Oklahoma Christmas Blues

by Maggie Shayne

Chapter Eleven

  On Sunday afternoon, the Brand family farmhouse just outside of Big Falls, was busting at the seams with family.

  It was Sophia’s second Sunday dinner with the Brand-McIntyre clan, but this one was even noisier and more boisterous than the first had been—probably because it was so close to Christmas. The excitement of the coming big day was palpable.

  She was sipping eggnog with her uncle in front of the twinkling tree, her stomach growling because of the smells wafting in from the kitchen.

  “This is a huge family you’ve married into, Uncle Bobby Joe,” she said, stating the obvious. “And your own boys aren’t even here yet.”

  “They generally show up right before we sit down to eat, and spend the time in between asking when dinner will be ready,” he said. “This, despite that it’s always on the table at five, no matter what. My beautiful bride is adamant about Sunday dinners.” He looked at the tree, shook his head wistfully. “Especially at this time of year.”

  She nodded and found a comfy spot near the tree. Its multicolored lights were flashing and sparkling beneath hundreds of ornaments, most of them homemade. She could barely see the needled boughs. Tiny hands had created countless decorations over decades, she could tell just by looking. Glittery pinecones and paper snowflakes and popsicle stick sleds painted red, and lots more.

  “How are you, darlin’?” Bobby Joe asked. And he made it a serious question.

  She thought about her answer before she gave it, instead of blurting the usual “fine, and you?” She considered for a long moment, then nodded. “Actually, I’m good. Way better than I was when I got here. And I think, getting better all the time.”

  
“Then why are you looking a little misty-eyed?”


  She shrugged but moved nearer the tree. “Just realizing how much I’ve missed having family around me at Christmas time,” she said. “I didn’t realize how much I wanted this sort of thing. Or maybe I just told myself I didn’t miss it, so I’d feel better after Mom and Dad passed. I’ve cut loose a lot of ballast in the past few weeks. A job that wasn’t right for me, a relationship that couldn’t have been more wrong. I’m drifting a little now, and only just realizing that I’m looking for the perfect port.”

  “That,” said Vidalia from behind her, “is just about the best place to be. Nothing but potential. Don’t you think, Darryl?”

  
Darryl? Sophie turned around, trying not to look too urgent about it, and there he was, the gorgeous cop turned PI turned fake bouncer, standing just behind Vidalia’s shoulder.

  “I’ve been drifting a little bit myself lately,” he said.

  “Well, if it’s a home port you’re wanting, you won’t find one better than Big Falls,” Vidalia declared with a grin. “Especially at Christmastime. Will they, Bobby Joe?”

  “Nope,” he agreed. “This family has to be the most Christmassy bunch I’ve ever come across.”

  “With good reason.” Vidalia moved up beside her husband and into the circle of his arm. “We have a pretty regular tradition of Christmas miracles in this family, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  Other family members were crowding into the living room: Kara Brand with her husband, local cop Jimmy Corona and ten-year-old Tyler, Maya and her husband Caleb, each holding the hand of one of their four-year-old twins, Dahlia and Cal.

  “Big Falls is full of magic at Christmastime, that’s for sure,” said Selene, Vidalia’s youngest, who was also half sister to Jason, Robert and Joey, and therefore, Sophia’s cousin.

  Sophia tilted her head to one side. “I’ve been experiencing a little bit of that since I’ve been here. Just one problem after another seems to be…falling away.”

  “You write that letter to Santa?” Vidalia asked, which made Sophia glance at the mantel, where Aunt Vidalia’s own Dear Santa letter still lay, and then at Darryl, who seemed to be waiting for her reply.

  “I did,” she said. “I met him my first day in town, you know. The Big Falls Santa.”

  “He’s the best,” young Tyler said. When I first came here, I was just little. I told him what I wanted for Christmas, and I got it.” As he said it, he sent a look full of love at Kara, his adopted mom.

  “I got my twins on Christmas Eve,” Maya said, “Right upstairs, in the middle of a freak storm. And Caleb even managed to get to my side in time.”

  “And I got a daughter I didn’t know I had,” Uncle Bobby Joe said with a loving look Selene’s way, “and a new lease on life when I was right at death’s door.” He dropped a kiss on the top of Vidalia’s raven hair. “Yep, this place is magic all right. Or maybe it’s just this family.”

  “What did you ask Santa for, Sophie?” asked one of Maya’s twins, Dahlia.

  She smiled at the little girl, thinking of all the things she’d written in her letter. She’d been cleared of any crime. Her license to practice medicine was safe and sound. She was sleeping at night, peacefully and soundly. And most recently, she’d picked up a clue as to how she could do what she loved best in the place she now thought she wanted to stay. All that remained on her wish list was true love.

  She glanced at Darryl as she thought it, then looked away quickly when she found him gazing back at her with some kind of question in his eyes.

  “Sometimes, Dahlia, people don’t want to tell their wishes,” Maya told her little girl.

  Dahlia nodded sagely and said, “I guess that’s okay, as long as you told Santa.”

  “I did,” Sophie said.

  Then the little girl ran over to her, holding out her hand. “Want to go swing in the backyard?”

  “Sure.”

  “Yay! Come on, Cal!,” she called to her twin brother, who didn’t argue. “You, too Tyler!” Then she pointed right at Darryl. “And you, too, new guy! Come on, let’s go.” She smiled at her grandmother, who gave her an approving nod as if to say, “Well done.”