Merry's Christmas: A Love Story
Page 12
Daniel nodded. He brushed Catherine’s arm affectionately. It told her that he understood all that she couldn’t bring herself to say.
Catherine removed her holiday apron. Her eyes glistening, she gave Daniel one last kiss on the cheek. “You’ll say my goodbyes, won’t you?”
“I will,” Daniel assured.
Catherine picked up her clutch and crossed to the door. “My best to Merry,” Catherine concluded, “when you see her.”
♥ ♥ ♥
Night had fallen. Far across town, Merry set a dish out for Rudy, and then sat down to a bowl of clam chowder. Trying her best to be grateful, she bowed.
“So... Merry, here,” she prayed. “Just me. Again. Sorry to be so droopy, especially today, but—”
The toot of a car horn outside interrupted Merry’s thought.
Merry looked up as she continued. “I guess this wasn’t exactly the Christmas I hoped it’d be.” As she paused, remembering, a sheepish grin crossed her face. “But I didn’t get evicted. And you did get me through it, like I asked. And it was good...good to see a family come together, even if it wasn’t mine. So, thanks for letting me be part of it—”
Again, the horn blasted outside, twice in close succession.
“Thanks for Rudy, and this chowder and—”
Yet again, the horn blared, insistently. Merry glanced toward the window as she heard Mr. Grabinski yell toward the street. “Cut the racket, will ya? How’s about a little peace on earth?”
Curious, Merry rose and went to her window, murmuring to herself, “What is...?” Merry looked outside toward the street. To her stunned delight, there stood the whole Bell family at the curb. Catherine was nowhere to be seen. Merry threw open the sash, overjoyed.
Seeing Merry in the window, Joan cued the family, and they all started to sing at the top of their lungs:
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year!
Merry listened, delighted. Though the sun had set, Christmas was suddenly far from over for Merry. It was only just beginning.
“Hi!” Merry called out. “Am I glad to see you! Come on up!”
Daniel stepped forward from the rest. “Not yet,” he answered. “You come down first!”
It wasn’t two seconds before Merry grabbed her coat and went bounding down the stairs. As she passed his first floor apartment, Mr. Grabinski poked his head out and yelled after her. “Would you keep it down?” he groused. “Some people trying to have Christmas, you know!”
As Merry burst out of her building, she could see the Bell family bubbling with excitement.
“Here she comes!” Ollie shouted. “Here she comes!”
Tara clamped a hand over his lips. “Shhh! Act natural.”
Daniel prompted his kids. “Okay, get ready...”
Merry bounded across the snowy walk. She slipped gawkily, then regained her footing just in time to hear the whole clan shout out, in unison:
“Surprise!”
Merry skidded to a stop as the Bells presented a wrapped gift. She looked at the package, stunned. “You didn’t.”
Ollie nodded enthusiastically. “We did. We all made it. For your birthday.”
“All of you...you made this?” Merry replied as she tore off the paper and opened the box. Inside, she found a framed family photo. It was the picture she was in from the Christmas tree hunt. She stopped to examine the frame, a gift in and of itself. It was a mosaic of their broken family china, put together in beautiful new way. At the top, a banner read: MERRY’S CHRISTMAS. Tears sprang to Merry’s eyes. “This is...it’s like a family photo.”
Daniel smiled fondly. “Yeah, it really is. “
Merry couldn’t take her eyes off the picture. “Oh... I can hardly believe this,” she said.
“Why are you crying?” Ollie asked. “Don’t you like it?”
Merry hugged the boy tightly. “No, I love it. It’s just...a really big first for me and...I don’t even know how to—” Merry embraced Joan and Tara, then turned to Hayden. “Thank you so much! Thank you! Hayden, I know you don’t do hugs much.”
Hayden opened her arms. “I make exceptions,” she said wryly.
Merry squeezed Hayden, then gazed at the family photo again. “This is the greatest present ever!”
Ollie tugged on Merry’s sleeve. “Hey, Merry,” he blurted. “You want to help me plant my worm farm?”
Merry feigned appropriate surprise. “Really? You got your worm farm?”
“Thanks to you,” Daniel said, “we all got what we wanted for Christmas.” Daniel’s expression took on a hint of mischief. “Well, almost,” he toyed. “There is one other thing I wanted to give you.”
Merry beamed. She checked around to make sure he was actually referring to her as the Bell kids prodded their dad to give her his gift. Merry couldn’t help being a little puzzled, seeing Tara link pinkies with Ollie.
Daniel stifled a shy grin, and then turned to his family. “I do believe there’s a snowman just begging to be built around that corner.”
The kids dutifully ran away, but Joan lingered momentarily.
“You, too, Mom,” Daniel intoned.
Joan smiled knowingly, then followed the kids around the building. Daniel turned back to Merry, his eyes reflecting his heart.
Merry wasn’t sure what to think. “You don’t have to give me anything else,” she said. “This photo is way more than I ever in a million years expected. What more could you possibly—”
Daniel put a finger to Merry’s lips, stopping her. Everything in Merry tingled inside, but still she searched his face, confused.
Daniel scratched his head, adorably nervous. “You should know, I... I’ll be returning that little trifle I’d bought for Catherine.”
Merry’s eyes widened. “You will?”
Daniel shrugged nonchalantly. “It caught my eye at first. But then, I realized it wouldn’t have fit.”
Merry gulped, hoping against hope that what seemed to be happening really was. “No?” Quietly, she thrilled as Daniel took her hand gently in his.
“I didn’t see it at first,” Daniel confessed, “But you were right. Because, when I look at your hand in mine, now, I find there’s no comparison.”
Tears welled in Merry’s eyes as she found herself in Daniel’s. “You see me, now.”
Daniel nodded softly, never breaking her gaze. “I see you.” He reached up to brush a tear off her cheek. “Don’t cry,” he whispered.
Merry smiled through her tears. “Sorry. I’m just so happy.”
“Really?” he teased. “This is happy?”
Merry caught her breath. “I’m new at this,” she admitted. “But yeah. I think so.”
“There is one more thing,” Daniel said. “All of the gifts and decorations you coordinated, they were great, all the ornaments you hung on the tree. But I realized just this afternoon that you seemed to have forgotten to hang one very special thing.”
Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out a small sprig of mistletoe, tied with a red satin ribbon. “Merry Christmas, Merry,” he said.
Time didn’t stand still at that moment, but somehow it seemed to slow for Merry. It was as if everyone and everything else faded into the sheer bliss of the night. Gone was the noise of the El, rumbling by on the track above them. There was no Mr. Grabinski grumbling about snow on the walk. There were only two people, discovering each other in a whole new way with all of heaven shining on them.
Merry savored every instant as Daniel raised the mistletoe above her head and drew her close. She melted his kiss, drinking in what she’d always wanted most of all. This was no quick act of fondness, she realized. This was the beginning of a whole new life. It was the tender expression of awakening love.
Suddenly, Daniel and Merry found themselves being pelted with snowballs. Breaking away, Daniel stooped to grab a handful of snow. “You don’t know what yo
u’ve started,” he warned his kids.
“Do you?” Merry countered, packing a snowball of her own.
“I’ll take my chances,” Daniel grinned.
Jauntily, Merry took aim and hurled a snowball smack into Ollie’s chest. The twins quickly retaliated. Even Joan gamely took up the charge. With four against two, Daniel and Merry quickly found themselves completely outnumbered. It wasn’t long before they playfully surrendered, overwhelmed with the wonder of it all. Christmas had come back to the Bell family, in all its hope and splendor, and it was a miracle to behold.
Twelve days later, Merry reflected on all that had transpired. In a way, it had been just as Arthur had said it would be. The baubles and boughs Merry had put up had indeed come down. The ribbons and music of the season had been stored for another year. The potted Christmas tree, stripped of its ornaments, was out back in the Bell yard, awaiting a place to grow.
The whole family gathered around as Daniel pitched a last shovel of earth out of a large hole he’d dug outside the study.
“That should do her,” Daniel said. “See there, Mom? Right by your new window.”
Joan looked puzzled as Daniel pointed to his study. “My new... You mean your office?”
“I mean your room,” Daniel clarified. “If you’ll have it.”
Finally understanding, Joan lit up. “Well...let’s get this thing planted,” she enthused. “Sounds like I’ve got packing to do!”
Merry and Joan lifted the balsam fir from its pot and settled it into its new place in the ground. Tara, Hayden, and Ollie scooped dirt around the base to cover the roots.
Hayden looked up at her father as she patted the dirt down. “Mom would have liked this, you know.”
Daniel smiled in return. “Oh, yes,” he said. “I think she would.”
Ollie shielded his eyes, peering up at the top of the tree. “How big do you think she’ll get, Dad?”
Daniel put an arm around Merry. “We’ll just take care of her. See how she grows.”
Merry took Daniel’s hand in hers, content in his warm embrace. Bits of happy chatter wafted from the yard, carried by the crisp winter air, hinting at the promise of the future.
“Hey, remember the time I busted all the good family china?” Ollie chortled.
“Smithereens!” Tara shouted, her giggles infecting them all.
“Or when Merry fell off the Christmas tree?” Hayden snorkled.
Daniel drew back in mock indignance. “Hey, now. She was slippery!”
“Or, or, or, um...” Ollie sputtered. “Remember when my worm farm got loose?”
Hayden smacked her little brother, agape. “No way!”
“They didn’t!” Daniel blustered.
“No, not yet,” Ollie assured.
Her eyes dancing, Merry tousled Ollie’s hair, adopting all of them in her heart. “Oooh, maybe not yet,” she imagined, “but wouldn’t that be fun?”
About the Author
http://www.shelfari.com/susanrohrer
Susan Rohrer is an honor graduate of James Madison University where she studied Art and Communications, and thereafter married in her native state of Virginia. A professional writer, producer, and director specializing in inspiring entertainment, Rohrer’s credits in one or more of these capacities include: an adaptation of God’s Trombones; 100 episodes of drama series Another Life; Humanitas Prize finalist & Emmy winner Never Say Goodbye; Emmy nominees Terrible Things My Mother Told Me and The Emancipation of Lizzie Stern; anthology No Earthly Reason; NAACP Image Award nominee Mother’s Day; AWRT Public Service Award winner (for addressing the problem of teen sexual harassment) Sexual Considerations; comedy series Sweet Valley High; telefilms Book of Days and Another Pretty Face; Emmy nominee & Humanitas Prize finalist If I Die Before I Wake; as well as Film Advisory Board & Christopher Award winner About Sarah. Rohrer has published two non-fiction books: THE HOLY SPIRIT: Amazing Power for Everyday People and IS GOD SAYING HE’S THE ONE?: Hearing from Heaven about That Man in Your Life. MERRY’S CHRISTMAS: a love story is based on Rohrer’s original screenplay.
Other Books by Susan Rohrer:
THE HOLY SPIRIT:
Amazing Power for Everyday People
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ES7358
IS GOD SAYING HE’S THE ONE?
Hearing From Heaven
About That Man in Your Life
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JWCPS2
VIRTUALLY MINE: a love story
(based on Rohrer’s screenplay, coming soon)
♥ ♥ ♥
Recommended Romances:
NEVER THE BRIDE:
a novel
by Cheryl McKay & Rene Gutteridge
http://cherylmckay.wordpress.com/buybooksmovies/
FINALLY THE BRIDE:
Finding Hope While Waiting
by Cheryl McKay
(non-fiction companion to Never the Bride)
http://cherylmckay.wordpress.com/buybooksmovies/