When I returned, she led me to her bedroom. In the corner of her room, she had a small artificial Christmas tree with a few ornaments on it. It couldn't have been more than three feet tall and would easily fit in the back seat of my truck.
“I know it’s silly, but this is the only tree I’ve ever had and I don’t want to spend Christmas without it,” she explained, looking embarrassed.
“Baby, it’s not silly. Do you have a garbage bag we can slide over it so the ornaments won’t get broken if they come off while we’re moving it?”
Once the ornaments were secured, we loaded her tree and drove back to my house. Annabelle was unusually quiet during the ride, but she did hold my hand the entire way. I wasn’t sure if she was still feeling embarrassed about her tree or if it had something to do with her parents. Either way, I thought it was best to give her time to work through her feelings. I knew she would talk to me about it when she was ready.
When we pulled into the driveway, I told her, “Go on inside. Gram’s in the kitchen making goodies. I’ll take your things inside and put them in the room you stayed in last time.”
“Thanks, Phoenix,” she whispered and kissed my cheek before getting out and going inside.
As I carefully carried her tree up the stairs, I vowed then and there to do everything I could to make her Christmas special. I had a feeling it was something her parents had never bothered to do for her.
CHAPTER FIVE
Annabelle
I nervously entered the kitchen to find Phoenix’s grandmother flitting around from mixing bowl to mixing bowl. “Hi, Gram,” I said softly.
She whirled around with a bright smile on her face. “Annabelle, my dear, want to help me with the Christmas goodies?”
I returned her smile. “I’m not sure how much help I will be. I don’t have much experience with baking, but I’m willing to try.”
She waved her hand in the air dismissively. “There’s nothing to it. I’ll show you everything you need to know.”
And she did. I spent the next few hours in the kitchen making everything from basic sugar cookies to some fancy chocolate covered truffle I had never heard of.
“Are you planning on feeding an army with all of this?” I asked. There wasn’t an inch of counter space that didn’t have a container full of treats covering it by the time we were finished.
Gram laughed. “Sort of. Tomorrow, we’re driving up to Devil Springs to see Tommy’s brother and his family. He started a motorcycle club there years ago and I always make treats for the members. Some of them have their own family, but a lot of them don’t and I like to make sure they feel included in the festivities.”
I wasn’t sure what to say and Gram must have thought my silence was due to being scared of the motorcycle club. “Don’t you worry about a thing, dear. Those men may look rough and tough, but they’re all a bunch a big teddy bears. I hope you brought an extra change of clothes with you. We usually spend the night at the clubhouse and drive home the next day.”
“I did, but Phoenix only mentioned me spending the night tonight.”
Gram chuckled. “What exactly did he say?”
“That I was spending Christmas with you all.”
“Exactly. Christmas is a three day event in this family. Why don’t you see if you can round up Phoenix? I’ll have dinner ready in about 45 minutes.”
I found Phoenix in his bedroom. When I knocked on his open door, he yanked a blanket over something and quickly stood in front of it. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to wrap your present. Go away.”
I laughed. “If you were so worried about it, you should have closed the door.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, well, I thought you would still be in the kitchen with Gram. I didn’t know it would be this hard to wrap a present.”
“You’ve never wrapped a present before?”
He shook his head. “No, I haven’t. Gram wraps Pop’s for me and Pop wraps Gram’s. My mom and dad used to do the same before they died.”
“Okay, I’ll leave you to it. Gram said dinner would be ready in about 45 minutes. I’m going to wash this flour off and change clothes.”
After dinner, Gram ushered us into the living room to open presents. “When Phoenix was little, we used to open presents in the morning, but now that he’s older, we exchange our gifts on Christmas Eve so we can leave for Devil Springs right after breakfast,” she explained and headed for the tree.
Pop started a fire in the fireplace while Gram passed out presents. I was beyond amazed at the pile of gifts in front of me. It was too much. As if reading my mind, Gram said, “I know what you’re thinking, dear. Tommy and I have been blessed with more than enough to live out the rest of our days comfortably. It brings me great joy to share our good fortune with others. Merry Christmas, sweetheart.”
