Adam was nervous about Christmas, because he’d planned for a little surprise for his own little nuclear family, which really consisted of three even smaller family units: his own, his parents, and Marc’s parents; three families coming together. He’d talked to Rick about it, and Rick had promised he’d make sure everything went smoothly.
***
And so it came, Christmas morning. The adults had agreed that as soon as the first of the younger kids woke up, they’d all call each other and gather in Rick and Rachel’s suite. There, the living room had been rearranged to allow for a large Christmas tree to be placed, and sofas and chairs made it possible for all the adults to sit comfortably. Cody and Parker’s youngest kids, Jeff and Amy woke up first, at six in the morning, banging on the door to their dads’ bedroom.
Thus, the phone chain began, and within thirty minutes, the entire clan was assembled in the large suite. The Christmas tree was grand and beautiful, with thousands of small lights twinkling, and it glistened with ornaments and looked simply amazing. Underneath it lay dozens of wrapped presents—no surprise, given the number of children present. Even to the adults, the view was impressive, and absolutely beautiful. There was a fairy-tale quality to the display, and people were having a hard time taking their eyes off the beautiful Christmas tree.
Rick appointed Dennis, his and Rachel’s oldest son, to be the one to hand out the presents. The night before, after the kids had fallen asleep, the adults had gathered in the suite to place the gifts under the tree, and Dennis had made notes to make sure he knew where the gifts for each of the children were so he could hand them out evenly: one to every child first, from the youngest to the oldest, before moving on to round two, and so on.
The kids were excited, and the noise level was high. The older generation, with Marc’s and Adam’s parents, along with cousin Mary, had retreated into the suite’s dining room to enjoy some hot coffee and eggnog, watching the raucous activity through the large open doorway between the two rooms. There had been an agreement that the adults would not exchange gifts with each other, and therefore, everyone was surprised when all the presents had been handed out and one gift remained under the tree.
It confused Dennis, because it wasn’t on his list, and he’d not seen it the night before. The kids all wondered if it was a secret surprise from Santa Claus, and even the adults began to speculate, but Dennis found no card, nor name tag on the gift. He shook it and looked around nervously. The gift made no sound. It wasn’t heavy, despite being approximately the size of a shoe box. It was wrapped in beautiful red paper with a broad golden ribbon wrapped around, and a beautiful bow.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and Rick got up to see who it was. At the door stood Santa Claus, the man himself, and asked to be admitted. Rick gestured the old man to come into the suite and showed him into the living room.
“Here, Santa,” Rick said. “This is my family. I guess you already know them?”
The old man smiled kindly as he looked around the room. “I see you’ve received all the presents I left for you last night.”
The younger children who still believed in Santa were in awe, their mouths gaping open and not daring to speak a word.
“Amy, Jeff, are you happy with what I left for you? And what about you, Paul?” He looked at each child, the older ones, who knew this couldn’t—or could it?—be the real deal, wondering how he knew their names. “Susan? Louise? Kyle? Josh?”
He bowed down over little Jessica, who was sitting in her mother’s lap, clenching a doll she’d received. Santa stroked her chin. “You have been such a good girl, Jessica. I’m really proud of you.” Her mother gave Santa a puzzled frown and looked at her husband Jonathan Jr., who simply shrugged and smiled. He knew as little about this as everyone else.
“Tell me, Dennis, is she the one?” Santa smiled and looked Dennis in the eyes, then took a closer look at Amanda, his latest girlfriend. Confused, the young man responded, “Yes, Santa, we, uh, got engaged last night.”
“Congratulations. As you know, I was a bit busy last night and must’ve missed that. I wish you two all the very best for your life together.”
Dennis was curious and asked, “Santa, may I ask what brings you here? You don’t normally do house calls after Christmas.” He’d put it as politely as he could, not knowing what his father was up to, or if it had even been Rick’s doing in the first place.
Adam sat in a corner with Marc in front of him. He had his arms wrapped around him, resting his chin on Marc’s shoulder, enjoying the serenity of the morning, the love, the children’s excitement and joy. Adam knew this man; he had been the one to arrange the whole scene which was playing out in front of them, and inside, Adam was nervous and jittery. But he tried hard not to show it or give himself away.
Next to Adam and Marc, Josh was also watching Santa talk to all the kids. He’d shrunk an inch when Santa had called his name and looked him directly in the eyes, prompting Adam to put a hand on the boy’s shoulder to make sure he was all right.
Santa looked at Dennis and laughed out loud. “That is a very good question, young man. I made a mistake here last night, and I’ve come to rectify it.”
Jeanette chuckled. “You, Santa, made a mistake?” She had absolutely no idea what was going on, but as an adult, she knew there was a purpose to the man visiting her brother’s suite.
“Yes, Jeanette,” Santa responded, making even her wonder, for just a split second, how he knew her name. “No one’s entirely perfect, and I left a present here last night without a name tag on it. One of my elves was very observant and found the card in my sleigh this morning, after I had come back to the house. I figured, given how important it is, I’d better come back and fix it.” With that, he took the beautifully wrapped gift from Dennis’s hands and handed it to a completely unsuspecting Marc.
“This is for me?” Marc managed to say, stupefied.
“Yes, son, this is for you. You’d better open it.” Santa smiled mysteriously.
Marc gave Adam a questioning look—a look that Adam interpreted as “I thought we agreed on not buying each other any gifts?” or “What’s going on here?” but Adam simply hugged him more tightly and whispered, “Merry Christmas, babe!” in Marc’s ear.
Everybody was staring at Marc, and even his and Adam’s parents and cousin Mary had joined the rest of the family to see what exactly was in the package. The kids were silent, as was everyone else, in the moments before Marc opened it carefully, slowly, savoring the moment. Inside the wrapping was indeed what looked like a black shoe box, and when he removed the lid, there was a lot of creamy white silk padding paper and a small, red velvet box. Adam could feel Marc’s heart rate go up and his own pulse quicken. Marc opened the lid and saw a diamond-studded ring in rose gold.
Adam released Marc and got up to move in front of him, going down on his knees. Gently, he took the little box from Marc’s hands and took the ring from it. Around him, he could hear “awws” and “oohs.” His heart was racing, and he could feel his pulse thudding in his temples. His hands were sweaty, and it felt almost as if he were watching himself kneel there, an out-of-body experience, of sorts. Adam heard himself speaking.
“Marc, we have talked about this for months now, and you know I wanted to do this the right way. I figured today would be a good day to do it, since our entire family is here, all the people we love and care about, the people who give our life meaning. Marc, would you do me the honor and marry me, and spend the rest of our lives together?”
Adam held Marc’s gaze, saw the tears running down his cheeks, and the nodding, but Marc was too moved to say anything. Instead, Adam took the ring and placed it on Marc’s left ring finger, then moved in to kiss him, to the applause of everybody in the room.
It was an eerie moment, and Adam still felt as if he was hovering above himself and Marc the entire time, seeing every single person in the room, in slow motion, as they moved forward and joined the couple to hug them, kiss them, congratulate them. A
dam’s father and mother were both crying as they walked up to their son, and even Marc’s parents were deeply touched that their only son had found love again.
Finally, Marc found his voice. “Wow, that was a surprise. How did you do that?” He whispered in Adam’s ear, “I love you so much, and yes, I will marry you.”
Adam beamed. “I got a little help from Santa Claus.” He turned around, but Santa Claus was no longer in the room.
Adam knew, of course, that it had been an actor he had hired through the hotel, and Rick had been the only person in the entire group who was aware of the plan and who had placed the package under the tree after everyone had retired to their rooms the night before. Using family photos and short background stories, they had helped the actor prepare for his appearance.
The man had the good grace to know when his performance was over, and he’d left the room to let the family focus on the happy couple. Adam made a mental note to contact the man later on, to forward a handsome tip. He’d been a little surprised by Dennis and Amanda’s announcement of their engagement the night before, but Rick assured him that they should move forward with their plans.
“We’re a big family, and I was kind of expecting this. Dennis has been very quiet and withdrawn with regards to Amanda. I had a hunch he didn’t want to jinx this one. But no double wedding. Please, I beg you. Our family has bad experiences with double weddings.” Rick had laughed, but it was hollow, his eyes mirroring the pain he had felt at the loss of his father.
* * * * *
Chapter 21 - A Funeral, a Grand Opening, a House Move, and a Wedding
It had been over far too quickly, their big Floridian vacation, and they all returned to Chicago, Maine, and Belgium, where life continued along the beaten track. The kids went back to school; Marc worked hard to get his dream spa ready for a grand opening in May; Adam was busy with his work and counseling the kids at the foundation.
Sadly, Adam’s dad took a turn for the worse just days after returning from Florida and passed away two weeks into January. The funeral was a somber affair, yet both Adam and his mom were grateful that things had turned out so well in recent months and that they had those final days in Florida to cherish forever.
Marc and Adam never got around to setting a date for their wedding in those hectic weeks. Dennis and Amanda were getting married in late May, and Marc and Adam didn’t want to have their wedding too close after them. With the spa opening on May first, and the move to the new house in June, they would be busy anyway. Besides, they were in no hurry, and both Marc and Adam seriously contemplated eloping to city hall and getting it over with. Both knew, however, they wouldn’t hear the end of it from the Jacksons, and so they put their wedding plans on the back burner. “Maybe next year” was their consensus. They knew that they’d get to it, eventually.
Marc’s spa was slowly inching closer to being ready. The marketing material was ready, and Marc spent weeks interviewing different candidates for various positions, from receptionist to massage and beauty therapists. He was really pleased with the progress he was making and also found a product line, based on sea salt, algae, and seaweed, that would perfectly match the aquatic theme of the spa.
He also stumbled upon a young therapist from Goa, who had trained for several years down in Kerala in India to master the ancient art of Ayurveda. The two of them worked on ways to allow for Ayurvedic knowledge and practices to influence and guide the other spa treatments and imported products directly from India to supplement their offering.
Marc had great plans for the grand opening week, offering sneak previews to invited guests. For the entire first week, all treatments would be offered free of charge in hopes that the word of mouth throughout the community would attract lots of customers. When the booking opened, the first month quickly filled, leaving Marc hopeful about the future of the “Sea of Tranquility.” Josh was curious about the spa’s development and promised to work there during the summer, cleaning, manning the reception desk, and doing whatever else he could to make sure his new dad would be successful. Adam offered the same but knew that Marc needed this to be his project—his baby—and he couldn’t have been more proud of the progress and the way the spa slowly but surely came together.
On the night before the grand opening, Marc invited all his team members, along with the family, down to the spa for an informal opening and welcome ceremony. Champagne was served, along with delicious hors d’oeuvres. During the opening the next morning, the drinks and snacks would all be healthy and non-alcoholic, but Marc felt his family deserved a little extra. Besides, this was his night, and he didn’t have to sell the spa to his loved ones.
Adam walked around the different treatment rooms, inspecting the many different machines and asking the staff what they were for. He even relaxed enough to enjoy a quick facial peeling.
“You have amazing skin, Mr. Kim,” said Jenny, a young beautician. “But you have a classic T…” She showed Adam where he had oily skin on his forehead and nose. “If you come here a couple of times every month, I’ll get that under control for you, and you’ll look as handsome and young as you do now for many, many years to come.” She smiled and blushed a bit. Adam was handsome, but he understood that Jenny knew he was the boss’s fiancé. Marc did a great job hiring staff, that’s for sure.
The entire family sampled parts of treatments, tested various products, and Marc and the other two massage therapists spent hours giving shoulder, feet, hand or scalp massages. It wasn’t until after midnight that Rick and Rachel, the last family members to linger, went home, and Marc and his staff began to clean up and get things ready for the rush of the grand opening.
Just as Adam had predicted, every major paper in the greater Chicago region and every news outlet was there, trying to secure a few minutes of Marc’s time, shouting questions at him when he opened the doors to “Sea of Tranquility.” Most of the questions were harmless enough, but some were more blunt—
“Are you riding on the Jackson family name, Mr. Duchesne?”
“Is the Jackson family financially involved?”
—and so on. Marc barely listened. He wasn’t interested in media coverage, not that sort, anyway. He wanted the spa to be successful, needed it to be successful. He had seven people on payroll and a hefty lease to pay, not to mention the leasing fees for all the equipment and money for product purchases. It simply had to be a success.
Adam acted as media liaison that day. He’d taken the day off work to be with Marc, to allow him to be the host and only appear for interviews when arranged by Adam. Some of the media crews wanted to shoot inside the spa, but Marc wanted to keep the space a bit of a secret and allowed no pictures to be taken. There were huge crowds on the first day, and it kept going like that for the better part of the week. All the free sample bookings had filled up within hours, and the booking calendar was filled for months in advance with people who booked regular sessions after their first freebie. If things kept going this way, Adam was convinced Marc would be fine, and probably very busy!
Three weeks after the opening of the spa, the Jackson clan had a private ceremony, as Dennis finally got to marry Amanda. To make the day perfect, Jonathan Jr. and Emilie announced that they were pregnant again. Adam had to think twice what Jessica and the unborn child were to Marc, but he eventually figured out that Marc was their step-great-grandfather. Not a bad feat for a guy of barely forty-three.
And there was more to come, as Parker and Cody’s new house was finally completed in early June of that year, just days after Adam’s forty-fifth birthday.
The first piece of furniture to be put back into the new house’s grand kitchen was the oak kitchen table, which they had rescued from the old house. It had been a special request by Cody that they try to salvage at least something form the old house, and the kitchen table had been the very symbol of Dan and Jonathan’s family. At that table, the two men, Rick, and Jeanette had eaten their meals for so many years, and it had been the focal point of the Jackson fam
ily for decades.
Parker cried when he learned that the table had been rescued. It had been slightly damaged by the fire but had been restored in good time for being put back in its rightful place in the new kitchen. Cody and Parker had to buy all the other furniture from scratch, and they had spent months scouting for stuff to fill the big mansion with enough furniture and art to make it look like a home. The kids each had their own rooms and had been able to select their own furniture. It took more than a week to move it all in, get settled and sorted.
For Adam, Marc, and Josh, it was a little bit easier. They already had some furniture, which they had moved to their wing of the house, but they, too, had to buy more, as the east wing had twice as many rooms as their temporary home near Adam’s mom. They also decided to invite Adam’s mom to come live with them for as long as possible, before her dementia deteriorated to the point where she needed professional round-the-clock care, and Marc had more than once suggested they hire a nurse when the time came. There was still time.
At first, Joeng was reluctant to give up her apartment, but after a couple of months of solitude, she began to spend more and more time at her son’s apartment across the street, and in the end, moving with them to the house seemed like the natural thing to do. As naturally as she’d assumed the role of grandmother to Josh, so, too, did she extend that role to the other four kids in the house.
Just as it had been in the old house, the east wing was still connected to the rest of the house. The two families ate together more often than not, and the brand new, old kitchen resumed its natural location of gathering place for every member of the combined households. Grandma Joeng was the one who was always around, able to look after the kids after school, making her famed Korean tea, baking, spoiling Josh, Kyle, Susan, Amy, and Jeff.
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