All I Want for Christmas

by Jenn Faulk

“Concerns about what?” Edie asked, preparing herself for it.

  “About the lights on the parsonage.”

  The lights. Edie’s lights. She’d been so excited about having a house and having a real paycheck that she went out long before the season and bought lights for the yard. Used up all but a little bit of that paycheck (it wasn’t as much in reality as it had seemed to be in theory, back when they’d first gotten to the church), but she’d been excited anyway.

  “What’s wrong with my tasteful light display?” she asked, irritated yet again.

  “Well, the concerns were not about the lights themselves,” Tate said. “More about the giant inflatable Elvis.”

  What was a Christmas scene without a giant inflatable Elvis?

  “And the Elvis music piped in and blaring out to the neighborhood between seven and nine each night,” Tate concluded.

  Well, then.

  “I would hardly consider it blaring, and besides, that’s Elvis’s gospel album,” Edie said, aghast at this. “He won a Grammy for that!”

  “Yes, well, there were some concerns about it all that a church member was hearing from another church member –”

  “Gossip!” Edie said, unable to keep from blurting it out. “Gossip! And nosing into our lives!” She looked out the blinds over the sink. “Are they watching us now?! Are they always watching us?!”

  “Could be,” Tate shrugged. “Our mission field –”

  “Getting all wrapped up in things that don’t matter,” she said.

  “And ready to run us out because of a little inflatable Elvis –”

  “A giant inflatable Elvis,” Tate corrected.

  “Since when has Elvis ever hurt anyone?!” Edie bellowed, no longer caring if anyone could hear her.

  “Exactly,” Tate said, sighing mightily. “Edie, I was just letting you know. Because there’s a group at the church…”

  That would run him out of town. That didn’t like that he preached scripture. That didn’t like that he was faithful to the word of God, the very word that called them out in their sins.

  There was a group at the church that didn’t like the Andersons and would eventually come after them one day.

  Oh, she felt woozy at the thought.

  “But that’s not for us to worry about today,” Tate said, reaching out for her now. “I just wanted to tell you in case someone says something tomorrow at church.”

  “Do you want me to take down my Christmas lights?” she asked weakly, not wanting to make things worse for him, frustrated that she even had to say this.

  “No, leave them up,” he said, smiling now. “We’re fine.”

  They weren’t fine. She wasn’t fine. And she was irritated again that he was glossing over it all, even after telling her that things were perfect. He was still attempting to go on as though life wasn’t completely and hopelessly stressful every day of their lives –

  “Are we okay?” Tate asked softly, lowering his voice so that he was certain they wouldn’t be overheard. “Me and you. Apart from the church. And everything going on at the church. Me and you. Are we okay?”

  No. Not really. They weren’t as okay as Edie had thought they were before this day and all the questions she was grappling with now.

  But they would be okay. She knew this.

  Right?

  “We’re fine,” she said, patting his hand, knowing that now wasn’t the time for any of it. They needed levity. So badly. “But I think we’d be even better if I could open whatever incredible gift you bought me for Christmas. I mean, I really feel like I deserve it this year.”

  This seemed to help, as Tate grinned at her.

  “Then let’s get everyone together and start opening them all up, huh?”

  ~Lucy~

  Christmas had taken on a whole new meaning.

  Sure, she was stressed at the thought of all the new transitions ahead of her in the new year, and she was just a little panicked as she thought through all the details up ahead.

  But more overwhelming than any of that was a sense of joy and wonder.

  They were having another baby.

  The feeling and the excitement was helped along as everyone gathered back in the living room in the parsonage, Tate included, to open gifts together.

  There was still tension there with Edie and Tate – anyone could see that – but the two seemed to have called some sort of truce.

  And then, there was the present that Tate placed onto Edie’s lap, which made the tension slip away even further.

  “I have high expectations,” she said to him as she studied the box with a grin. “I know whatever this is will wow me, right?”

  “Well, remember that we live on a pastor’s salary,” he said. “Supplemented by a teacher’s salary.”

  “Which means we’re poor,” Edie answered. “But that’s never stopped us from being happy before.”

  What a gift that was, Lucy thought, looking over at Jude, all of her worries about what was ahead in all of these practical areas waning away just a little bit more.

  “And,” Edie continued as she began unwrapping the box, “being poor has never stopped you from being totally and completely thoughtful.”

  “Well, I do my best,” Tate said, watching with apparent eagerness as Bethany helped Edie tear the rest of the paper off. They all watched as Edie opened up the box and lifted out a blanket.

  A baby blanket, all in blue and white, with tiny puppies embroidered throughout the pattern, with stitching in the corner, a name…

  “Read it out loud, Edie,” Tate said.

  “Elvis Aaron Anderson,” Edie read. Then, with a gasp, “Elvis?! Really?!”

  “It is the perfect name, after all,” Tate laughed as she beamed at him.

  “Elvis?” Hannah asked. “You’re really going to name the baby Elvis?”

  “Was there any doubt?” Tate said, as Edie reached out to pull him close and kiss him.

  “Elvis,” Lucy said thoughtfully, unable to keep from smiling at the joy in Edie’s eyes as she held the blanket up for them all to see. “Oh, and those puppies are…”

  “Hound dogs!” Edie laughed out loud. “Elvis is going to love them!”

  Probably not half as much as Edie herself was already enjoying them, holding the blanket down now so she and Bethany could both count each and every last hound dog, laughing together as they did so.

  Happiness. And joy. Maybe Tate would be okay after all. He had Edie and Elvis now. His own family. He wouldn’t need Lucy…

  “Oh, Hannah, I almost forgot!” Edie exclaimed, looking up from her treasure with a smile. “There’s a gift for you from Owen.”

  “Owen?” Hannah asked, surprised. “What do you mean, there’s a gift for me from Owen?”

  “He sent it to me last week,” Edie said. “Mailed it out here because he knew you’d be here for Christmas. Wanted to make sure you got it on Christmas, which I thought was totally sweet.”

  “That is sweet,” Lucy said. “Shows he’s thinking about you today, most definitely.”

  “One would hope, right, Hannah?” Edie asked. “Tate, it’s at the back of the tree.”

  Tate went back to get it and popped up a few seconds later with a brown box with Edie’s name and address scrawled across the front, alongside a post office label.

  Lucy knew a thing or two about post office labels, given all the packages they’d sent to and received from Namibia, and she could tell, even from across the living room, that this particular package was heavily insured.

  Her eyes widened, just as Hannah’s did, as Tate put it into her lap.

  Hannah was thinking the same thing Lucy was then as their eyes met.

  “What?” Edie asked. “What’s up with the two of you?”

  “This is insured,” Hannah said. “Edie, was Owen particularly nervous about mailing this?”

  “Yeah, come to think of it,” Edie said absently. “He said it was something pretty valuable, and it –”

  Then, she gas
ped so loudly that Bethany jumped a little from the spot where she’d settled in on the floor to play with some of her new toys.

  “Hannah,” Edie hissed. “Do you think it’s…”

  “It’s not very heavy,” Hannah said, and Lucy could hear the shakiness in her voice. “Really lightweight.”

  “It’s a ring!!!” Edie yelled.

  “Why would he mail a ring?” Hannah said.

  “Because he wants to marry you!” Edie kept on.

  “And that’s probably very true, that he wants to marry her,” Lucy cut in. “But wouldn’t he want to be here in person to give it to her? To propose?”

  Logically, yes.

  But still, Lucy found herself holding her breath every bit as much as Hannah and Edie were as Hannah carefully opened up the box.

  And stared.

  Lucy leaned forward as far as she could, seeing Edie do the same out of the corner of her eye, both of them trying to see what it was that Owen had sent to Hannah, what it was that she was staring at so intently –

  “What is this?” Hannah asked, finally, mercifully lifting a box out of the box.

  Lucy narrowed her eyes, unsure what that thing was –

  “Whoa!” Tate erupted, laughing out loud. “Hannah, that’s the new Flexa!”

  “Flexa?” Hannah asked, looking at the box as though it contained something poisonous.

  “Yeah,” Jude piped in, just as excited as Tate now. “It’s the newest model, with more power and capability than the last generation.”

  “That,” Tate said, pointing at it, “is the best tech gift out this year. Lightweight, three times as powerful as its predecessors, and totally at the top of everyone’s Christmas list. You won Christmas, Hannah!”

  Hannah still stared at it, as befuddled as Lucy as to what exactly any of this meant.

  Edie asked what all the women were thinking. “What is it, though?”

  “It’s a Flexa!” Tate said.

  Before Edie could repeat herself (because they still had no idea what it was), Jude cut in.

  “It’s one of these smart home devices,” he said. “You can ask Flexa questions, and she gives you answers. Tells you the weather, tells you news, keeps your calendar for you. You can even sync Flexa into your thermostat, your oven, your lights – she can do it all. It’s like having your own personal genius assistant. Another woman in your house, keeping everything organized and efficient.”

  “Just exactly what I always wanted,” Hannah said. “Another woman in my life.” She looked to Edie, a hint of irritation in her eyes. “Or maybe that’s what Owen wanted. Because this gift…”

  “Is dumb?” Edie asked. “Yes, most normal women would have issue with this, Hannah, and would leave him to find another woman. But you’re better than that.”

  Lucy wasn’t sure if Hannah was, given the look on her face as she looked back down at her Flexa.

  “I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say that this doesn’t define your relationship and that clueless Owen just had a lapse of judgment when he went Christmas shopping this year,” Edie said.

  “I don’t know about a lapse of judgment,” Tate said, sitting back in his chair now. “Because that’s a great gift. If I was single, I’d probably date him just for gifts like that.”

  Hannah watched him for a long moment, then put the Flexa back in the box.

  “Well, then, way to go, Owen,” she said.

  “Really, Tate?” Edie asked, staring at her husband. “You think that was the best thing Owen could have done for Hannah this year? That after months of dating, all she wanted was some other chick yelling the weather stats at her on demand?”

  Lucy could see Hannah growing uncomfortable as the attention continued to linger on her. Uncomfortable and hurt, as she probably should be, as she’d obviously been expecting something very different from this Christmas.

  But Edie and Tate were oblivious.

  “I think Owen got her a very thoughtful gift,” he said. “So thoughtful, in fact, that it makes me wish that he and Hannah were up here all the time so we could hang out.”

  “So you could date him, like you just said?” Edie asked.

  “No,” Tate said, shaking his head. “We just seem to think alike. And I know it’s been great for you having Hannah here to talk with and share some of your frustration with…”

  Lucy took note of this, of the tone in Tate’s voice. Tired, just a tiny bit frustrated…

  More of the church, of the pressure there…

  … but then, he smiled, like everything was okay. Or that he was trying so desperately to make it appear as though it was.

  And there was Edie, the tension coming off of her in waves that were so palpable that everyone in the room could feel her frustration rising.

  Lucy needed to do something to make this all less tense. Maybe this was the best time for her and Jude to share their news. They’d already called their parents, told Bethany…

  Maybe saying something about it all right now would alleviate the tension here.

  “Well, we have a gift to share with you all,” Lucy said, thankful when all the eyes in the room turned to her, that Edie and Tate were no longer trading words back and forth that hinted at their unhappiness.

  She looked to Jude, nodding, glad for him to get to make this announcement.

  “We’re having another baby,” Jude said, grinning widely, his fingers laced through Lucy’s. “We just called Grandpa and Opa in Namibia, and they’re very, very excited, as you would imagine.”

  And that changed the tone in the room as Edie clapped her hands out loud, Hannah smiled so warmly, and Tate sat forward in his chair, his eyes on Lucy.

  “Who wouldn’t be excited about another baby?” Edie asked, practically gushing.

  “Especially this one,” Lucy said, really excited about it, now that she’d had time to process it all. And in her excitement, she didn’t think over her words too carefully, saying way too much in the process. “Since we’ll have this one in Namibia.”

  And after the words had left her mouth, she realized what she’d just revealed.

  Namibia. They’d have this baby in Namibia.

  She knew everyone could easily make the connection with what she’d said and what it meant.

  She was going to leave the US and go to Namibia.

  Oh, Tate.

  She could see the news hit him, the surprise in his eyes.

  “Wait… what?” Edie asked, confused. “What do you mean you’ll have this one in Namibia?”

  Lucy bit her lip, feeling her eyes fill with tears, not unlike they did when her dad told her and Jude that he was moving there.

  Just too many memories here, he’d said to them. And your mom, Lucy… she wanted me to go back there. To keep on living.

  Why had his next chapter taken her and Tate out of his story altogether? She’d never gotten over it. Not really.

  And now… now she was doing the same thing to Tate.

  She couldn’t manage the words as she watched her brother, as the same realization hit him, likely the same memories. Of loss, of losing both parents –

  “We’re moving to Namibia,” Jude said quietly, Lucy’s hand still in his. “We’re going home.”

  “Home?” Tate asked, and there was an edge to his voice. Slight but Lucy could hear it. So could Edie, judging by the look of concern she shot her husband’s way. “When?”

  “Um,” Lucy said, wiping at her eyes now, “just as soon as we can get all of our paperwork together. My paperwork, for citizenship.”

  “Citizenship?” Tate asked. “So… this is permanent?”

  Likely. Yes.

  Lucy couldn’t manage the words.

  “You’re leaving for good, just like Dad did,” Tate said softly. “Just like he did after Mom…”

  The words broke Lucy’s heart. It was just like that. Sure, their father had waited a year, had made sure they were both okay, had watched as they’d moved on with their lives, but still…
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  “Tate, I’m sorry,” she murmured, unable to hold back her tears now. “I’m so sorry…”

  “You know what,” Tate said, standing to his feet, looking so much older than he ever had before, so tired. “It’s… whatever, Lucy. Life is pretty crappy around here, if you haven’t already guessed. It’s a mess. And Edie and I are all by ourselves in it. No one to talk to about it. No one who really gets it. And with you here… I thought maybe it might be different, at least for a while. But you’re leaving. I shouldn’t be surprised, huh? Everyone always leaves eventually. I don’t know why I expected it to be any different with you.”

  No. No, this was worse than what she’d expected. Worse than what Jude had assured her wouldn’t happen – that Tate would be upset.

  Tate wasn’t upset. He was angry.

  “Tate,” Edie said, alarmed by the words he’d just said and the way he was watching Lucy now, frowning, obvious tension in his body as he stared her down.

  “I just… I need to clear my head, huh?” he said, striding past them all.

  Edie stood to her feet as well. “Tate!”

  And before anyone could stop him, Tate walked out of the living room, opened the front door, and began walking away.

  ~Hannah~

  Edie had enough drama of her own to deal with, without Hannah burdening her with any more.

  Though goodness knows that Hannah could. She could totally go off on someone – anyone – right now about gifts and disappointment and boyfriends who got presents and shipped them off, not even caring to be here in person to see them opened.

  Did Owen know that Hannah would be less than impressed with this gift? That she had no tech sense about her anyway and wouldn’t appreciate or even want this doo-dad that he’d given her?

  A Flexa. Whatever that was.

  No, the more critical questions rushing through Hannah’s mind were on all the implications in play when your boyfriend would spend so much money on something so ridiculous when you’d been so patient about finances being tight, only occasionally praying that he was saving for an engagement ring –

  There was so much drama in this whole situation, but Edie didn’t need to hear Hannah vent about any of it because she had way too much drama on her hands already.