Multicultural Holiday Romance Box Set

by Giselle Renarde

  “What did you think of that?” she asked Rob.

  “It was great,” he said. “Kaz seemed to give you a good minute or two.”

  “Yeah, I think he did,” she replied. It was hard to measure time fucking. It always seemed to go by too fast. She thought he might be upset, but she asked anyway, “Have you ever done that before? I mean, had a guy suck your dick?”

  “No,” Rob said right away. “Nope, never done that before.”

  That was all the information she really needed in that moment, so she let exhaustion catch up with her and fell into sleep. It seemed like only two minutes later, Froggy was jumping on their bed shrieking, “Santa was here!”

  Chapter Nine

  “Santa was here! Come look.” Froggy took Josie’s hand as she sat up in bed. “Come see the presents, Mommy! Make Daddy come too.”

  Rob rolled out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. “I’ll put some coffee on in a sec. Should we wake up Kaz?”

  “No, he’ll need his sleep,” she said as Froggy pulled her by the hand. She wanted to devote the morning to her little boy. The build-up to Christmas had been such a beautiful arc and, as much as she enjoyed Kaz’s company, she wanted to stand at its apex with her husband and child.

  “Mommy, are these presents all for me?” he asked.

  “All for you,” she replied. It warmed her heart that six parcels generated such a glowing response from the boy. If he didn’t know other parents spoiled their children with thirty plastic toys, he’d always be happy unwrapping handmade mittens and wooden puzzles fairly traded from Africa.

  Picking up a gift from under the tree, he asked, “Does Santa know my name is Froggy now, not Ewan anymore?”

  They’d always been amused by the way he pronounced his given name—it came out sounding like Ewok.

  With a smile, Josie said, “Santa knows everything. Now, let’s start with our stockings. We’ll unwrap presents when Daddy gets down here.”

  She wondered what the hell was taking her husband so long as she and Froggy pulled various fruits from their Christmas stockings. Josie never got to meet Rob’s parents before they passed, but he remembered them saying all they got in their stockings as children was an apple and an orange if they were good and a lump of coal if they were bad. Rob wanted to carry on that tradition by filling their stocking with fruits.

  “Look mommy!” Froggy giggled. She wasn’t paying attention to what she was pulling out of her stocking; she had both eyes glued to the staircase. “Mommy, you got a lemon!”

  “Oh,” she replied, looking at the fruit in her hand. “So I did. Well, mommy likes lemons. She puts them in her ice water and in her hot tea. Lemons are very yummy.”

  “No, yucky!” Froggy said, squishing up his nose. He held up his fruit. “Pears are yummy.”

  “Yes, pears are yummy too,” she agreed, leaning forward to see if Rob might be descending the stairs. He wasn’t. “Rob, we’re opening stockings without you.”

  “Yeah, Daddy! We started without you,” Froggy chimed in, crawling into Josie’s lap to sort through the rest of his stocking. “What’s this one?”

  “That’s an apricot. It’s like a little peach,” she told him as footfalls sounded on the staircase.

  He’d put on a T-shirt to go with his sleep pants. “Look who I found,” Rob said as he joined them by the fireplace.

  A very sleepy Kaz wobbled down the stairs. His eyes illuminated like any child’s when he caught sight of the tree and all the presents underneath it.

  “There’s a stocking for you over here,” Rob told him, taking it down from the mantle. On a bit of masking tape, Josie had written “Kaz” to personalize it.

  “This is an apricot!” Froggy shouted, holding the little orange fruit up in the air.

  “Indoor voice,” Josie pleaded.

  “Oh, coffee,” Rob said, hopping over Froggy and Josie to head to the kitchen.

  Kaz sat down on the floor and dug into his stocking. “Hey, a star fruit. Oh, and I recognize this one!”

  “What, the persimmon?” Rob called, sticking his head out of the kitchen to see. “Oh, yeah. Josie thought you’d get a kick out of that.”

  The whirlwind had begun, and Josie rested her back against the ottoman to watch. Christmas had a circus quality to it, and the only way to both survive and enjoy it was to sit back and observe. She smiled at the familiar joy on Froggy’s face, and the novel joy on Kaz’s as they sat on the floor eating fruit. She loved Rob even through the clatter from the kitchen. His need to take care of everyone warmed her heart as her cup of hot coffee warmed her hands. “Thanks, honey.”

  He kissed her lips softly, and then said, “Should we open presents now?”

  “Yeah!” Froggy cried. He ran to the fragrant tree, followed closely by Kaz and Rob. She wandered over too, and watched from the sofa as they unwrapped clothing. When they arrived at the pièce de resistance, she joined them on the floor near the tree.

  “I think you’re really going to like this one,” she said as Rob handed him the largest of the gifts. It was almost as big as Froggy, but he would grow and it would stay the same size. He tore the paper from his gift in strips from the top down until he’d revealed an object that seemed to both delight and perplex him. Josie picked him up and sat him on the coffee table so he could see the top.

  “A drum!” he squealed, clapping his hands above his head.

  She pulled it over to him and the moment he could reach it, he tapped the hide with his fingers. The reverberating sound overwhelmed Josie for a moment. She thought she might cry. “That’s right. It’s a tribal drum, a bongo drum, and it’s from far away in Africa.”

  Standing up on the coffee table, Froggy bent forward to bang on the drum. “Africa!”

  “Yes, that’s right,” she said. “Did you know Mommy’s family came from Africa a long, long time ago?”

  “Africa! Africa! Bongo, bongo, bongo drum!” Froggy he danced and played.

  The joy in his face made her smile so wide her jaw hurt. She launched herself at him and took him in her arms with all the love she possessed. “Is this a good Christmas?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” he cried, kissing her cheek. Rob came close to get his hug and kiss. Judging by the look on his face, she’d guess this was one of Rob’s favourite Christmases too. He was convinced simple was best.

  “I have gifts to give you, if I’m not intruding,” Kaz said, collecting wrapping paper from the floor.

  “Oh, I’ll take those big pieces,” Rob offered. “We try to reuse everything we can.”

  “You shouldn’t have bought us anything,” Josie told to Kaz. She meant it, too. They ended up with so much stuff over the holiday season just because everybody felt obliged to get them a little something. As it turned out, that was not the case with Kaz. She’d vastly underestimated his gift-giving abilities.

  “Rob and Froggy’s gifts I made yesterday,” he said, handing a paper box to Froggy. Inside was a whole extended family of brightly coloured origami frogs. “Look at this. If you press on their bums, they hop.” When he demonstrated, Froggy went absolutely wild.

  “What a great gift,” Rob said, lifting a few frogs onto the bongo drum. Froggy got a kick out of that too. “We’re really strong believers in homemade gifts. They’re so much more meaningful than plastic stuff.”

  “I know what you mean,” Kaz said, opening his laptop for Rob to have a look. “That’s why I decided to make you something too.”

  “No way, man!”

  “Yeah way, man,” Kaz teased, opening up a website. Rob Klimptow Illustrations. “Remember when we were having pizza the other night, how you were telling me you’d love your own website to showcase your art? Well, here is!”

  Rob was visibly astounded. He’d gone into speechless mode. “No way.”

  “It’s no big deal. All I’ve done so far is the template, which can all be changed if you want, but as soon as you take some digital photos of your work, we can upload them and turn this into t
he site of your dreams.”

  Seeing that Rob was at a total loss for words, Josie said, “That looks great, doesn’t it babe?”

  “It just…” Rob stammered. He grabbed Kaz’s shoulders and squeezed them. “I can’t believe anyone would do something like this for me.”

  Kaz blushed a bit. “Really, it was nothing. It’s super, super easy to throw a website like this together. And the best part is there are no hosting fees or anything to worry about.”

  When Rob threw himself at Kaz to give the guy a heartfelt hug, Froggy quickly followed suit, and Josie rushed to get his precious computer off his lap.

  “Did you open yours yet?” he asked her from under the assault of affection.

  “Oh, no,” she replied. She’d put the box down to watch Froggy open his origami frogs. When she cracked open the hinges on her wooden box, she found inside a beautiful necklace made of mauve-coloured freshwater pearls. “Oh, Kaz, this is gorgeous.”

  “That I don’t claim to have made,” he said as she fitted the pearls around her neck. She couldn’t believe he remembered her favourite colour from back then. “I actually bought that from Shelley. You know, to stay on good terms. She makes jewellery, and I didn’t want to pick up random department store crap for your family.”

  He stood up, glowing, when she went over to give him a hug. “These are beautiful gifts. Thank you so much.”

  Just as he said, “I wanted to show you all how much I appreciate your hospitality,” the front door burst open.

  Chapter Ten

  In walked a group of people Kaz hadn’t seen since he and Josie were an item.

  “Merry Christmas! Where’s my little grandson got to?”

  “Mamma!” Froggy shrieked, running over to Winnie. She picked him up and twirled him around in the air.

  “Merry Christmas, Mom,” Josie said. “Kaz you remember my mom, Winnie.” Glancing behind her, she said to her sister and nephew, “And Vivian and Nathan, take your boots off and come on in, you two. Do you remember my boyfriend Kaz?”

  “Now you got a husband and a boyfriend?” Nathan teased. “That must keep you busy, Auntie Josie.”

  “My boyfriend from high school,” she clarified, shooting a smile at Rob. He’d turned away from her to talk to her mom, so she gave the smile to Kaz instead.

  There was so much family in the room, and none of it his. Kaz wasn’t sure if he should hide behind the couch, retreat to the kitchen, or try to blend in. “I can’t believe this is the same Nathan. I remember you when you weren’t much bigger than Froggy!” Hearing the words that had just passed through his lips, Kaz covered his forehead with his hand. “Sorry, I’m starting to sound like an old man, aren’t I?”

  “Aren’t you an old man?” Nathan quipped, taking a seat on the sofa.

  “Nathan, mind your manners,” Vivian scolded her son. She looked Kaz up and down, and he couldn’t believe this was the same Vivian.

  Vivian the drop-out, the stereotype, the bad girl. She seemed so well put together now, in an embroidered silk brocade top and elegant black pants. He felt embarrassed to still be wearing pyjamas, even though Josie, Rob, and Froggy were still in theirs too. Sure, Vivian had always been pretty, but the beauty she shared with Josie had always been hidden under layers of cheap make-up and clothing. Now her beauty was the first thing he saw. There was no need to dig for it anymore.

  “Are you sure you’re the same boy our Josie went with in high school?” Vivian asked, extending her hand to shake his.

  “Yup, same guy, just a few years older.”

  Once she had his hand in hers, she seemed to change her mind. She gave him a big hug instead. “I just don’t believe it. I remember you as a science geek.”

  Nathan laughed from the sofa, smacking his knee.

  “I was a science geek.”

  “Maybe you ought to go sit down next my son so some’ll rub off on him,” she chuckled.

  “Hey Vivian,” Rob called across the room, where he and Winnie were admiring the new drum. “Ask Kaz to show you the website he made me. It’s great.”

  “You’re not a web designer,” Vivian said, smacking him on the shoulder. “I’m doing graphic design now. Isn’t that far out!”

  “Are you really? That’s great.”

  “Show him your card, mom,” Nathan offered. “You should see her work, man. My mom gets some serious respect.”

  Kaz took one look at Vivian’s business card and laughed. “You’re Slippery When Wet Designs? I’m Thundershore! This is unbelievable.” He looked around for someone to tell, but everyone else was busy banging on the bongo, so he said to Nathan, “We chat online, like, every day.”

  “I can’t believe it’s you,” she said, giving him another hug. “Nathan, he’s Thundershore. How about that!”

  “That’s crazy,” her son said, getting up from the sofa to shake his hand. “I really respect your designs, man. My mom talks about you all the time.”

  “I wondered why you hadn’t been online much,” Vivian went on. She held the sleeves of his pyjama top and wouldn’t let go. “It’s because you’ve been right here at my little baby sister’s house. That’s just incredible.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Kaz admitted, looking over at Froggy as he unwrapped his grandma gifts. “I’ve really missed chatting.”

  “Me too.”

  “Me too,” Nathan imitated, speaking in falsetto and fluttering his eyelashes.

  Vivian shook her head, smiling at her son. “Show us this website Rob was talking about.”

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” he replied, sitting down with the two of them and opening up his laptop. “I should be asking you for help, Slip. Sorry, Vivian. I’ll have to get in the habit of calling you by your real name now.”

  * * * *

  From across the room, Josie watched Kaz with her big sister and her eldest nephew as they brainstormed design possibilities. With smiles that wide it was a wonder their faces didn’t crack.

  As she pressed her fingers against her cool coffee mug, she decided her bitterness was nothing more than hunger pains. She’d feel better once she’d eaten something. Really, it was wonderful that Kaz seemed to be hitting it off with Vivian. They’d both been unlucky in love. If they could be happy together, she’d be happy too.

  Christmas dinner turned into even more of a whirlwind, but she should hardly have been surprised. Family events were like that. There was so much activity it was impossible to keep track of what everyone was up to.

  Adrianna prepared a gorgeous meal that spoke even to the demanding palates of her husband and Kaz, though Kaz would likely have been content with beans on toast as long as he was sitting at Vivian’s side. Why am I getting so worked up about this? She ought to be over the moon for the pair. There was something tremendously serendipitous about meeting someone in one context, and then finding them again in another. It was the Fates screaming, “Didn’t you get it the first time, dummy? You’re supposed to be together!”

  As she sliced her perfectly moist turkey and topped it off with cranberry sauce and almond stuffing, she watched Vivian set her hand on Kaz’s. She chewed so hard she could feel her teeth grinding together. So, why am I watching if it just gets me upset?

  Josie turned her head to watch Froggy and cousin Ben, but Rob caught her eye first. It was embarrassing. He could obviously see her upset; he was good with stuff like that. She didn’t want to feel jealous. It was Christmas; she should feel jolly.

  “Did your wife go into a coma?” Adrianna’s husband asked hers.

  “Huh? What’s that?” Josie replied. “What did I do?”

  Rob smiled meekly. “Adrianna just asked if Froggy could stay overnight with Ben.”

  “You want to spend your Christmas night at Auntie Adrianna’s, not at home with Mommy?”

  “Yeah,” Froggy cheered, standing up on his chair. “Stay here with cousin Ben.”

  “Come on, sit down on your bum,” Rob instructed. That was the last thing she heard clearly before the cacophony
of dinner noises took over. She could feel hot tears welling in her eyes, and she didn’t want to cry but that didn’t seem to matter. Pushing back her chair, she swept out of the kitchen and down to the front door. She slipped into her snow boots and winter coat, and went outside.

  Josie wasn’t sure where to go once she’d stepped out onto the porch, so she brushed some snow off the patio swing and sat down. It was nice to be able to see stars, even if it was only seven in the evening. Winter had its pros and cons. She tried only to see the pros: the freshness in the air, the reflection of dark blue skies on pristine snow, Christmas…