A Most Unusual Girl Pt. 04

I asked Karl about the tent and did I owe him extra. "Nah, when I told Belle about you folks and the girls never seeing snow before she was the one who wanted to do something special being Christmas Eve and all."

We all waved as he made his way down the driveway, the bells on the horses harnesses jingling until they were well out of sight.

As a kid we always got to open one present Christmas Eve and it was always picked out by mother, we made the decision to start that tradition in our little family as well. Both girls had been pestering Jo for a particular kind of underwear, Tracy wanted *Hello Kitty* underwear, (whatever that is) and Tracy wanted some super hero kind. They both needed new jammies so Jo combined the new pajama's along with the new panties as their Christmas Eve gift. My ma usually gave us underwear for Christmas and I was never a fan of that, but these two little girls were, they stripped off on the spot, put on new panties, jumped into their new flannel jammies and crawled onto our laps, one on each.

I was discovering what it meant to be loved as a husband by a woman who was devoted to me as well as a dad to these wonderful little creatures. We were up until after eleven putting out all the gifts, I have to admit I went overboard, Joann was ready to pull the plug long before I was. We cuddled and spooned a bit as we lay in bed, my heart was full of joy for the first Christmas in I don't know how many. Love making wasn't on the agenda that night and somehow, we both knew it.

I was up at six, had coffee done and was editing some of what I'd written when I heard the girls sneaking down the hall, when they saw me they squealed and asked if they could open gifts. I told them to wake mama and we'd start as soon as she was ready. Following a quick pee, donning a robe and grabbing coffee she sat next to me looking for her good morning kiss.

Trina blurted, "Come on mama, no kissing we want to open our presents."

I handed out gifts, making them open each one before they got the next, as well as stuffing the discarded wrapping into a large box which I planned to burn outside later. With all the looking, shouts of joy, showing us and admiring what they'd gotten we ate up nearly an hours worth of time. The last one I handed out was to Joann, a small box inside a bigger box, which she hadn't known about. When she opened the last box she put her hand over her mouth and drew a deep breath, the tears began to fall as she looked at me. I had seen her admiring a ring with black diamonds when we sized the girl's rings and well .... I just had to get it for her.

"Luke, this is too much, all I got you was some hand tools you pointed out. This is too expensive."

Kneeling between her legs I kissed her tenderly, "Nothing is too much for you Joann, you have no idea what you have single handedly done to renew my faith in love. Before you I didn't think it existed any longer, other than in books. Put it on, I want to see how it looks."

To my amazement she put it on her right ring finger, I'd never seen her without the small silver band on her right hand. I looked at her inquisitively. "I thought that was a ring your sister gave you."

"Nope, hers is on my index finger, the other one was a trinket. Oh my gosh, mom is gonna flip when she sees this. Speaking of mom, I need to call her."

"Joann, I have a suggestion when you do, why not gift her the car for Christmas, we can transfer everything to her when we get home. Can you think of anything she'd like more?"

"No, she's been talking about getting a car after the holidays, but then what will I drive?"

My devious plan to bless her socks off was falling into place.

"You my dear will be driving a two year old Odyssey as my wedding gift to you. It's been picked out and will be bought pending you driving and approving of it. If it doesn't fit you right we'll find something else. It's a deep red with grey interior, heated seats and the sunroof you said you wanted in your next vehicle."

By this time she was blubbering, the snot running, going through Kleenex like they were tissue, well wait a minute, they are tissue. Anyway, she was hanging on my neck conveying her love to me as the girls never gave us a moment's notice, they were each attending to their American Girl dolls. We were due for supper at Walts, I set about making a late morning brunch with Joann helping once she'd gotten herself put together and dressed. The rest of the morning and afternoon were basically lazy time except for when the little girls and I burned the box of wrapping paper outside. My God, they were like pyromaniacs finding sticks to burn, Jo called Syd telling her our gift to her was the car which sent her into sobs and thank yous, I was so very glad I heard it second hand and wasn't there, I had all the drama I wanted without that. We were taking pies for dessert which Jo was making, they were cooled nicely by the time we departed for Walt's.

Tilly had prepared a huge ham *with all the fixins* as they say in the south. Sally and our girls were playing, there little boy Leif was content playing by himself with Knut keeping a close on things. Tilly was looking a bit perturbed and said to Knit.

"Where are they? They're never on time, well, we aren't waiting this time."

She'd no more than said it when in walked Knut's brother Kasper and his girlfriend Eeva. Knut yelled out.

"Du er sen, hvor har du Vaert? (you're late, where have you been?)

"Eeva matte ringe morden." (Eeva had to call her mother)

Tilly turned to Kasper, "They don't speak Norsk, why don't you tell them what you said" Followed by "Suppers ready, let's go." Which brought everyone to the dining room and seated. There was very little conversation during the meal, which mother always said was a good sign, the kids ate quickly and asked to be excused. Jo wondered what nationality Eeva was to have such a different name. (For those interested the double ee is pronounced like a hard A.)

"I'm from the UP, the Upper Peninsula, or as we're commonly called, *yoopers*. The UP was settled heavily by Finlanders, my great grandparents settled in the early 1900's, I was named after my great grandma."

Tilly, Knut, Kasper and EEva insisted on clearing the table and doing up the dishes which left Joann, myself and Walt at the table. Jo gave him the short version of how we came about to be, her heritage, all the stuff women talk about and men simply nod in affirmation. Jo got up to deal with Tracy being a snot, when she returned Walt looked at us and smiled.

"Luke you mentioned something about a vacation home the other day. I may have found something for you, it's a little older and needs upgrades but it's well below market value. Some folks from Kentucky owned it, they died and the kids want nothing to do with it. Been on the market over a year and not one offer, the economy is rebounding, this is a tourist town, but folks aren't ready to buy lake homes just yet."

I was cautiously optimistic and asked if we might be able to see it while we were up north. He said he was sure that could be arranged, he knew the realtor and would call him. On the way home the girls had conked out within five minutes of traveling, Jo put her hand on mine.

"Honey, what was Walt talking about? Are you gonna buy a lake home? You've spent so much money on this trip for me and the girls, I don't want you to think I need a summer cabin on Lake Michigan."

"I haven't spent a lot of money, besides this month's book sales check will be waiting when we get home. You and I will talk about this when we get the girls down for the night. I may even let you thank me for your gift when the girls are asleep. Are you up for another tryst in front of the fireplace?"

Her answer was a hand on my rapidly hardening dick. "Promise? Don't tease lover boy."

*******

With Christmas over part five will deal with the upcoming New Year's Eve dance and whether they purchase the lake home or not.