Chapter Fourteen #2
“It’s not. It’s wonderful. Her wedding is going to be perfect. But I don’t understand. Why would people who’ve never met her give money to her?”
“Why not? She and Rex don’t have much financially, so we’re helping them out. Come on. They’re Marines and it’s Christmas. What else would we do?”
She stared at him. “You gave money?”
He shrugged. “Some. I helped.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I knew you’d find out at the meeting. I thought that was more fun.”
Which was just like him, she thought. He’d always done nice things for her and her friends. He was generous and kind and she couldn’t believe how stupid she’d been as a teenager.
“I’m sorry I wouldn’t see you all those times,” she said, brushing away more tears.
“Water under the bridge.”
She leaned against him again. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you, too.”
***
The temperature might be close to seventy, but the scent of pine in the Christmas tree lot made it feel like the holiday season. Wynn inhaled deeply, enjoying the familiar smell. Yes, an artificial tree was more practical, but she didn’t care. The real ones were a tradition.
She stood next to Joylyn while Hunter and Garrick debated the merits of each tree.
Wynn had already reminded them twice that they only had eight-foot ceilings in their respective houses and anything taller than that was going to have to be topped off, but the guys seemed determined to go with the biggest tree they could.
Joylyn shook her head. “He was always like this when I was a kid. He bought some huge tree, then was shocked when it didn’t fit into his place.” She yawned and covered her mouth. “Sorry. The baby was active last night and kept me up.”
“You’re going to have to get him on a schedule.”
Joylyn smiled. “I know.”
“Speaking of him, where are you and Chandler on names? I feel funny just saying ‘him’ every time I mention him.”
Joylyn laughed. “I know. We talk about that, too. But we want to wait until he’s born. It feels weird to name someone before you’ve met them. We have a list, but we’ll decide on the day.”
Hunter walked over to her. “Mom, do you want a taller tree or a fatter tree?”
“Probably best not to call the tree fat. You might hurt its feelings.”
Her son rolled his eyes. “Fine. Wider or taller?”
“Wider. These trees all have good shapes. It’s silly to have to cut off the top two feet because it’s too tall for the room.”
He turned to Garrick. “See? We want a fat—ah, wider tree.”
“But tall is majestic,” Garrick insisted.
Joylyn sighed. “Dad, you do this every year.”
He grinned. “I know. I can’t help myself.”
“Then it’s decided,” Wynn told him. “You can be weird and get the too-tall tree. Hunter and I will get one that can hold more ornaments.”
“It’s not a competition,” Garrick muttered. “Although your point about the ornaments is a good one. We do have a lot.”
He walked around the four trees that had made the finals.
Wynn tried to be subtle as she checked out his butt.
The man was good-looking, and their regular make-out sessions kept her girl parts humming.
As Hunter was scheduled to do deck work and community service over his holiday break, she was starting to think there was no reason not to let him have a sleepover the next time he asked.
She forced her attention back to the trees. “I like the one on the far right. Hunter, what do you think?”
He nodded. “It’ll look good in the front window.”
“I agree. Okay, we’ve picked ours.” She patted Joylyn on the arm. “Good luck with your dad.”
Joylyn laughed. “You can’t just leave me here. What if he takes another hour to make up his mind?”
“I won’t take an hour,” Garrick grumbled. “Ten minutes, tops.”
“Let’s go to the front of the lot,” Wynn told her. “We’ll pay for our tree, and you can find somewhere to sit.”
Once the tree was purchased, one of the guys on the lot tied it to the top of her car. She and Hunter waved at Joylyn as they pulled out. When they got home, they managed to wrestle the tree off the car and into the house.
“I got this, Mom,” Hunter said. “Get the stand in place, and I’ll handle the tree.”
“You’re so strong,” she said, remembering when he’d been younger and smaller. “This growing thing is starting to freak me out.”
It didn’t take long to get the tree secured and in front of the window. They left it a few feet out from the wall so they could move around it to decorate, then push it in when they were finished.
“I’ll go get the ornaments, Mom,” Hunter said.
She followed him onto the front porch and saw Garrick and Joylyn pulling in next door, a tree sticking out of the back of his SUV.
“Which one did you get?” she asked, crossing her driveway.
Joylyn smiled. “The wider one so more ornaments will fit.”
Wynn looked at Garrick. “You were sensible.”
“Don’t sound surprised. I saw the value of your point and agreed with you.”
“Still, a man who can be reasoned with. Impressive.”
He winked at her, then picked up the tree as if it weighed nothing and carried it inside. Wynn sent Hunter to help him get the tree into the stand before heading to the garage and carrying in the last of the bins. Joylyn followed her.
“I’m not going to be much help,” she said, patting her belly. “I’m not sure I can get close enough to hang anything.”
Wynn pointed to the sofa. “Why don’t you keep me company while I decorate?”
“I wouldn’t want to get in the way of your traditions with Hunter.”
Wynn shook her head. “You won’t. He likes putting on the lights, but after about five minutes of hanging ornaments, he wanders away.”
“Oh, okay, then sure. I’d like to stay.”
She settled on the sofa. Wynn had just pulled out the various strings of lights when Garrick and Hunter walked in.
“Our tree is in its stand,” Garrick said. “We’re here for light duty.”
“Because putting on the lights is man work?”
“Of course. Decorating is more a woman thing.”
She put her hands on her hips. “It’s Saturday. There’s no professional football on today.”
Hunter shifted his feet. “There’s a great college game on, Mom. It’s the end of the season so who wins is important.”
Wynn glanced at Joylyn. “Too bad you’re having a boy.”
Joylyn laughed. “I can see that it might be a problem.”
The guys made quick work of the lights. Garrick plugged in each string to make sure it was working, then he and Hunter wound them around the tree.
They all squinted at the finished product and declared the lights were even, then the two of them disappeared next door to do the same to Garrick’s tree.
Wynn turned on Christmas music, made hot chocolate for herself and Joylyn, then put out a plate of cookies before opening the bins and studying the contents.
“I still have all the ornaments Hunter made for me in school,” she said. “Some of them are pretty fragile. Last year I freshened all the glue so they would last a few more years.”
Joylyn picked up a star made of popsicle sticks and glitter. “You must love these.”
“I do. They’re silly, but so special.”
She sat on the floor and started pulling out other ornaments. “I have a few from my mom.” She held up a wishing well ornament. “She said as long as we could make wishes, it was going to be a good Christmas.”
“When did she pass away?”
“While I was pregnant with Hunter.”
Joylyn’s eyes widened. “You were young.”
“I was. She was living in Alaska at the time.” Wynn remembered her mother telling her she was moving. “She believed she needed a man in her life to be happy. When I was little, she told me I had to be pretty in order to win my handsome prince.”
“Shouldn’t the message be more about studying hard and making something of yourself?”
Wynn smiled at her. “You’d think, but no.
While I was growing up we had a neighbor, Ms. James.
She was a schoolteacher who had never married.
She always talked to me about going to college and being successful.
My mom said Ms. James hadn’t amounted to anything because she never had a man in her life. It was confusing.”
She unwrapped several ornaments before finding the one she was looking for. She put the sparrow in its nest ornament on the palm of her hand.
“Ms. James gave me this one year. It’s supposed to remind me that if I want to get anywhere, I need to spread my wings.”
“I love it when ornaments tell a story,” Joylyn said. “My dad and I had a different themed tree every year. I wonder if he kept the ornaments we collected together. He said he did.” Her tone was wistful.
“When we’re done here, we’ll go over to your place and find out.”
“You don’t have to decorate our tree as well as yours.”
Wynn stood. “It’s not difficult work.”
With carols playing in the background, she and Joylyn chatted about Holly’s wedding and Joylyn’s upcoming birthing class.
Wynn decorated the tree, filling up the branches with happy Santas and red and gold stars.
She hung two boxes of ornaments that looked like icicles before finishing with the decorations Hunter had made for her.
When she was done, she stood back and admired her work.
“I like it,” she said. “When Hunter gets back, I’ll have him push the tree closer to the window.” She grinned at Joylyn. “Teenage boys don’t mind grubbing around on the ground, so that’s a plus.”
“I’ll look forward to that.”
She struggled to her feet, then rubbed her back. “I am counting the days until this baby is born.”
“I’ll bet. The last month is the most difficult. It’s hard to get comfortable anywhere.”
Wynn carried the mugs and the plate into the kitchen before opening the front door. She and Joylyn walked over to Garrick’s place. Sure enough, the giant TV was tuned to a college football game.
“Hey,” Garrick said, not taking his gaze from the screen. “How did it go?”
“It’s beautiful,” Joylyn told him. “You should go take a look.”
“I will. At halftime.”
Joylyn shook her head. “Dad, it’s just football.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
The game went to a commercial. Hunter sprang to his feet.
“Come on, Garrick. We should go to my place to watch the rest of the game.”
“Why?”
Hunter sighed heavily. “Mom’s going to talk the whole time she’s decorating the tree. She’s going to ask Joylyn about every ornament and tell her stories about when I was a kid.”
Garrick looked at her. “You do that?”
“Every year.”
He and Hunter headed for the front door. “You girls have a good time.”
“Women,” she called after him. “We’re women.”
The door closed behind them.
Wynn walked over to the tree in the corner. It was tall, but stopped a few inches short of the ceiling. The lights were on and a stack of three boxes stood beside it, along with a small gift bag.
She handed the gift bag to Joylyn. “This is for you. I brought it over a few days ago.”
The younger woman looked confused. “Thank you.” She opened the bag, then pressed her free hand to her mouth. “Oh, Wynn.”
She pulled out a small silver ornament. A little bear was sleeping on a quarter moon.
“Baby’s first Christmas,” Wynn told her. “I would have had your son’s name engraved on it, but seeing as you and Chandler haven’t decided, that can be done later. I bought the ornament at a local jewelry store in town. Just have your dad take it in and they’ll engrave it for you.”
Joylyn’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s lovely. Thank you so much.”
She reached for Wynn and held her tight, her belly jammed between them. Wynn felt a strong kick against her midsection and jumped.
“I’d forgotten what that was like,” she said with a laugh. “No wonder you’re tired all the time.”
“He’s very athletic.” She sniffed and looked at the ornament. “Thank you again. This is wonderful.”
“You’re welcome. Now relax on the sofa and I’ll get to work.”
She knelt in front of the boxes, doing her best to appear normal, which was unexpectedly difficult. Equally confusing was the sharp pang of longing that had shot through her when she’d felt Joylyn’s baby move. A longing for more children.
She’d punished herself for so long—for some reason deciding she didn’t deserve a happy relationship or a bigger family. Yes, she’d messed up with Chas, but she’d been wrong to think she should be punished forever. She’d missed out on so much.
Which was not something she should be thinking about right now, she told herself. She opened the first box.
“All right,” she said. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”
She unwrapped nearly a dozen Barbie ornaments. “Someone had a favorite doll.”
Joylyn laughed. “I know. My poor Dad. We did the tree in Barbie ornaments accented with pink and purple balls.” She leaned back against the sofa.
“We even found pink tinsel. I thought it was the most beautiful tree I’d ever seen.
I can’t believe he kept those all this time.
Oh, one year it was just animal ornaments. Does he still have those?”
Wynn didn’t find any in that box, so she opened the second one.
“I’m seeing really cute animals,” she said, holding up a cow ornament. “Does this look familiar?”
“It does.”
Wynn pulled out an elephant ornament and a little baby lamb with a pink bow. Joylyn clapped her hands.
“He kept them! I can’t believe it. Although I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at all.”
Wynn privately agreed with her. From everything she’d seen, Garrick had been a wonderful father, taking care of his daughter and understanding what was important to her. Despite their time apart, they were reconnecting and it was wonderful to see.
Her hunky neighbor was turning out to be one of the good guys. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the very thing she’d been looking for had been right next door all along?