“Perfect,” David winked.
“And if you really love me, there is a gray hoodie over there with a crimson swoosh that screams late night study sessions at Harvard,” Grant shrugged.
David curled his lip. “I don’t think I love you that much, Bro!”
“Large,” Grant coughed.
“Well, if it’s for school,” Melissa conceded.
Grant patted David’s back as he kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Dave!” he called as he strolled out of the store, on a mission to find the perfect Christmas gift for Hailey.
Rachel and Wally oohed and aahed around the baby department, knowing they already had gifts in their suitcase that everyone was going to love! Wally and his band had finally finished their new album, and he had brought everyone their very own copy.
Jack kept running into his girls just long enough for them to hand him shopping bags to hold before disappearing again. He stood in a long line inside the music store with a stack of CDs off the list Jessica had made him as a romantic ballad by Celine Dion played over the loudspeaker. He wondered, not for the first time, if things wouldn’t have been easier if he had never run into Nora after all the years that had separated them. Her husband was back in town for another holiday and, if that wasn’t strange enough, Jack sensed for the first time that their living arrangement would soon come to its inevitable end. Though their shared childhood and teenage years would always guarantee Nora Jean Miller a special place in his heart, he had no doubt that their relationship would never mature beyond that of childhood sweethearts. Hailey and Jessica had been able to convince him to join them on this trip to Memphis, mainly because they knew it would be his last chance to fulfill their Christmas wishes before the big day. He had agreed, knowing that he did need to finish up some shopping. He had prepared himself to see Randy again; what he had not been quite as prepared for was the look in Nora’s eyes when Randy stepped off the plane. She didn’t run to him or hug him; she reserved that for her children and her granddaughter, but she seemed strangely relieved to have him there. Jack knew she was nervous about Grant’s doctor’s appointment the following day, and he imagined that was part of the reason she wanted Grant’s father close by, but there was more to it than that. It remained as it had always been; Nora had loved Randy the day she walked away from Jack, and her love for Randy now would be the reason she walked away from him again. Jack smiled to himself. He had been lucky enough to fall in love with a woman who took his name, and, though their time together was short-lived, she had given him the two most treasured gifts he could imagine. His girls were his whole life, and his role as a single father had been a fulfilling one. He glanced out the store window and watched Hailey pass by, holding the hand of Nora’s son, and he laughed out loud. Life is funny that way, he thought. The girl of his dreams had returned out of the blue, not to re-write the past between them, but because, he truly believed, her son and his daughter were meant to share the love and the life that he and Nora never had.
Loaded down with shopping bags, Nora sat down in the food court to check her list one more time. She glanced into one of her bags, and, seeing one of the shirts she had picked up for Randy, she nodded, telling herself that it would be okay if she just wrapped them up from Grant and Emily.
Nora glanced across the way and found herself staring at two light-up toy soldiers standing guard at the store entrance. She recalled past Christmases, and her head was filled with snapshots of fond Christmas memories…Randy dressed up as Santa Claus for a party on the base…Randy sitting in the floor with David in his arms on his first Christmas as a father…Randy running down the sidewalk along side Joanna on the Christmas she got her first bike…Randy, David and Ike hurling wadded-up pieces of wrapping paper at each other as they helped her clean up before Christmas brunch… Randy standing inside the church on Christmas Eve, the children gathered around him as he held baby Rachel in her poofy, red Christmas dress…Randy in the floor on Christmas morning, showing Grant how to line his Army men up to guard his fort the year he turned two…and, finally, Randy and sweet baby Emily both sound asleep next the Christmas tree after Christmas dinner.
Randy slid into the seat next to Nora in the food court and sat a small black box on the table in front of her, sliding it toward her when she didn’t immediately reach for it.
“Randy!” Nora shook her head. “What is this?”
“It’s Christmas,” Randy shrugged. “This is my way of saying Merry Christmas to the only woman I will ever love…the best mother my children could have asked for…and someone whom I hope will one day be able to forgive the man who was never good enough for her to start with.”
Nora slowly opened the box to reveal a gorgeous, heart-shaped diamond necklace.
“I know this can’t replace the heart I broke,” Randy gulped, “but I hope that every time you look it, you remember that, though mistakes were made, you were and are always loved.”
That evening everyone was gathered around the living room at Jack’s house; the Christmas tree lights were on, and the mood was relaxed and pleasant. As Nora sat a tray of Christmas cookies on the coffee table, things seemed to be going too eerily well, and her stomach churned, waiting for the rug to inevitably be ripped from underneath her.
“You know,” Randy was saying to Grant, “I could probably still talk to some people…”
“Dad,” Grant insisted, “Give up on West Point! Hailey and I have made our decision.”
“Hailey and I?” Randy scoffed.
“We made our decision,” Grant stuck to his guns.
“We?” Randy scoffed. “There you go again! You’ve got yourself a little girlfriend, so you can’t make a decision on your own now, Son? This is about you and your future!”
“There is a definite us to consider now,” Grant said confidently. “She didn’t make my decision, but we did make it together. When you love someone, you tend to make important decisions with the wellbeing of both in mind, Dad…you know…where to go to dinner…where to go to church…where to go to college…whether or not to have an adulterous affair with the neighbor girl…”
“Grant, that’s not necessary,” Nora sighed, glancing around embarrassed, hoping no one had heard him.
“The kid’s right, Nora,” Randy nodded. He stared at Grant. “I respect your decision.”
“Thank you,” Grant smiled cautiously. “And if Harvard doesn’t work out…I can always flip hamburgers at McDonald’s, huh?”
“Grant, don’t give the old man a heart attack,” David laughed.
“Harvard Law doesn’t sound like a bad goal to me,” Joanna smiled.
“I don’t know,” Grant shrugged. “I was considering studying political philosophy for undergrad…but you know, I do have a propensity for Japanese gardening…I have always been intrigued by the Bonsai tree.”
“Cute,” Randy nodded. “Please joke about it…it’s just your future we’re talking about after all!”
Grant shook his head. “Did I ever tell you about the most delightful peasants I met in Morocco? They turned me on to the fascinating art of basket weaving, and I was thinking that…”
Randy’s face turned bright red.
“Dad, just ignore him; that’s what the rest of us do,” Joanna laughed, winking at her baby brother.
Hailey walked into the room and picked up a cookie off the tray. “Baby, grab me one, please,” Grant called.
Hailey sat down in Grant’s lap with a napkin of cookies in hand. “Are you going snowflake or snowman?” she asked.
“I’m the man. You’re the flake,” Grant winked.
Hailey wrinkled her nose, pulling the napkin close to her. “I will be eating both of these, thank you very much,” she declared.
Grant kissed her cheek. “That’s okay,” he nibbled at her cheek with his lips. “You’re so sweet I don’t even need a cookie.”
“That’s good because you’re not getting one,” Hailey answered easily.
Grant smiled, resting his chin against her shoulder.