Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
Patrick
We got out, and he helped me up the icy driveway with a steadying hand on my good arm.
"My goodness!" Eleanor exclaimed as we drew near. "What in high heaven happened to you, Patrick? I expected you last night! And what did you do to your arm and leg?" She seemed genuinely shocked at my condition.
I eyeballed her suspiciously. As if she didn't know!
"Hi, I'm Gray. Can I get him inside?" Gray asked politely. "We had some car trouble, and he's been out in the cold all night."
"Oh no! Of course, come in, come in! Let's get you both warmed up. I've got coffee on, and I baked danish. Old family recipe!"
Krampus or no Krampus, I did feel awkward about busting in on her family's Christmas.
But the Christmas tree in the living room was surrounded by unopened gifts and the only other sign of life in the house, besides Eleanor herself, was her husband, Hector, who was sitting at the kitchen table.
His flannel PJs were also red. The pair of them looked like matching middle-aged cherry popsicles.
"Hector, you know Patrick, and this is his friend, Gray. I'm just gonna get everyone a cup of Joe. There's cream and sugar on the table. Danish? I've got cherry and apple. Homemade!"
We both accepted, of course. And we both picked cherry. The Chinese meal the night before had run its course by now, and I needed something. Eleanor gave me a couple of aspirins to take with it, which my various aches and pains appreciated.
"Are your kids home?" I asked, as Eleanor sat down.
"Oh, yes! Even Judith is home from college. But the youngest is sixteen, and you know teenagers. They love to sleep in! Not even Santa can get them up before noon."
"They'll be asleep for hours," Hector agreed. He smiled, as if he was very pleased about that.
"So now, tell me what's going on, and I want every teeny-tiny detail.
" Eleanor sat down with her coffee. "I invited you for Christmas dinner, Patrick, but showing up on my doorstep before 6 a.m. with this fine stranger—" She eyed Gray up and down appreciatively.
"—is not like you. So, I know it's not a social call.
What gives?" She suddenly looked stricken.
"I hope you aren't going to tell me you're quitting the team. "
The thought hadn't occurred to me. I loved my job. But it might be necessary, depending on how this conversation went. Ugh. That would suck. But I decided to just get on with it.
"It's about this." I brought Krampus from my coat pocket and put it on the table. Eleanor and Hector both smiled as if seeing an old friend. Which was annoying AF.
"Are you my secret Santa? You are, aren't you?" I demanded, which sounded absurd being voiced in such an accusatory tone, like I was Perry Mason doing a cross-examination on an elf. But here we were.
Eleanor looked coy. "Well. There's a reason why it's called secret Santa, Patrick."
I had a hard time not throwing my danish at her. She was spared only because it was a really good danish, and I'd already devoured most of it.
"Ack!" I said.
"Eleanor," Gray broke in gently, "Patrick has been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours. I think it would be for the best if you gave him a straight-forward answer."
She waved a hand. "Oh, very well. Nobody likes a good old-fashioned mystery these days!
Yes, I gave you Krampus. He's very special.
" She looked at Hector, and he smiled even more warmly and took her hand.
"You see, he's a wonderful little matchmaker.
He got Hector and I together, oh, twenty-three years ago now. "
"Twenty-four, dearest," Hector corrected, kissing her hand.
"Oh, yes! Twenty-four. You see, my grandmother gave him to me on Christmas of 2001.
I think she worried I'd be an old maid. Anyway, I was cleaning the attic last month and found him.
I thought about saving him for our kids, but then you told me you'd be alone this Christmas, and I needed a gift for you, and, well, I just decided that you were special enough for Krampus.
" She looked at me fondly. "You're almost like one of my own, you know. "
"Special?" I parroted, not sure if I should be horrified, furious, or touched.
Gray took my uninjured hand and squeezed it. "Um… can I ask how you two met?"
"Now that's a story!" Hector sighed contentedly.
"It is! You see, my mother died, and Hector ran a florist shop, so that's how we met. When I went in to get flowers for Mom." Eleanor gave a sexy little glance under her lashes at her true love.
"And then… it's so funny—" Hector said.
"—Right? We had that spark right away, but neither of us said anything. And then, a few days later, my friend Jay died, and then, if you can believe it, my Aunt Marge."
"And she came to me for flowers every time!" Hector glowed. "And finally, after the third time, I knew it was fate, and I got up the nerve to ask her to dinner."
"And of course, I said yes!" Eleanor beamed. "He was the handsomest man I ever saw, and so sweet and shy!"
My jaw dropped open. "Are you telling me you killed three people to find love?"
Eleanor gave me a funny look. "What? No! Don't be silly, Patrick. Mom had a bum ticker. She was lucky to have lived as long as she did. Jay was a dirt bike racing fiend. He was always too reckless, bless his soul. And my Aunt Marge got drunk on a New Years' Eve cruise and fell overboard."
I looked wide-eyed at Gray. Oh. My. God.
Gray shook his head almost imperceptibly with a warning in his eye. It's better to let them remain naive.
I took a big gulp of coffee. Poor Aunt Marge.
"So, after you two started dating, were there any more… unfortunate events?" asked Gray.
Excellent question. My boyfriend was so smart.
Eleanor waved a hand. "Heavens, no. I'd say we've led a charmed life. Wouldn't you, dumpling?"
"Oh, yes. Positively charmed. I don't know what my life would be like without Eleanor." Hector wiped a tear from his eye.
A hysterical giggle arose in me from nowhere, and then Gray's face turned red as he tried to hold in a laugh, and finally we both burst out, clutching each other and having a regular chuckle fest. I think it was a post-stress reaction. Like a pressure valve letting off steam.
"My goodness!" Eleanor said. "What on Earth is so funny?"
"N-nothing," I said, catching my breath. I flapped my sling. "I still have all four limbs, so I'm good."
"Wolves," Gray said, which started me laughing again. I slumped against Gray's shoulder and shed tears of hilarity.
Eleanor and Hector were polite enough to let us be, though I was pretty sure I heard Eleanor stage whisper, Probably a little too much Glühwein.
Finally, the giggles died down, and Gray and I finished our coffee and danish.
"So, you never told me what happened," Eleanor asked. "Did you get in a car wreck? Is that why your friend is driving you?"
"Boyfriend," I said, giving Gray a smile.
"Oh!" Eleanor blinked in delight, her eyebrows disappearing up into her permed hair. "Since when? I didn't know you had a boyfriend! Patrick!" She slapped my arm with a scowl. "And here you had me feeling so sorry for you!"
"I didn't have a boyfriend until last night. It was him. He did it." I pushed the Krampus figurine across the table toward her. "You see, Gray is an ER doctor. And Krampus made sure we got to know each other very, very well."
Eleanor's smile faded, and she got a worried look. "Oh?"
"Yup. I had three separate accidents. But it's okay. I survived. Barely. Only tell me you'll take Krampus back."
"You don't want him?"
"Nope. I've passed that level boss," I said firmly.
"I suggest," said Gray, "You put him back in the attic, Eleanor. And maybe not give him to your kids."
"Or anyone else!" I added.
"Oh. My. I'm—I'm sorry if he caused you any trouble," Eleanor looked so stricken, I believed her. "I never had anything like that happen to me."
"Just three people dying," I muttered under my breath.
"I just so wanted you to meet someone. Someone as special as my Hector."
Well, she had me there. Because I had. And if Gray and I could look as much in love as they did twenty-four years from now? It would be well worth everything I'd been through.
"On second thought," I said, "If you do give him to one of your kids, just make sure everyone in the family's got hard hats on before you do."
Gray snorted out the coffee he had just sipped and wiped his face with a napkin while I grinned.
Eleanor offered us another danish and another cup of coffee and invited us to stay for Christmas dinner. But, as excellent as her cooking was, both Gray and I were eager to leave.
"Thank you for letting us interrupt your Christmas morning," Gray said at the door.
"I hope to see you again," Eleanor said, giving him an awkward little hug. "Is it too soon to say, 'welcome to the family’?"
"Yes," I said, a little embarrassed.
Gray shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. Thank you."
"See you on January second," I said.
"Oh, Patrick, with your injuries, if you want to take an extra week off, I'd be happy to fill out the paperwork."
I was about to say no but stopped myself. Another week off? Why not? The bugs could wait. "Okay, yeah," I said. "Thanks."
Gray gave me a proud smile. "I've got some leave I could take too."
Oh, yes. The rest of December and January were looking way, way up.
"Okay, you two. Now drive safe! And don't do anything we wouldn't do!" Eleanor, giggling, shut the door.
On the porch, Gray waited while I arranged my crutches, then he helped me down the three steps to the sidewalk. We stood there for a moment as I caught my breath and appreciated the golden light of morning reflecting off the snow. The sky was blue. It was a beautiful winter day.
"Is it weird that I miss him a little?" I said, surprised at myself.
Gray thought about it. "I get it. But I don't think we need him anymore."
"No?"
"No. I think we can take it from here."
Gray kissed me. And yeah, we definitely had this.
A clump of snow started to slide from the roof just over Gray and Patrick's heads. But it stopped, suspended in midair, as the kiss deepened, someone moaned, and the clutch became a tight one. Finally, the two men parted.
"Will you spend Christmas day with me?" Gray asked in a husky voice.
"You don't have to work, Doctor?" I asked coyly.
Gray shook his head. "No. Christmas Eve was my holiday shift. I've got all day off."
"Hmm." I tapped my chin. "Do you have a Christmas tree at your place?"
"I haven't had time," Gray said sheepishly.
"Then come to mine. I have a tree, we can order in from Joy Luck, make a pumpkin pie, and I've got a build of Veilborn we can check out. I mean, if you want."
Gray sighed. "That sounds like the best Christmas ever."
We kissed one more time, or, rather, brushed noses, then Gray helped me hobble for the car.
As Gray's BMW drove out of sight, the suspended clump of snow from the roof fell to the porch step with a loud and wet—kersplat!
THE END