Sophia Pt. 02

"I'm sure we do, I'll get them," as I rush over to the refrigerator, praying that we have pickles. I don't know what is going on, but I will do anything to keep the mood going. Luckily we have the pickles and I breathe out a silent sigh of relief.

I sit down with them. And for the first time in years, we have a wonderful chat. I felt so good that I got up to make myself a sandwich; my appetite has been inconsistent lately. I was in for further surprises. Megan and Robin didn't get up when they finished their snack. They stayed at the table and talked with me until it started to get dark outside. At that point, they got up to do some of their homework and I started dinner.

When they left the room I fell across the table crying, and begged God to let this change in my daughters' behavior continue.

Friday after school was the same. It was fantastic. Had they finally forgiven me?

On Saturday, we loaded up the car to go to my parents' house. They live about forty-five minutes away, outside of town. The drive was great. For the first time since forever they put a CD in the player and we all sang along. We used to do that all the time with Don. "Dashing through the snow in a one horse…."

Normally I drive about ten to fifteen miles an hour over the speed limit. This time I did exactly the posted speed, grateful for anything to prolong the trip.

When we got there my kids rushed out of the car to give Grandma and Grandpa hugs. It had been a long time since that happened, too. Mom looked over their heads at me and saw my smiling face. Her face broke into a huge grin and her eyes got a little bit teary.

We had a wonderful six days. We did all the family stuff we used to do. We played games and watched movies. Megan and Robin spent a lot of time with my mother learning how to bake some of the family recipes. Maybe they would have the touch, I certainly didn't.

On Christmas Eve, Megan and Robin got out DVDs of "It's a Charlie Brown Christmas," "Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer," "Frosty the Snowman" and other Christmas cartoons. They made us all sit down and watch every one, it was simply wonderful and we watched DVDs for four hours straight. I sat there on the couch with my babies snuggled up on either side of me, I was in heaven.

On Christmas morning we went to church after breakfast and then came home to open presents. Megan and Robin had a small present for me. I opened the box with shaking hands. Inside was a simple, but very well made heart shaped gold locket and chain.

Inside the locket was a picture of them cheek to cheek and an inscription, "Merry Christmas Mom, We Love You, Megan and Robin." I couldn't stop crying. It was the best Christmas present that I had ever gotten in my entire life.

At six o'clock that evening Don came by to pick up Megan and Robin, and my mom went outside to help them. I knew that I had to stay inside; Don had made it abundantly clear that he never wanted to see my face again.

As for my father, he and Don have never gotten along. Dad was a successful banker and an ex-football player who almost turned pro. To say that Dad was arrogant is putting it mildly; he has changed quite a bit, though. I even think Dad and Don came to blows one time. Dad was always riding Don about absolutely nothing and then one day they went for a long walk. I could just imagine the situation. Don finally telling Daddy off and Dad taking a swing at Don. Don would never throw the first punch. When they got back Dad had the beginnings of a shiner and he was holding his stomach, Don looked perfectly fine. Dad said that he fell. From that time on they were coolly polite with one another and Daddy gave Don a certain wary respect.

I was sad to see Megan and Robin leave, but this Christmas had been the best. Maybe it was time for me to straighten out my life. My daughters' love and this locket seemed to be giving me the strength to try.

…………………………………………

Megan and Robin were very happy with themselves. Their therapist had helped them see how badly they had been treating their mother. They had also been feeling guilty about how well they had been treating Maria in comparison to their mom.

Yes, their mom had taken a hammer to their family, but she was still their mom, she gave birth to them and loved them very much. It was time to forgive her. They got some advice from Ken about a locket. He didn't have time to make anything, but he pointed out an internet site with high quality jewelry. Their dad lent them his credit card, they made the order and when it arrived Ken inscribed the locket for them.

They loved Maria now, but they had always loved their mother. Their hearts were big enough to love both.

……………………………………

We got to Maria's house after singing Christmas Carols the entire trip. My voice was worn out. It was nice that Maria had given me a key card to the gate; it made it easy getting in. She had pointed out that it was stupid not to give it to me since I had keys to her condo already.

Megan and Robin jumped out of the car and ran to Maria and Freddie to give them big hugs before we unloaded the vehicle and went inside. As soon as we were done unpacking Megan and Robin dragged us all down to the movie room to watch animated Christmas shows. They acted like they had never seen them before and Robin wanted to start off with Rudolph.

My girls insisted that we all be in our pajamas, but I put on a robe, too; I hardly ever wear pajamas. Megan and Robin had us all sit on the same couch together, covered by a blanket. Freddie was on the end, then Robin, then I was put in the middle, then Megan and finally Maria on the other end. Maria and Freddie seemed to get a real kick out of it.

In between Charlie Brown and Frosty, I went to the kitchen and got us all a big piece of THE CAKE. When I came back I found that Megan and Robin had switched positions. They spent most of the evening making sure that we were all snuggled up with each other as tightly as possible. Actually, it got physically uncomfortable for me being in the center and covered by a blanket, I just got too damned hot. All four of the girls were having a marvelous time, though, so I just kept my big mouth shut and sweated it out.

The next morning we all slept late. When we finally got up, we adults and Megan had coffee, but we waited for breakfast until Vanessa and Kathy got here. They finally arrived at about nine. The girls had insisted that all of us remain in our pajamas, so they insisted that Kathy and Vanessa change, too.

The two ladies were happy to comply and understood the necessity. One must keep with the appropriate theme, after all. There was a ton of presents beneath the tree and most of them seemed to be for Megan and Robin. I wondered how I could get all those presents home, and also wondered if we could leave a lot of them in my girls' bedroom here. They got all the usual stuff - clothes, purses, shoes, computer games, books, DVDs, CDs and some very nice jewelry. Maria had also bought them some very high end notebook computers for school; actually I was kind of jealous, my laptop wasn't nearly as good!

Then I got some presents, too. Vanessa gave me a gift card to Sears with a hint in the card to use it in the tool department. Freddie gave me one to Lowes, and Kathy gave me another to Home Depot. I think they know me too well. Maria gave me a card with a picture of a chair inside. It's something called an Aeron office chair and it looks pretty slick. She told me to call the number on the picture to set up delivery.

Then it was time to hand out their presents. Robin and Megan solemnly handed them out. Ken had designed some really beautiful pieces and I had gotten away with it pretty darned inexpensively. I don't know if he did all the work on the pieces or ordered components and assembled them, but he had all the materials rushed to him in three days and then worked many late nights in my workshop and a jeweler's shop in which he had some rented time.

Freddie got a matched bracelet and earring set made of 18 carat rose gold. The bracelet was made of small dragons and carnations interlinked, and in the center of each carnation was Freddie's birthstone. Freddie's earrings were carnations with a good size diamond in the center.

Vanessa got almost the same thing. Her pieces were made out of 18 carat white gold. The bracelet was interlinked tigers and lilies, and her birth stone was in the center of each lily. The earrings were lilies, again with a good size diamond.

Kathy's jewelry was made out of 18 carat yellow gold. Kathy's broach looked like a bundle of dahlias with her birthstone in each dahlia, but if you looked again, you could see the face of a lion and the eyes of the lion were diamonds. Her earrings were dahlias with diamonds in the center.

But for Maria, Ken had pulled out all the stops and gone over budget, but I didn't care. The metal he used this time was platinum. The necklace was heavy with part of it being interlinked roses with small diamonds in the center. There was a large pendant on it as well that looked like a spray of three roses, again with diamonds. The earrings matched the pendant.

The four women were all absolutely stunned with their mouths open in total astonishment; my girls and I exchanged high fives. Maria's pendant had a small inscription on its back. I knew all the ladies could afford better, but at least it wasn't cheap stuff and it was very well made on top of that. I was probably going to give Ken an extra month free rent. He had worked his butt off getting everything done in time. Ken was having some sort of financial difficulty right now and I was going to be glad to reward his hard work.

…………………………………………

Last night with all of us watching cartoons was my best Christmas in a long time. First Megan snuggled up with me, and then Robin. Freddie and I kept on sneaking glances at each another only to see a grinning face looking back each time. She had a blast too.

Vanessa and Kathy showed up a little late the next morning, and Megan and Robin promptly chivied them into putting their pajamas on like the rest of us. We all sat around the tree watching the girls open their presents first. I had probably spent too much money on them and Don might be upset, but it was worth it. The way they oohed and aahed at all their gifts, especially the notebook computers, made it all worth it, and I even saw a look of envy on Don's face, too.

Don had laughed at all the gift cards he had been given for various tool stores. He was a little confused with my gift at first, but he finally figured it out and was obviously pleased.

I was touched that they had thought to get gifts for all of us. First they gave Freddie her gift, and I was getting mentally prepared to have to act impressed. I didn't have to act at all, I was shocked and astounded at the beautiful pieces of jewelry they gave her. I know jewelry; I have pieces worth well over a hundred grand. The pieces with their beautiful workmanship that Freddie held had to be worth at least ten thousand dollars!

Then it was Vanessa's turn and they brought her the same size box as Freddie's. Her jewelry was just as exquisite as Freddie's, but white gold instead of rose. My mouth was beginning to drop open in astonishment. Vanessa's and Freddie's mouths were already hitting the floor.

Kathy opened up her present with trepidation. Her beautiful pieces were in yellow gold. The broach in particular was of a delicately clever design with a hidden lion face.

Then it was my turn. Here I had been worried about them thinking I had spent too much! Megan and Robin handed me the largest present yet and it was heavy. I was absolutely stunned at what was inside. I picked up the jewelry. Yes, there was no doubt, only one thing is that heavy, platinum. It was all diamonds too, no lesser stones. These pieces Don had given me were probably worth more than my new SUV. I was going to have to kill him! Then I saw the inscription on the back of the pendent, "Merry Christmas, Love Megan, Robin & Don." That caused me problems. You can't exactly kill someone after they say or write something like that. But I planned on really bruising him.

…………………………………………

The ladies all sat around comparing the jewelry. Then as one they said "YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE!" Unfortunately, they sounded like they really meant it and I could be in trouble here, so I did what any red blooded male would do in that situation; I blamed it on my kids. I pointed at them and said, "They made me do it!"

You have to understand that Megan and Robin were really excited at the presents they had gotten and given. They also had no idea how much money I had really spent so they were happy to, in their minds, take the credit for making me buy our four friends such nice gifts.

"Yep, Daddy almost screwed up big time. You know men; we had to remind him about Christmas presents," Robin said gravely, like she was a fifty year old woman. I was paying attention to Robin so I took my eyes off of Maria for a minute. BIG MISTAKE!

Suddenly my ear was in excruciating pain, as if someone had grabbed it and was attempting to lift me off my chair by it. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Maria, with a grim expression, grasping my ear. Oh shit! At my yelp of pain, everyone turned to look at me. Maria put a smile on her face and spoke.

"Oh, don't mind us; I just have to speak to Don for a minute, alone."

She kept hold of my ear pulling me along with her. I had to bend over at the waist and walk hunched over because of the way she was holding my ear. Didn't Thomas Edison go deaf because of a similar incident in his life? Megan and Robin tried to follow, but Kathy and Vanessa stopped them. Freddie had a big grin on her face, then she started to look worried.

Maria dragged me all the way back to her office and shut the door behind us, and she still wouldn't let go of my ear!

"Donald, what do you think that you are doing, spending at least fifty thousand on my jewelry and another thirty on my friends?"

"But, but…I didn't."

She shook my head by shaking my ear; it felt like she was going to rip it off. Wasn't there some fool artist that cut his ear off for a present to his girlfriend?

"Don't tell me you didn't! I know platinum when I see it. This is custom jewelry; I've never seen designs like this before. You spent too much money on us. Why did you do this? Are you trying to buy our friendship?" She looked at me with tears in her eyes and finally she let go off my ear.

Oh oh, I had messed up once again; time to become the Unmasked Groveler. "There's no need to tear, the Unmasked Groveler needs a beer." No, that doesn't make any sense, better work on a new slogan.

"Maria, please, give me a chance to explain." She started to reach for my ear again; I quickly put a heavy armchair between us.

"Maria, please, listen just for five minutes. Then if you want to take my ear off, I'll even get you a knife. Please." She crossed her hands over her chest, slightly lifting up her boobs in the process and gave me a grim look.

"Talk!"

"The last few months with you and your friends have been great for my kids and me. Our lives have been completely turned around and we've had some wonderful, fantastic times. My babies are back in therapy and are really being helped. I've gotten the strength to do the same. If we hadn't met you I don't know how long we would have continued with that emotional pain rotting our souls."

"So, we wanted to make sure we got you a nice present for Christmas, to thank you for everything that you have done, and to thank you for being our friend." Oh oh, she was starting to look grim again. I better get the rest out.

"Maria, I'm happy that you think I spent so much money, because I like a good deal. But honestly, I didn't. I have a tenant who is a jewelry designer; actually I think he is an unemployed jewelry designer. All those pieces cost me less than thirty thousand dollars, honest. He used my workroom for a lot of it. Not to imply that you're not worth spending more money on, but it wasn't eighty thousand dollars. So I spent about one third of my yearly combined salary income. It was easily worth it to me. I just wanted to get you something nice to make you happy. So did my girls. I'm really sorry if you don't want it and, please, don't be angry with me. Now you can rip my ear off if you want."

And I stepped out from behind the chair and I bent my head down so she could grab my ear more easily. Well she grabbed my ear and pulled my head over and GAVE ME A KISS ON THE LIPS! My knees went weak and Mister Wolf came out. She doesn't know how close she came to being thrown onto her office couch. Hold on, what is going on? She's not stopping the kiss and her arms are going around my neck. There is no way in hell that I'm going to be stopping THIS kiss.

……………………………………………

I was so mad at Don! Spending so much money, when he didn't have nearly as much as I did! But, I would give him a chance to explain, and then make him sleep in the garage.

My god the man is an expert groveler, nice quality for a husband to have. Hmmm, he wanted to thank me and make me happy? I've turned their lives around? The pieces only cost 30k? Impossible, but he doesn't look like he is lying. Now he is coming out from behind that chair and is walking out with his head down. What am I going to do with him?

The only sensible thing; I grabbed his ear, pulled his face to mine and kissed him. Oh it was a pretty good kiss for being closed mouth. Maybe I should open my lips a little. Oh! My tongue seems to have a mind of its own and is lightly touching Don's lips. His lips are opening. Oh! Very nice, very, very nice. He is being so gentle, but I can feel that he is restraining himself from a passionate fire waiting to take control. His hands are absolutely rigid, like two pieces of steel on my back. I can just feel that he wants to clench me to him so fiercely that I would be robbed of my ability to breathe.

My nipples grew hard, strained against my bra, and I started to get wet down below. A little more coaxing and he will be mine, maybe just a little more with my tongue. Oh, god, please let him love me in spite of my awful past!

Suddenly, boom! The door slammed open and I heard screams as five bodies literally fell into the room. Don and I leaped apart and guiltily smoothed our clothes out. Shit, shit, shit!

"What are you all doing spying on us like that?" I yelled at them. Megan and Robin quickly got up and hid behind Vanessa and Kathy who promptly pushed Freddie out front. "It was her idea. She was worried because you seemed so mad." Freddie tried to force her way back behind Vanessa and Kathy, but they didn't let her.

"Freddie?"

"Ah, ah, I just came back for a peek. Then Megan and Robin followed me and then Kathy and Vanessa followed them. We were just opening the door a crack because it got so silent when we sort of fell against the door and we all fell in."

I breathed out a mental sigh of relief. They hadn't seen anything. I had almost jumped the schedule too far forward with Don. They had saved me, but I WAS REALLY SORRY THAT THEY HAD!