Page 40 of Ribbons and Roses
Tears leak out the corners of Marcel’s squinted eyes. He tries to dab at one, though his hand-eye coordination is still off and he ends up pawing himself in the face. “I didn’t feel like I could. Ever since… ever since Mom passed… you all are always together… and then… then there’s me.”
“Son, you separated yourself all those years you were traveling,” says Dad. He extends his hand to grip Marcel by the shoulder. “You’re welcome home anytime you want. We’ll be there for you.”
“All of us,” I add.
More tears slip down the sides of Marcel’s swollen face before he nods. “Where’re the kids?”
“In the waiting room with Stitches and Sasha,” Salvatore says. “Don’t worry, they can’t wait to see their uncle. We’ll bring them back tomorrow once you’re moved into your room. It sounds like you’ll be staying here for a while so you can recover.”
“I need it,” Marcel says. “It’s been a long Christmas.”
I smile and share looks with the other two. “Trust me, we all agree.”
It’s way past the children’s bedtime, but we decide to make an exception considering it’s Christmas. We stop in the local town and scoop up the kids from the backseat of the town car, holding them close as we decide to go for a walk to see the Christmas lights.
The wind’s brutal and cold and the roads are empty and dark, but that’s what makes the snowy scene before us even more magical.
Dominic, Serena, and Bryce rub at their sleepy eyes and then gasp in awe at the bright twinkling lights stretching on as far asthey can see. Even Dante stirs from where he’s asleep against my shoulder.
My heart has never felt fuller. It’s the kind of Christmas moment I’ve always dreamed of for our family.
As Salvatore mentioned earlier, it’s a moment the kids will remember for the rest of their lives. A moment none of us will ever forget.
“Mommy, Daddy, look! It’s Santa Claws!” Serena shouts, thrusting a tiny finger in the air. She’s pointing across the street at a home with decorations on the slanted roof. There’s a life-like replica of Santa Claus and his nine reindeer approaching the chimney.
Salvatore laughs and plucks Serena off her boot-clad feet. He holds her up so she can stare in wonder at what she believes is Santa Claus. “Sure looks like him,” he says. “Do you want to go over and say hi, Rena?”
She shakes her head, eyes as wide as I’ve ever seen them. “No, Daddy… he’s busy.”
“You’re right. Probably delivering last-minute presents to little boys and girls.”
“That’s not Santa,” Dominic says, folding his arms. Then he squints across the street. “It’s not him… right, Bryce?”
Bryce shrugs from his side. “If it was, he wouldn’t tell us. That would ruin his secret identity!”
I can barely contain my laugh, my eye catching Salvatore’s.
“Alright, it’s freezing out. Back to the car.”
We turn as a family and retrace the way we’ve come down the snowy, twinkling street. It’s another hour before we make it home to the cabin where we’ve been staying, but once we arrive, we lay the kids down to rest for the night.
The door to our room shuts behind us as we share a kiss, grateful we were able to salvage Christmas after all.
15
salvatore
one year later…
“Dominic!Serena! Are you two doing what I think you’re doing?” I call through the house. Their pounding footsteps slow up. They appear in the doorway to the kitchen in the next second, their round little faces dripping with guilt.
“Daddy, Dom took my bunny!” Serena says, stomping her foot. “Tell him to give it back.”
“Dom, is that true? Do you have your sister’s bunny?”
My eldest son sighs and then produces the bunny rabbit from behind his back. “I was just playing around.”
“What have I told you about taking your sister’s things?”