Epilogue 2 - Blanche
“Merry Christmas, l’vitsa,” Ivan purrs in my ear.
“You know what I’ve told you about whispering Russian to me, darling. It makes me want to do things that we don’t have time for.”
“I know, but I agreed to be on my best behavior before I knew what you were wearing tonight. You look delicious, Wife.”
“Want to taste and find out for yourself?” As I lift my skirt to show him my surprise, he groans and falls to his knees, muttering my favorite Russian curses that he only uses when I’ve robbed him of the ability to speak English. “You have…fifteen minutes before the horde starts arriving.”
Ivan’s head pops out from under my skirt, and his smirk is devilish as he licks his lips. “That’s long enough twice over, and you know it.”
And I do. God, do I know it. Just as I resign myself to looking a little flushed when I greet everyone, the doorbell rings. With a sigh, Ivan exits my skirt before pulling me in for a hot kiss.
“Later,” he says. “Now let’s go brush our teeth before we answer the door.”
“Merry Christmas Eve, my darlings! How on earth did you all arrive at the same time?”
And they have. Every single one of them.
Henry with Katarina, Vanya toddling ahead, already tall for his age.
Ledger and Sloane follow with LJ and Gisele, LJ very much the oldest grandchild and trying to herd all the little ones inside.
Margot and Jack have their hands full of presents and MJ and JJ on leashes, already tangled and a tripping hazard that Jack is barely dodging.
And finally, Sasha and my dear Lucy, carrying a cake and a whole sack of presents.
How did I ever get so lucky?
“There’s no way that’s supposed to be a sled, Jack! It’s shaped like a—”
“The appetizers are all ready, everyone. If you want a deviled egg, come quickly! Sasha is a fiend and—”
“I know it’s important we all match, but this tartan is really doing nothing for my complexion—”
“When you said you were renovating to have more room for Christmas, I didn’t know you meant an entire wing for the grandchildren, Blanche!
Dad just gave us the tour. It’s the coolest house I’ve ever seen!
” Katarina and Henry reappear with Ivan, who kisses me on the cheek before heading into the kitchen to fight his son for deviled eggs.
“I don’t think any of the children will ever want to go home, Mother.”
I hug Henry and squeeze him as tightly as I can. “That’s my hope, darling. Although, actually, now that you mention it, maybe the slides between floors were a bit too much. I want them to be comfortable here, but Ivan and I do need our alone time, you know.”
Both the kids wince, but I just shrug. “I’m old but not dead, darlings.”
“You absolutely spiked the punch that year, bro. I was twelve, and I couldn’t walk in a straight line! I don’t know how Mom and Dad didn’t notice—”
“We noticed, Ledger. But we had the spiked punch too, and there was nothing we could do at that point except cut you off! I’m sure the way you felt the next day taught you both a lesson.”
“Yeah, to avoid punch!” Jack laughs, continuing to reminisce with Ledger, Margot, and Henry about Christmases past. Kat and Sasha have regaled us with tales of their magical, if insular, upbringings, and Lucy explained how much she’s enjoying being able to wear actual flannel instead of shorts and tank tops during her childhood Christmases in California.
Finally, all the children have opened their non-Santa presents, and the men have gathered all the trash.
Once all the kids are asleep in their respective rooms, baby monitors on and fire burning down, I sit back on the couch and curl into Ivan’s side.
Every year, I think the children have reached their most fun ages, and every year, they manage to be more magical.
I know one day they’ll all be too old and cool to come to grandma’s house, but I’m determined to do what I can to soak up every moment.
“Well, I don’t know how you all do it! There’s no way I had this much energy when I was raising my kids.
You’ve all done so well with them. I know I always crow about wanting more grandbabies, but I have to tell you, this group is a handful!
I think we can all stand to take a little break before we add any more Sinclairs to the mix. ”
Sipping my wine, I almost miss the loaded look Margot and Sloane share.
“Mom, I actually have one more present for you,” Margot says, bringing me a gorgeous blue bracelet-shaped box.
“Oh, darling, you shouldn’t have! I know I was complaining about not having the matching set to my necklace, but this is really too…oh my!”
Inside, rather than a bracelet, is a white stick displaying “pregnant” clearly in the results window. Immediately, I have Margot in a tight squeeze, all thoughts of not wanting more grandbabies right now forgotten.
“Oh, my darling! How wonderful. I didn’t even know the two of you were thinking about it, let alone trying!”
“Trying for triplets this time!” Jack pipes up from the corner, before Margot stares daggers at him and Ledger glares.
“Not cool, man. You’ve got to learn not to talk about impregnating my baby sister when I’m around.”
“Well, clearly I haven’t learned yet because I’m still fucking doing it all the damn time! And you don’t see Sasha complaining that Henry’s gotten Kat pregnant again!”
“Jack!” the entire room exclaims, but Henry and Katarina are beaming instead of upset, and he hands me another long, slender box.
“No!” I say, in disbelief that my Christmas could really be so lucky. Opening it, I see the same “pregnant” result and can’t stop the fresh flood of tears.
“Oh, you two, too!”
Another round of congratulations, and before I know it, Ledger is presenting me with another box.
“Shut up, no way!”
“You think I was gonna let Jack out-dad me? Hell no.”
I hug Sloane and Ledger, my heart full to bursting.
When I sit back down, though, I see my dear Sasha and Lucy snuggled up together in the corner.
They’ve been through a lot, and I don’t want them to think I’m looking at them expectantly, so I avert my eyes, suddenly very interested in the Christmas tree.
When Sasha does approach, I stay calm and cool.
“I want to warn you in advance that this is, in fact, the matching bracelet to your necklace, Blanche. Merry Christmas.”
Squeezing him, I have no words except thank you, and the bracelet is a perfect match. I’m just about to tell everyone I’m making a round of virgin mimosas when Lucy plops down beside me on the couch, and everyone goes quiet.
“There is one more for you, though,” she says.
It’s a suspiciously shaped box, and I’m sobbing before I even get it open.
As soon as I see the word in the results bar, I lose it completely, and although I see Sasha hugging Ivan and Kat out of the corner of my eye, I’m in the middle of a dogpile of my children and their spouses.
“You two could have told us! You said you’d just do the bracelet, and it wouldn’t be that sad, but it was so sad, guys, what the hell!” Ledger is half hugging, half throttling Sasha now, with tears streaming down his cheeks.
“Surprise!” That's all he has to say for himself, and I can’t believe these two kept their secret from the others.
I haven’t let go of Lucy yet, and I know at some point we’re going to have another one of our long talks in my office about how I’ll never replace her mom, but I’m so damn proud to be a grandmother to this baby.
Katarina and I had a deep conversation as well, and she told me I’ve been the only mother she’s ever known, and of course, we ended up bawling.
Sloane and I have gotten closer as she’s continued her efforts to heal her relationship with her parents, and I love being there for her however she needs.
And my Margot and I have managed to keep from killing each other as she comes into her own as a mother, at least so far.
Ledger and Jack are wrestling while they cry. Henry is giving Sasha advice. Ivan and Katarina are listening to him and joking in Russian, and Margot and Sloane are eating their third plate of cookies tonight.
Lucy and I are in a bubble of calm on the couch, and I take her hand with a squeeze.
“This is exactly the family I always wanted, Blanche,” she says wistfully.
Patting her hand, I spy a cardinal that someone has perched in the Christmas tree. Ivan catches my line of sight before giving me a wink and going back to his conversation with Kat. Taking a deep breath, I feel every emotion possible, but mostly an overwhelming gratitude.
“Me too, dear. Me too.”