The Parting Gift(28)

The young man looked at the plate. A light cloud of pink tinted his cheeks. “Sorry, Pop. Guess I was thinking about how hungry I was.” He set the plate down and grabbed another to fill, but Mara snatched it out of his grasp.

“I’ll do this, you just go sit down.”

David had to chuckle at her reaction. He’d never seen her like this before.

They were uncomfortably silent as they ate, but David didn’t try to make conversation. It was all he could manage just to eat, knowing for certain this would be his last Christmas Eve. His energy was draining from him, but he wanted nothing more than to enjoy the day to the fullest.

When Emily was alive, the day was filled with laughter and family moments. Her favorite part had always been reading the Christmas story together right before putting Blaine to bed, then they would pull the presents out of their hiding place in the attic and tuck them under the tree. Afterward, David would build a fire in the fireplace, and he and Emily would settle in together on the sofa, listening to Christmas carols on the Victrola until late in the night.

He closed his eyes to savor the memory, forgetting about the other two people in the room. Mara’s voice brought him back to the present.

“Are you all right, Mr. Graham?”

His eyes opened slowly, and he inclined his head to Mara with a wistful smile. “Just remembering Emily.”

“Hey, Pop, how about a Christmas Eve the way we used to do it? I’ll crawl up in the attic and pull out all of Mom’s ornaments, and we’ll decorate the tree. We can read the Christmas story and listen to carols on the phonograph.”

A thrill went through David’s frail limbs. He nodded his approval. It was a joy to him that Blaine still remembered the traditions after all these years. The past mistakes stung him now – the way he had sought to protect Blaine from the pain of missing his mother by veiling the memories of her. He hadn’t let them celebrate Christmas the old way because he was certain it would be too painful for both of them. What a fool he had been. He had stolen years of peace from himself and from his son.

The threat of unshed tears stung his eyes. Mara reached over and patted his hand.

“I’ll make up a bed on the sofa for you. You can stay down here today, if you like.”

“I’d like that,” he breathed.





Chapter Eleven





By the time Blaine had resurrected all of the old Christmas ornaments, Mara was already working on Christmas dinner. She wanted it to be perfect. David had mentioned earlier that his desire was to have a Christmas ham.

Mara’s own family had had a similar tradition, so making the ham wouldn’t be the hard part. No, the difficulty would lie in the fact that after setting up the decorations, Blaine wanted to help her bake.

Blaine, of all people. To make matters worse, the kitchen was already sweltering from the heat of the stove. Mara was sweating even without being exposed to the full force of Blaine’s charms.

She was praying for strength under her breath when Blaine barged into the kitchen.

“I’m all yours!” he announced, then blushed, obviously realizing the double meaning.

Mara laughed nervously and handed him a frilly pink apron.

“I’m not wearing that.” He furrowed his brow and shook his head adamantly.

“You’ll get dirty.”

“I’ll take my chances.” He winked and set the apron on the counter folding his hands over it and leaning towards her. “Pop’s in the living room having a nap. I told him I’d help you with dinner before we decorated the tree.”

Mara swallowed, it was the only option given the circumstances. She seemed to have lost her voice. Staring at Blaine wasn’t helping matters.

“Well, you can start on the potatoes, and I’ll put the ham in. After the potatoes, all we need to do is make stuffing and the pumpkin pie.”

“Roger…” Blaine saluted, marched to the sink and picked up the peeler.

The room hummed with excitement. Why hadn’t David built a kitchen large enough to accommodate more than one cook? It seemed every time Mara had to grab something, Blaine was there brushing up against her. At one point she almost dropped a knife on his foot. It would serve him right for being so… so— “Mara?” Blaine’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Yes?” She turned. The sound of her first name on his lips always made her heart leap. Would she ever get used to it?

“I think the water’s boiling over.”

Panicked, Mara spun around and took in the scene before her. Water boiled over the edges of the pot. Grabbing a potholder, she jerked it off the burner. “I believe the water is ready for the potatoes.” She offered a humble grin to Blaine, as he reached for the potatoes and carefully dropped them into the pot.

“Pie?” he asked when he was finished cleaning up the peels.

“Yes, of course, I…” Mara’s eyes hastily scanned the counter for the ingredients.

“Mara?” Blaine interrupted again.

“Yes?” She refused to look at him.

“Sit down.”

“No, just let me...”

“Sit down.” His hands came around her shoulders as he guided her to the nearest seat. He then began searching cupboards until he had the ingredients for the pumpkin pie. After setting everything out, he pulled out a tea kettle and set it on the stove. “I want you to relax. You’ve done so much, why don’t you go check on Pop while I finish up in here? We’ll decorate in a few minutes.”