Chapter 15
Carter
“Babe! Get up!” Jax whispered as she shook me awake.
I had no idea how she had so much energy after how late we had been up the night before. I had stayed back after the event to help with cleanup, and we hadn’t gotten back to the house until after midnight.
I had no idea what time it was right now, but I knew whatever time it was, it was too early. “How are you so awake right now?” I asked with a groan.
“Because it’s time to finally get our Christmas tree. I’ve been waiting weeks for this.”
Since I knew we would have to entertain guests for so long, I had suggested we wait to get our Christmas tree, so we had an activity to do with them. Jax had been patiently (or maybe not so patiently) waiting since Thanksgiving for this day to come.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
I dragged myself out of bed and splashed water on my face as I got ready, which only somewhat helped with my tiredness. By the time I was back in our bedroom, Jax was completely ready and bouncing up and down waiting for me.
“You do know we have to wait for everyone else to be ready, right?” I asked with a laugh.
“Which is why I’m going to go wake them all up,” Jax said with a mischievous grin.
It turned out we didn’t have to wake up our parents or my grandma. They were already awake and having coffee together in the kitchen.
“Who’s ready for the Christmas Tree Farm?” Jax asked as she skipped into the kitchen.
My grandma crossed her arms and shook her head, a sour look on her face. “Not me. I’m not going.”
Jax skipped over to my grandma and knelt down in front of her. “Why not? Afraid you’ll be too cold? I’ll be sure to get you nice and bundled up. Don’t worry.”
“It’s not the cold I’m worried about. It’s the owner. I’m not a fan.”
My mama laughed, causing some coffee to sputter out of her mouth. “You really need to get over that, Mom.”
I looked between my mama and grandma. I had absolutely no idea what was going on right now. “Get over what?”
My mama pointed her thumb at her mom. “Your grandma wasn’t invited to the owner’s wedding, which took place approximately thirty years ago, and she’s still salty over it. What does Jesus have to say about grudges, Mom?”
My grandma scoffed. “I’m sure he would understand. After everything I did for that girl, even after what she did, it was so wrong of her not to invite me.”
“She had her reasons, mother.” My mama sighed. “You can stay home by yourself, I guess. Just call us if you need anything.”
My grandma huffed. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
There was clearly a story there, but I had no idea what it was and the look on my mama’s face told me I probably shouldn’t ask.
It took a while, but once Jax was finally able to get Olivia up and moving, we headed to the Royersford Family Farm for our Christmas tree.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, a woman who appeared to be around my parents’ age walked out and waved at us excitedly.
I got out of the car at the same time as my mama, who quickly walked over to the woman waving at us. “Mary Beth Royersford. It’s been way too long. How have you been?”
The woman nodded. “It really has. I see Jamie and Ethan a decent amount, but your visits are always too short to get together.”
My mama pointed toward me. “Well, my daughter is living here, at least for now, so we might be down more often.”
“And how’s your mom?” Mary Beth asked. “Doing okay without your dad? I’m so sorry we couldn’t make it to his funeral. We had our family vacation planned for months, and unfortunately, there was no way to change it.”
Apparently, this woman didn’t have the same issue with my grandma as my grandma had with her. I was really curious what the whole story was. Maybe my Uncle Jamie would be willing to tell me.
“Mom is fine. Carter and Jax have been taking good care of her.” My mama waved me over. “This is my daughter, Carter. She’s been living down here with her girlfriend, Jax, helping my mom out.”
“That’s very nice of you,” Mary Beth said, her smile polite. When Jax came to stand beside me, Mary Beth’s eyes went wide. “I know who you are! You’re the new employee at the cafe.”
Jax laughed and nodded. “And you are regular coffee, mostly black, with only the tiniest hint of cream.”
Mary Beth’s smile grew, and she lifted both eyebrows. “Impressive.”
I proudly put my arm around Jax and pulled her tight up against me. “She’s pretty amazing.” Understatement of the century, honestly.
Soon, my mom and Olivia joined us, and the conversation shifted over to them.
After a few minutes, Mary Beth led us through the Christmas tree farm, which was absolutely breathtaking.
New York City was known for its Christmas activities, but this felt more like Christmas to me.
Parents weren’t pulling their kids along to go see the big tree, but instead families were laughing together as they leisurely strolled through this winter wonderland.
Between the hot chocolate Mary Beth gave us to the smell of the trees all around us, I felt the spirit of Christmas taking over me.
It led me to see this town in a new light.
There might be some negatives to it, but there was also a lot of beauty as well.
Unfortunately, the Christmas season didn’t last all year, so I couldn’t base my decision on whether to stay on this one moment.
After picking out the tree, we went back home to decorate it. My grandma told me where to find the ornaments and did join us for decorating. Even though my grandma didn’t want to see Mary Beth, she was apparently okay with decorating a tree from her farm.
The boxes of ornaments were filled with ornaments my mama and Uncle Jamie made growing up, which made us all laugh.
“This is how I want to decorate the tree when we have a family,” Jax said as she stepped up beside me to hang an ornament that somewhat resembled a snowman.
“What do you mean?”
She waved her hand in front of the tree.
“I don’t want to go out and buy ornaments that look good.
I want the tree to be filled with memories.
I want to hang all of the awful Christmas crafts our kid makes.
I want to go to a Christmas tree farm and pick out a tree with them like we did today.
” She leaned closer to me and lowered her voice.
“I love my parents, and they were amazing in a lot of ways when I was growing up, but we didn’t have a tree like this.
My mom had a collection of the most expensive artificial trees and filled them with pretty ornaments.
I honestly always hated it.” She put an arm around me and pulled me close, laying her head on my shoulder as she continued to stare at the tree.
“I’m glad we can have a real tree this year. ”
My heart pulled in my chest. Every time I thought I couldn’t possibly love this woman more, she proved me wrong. “Me too, babe. We’ll have a real tree every year from now on, I promise.”
It would be harder to keep that promise if we ended up moving back to our apartment in New York City since it was so small, but I would find a real tree that fit. Having a big house with a big tree was a definite advantage to staying in Maryland. Add that to the “pros” side.
After decorating the tree, it was time to go to the Christmas Parade, which was apparently a big deal in town. My grandma bundled up so she could come along with us since the church she used to attend was one of the sponsors of the event, so she never missed it.
As we drove into town, my mom told us the story of the first time she ever attended this parade.
“Somehow, your Uncle Jamie and I ended up wearing almost identical outfits. I still remember how annoyed he was, because he was trying to impress your Uncle Ethan, and apparently, dressing the same as me was not the way to do that.”
“So, that was before Uncle Jamie and Uncle Ethan got together?” I asked.
My mom nodded. “That was when they got together. They knew each other in high school, but didn’t really hang out in the same group. They both had crushes on each other back then though, and that hadn’t quite gone away for either of them, so this was their second chance.”
“And the rest is history?” Jax asked wistfully.
“The rest is history,” my mom repeated.
It was always interesting hearing about how the adults in my family got together. I sometimes forgot there was a time before they were couples, because it was all I had ever known.
After parking, we met up with my Uncle Jamie and Uncle Ethan, who were already waiting with hot chocolate for all of us.
“This certainly brings back memories,” my mom said as she took a cup from my uncle.
Uncle Jamie laughed. “At least this time we’re not dressed the same.”
I grabbed a cup as well. “My mom was just telling us that story.” I looked between my Uncle Jamie and Uncle Ethan. “So, this is where your love story began, huh?”
My Uncle Jamie shared a smile with my Uncle Ethan. “It wasn’t exactly where it began since we knew each other in high school, but this is where we first saw each other after way too many years.”
Olivia made a sound that was between a cough and a laugh. “So, pretty much, you hooked up in high school, lost touch, and got back together here?”
My Uncle Jamie and Uncle Ethan stared at each other as if they were having a silent conversation, then my Uncle Ethan looked at my mom but pointed to my sister. “How does she do that?”
Olivia put a hand on her chest. “What can I say? It’s a gift.”
A few minutes later, the parade started, and Jax slipped her hand into mine while we watched.
Jax’s attention was mostly on my sister since they had so much catching up to do, but every once in a while she squeezed my hand to tell me she hadn’t forgotten about me.
It was little gestures like this that made Jax so special.