by Zoe Ann Wood
Iris could have hugged her. She busied herself with bringing Finn tea while her sister chatted with him. Iris took in the scene in front of her. It was as close to Christmas perfection as it could get, and a warm feeling washed through her at the sight.
Then the doorbell rang again.
Sam lifted her eyebrows at her. “Are you expecting anyone else?”
Iris shook her head. “No, it’s probably just the neighbors. Mrs. Patel said she’d be collecting donations for the animal shelter.” She grabbed her purse and walked out of the room. “I’ll only be a minute.”
She swung the door open and came face to face with her mother.
“Iris!” her mother exclaimed. “Here you are, darling.”
Iris’ father approached from behind her. “How nice to finally see your house.” He glanced down at the doormat that said ‘Hello, beautiful’ in a pretty cursive. “How quaint.”
Iris stood rooted to the spot. “Mom, Dad. What-what are you doing here?”
“You made it clear that you weren’t coming home for the holidays, so we decided to come to you,” her mother announced, peering over her shoulder. “Are you having company?”
Her voice changed with that last question, and she added a suggestive smile.
Iris’ stomach dropped. Finn. Somehow, her parents had gotten to him. Iris clenched her jaw and fought hard to keep a cool head. She would not let them ruin this evening for her.
“Yes, I’m having company. You came at a bad time.” She was proud of how calm she sounded, even though her cheeks were flaming and her heart thundered.
“Oh, don’t be stupid, Iris. We just saw Finn, he’ll be happy to see us.” Her father stepped forward as though to enter the house.
Iris refused to budge. “Really, I think you should leave.”
“Is this how you talk to your parents?” her mother hissed. “Shame on you.”
The door was suddenly wrenched wide, and Iris found Violet beside her.
“Oh. You’re here, too.” Her father drew back a step, his lips twisting in a sneer.
Violet stood tall, staring at them silently, and Iris had never been so proud of her big sister.
“Violet,” their mother said. “It’s…good to see you. Is your…ah…is Ravi here as well?”
“Her name is Chavvi,” Iris snapped. “And she’s Violet’s wife.”
Their father’s face contorted in disgust. “Wife,” he muttered angrily.
Violet’s lips were pale, but she didn’t flinch away from them. “Why are you here?”
“We came to see our daughter,” their father blustered. “Why shouldn’t we?”
“Didn’t it occur to you that Iris didn’t want you here? Given that she never gave you her address?” Violet asked.
“She’s just too stubborn.” Their mother waved a hand dismissively.
Iris’ temper finally boiled over. “No, Mom, I’m not stubborn. I don’t want you here because being your daughter means following your rules—and I’ve had enough of those, thanks. You haven’t spoken to Violet in years, and every time we talk, you try to bully me into visiting.”
Their mother’s eyes shone with tears. “It’s because I miss you.”
“Oh, spare me,” Iris spat. “You two only care about appearances. It doesn’t look good if your daughter doesn’t come home for the holidays, does it? How will you send out your picture-perfect photo greeting cards? What will the neighbors say?”
“You tell her, Iris!” their grandpa’s voice sounded from behind them.
Iris turned and took in her grandpa, who stood next to Chavvi—her face was pinched with worry, but she seemed ready to leap to Violet’s defense if necessary. Behind them was Finn, white as a sheet, his mouth pressed in a grim line. He met her eyes for a long moment, and she thought she saw remorse shining in them.
She would deal with him later.
She turned back to her parents. “We’re about to have dinner, so you’ll have to excuse us.”
“You’re really not going to invite us in?” her father demanded.
Iris stared at him, at the man who’d rejected one daughter so completely and tried his best to smother her own wishes and ambitions. “No, Dad. I’m not. Please don’t come to my house again. I have nothing to say to you.”
With that, she and Violet stepped back, and Iris closed the door on her mother’s outraged exclamation.
For a beat, she and Violet stared at each other. Her sister’s face was so similar to hers, and yet so different; her mouth was wider, and her eyes were blue rather than gray. Iris knew it as well as her own, though they hadn’t been as close in their adult years as Iris wished they could be.
Violet pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry this happened,” she whispered against Iris’ ear.
Iris shuddered and clutched her sister close. “I had no idea they would come here,” she said. “I didn’t want you to go through that.”
Violet released her hold on her and took her shoulders. “Hey, none of this is your fault.”
“I know, but I wish I could have done more.” She paused, fighting tears. “Not just now, but before. Back when…” She spread her arms in a helpless gesture. “Back when you had nowhere to turn.”
Violet caressed her cheek with the backs of her fingers. “You were a teenager, Iris. It wasn’t your place to help me. They were supposed to do that.” She pointed to the closed door.
“And they failed you.”
Iris tiptoed to the door and opened it a crack. Her parents got into a car down the road and drove away. She released a tense breath; she hadn’t been sure they would leave without a fight.
She shut the door again and leaned against it. Chavvi had come to hug Violet, and their grandpa was patting Vi on the back.
Iris’ gaze zeroed in on Finn. She walked toward him. “Would you like to explain how my parents came here?” she asked.
Finn squared his shoulders. “I don’t…” He trailed off and frowned. “Have they never visited you before?”
Iris stopped three feet in front of him so she didn’t have to stare up so much. “No, because I never gave them the address. It was to prevent situations like this one.”
He paled further, his face losing all color. “I’m sorry, they must have followed me.”
Sam stepped up next to Iris. “How would they have known to follow you?”
For a moment, Iris thought Finn might be sick. “I mentioned to my mother at lunch that I was going to see you. One of them must have overheard me.”
“You had lunch with my parents?” Iris demanded.
Finn nodded. “Yes. My parents had invited them, and I hadn’t had the time to…”
“Oh, of course. My parents, the perfect neighbors.” Iris couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice. “Did you discuss business with my father? Did you discuss me?”
“No, Iris, I wouldn’t…”
“You wouldn’t what, Finn?” she interrupted him. “Lead the people who threaten me and my friends straight to my house? Did you know they refuse to even see Chavvi? That Violet is no longer welcome at their house because she married the woman she loves?”
Her voice rose as she pointed behind her back at her sister.
Then a horrible thought occurred to her. “Oh wow, is this the surprise you mentioned earlier? You’re trying to reconcile us, aren’t you?”
Finn shook his head but didn’t answer. Silence reigned in the hall, uncomfortable and spiky.
Then Sam touched her shoulder and said, “Come on, guys, let’s give them a minute.”
She took Iris’ grandpa by the elbow and gently led him past Iris and Finn. Chavvi followed with a sympathetic grimace.
But Violet paused beside Iris. “Will you be okay?”
Iris clamped her teeth together and nodded. She didn’t trust herself to speak; she wanted to compose herself before she started crying. Her lovely idea of a Christmas feast was done for.
Finn stood very still, tension gripping his tall body. “Iris, I�
��m so sorry,” he said at last.
She nodded. “Yeah. I bet you are.”
“Is there anything I can do?” he asked, his expression so earnest.
Iris lifted her chin. “The only thing keeping my parents from intruding on my life was the fact that they didn’t exactly know how to get to me. I’m sure my father tried to find out, but I asked my lawyer to help me keep my name off the lease.” She looked him straight in the eyes. “That’s how I kept myself safe from their judgment and interference.”
Finn took a step forward. “Iris…”
She shook her head and retreated. She didn’t want his comfort, she didn’t want him to wrap his arms around her, no matter how good it would feel. Her mind already searched for solutions: How could she get them to leave her alone? Could one get a restraining order against her parents if they were being nasty and hurtful? Or did that take actual physical violence?
She put her hand up to stop Finn. “I think you should leave.”
His lips parted; there was so much emotion in his expression, Iris nearly broke down and hugged him. But he hadn’t taken her seriously when she’d told him about her toxic relationship with her parents.
“Iris, please. Let me fix this,” he said, his voice low and rough. “How do I fix it?”
“I don’t know.” Hugging her elbows, she tried to keep herself together for just a while longer. “I don’t think there’s anything you can do. So please.”
Jerking her chin, she indicated the door.
Finn’s jaw clenched. He stared at her, fire burning in his brown eyes. “I’ll help you. I’ll do everything I can to make you feel safe again, I promise.”
She wanted to believe him so badly. But her trust had been chipped away through the years, bit by bit, every time her parents acted in their own interest instead of putting her and Violet’s needs first.
“Merry Christmas, Finn,” she said.
For a panicked second, she thought he might try to kiss her, but he seemed to sense it would be the very worst thing to do. Instead, he gave her a curt nod and left, closing the door softly behind him.
Iris let out a shuddering exhale. She remained completely still, listening to his footsteps outside. She wished, hoped, he would turn back and take her in his arms, regardless of what she’d said, but he respected her wishes. A moment later, an engine started, and a car drove away. Silence descended on the street once more.
From the corner of her eye, Iris detected movement. Samantha stood on the threshold of the living room, her expression tense.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Iris nodded. Then her face crumpled, and she shook her head. “No,” she whispered.
“Oh, honey.”
Samantha was beside her in a flash, and she hugged her, whispering comforting nonsense into her hair while Iris sobbed. There was nothing more to say. Finn was gone, and this time, Iris knew, it was for good.
Sixteen
Finn
The drive home to Providence was miserable. It started to rain halfway through the trip, and it seemed that everyone and their mother had decided that December twenty-third was the day to travel. He didn’t even have to watch the road very carefully since they were moving at a glacial pace through the city streets, so his mind had plenty of opportunity to replay the excruciating scene over and over.
Iris’ expression flashed before him, her face flushed and tense. She’d been afraid, genuinely afraid of what her parents might do. A sick feeling had settled in his stomach at the sight, and he was glad he hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch—he would have thrown up if he had.
He couldn’t believe the Eastwoods had followed him. What a crazy, disturbing thing to do. Their daughters were clearly right to distance themselves, but Jim and Jasmine weren’t the kind of people who would give up.
Finn knew with a bone-deep certainty that they wouldn’t leave Iris alone now that they knew where she lived. They’d pop up unannounced and try to influence her life. Whether their efforts were well-intentioned was irrelevant, because they failed to respect Iris’ wishes. And Finn sincerely doubted anything Jim Eastwood did was well-intentioned.
His expression at the sight of Violet was telling enough.
Finn cursed. He’d messed up—he should have told his parents about the Eastwoods the moment he’d found out about them. If nothing else, he should have excused himself from lunch with them and escaped.
Instead, he’d chosen polite conversation and forced neighborly relationships over Iris’ and Violet’s well-being.
But he would fix this for her. However long it took, he would make sure that she felt safe in her home. It was the least he could do. And if she never wanted to see him again, he’d understand and stay away, even though thinking about it sent a lance of pain through his chest.
Just when he’d thought he’d gotten her back…
A tense hour and a half later, he parked in his parents’ garage and stomped into the house. He found his mother and father in the living room, watching a Hallmark movie and eating popcorn.
His mother glanced up. “You’re home early. Is everything okay?”
Finn slumped into an armchair. “No.”
His parents exchanged a loaded look, and then his father muted the sound on the TV.
Finn sighed. This was going to be painful for everyone involved.
“I went to see Iris, and the Eastwoods followed me to her house,” he confessed.
His father lifted his eyebrows. “Followed you?”
His mom added, “I thought it was weird when they ran out the door as soon as you left.”
Finn rubbed his palms over his face. “Iris never told them where she lived. There are some things you need to know.”
Half an hour later, the TV was turned off, and everyone was nursing steaming cups of peppermint tea.
“It calms the nerves,” his mother claimed, then stomped her foot. “I can’t believe they used you like that.”
Finn had told them everything he knew about the situation. “It’s bad. But it’s nothing to what they’ve been doing to Violet and Iris.”
“Appearances can often be deceiving,” his father mused. “Looking at them, you’d say they’re a perfectly happy family, no?”
Finn’s mom lifted a shoulder. “Well, you never really liked them. We just kept up the visits because we live next door, but when you think about it, that says nothing about who they really are.” She put a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “How is Iris?”
“Upset. Which is totally understandable.” Finn couldn’t shake the image of her standing in the doorway, facing her parents as though she were a knight and they were mythical beasts. She’d protected her family as best she knew how, and now he’d turned her castle to ruin.
“Poor girl. And on Christmas, too.” His mom got up and carried her empty mug into the kitchen. Then she called, “What are you going to do about it?”
Finn glanced at his dad, who quirked up a corner of his mouth but remained silent. His mother was a woman of action; Finn was certain she was already planning on four different solutions for this problem.
“I need to convince her parents to stay away,” he said. “That’s the first thing. If she’s living in fear of them coming to her house and disrupting her life, she won’t ever be happy.”
“I think that’s wise, dear.” His mom brought them freshly baked gingerbread cookies. “I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t tell us. We wouldn’t have let them leave and follow you if we knew about the whole situation.”
Finn shook his head. “I didn’t want to make things awkward for you. But by doing this, I traded your discomfort for Iris’.” There had never been an elegant way to avoid trouble.
“Well, if you look at it in a different light, Iris’ solution of hiding from her parents was never going to be long-term. If her parents really put their minds to it, they could have discovered where she lives easily—they could have followed her from work, for example.”
Finn
stared at his father. “And that’s not creepy at all.”
His dad lifted his hands. “I’m not saying I like it. But she hasn’t dealt with her parents in a permanent way.”
“Careful, dear,” Finn’s mom muttered. “That sounds like you’re suggesting she hires someone to…you know. Deal with them.”
“Mom.” Finn smiled at the thought, though the situation was far from humorous. “I’m sure we can find a less, uh, radical solution.” He leaned back. “I think it’s time to put my money to good use and hire someone to dig up some dirt.”
And then he’d have to find a way to apologize to Iris. He wasn’t going to give her up without a fight. He wanted to be with her so badly. To be there for her when things got tough, to spend holidays with her. He wanted to ask her about all the years he’d missed, about the birthdays, the wins, and the losses. He only hoped she wasn’t too disappointed with him to give him a chance.
Seventeen
Iris
Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 24
She was seriously thinking of disabling her doorbell. Every time it rang, her heartrate jumped up and her palms began to sweat in a panic. The first time it rang today, Mrs. Patel stood in her driveway with a collection tin for donations. Iris had given her twice the amount of money she’d planned on donating from sheer relief that it wasn’t her parents.
Then it was the postman who brought a bunch of Christmas cards. Then some of the neighbors’ kids rang, waking Grandpa from his nap. But they were adorable as they sang Christmas carols, so Iris gave them each a honey cake she’d baked—only little Nikolas from down the street got a banana instead because he was gluten-intolerant. He looked so miserable, Iris caved and slipped a tiny pot of honey into his coat pocket to eat later.
Violet and Chavvi were staying until Christmas Day, and they’d decided to take Grandpa out of the nursing home for a holiday family time. Samantha would come for brunch tomorrow morning as she did every year. Iris was glad of the busy house because it kept her from thinking about Finn. Memories of him were too painful and too fresh, so she cooked, baked, and cleaned until the house was spotless and there were enough cookies in the house to feed the entire neighborhood. She’d even made some progress on her grant proposal, though she wasn’t sure the words were coherent.
