by Brittle, D M
At the very last minute, Casey and Alex had decided that they too would be joining us to spend Christmas here. They had originally decided to spend Christmas alone together in New York but when Alex confided in me that their marriage hadn’t exactly gotten off to a good start, I convinced them that the break here would do them both good. I don’t know exactly what was going on between them both but I was sure that it could be fixed; after all, they were Casey and Alex, they were indestructible.
I never felt nervous, never. Usually, I was the one who held the reassurance; it would always be me that would spend my days convincing Jo that everything was going to be okay, but because I was holding this secret close to my heart, I could finally see what Jo had been fearing since the day I first met her, I had convinced myself that something was going to go wrong.
The sooner everyone arrived and we got them all settled, the sooner we could all enjoy our perfect Christmas.
“Are you going to stay out here all night?” Jo pulled me swiftly from my thoughts as she stood just outside the door that led through to the kitchen. She was wearing a cooking apron that clung to her bump while her face was spotted with cooking flour. She looked so beautiful and innocent; she somehow managed to drain all of the worry and nerves from me. “You have been out here now for almost two hours, I am beginning to think that you love Jasper more than me,” she folded her arms across her chest and pouted as she looked at me with the most gorgeous puppy eyes I had ever seen; even more gorgeous than Jasper’s actual puppy eyes.
“That’s impossible beautiful,” I smiled and made my way up the steps to where she stood. “I just wanted to leave you and your mom to it for a while. Have you had fun?”
“It’s been wonderful, although, mums biscuits look far more edible than mine,” she frowned.
“Maybe that’s because you are wearing the ingredients rather than baking with them,” I took Jo’s face in my hands and brushed the flour from her face before placing my lips there. “Hhmm, now, I think that you are the tastiest Christmas cookie that I have ever tried.”
“If you are thinking of asking me to go to the treehouse again then you can forget it,” Jo laughed.
I nuzzled my face into Jo’s neck and began nibbling, “I promise you that before the night is out, it will be you that is asking me to meet you in the treehouse.”
“My mum is right in there Blake, stop it,” Jo whispered breathlessly.
“You will be begging me, I can already see it now, and let me tell you, I cannot wait.” Jo continued to laugh as she tried half-heartedly to struggle from my hold. “I am telling you Jo, it will happen.” I continued to tease Jo as the kitchen door swung open and Diana’s eyes met mine.
“I think we have carol singers,” she said loudly as she continued to nod towards the house. Jo gasped and she clapped and hopped from foot to foot with excitement.
“Our first carol singers!” Jo said excitedly as she headed into the house and towards the front door before Diana and I had managed to get back into the kitchen.
“Is it them?” I asked quietly as I approached Diana.
“Your mother sent a message to my mobile phone saying that they were just approaching.” Suddenly the house was full of noise as one by one I heard my family and friends spill into the hallway, Jo’s excitement was very evident in her voice even though I couldn’t see her yet; but the way she squealed with happiness made me feel so proud.
“You did it again Blake; look at how happy she is.” Diana patted me on the back before rushing past me to meet my family for the first time. As Jo came into sight her eyes locked with mine from across the hallway. She took a deep contented breath and smiled the biggest smile I have ever seen grace her beautiful face.
“Thank you,” she mouthed to me before turning her attention back to Fraser who was tugging desperately at Jo’s apron to show her the tiny airplane that he was clutching tightly whilst zooming it through the air.
I saw mom walking towards me, her eyes glazed over with happy emotion. “Blake,” she sighed as she wrapped her arms around me. “This house is just …. I am so proud of you do you know that?”
“Well I did learn from the best mom in the world now didn’t I?” Mom lifted her head from my chest.
“How did you grow up so quickly my sweet boy? How did I not notice you growing up into such a wonderful young man?” Her smile faltered slightly as her eyes dropped down to my jacket, she took a deep breath before shaking her head sadly.
“I know I’m going to be spending the majority of my time here now mom, but it changes nothing between us I promise, we will see each other just as much, I will make sure of that.”
Moms eyes shot back up to meet mine, “oh darling, I know that,” she smiled once again before taking my face between her soft hands. “I love this house, I love Jo, and I love everything that you have achieved. Just promise me one thing.”
“Anything.” I replied.
“Promise me that you will never take Jo and those babies for granted, because before you know it, you will be wishing your life back, wishing you could go back and re-live every single precious moment that you let slip by un-noticed. Do you know what I would give right now to be able to go back and make sure that I did everything the way I needed to do to ensure that you and Jasmine had the best lives I could have given you? ”
“Jasmine and I did have the best lives you could have given to us mom, how can you even doubt that?” Mom shrugged as she continued to hold onto me. “In life sometimes things happen, that make you wish you could go back, that’s all.”
“Is everything alright Mom?” my eyes scanned quickly to dad who was stood chatting happily to Diana and Jo, “are you and Dad okay?”
“Of course we are,” mom released me before straightening up and clearing her throat. “I’m just being sentimental my dear, it’s Christmas, mix that with a long flight sat next to your father talking about his sightseeing plans for London over and over for seven hours, it kind of has an effect.” Mom turned and headed back towards the family, her first stop was Jo where she stood and placed her hands around our babies as she chatted happily to both Jo and the bump. I stood back and appreciated the sight presented before me; a sight that just twelve months ago I would have never imagined being part of, but now, I could never imagine being without.
*~*~*
It reminded me very much of a scene from Home Alone crossed with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation as we tried desperately to fit everyone into appropriate bedrooms, making sure that no one got left behind. It was chaos, but it was happy chaos and I had already decided that no matter what, next Christmas was going to be spent exactly like this one, with the added benefit of two more tiny babies. I was looking forward to it already.
I hadn’t managed to get Jo alone since everyone had arrived. She had happily spent the past few hours wondering from one person to the next offering cookies and drinks, and even though she had been ordered time and time again by both of our mothers to rest and put her feet up, she was enjoying every single second of playing hostess. Every now and then her eyes would meet with mine and she would smile happily before sending me unspoken promises with her eyes. Thank you sex in the treehouse was looking even more promising by the minute; she just hadn’t realized it yet.
“This house is amazing dude, you did good.” Alex patted me on the back firmly as he joined me in the kitchen.
“Thanks,” I smiled, grabbing two beers from the fridge. “Here’s to new beginnings for us both,” I toasted.
“Cheers.” Alex took a long swig from the bottle before placing it onto the work top. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course you can, what’s up?”
Alex walked over and closed the kitchen door quietly before clearing his throat and turning back to face me, “has it changed anything between the two of you, you know, Jo being pregnant?”
“Is Casey pregnant?” I asked a little too loudly.
“Shhhh ….” Alex stepped closer to me, �
��no, no she’s not, but she wants to be. I mean, we want to be. I’ll be honest Blake, we have been trying since the wedding and nothing has happened except for the fact that Casey is now more obsessed with having sex just to get pregnant than to be intimate together. I feel like I’m going to lose her if it doesn’t happen real soon you know?”
“Oh Alex, I had no idea.” I had known that they had had some sort of problems but I didn’t imagine it would be this. “Look, you’ve only been married what, three months? It’ll happen for you both I’m sure of it.”
Alex began rubbing the back of his neck frantically, “It’s taking over her life, both of our lives in fact. You know Casey, Blake, she’s happy, loud … beautiful,” he added, “but I am petrified that if it doesn’t happen soon, it’s going to ruin us, and then I worry that if it does happen, I won’t get the old Casey back, the girl who I fell so hard in love with. She is even talking about us going to see a doctor, someone who can check that we’re both okay to get pregnant. What if I do that Blake and I can’t give her what she wants, she will leave me, our marriage will be over before we have even started it.”
“Casey would never leave you Alex, she loves you more than life itself, look at what happened in the summer, would she have done that to herself if she thought she would be better off without you?”
“I don’t know anymore,” Alex replied sounding deflated.
“It will happen for you, I promise. Maybe being here will help take your minds off it for a little while, I’m pretty sure that obsessing over it won’t help.”
Alex let out a sad laugh before looking back up at me, “when the hell did we turn into a couple of sentimental old women?”
“I have no idea but I think we need more beer.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Alex lifted his bottle, “to growing old,” he said, “and giving our beautiful ladies everything that their hearts desire.”
I touched my bottle to his just as the door swung open and Casey stepped inside.
“Oh, sorry,” she stuttered. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Not at all,” I replied. “I’m just trying to convince Alex here that you two should buy a house over here, the country air does wonders for the body.” I lied, and it was evident that Casey knew exactly what we had been talking about. Her gaze floated away from me and focused on the bottle of beer that Alex was holding.
“Are you having just the one?” She smiled back at me nervously before looking back to Alex. “Only Jo said that we’re going to a carol concert shortly and I volunteered you to drive one of the hire cars so that the others could have a drink.”
“Just the one,” Alex replied. “I promise.”
Casey smiled at us both before heading back out of the kitchen. I heard Alex breath out the breath that he had been holding.
“Did I forget to mention that she also has me on a booze ban?” He shook his head slowly, “slows down the sperm apparently.”
I walked over and patted Alex on the shoulder, “It will happen for you both Alex, I swear it will. And when it does, all of the worry and stress you are feeling now will evaporate. Trust me.”
“I’m sorry I’ve put a downer on the day dude, Christmas Eve should be a happy day.”
“You haven’t put a downer on anything,” I re-assured him. “I’m your best dude as you call me, and I am always here for you and I mean that.”
“Thanks, dude,” he smiled.
With everyone piled into the cars we made the short drive down to the church in just a couple of minutes. With both our mothers in the car with Jo and me, conversation was limited to the cold weather and making sure that Jo was warm enough and did not slip on the snow that was still present on the ground. Jo didn’t even get annoyed at the constant molly coddling; she just lapped it up and appreciated their concerns. I really was going to make sure that this was going to be the best Christmas for everyone involved, but at some point I needed to speak to Jo about Casey and Alex. I could tell that Jo had no idea about their problems because she would be as worried about them as if they were her own children and would have already made it her mission to fix them. For now however, we were going to sit in the church and sing hymns, listen to the choir and enjoy being surrounded by the ones that we love.
*~*~*
“That was brilliant, just brilliant.” Dad was like a child in a sweet shop when we stepped out of the church and mingled amongst the other villagers. He would say hello and merry Christmas to every single person who passed us, luckily he would get a greeting in return from them all and no one seemed to be looking at him the same way that I was; like he had lost the plot.
There were people handing out mulled wine and mince pies where a small choir continued to sing carols.
“I mean, I’ve seen British stuff on TV before but you never quite get it until you see it with you own eyes, know what I mean son?”
“Not really Dad but I’m glad you seem to be enjoying yourself.” I tried to hide the smirk that was creeping on my face as Dad stood beside me taking in numerous deep breaths and over exaggerating each time he breathed out.
“What are you even doing? Are you having a stroke or something?”
Dad laughed hard in reply, “Can you taste that son?”
“Taste what? Dad stop it you look like you’re having some kind of episode.”
“Just breathe in and taste that crisp clean country air, ah son you couldn’t have picked anywhere any better to bring up those grandkids of mine, you did good, I mean that.”
“Thank you; now please breathe normal before someone calls for the paramedic.”
“This country air will do your mom the world of good too.”
“I wanted to ask you about Mom, she was acting really strange when she arrived at the house, as though something was wrong, is she okay?”
Dad wrapped an arm around my shoulder, “your mother is just fine son, she just needed a good break, and you know what she’s like she never stops. She will be right as rain come the new year.”
“Good. It’s gonna be strange not being a two hour drive away from you guys, I’m gonna really miss you.”
“Hey,” Dad loosed me and bumped my shoulder with his. “Enough of this soppy crap son, you’re a grown man now with babies on the way and a beautiful lady who I am hoping will be a Mackenzie as soon as possible. You just try keeping your mother and me away from here because we will be over on that plane at every given opportunity, that’s a promise.” Dad suddenly let out a hearty laugh, “and to think that for years I thought you were gay,” Dad’s laughter continued to get louder.
“Shhhh Dad, stop it, do we need everyone to know that?” I replied in a hush tone.
“Come on son, you know I’m only pulling your leg, I couldn’t be prouder of you, you know that. You can even hit a ball now too, warms my heart to see how far you have come,” Dad mocked. I couldn’t help laugh at him; he was definitely a one off.
“Now, where is that lovely young lady of yours?”
My eyes scanned the crowd but Jo was nowhere to be seen. I could see everyone except for her. “I’m not sure; I thought she was right beside me as we walked out.” I left my dad and headed to where most of the family was stood but Jo wasn’t there, just as panic started to set in, I turned to see her stepping out of the church as she chatted happily to the vicar.
“There you are I was worried about you,” I placed a kiss to Jo’s cheek as she looked at me as if I had gone crazy.
“Reverend Matthews this is my fiancé Blake.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Blake,” Reverend Matthews said as he shook my hand. “My daughter and wife are both huge fans of yours. Unfortunately they are both at home suffering from flu; they won’t believe me when I tell them who came to carol service this evening,” he smiled. “And hopefully we will be seeing more of you now you are living in the village?” it was more of a question than a statement.
“Most definitely, once we’re back here in a couple of months we will be h
ere every Sunday morning, you can count on it.”
“Fabulous,” He replied with a smile.
“Right then,” Jo said happily, “shall we round everyone up and get home? I am absolutely starving.”
“Sure beautiful, we will see you soon Reverend Matthews.”
“Yes, you certainly will,” He replied with a smile.
*~*~*
Squeezing ten people around a dining table designed for a maximum of six was a challenge but we had managed to pull it off, even if we would all be practically sitting on each other’s laps; it wouldn’t be Christmas if everything ran smoothly.
Diana and mom had laid the table beautifully while Jo had been practically forced by us all to lie down and rest for a while.
Jo hadn’t stopped taking care of everyone since they had all arrived and even though she loved nothing more than being the perfect hostess, I could tell that she was getting too tired to see out the rest of the night.
Just as dinner was about to be served I headed up to our bedroom expecting to find Jo fast asleep but instead she was sat on the edge of the bed swinging her legs forward and back with a big smile on her face.
“You were sent up here to rest,” I told her sternly as I placed myself next to her on the bed.
“I’m just too excited to sleep,” She said happily, “and also, what if I go to sleep and this time it really was a dream? I can’t afford to lose this no way; I am staying awake as long as it is humanly possible. I may even stay awake long enough to see Santa.” She turned and looked at me with the most beautiful twinkle in her eyes, I wish I had brought my camera upstairs so as I could capture this perfect moment.
“I think someone is high on cookies and sugar,” I said trying to hide my amusement.
