by R. R. Banks
"Santa says that he would like to talk to you," Cletus said.
"What?" I said.
"Oh, come on," Boom Boom said. "When was the last time that you got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you wanted for Christmas?"
I thought back, but my mind wouldn't even go back that far.
"I don't know," I said.
"Well, here's your chance. I'll even take a picture. It'll make a great card for next year, and I expect you to send me one."
I thought of the joy that he had just brought to the children of the hollow and felt a glimmer of the Christmas spirit that I had long ago tucked away appear in my heart.
"Alright."
I walked toward the house, noticing that Santa was now sitting in the massive chair in the middle of the building. He patted his lap as I approached, and I walked up to him, hesitating for a moment before settling onto his thigh. I felt his hand come to rest on my hip and he pointed with a white-gloved hand toward Cletus who held a huge camera a few feet away. I smiled, and Cletus took a rapid-fire blast of pictures. I was still blinking from the flash as I started to stand from his lap, but I felt his hand press against my hip as if to stop me. I settled back down and looked at him.
"You didn't tell me what you wanted for Christmas," he said in a low, grumbling voice.
"There isn't anything that I want," I said.
"Are you sure?"
I thought of the card that I had gotten from Charlie and felt tears come to my eyes again.
"No," I said.
"What can Santa bring to you?" I couldn't answer. My head hung and out of the corner of my eye I saw him reach for a gift that was tucked beneath the chair. "Maybe this?"
The grumble was lessening in his voice and I heard a lilt of emotion I wasn't expecting as he handed the gift to me. I took it from him with a slightly shaking hand and removed the glistening silver paper from around a tall, narrow box. A gasp slipped from my lips when I saw what was inside. The pink box was slightly faded, the green rosebuds sprinkled across its surface appearing almost blurry with age, but the plastic film was still intact and clear, revealing with perfect, beautiful doll resting inside. I lifted the lid and realized that I was holding my breath as I touched my fingertip to the golden curls that lay along the doll's delicately flushed porcelain cheek and across the pleated bodice of her pink dress. The slender satin ribbon running through the neckline was the exact color of the mint flowers on the box and matched the pearl button on her pink leather shoes.
"The doll," I whispered. "Mary Beth. This." I rested my hand over the doll. "This is exactly like the doll I had when I was a little girl."
"I know."
All of the rumble was gone now, leaving only Graham's voice behind. He lifted his hands and took off the red hat, wig, and false beard, revealing his face.
"Graham," I breathed. "How did you --- you remembered."
"Of course, I did. I have some friends who were able to find it for me." He leaned close to whisper to me. "Elves."
I laughed softly as I stood from his lap and turned to face him.
"Thank you," I said. "This is amazing." I took a breath, tearing my eyes away from his for a moment to regain my composure. "I can't believe you're here. I can't believe that you did all of this."
"It's Christmas Eve," he said. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."
My smile faltered slightly.
"You wouldn't?" I asked.
He shook his head.
"No. Holly, I know that you were hurt and confused, and that's my fault. I should never have…" his voice faded away for a second and he straightened his shoulders. "I should have been honest right from the beginning. I should have introduced you and told Brandy how much you mean to me. I should have told her that this, all of this, from the train breaking down to the storm to losing the reservation, all of it was my Christmas miracle because it brought me to you."
My heart fluttered in my chest and I felt breathless, but there was still something bothering me, still something pricking at the back of my mind.
"I understand you not telling Brandy, but why didn't you say anything to me? Why did you just let me go? Why did you get me that cruise?"
"Because it's what I thought that you wanted."
"But if you didn't want me to go, why didn't you just tell me?"
"Because I was too afraid to admit it to myself and it took three of Santa's merry helpers to make me realize how much of an idiot I was being."
I glanced over and saw Cletus and Boom Boom still standing in front of the building, their arms around each other's backs and their heads rested together as they basked in the scene playing out in front of them. I rushed toward them and threw my arms around them.
"Thank you," I said, kissing each on the cheek. "Thank you."
"It was our pleasure, Holly," Cletus said.
"Sure was," Boom Boom added. "Anybody with eyes could see that the two of you were falling in love. You were just like a snow globe. You just needed a little bit of shaking up to make the sparkle happen. When you two left, I couldn't just sit by and let you wander out of each other's lives because you were being stubborn. Especially after the return of my dear brother." He looked to the side as if he expected someone to be standing there beside him. "Well, shit. Has anyone seen BillyBob?"
He walked away, and I turned back to Graham. He had taken off the Santa suit to reveal more customary black slacks and sweater beneath and I walked toward him. We paused a few inches from each other and stared into each other's eyes, both looking at the other as if we were watching stars in our expressions. Finally, I noticed him glance up only slightly and then turn his attention back to me.
"Mistletoe," he said, just above his breath.
I looked up.
"I don't see any mistletoe."
Graham reached forward and wrapped his hands around my back, pulling me up against him.
"Let's pretend."
His mouth tasted like the sweetness of marshmallows and the freshness of snow, and I lost myself in his kiss. My eyes closed, and I gave myself entirely over to him, releasing everything into his waiting hands. Our mouths played deeper against each other and I looped my arms around his neck, pulling myself up closer.
"Holly!"
The eager little voice pulled me out of the kiss and I turned around to see Charlie running toward me. Everything that I had thought and seemed to feel with my heart since stepping back into the hollow was real.
"Charlie!"
I crouched down and scooped the little boy into a tight hug.
"Did you get my card?" he asked.
"I did," I told him. "It's wonderful. Thank you so much."
"Daddy," Charlie said, "Miss Rue says that we're going to spend Christmas Eve at her house. Is that true?"
Graham nodded, and I smiled.
"I think that's a wonderful idea."
"Then let's go."
Charlie let out a joyful sound and Graham took my hand as we walked back through the farm toward the parking lot.
Graham closed the door behind Charlie after he scrambled into the backseat and positioned himself in his car seat, but before he reached for the handle to open the passenger door for me, he leaned forward and kissed me again. As our lips parted, snowflakes began to flutter down around us. I looked up into the sky and then back at Graham, wide-eyed.
"Don't worry," he said. "I stashed a couple of snowmobiles and a new truck with chains on the tires at Cletus's shop. Just in case."
Snowflakes fell into my mouth as I leaned back and laughed, the pure joy and happiness fuller and deeper than anything I had felt in as long as I could remember.
Chapter Twenty
Graham
Charlie was already asleep by the time we pulled up in front of Rue's house. She had offered to let us stay in the elaborate, gorgeous home that she and Richard had built and were still expanding, but instead I asked if we could stay in the smaller home that sat just in front of the sprawling house. This was the hom
e that Rue had grown up in, the one where she was living when Clementine was born. Though the little family had shifted over to the bigger house as soon as the main portion of the structure was ready, there were no plans to remove the farmhouse. There was too much history and too many memories there, and that was exactly what I wanted now. Even though it wasn't our own home, it was a space that Charlie, Holly, and I could share as we celebrated Christmas together.
Rue was happy to allow us to use the farmhouse and she was at the door when we pulled up, ready to open it for me as I carried my sleeping son up the stairs and into the bedroom that I had already set up for him. He woke up as I carefully undressed him and switched him into pajamas and I made soft sounds to keep him calm and quiet as I settled him into the bed and pulled the covers up over him.
"Will Holly be here in the morning?' he asked, his voice sleepy and soft.
I leaned down and kissed him on his forehead, smoothing his hair back from his face.
"Yes," I said. "She'll be here in the morning."
His eyes fluttered closed as he smiled.
"Read me a story, Daddy."
I reached into the bag that I had packed for him before we left Brandy's house and took out the old copy of "The Night Before Christmas" that my father had read to me when I was little and opened it up. Though his deep, even breathing told me that Charlie fell asleep even before Santa filled the stockings, I continued on through the last word, revisiting my childhood Christmases as I hoped that maybe somehow the words were still sinking into my son's mind and filling it with happy dreams.
I closed the door most of the way behind me as I crept out of the bedroom and went back downstairs where Holly stood in front of the Christmas tree that I had set up and decorated in the flurry of activity while waiting for Cletus and BillyBob to return with her. The rest of the lights in the room where off and the shimmer of illumination from the strands of lights seemed to surround her in an ethereal glow. She turned to me and a smile touched her lips. Without a word, I crossed to her, reaching out to cup the side of her face with my hand and slip my fingers into her hair. The strands were silky against my skin and I knew that I didn't want another day of my life to go by without feeling that.
Holly stepped forward as I drew her toward me and tilted my head to rest my mouth over hers. The kiss was soft and tender at first as we rediscovered each other, but then became deeper and more insistent with each passing moment. I felt the heat of her body pressing toward me and the rhythm of her heart against mine. I held her close, not wanting any space between us, and slipped my tongue past her lips into her mouth. Holly accepted it eagerly, bringing her hand up to the back of my head to hold us closer.
As if our movements were synched without our minds knowing it, we both kicked off our shoes and lowered to our knees on the plush rug in the center of the floor. Our mouths parted for only a moment so that we could look into each other's eyes before meeting again as our slightly trembling hands went to work carefully peeling away each other's clothes. I undressed her reverently, revealing her body with admiration and adoration increased further by the lingering effects of the thought that I would never see her or touch her again. Those moments had been so painful that they had taken my breath away, but now as she offered herself to me and tenderly pressed her lips to mine, it felt like she was giving my breath back to me.
Finally, I had her in nothing but her panties and I lowered her back, easing her onto the rug so that the lights from the tree shone down on her. I touched my fingertips to the center of her chest and drew them down slowly, feeling her skin beneath mine and watching as her body shook in response to that one simple touch. When my fingertips had reached the waistband of her panties, I leaned down and kissed the bone just between her breasts, nuzzling the swells that were growing heavy and warm with my attention. As I drew one taut nipple into my mouth, I grasped her panties and guided them down, easing them over her hips and along her legs until she bent her knees, so I could draw them off of her feet. I caught her feet as I did this, drawing them up to my lips so that I could kiss their arched tops and brush my lips along her ankles. Lowering them to the floor, I continued my journey, kissing my way up the insides of her legs until I reached the soft, trembling flesh of her inner thighs.
Holly had her eyes closed now and seemed to be focused entirely on the feeling of my mouth on her skin. I furthered that now, parting my lips and letting the warmth of my tongue glide across her thighs until she parted them, letting them fall open to reveal herself to me. I pushed back slightly so that I could get a better view of her hot, glistening core and touched one finger to it, drawing it down from her peak to softly part her petals. She whimpered and arched slightly, so I deepened the touch. My fingertip gathered some of the hot fluid from her opening and spread it over her core, making the delicate curves and folds slick and ready for my touch.
I listened as Holly moaned and cooed in response to my caresses and watched as her body flushed, the color of her most sensitive and vulnerable places deepening as they softened, opened, and made themselves more accessible to me. I could see and hear that my exploration of her was becoming nearly overwhelming and the flow of silky fluids down my hand was making me hungry for her. I pushed back from her and reached into the pocket of my tossed-aside pants to withdraw a condom. She sat up as I rolled it into place and I reached for her hands, guiding her up into my lap as I sat on my knees.
She tucked her legs on either side of me and nestled onto my hips, accepting me deep into her body without hesitation. She gasped as I filled her, and I felt her tremble again. Gathering her into my arms, I held her close, kissing along her collarbone as I guided her hips to rock against mine. The movement kept my cock enveloped tightly in her walls while massaging her in luxurious strokes. I eased back, laying down so that she straddled my hips, and watched as she sat up and continued to ride me, the arch of her back giving me a full view of our bodies melded together and her full breasts rising and falling with her movements.
I used one hand to grasp her hip and rested the other to her pelvic bone so that I could dip the pad of my thumb into the junction between our bodies and massage her clit. Holly cried out and arched further, grinding against my hips to drive me deeper into her body and intensify the sensations. As soon as I felt her body release in a powerful orgasm, I sat up enough to wrap my arm around her waist and roll us to our sides. Her leg draped over my waist and I held her close as I thrust into her, letting go of my control and stroking harder and deeper until I exploded. I bit down into my bottom lip to muffle my growl as my cock throbbed and spilled into her, greeted by rolls of her hips that both intensified the feeling and started to ease me down from the pinnacle of my climax.
When it was over, I swept Holly into my arms and carried her upstairs to the bedroom. Her skin was pink and warm as I laid her out across the bed and I felt myself hardening again as I leaned down to trace around each nipple with the tip of my tongue. She held her arms open to me, taking me down to stretch over her body, and met my mouth for a languid, passion-filled kiss. I pushed the days of missing her, of longing for her, of hating myself for losing her from my life out of my mind as I felt the weight of my body pressing her into the mattress and the coaxing of my tongue parting her lips, and within minutes I was reaching into the nightstand for another condom.
I felt like I had been asleep for days when my eyes opened the next morning, but the sun was just barely touching the horizon. I rolled over to kiss Holly, but found the bed empty. A moment of panic shot through me, then I heard something downstairs and realized that I was smelling something sweet and warm. I climbed out of bed and wrapped myself in a bathrobe before heading for the kitchen, where I found Holly. She wore a pair of my flannel pajama pants rolled at the hips and a tight t-shirt that showed off the lushness of her body and the fact that she hadn't bothered to put on a bra. She was holding a pan in one hand and the sweet smell I had caught upstairs filled my lungs. The whole scene was enough to make me want to lay
her down on the kitchen table and make love to her again. I crossed the room and greeted her with a kiss. She tasted like coffee and I looked around for the pot, knowing that I was going to need a cup or two to brace me for Christmas with a five-year-old on very little sleep. The thought brought a smile to my lips. Spending Christmas with my son and the woman I loved was worth any tiredness.
"What do you have there?" I asked as I found the coffee and poured myself a cup.
"Cinnamon rolls," she said.
"You made cinnamon rolls?" I asked.
"Me and my good friend Pillsbury. There wasn't enough time to let real ones rise. But I am going to make bacon and eggs. No cans involved."
"Is this just a Christmas morning thing, or should I get used to being spoiled more often?"
She gave me a mischievous look.
"I might be able to arrange the occasional breakfast," she said.
Holly set the rolls on a cooling rack on the counter and went to the refrigerator to pull out bacon and eggs. As I watched her, I was glad that I had made sure to stock the kitchen.
"Why are you making breakfast so early?" I asked. "The sun is just coming up."
"It's Christmas and there is a little boy upstairs. I promise you, this is not too early. In fact, you better get to stuffing his stocking and putting out his presents before he comes running down here.”
I realized that she was probably right and took another long swig of my coffee before heading to the closet where I had stashed all of Charlie's Christmas gifts, including the ones that Holly had chosen for him. Not wanting Charlie to see them while we were on the plane, I had shipped most of them before leaving Brandy's town and had felt nearly sick with worry that they wouldn't get there on time until Coy called me to let me know that the box had arrived. Part of me had harbored a dream that he would bring it to the house dressed up like a skinny Santa, or at least an elf, but that went unfulfilled. Apparently, the box was too big for him to lift and he needed me to go pick it up. He did, however, have jingle bells hanging from the black bands around his sleeves when I arrived, so that was something.