No way to stall it. This is only temporary. Not forever.
But her heart was beyond her, and she was steadily losing the battle.
The panic and fear that crept in at the oddest moments had threatened to overtake her mind, but she pushed it to the back of her mind with a strength of will she didn't know she possessed.
Distracting herself, she turned to the woman in front of her with a smile that was beginning to feel pasted on.
When the last box was gone, Michael proposed lunch, and she was glad for it.
Lunch was a noisy and boisterous affair, and she couldn't help but notice the seamless sense of family between the three of them. It was such a beautiful picture, so startling she had to turn away before the tears that lumped in her throat made an appearance.
“We need a tree,” Miranda crowed dragging both adults towards the shopping mall. Michael’s face had momentarily darkened before he smoothed it over with a smile, following Miranda. The moment was so fast she wondered if she had imagined it.
They went to an outdoor store that offered a selection of real trees. Miranda shot off like a bullet and left them wandering around the store looking for their daughter and a tree. A squeal from the far end of the store had both of them hurrying in the direction.
Trinity couldn’t breathe,what if a tree had fallen on her baby?Thoughts kept running through her head. There were too many variables, most of them unknown.
They got to the direction where Miranda was and saw her standing in front of the biggest tree in the store and a smile that rivalled the tree in size. When she saw them she came running, Trinity opened her arms in anticipation only to be shocked when her daughter ran into Michael’s arms instead. “Daddy, we’re getting that tree. It’s perfect.”
Michael nodded in response and admonished her for running off without them. Miranda apologized quickly and said, “Thank you Daddy, I love you so much.” Miranda’s smile could rival anyone’s. Trinity’s heart squeezed and she knew that her daughter had fallen and so had she. She also realized that Michael would one day make a wonderful father to his children. Tears threatened to bubble to the surface when she imagined another woman having his children.
She blinked before she turned back with a smile on her face, determined to enjoy the day.
She wasn’t going to begrudge her daughter or herself a little happiness. They spent the rest of the afternoon buying decorations for their tree.
???
They took the tree home and Celia’s eyes were bulging out of the socket. Trinity wondered about that because very few things surprised the older woman but got her answer when said older woman took her aside and asked, “How in God’s name did you get that boy to buy a Christmas tree? He has refused to buy a tree or even decorate this place during the holidays.”
Trinity was surprised, “I didn’t do a thing. Miranda wanted it.”
Celia laughed appreciatively, “After years and years of hating Christmas, your little girl bats her lashes and he falls over trying to please her. I love it.”
?MICHAEL?
Serendipity.
That was the elusive feeling he had lost so long ago, lost at an age that was too tender, forcing him to grow up too fast. And suddenly, he was feeling it again. It was a feeling of home.
It was taking all of him not to just let go and enjoy it.
He had fought that phantom wave long enough until he decided to go with the flow. He could enjoy it now, because he wasn’t going to have it forever.
He loved breakfast with his family, and he enjoyed their company. The spontaneous hugs Miranda gave warmed his heart, and the looks Trinity gave him also warmed him all over.
He had begun to delegate work more and more, making sure he had time to eat breakfast and dinner with them, even shifting his in-office times so that he could be the one to pick up Miranda from school in the afternoons.
He loved spending time with his Miranda’s mother, who he suspected was putting a bit of distance between them.
It only made him want her even more.
Different, in every way and better for it, he could not have chosen a better woman to marry. Of course, the expiration of their marriage weighed heavily on his mind. But anytime he started to think about it, he shoved it to the back of his mind.
He was more interested in the here and now. What was happening between them was explosive for lack of a better word.
Thanksgiving rolled around and Celia had the chef cook them a feast for days before she took her time off. They were the only ones in the house and Michael loved it, he had all the privacy he needed. His grandfather had decided to go on a last minute cruise and he did miss the old man, since it was just the two of them in the past.
They sat at the dinner table and Trinity looked at the table appreciatively, “Celia outdid herself this time.” He couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
