Christmas Forever

by Sophie Love

  Even if the chances of him picking up were slim, she still wanted to try.

  Patricia shrugged, nonchalant. “If you think so. I won’t have his face in the corner of my screen will I? It will be dreadfully distracting.”

  “I’ll make sure you don’t,” Emily replied. “Speak later, mom.”

  She opened up the menu to try and start the conference call, when she heard Patricia speak.

  “Emily! Emily!”

  She sighed and held the phone up to her face again. “Yes, mom?”

  “I’ve been thinking about Christmas. Chantelle’s offer.”

  “Oh?”

  There was a pause. Emily frowned. “And?”

  “And what?” Patricia replied bluntly. “I’m just telling you I’ve been thinking about it.”

  “Right,” Emily said with a sigh. “Okay mom. I’ll speak to you later.”

  She went back to the menu and started tapping buttons. Patricia didn’t interrupt this time. She found Roy’s details and made the call. There was no answer.

  “I told you he’d be in bed,” Patricia’s disembodied voice said, making Emily startle.

  Emily closed down the menu and her mom’s face appeared again. “Yes, alright, mom,” Emily replied. “You were right. Now shhhhh!”

  She turned the screen around to face the stage. Suddenly, the already dim lights faded even more than, until it was pitch black. The audience fell to silence.

  “It’s not working!” Patricia’s voice rang out. “I can’t see a thing!”

  To the sound of muted chuckles from the seats around her, Emily spun the camera back to face her. She whispered loudly.

  “The lights have dimmed because it’s starting. And be quiet or I’ll end the call!”

  She felt Daniel squeeze her arm reassuringly, and she turned the camera back to face the stage. The curtains had opened onto a Christmas scene.

  “Oh there she is!” Emily heard Patricia’s shrill voice. “There’s my darling Chantelle!”

  Emily shrunk into her seat and looked over at Daniel. This was going to be a long night!

  *

  Luckily, there were no more Patricia induced mishaps from that point forward, and Emily quickly relaxed into the play. Chantelle was an absolute star, of course. Her extra singing lessons from Owen had really paid off. Rather than her usual slow, angelic singing, her solo in the play was an upbeat number, and she delivered it with pitch-perfect precision. As the crowd applauded, Emily glanced over at Daniel and grinned as she saw him wipe away a proud tear.

  All too soon, the kids were congregated on the stage belting out the final lines to the last song. The play had been utterly delightful, and the moment the song ended, the crowd erupted with applause. Emily found herself suddenly on her feet, cheering and clapping with her hands high above her head, jumping on the spot as though she weren’t currently over nine months pregnant!

  The curtain fell then and the lights came back on. Emily turned to Daniel and hugged him.

  “Wasn’t she fantastic?” he gushed.

  “She was marvellous,” Patricia’s voice came from Emily’s hand.

  Emily startled. She’d forgotten about her! She let go of Daniel and looked at her mom.

  “You watched the whole thing,” she said, touched. “Chantelle will be so pleased.”

  “She needed one of her grandparents to watch,” Patricia replied a little haughtily.

  Emily felt the sting keenly. Why was Roy being so evasive right now? Was he hiding something from her -- a change in his physical appearance or similar -- in order to protect her from his condition? She certainly didn’t want him to! She wanted every little ounce of her father fate would allow her.

  “I wish he’d answer my calls,” Emily said, sadly, quite forgetting that it was Patricia she was seeking solace from.

  To her surprise, her mom gave her a caring, sympathetic smile. “I know you do, darling. I’m sure he had a reason for being AWOL. He always had some reason or other in his mind, even if it didn’t make that much sense to the people who loved him.”

  Emily nodded. It wasn’t often Patricia could soothe her.

  “Mom, the kids are coming out now,” Emily said. “I’d better go.”

  “Send my love to Chantelle.”

  “I will.”

  Emily ended the call. Daniel pulled her close to him, offering comfort for the sadness over Roy she was so evidently feeling. Together, they went to collect Chantelle.

  They’d just made it out into the gangway, when someone appeared next to Emily.

  “Roman!” she exclaimed. “How are you…?”

  He grinned widely. There was an enormous bunch of flowers in his arms. “I made it back in time after all,” he said. “Wasn’t she ace? My Christmas angel!”

  “Chantelle will be just thrilled to see you,” Emily said. “Come on.”

  The three of them made it to the collection point. Chantelle had the proudest look on her face ever when she realized her parents were approaching. But then her gaze fell to Roman and a huge grin burst across her face.

  “You came!” she cried, throwing her arms around him.

  “These are for you,” Roman said, handing her the flowers.

  Emily laughed as the little girl accepted the bouquet. It was about double her size!

  “Thank you so much,” Chantelle replied. “They’re gorgeous.”

  “Check the message,” Roman added.

  Chantelle frowned and pulled out the small card. She cleared her throat and read aloud.

  “Dear Chantelle. Would you be kind enough to lend your vocals to my latest Christmas charity single? A recording session will be taking place at my studio tomorrow. RSVP.”

  Chantelle’s eyes were wide with elevation. “What does RSVP mean?”

  “It means you have to respond,” Roman quipped.

  “Oh!” Chantelle laughed. “Then yes! Can I mommy? Daddy?”

  Emily and Daniel nodded vigorously. “Absolutely!”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Terry and Chantelle left for Roman’s house bright and early the next morning. Emily waved them off from the door of the inn, wrapped in her dressing gown, holding a steaming mug of cocoa.

  “Don’t have the baby while I’m gone!” Chantelle called out behind her as she went.

  Emily laughed. She was six days overdue and her body was giving her zero indications of wanting Baby Charlotte out. She wasn’t worried, knowing that her sister and guardian angel was watching over her. In fact, she was just excited to find out what fate might have instore for her since it had clearly decided to delay her meeting Charlotte.

  She went back upstairs to see whether Daniel was still sleeping. The bed was empty and she could hear the sound of the shower going in the en suite bathroom. She sat on her vanity stool, catching her breath from the effort of climbing up the stairs, until he was done.

  He emerged from the steaming room with his hair in wet tendrils.

  “What’s the plan for today?” Emily asked. “Since we’re unexpectedly child free.”

  Daniel rubbed his wet hair with a towel. “I won’t be able to convince you to book in with the doctor, will I?”

  “Nope,” she replied.

  “Well then maybe you’d want to come to the Hanukkah service at the synagogue with me?”

  “Oh,” Emily said, surprised. She’d never been to a service at a synagogue. In fact, she was pretty sure Daniel hadn’t either! “Is it allowed? I mean, I’m not Jewish.”

  Daniel chuckled. “Of course it’s allowed. It’s not like your ID gets checked on the door! And besides, it’s a very liberal synagogue, you know that. Believe it or not, you and I are not the only interfaith couple in the world.” He gave her a sarcastic wink.

  Emily mulled it over. Daniel’s faith seemed to be becoming more important to him as time passed. She wondered if it was a way for him to remain connected to his roots in the absence of his family.

  “Hanukkah ends tomorrow,” Daniel added. “And
I would like to have done at least one thing this year to celebrate it. You don’t have to come with me if you’re not feeling well enough to but I’d like to go nevertheless.”

  “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt,” Emily said finally.

  Daniel looked touched that she was making the effort. “Is that a yes?”

  “Yes. But on one condition,” she added.

  Daniel raised a curious eyebrow. “Which is?”

  “We walk there.”

  “Oh,” Daniel replied, deflating immediately. “Is that a good idea?” His gaze fell to her ballooning bump. “The sidewalks are still icy. I don’t want you to slip.”

  Emily rubbed her stomach. “We’ll be fine. And I should be doing some gentle exercise every day, the doctor said as much.” She shrugged. “It’s not that far really.”

  “It’s a thirty minute walk!” Daniel told her. He looked concerned. It was becoming his default expression these days. “Which may be perfectly accomplishable for a healthy thirty-something man, but is arguably outside the realms of possibility for a heavily pregnant thirty something woman.”

  He’d been attempting a light-hearted joke, but Emily wasn’t in the mood to receive it.

  “I can walk for thirty minutes,” she told him, her tone overly sternly. “You need to stop wrapping me up in cotton wool. You treat me like a child sometimes. Just stop worrying.”

  Daniel frowned, the expression on his face showing Emily that he’d realized she’d not taken his joke well.

  “I’ll stop worrying when you go into labor,” he replied, sounding suddenly serious. “Or at the very least when we visit Doctor Arkwright on Monday and get an induction date.”

  They fell silent. Emily folded her arms and titled her body away from him. She couldn’t help but feel frustrated with Daniel. Though on the one hand she understood why he was nervous, she felt like there was a lot of judgement coming from him. He was taking his worry out on her and it just wasn’t fair. She was doing what was best, she was certain of it.

  They dressed for the service in silence, then headed downstairs to layer up in their warm winter jackets, hats, scarves and gloves. By the time they were ready to leave, Emily had had just about enough of the silence as she could handle and decided it was time to break the tension.

  “It’s kind of funny, don’t you think?” she said, wiggling her feet into a pair of faux fur lined boots. “That while we’re hanging out in a synagogue, our daughter will be recording a song with a famous popstar.”

  Daniel let out a small smile. But Emily could tell there was no way of alleviating his growing anxiety. And she realized then that until Baby Charlotte arrived, it would only get worse.

  *

  Emily was right about it getting worse. The next day, Daniel seemed sullen as they ate breakfast around the kitchen table, keeping his nose buried in a copy of the free local newspaper as if it was some kind of protective shield.

  “Did you have fun at Roman’s yesterday?” Emily asked Chantelle.

  The poor kid had been so exhausted when she’d returned home they hadn’t really had a chance to speak about it properly.

  Chantelle looked up from her clock pieces. She’d long since finished her eggs on toast and, as was now habitual, had turned her attention to her latest construction.

  “Oh yes,” she said grinning, her eyes wide and expensive. “It was so much fun. I got to meet the producer and the sound mixer. They both had crazy hair styles. Then I went in a booth and wore big headphones to sing. And the microphone had this big black sheildy thing in front of it, which Roman told me is called the pop filter, because when you sing a ‘p’ sound it makes a loud pop noise on the record. Also they had to press a button to speak to me because the booth was completely soundproof!”

  Emily could tell she’d enjoyed herself because she’d barely taken a breath.

  “That does sound fun,” Emily replied. “What about Terry? Did he enjoy himself as much as you?”

  “I think so,” Chantelle said. “He’s quite shy though. I mean, Roman’s producer is really loud and has bright red hair and all these piercings. I think Terry was a bit scared of him.” Then she frowned. “Where is Terry?”

  “He’s gone to church,” Emily told her. “He left quite early this morning.”

  Chantelle pondered it. “How come we don’t go to church?”

  Daniel folded his paper down then, as though he had been secretly listening in all along. “Funny you should mention that. We actually went to the synagogue yesterday, Emily and I, for a Hanukkah service.”

  “Aww, and I missed it?” Chantelle asked, looked suddenly glum. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I was supposed to celebrate Hanukkah with you. But it’s ending today, isn’t it?”

  Rather than look disappointed to have not shared any Hanukkah celebrations with his daughter, Daniel looked pleased that she’d even remembered. “That’s okay, sweety. How about you help me light the last candle on the menorah tonight? We have to wait until after sunset to do it.”

  Chantelle nodded her excitement. “Okay! And we can play that game again with the spinny dice and candies.”

  Daniel looked even more touched. “You mean dreidel?”

  “Yes! That’s the one! And we can make those latkes again like we did last year.”

  Daniel was grinning from ear to ear now, so clearly touched was he that Chantelle had remembered so much from last year’s Hanukkah celebrations.

  “Sounds perfect,” he said. “Then it will be full steam ahead with the Christmas celebrations.”

  Chantelle looked a little downcast then. “I don’t feel very Christmasy anymore.”

  “Oh no,” Emily said, saddened to hear it. “But why not?”

  She shrugged. “I guess now that the play has finished at school, I don’t feel like there’s anything to look forward to.”

  “What about Santa?” Emily cried.

  “To be honest, I’m much more interested in Charlotte coming than Santa coming,” Chantelle replied.

  “You and I both,” Daniel added without missing a beat.

  He shot an accusational glance across the table at Emily. She shifted uncomfortably. Now she felt like she was letting them both down by refusing to fix an induction date. It took all her resolve not to cave.

  “Wasn’t Charlotte supposed to be here already?” Chantelle continued. There was a hint of a whine in her voice, like she was impatiently waiting for a UPS package to be delivered rather than for her mom to go through the agony of childbirth!

  Emily rubbed her stomach. “She’s not ready yet,” she told them defensively.

  “But we’re seeing the Doctor tomorrow,” Daniel explained to Chantelle. “Then we’ll set a date for the induction.”

  Emily frowned. “I never said I wanted one,” she told him. She couldn’t help but snap. It was unfair of him to act like they could give Chantelle any answers when Emily herself hadn’t made a decision on that yet.

  “I thought that was the whole point of seeing Doctor Arkwright,” he replied, looking tense. “Why else would be going if not to book in the induction?”

  “Because I need to be monitored a little more regularly,” she said shrugging, trying to sound nonchalant, knowing full well the news would stress Daniel out even further.

  “Are you sick, mommy?” Chantelle asked, looking worried.

  “Not at all,” Emily assured her. She felt frustrated with Daniel for making his attitude so clear in front of Chantelle. His worry was worrying her in turn, and the last thing Emily needed right now was to absorb vicarious anxiety from the both of them! Especially when she was the one who would soon be doing all the pushing.

  “Everything’s fine,” Daniel said, patting Chantelle’s hand on the table. “It’s completely normal.”

  “Remember what Nanna Patty said,” Emily added. “I was two weeks late and so was Charlotte!”

  “TWO WEEKS,” Chantelle moaned. “I can’t wait that long!”

  Emily rubbed her tummy. “Well you’re ju
st going to have to.” She looked over at Daniel with an unwavering determination. “Both of you.”

  *

  Monday could not have come soon enough for Daniel, Emily thought when they woke the next day. He seemed to be radiating impatience, hurrying her to dress quicker and eat breakfast quicker and get in the car quicker.

  “We’ll be early at this rate,” Emily told him.

  In the back seat of the pickup, Chantelle seemed to be quietly absorbing her parent’s stress, watching them curiously as they bickered and snapped at one another. Emily felt very bad about it. She wanted nothing more than to set Chantelle a good example, but Daniel’s attitude was certainly making it difficult.

  Luckily he didn’t drive any quicker than normal. He had been very careful in that respect ever since Emily had reached full term, like he was worried too many bumps and jolts would break her. She wished everyone would stop acting like she was so fragile.

  After dropping Chantelle off at school they went onwards to the doctor’s office. Their appointment was the first of the day, and when Doctor Arkwright’s receptionist saw them arriving she ushered them straight through. Rose Arkwright looked up from her desk as they entered through the door.

  “How are you both?” she asked, smiling in her professionally efficient way. “Still very much pregnant, I see, Emily.”

  Emily laughed. “Yes. And I’m fine. Feeling great, actually. Although I’m not so sure the same can be said for Daniel.”

  She looked over at him and offered a smile. He didn’t look amused, however.

  “Oh?” the Doctor asked, turning her attention to Daniel. “What’s the worry?”

  “I’m concerned about her being overdue,” he said tersely. “She’s a week past her due date.”