Holiday Trilogy Special Edition

by Jamie Hill

Her eyes flashed with the fury she felt in her gut. "Well excuse me! But you're not the only one who lost something. It took years before I could even talk about this. You know what it was like for me." She turned away from him and put her face in her hands.

  He stepped up behind her. "Damn right I know what it was like! I've been here for you every minute of these past twenty-four years. I know you were miserable. What I don't understand is why you'd want to make Gigi miserable, too."

  She whirled back around and looked up at him. "I never, ever wanted Gigi to be miserable. I told you, I was trying to give her accurate information for her records. She's been having problems."

  "What kind of problems? No one told me about anything."

  "Blood in her urine. Not the kind of thing a girl discusses with her father."

  He shook his head. "She had bouts of that as a kid and I was there for every minute of it. The pediatrician said it was bladder infections."

  "Well, apparently her new doctor doesn't think so. He wants her to see a kidney specialist. I want this new guy to figure out what's wrong with her before things get worse."

  "Oh, I think they've already gotten worse." He took one bite of toast and tossed the rest in the sink. "So now Gigi is suffering and I am, too."

  "And you just have to drag me right along with you? You want me to suffer, too."

  He looked at her one last time. "I guess I do. Goodbye, Nat." He picked up his bag and walked out.

  Natalie didn't even bother to get dressed. She sobbed for an hour on the bed, then curled up in front of the TV for the rest of the day. There were plenty of things she needed to do, but nothing that couldn't wait. She granted herself one day to wallow. She ate cold pizza, frozen Girl Scout cookies and watched Lifetime, Television for Women movies one right after another.

  By ten p.m. she felt worse than she had all day. Her stomach was upset—the two rolls of Thin Mints?— and her heart ached. All the women on TV had their problems solved in two hours or less counting commercials. They had some doozies, too. Natalie decided perhaps she didn't have the biggest problems in the world, but it felt that way to her.

  She let Jake outside one last time for the evening, then he followed her to the bedroom. Since Matthew had left for college, Jake had taken to sleeping at the foot of Natalie and Alex's bed. Natalie didn't mind, but it bothered Alex to no end. He vowed he was not going to 'do it' with a dog in the room. Natalie figured that wouldn't be an issue now—for a while, anyway.

  * * * *

  Alex looked warily at the phone on his desk, as if it were a snake that might spring up and bite him at any moment. He needed to call Natalie, but he'd been avoiding her for several days, and that was working for him. He sighed, not really wanting to think about her. Whenever he did, his heart ached and he longed to go find her and pull her into his arms. Then he'd start kissing her neck, and that sweet little cleft between her breasts… yeah, I'm a guy, and with guys it always comes back around to sex.

  It was really about more than sex with him and Nat. She was his best friend, and had been since the day she locked her keys in that crappy car, and he had come to her rescue. He liked to think of it that way, at least. She probably would have managed okay without him. But he couldn't imagine his life if they hadn't met and become inseparable from that day forward.

  He took a deep breath and picked up the phone receiver. He punched the speed dial button for home. God, I miss home. He waited.

  "Hello?" Natalie answered suspiciously.

  "Hi, Nat." He knew with Caller ID she'd figured it was him. But ever since the day she'd answered with a suggestive proposition and had found his secretary on the other end, she'd always said 'hello'.

  "Hello," she repeated. She sounded tired and not very pleasant.

  "I, uh, talked to Matt. He called me, I mean."

  "At the motel?" She sounded horrified.

  "No! Of course not. At the office, here. No one knows I'm at a motel."

  "Oh, good."

  Relief this time. "He has a rowing regatta on Saturday, in Wichita. He'll be gone all day."

  "On his birthday? Drat! Are you going to watch?"

  "I can't, I have appointments in the morning. I think my folks are going, though."

  "Well, then, I'm not going. I can't spend a whole day with them. They'd see through me in a minute, and know something was wrong."

  "Skip it. There's a regatta here in a few weeks. We can catch that one."

  "So, he'll be gone all day. We can still celebrate his birthday that evening."

  "Nat," he hesitated. "Matt wants to go out with his friends Saturday night. He wanted to know if we could celebrate his birthday on Sunday instead."

  "So that's why he called you, the little rat! He was afraid to tell me. He knew how disappointed I'd be."

  Alex sighed. "I don't see the big deal. We can have him all day Sunday, the others can come up—"

  Her voice raised a notch, agitated. "The big deal is that we see him every Sunday! Call him back and remind him to bring his laundry like usual, so it can be exactly the same as every other damn Sunday."

  "Oh good grief!" Alex exclaimed.

  "And you know what else? If we celebrate Saturday, the other two come home on Saturday and spend the weekend. If we celebrate Sunday, they'll just come up for the day and then right back again. I'm getting cheated."

  He bit back a chuckle. She usually wasn't so focused on herself. Matt's leaving and the events of this week had obviously put her in an emotional state. He thought of something not so humorous and it brought him back around to reality. "Do you think Gigi will show up at all?"

  Natalie responded crisply. "I don't know. She's not speaking to me. Maybe you should call her."

  Alex panicked. "I can't!"

  "What, you're never going to speak to her again?"

  "That's not what I meant." His heart sank. He really did want to speak to Gigi. He wanted to cradle her on his lap and comfort her, or give her a band-aid, or whatever it took to make her all better. But he suspected there was nothing he could do at this point. "I suppose I could call her."

  "Fine. I'll call Matthew, the little weasel, and tell him we're expecting him all day on Sunday."

  "Be nice to him, Nat. It's his birthday."

  "I know that, for goodness sake. You don't have to remind me."

  She sounded angrier than Alex had heard her in a long time. "I've got to run." The conversation was going nowhere, it was probably best to end it.

  "Go ahead, run," she said bitterly. "It's what you do best these days."

  "Excuse me?" Alex gripped the receiver firmly.

  Her voice grew quiet. "I said to be here early Sunday, so your kids don't know you're living in a motel."

  "Yeah. Well, bye, Nat."

  She hung up without saying goodbye. Alex put the receiver down and stared at it. Natalie sounded more unhappy each time he spoke with her. He needed to get a handle on his life and turn this thing around before the damage became permanent.

  The intercom on his desk buzzed. "Your ten o'clock is here, Alex," his secretary said.

  "Just a minute, please," he replied, and picked up the phone again. If he didn't do this now, he might not have the courage to do it later. He hit the speed dial button for Gigi's home number. With any luck, she'd be at work. I'm a coward. Hadn't Nat almost said as much?

  "You have reached 555-1254." His own voice on the answering machine startled him for a moment. They had all agreed it was safer to have a man's voice on the machine, so Gigi had asked him to record the message when he'd helped her move in. "We can't take your call right now. Leave a message after the beep and we'll get back to you." Beep.

  "Uh, yeah, hi Geege, it's…dad," he hesitated before he spoke the word, and hated himself for it. No, he hated Natalie for it. This is her fault. "Mom's planning the birthday thing for Matt on Sunday. He's rowing Saturday, so it has to be Sunday…Mom's not too thrilled about it…" I'm rambling. "Anyway, we want to make sure you'll be there." He paused t
hen added, "Gigi, I know you're upset with Mom and me right now, and I hate the way we left things between us, but this is about Matt. If you don't come for his birthday, the boys will know something is up. And the last thing we need is either of the boys finding out about this. This needs to stay between you, me and Mom." It should have stayed between me and Mom, dammit. "Call me back and let me know you're coming, or call Mom if you'd rather. We, uh, love you, Geege. I love you. I hope we'll see you Sunday. Bye." He hung up and rested his head on his desk. I used to be such a together guy. When did I turn into this blubbering idiot?

  He knew exactly when. The minute the nurse had placed the tiny squirming infant with the little pink cap in his arms, and said, "There you go, Papa!" That's when.

  * * * *

  On Sunday morning, Natalie was in no mood for a celebration. She hadn't talked to any of her kids all week, unless she counted a couple rounds of answering machine tag with Matthew and then again with David. Personally, she did not count them as conversations, and she was peeved. They could have tried harder to call her back. It wasn't as if she were out of the house that much.

  She had no idea if Gigi would show up, or what her daughter's temperament would be like if she did. No idea when Alex would show up, and whether he would stay, or leave again. She began preparing lunch as usual, homemade beef and noodles, Matthew's favorite, but she was irritated and there was no joy in it. She'd baked his favorite German Chocolate cake in the same manner. Just do it, and get it over with.

  She hung up a few balloons but her heart wasn't in that, either. When Alex walked through the door she shot him a look that could kill. "It's about time you got here! I'm trying to throw all this crap together by myself and it's turning out horribly! I hate this! I hate feeling like this!" Angry tears swamped her face.

  "I hate it, too!" He yelled at her. "Do you think I like feeling this way? It sucks, it totally sucks! And then I see you, and listen to you, and God, Natalie, you're turning into such a shrew!"

  "A shrew?" she screeched and stepped into his face. "How dare you come in here—" her rant was cut off by the press of his mouth against hers.

  He shoved her up against the wall and kissed her harder still.

  "I'm so angry with you," she murmured as she fumbled for his shirt buttons.

  "I'm pissed as hell at you." He yanked her sweater over her head and tossed it in the air.

  "The bedroom." She fumbled with his belt.

  He walked her backward down the hall, unfastening her bra. He caught one nipple between his lips before he looked up and said, "This doesn't change anything."

  "I know." She pressed her hand against the back of his head, urging him not to stop, and dragged him into the bedroom. She kicked the door shut, and they fell onto the bed.

  Alex opened the bedroom door a short while later and moved down the hall furtively to the family room. He wasn't sure if anyone else was there, but he did know he felt one hell of a lot better than he had when he'd arrived home.

  "Looking for this?" David held up his mother's sweater.

  "Or this?" Gigi offered up the bra.

  Matthew crossed his arms over his chest and gave his father a stern look. "My beef and noodles were burning."

  Alex rubbed a hand over his face in embarrassment. He snatched the clothing away from the kids. "Your mother will be out in a minute." He started back to the bedroom.

  "Make sure she's dressed!" Matt teased. "I'm traumatized enough as it is!"

  "No kidding," Alex heard Dave say. "Who wants to think of their parents doing that?"

  "Especially starting in here and ending up in there!" Matt added, and the boys cracked up with laughter.

  Dave said, "I guess we can be thankful they went in there. We could have walked in and caught them out here…"

  "Shut up!" Alex called down the hallway, and the voices died off into snickers. Two voices. Gigi hadn't joined in the teasing.

  He tossed the clothing to Natalie. "We are so busted. Put on your game face, kiddo, because the minute you walk out there you're in for some razzing."

  She fastened her bra, adjusted her sweater and smiled at Alex. "Strangely enough, my mood has improved. I think I'll be able to handle it."

  He fisted his hand in the back of her hair and pulled her face to him gently for a kiss. "My mood has improved, too. But nothing has changed."

  "I know." She traced a finger around his lips. "But if we still have that…" she nodded toward their bed, "then we have everything. We'll figure this out. I know we will."

  He kissed her one last time and she opened her mouth to his. He didn't want to let her go. As long as we stay like this, things are fine.

  The kiss aroused him again, and as much as he hated to, he pulled away. "Matt said the beef and noodles were burning."

  "Damn!" She marched out to the kitchen.

  "Hello, Mother." Matt waved a wooden spoon at her. "Forget something?"

  "Yeah, to have the locks on the doors changed. I finally got rid of all you ingrates, and you keep showing up again!"

  The kitchen erupted into laughter, and Alex sighed. All's right with the world again, for the time being, at least.

  * * * *

  "Somehow, you managed to pull off a wonderful meal, Mother." Matt held out his plate and smiled at her. "Which is surprising, seeing as how your mind wasn't on it."

  Natalie tried to give him an irritated look, but he flashed his devilish grin. That, he got from his father. The curly blond hair and dimples, which always made her think of one of Raphael's angels, were a mystery. She had a handsome family, no doubt, but Matthew had a cute factor going for him that none of the others seemed to possess.

  "Guess I didn't burn it too badly," she replied snidely as she passed him the bowl.

  "Good thing I arrived when I did," Matt corrected her, and served himself.

  "If you'd have taken my phone calls, there wouldn't have been any guessing." Natalie looked at him and at his brother. "Both of you. I don't appreciate being blown off, and having to wonder who's showing up when." She glanced at Gigi, but her daughter didn't look up from her plate.

  Matt laughed. "You knew I'd show up for my birthday, Mother."

  She eyed him. "Your birthday was yesterday."

  He winced, and Dave laughed. "She shoots, she scores! For those of you keeping track, the score is now Guilt-inducing mother, two points; Guilty-but happily hung over birthday boy, zero."

  She squinted and looked into Matt's eyes. "Are you hung over? You're only twenty, you shouldn't have been drinking."

  Matt slapped his brother's chest with the back of his hand. "Thanks, man."

  Alex sipped his iced tea. "We knew you'd show up eventually, if for no other reason than to pick up your iPod."

  "Alex!" Natalie made a face at him.

  He gazed at her innocently. "It was the only thing he asked for, dear. He had to know we were getting it."

  "Woo hoo!" Matt hollered. "Thanks, Dad! Thanks, Mom!"

  Natalie shot Alex another dirty look and muttered, "You haven't gotten it, yet."

  Dave turned to his sister. "You sure are quiet today. New job stressing you out? It must be tough to come up with catchy jingles for Shoe World all day long."

  Gigi made a face at him. "For your information, Shoe World is not my account. I get to come up with catchy jingles for Fish & Fowl, the new pet store in the mall."

  "A pet store?" Dave laughed uproariously, and Matt joined him.

  Natalie sat back and watched the show. Her boys had always ganged up on their older sister, but Gigi never had a problem holding her own. She was a tough cookie. Beautiful, too, almost exotic-looking. Her black hair was darker than anyone else's, and she had deep, dark eyes that hinted at something unusual in her background. If Gigi had ever wondered about it, she'd never done it vocally to her parents. They certainly had never talked about it with her, or each other. Gigi was their daughter, regardless.

  David was the one who looked most like his father, Natalie always t
hought. His hair was dark and he wore it like the young men did today, short and spiky. He usually needed a shave, which was also a trademark of twenty-first century man thus far. Other than that, he was Alex. His facial features, his build, his easy smile and sense of humor were one hundred percent his father. Sometimes when she glanced at him quickly, she was reminded of Alex back then, pulling an all-nighter studying for finals, his face scruffy and his smile beautiful. Finals' week had been one of the rare times Alex could have been caught unshaven. The rest of the time he'd been scrupulously neat. Not such a bad thing, it forced me to be neat, too. They balanced each other.

  She tuned back in to the conversation and found the boys were still giving Gigi a hard time about her job.

  Matt showed no mercy. "Let's see, your ad could have a talking dog, no, done that. How about a gecko? No, already been done. A fish! That's it, a talking fish!"

  Natalie looked at him. "Enough already. So, how was your regatta yesterday?"

  "It was great! We took first in eight-man and second in the four-man head race."

  "Good job," Alex said. "I'll bet Grandpa was going nuts."

  Matt grinned. "He totally was. The guys think he's so cool."

  Gigi got a funny look on her face and turned to her mother. "Grandpa?"

  "Yes." Natalie looked at her. "They went to Wichita and watched Matthew row."

  "Excuse me." Gigi threw her napkin on the table and ran from the room.

  "Well, gee." Matt watched her go. "She could have come if she wanted to. I didn't think she liked to watch me row that much."

  Natalie sighed. "I don't think that's it, honey. Your sister hasn't been feeling the best this week. Maybe you guys can cut her some slack." She looked at Alex and nodded her head toward the door Gigi had run through.

  His eyes widened and he shook his head. He nodded toward Natalie.

  She shook her head and made a face at him. Finally, after they'd stared at each other for a full minute, she stood up. "I'll just go check on her. Excuse me." She shot Alex one more dirty look before she left the room.

  Natalie stood at the bathroom door. "Gigi, open up."