The Learning Curves Omnibus

by Ceillie Simkiss

  Cora was pretty sure that there had never been this much food in their house at once. Bowls and serving platters overflowed with all kinds of delicious foods, from the mashed potatoes to the green bean casserole, and the macaroni and cheese they’d made for the kids. Mac & cheese was always a safe bet for picky eaters like Cora herself and the kids who were unwilling to try new things.

  As they laid out the table, Cora kept catching herself fidgeting with the ring box that she was hiding in her dress pocket. She was grateful that Elena was sitting across from her instead of next to her. Being able to look her in her beautiful face would hopefully distract her from the ring that felt like it was burning a hole in her pocket.

  Hugh and Manuel worked together to slice enough of the ham for everyone to eat, splitting it between two platters for the table.

  Finally, all that was left was for someone to lead the two families in prayer. Cora’s family had given the honor to Elena’s family, since the Moss’s were not particularly religious. Cora was interested to see what kind of prayer the Mendézes would use, since they were all practicing Catholics.

  “Everybody, take your seats, and take the hands of the person sitting next to you,” Gabriel announced to the room. The chatter in the room hushed as everyone dashed to their places.

  “We’re holding hands for two reasons. The first is because we’re family and because I said so. The second is because I don’t trust any of y’all not to steal bites of food while we’re not looking.”

  Everyone laughed. Once everyone was in their seats, Gabriel told them to bow their heads.

  “Lord, thank you for giving us all the health and happiness to enjoy this blessed holiday as a family,” Gabriel said earnestly. “I pray that we may all be filled with the wonder of Mary, the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the determination of the magi, and the peace of your son Jesus Christ throughout these days and the year to come. May the Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bless us all, now and forever.”

  All of the voices in the room came together as a chorus of amen’s, and slowly, everyone released the hands of the people on either side of them.

  “Now, let’s eat!” Gabriel hollered. The kids cheered.

  No one in the room needed to be told twice. Marianne and Anton sprung into action, making plates for the kids first.

  They had a rule that the kids had to try a bite of everything that they hadn’t tried before, which led to the kids having some very weird favorite foods. Cora couldn’t wait to get her own plate started. She was starving.

  Across the table, Elena was fidgeting with her dress and the tablecloth. Adelaide had dropped off the dog right before they left for their own family gathering, and Elena had hidden her in the bedroom while Cora was putting the finishing touches on the ham.

  Before each place setting sat a colorful paper cylinder that was wrapped like candy. Elena wasn’t sure what would come out of them, but it was sure to be a fun surprise. Christmas crackers were something that her family had never really done but were a tradition in Cora’s. The kids had never seen them before and were happily sword fighting with them from across the card table that they’d set up as the kid’s table. It was adorable.

  Once everyone had their plates, Cora got the table’s attention.

  “Okay, so I know not everybody has done Christmas records before, so I thought we’d give a little tutorial. It’s super simple, but I didn’t want to confuse anyone. Everybody takes one end of the cracker in their hands and the person next to them takes the other end. On the count of three, both people pull and out pops a bunch of toys and stuff!”

  “Yay toys! Mama, I want toys!” David interrupted. Everyone at the table laughed.

  “Well, I guess we’re all ready then! Let’s go!”

  She took her seat across the table from Elena and presented one end of her cylinder to Papí and the other to her father. Elena handed hers to Mama and Victoria.

  “Okay, let’s count together!” She called and glanced around the table. “One! Two! Three!”

  Everyone pulled on the cylinders, and they released their contents in a chorus of pops. Paper confetti, silicone toys, and paper hats sprayed across the table, landing in each of the plates.

  “Oh, now there’s confetti in the food! I… did not think that through. I’m so sorry, everybody!”

  She clasped her hands together tightly in what Elena knew was worry as their families began picking the larger chunks of confetti and toys out. Mama and Papí didn’t bother, simply

  “What’s a little extra fiber in our diets?” Hugh said with a wink. Cora rolled her eyes at her father, but stopped wringing her hands together. Everyone simply picked out what they could and began eating around the rest.

  Elena looked inside her own cracker and saw that there was still some paper on the inside. She pulled out and saw that it was a paper crown. She knew exactly what she was going to do with it

  “Mama, give me your head.”

  María turned to her, confused, until Elena placed the flimsy crown on her mother’s head.

  “There! Now you are the queen we always knew you were!”

  Papí and Cora laughed, and Mama beamed back at Elena.

  Once they had begun eating, Elena had to resist the urge to go back and check on the dog every few minutes. Her brothers had that well in hand. Every so often, one of them would excuse themselves to go to the bathroom and make sure that she was okay and stayed quiet. So far, she thought, so good.

  Elena was having a great time with her family. Luís had just started a job at a new accounting firm and seemed to be enjoying it. She’d even gotten to share some funny stories from her own coworkers at the law firm.

  Mr. Sturgess, her boss, was an absolute character and tended to hire people that complemented his own strangeness. Victoria and Hugh had not believed her when she told him about his annual Halloween costume until Cora had broken out the pictures that they took together. The table was roaring with laughter. Tears were streaming down Papi’s face, and even Victoria had laughed out loud. It was a rare sight, but Elena was happy that she had brought them all together, at least for a little bit. She knew that Cora had been incredibly anxious about how her parents would act when dealing with the entire Mendéz family at once for the first time.

  Elena wasn’t sure exactly how they had managed to be dating for this long without their families having come together. It seemed like one of her brothers visited their house once a week, but they could never manage to get the whole family together when Victoria and Hugh could join them. To be fair, Cora’s parents did live much further away than Elena’s did. It was less convenient for them to visit frequently.

  Marianne shouted a little bit in surprise. The rest of the table looked over. Anton was giggling a high pitched, slightly horrified giggle. Elena looked at her sister in law and saw why. Sofía had spat her mouthful of brussel sprouts all over her mother’s face. Marianne’s mouth hung open in surprise, the sauteed vegetables leaving a trail of butter and garlic behind them. as they slid down her brown face.

  “Are you okay, Marianne?” María asked, trying to hold back a laugh of her own from down the table.

  Luís, seated next to her, handed her a napkin which she took with trembling fingers. Elena didn’t think she’d ever seen Marianne look so offended as she wiped off the remnants of the sprouts-and her makeup.

  “Okay, we’re adding brussel sprouts to the ‘no’ list, then,” Anton quipped once he managed to stop giggling at his wife’s face.

  “Ya think?”

  At that, the entire table burst into laughter. Marianne joined in after a moment, her laugh sounding like small bells. Without a thought, Anton took over helping David with his plate. Sofía, uncaring about the commotion in the room, was chowing down on the foods she actually liked on her plate.

  Marianne excused herself to the restroom to see if she could salvage her makeup. Elena was fairly certain that she would also be checking on the puppy in the be
droom. Once David’s food was sliced up and ready to eat, Anton turned back to his daughter.

  “Now, Sofía, what did we say about eating food you didn’t like?” Elena could tell by the tone of his voice that he was staring at his nine-year-old sternly.

  “To spit it out!” Sofía replied cheerfully, putting another bite of food in her mouth.

  She watched him rub his hands through his hair before focusing on his daughter.

  “To spit it out where, mi hija?”

  “…into my napkin.”

  “Into your napkin. Which you did not do just now.”

  Sofía played with her food contritely.

  “I forgot, Papa. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize to me. I’m not the one you spit food all over. You owe your mother some extra love and apologies tonight.”

  “I’ll be extra good, Papa, I promise.”

  “I believe it. Now eat your dinner.”

  She didn’t have to be told twice.

  Chapter 4

  Sofía and David were nearly falling asleep in their plates as the adults finished their meals. Elena was fairly certain that Papí wouldn’t be far behind them. Mama was the only one who wasn’t starting to droop when Cora spoke up.

  “We have a tradition in our family,” Cora said hesitantly. Her parents perked up at the mention, trading excited glances with each other.

  “You suffered through ours like a champ,” Anton said with a wink. “What’s your tradition?”

  Victoria spoke up, to everyone’s surprise.

  “When Cora was little, we used to take her to her grandmother’s house for Christmas every year. There wasn't a whole lot for her to do there, but she insisted on staying up all night anyway to meet Santa Claus!”

  The whole table laughed, and Cora’s ears turned pink.

  “Anyway, we started allowing her to open one present on Christmas Eve from one of her cousins, to help entertain her while she stayed up. I didn’t know if maybe your young ones might want to do the same thing, since we are spending the night in a hotel?”

  That got the kids’ attention.

  “Presents!” Sofía cried happily, clapping her hands together. “Papa I want to do presents!”

  The table erupted into more laughter.

  “Well, I guess that settles it, doesn’t it? Let’s leave the dishes for when the kids are occupied, shall we?”

  “You’re going to have to roll me to the living room,” Hugh said, rubbing his hand over his belly happily. Luís, who was already standing, playfully tipped the older man’s chair to the side, as if to make him roll. It startled the nervous gasp from him and Victoria, but the gas quickly turned into a laugh when he caught sight of the wide grin on her brothers face.

  Luís offered his hand to Cora’s dad, who took it with a grin of his own.

  “Thanks, son.”

  Elena caught Cora watching her parents with soft eyes, something that was rare for her. She couldn’t help but notice just how beautiful her girlfriend was, feeling a goofy smile spread across her own face as she stared.

  Cora caught her staring and crossed her eyes in a silly expression. Elena replied by sticking her tongue out, and Cora laughed a laugh that sent tingles up Elena’s spine.

  “All right, everybody, make your way to the living room!” She began herding the kids across the hallway, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Elena could hear her making Sofía into her partner in crime as they made their way into the living room. “Now, Sofía. Since you’re the oldest, you’ll have to help your brother pick out the presents that are for him. Can you do that?”

  Her childish response was muffled, but Elena grinned. It was time to bring out the first of her surprises.

  With the rest of their family members trying to find somewhere to sit in the living room, it was easy for Elena to sneak back to the bedroom. She found Janelle and Adelaide sitting on the floor next to the open crate, which explained why she had been so quiet during dinner.

  In fact, the room was nearly silent except for the sounds of Adelaide tapping out messages on her phone and all three of them breathing. She breathed it in while she stood inside the closed doorway, counting her blessings.

  “Thank you so much for watching over her today. I could not have made this the surprise it will be without you two.

  The dog was laying in the crate that her foster parents had given them, her small white head laying on her tiny, well-trimmed paws. Even the biggest dog hater would have to admit that she was absolutely adorable, and Elena was not that.

  Her full name was to be Lady Georgina Robertson the Third. It was perfectly pretentious enough for this beautiful dog and had easy nickname potential. Plus, it was the name that Cora had always said she would name her first dog. Elena had never been able to figure out where the Third part came from, but she rolled with it. The evening had gone beautifully so far and she couldn’t wait to see the surprise on Cora’s face when she met her.

  “Hey, sweetie,” Elena said, smiling softly at the small dog in her crate. She really was cute.

  Her ears lifted slightly, and her tail wagged, as if she knew what Elena was thinking. That, or she saw the leash in her hand. Elena suspected it was a mix of the two.

  “Are you ready to meet your Mama, my lady?”

  That got her tail wagging for real, and Elena grinned. Georgina let Elena clip the thin red leash to the small holly-patterned harness Luís had bought her on a whim. She looked very festive. All she needed was a little bow, and she’d look just like a Christmas present.

  Luckily, Elena was prepared. She tied Luís’s other purchase - a ribbon - into a bow around her neck like a collar, straightening it so that the large bowl was at the back of her head and so that the loops did not touch her ears.

  Luís had mentioned that she hadn’t liked it when the groomer’s messed with them, and Elena didn’t want her to be any more uncomfortable than she had to be, especially with so many people around.

  Elena took a deep breath to fortify herself for the excitement and noise that she knew was coming and opened the door. The hinge squeaked, announcing their presence as they walked out.

  Georgina padded ahead of her into the hallway, making barely any sound on the hardwood floors. Cora’s mother leaned against the living room’s arched doorway. She was the first to notice the new addition to the household, her pink lips forming an ‘oh’ of surprise.

  Elena pressed a finger to her lips, hoping that Victoria wouldn’t spoil the moment. She was as big a fan of small dogs as her daughter was, and tended to be a little bit more dramatic than necessary.

  “Get Cora,” Elena mouthed as noiselessly as possible. Victoria nodded, and waved to get her daughter’s attention.

  “Darling, there’s something you should see out here!” she called. Lady Georgina, apparently sensing the moment, sat between Elena’s feet. Her short tail swished back and forth between her ankles happily while they waited for Cora to climb out of the press of people.

  Elena heard Cora ask Victoria what she wanted, and saw Victoria gesture to where she stood. Cora turned and nearly screamed with joy.

  “Oh my God,” she yelped. “Oh my God!”

  Her mom shushed her, and Cora knelt on the ground.

  “Hi, sweetie.”

  She used a soothing tone, and Lady Georgina reacted to it, walking forward quickly to sniff her face and hands. The dog jumped up, her paws connecting with Cora’s shoulders. She giggled, then coughed.

  “Tongue in my mouth!” she laughed. “What’s your name, sweet lady?”

  Her mom’s eyes were wide, and she had to laugh loudly when Elena said the name out loud.

  “It’s the perfect name,” she said between laughs. “she looks so prim and proper! Oh, Hugh, you've gotta see this!”

  Cora’s dad poked his head out of the doorway, and his face split into a wide grin at the sight of his daughter kneeling in front of a dog who was very excitedly licking her face.

  “Well,
Vic, it looks like we became grandparents a little earlier than planned.”

  He boomed a laugh into the hall, which got Elena’s family’s attention. Elena pulled lightly on Lady Georgina’s leash, just enough to get her off of Cora’s shoulders. She worried slightly that the dog would be freaked out by the kids and accidentally bite someone out of fright.

  “Papa, there’s a doggie!” Sofía announced once she made it into the hallway with us. “Can I pet it?”

  “I don’t think she’s ready to be petted yet, mi vida. She needs to get used to Tía Cora and Elena first, okay? But you can wave to her!”

  Sofía accepted this, waving furiously at the little white dog. David followed her lead, waving so hard he nearly fell over. Cora’s gaze lingered on Lady Georgina and Elena smiled at how happy she looked.

  She rose from the floor, her knees creaking as she did so. She made her way towards Elena, who caught the full force of her loving gaze. It took her breath away.

  She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and pressed a soft, wet kiss to her cheek.

  “Thank you for being my best family,” Cora whispered in her ear. “And for expanding it to include the sweetest little dog.”

  CORA

  Elena’s brothers set up a baby gate that was left over from Sophia and David’s younger days to keep the dog out of the kitchen and living room while the kids were in the house.

  None of them wanted her to get into any of the Christmas presents or the Tupperware that were still sitting on the counters in the kitchen, but they didn’t want her to be locked in her crate, either. It was a good compromise that allowed her to explore the house while everyone else did Christmas things and avoided stressing her out before she had a chance to get used to her new environment.

  The families resettled into the living room, where the kids and María would be getting presents. They hadn’t intended on giving Elena’s mother one of her present early, but the children had insisted on giving their present to her early, too. Who were they to deny María a gift early when it would make the kid’s happy?