TWENTY-THREE
CALLIE
We were finally giventhe green light to leave, but we all felt reluctant to pull away after everything that had happened.
Not to mention, when it was time to move Silas, we’d have to call an ambulance to do it. And we all knew he needed a few more minutes of Christmas with all of us before he went. So, we rolled his bed out into the main foyer of the club, near the fireplace, so we could all be near the tree.
Pen’s family was on one side, Laura and Killian were with the girls on another. Silas, Natty and the boys all remained close to the fireplace, and Wes was sitting next to me, while holding Ellie in his lap, and Ford was on the floor near my feet. We were spending Christmas morning together as a club.
As a family.
“This is going to seem really corny, but I feel like we should sing a Christmas song or something,” I suggested, feeling my face warm.
Laura immediately stood up, smiling.
“Yes! Okay, I’m going to grab the piano I leave here sometimes for the girls to play on and we’re going to sing!” She ran out of the room, toward her office, and then reemerged with a keyboard she set down on the coffee table.
Within seconds, the melody for “Jingle Bells” filled the air, and Icouldn’t hold back my smile. Ellie and Nova joined with Laura’s beautiful voice, nearly eclipsing her, which made everyone laugh. Then the whole room was joining in, and there was something so perfect about us singing it together, it made me think back to when I was a little kid, spending Christmas here, in a much different version of the club. Killian was there for some of those Christmases, so was Red and Brooks. Dad never really knew what to do to make our Christmases nice, so Red would go above and beyond to make it special for me.
I wish he was here now, to see all of us after lasting through the night.
I wish he could see the way Ford watched when his father taught him about bikes. I wish I could hear his thoughts on how Ellie looked like a miniature version of me. But more so, I wanted him to see what sort of leader Killian turned out to be, and how loyal Jameson and Giles ended up being. I wanted him to see Silas still here, being loyal to the Stone Riders when he still clearly preferred the Death Raiders.
My father created something beautiful, and he left before he was even really able to see what it had become.
Laura started a new melody, of “O Christmas Tree,” which had Penelope getting up and helping as Connor began pulling out small, wrapped gifts from the tree. Ford jumped up and started helping too. Together, they handed all the adults one gift each.
The wrapping was obviously done by one of the kids, but I held it close to my chest like it was treasure, just like every other adult seemed to do.
“Okay, Connor, you said you and the kids made gifts. What do you mean?” Penelope asked, holding her present like she wasn’t sure where to start unwrapping it.
“We made you gifts so your Christmas was happy since Christmas Eve was so scary for everyone,” Nova explained, smiling at her mother.
Laura glanced over at me and I knew what she was thinking because we’d given each other that look a thousand times.
These kids were the gift.
Always had been.
“Open them!” Ellie urged everyone. Wes started opening his, and he smiled down at a picture that had been drawn in colored pencil.
Ellie leaned into her father’s side, her hands on his leg as she stared down at the picture.
“It’s a river because you always call mommy that. But I put me and Ford on the bank, right here.” She pointed at the dirt on the side of the river. “Mommy is in the water because she’s the river.”
Wes looked over at me with tears in his eyes and it struck me in a way that I wasn’t prepared for. Suddenly I was nine, lifting the hatch to his treehouse, and climbing into the only place that would end up making me feel safe.
“Open yours, Mommy.” Ellie brought her hands together, excited.
I tore at the wrapping paper and found a glass mason jar. My hands froze, my breath hitched.
Ford came next to me and whispered, “I made a jar of treasure for you like you used to make with grandpa.”
Tears filled my eyes immediately as I held the jar full of gold glitter.
“I know you said you used to use sand, but I couldn’t find any. I saved this one for you after we made some last night and buried them in the snow. I told everyone it was what you used to do to create magic when you needed it. Last night we needed some, so we made these. I wanted you to have your very own jar on Christmas morning.”
My arms were around him as I pulled him into my chest. I continued to cry as Wes explained to Ellie that my tears were happy tears, not sad ones.
Because as I was thinking of how badly I wanted my father to be here with us, he ended up showing up after all.