but failed, of course. How could a girl clad in a homespun gown and reindeer socks ignore the man she loved sitting in her mother’s living room wearing a ridiculous-looking hat?
“Okay, so let’s do this,” her mother said, returning from the kitchen and scooping up both the coffee mugs, handing one to Mary Paige. “Brennan, if you’d like some coffee, there’s some in the kitchen along with cinnamon rolls. Help yourself.”
“No, thank you,” he said, looking at Mary Paige again.
She jerked her chin toward her brother. “Start with Caleb first. Give him mine.”
Freda lifted the large box onto the tray and helped Caleb tear open the paper. When he saw the gaming system, he got excited, jerking, and signing his happiness.
“You’re welcome,” Mary Paige said, pointing at the separate box taped to the side. “That’s an EPOC specially modified for gamers with disabilities. It should sync with your computers and your chair, or at least that’s what the sales guy said.”
Freda looked up. “Spendy gift, Mary.”
“You haven’t seen yours yet, Ma.”
Her mother wagged a finger. “You know the rules yet you’re breaking them.” The Gentry family never spent more than fifty dollars on Christmas gifts to each other, electing instead to make donations to local charities.
“I like to break rules. Open yours.”
Freda picked up the small box wrapped in Christmas puppy paper. She jerked the bow off, removed the wrap then tugged the lid off.
Mary Paige leaned forward in anticipation, her stomach fluttering nervously as she watched her mother’s face. It, perhaps, was the best present Mary Paige had ever received from her mother—a look of befuddlement and then utter disbelief.
“Oh, my goodness,” Freda said, looking at Mary Paige. “This is a check.”
Mary Paige grinned, clapped her hands and leaped toward her mother. “Isn’t it fantastic?”
Freda rose on trembling legs and grabbed her daughter’s hands and jumped up and down like a small child. “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! It’s for one-point-five million dollars made out to the Crosshatch Charter School!”
Mary Paige jumped with her, laughing like a loon. Both the dogs started barking and Freda spun toward Caleb. “Look, Caleb, it’s the money for the school, baby! It’s for your school!”
Caleb hit a button on his electric scooter chair, sending it spinning in circles, and they all laughed, jumped, spun, and cried.
