Chapter 11 #3
“And my dad jokes!” Remy added in. His surprise over the book had vanished. Maybe he was just shocked that my son already had both his daughters pegged so well. I was certainly a bit sideswiped myself, but in a good way.
“Yeah, but Max’s are funny,” Addy said nonchalantly, and ow, that one smarted.
“Don’t be mean,” Max countered, joshing her arm. “Negative rizz.”
“Heaven forbid.”
Holy crap, the sibling energy was real.
“Thank you for the lovely evening,” Max said, instead of engaging, which was quite funny to watch.
These two got each other in a way I couldn’t have predicted.
“Merriest Christmas to you, Mr. Remy.” My son extended his hand for a shake.
Maybe it was a silly thing to be proud of, but I loved the young man Max was turning into.
“Merriest Christmas right back at you,” Remy said, and good God, when he beamed at Max, my stomach somersaulted. “A handshake feels a little formal. Would you be comfortable with a hug?”
“Yeah!”
If happiness was a drug, I would be absolutely flying at the moment. It really felt like the holiday cheer was surrounding us, spilling over and filling the world with a little more light than there had been before.
“We’ll all hang out again after you get spoiled rotten this Christmas with the fam,” Remy said, repeating the idea I had subtly shut down earlier.
“You and the girls can all show off your toys and share. Maybe even exchange books when you’re done with them, because I’m sure you’re all gonna be loaded. ”
I winced. I got the impression that Remy always meant well, but there were some things he just didn’t get about being broke.
Granted, being broke didn’t always mean the rest of the family was, but Max and I didn’t have any other family—no fat aunties with lovely red cheeks and the softest hugs; no overbearing uncles who insisted on handing down different woodworking skills to their nieces and nephews; no grandpas; no grandmas; no cousins.
It was just Max and me, and that was how it always had been.
“Christmas is always just me and Mama,” Max said. But he said it like it was a good thing, and that mollified me. I was happy with our little dynamic duo, but sometimes I felt like I was depriving him of so many things a kid needed. “Our presents are each other.”
“No presents?” Eva asked forlornly.
Oh, God, please let the ground swallow me whole.
It was my job as his mother to make Christmas and birthdays special.
“I got presents. Five of them, already wrapped for me. Not to mention this is the first year in forever that I haven’t been in the hospital!”
I loved that my son was so frank about some things—it really removed the taboo—but I worried some people would react poorly and accuse him of trauma-dumping when he was simply talking about his life. Two and a half years of cancer and three months of remission was a huge chunk of time for Max.
I should have known better than to think I had to worry about the LeBeaus, however.
“That’s amazing, Max. It sounds like an amazing Christmas,” Remy said without missing a beat. “Why don’t you and the girls say your final holiday goodbyes, and then you get your mama to bed?”
“Okay!”
My son proceeded to do just that, and Remy took a step toward me, turning his back to our kids.
“Just wanted to check, ’cause you know how kids can be. Are y’all really gonna be on your lonesome all Christmas?”
He said it with no judgment, but shame spread through me, and those nagging whispers that I was messing up became ever louder.
“It sounds a lot more dire than it is. I managed to get him some things here and there. He only knows about the ones I wrapped.”
“But it’s just the two of you?”
He seemed really stuck on that. I shrugged, not really sure what to say.
“His father has never been in the picture, so yeah, it’s just the two of us.
We have our own little traditions that we’re happy to get back to after celebrating with the rest of the ward in the hospital.
Or having him be too sick to really celebrate. ”
“Well, I understand if you want time for y’all to reconnect and have a chill Christmas, but if you’re open to it, I’d love for you to come to the Christmas shindig my whole extended family throws.”
“What?” I blurted before my brain even fully caught up with what was happening. I must have hallucinated that, right? There was no way Remy was offering to let us crash his Christmas celebrations.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to be presumptuous,” he said, and a flush crept into those regal cheekbones of his.
“Every year, my family throws this huge celebration on our old ancestral lands. There are a bunch of cabins, so you’d have a space to yourself.
There’s a ton of kids, and food, and old people looking to spoil young ones.
“And it’s not like it’s only blood relations. We’ve got friends of the family. Church friends. Visitors from other cla—congregations, you know, pretty much everything you could expect from a good, old-fashioned Southern get-together.”
“That’s…” I swallowed. I was absolutely out of my depth here. The crazy thing was, I wanted to agree. If tonight had been borderline magical, then what would a cabin amongst a whole family of LeBeaus be like? “That’s a really big offer.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Feel free to think about it, but no pressure.
It’s just I can’t help but think Max would love to play with all the kids there, make some more friends.
And I’m pretty sure it’s snowed a couple of inches there, so he could have a white Christmas.
” It was like Remy caught himself getting carried away, because suddenly all his momentum stopped, and he shook his head.
“Sorry, I really am getting ahead of myself. I guess I’m a bit anxious since this is the first time me ‘n’ the little ’uns are going since Zara passed.
Last year I was too much of a wreck to make it, and the girls weren’t feeling it.
So, I guess I’m kind of eager to not only spread the Christmas cheer, but to also have someone around who kind of gets it. Kinda selfish, really.”
“That’s not selfish at all,” I said, more out of instinct than anything else, but I knew it was true right down to my heart. I was well and truly touched, so I found myself nodding along.
“How long is this shindig of yours?”
His gaze grew hopeful. “Some folks are already there. The girls and I leave the day after tomorrow, and we usually stay until the day after Christmas.”
“Well… I suppose I did preload most of my work. Will there be Wi-Fi?”
“Oh yeah. One of my cousins got sick of always having to cart around physical media, so he set up a network so we can stream. It’s pretty powerful.” He chuckled. “Welcome to the twenty-first century!”
“Let’s do it, then,” I said, only to be interrupted by a cheer from three distinct voices behind Remy. Looking past his shoulder, I saw the three of them hugging and jumping, although it was more just excited shuffling on Max’s part. So much for being discreet.
“Christmas party!” They cheered like we’d just told them Santa was going to visit them personally. “Christmas party! Christmas party!”
“All right, all right, let’s not wake up the neighborhood,” I said, gently shushing them although I really just wanted to laugh. “We’ll figure out all the final details tomorrow, but Max, it’s time to head inside and get ready for bed, okay?”
“Okay!” he cried, practically leaping to his chair.
There was a chorus of more goodbyes and waves as I wheeled him away.
As I unlocked our front door, I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder.
Remy was watching us with the happiest expression across his handsome features.
I didn’t know what possessed me, but I winked at him before heading in.
I had thought it before, but now I was more sure than ever that someone, somewhere, was handing me my own Christmas miracle.