We were joining my dad for an early dinner so Daisy could get Elliott to bed on time. “I don’t want Daisy to think she has to cook for us all the time,” my dad had said. “I want to take everyone out for dinner on Christmas Eve.”
Tomorrow Daisy was hosting a holiday gathering at her apartment. “Nothing big,” she said when she first mentioned it. “Just appetizers and desserts. My place is too small for anything really fancy. Pam and Shane are going to drop by in the late afternoon. Maybe some of my friends from the hospital. I want your dad to come over in the morning. He can stay all day if he wants. I know it’s not very traditional, but people are busy with their families. It’ll be an open-house kind of thing.”
“Sounds good to me,” I’d said.
Daisy frosted a cookie, set it down on the waxed paper, and wiped her hands on a towel. “Okay. That was the last one. Go ahead and put on the sprinkles, Elliott.”
“Is everything else ready?” I asked.
“Almost.” She covered Elliott’s ears. “I might need some help with an assembly project after Elliott goes to bed.”
“Hey!” Elliott said when Daisy let go. “I could not hear just now.”
Daisy laughed. “Weird.”
“I’ll help you with whatever you need,” I said. “But right now I really want one of those cookies.”
*
When we got home from dinner, I read to Elliott and then Daisy told him it was time for bed. “The faster you go to sleep, the faster it will be morning and you can see what Santa brought you.”
“I will go to sleep right now,” Elliott said. “I want to get up very early.”
“Not too early,” Daisy said. “I’ll come in and get you when it’s time.”
“And I will be waiting.”
“Good night, Elliott,” I said.
He gave me a hug. “Good night, Bwooks.”
“Is this the first Christmas where he understands what’s going on?” I asked when Daisy walked back into the room.
“Yes. Last year he was still a little too young. I can’t wait to see his face tomorrow morning.”
“I opened some wine,” I said.
“Good. We may need it for this.” She left the room and returned with a large cardboard box.
“What’s in there?”
“Rescue Heroes. The Mountain Action Command Center. Elliott is going to go ballistic. He insisted I put this at the top of his list to Santa. He even made me underline it a bunch of times.” She pulled out the directions and peered at them. “Yikes.”
“Let me see.” I looked at the instructions Daisy handed me. “They’re not too bad. But we better get started.”
An hour and a glass of wine apiece later, Daisy positioned the toy under the tree. “Never again.”
“Is there anything else we need to put together?”
“No. Thank God. Now we relax. More wine?”
“Yes.” I gave her my glass. When she returned, I handed her a gift-wrapped box. “Why don’t you open this now while it’s just the two of us?”
She looked surprised. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” She set down her wine, then carefully peeled off the paper and lifted the lid. “Oh,” she said. She covered her mouth with one hand.
I’d bought her a sterling silver rope chain with freshwater pearl accents. There was a silver heart pendant with an oxidized finish hanging from it. It was beautiful and delicate, just like Daisy. “Do you like it?”
“I love it.” She handed me the necklace, turned around, and lifted up her hair. “Can you put it on me?”
I put the necklace around her neck and fastened the clasp.
She turned around to face me. “What do you think?”
The heart lay right in that dip in her throat. “It looks great on you. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if you liked jewelry. You hardly ever wear any.”
“We have a pretty strict dress code at work. I can wear a watch, but bracelets aren’t allowed. A lot of nurses wear their wedding rings, but mine had a raised stone and it always got caught on my gloves, so I left it at home. Did I ever tell you that Scott pawned my wedding ring one day while I was at work?”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
She shook her head. “He swore that I must have lost it or accidentally knocked it down the drain, but we both knew what really happened. When I turned in the claim to our insurance company, I put the money in my savings account instead of replacing the ring because I knew he’d just steal it again.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’d make a comment about how I can’t believe someone could stoop so low, but frankly I’m not that surprised.”
“It hurt at the time, but I’m over it.”
“Can you wear a necklace to work?”
“Yes. Lots of nurses wear short necklaces. This length is perfect.” She touched the small silver links. “I’d forgotten how nice it is to have something pretty. Thank you,” she whispered.
I pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. I would buy her more, I decided. I wouldn’t stop until she had a jewelry box full of pretty things.
“Just out of curiosity, what did you get Elliott?” she asked.
“I got him a three-hundred-piece toy-soldier playset. It’s got all kinds of army guys and missile-launcher trucks and tanks and bombs.”
“I bet you can’t wait to play with that,” she said.
“You mean Elliott?”
She grinned. “No. I mean you.” She reached under the tree and pulled out two boxes. One was small and wrapped in navy-blue paper with a silver bow on top. The other was wrapped in red and crisscrossed with a plaid ribbon. “Here.”
“Two? Which one should I open first?”
“The big one.”
She’d bought me a dress shirt and tie and they were exactly my style.
“They’re perfect,” I said.
“Just a little something for you to wear under those dashing suits of yours,” she said. “Okay. Open the other one.”
I unwrapped the gift and lifted the lid to find a pair of silver cuff links. “Well, won’t I look sharp in these?”
“Oh, yes.” Daisy pretended to fan herself.
“Hold on, Daisy Jane. Do cuff links turn you on?”
“I just… when I see them on a man, I go a little crazy.”
“A cuff link fetish. Interesting,” I said.
“There are much weirder fetishes than cuff links.”
“Do you have any of them?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Yes, I would. Right now.”
“Cuff links are as freaky as it gets with me. Sorry to disappoint you.”
“You have never disappointed me,” I said. We were sitting on the floor. I stood up and turned off the lamp, which left only the glow of the lights on the Christmas tree. I sat down on the couch. “Come up here.”
Daisy sat on my lap and straddled me. I put my hand on the back of her head and brought her lips to mine, dipping my tongue into her mouth. Her lips were soft, but her nipples hardened instantly when I ran my thumbs over them through the thin fabric of her shirt. I took it off. Tracing the lace edging on the cups of her bra as I kissed her, I slipped a finger inside one of them. After unhooking her bra, I pushed the straps off her shoulders and removed it entirely. I paused for a second to look at Daisy, naked from the waist up, wearing only the necklace I’d given her.
One of the many things I liked about Daisy was that she never said things about her breasts like “I wish they were bigger” or “You probably wish I had implants” or any of that other crap women had occasionally said to me. She owned those breasts like they were the best breasts anyone had ever seen. And to me they were: firm, perky. Small pink nipples. A perfect handful, or in this case mouthful, because by then I was tracing one of those perfect pink nipples with my tongue. Daisy sighed and ran her hands through my hair, holding my head in place. When I started to suck she began squirming around on my la
p, which sent all kinds of sensations shooting through me.
“You better take me to bed before Elliott wakes up and checks to see if Santa has arrived,” she said. “I don’t want to traumatize him on the first Christmas he might actually remember.” She climbed off my lap.
“I’ll be right there.” I shut off the lights and checked to make sure the front door was locked and the chain was on.
I caught up with Daisy just inside the door to her bedroom. She pulled my T-shirt over my head and I steered her toward the bed, falling onto it with her. Holding her close, skin to skin, I kissed her until I had to come up for air. Daisy’s breathing sounded as ragged as mine.
I knelt between her legs and took off her jeans. Slowly I pulled down her underwear and threw them on the floor. She let out a little gasp when my fingers made contact. I pushed her legs farther apart and teased her, rubbing her slowly and circling the spot that drove her wild with my thumb. A minute later I added my tongue and she came hard, shouting my name and running her fingers through my hair.
When her shuddering subsided, she pushed me onto my back and unbuttoned my jeans. She pulled the zipper down and took them off, and just the way she was looking down at my hard-on straining at my boxer briefs was enough to push me halfway over the edge. I groaned loudly when she touched me. She applied exactly the right amount of pressure, and as good as it felt, all I really wanted was to be inside her.
“Daisy.” When she stopped what she was doing and looked up at me, I said, “Condom. Now.”
She reached into the nightstand for a condom, then unwrapped it and put it on me. I pulled her on top of me and she guided me inside. It felt incredible. Daisy closed her eyes and moved up and down and around, and I held her tightly by the hips and watched her.
“Think you can come again?” I asked.
“I’m certainly going to try.”
“Better hurry, sweetheart. I can’t hold back much longer.” I reached my hand between our bodies and rubbed her.
“Oh, God. Do that again,” she said.
So I did, and I watched her come for the second time, thinking she never looked more beautiful than when she let go so completely, without inhibition. I flipped her onto her back and sank into her as hard and deep as I could. That was all it took, and I groaned, saying her name over and over. My movements eventually slowed, but I didn’t pull out of her. She held me tight, and I kissed her throat, tracing the necklace with my finger.
“I love this necklace,” she said. “I am never taking it off, Brooks. Never.”
CHAPTER 48
DAISY
“Mama! I is awake!”
Elliott’s voice shattered the silence of the apartment, and both Brooks and I woke up rather suddenly. The clock said six a.m. I gave Brooks a quick kiss and said, “Merry Christmas,” then I slipped on my robe and Brooks dressed in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt.
Elliott was standing next to his bed.
“Merry Christmas, Elliott,” I said.
“I waited for you to come get me,” he said, wearing a big smile.
“You sure did. Should we see if Santa’s been here?”
“Yes,” he said and ran out of the room, Brooks and I following closely behind.
Elliott dropped to his knees in front of the tree. “He brought the command center, Mama!”
I sat down cross-legged on the floor next to him. “I see that.”
Elliott picked up the action figures I’d bought to go along with the command center and started playing and Brooks joined us. “I wuv this,” Elliott said.
“Don’t forget to check your stocking,” I said. We didn’t have a fireplace, so I’d placed it under the tree with the other gifts.
Elliott tore his attention away from the toys, picked up his stocking, and turned it over. Chocolate rained down on the carpet. There were Santas and bells and snowmen all wrapped in brightly colored foil. Elliott had one unwrapped and in his mouth in record time.
“Pace yourself,” I said. “I’m going to start breakfast soon. You’ve got all day.”
“’Kay,” he said with his mouth full. I’d also included a bouncy ball that lit up, a small coloring book and crayons, bubbles, stickers, and tablets that fizzed in the bathtub. Elliott picked up everything and examined it, but he quickly turned his attention back to the command center.
Until Brooks handed Elliott the present he’d brought for him.
“What is this?” he asked.
“Open it and find out,” Brooks said.
Elliott tore off the wrapping paper and a look of sheer joy spread across his face. “It’s army guys. Now I has enough for a pwatoon!”
“There’s enough for lots of platoons.”
“What is this?” Elliott asked, holding up a tank.
“It’s a tank. And here’s a missile launcher.” Brooks looked at Elliott and smiled. “You up for a mission?”
Elliott looked at Brooks in total wonderment. “Yeah!”
Brooks and Elliott began acting out various scenarios while I started the coffee and put cinnamon rolls in the oven. They were still at it a half hour later when I called them to the table.
After breakfast, we showered and dressed. I plugged in Crock-Pots and set out the food buffet-style on the kitchen counter and table. I planned on rotating the offerings throughout the day, starting with brunch items and transitioning to hot appetizers. I also set out platters of fudge and cookies.
Theo arrived at ten o’clock.
“Merry Christmas,” I said.
“Merry Christmas, Daisy.” He handed me a beautiful potted poinsettia. “This is for you.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said, leaning in to give him a hug.
“Feo,” Elliott said. “Wook at all my toys.”
Theo handed Elliott a long box wrapped in green. “I brought you a little something, too.”
Elliott tore off the wrapping paper. “It’s a fishing pole!”
Theo and Brooks had taken Elliott fishing in Apple Valley twice. It was all he could talk about for days afterward.
“Think you’re ready for Big Bear Lake?” Theo asked.
“I am,” Elliott said.
Brooks handed his dad a cup of coffee. “I hope you’re not hungry, Dad. There’s nothing to eat here.”
“Very funny,” I said. “Help yourself, Theo.”
We spent the day eating and watching Elliott play. Kayla and her fiancé, Brian, joined us for an hour. Margaret Parker and her son Robert and daughter-in-law Theresa stopped by on their way home.
“Is that the reporter who came to see me?” Margaret asked, looking over at Brooks.
“Yes. He’s here a lot.”
“Oh, honey. I’m so happy for you.”
Shortly after my grandmother died, I’d thought about what the holidays might be like for Elliott and me this year. I’d resigned myself to the fact that Thanksgiving and Christmas would probably be bittersweet.
Maybe a little lonely.
But I looked around the room as people ate and talked and laughed, and I realized that it didn’t get much better than this and that I was truly blessed.
Brooks sat down next to me on the couch and put his arm around me. “How are you doing?”
I smiled and said, “Better than I ever hoped.”
Pam and Shane joined us around five o’clock. Her belly preceded her into the room.
“Wow. Should I boil some water and gather up a bunch of clean rags?” I asked.
“I would actually let you deliver this baby on your kitchen table if it meant I’d get some relief,” Pam said. “I can’t breathe. Or sleep. Or walk. I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next three weeks.” She sank down on a kitchen chair.
“Can you eat?”
“Not really, but I’m not going to let something like running out of room stop me. Bring it on,” she said.
I made her a plate with a little bit of everything on it and then sat down beside her.
“Is that new?” Pam asked,
reaching out to touch my necklace.
“Brooks gave it to me. I’m never taking it off.”
“It’s gorgeous.”
“I know. I love it,” I said.
I stood up to see if Shane needed anything, but Brooks had beaten me to it. He and Shane were in the living room talking to Theo, each of them holding a beer and a plate of food.
Brooks and I had gotten together with Pam and Shane a few times since Brooks had moved back. I knew Pam would like him—partly because he was not Scott and partly because it was hard not to be captivated by Brooks—but Shane and Brooks couldn’t have been more different, and I wondered if they’d be able to find any common ground. Brooks enjoyed being outside, but Shane was a true outdoorsman. Brooks would always have an air of the city about him while Shane gave off a subtle small-town vibe. I needn’t have worried, because Shane and Brooks had found plenty of things to talk about, including sports, cars, golf, and a shared interest in old James Bond movies. Shane was especially fascinated by some of the things Brooks had reported on, and he loved to hear Brooks recount the details of his most bizarre stories.
Pam and Shane stayed until seven. “It’s time for me to go home and put my feet up,” Pam said. “Maybe this baby will come early and put me out of my misery.”
Theo left shortly after Pam and Shane and by seven thirty, Elliott was in his pajamas and fading fast.
He yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Can I watch my Thomas movie?”
Shane and Pam had given Elliott a Thomas the Tank Engine three-disc set and he was dying to watch it.
“Do you think you can hold your eyes open long enough to make it through the first disc?”
“Yes I can.” His confidence far outweighed his energy level, but so what if he fell asleep watching it?
“Okay. Mama will clean up the kitchen while you watch your movie and then it’s bedtime, okay?”
“Okay.”
Brooks put the disc in the DVD player and pushed Play. I went into the kitchen and began transferring leftovers to Tupperware containers and loading the dishwasher. It appeared that I had dirtied every pot, pan, and platter I owned, so when the dishwasher was full I washed the rest by hand and wiped down the counters. When I walked into the living room to check on Brooks and Elliott, I stopped short.