Merry's Christmas: A Love Story (13 page)

Joan turned from her pottery students.
“Sure, we were....” Joan immediately read the distress on Merry’s face. “Merry,
what’s wrong?”

The quiver on Merry’s lips quickly gave
way to open sobs. Joan rushed to her side. “Baby, what is it?”

“He’s buying the china!” Merry blurted,
tears coursing down her cheeks.

Joan embraced Merry, patting her back as
she wept. The women in Joan’s class couldn’t help but notice, so Joan attempted
an explanation.

“She’s a purist.”

With that, Joan guided Merry out back.
She grabbed a wad of tissue along the way and handed it to Merry. “There you
go.”

Merry wiped her face. She blew her
reddened nose. “Thanks for letting me come here. I didn’t know where else to—”

“You can come here anytime,” Joan
assured.

“No matter what dishes he buys?”

“No matter what,” Joan replied. “Always.
You hear me?”

Merry stepped away, out of the class’s
earshot. “I really thought we were connecting, but I...I must have read him all
wrong,” she rued. “Guess I just got caught up in this ridiculous hope that he
could actually love me, that I could somehow be part of this family.”

Joan took Merry’s face in her hands and
looked her square in the eyes. “You
are
part of this family,” she
insisted. “Just a couple of weeks and... Look at this.” Joan showed Merry a
shelf of freshly thrown plates, drying on a nearby rack.

Merry looked on, amazed. “You made
those?”

“That’s right. I made them because of
you,” Joan replied. “And there’s a piece of you in every one they’ll eat off,
every single Christmas from now on. China or no china, Merry, you’ve already
put your fingerprints all over us.”

The faintest kind of hope broke through
Merry’s tears. “I have?”

Joan nodded. “We’ve needed you, Merry. We
still need you. Whether my blind-as-a-bat son can see it or not.”

♥    ♥    ♥

Later that
afternoon, Tara and Ollie led a blindfolded Merry up the attic stairs.

“Are you taking me where I think you’re
taking me?” Merry inquired.

Ollie replied in his deepest
belly-shaking voice. “Ho, ho, ho! Might be someplace secret!”

Tara whipped around to her brother.
“Shhh! Hayden will hear.”

Feeling her way toward the landing at the
top, Merry tripped, and then righted herself.

Ceremoniously, Tara reached to untie
Merry’s blindfold. “And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for,” Tara
announced with a signal to Ollie. “Cue the silent drum roll.”

Ollie beat his leg like an imaginary
drum, then hit an air cymbal. “Ching!”

Tara adopted a dramatic air,
“Presenting...” Then she ripped off Merry’s blindfold and flicked on the
lights.

Merry scanned the completely redecorated
attic, agape. Tara had done absolute wonders. “It’s like...a Christmas
miracle!” Merry exclaimed.

Tara shrugged with wry confidence. “Not
exactly my taste, but I think the cave-dweller will like it.”

That evening, the Bells served up dinner
off the stove as Merry gathered her things to head to the diner for a couple of
hours work.

Joan ladled a hearty chili into the
family’s waiting bowls. “You sure you can’t stay, Merry?”

“Gramma made brownies for dessert,” Ollie
enthused.

“Come on, Merry. Stay,” Tara coaxed. “Why
not?”

Daniel picked up an extra bowl and
offered it to Merry. “Please. There’s plenty.”

Merry put up a polite hand of refusal.
Staying for dinner would be too hard for her on this particular night. “Thanks,
but Friday nights are busy at the diner and I promised Arthur—”

“Ooh, Arthur,” Hayden teased. “Who is
this Arthur?”

Merry shook her head, “Oh, no. No, no.
He’s...”

Merry could feel Daniel watching as she
exchanged an awkward glance with Joan. Tara gave Ollie an “
I dunno
”
shrug.

Daniel smiled inquisitively, “Merry, have
you been keeping something from us? Mom, what do you know?”

Feigning sincerity, Hayden pretended to
swoon. “Is he super-duper dreamy?”

“No, really,” Merry defended. “He’s just
my other boss.”

“Oooh...workplace romance,” Hayden toyed.
“Scandalous!”

“Guys!” Merry blurted. “I’m not
interested in Arthur.”

A hopeful look crossed Ollie’s face. “So,
who are you interested in?”

Suddenly, the teasing stopped as everyone
waited for an answer to Ollie’s question. Merry shot a panicky look at Joan as
Tara smacked Ollie upside the head.

Joan grabbed some tongs, “Ollie, dear,
don’t you want some salad?”

Grateful for the reprieve, Merry backed
toward the door. “You know what? I’m just going to go. But I will see you all
bright and early, dressed and ready for a little hunting expedition. You, too,
Daniel. Remember, this is a whole family deal.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Daniel replied. “I
invited Catherine, too. I hope that’s okay.”

Merry polled the family’s faces. Hayden
rolled her eyes. Tara grimaced. Ollie gagged. Even Joan’s expression was
lackluster. With everything she had, Merry willed herself to muster support.
“As they say, the more the merrier.”

Daniel turned to his kids. “I know you’re
all just getting to know Catherine, but give it a little time,” he assured.
“She’ll fit right in.”

When it had rained overnight, Merry had
been a little concerned about the outing she’d planned, but the showers had
given way to the brightest of blue skies by Saturday morning. How long it had
been since the family had gone anywhere together, Merry didn’t know, but from
the sounds of things, it seemed as if it’d been a very long while. At any rate,
there was no shortage of animated chatter in the Range Rover as Daniel drove
them out of town to their destination: a large hillside Christmas tree farm.

As soon as Daniel parked, the Bell clan
burst out of the auto and onto the softened sandy road by the farm’s gate. Old
sneakers and hiking shoes hit the ground running. As Merry and the family set
out, Daniel circled the car and opened the passenger door for Catherine. He
offered her his hand as she stepped out onto the road, shod in high-heeled
calfskin boots.

Squish!

“Oh, my,” Catherine reacted as her
designer footprint sunk into the moist roadbed.

“Here. Take my arm,” Daniel offered.

Joan grabbed the photo op with her
camera. “Lovely boots, dear. You’ll have to tell me where you got them.”

As they started down the road, Merry and
Joan shared a knowing glance as Catherine attempted to keep up with the kids,
who were already heading toward the hillside tree farm. Daniel willingly
extended his arm for Catherine, but with each step, her slender heels sunk deep
into the soft dirt.

Catherine turned penitently to Daniel. “I
don’t know what I was thinking.”

Daniel offered his arm. “That’s quite all
right. Here. I’ll help you.”

Galloping ahead, Ollie called back to the
family. “Come on! Hurry!”

“Plenty of trees here, Ollie,” Daniel
called.

“Yeah, but we have to get the best one,”
Ollie reminded.

Feeling awful for Catherine, Merry sidled
up to her. “You can wear my boots if you want.”

Catherine took a gander at Merry’s thrift
store combat boots. “Oh, no. I couldn’t,” she demured.

“My socks are plenty thick,” Merry
explained. “I can just wear them and throw them in the wash later.”

Catherine waved Merry off. “No, no. You
go. Please.” Catherine turned to Daniel, clearly embarrassed. “I’m so sorry,
Daniel. Go on. Find something wonderful. I’ll wait here.”

Minus Catherine, the Bells happily tromped
up the tree-covered hillside. Merry conducted them in song as they hiked, her
voice ringing across the hillside:

O, Christmas
tree

O, Christmas
tree

How lovely
are thy branches

Ba-da-dee-da-dee-da-dee-dah

I do not
know the other words

“Everybody!” Merry called out, returning
to the familiar lyrics of the chorus. All the Bells joined in singing. Even
Hayden, a little:

O, Christmas
tree

O, Christmas
tree

How lovely
are thy branches

It was a wonderland of balsam and fir,
but Ollie’s eyes lit up, seeing a towering scotch pine. “Dad, look! Look!
That’s it!”

Daniel shielded his eyes from the sun as
he surveyed the sky-scraping selection. “Impressive, but we’d have to vault the
ceiling for that one.”

Suddenly, Tara stopped in her tracks.
“Oh, seriously. Everybody freeze!” Tara ordered. “There it is. That’s our tree.
It’s just like Mom used to get us.” Tara pointed joyfully to a lovely balsam
fir, fanning her brimming eyes. The family gazed at the tree with fond
recognition. Tara was right. In the best sort of way, it brought Amanda’s
memory into the season.

Moments later, Merry set up a family
photo around the Bell’s chosen tree. “Closer, everybody. You, too, Hayden.”

“I’m leaving space for you,” Hayden
explained.

“That’s okay. I’ll just take the picture,”
Merry replied.

Quickly, Joan called out. “Set the timer
and run over.”

Daniel motioned Merry over
enthusiastically. “Yeah. You should be in this, too.”

Shyly grateful to be included, Merry set
the timer. She dashed over as the family counted down.

“
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,
four, three, two.
..”

Merry slid into place, just in the nick
of time. Though the air was brisk, something in her melted inside as Daniel put
a hand on her shoulder and the camera snapped the shot.

Back at the foot of the hill, Merry stood
with Daniel as he settled up for their purchase. As soon as Merry saw the tree
farmer reach for a sprig of mistletoe, she saw it coming. She tried to wave the
farmer off, but before she could, he playfully dangled it over them.

“Should I throw in a little mistletoe for
you and the missus?” he teased.

Merry took an awkward step away.

Daniel quickly sputtered, “Oh, she’s
not...we’re not—”

“Just the tree is fine, thanks,” Merry
replied before wandering aside.

The tree farmer laughed heartily at his
gaffe. “She’s a honey, all right. The tree, that is. I’ll have her dug, bagged
up, and delivered by sundown tomorrow.”

Ollie pulled at Merry’s coat. “Aren’t we
going to chop it down?”

Merry leaned down to Ollie. “These trees
stay alive. We’ll plant it in the yard after, to grow, maybe tall as that other
one you spotted.”

As they all headed toward the car, Daniel
turned to Merry. “This is so much better than a cut tree lot. How’d you find
this place?”

Merry exchanged a grin with her
collaborator. “Actually, Hayden found it for me. On the Net. Her gift to the
family.”

Pleased, Daniel took a gander at his
melancholy baby. “Well, how about that. Getting into the swing of things after
all, aren’t you?”

Hayden shuffled along, chagrined. “Maybe
a little.”

Merry poked Hayden playfully. “There it
is, again. Blinding, that smile!”

Hayden broke into a snarky grin as Ollie
bounded ahead with glee. “Ho, ho, ho! Merrrrrrry Christmas!” he shouted.

As they headed down the dirt road to the
car, Joan and Merry brought up the rear. Joan threw an affectionate arm around
Merry’s shoulders. “You really are quite something,” Joan assured.

Merry walked arm-in-arm with Joan, all
the way to the car. Joan drew Merry especially close as Daniel greeted
Catherine. “You okay?” she whispered.

Merry nodded, then climbed into the back
seat. She realized that, despite her disappointment with Daniel, something very
meaningful had taken root with Joan. Never in all of her life had Merry felt so
cared for by an older woman. Joan was right. There was something very special
between them, a kinship that transcended the seasonal bounds of temporary jobs
or even blood relations.
Maybe this is what it feels like to be adopted,
Merry
thought.
Maybe this is what it’s like to
have a mother
.

ten