Mischief and Mistletoe

by Matthews, Lena

  The midwife stood with a plastic trash bag in her hand. “Good job, Mommy. You didn’t even tear.”

  “Wait.” Russell paled a bit as he eased from behind her and onto the floor. “Was that an option?” Because everything about that seemed just wrong.

  “A very common and treatable option, but not for Tamara. She was a champ,” she said as she patted Tamara’s knee. “I’m going to move these downstairs so they can be given to the EMT when they arrive for disposal and I’ll send Ty up.”

  As she walked out, Charlotte walked back in. The baby was wrapped in a different towel and he was clean. “Here he is,” Charlotte said to Tamara as she laid the baby into her arms.

  His usual loquacious wife seemed at a loss for words, but Russell couldn’t blame her. He was feeling pretty damn speechless himself. Really what was there to say when one was graced with such perfection?

  As the three of them looked on with awe, there was a loud sound from the hallway, like a stampede of bulls, then suddenly Ty was in the room, smiling from ear to ear. From the sounds of it, he ran the entire way. “Where’s my nephew?”

  He and Tamara had wanted to keep the baby’s name a secret for as long as possible, but now, here with his family, Russell uttered the name of the next generation of Crichton men. Reaching down, he ran his hand gently over the baby’s head. “Tyson Boyd Creighton.”

  “Tyson.” Ty’s eyes grew bigger at the implication. “You’re naming him after me.”

  “You and my father,” Russell said proudly. “Two good names from two good men. What do you think?”

  Ty walked around the bed and engulfed Russell into a hug. They held each other for a moment before pulling back. “I’m honored.”

  Russell knew Ty would make a big deal out of it, but to him it was completely normal. Russell was named after his father’s brother, it only made sense to him that he would continue the tradition with the man who was like a brother to him. “You’re family.”

  The bedroom creaked opened and Candace came into the room dragging in a well-loved blankie behind her. She was rubbing a tiny closed fist over her eyes and let out a jaw-popping yawn as she came closer to the bed.

  “Hey, princess.” Ty scooped her up in his arms. “What are you doing up?”

  “I heard noises and I thought it was Santa.”

  “I thought you didn’t believe in Santa anymore.”

  “You know what Momma says, better safe than sorry, Daddy.”

  Ty laughed and squeezed his pint-size terrorist a little closer to him. “She does say that all right.”

  “Well, we had a visitor but it wasn’t Santa,” Charlotte said warmly. “Look who decided to come early.”

  Tamara tilted her arms and turned Tyson so that Candace could see him better.

  The little girl’s eyes widened to comic proportions. “The baby,” she whispered the words as though if she spoke them too loudly he might disappear. When he didn’t blink out of evidence, she started to kick her feet and push away from her father. “Daddy, let me go.”

  “Sorry, baby.” Ty laughed and set his daughter down. The minute her little feet hit the floor she booked it to the bed.

  Tamara winced a bit as the bed jiggled under the weight of the little girl crawling excitedly toward her, but she shook her head at Ty when he went to grab Candace. Instead of complaining as most would have, Tamara merely held a free hand out to Candace and helped her get settled down between her and Charlotte. “Comfy?” she asked.

  Candace didn’t answer, choosing instead to stare in awe at Tyson for several long seconds before finally looking up at Tamara. “Did Santa bring him?”

  “Nope,” Tamara said with a grin. “I brought him. Carried him in my stomach all that time. Remember I let you touch my belly when he was moving?”

  Candace nodded as she leaned closer to inspect the new arrival.

  “Don’t touch him, okay?” her mother warned.

  “I won’t,” she said as she pulled her hand back, seconds away from doing just that. “How did he get out of you?”

  The adults all shared an “oh crap” look before Charlotte cleared her throat and said, “Let’s just say magic and leave it as that for now.”

  Candace shrugged. Luckily she was at an age where magic was still a pretty good explanation for things. “He’s so cute. Can we keep him?”

  “No,” Russell tried kindly. “I’m pretty sure we want to take him home.”

  “No.” Candace shook her head determinedly. “He’s mine.”

  Russell chuckled at her audacity. His niece was one of a kind. That was for damn sure.

  “Candace, just because you say so, doesn’t mean it’s true,” Charlotte chided. “You can’t just keep people.”

  “Uh-huh. Daddy said he just kept you.”

  “No, he didn’t. Ty, did you tell her that?”

  Ty ran his hand over the back of his head and grinned sheepishly at his wife. “I might have said something similar to that.”

  “Or exactly that,” Charlotte said, not amused.

  “Or possibly exactly that.”

  “I can’t believe you’re lying to our baby. Got her thinking she can just keep people.”

  Russell had to turn his head to keep from laughing, because despite what Charlotte was saying, that was exactly what happened.

  “I’m going to be really nice to him, Mom. He can sleep in my room and I’ll even share my toys with him.” Candace paused for a second before amending her previous statement. “Well, some of them anyway.”

  Her mother let out a sigh as she looked over at Ty. “You know this is your genes, right?”

  “How about this,” Tamara chimed in. “We’ll share him, that way he’s both mine and yours.”

  Candace looked doubtful for a minute before she slowly nodded her head. “Okay, but I think I should get him most of the time.”

  Russell scooped Candace up and tossed her into the air. “You think so, do you?” he asked as he caught her mid-giggle.

  “Yes!” the little girl shrieked. “He’s mine, mine, mine.”

  “I have to say, I can’t fault your taste,” Russell said as he handed her off to her father. “He’s adorable. Just like you.”

  “He’s also going to sleep,” Ty said. “Just like you need to.”

  “But, Dad!”

  “No ‘but, Dad’ nothing. Say good night, again, to everyone because its curtain time for you.”

  “’Night.” Her voice broke as she started to cry.

  If Russell’s heart had been made of ice, it would have melted right then. He wanted nothing more than to pull her free so she could stay up with them, but he knew better than to say anything. He blew her a little kiss as Charlotte and Tamara called out sweet good nights, then made his way over to his family.

  He stared silently down and watched in awe as Charlotte began to help Tamara get their little guy attached to the nipple. Tyson looked tuckered out to Russell, but the second Tamara placed him at her breast he puckered up his little mouth and began to whimper.

  “It’s okay. Momma’s here.” Tamara brushed her nipple across his lips. He didn’t latch on right away but Tamara was patient and kept at it until Tyson finally figured it out and began to suckle. “There you go.”

  “It’s going to take some time but you’ll get it.”

  “Yeah,” Tamara said softly as she looked down in wonder at their son.

  Russell had never been a very emotional man, but even he couldn’t help the tears that welled in his eyes at the sight of his family. “Can I—”

  Tamara looked up at him, her brow. “What?”

  He gestured the space next to her. It wasn’t a lot of room but he was willing to perch on the edge of the world if it meant getting a little closer to them. “If it’s not a bother.”

  “Never a bother. Come here. Come meet your son.”

  “Take my spot.” Charlotte rose and moved out of the way. “I’m going to go check on Ty and Candace.”

  Russell
knew Charlotte was just leaving to give them time and he loved her for it. “Thank you.”

  She squeezed his arm as she passed him on the way to the door. Russell slipped right into the spot she vacated and scooted as close to Tamara and Tyson as he could. “Is this okay?” he asked, not wanting to smother her or move around too much after what she just went through.

  “It’s more than okay.” Tamara looked up at him with tears gleaming in her big brown eyes. “It’s perfect. He’s perfect.”

  “He is. He’s also asleep.”

  “Do you blame him? Little man has had a busy day,” she said softly. “You want to hold him for a while.”

  Did he ever. “Most definitely.”

  Smiling, Tamara gently pulled the baby off her breast then passed him over to Russell, who greedily took him and immediately cradled him against his chest. Russell held him on one arm and used his free hand to brush his fingers lightly over the dark tuft of hair sticking up off Tyson’s head.

  He worked his fingers down to the soft shell of Tyson’s ear over to his little upturned nose then down to his sweet little baby lips, all the while comparing his own sun-darkened skin to that of his son’s caramel-colored tone. Russell took in the parts that reminded him of him, the parts that were Tamara, while noting the little things that were all Tyson’s.

  Elated, Russell looked away from the baby and over at Tamara who was lying on her side, watching them with a small smile. There had been many occasions in life Russell had thought he was a lucky man, today he realized it was absolutely hands-down the truth. He was lucky and he was blessed and it was all because of her. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “The best Christmas present ever.”

  “Christmas?” Tamara glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “Wow. It is after midnight. Merry Christmas, babe,” she reached out and wiggled Tyson’s foot lightly. “And baby.”

  Russell placed Tyson between them and lay down facing her, mirroring her position. “I don’t think anything I bought or could ever buy you could possibly top this little guy.”

  “I don’t know,” she teased. “Give me your credit card. I’m sure I can find something that will come pretty close.”

  “Everything I have is yours.”

  Tamara reached over their son and placed her hand on his chest. “Including your heart.”

  “Especially my heart.”

  “I don’t need anything else then. I have everything I could ever want.” She moved her hand from his chest and placed it lightly on the baby and closed her eyes. Seconds later she was asleep.

  Russell, on the other hand, stayed awake. He was too busy taking mental pictures of everything great and small to sleep. He wanted to remember this moment for the rest of his life. The moment they went from being a couple to being a family. It was also the moment that he did something he never thought he could do, and that was to fall even more in love with his wife.

  Chapter Five

  Six Days Later

  Charlotte looked a little sadly at her Christmas tree, taking one more mental snap shot before she would begin the very depressing task of un-trimming her tree. She loved Christmas. It was her favorite holiday by far to decorate. Every room in her house had some sort of Christmas doohickey in it, every counter had little figurines, every bathroom colored festive towels. Now it was the thirty-first of December and all her holiday fun was officially at an end. And although there was little that she enjoyed more than putting up decorations there was nothing she hated more than taking them down. Not only because it was another reminder the holiday and year were over but also because she was very OCD about how they had to be put up, so it took longer than necessary to do the chore. She wasn’t proud of it, but there was a place for everything and everything had its place.

  With a heavy heart, she keyed up her iPod and selected her Christmas playlist and clicked on “This Christmas”, ending the season the way she started it. Unfortunately she had only gotten the first few ornaments put away when the doorbell rang.

  Humming to herself, she made her way to the front door and peered through the peephole. The distorted image of Russell met her gaze and caused her to frown. He wasn’t supposed to be over today.

  Was something wrong?

  Scared, she unlatched the locks and swung the door open, “What’s wrong? Is it the baby? Is it Tamara? Tell me?”

  Russell held his hand up in surrender. “I come in peace.”

  Charlotte let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. “Oh my God, don’t scare me like that.”

  “All I did was show up. You were the one who decided to run wild.”

  “Oh shut up.” Charlotte gave the laughing man a hug, then ushered him into the house. “Well, since there’s apparently no damage, and since you didn’t bring my best friend or my nephew, I’m going to assume you’re here to see Ty. He’s working in his office. Do you want me to get him or do you want just to go back there?”

  “Actually…” He tucked his thumbs in his back pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I need to speak to the both of you.”

  “Oh.” Happy feeling gone. That didn’t sound good at all. “Well, come on, we’ll interrupt him together then.”

  “Sounds good.” As they headed down the hall, Russell pulled out his cell phone and showed her the latest pictures of Tyson. Charlotte had seen them before of course because Tamara was constantly blowing up her cell whenever the little boy did anything. Not that she minded. He was the cutest little boy in kidland. When they reached Ty’s office, Charlotte knocked two times then waited for him to say enter before she opened the door.

  It was an office they shared when she used to work from home, but now he was sharing it with another lovely lady. And as she suspected, Ty was sitting at his desk, going over paperwork, while his secretary aka daughter, sat at the mini adjustable desk that was placed right against his. Candace was wearing her work attire, which consisted of fake glasses they bought at Claire’s, a button-up sweater on top of a My Little Pony T-shirt, a yellow tutu and of course her cowboy boots. She’d forgone her jeans today and decided to wear green leggings instead.

  The little girl looked up when they entered and quickly pushed her sliding glasses back up her nose. “Hi, Uncle Rusty. Did you bring Pinkie Pie?”

  Russell didn’t even wince at the name anymore. He just went with it. He even went so far as to refer to Tyson as Pinkie Pie when he spoke to Candace about him. “No, I left him at home.”

  “Oh.” She looked away and went back to coloring, her uncle apparently of non-importance now since he hadn’t brought along her new favorite toy.

  Laughing at his daughter’s antics, Ty stood then made his way over to his friend. They exchanged a quick hug slash manly pat on the back before pulling apart. “What’s up, old man?”

  “This isn’t a social visit,” Russell said soberly. “It’s a robbery.”

  Charlotte frowned as she glanced between the two men, trying to get the joke. “Excuse me?”

  “I’m here for your treasure.”

  Charlotte turned to her husband who was looking as perplexed a she felt. “Has he lost his mind?”

  “I think so.”

  Russell chuckled, breaking character. “I haven’t lost my mind, but my wife is about to.”

  “Aww,” Charlotte tsked sympathetically. “Think she has the baby blues?”

  Charlotte had lucked out herself and never experienced postpartum depression but she knew a few women who had and it was horrible.

  “No, I think she has the ‘her momma is driving her insane blues’.”

  Charlotte nodded. “Ohh.” It all made sense now. Love Tamara’s mother as she did, Dinah could be much at times. “What is she doing?”

  “Well, it started out when she tried to tape a silver dollar to Tyson’s belly button so he’d have an innie and not an outtie, and honestly it’s gone down hill since that.”

  “Does Tamara want me to come over and be hero suppor
t?” Charlotte hadn’t been over there today but she didn’t mind going. Anything to get in some sweet cuddling time with Tyson.

  “Not exactly.” Russell nodded his head toward Candace. “She wants to kidnap your daughter for the night.”

  “Okay, I’m going to pretend like my feelings aren’t a little bit hurt that my best friend would rather have a play date with my daughter than myself.”

  “Oh cheer up. You know she loves you more.”

  “Doubtful.” Charlotte frowned. She wasn’t really so sure at this present moment in time.

  “Please, this is actually our belated Christmas gift to you. It’s New Year’s Eve.”

  “It is?” Ty glanced down at the calendar on his desk. “Damn. Sorry, babe. I should have planned something.”

  Charlotte couldn’t even be mad at Ty about it. She didn’t remember either. “Don’t feel bad, I knew what the day was, but I didn’t associate it with parties or anything.”

  “You guys don’t have to party, you can just go out and have some quality time, or better yet…” Russell waggled his eyebrows. “Stay in and do something fun. We were going to suggest it anyway but at least this way instead of us babysitting our niece, our niece will be elder-sitting Tamara’s mother. Dinah is in desperate need of someone to smother with cookies and games, and Tamara is not the one.”

  “Well, I’m okay with it but…” Before Charlotte could ask Ty how he felt, Candace popped her head up, eyes wide and alert.

  “Did I hear cookies? We’re making cookies?”

  Charlotte rolled her eyes. Game over. The decision was already out of her hands.

  “Lots of cookies.” Russell squatted down so he was eye level with the little girl. “Because Pinkie Pie’s grandma brought a whole bunch of recipes and ingredients but she has no one to make them with. Pinkie Pie is way too small.”

  “But I’m the perfect size.”

  “Yes you are, that’s why Tamara and I were kind of hoping you might be willing to come on over and help her out. And when you’re done with that, maybe you can have a sleepover with Pinkie Pie.” Russell looked slyly up at Ty and Tamara. “If it’s okay with your mommy and daddy, that is.”