Fulfillment

by Golland, K. M.

  Both the kids launched themselves into demolishing the wrapping paper I had so precisely applied.

  “Sick! A telescope,” Nate slurred, as he stood back to admire the rather expensive telescope Bryce picked out for him.

  “We can set that one up in your room, Nate,” he said with excitement on his face. I loved how they both shared this fascination with space—just the two of them.

  “Awesome, thanks.” Nate got up and gave us both a hug.

  Charli’s shrill voice sounded next, securing all our attentions. “Oh! My! God! My own Karaoke machine.”

  “Oh Geezus! Charli, please be careful with that,” I said while cringing as she tried to lift the state of the art model Bryce insisted on getting her.

  He gently squeezed my waist and dug his chin into my shoulder blade. “Stop stressing,” he whispered into my ear.

  “I’m not stressing. I just know how much both those things cost.”

  He wrenched me around and dipped me to the side, making me scream in surprise. “Hunny, you seem to forget that I’m made of money.”

  “I don’t,” I giggled as he nuzzled my neck, tickling me. “I’ve just learned to respect it and appreciate it and—”

  “I appreciate that I have a lot of it, and I also appreciate that I now get to spend it on you three,” he mumbled into my neck, unfazed by his wealth.

  “I know you do, and I also know you have given generously to so many charities lately. It’s very sexy.”

  “Urgh! That’s gross,” Nate grumbled.

  Bryce ignored my son’s unease. “It’s what I do, Ms. Summers,” he said with a perfect smirk.

  I laughed at him as the buzzer to the door rang. “Yes, it is, Mr. Clark, and you do it so well.”

  Nate and Charli jumped up and made their way over to the door to open it. When they did, it was like a never-ending freight train of Blaxlos, Summers, and Clarks; Lucy, Nic, and Alexander; Rick, Claire, and RJ; Mum, Dad, Jen, Steven and the kids; and lastly, Jake and his new girlfriend, a tall attractive red head—not his normal type.

  I scrambled off Bryce’s lap as they all filtered into the apartment.

  “Are you two ever not all over each other?” Jen asked as she approached to give us a hug.

  “No,” Bryce said as a matter of fact. I can’t really disagree with him either.

  Jen passed Jack to me. “Here, Merry Christmas, he’s my gift to you. He spews, shits, cries and doesn’t sleep. Enjoy.” She kissed me on the cheek then moved over and hugged Bryce. “Merry Christmas.”

  I jiggled Jack on my hip as I greeted everyone else, leaving my brother till last. As I approached him and his scarlet companion, I lifted Jack and gently pushed him into Jake’s arms. “Here, Merry Christmas, he’s my gift to you. He spews, shits, cries and doesn’t sleep. Enjoy,” I said, repeating what Jen said to me.

  Jake had no choice but to accept. “Geez, just what I’ve always wanted...a smaller version of myself.”

  Scarlet let out a snorting laugh. “You’re so funny,” she complemented adoringly. Oh God! She’s a Jake groupie.

  “Alexis, this is Johanna. Johanna, Alexis, my little sister.”

  “Clearly, I’m not little,” I said as I rolled my eyes at my brother. “It’s nice to meet you, Johanna.”

  “Nice to meet you too, Alexis.” Johanna said politely, putting her arms out to Jake, wanting to hold baby Jack. My brother more than happily obliged, passing him over.

  “Hello, you big handsome boy,” she cooed at him, as she walked toward the rest of our family, Jack now bouncing on her hip.

  I linked my arm around Jake’s. “So, how long is this one gonna last?” I murmured with a low voice.

  “I dunno, hopefully a while. I like her.”

  “Didn’t you like the others?”

  “Not really.”

  “You’re such a man-whore.”

  “Correction: was a man-whore. I like this one.”

  “Well, if you want to keep said ‘one’ stop referring to her as a number.”

  Jen walked up to us while giving Johanna unsure glances.

  “Who gave my son to a stranger with a funny laugh?”

  Jake pointed to me and I pointed to him.

  “I re-gifted,” I explained.

  “So did I,” retorted Jake.

  “Jake, she better be clean and sterile.”

  “Listen you two, be nice. She is clean and sterile, although we did shag before we came here...”

  I punched his arm. “Ewww.”

  “That’s it! Get my son, someone get my son. She’s kissing his cheek and I have a fairly good idea where her lips have been.” Jen turned around and headed for Johanna.

  I smiled sweetly at Jake. “So she gave you head before our Christmas lunch? She’s so nice,” I said stretching out the ‘nice’ part of my statement.

  “Alexis, give her a chance.”

  I screwed up my face, insulted. “I will, I was being genuine, she does seem nice.”

  He glared at me.

  “I’ll do you a deal. Be nice to Rick, and I’ll do the same to Johanna.”

  He raised his head and spotted my estranged husband. “No can do. The man cheated on you with that little bitch hanging off his arm,” Jake said angrily.

  “Hey, I know. We both made mistakes, and anyhow, I’m better off now. I’m happy and I’ve forgiven him, so you can do the same.”

  He huffed. Yes, my brother huffs.

  “Deal?” I offered again.

  “Hmmm.”

  I hugged him. “I love you, Jakey Snakey.”

  We walked down into the lounge area to mingle with the rest of our families. I noticed Dad and Bryce come out of Bryce’s office, Dad giving Bryce a manly slap on the back, both of them looking quite pleased. God, I hope Dad just didn’t agree to let Bryce buy him a helicopter or something.

  I let go of Jake’s arm so that I could embrace Bryce. “What are you getting up to with my father?” I inquired as I slid my arms around his waist. “He didn’t just agree to sign his life over to you, did he?”

  Bryce chuckled, “Kind of.”

  I scowled at him with curiosity. “I know you want to share your wealth with me and my family, but you need to keep me informed about it. I hate shit being said and done behind my back.”

  He leaned forward and kissed my nose. “Okay. I’ll let you know.” Then he unwrapped my arms and headed to the kitchen.

  I stood there and shook my head at him then turned to find Rick staring at me. He met my gaze, smiled mildly then returned his attention to Charli who was showing off her new karaoke machine. It dawned on me in that moment that he had not yet seen Bryce and I physically affectionate toward each other. It also dawned on me that it must be hard on him to observe. So I made a mental note to tone it down, not wanting to ruin anybody’s Christmas, although, he would have to start to get used it sooner rather than later.

  ***

  Bryce had offered to cook the Christmas turkey and ham, but I had insisted that he didn’t, wanting him to have a break and enjoy the day without any work involved. He’d worked enough as it was lately. Besides, he had a perfectly good chef downstairs in the hotel’s kitchen who was more than happy to cook our Christmas lunch for us.

  Chaos surrounded the dining table as both our families dished up their lunches. I smiled warmly at the four highchairs lined up next to each other, hoping one day soon that another one would be added to the adorable sight before me.

  Bryce approached from behind, having noticed me staring at the babies. Resting his chin on my shoulder momentarily, he whispered into my ear. “You wanna sneak off and try to make one of those now?”

  I scoffed in response and tilted my head to touch his. “You’re a sex fiend, you know that?”

  ***

  We all enjoyed our Christmas lunch along the extended dining room table, which was covered in a white damask table cloth and topped with a white bone china dinner set and silver cutlery. I’d placed Christmas crackers at every
place setting and sprinkled gold and silver glittered stars all over the table top—stars now being one of my favourite things.

  Charli had made name place settings out of gold and silver cardstock, having matched my theme and cut them into star shapes.

  I’d sat Rick next to me, in the hope I’d keep him away from my grudge holding family, and surprisingly, it had not felt weird sitting in between him and Bryce.

  Bryce was faced the other way, chatting to Lucy, and I had not yet cracked open my Christmas cracker, so I turned to Rick—my cracker pointing directly at him—and offered the challenge.

  “Don’t cheat like you always do.”

  “I don’t cheat,” he said with a wicked grin.

  “You do. Look you’re holding it wrong. That’s cheating.”

  “How am I supposed to hold the bloody thing?”

  I shook my head at him. “You’re such a liar,” I blurted out.

  Noticing that the room had gone a little silent at my choice of words, I quickly continued our harmless argument to reassure the eavesdroppers that were our family. “You know exactly how to hold it, Rick. Like this.” I rearranged his hand into the correct position. “Ready?” I smiled, “Go.”

  We both wrenched our ends of the cracker, creating a loud snap and tearing the giant foil lolly-shaped novelty apart. The content’s—the winner’s prize—went hurling into the air and across the table, smacking Jake right in the middle of the face. Everyone held their breath, except for Olivia who pointed at her uncle, saying ‘ouch’.

  I bit down on my lip in order to supress an outburst of hysterics while Rick raised his hands in surrender.

  “Accident, Mate.”

  Jake was still stone faced, and for once I couldn’t tell if he was about to lose his shit or laugh at the funny side.

  It wasn’t until Scarlet-Johanna snorted a laugh at him, that everyone else followed suit, including Jake. Nate picked up the bundled prize that had rolled in his direction after bouncing off Jake’s nose. He unfolded the paper hat and fitted it to Jake’s head then read out the festive joke.

  “What do you call a dog in the dessert?” Nate announced slowly.

  Most of us shrugged our shoulders.

  Jake deadpanned “A hot dog.”

  Johanna snorted.

  “No,” Nate groaned.

  Charli laughed.

  And Olivia threw something and said ‘ouch’ again.

  Nate waited until we were all quiet then happily announced, “Sandy Claws.”

  We all groaned.

  ***

  You know you’ve had a good Christmas feed when your stomach is full to the brim with seafood cocktail, roasted turkey, glazed ham, golden crisp potatoes, pumpkin, and steamed greens. If that wasn’t enough to satisfy your hunger, you would then indulge in Christmas pudding and custard, Pavlova and trifle, and every few seconds you’d pop chocolate-coated nuts and lollies into your mouth. Once you eventually stopped eating, you’d have that increasing urge to undo your pants, followed by a developed waddle, and a hand lightly placed on your bulging gut together with a screwed up look on your face that said ‘urgh! I won’t ever eat again.’

  Most of us were showing those signs as we all moved back into the lounge area to exchange our gifts.

  “Best Christmas meal, ever!” Jake exclaimed as he rubbed his gut and let out a belch. “Excuse me. See what I mean?”

  Scarlet-Johanna was the only who found that funny.

  “So my Christmas dinners have been shit, have they?” Mum asked defensively.

  “Na, Mum, not at all. This one was just better,” Jake winked at her.

  “Can we open presents now”? Charli asked anxiously.

  “Yes,” I sighed in surrender, sending the kids haywire with the ripping and shredding of Christmas paper.

  Jen and Lucy spent the next few minutes removing bits of that paper from their babies’ mouths and clenched hands, while everyone else was deep in discussion of some kind or another.

  I sat back and watched the excitement and rejoicing, and as crazy as it was, the scene before me was one of the reasons I loved Christmas so much; everyone just seemed happy. All resentment, bitterness, and dislike were checked at the door, replaced by contentment, laughter, joy and cheerfulness—it was bliss.

  Bryce had placed envelopes under the tree for my brother, sister, and mum and dad. He’d even put one under there for Rick. I was curious as to their contents, hoping to God it wasn’t money. Instead, he’d organised Clark Incorporated Hotel Family Cards, so that my family could stay at any of his hotels around the world on any day, at any time. I was completely stunned.

  “Mum, there’s a big present right at the back. It says ‘Hunny’,” Charli struggled to say while on her knees with her bum in the air and her head deep in the depths of the Christmas tree reaching for the present.

  “Oooh,” I beamed, finding Bryce’s knowing smile as I quickly got up from the sofa.

  “It’s big,” she whined as she dragged it out.

  Once it was free from the confines of the tree, the odd shape of the box kind of gave its’ contents away. My face lit up as I lifted it and carried it back to the couch, sitting down next to Bryce. I couldn’t help but happy-dance as I opened it, while letting out my own high-pitched squeal.

  I lifted and opened the box to find a guitar case, and turning to Bryce with a smile so bright that the muscles in my face stretched under the strain, I mouthed thank you.

  Running my hands over the case, I unlatched it and took hold of my guitar, my very first guitar. As I lifted it out of the box, I noticed a pretty design on the front with a bird and some flowers—it was gorgeous.

  “Nice!” Lucy commended. “Is that a Hummingbird?”

  I studied the bird a little more closely. “Oh, so it is. The bird is a hummingbird, how sweet.”

  Lucy and Bryce laughed at my discovery, exchanging expressions of a private joke.

  “Yeah,” Bryce answered, “True Vintage.”

  “Of course it is,” she acknowledged.

  “What?” I asked. “Am I supposed to understand what the two of you are referring to?”

  “Nope,” Bryce replied and pulled me in for a quick kiss.

  “Well, thank you anyway. I love it, it’s perfect.”

  “I’ve got something for you too,” I said sneakily, then whispering into his ear I added. “This is a decoy. You’ll get your real present later.”

  He eyed me suspiciously as I handed him the box.

  “No pressure,” I said as he opened it.

  He laughed and lifted out the motorcycle helmet.

  “I couldn’t see that you had one, so I figured that if you were going to take the plunge, you’d need a helmet.”

  “Thanks, and you’re right, I don’t have one.” He leaned closer to me. “What about you? You’ll need a helmet too.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “I’m one step ahead of you.”

  ***

  Later that night in bed, I asked Bryce why he gave Rick a Hotel Family Card.

  “You didn’t have to give Rick one, you know. You already gave him five million dollars.”

  He sighed. “Hunny, can we not talk about my paying Rick? I might not regret offering him the money and having a hand in forcing the truth out of him, but I do regret bribing him with something I had a good idea he could not refuse.”

  “No, I don’t mean it like that. What I mean is, because of you he can afford to stay anywhere in the world as it is, so why give him a card?”

  He stroked my face gently, “Because it’s a Family Card, and he is your family and always will be.”

  “Yes, he will be,” I honestly replied.

  He would always be family. We shared two beautiful children and a lifetime of memories, but we’d both moved on with our lives and in just a few weeks would be officially divorced.

  ***

  A few days later, I knocked on the door of my former house, my children behind me with their suitcases.

&n
bsp; “Mum, how long are you going to be in Italy for?” Nate asked. “I want to come.”

  “Next time, Sweetheart, I promise. This trip is for work and it’s only for a few days. I’ll see you both next weekend though.”

  Nate slumped his shoulders.

  “I’ll bring you back a Ferrari?” I offered, enticingly.

  “A real one?”

  I thought about my answer carefully, knowing he meant a full-sized one and I meant a scaled version. A toy one is still real if it’s from Italy, isn’t it?

  “Yeah,” I answered.

  “Sick!”

  Rick opened the door and let us in. “You still have your key, Alexis. You can use it.”

  “I know. I’m still not going to let myself in, though, especially after last time.”

  He gave me a sarcastic grin.

  “What? I honestly didn’t know she had no shoes,” I defensively answered, remembering when I’d kicked Claire out of the house due to my crazy anger.

  “Sure,” he teased.

  I followed him into the kitchen, still feeling a little nostalgic at my surroundings. “Where are Claire and RJ?”

  “RJ had a friend’s birthday party,” he explained.

  “Right.” I took a seat at the dining table. “Listen, I have the eh...” I opened my handbag to pull out the Application for Divorce. “...the divorce papers,” I said nervously.

  Rick walked over casually and pulled out a chair opposite me. “The time has come, has it?”

  “Yeah, Rick, it has.” I slid them across the table to him.

  He grabbed his reading glasses from the fruit bowl in the middle of the table.

  I laughed. “You still put them there? They don’t belong in the fruit bowl.”

  He looked up at me over the rim. “I always know where they are, that’s why I put them there.”

  I shook my head.

  He dropped his gaze back down to the papers in front of him, studying their content with precision. I took that moment to take him in, noticing how much he had changed in the past year, not just mentally but physically. He now wore his dark brown hair a little longer, taking a few years off his age. His 5 o’clock shadow was clean shaven and he’d toned up, looking a lot healthier overall.