Another Snowbound Christmas

by Veronica Tower

  “Nothing,” he said. “Nothing at all.”

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  Chapter Three

  “It's about time you're here!” Hanna Miller announced when Ron pushed the front door open and ushered Kara inside.

  “Sorry we're late, Mom,” Ron said. He let the door swing close behind him, blocking out the crisp winter air, and offered his mother a peck on the cheek. She was significantly shorter than her son, with midnight black hair which came from a bottle. Her skin was very smooth except for a little wrinkling around the eyes that the plastic surgeon's scalpel couldn't smooth away. “I stopped by to show Kara the old neighborhood and we lost track of the time.”

  “Oh, is that what you were doing?” Kitten teased. “And here I thought you two were getting hot and steamy instead of coming over to spend Christmas Eve with us.”

  Kara cringed while Ron's mother's eyes flashed with irritation at her daughter.

  Ron, of course, was completely untroubled by the suggestion. “Well, that too, of course. Note the leaves in Kara's hair everyone and the grass stains on her coat and dress.”

  When he finished speaking he gave Kitten a hug. His sister had dark hair and a round face which didn't quite match those of the rest of her family. It looked to Kara as if she'd put on quite a bit of weight since her father's revelations this past summer, even more than she'd accumulated by Thanksgiving. The pain and anger that was an ever increasing part of the woman's life weren't apparent just now, but experience told Kara they would be found lingering just below the surface.

  “Oh, is that what's in her hair?” Kitten teased.

  If Kara's anger had faded at all since her fight with Ron in the car, it roared back to full force now.

  Hanna beat her to the punch, however. “I hardly think this is the proper conversation for Christmas!”

  Her mother's comment only made Kitten laugh harder. “Jeez, Mom, get a grip! Your little Ronnie-pooh might delay coming over to have some fun, but Kara's a lot more proper than that. Not that I think they were going through the old neighborhood. Look at Kara. She's all pissed at Ron. Come on, spill the beans, you two. What are you fighting about?”

  “Fighting?” Hanna asked.

  It didn't surprise Kara that Ron's mother looked hopeful, but it did disappoint her. Still, some things were not going to change, and if she wanted to keep her sort of mother-in-law (what was the proper term for your boyfriend's mom?) out of her business, she was going to have to support Ron's lie. “We really did visit your old neighborhood,” she said. “Ron saw the street sign as we drove past and wanted to stop.”

  “Really?” Kitten asked as if she were genuinely surprised. “Ron was pretty young when we moved from there. I wouldn't have thought he'd remember it.”

  “I remember all sorts of things, Kitten,” Ron said.

  Kitten obviously sensed that something was up. “Where did we use to go sledding?” she quizzed Kara.

  Kara hated being put on the spot, but at least Kitten had asked something she knew the answer to. “There was a big hill behind the elementary school. Is that what you're talking about?”

  Kitten smiled reflexively, as if simply thinking about sliding down that hill on her father's back made her feel all toasty warm inside. “Those were good times,” she remembered. She cocked a thumb at Ron. “Before he came along and ruined things.”

  She still had half a teasing smile on her face, but the emotion beneath the jokes was all too real, Kara knew. Kitten had learned four months ago that she was adopted and she had not taken the news well.

  Based on Ron's frown, Kara figured he was getting pretty tired of being blamed by his sister for all of her family problems.

  “So what were you fighting about?” Hanna asked.

  This time it was Kara's turn to frown. If asked, Ron's mother would insist she had impeccable manners, but Kara didn't think she knew the first thing about polite behavior.

  “We weren't fighting,” Kara insisted at the same moment that Ron opened his big mouth. “I wanted to blow you all off today and have mad sex with Kara all night to celebrate our anniversary.”

  Hanna might have fought with Kara over her denial, but Ron's outrageous (and almost true) statement diverted her attention. “Really, Ron, your jokes are in poor taste on a normal day. It's Christmas Eve. Can't you stop being crude even for one evening.”

  Ron just laughed and escorted Kara past his mother and sister. “Are we the last one's to get here? Where is everybody?”

  “They're watching TV with your father,” Hanna told him.

  “Hey, Kara,” Kitten said. “I forgot that today was your anniversary. You and Ron got snowed in at that airport in...” Her voice trailed off as she tried to remember where Ron had been traveling.

  “Newark,” Kara called back over her shoulder.

  “That's right,” Kitten remembered. “We had the big Christmas snow last year. Do you think we'll get another one? The weather forecasters sound hopeful.”

  “I hope so!” Ron called back.

  He leaned closer to Kara, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as he whispered in her ear. “I like making love to you in the snow.”

  Kara shivered.

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  Chapter Four

  Ron's family had gathered in the rec room around the television. It was not, as Kara would have anticipated, some sort of sporting event on the screen. She didn't follow sports closely herself, but she was certain a game had to be on somewhere, and the men in Ron's family were all big fans. Instead, Emmy, the littlest grandchild, appeared to have won the battle for the television because there were animated characters running about trying to save Christmas.

  Actually, considering how raptly Emmy's two older siblings were watching the screen with their younger sister, it was also conceivable that they had chosen the program. Even Kitten's seventeen-year-old twins were watching while their father talked with Ron's sister, Anne, and her husband. Ron's father, Howard, remained his usual unfriendly self and read his newspaper. Everyone was dressed far more nicely than usual. Ron's father actually had his shirt tucked in, which was almost a first for Kara.

  Anne stood up as they entered and offered Kara a hug. “Merry Christmas!”

  Kara hugged her back in a genuine display of warmth. Anne was the nicest member of the Miller family and while she and Kara were not particularly close, Kara always felt like they could become so. “Merry Christmas! Are you excited about tomorrow?”

  Kitten's husband, Eric, cringed but Anne didn't notice.

  “More nervous than excited,” she told Kara. “I didn't think it would be such a big deal. I mean, Laura may have given birth to me, but she's really a stranger. She's never going to replace my Mom.”

  “Of course not,” Kara agreed, “but it is exciting to find out that you have—how many is it? Three sisters and brothers and a whole bunch of nieces and nephews you didn't know anything about.”

  Anne beamed with happiness. “Yes, it is exciting!” she agreed. “But it's also nerve wracking. What if they don't like me?”

  “Hey, none of that,” Ron cut in as he gave his sister a little half hug. “You're the most likeable Miller. They're going to love you! And Merry Christmas, by the way.”

  Kara saw Kitten start to step into the room, hear what they were talking about, frown and walk away.

  Kara frowned herself. Anne hadn't really wanted to try and find her birth mother. Kitten had bullied her into it so she wouldn't have to go through the process alone. But Anne had been the one to hear back first and discover a family as excited and nervous about meeting her as she was about meeting them. Kitten had already had monumental issues about feeling loved and accepted by the Miller family. The adoption issue was not helping her deal with them.

  “Why are you frowning?” Anne asked Kara.

  Kara immediately tried to cover her social l
apse. Anne did not need any more butterflies in her stomach. “I was just thinking about what I'd have to do to your new relatives if they're so stupid they don't like you.”

  “Kara's right, Aunt Anne,” one of the twins called out. “You're the cool adult in this family. Everyone likes you.”

  “Hey!” Ron protested. “I thought I was the cool one!”

  “Brett said cool adult, Uncle Ron,” Marcie, the other twin told him. “You've got a few years ahead of you still before you qualify as one of those.”

  Everyone laughed at Marcie's little joke—everyone but Kara and Ron.

  “Very funny,” Ron said. He didn't actually look mad. He was probably suppressing his own laughter because he knew the age issue still bothered Kara. “Just remember this moment when it comes time to hand out the presents and I discover I forgot yours at home.”

  Everyone laughed again, even Howard who was pretending to be engrossed in his newspaper. Kara followed Ron over to the older man's chair. “Merry Christmas, Dad,” Ron said.

  “Merry Christmas, Howard,” Kara said. Then because Howard often didn't acknowledge her presence, she turned back to face the rest of the room. “And Merry Christmas to all of you as well.”

  There were a scattered host of Christmas greetings in reply and everyone settled back down to watch the television.

  Kitten did not reappear.

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  Chapter Five

  Dinner was not like the family meals Kara had grown up with. First of all, Hanna didn't like the children being present at her dinner table. Kara had discovered this peculiar trait last Easter, but it still troubled her. The adults ate on the good china sitting around the dining room table—which to be fair to Hanna was crowded with eight people surrounding it. The children ate on the regular tableware in the kitchen where they were told to put their video games away, but had to be reminded again each time one of the adults popped into the kitchen to get something. Kara understood that with thirteen people eating, there wasn't enough room around the dining table proper, but it still felt strange and just not right to have the family split in two for the holiday meal. She also knew that if she ever had a child, she sure wouldn't leave her in the kitchen while she ate in another room.

  The food Hanna served was also more elegant than Kara was used to. In her family, they ate fish on Christmas Eve (a meal she was missing to be here with Ron tonight) and turkey on Christmas Day with so much extra that the entire family would go home with leftovers to last them the week. For her meal, Hanna had prepared Cornish game hens, birds small enough that each person at the table got a whole one on their plate, with no extras for the bigger appetites like Ron's and the boys.

  They said grace, with Hanna leading them in a prayer that sounded more new age and politically correct to Kara than the Catholic rote she had anticipated. “God,” Hanna addressed the Maker. “If you are there above us, bring your justice to the world, help those in need, and bring our family closer together in the year to come.”

  “And if you're not there,” Kitten piped up, “could you do all of those things for us anyway?”

  Her two children laughed, Anne rolled her eyes, and Howard frowned.

  After dinner, they moved into what Ron's family called the living room. It was smaller than the TV room and much more elegantly—and fragilely—decorated. The couches—two love seats—were a beautiful ivory color. The coffee table sported an expensive crystal nativity scene. Even the Christmas tree was covered with glass ornaments that looked like they came from Lennox and Waterford, rather than the kid-crafted ornaments that covered Kara's sister's tree.

  “Don't touch anything, Emmy,” Hanna reminded the little girl as she immediately ran to stand in front of the nativity set.

  “Where's the baby Jesus?” she asked.

  “We don't put him in until after midnight Mass,” Anne reminded her youngest daughter. “You'll see him tomorrow when we come back.”

  As Emmy's lips puffed out in a pout, Ron spoke up. “Let me get you a chair, Kara,” he said. “We outgrew this room about the time Kitten married Eric, but it's a tradition now.”

  “We outgrew it when you came along!” Kitten corrected him. She sounded very serious to Kara, not her normal teasing self at all.

  “Hey, that's not fair,” Anne said. “We didn't even live in this house when Ron was born. And we could all squeeze on to those couches when we were little.”

  Kara could see the family slipping into traditional places without anyone stopping to think or argue over it. Hanna and Howard sat on different couches, facing the tree and not looking at each other. Anne sat next to her father, Kitten sat next to Hanna. The husbands followed Ron's lead and brought in chairs from the adjoining dining room. The kids—even the seventeen-year-old twins—crouched down near the tree with the presents.

  There were three distinct sets of wrapping paper apparent. Hanna's overly elegant and fussy presents with their long trailing ribbons and fancy bows. Anne's gifts were wrapped sans ribbons and bows in Santa Claus paper she might have picked up at the dollar store. Kitten had wrapped her gifts in the Sunday Comics out of the newspaper—the cheapest route but also the most appreciated as the children began reading their favorite strips while waiting for permission to open them.

  Ron set the chair down for Kara. “Our gifts are still in the back of my car,” he announced.

  “I'll help you get them,” Kara told him.

  “We can send the twins out,” Hanna told her. “Why don't you sit down?”

  Marcie and Brett both got to their feet without complaining.

  “There's not that much stuff,” Ron told his mother.

  “Don't say that, Uncle Ron!” Brett complained. “We want lots of presents!”

  “You know me,” Ron told him. “I let you do your own shopping.”

  Kara frowned at him. “Ron, you should at least try and maintain the mystique.”

  “They're seventeen-years-old,” Ron reminded her with a smile. “They know by now what they can expect from me.”

  He crossed the room on his way to the door with the twins following after him. Kara wanted to go, too, but there was Hanna expecting her to stay behind as she'd been told. Kara really hated visiting the Miller family.

  Emmy was trying hard to peek under the wrapping paper of one of the comic-covered gifts, while her older brother tried to determine if his pile of similarly wrapped packages were DVDs or video games.

  “Patience!” Hanna reminded them.

  Neither child paid any attention to her.

  In a couple of minutes, Ron and the kids returned with their pile of presents: Disney princess dolls for Emmy, gift certificates at the video game store for Anne's kids, and iTunes cards for the twins. Ron had also gotten Kara's help picking out a broach for his mother—not an easy job considering Hanna's active dislike for Kara. Howard got a disgustingly thick pile of lottery tickets. Ron didn't buy any gifts for his sisters and told Kara not to expect anything from them either. Evidently, Christmas at the Miller house was only about parents and kids.

  “Now that we're all here,” Hanna began.

  “Let's open presents,” Kitten's son, Brett, shouted. He and his twin sister immediately ripped open their envelopes to find the iTunes cards Kara and Ron had given them. Anne's children immediately followed suit while Hanna shouted vainly in favor of a more orderly opening.

  “Give it up, Mom!” Kitten told her while her kids moved on to find more presents. “How many years have we done this now? They're not going to listen to you until all the gifts have been opened.”

  “I don't see why the children have to act like animals around the tree!” Hanna complained. “When you were kids, everyone opened one gift at a time while the rest of us watched.”

  Kitten didn't seem impressed.

  “I'll bet Anne's birthmother's family doesn't do it this way!” Hanna continued.

  Kitten's face screwed up w
ith pain and anger. “Who gives a crap how they do it?” Kitten asked. Then she abruptly leapt to her feet and charged out of the room.

  Hanna evidently felt the need to defend herself as everyone's eyes fixed upon her. “Well, I bet they don't!” she said as if she'd completely missed the point.

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  Chapter Six

  “Ron, go get your sister,” Hanna told her son a little while later. The kids’ presents had all been opened and she was evidently ready to move on with their celebration.

  Ron's whole body jerked in surprise and he sat up straighter in his chair. He'd had one hand on Kara's knee over top of her skirt as they sleepily watched Emmy play with her new dolls. Now he sat up and looked at his mother who was holding three envelopes in her lap.

  “I'm ready to give you three your presents now,” Hanna told him.

  “I don't know if that's a good idea,” Kitten's husband spoke up. He was a tall man and like his wife could use to lose some weight. “Kitten's not having an easy holiday,” Eric said. “Give her some space. She'll come back when she's ready.”

  Hanna, of course, was not the kind of woman who accepted advice from her son-in-laws—or anyone else for that matter. “I think I know my daughter rather better than you do!” she snapped. “Ron, go find her!”

  Kara doubted that Hanna did know best. Kitten and Eric had been married for something like eighteen years—high school sweethearts who'd gotten pregnant and done the right thing as they used to say. She wanted to tell Ron to leave Kitten alone but didn't want to worsen her already bad relationship with his mother.

  Ron sought understanding from Eric. “Do you really think it would hurt if I just checked to see how she's doing?”

  Eric shrugged, which to Kara's mind was the equivalent of saying: You already know I think this is a bad idea.

  Hanna clearly didn't like Ron hesitating to do as she wanted. “Ron!” Her tone brooked no disobedience. “You know Kitten will want her check!”