I was glad to have this time together. Even though he was working, his job was so much less stressful than it had been when he was in the office. Without people constantly coming to his desk asking questions, he was able to get most of it done in record time.
It had been great having his family here, but it was also exhausting. His mother was the walking embodiment of the Christmas spirit. She pretty much took over when she came, and that was fine. Thankfully, we did manage to get a turkey that met her standards from a local farmer, but she did all the cooking, decided what activities we were going to do and when, and had control of the playlist: 24/7 Christmas music.
Looking back, I could see where Pax got some of his daddy traits because she was…something. I loved her, but I did not want to get on her bad side. Twice, she mentioned how his brother wasn’t there one Christmas. Surprisingly, she never mentioned that Pax and I weren’t there last Christmas, so I took that as a sign I was fully accepted. Either that, or Pax told her she better not say a word about it.
Pax and I had invested in snowshoes for the resort, and his family and I spent a lot of time snowshoeing on Christmas afternoon. It was fun exploring the land that way. His fatherknew a lot about the different trees and wildlife, so when we saw a footprint or scat, he was quick to tell us everything we could ever want to know about it.
As great as it was to see them come, seeing them go was just as sweet.
Tomorrow, we were celebrating our Christmas, just the two of us. Today was for cleaning. They didn’t leave a mess, but they also didn’t put everything back where it belonged.
We kept my favorite room locked for the duration of their stay. When my brother-in-law asked what we used it for, we called it the storage room for retreat supplies. A lie. It was my little room, the one Daddy paid for me this fall.
I had been so surprised when he put it at the top of our list because we already had a to-do list a thousand miles long. He insisted that after he saw me in the little room, he knew I needed one for myself, and he was right. What a difference having that space made.
I went in there just to relax or to play with Daddy, and he even set up a small table so I could eat my chicken nuggies there while watching cartoons with the wall projector he installed. And, of course, there was lots of coloring and a bulletin board that held it all. We were at the point now where every time a new piece went up, an old one had to come down, but Daddy found really cool frames where he could stack the pictures, so they could be swapped out as needed. Problem solved.
“Okay, out.” Daddy stood in the entrance of my little room, his finger pointing toward the hallway.
“Why, Daddy?”
“Because you’re just airing the place out, and I have things to do in here—things that a little boy the day before Christmas should not be seeing.”
I left, pretending to be grumbly about it. I loved surprises, and the time from knowing that one was coming to the time I got it, was the best feeling.
“Fine. I’m going into the woodshed to stack the wood we just had delivered.” It came right before his family did and was still waiting to be moved.
“I can do that,” he said.
“Surprises are more important.” I walked out, loving the sound of his soft chuckle.
The next morning was Christmas, though I wouldn’t exactly call the time I woke up “morning.” It was 4:30 a.m., and I was wide awake. “Daddy’s sleeping,” I whispered to Oscar. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t trying to wake him up a little bit. I knew he worked hard, and we should go back to sleep, but Christmas.
His arms snaked around me and pulled me to him. “You can wake up with the sun.”
“The sun? It doesn’t get light here until 7:30 now. Maybe 8:00. No way!”
“Does my sweet boy want his Christmas surprise?”
And that right there was the winning argument.
I bobbed my head up and down very fast.
“Fine, then back to sleep,” Daddy said. I circled back into his embrace and closed my eyes, thinking I’d never fall asleep. How wrong I was.
I woke again when Daddy was pulling his arm pillow out from under me. The sunlight was gleaming into the room. “I’m going to take a shower and start a tubby for you.”
My surprise was going to take forever, but also…tubby, so I didn’t complain too much. When he came back to get me, the tub was filled, and there was a green-and-red bath bomb on the side of it.
I looked down at my ring he’d hidden in one, loving it so much.
We had talked about getting married a few times and decided we would at some point, but more for his family’s sake because, to them, it was really important. To us, we already had a business together, a home together, a life together. We were committed. Marriage between us wasn’t even legal when we were growing up, and part of that put a slight bad taste in our mouths. But there was also the side where it gave us this edge, to be like, “See? You can’t keep us down.” So that’s where we left it.
I got ready for the tub and knelt in front of it, the bath bomb in my hand. “It’s huge, Daddy!”
“It’s a special one. For Christmas.”
“Can I?”
