The Best Christmas Ever

The kiss woke her slowly.

"Wake up, sleepy-head. It's morning."

Mellissa leisurely stretched her arms over her head and inhaled deeply. She yawned, hugged Stan's bare chest, and snuggled her breasts into his warmth.

"Mmmmmm, no. I just want to lay her all day, with you."

"Well, I, for one, want some breakfast. What say we go pick up Timmy and then get some pancakes?"

"You want Timmy to come?"

"Sure. Doesn't he like pancakes? They have about a hundred different kinds. I'll bet he can find at least one he likes."

Timmy was bewildered by the selection, but finally settled on blueberry with a side order of bacon.

On the Sunday before Christmas, Mellissa put up the artificial Christmas tree, and Timmy helped hang the lights and ornaments. Mellissa still had no idea what he'd told Santa he wanted for Christmas. She couldn't afford much, but it would help if she knew.

"I'll bet you can hardly wait for Christmas Eve, can you Timmy?"

"Nope. I'm going to get the best present ever."

"What was it you asked Santa for? I forgot."

"It's a secret. I can't tell you or it won't happen."

Mellissa decided it was better to have him disappointed now than on Christmas day.

"Timmy, the man you talked to in my store wasn't really Santa. Do you know that?"

"That's what Bobby said, too. He said your mom and dad get you the presents at Christmas, but I don't believe him. That was Santa, and he's real. He told me he'd try really hard to get me what I asked for."

"Well, what if he can't?"

"Oh, he will. Santa always brings you what you ask for."

It was useless trying to argue with a five-year-old. He hadn't known disappointment, and wouldn't listen to reason until he had. Mellissa would get him something and hope she could explain why it wasn't what Santa had promised.

Stan asked if they could see each other on Christmas Eve. Mellissa had been a little hesitant. She hated leaving Timmy home on such a special night. Stan's answer had been amazing.

"Well, we could have our date at your place. That way, you won't be leaving Timmy. He'll be right there with us. Oh, and don't worry about dinner. I'll take care of that."

Mellissa let him in at six and sniffed the aromas that seeped from the white Styrofoam boxes he carried.

"It smells delicious. It's chicken, right?"

"But not just any chicken. This is chicken piccata from Rocinni's along with zucchini parmesan and pasta primavera. The little one's some ammaretto cheesecake for desert. Oh, in case Timmy doesn't like Italian, I brought some burgers and fries too. Could you start getting things ready while I go back to my car? I have a bottle of Chablis for us and some sodas for Timmy. I brought some eggnog for afterwards, too. You just can't have a Christmas Eve party without eggnog."

Mellissa washed the few dishes while Stan played with Timmy. She peeked into the living room a couple of times as she was drying the glasses. They were having races with Timmy's toy cars. She noticed that Stan seemed to be letting Timmy win most of the time. The sight filled her heart with joy. It was a sight that could have easily been one of the dreams she had from time to time. They were a little family, safe and snug in their house. Her husband and son played together while she did the dishes. Later on, they'd tuck Timmy in bed and talk about how the day had gone. At ten, they'd walk back to the bedroom and make love before falling asleep in each other's arms

Melissa sighed and put the last glass in the cabinet. She dared not hope that her dream could come true. If it didn't, it would break her heart. She hung her apron on the cabinet knob and joined Stan and Timmy in the living room.

"Are you two having fun."

"Mommy, Mr. Cooper got to ride on a real fire engine. He even got to make the siren go."

Stan grinned and shrugged. "My brother is a fireman. He took me for a ride, once."

"Well, it's almost nine, so you two will have to play some more another day. It's time Timmy went to bed."

"But we haven't had our eggnog yet."

"Yeah, Mommy. Mr. Cooper says we have to have eggnog, and put cookies and milk out for Santa. He gets hungry from taking all the presents around."

It was almost ten when Mellissa finally got Timmy tucked into bed. She pulled the covers up to his neck and kissed him on the forehead. Timmy looked up at her.

"Mommy, do you like Mr. Cooper?"

"Yes, Honey, I like him a lot."

"Good, 'cause I like him a lot, too."

Mellissa brought the coffee into the living room, and they sat and talked on the couch as they had so many times before. Stan seemed a little nervous and kept looking at his watch. Finally, he asked if she thought Timmy was still awake. She tiptoed down the hall to check.

"No, he's asleep." She slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Whatcha got in mind, big fella?"

"Well, I need to go out to my car again. I know you won't like this, but I couldn't help myself. Just don't be mad, OK?"

He came back with four, gift-wrapped boxes. She recognized the wrapping paper. It was the same that Winslow's used.

"I'm glad you have a tree. Don't know how I'd have put one of those in my car."

"What's in the packages?"

"I'm not going to tell you. It's more fun to guess than to know, remember?"

"That's not what you said last Saturday night."

"That was different. You have to wait until tomorrow morning."

Stan put the presents under the tree. Mellissa went to her bedroom and brought out her one gift for Timmy. Her mother had given her the money on Sunday, and she'd been lucky enough to find the toy garage set on sale. She placed it under the tree with Stan's presents and sat down beside him on the couch.

"I hope he likes it. He never did tell me what he asked Santa for."

"Don't worry. He'll like it. I just hope you like yours."

"Mine? Stan…, I'm so sorry. I didn't get you anything. I didn't think – "

"You don't have to explain, Mellissa. I understand. I didn't expect you to. It's been enough just to be with you the last few weeks. You're a beautiful, intelligent woman, and I think I'm in love with you. I haven't told you that before because there's something you don't know about me, and when you hear it, you might not want to keep seeing me."

"Stan, I feel the same way about you. There's nothing you could say to change that."

"OK, but I still need to tell you. Remember I said I couldn't give Judy what she wanted? What Judy wanted was children. I love kids too, but nothing seemed to work. We tried for two years before we went to a doctor. Mellissa, the problem was me."

She chuckled and put her hand over his.

"Everything seemed to work pretty well the other night. I don't have any complaints. I'd like to try it again, in fact."

"No, no, it's…, it's not that I couldn't make love to her. I had this bicycle accident when I was a teenager. The accident damaged…, well, the doctor said my sperm count is extremely low. He gave us about one chance in a hundred thousand of conceiving a child. Judy was just torn apart, and I felt the same way. I wanted at least three. She wouldn't even listen to him about adoption or sperm donors. Judy had to have a child by her husband. She left about a month after we found out."

Mellissa was thinking about Walt and why he'd started sleeping with another woman.

"Doesn't sound like she loved you very much."

"I think she did, in her own way. It just wasn't strong enough to survive the knowledge that we couldn't have children together. That's why I never dated many women before you, and why I haven't told you this until now. I was afraid if you knew, you'd stop seeing me. I still am."

"Just because we couldn't have children?"

"Well, that's what all women want, isn't it?"

"Some of us do. I wanted children, but Walt didn't. As soon as I got pregnant, he started sleeping around. That's why I got divorced. He didn't love me enough either, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be able to love you."

"And how about now. Do you want to have more children?"

"If it happened, I would be happy. If it didn't, I could still be happy, if the man loved me…, and Timmy."

Stan reached in his pocket and pulled out a small, black, velvet covered box.

"Then I do have a present you can see tonight. I'm sorry, I didn't wrap this one."

Melissa couldn't say anything after she opened the box. Inside was a slender white gold ring. In the center mount was a single, large diamond. Two smaller diamonds sparkled on either side.

"Mellissa, I love you very much, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and Timmy. We haven't known each other very long, so this doesn't have to be an engagement ring. I know you need some time to think this out, and I want you to be sure. Can we call this a pre-engagement, engagement ring?"

She blinked back the tears as Stan slipped the ring over the ring finger of her left hand, then gave up and wiped her eyes.

"We can call it anything you want, but I don't have to think about it. Timmy likes you, and I love you."

Stan didn't spend the night. He thought it wouldn't be right for Timmy to wake up and find his mother with a man in her bed. He promised to be back on Christmas morning. Mellissa told him to be early, because Timmy would be up at about seven. He heard Timmy's little voice just before he knocked on the door.

"Mommy, look. Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk I left. Can we open the presents now?"

"Just as soon as Stan gets here. Now finish your cocoa."

She was as pretty in her jeans and sweatshirt as in the dresses she wore on their dates. Stan enveloped her in his arms and kissed her as soon as he walked in the door. Timmy came running from the kitchen. He had cocoa on his upper lip, and a Christmas cookie in his hand.

"Mr. Cooper, Santa came last night. Come look. He left presents under our tree. Mommy said we could open them as soon as you got here."

"Sweetheart, let me get Stan some coffee first. Stan would you like something to eat? I made a coffee cake."

They sat on the couch and Timmy carried over the package Mellissa had put under the tree the night before.

"It has my name on it. Can I open it?"

"Sure you can."

Timmy was overjoyed with the toy garage set, and immediately began playing with it. Stan chuckled. "I guess Santa got you what you wanted. Did he get you anything else? There's four other packages over there. Let's go look." He got up and walked to the tree. "Let's see. Here's one for Timmy…, oh, and here's another one for Timmy. Hmmm, this one is for somebody named Mellissa. Do you know anybody named Mellissa?"

Timmy grinned. "That's Mommy's name."

"Well, you better take her this one, then. Oops, wait a minute, the last one's for her too."

In the space of three minutes, Timmy was surrounded by torn wrapping paper and staring with wide eyes and a wider grin at an electric train set and an action figure of his favorite cartoon character. He jumped up, ran to Mellissa, and hugged her around the neck.

"Mommy, I got a lot of presents."

"So, Santa brought what you asked him for, after all, didn't he."

"But I didn't ask him for this stuff."

"Well, then, what did you ask him for?"

Timmy looked a little sad when he looked at her.

"It's OK, Mommy. I like my presents and Santa probably didn't have enough time yet."

Mellissa took his hands in hers and gently squeezed them.

"Sweetheart, sometimes things don't work out like we'd like them to. That Santa in my store, well, he's just a man we hire to talk to the little children."

"I know that's what you said, but I thought maybe…"

He had felt the ring on Melissa's finger, and bent down to look at it.

"What's this, Mommy?"

"It's an engagement ring, Timmy. Stan gave it to me last night. Sweetheart, he wants to have us come live with him. Would you like that?"

"You mean he wants you to get married to him, and go to live in his house?"

"Yes, and you'll be there too. Stan wants you to come. He likes you a lot."

Timmy's face beamed with a huge smile.

"See, Mommy. I told you Santa is real. He brought what I asked him for. I told you he would."

"Timmy, whatever are you talking about?"

"I asked Santa to find a man who would like you, and like me too, so you wouldn't cry anymore. Oh Mommy, this is the best Christmas ever."

Well, it's early December again and Christmas Eve is only two weeks away. Stan and Timmy are building a snow fort in the back yard, and Melissa's baking a cake for desert tonight. Her mother's coming over for dinner. There's a big, fresh Christmas tree in the living room that Stan and Timmy cut out at the tree farm. It's covered with brand-new ornaments and lights that don't go out at the drop of a hat. Three stockings hang from the fireplace mantle, but they're high enough that the crackling fire doesn't scorch them. Mellissa knows what Timmy bought Stan. The tag says "To Daddy, From Timmy", and it's a new wallet. Stan knows what Timmy bought Mellissa. She's going to like the sweater. She pointed it out to Stan about two months ago. Timmy knows what Stan and Mellissa bought each other, too, but he isn't telling.

Timmy's six now, and he's trying really hard to be a grown-up, well…, except for one thing. Few of his classmates went to see Santa this year. They all know their parents buy the gifts that say "From Santa" on the tags. Timmy knows that too, but he still believes Santa is real. I guess he has a reason to believe. He asked for a very special gift, not for him, but for his mother, and that gift happened. This year, the picture of him on Santa's knee is in a frame on the mantle. There are copies waiting for Melissa's mother and Stan's parents, too. Timmy didn't ask Santa for anything while he sat on the old elf's knee. He just wanted to say "Thanks".

The trouble with adults is that they lose the ability to have faith in things without analyzing them to death. They don't really have a reason why they don't believe. Ideas like Santa just aren't logical to them, and therefore, they can't possibly exist. Sometimes, it makes me wonder why I keep doing these things. Well,,,, I only wonder until some little girl or boy asks me for a special gift for someone else. Then I know why I do it.

Mrs. Claus says it's time for me to retire, but I don't know. There's this one elf who might be able to do it, but he's going to need some coaching, a lot of coaching, I think. These young elves just don't understand the real meaning of Christmas. They think it's all about dolls and fire trucks and train sets. It takes the heart of a child to really understand.

I think I'll stay with it for a while longer. There's this little six-year-old girl in Atlanta who lost her mother a year ago. She knows her mother is happy up there in Heaven, but her father, Jim, is just about at the end of his rope. Little Mary says he really needs someone to love him so he can start to live again. I know of a woman who works in the building next to his. Maggie lost her husband some time back, and, well, she needs someone, too. She always wanted a little girl, and Mary is the cutest little blonde you've ever seen. Jim and Maggie going to bump into each other this afternoon. If I've got it figured right, this is going to be Mary's best Christmas ever.

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Thanks for reading this work. Please vote to indicate how much you enjoyed it, and send feedback if you can spare the time. Your votes and feedback are the only way I will know how much you enjoyed my effort, and furnish the only means to improve my writing.

Thanks again,

Ronde.