Falling Home Ch. 06

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A continuation of Adi and Natalie's story.
2.8k words
4.84
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Part 6 of the 7 part series

Updated 11/02/2022
Created 09/05/2011
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Chapter 6

It's surprising that I slept; usually Christmas Eve consists of me tossing and turning until I can justify waking everyone else up. But, this Christmas morning I slept in until 6am. Then I jumped in the shower and pottered about in my room.

I was putting on the last touches of makeup when I heard the first telltale sign that there was life in the house. James was squealing. He had gone into the living room and seen the presents that Abigail and Tom had placed, unwrapped, under the tree after he had gone to bed. Within moments I could hear the honking of the horn on the toy fire truck and the whole house seemed to come alive.

Suddenly dishes were banging in the kitchen, carols were playing from the radio in the living room and Dad was whistling along to "Deck The Halls" from his room. I did a last minute check in the mirror, slid my phone in my pocket and went to join the hubbub.

For the next two hours, the whole family sat around the living room, watching James open his presents and laugh delightedly. Then we opened our own gifts.

Abigail and Tom gave me a magnificent first edition, signed copy ofMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,and mom and dad gave me, among other things, aDaily Devotional Guide, "Because those English don't have enough religion."

Finally, Mom and I cleaned up the torn wrapping paper, or Christmas shrapnel, as mom calls it, while everyone else got ready for Church. After the place was reasonably clean enough for the rest of the family to come over for lunch, I went to my room to change.

I was putting on the set of earings that Abigail had given me a few years back when there was a knock on my door. "Come in."

The door opened and dad stepped in. He looked good in his suit and tie. I was filled with a rush of love for him and smiled. "Hey pumpkin," he said. "Your mom and I got you a little something to show you how proud we are of you. We didn't want to put it under the tree" He pulled a ring box out of his pocket.

Inside was a small silver ring with a ruby set amongst diamonds. It was beautiful. I took the ring out and slid it on my right ring finger. It didn't quite fit. I pulled it off and slid it on my pinky finger instead. I held my hand out and admired the ring; it sparkled in the sunlight streaming through my window.

I smiled and hugged dad, thanking him profusely. "Well, I'm glad you like it. I need to round up the troops for church. You're picking up Grandmother Strum, right?"

"Yep, I'm leaving now." I grabbed my purse off the bed, pulled on my black jacket and headed to the car.

It was freezing outside. I turned on my car and switched the heat settings to high; then high-tailed it back into the house. Mom was in the kitchen wiping counters and looked startled when I ran in. I said, "Geez, it's cold."

"It's supposed to be; it's Christmas." She smiled and wiggled her fingers at me, "Let me see that ring."

I held up my hand. She frowned. "It's on the wrong finger."

"I know, but it's too small for the others." She twisted my hand this way and that.

"Well, I thought it might be a little tight, but it was your great grandmother's and I couldn't bear to cut it and add pieces to make it bigger. It looks nice. Do you like it?"

"I love it!"

"Good," she dropped my hand and hugged me. "It was her engagement ring, you know."

I studied the ruby. "Aren't those supposed to be diamonds?"

"Traditionally, yes..." Mom was cut off by dad walking in the room.

"But your great granny wasn't the most traditional of ladies. She didn't want the diamond."

Mom shook her head and hooked her thumb at dad, "That's what he says, but I bet it was just because rubies were cheaper than diamonds. Nothing says happily engaged like a single, empress cut, big, fat diamond. That's what every girl wants."

"But, dear," dad was patronizing, "it's a rubysurroundedby diamonds." He looked at me, "No, she didn't give a lick for all that tradition. She was different."

"Those diamonds, Mr. Strum, were added in the years that followed."

"Says who?"

"Says the jeweler who cleaned it and appraised it for me last month."

"What does he know?" Dad winked at me.

Now that my car was all toasty, I got in and got a gentle whiff of perfume off my coat. It smelled like Natalie. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. A knock on the window jarred me back to the present. Dad tapped on his watch; I nodded and put my car in drive.

Within fifteen minutes I was at Grandmother Strum's house. I gave her a quick ring to let her know I was outside. While I was waiting I cleared off the passenger seat.Shit. The book was sitting right there. I hoped dad didn't notice. Grandmother was almost to the car; I didn't have much time to think about what to do with it. I shoved it under the passenger seat just in time to look like I was leaning over to open the door for her. Luckily she thanked me and never noticed.

I wished Grandmother a merry Christmas and pulled back onto the main road. She talked about previous Christmases and my late Granddad as I followed the familiar route to the First Baptist Church. I was waiting at the last red light when my phone buzzed. It was a message from Natalie.

Merry Christmas. I hope your day is perfect.

I smiled and looked at the traffic light. It was still red; I hit reply.

Thanks Nat. You too! I hope you get everything you wa...

I was still typing on my phone when Grandmother Strum yelled, "Adi!"

I looked up and was almost on top of the car in front of me. I slammed on the breaks and squeezed my cell phone, and the car jolted to a halt inches from the car in front of us. Grandmother's purse slid from beside her onto the floor. I dropped my phone in my purse as the light turned green and grandmother began to collect her things from the floor.

"Sorry, I was distracted."

"It's ok. Dang cell phones. You shouldn't play with it while in the car. And your mother wants to get me one. To think!"

She continued to dig around on the floor; then she sat up slowly. "Adrianne, What's this?"

She was holding the book.Shit.

"That?" I grabbed it from her and shoved it down between my seat and door. "Nothing."

"That's not nothing. That's blasphemous! Those gays are a sin against God! And to think! They have their own places and churches and it's not right!" Her voice was getting dangerously high.

"It's not mine Grandma!" I jumped in as soon as I could. "It's for Kim's boyfriend's sister. Kim picked it up yesterday and left it in my car after we went for coffee. It's no big deal."

Grandmother eyed me, measuring my lie. "Anyway, it's wrong. You should throw that away. No one needs that sort of stuff. That's what's wrong with this world. Too many of them gays. Not enough church. If I had it my way..."

I had parked in the parking lot of the church. "They're still people grandmother," I said quietly. She stopped talking. "They still have families and values; they just love differently."

Grandmother put her hand over mine and her face softened for an instant. "Well, it's still wrong in the eyes of the Lord. But never mind that. It's Christmas, let's go in."

She opened the door and got out. I let out a breath that I didn't realize I had been holding in, and followed her into the church.

After church I had two messages from Natalie on my cell. Grandmother Strum gave me a warning look when I flipped the cell open and began to respond. "Don't worry, I'm not going to drive while typing again." I smiled reassurance.

I wrote,"Sorry about the abrupt message. I'll tell you about it later. Hope your day is great!"

The rest of the afternoon passed in a breeze of food, family, tinsel and lights. I finally made my excuses and went up to my room around 11pm. Christmas is always so tiring.

I dropped down onto my bed and booted up my laptop. I typed out a message to Natalie:

Hey,

Sorry about the phone messages today. I was with driving my grandmother to church and went to reply to your text and I got a bit distracted and almost rolled into the car in front of me. Grandmother yelled and I hit send. But it's fine. I didn't hit anyone and the rest of the day went smoothly. Except for grandmother pulling the book out from under the seat and giving me a lecture about the "sins of the gays." But luckily she soon forgot all about it. I really need to get that book out of my car. I bet it has better exposure there than it ever had on any bookstore shelf. Otherwise, the day was great. I'm exhausted from all the activity and am moments away from bed. How was your day? I hope it was wonderful.

-Adi

The next morning, I woke up early and went downstairs. No one was up yet and the family wasn't expected to begin arriving again until lunch time. I put a pot of coffee on and went to my car to get the book.

I was looking at it while walking back inside when I saw movement in the window of the kitchen. Dad was up. I stuffed the book under the elastic waist of my shorts and pulled my sweat shirt down over it. I hesitated at the door before the freezing temperature sent me scurrying inside.

Dad spun around and said, "Hey, what are you doing outside so early?"

"Uh...just looking for my cell phone; thought I must have left it in my car," I lied.

"Why didn't you just call it? And why do you need it so early? Expecting a call?"

"Not really, I just usually use it as an alarm and when I didn't see it this morning, I figured it must be in my car; so I went out to check."

"And?"

"And what?" I was fidgeting while dad poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"And was it in the car?"

"Nope." I needed to change the subject. "Is the coffee ready? I put it on before I went out, but good-ness, how long does brewing a pot take? You and mom really need to invest in a new coffee maker."

Dad looked hurt and patted the top of the coffee maker with affection. "I'll have you know that this beauty has been going strong every day for the past ten years. I can't just abandon her. Can I?"

"I vote yes. Then I could have coffee waiting for me at a moment's notice."

"Well, never you mind. Go upstairs and get dressed and by the time you come back down you'll have a cup waiting on you."

That was close. I smiled and spun around to head back upstairs when the book wiggled itself loose from my waist band and slid down through my shorts and fell on the floor with a loud bang.

Dad spun around. I scooped the book up quickly and held it against my chest with my arms wrapped around it.

"What in the world is that?"

"Nothing." I tried to look innocent. My face was getting red.

"That looks like a book. Planning on doing some reading today?"

"It's a gift that I forgot I had."What a twisted web we weave."It's for mom."

Dad looked like he wasn't going to believe me, but then he said, "Well, you better go wrap it up, she was right behind me. He hooked his thumb over his shoulder and I took the opportunity to make my escape.

Back in my room I closed and locked the door. Leaning against it, I sighed. This book is much more trouble than it's worth. I shoved it between the mattress and box springs and went to take a shower. Great, now I had more shopping to do.

I told dad I was going to meet Kim for a quick cup of coffee. Instead, I headed to the local chain bookstore. It was open. I said a quick prayer of thanks to the gods of consumerism and went in, purchasing a book for mom.

I swung through a coffee shop on the way home to make my coffee run look authentic and made it up to my room without being spotted. I quickly wrapped the book up and took it back downstairs.

It was only 11:30am, but the rest of the family had already begun to arrive. There's nothing like leftovers to draw a crowd. While everyone was sitting around the living room, drinking coffee and idly watching TV, I snuck the book over to mom.

She opened it, read the brief inscription I wrote in the front of it and smiled up at me. I smiled back.

"Why now?"

"Cause I love you," I tried to look guilty, which wasn't hard. And, "I forgot that it was in my car yesterday."

"Is that the book from your car?" Dad chimed in.

"I should hope not!" Grandmother Strum had caught on.

"Not that book, Grandmother," I tried to placate her. "That one wasn't mine."

"Good, cause if it was, we would have to have an intervention."

Mom looked at Grandmother and then down at her book. It wasChicken Noodle Soup for the Mother's Soul.She looked confused. "What's wrong with this book?"

"Not a thing," Dad said.

"Not a thing?!" Grandmother was alarmed. The rest of the family stopped watching TV and started to watch us. "No son of mine can think there's nothing wrong with that! Your father must be rolling in his grave."

"Wrong with what?" Mom and dad asked in tandem.

This was not going well.

"Grandmother. It's a book for mom." I slowly explained. "Mom show her." Mom held the book up.

"I don't want to see it. It's blasphemous." Grandmother wouldn't even look at it.

"Mother, it's hardly good literature, but I doubt God has a problem with it." Dad said.

"What have you been listening to? Them liberal hippies? They're the reason this country is going to hell in a hand basket. Wanting them gays to be married and abortions and..."

"Grandmother. It'sChicken Noodle Soup for the Mother's Soul." I practically had to yell to get her to listen to me.

"What?" She finally stopped her ranting and looked at the book. "I thought it was that gay book."

"No gays here," I tried to lighten the mood.

"What gay book?" dad asked.

I took a deep drink of my coffee. It was cold by now, but choking on cold coffee was better than dealing with my family.

"That one in Adrianne's car."

Thank you, grandmother Strum.

All the eyes in the room turned to me. I rolled my eyes to make light of the situation. "I told her that it wasn't mine."

"Then who's was it?" Mom asked.

"It's a gift that Kim left in my car." There. I hadn't completely lied.

"I know just about everyone in this town. Who's gay?" Dad felt his small town knowledge was being tried.

"She doesn't live here."

"Where does she live that puts up withthat?"

"Atlanta." A chorus of "ahs" went up around the room.

This was getting too much. "And bythatyou mean being gay?" I asked.

"Yeah.That."

"That's just how some things work out. I doubt they asked to be gay."

"I told you, you shouldn't have sent her to England. Godless puppets," Grandmother Benson announced, indigently.

"It's not like we wanted her to go," mom said, desperate to appease her mother.

"But it's my choice!" I was practically yelling. "Look. I like England; I have gay friends; I like gay people; I like God; I like family, and I would like to drop it. For Christ's sake; it's the day after Christmas. It's a silly book that doesn't belong to me. Can't we just get back to normal conversations and agree to disagree?"

Mom, ever the hostess, stood and said, "Who wants lunch?"

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MaryJane26MaryJane26about 10 years agoAuthor
Hi

Hi y'all,

Thanks for the lovely feedback!

It's actually all written, and has been for a few years. It's just a matter of finding time to edit it and break it into chapters that work for this format. Oh, and deciding if I want to add sex scenes and move it into the realm of erotic fiction.

But the comments have spurred me into it again. Right, onwards to editing.

Arago007Arago007about 10 years ago
Poor Adi...

This one was hard to read...

You seriously have a gift... Every scene I can see and feel... Every voice comes in so clearly.

I see that this was the last chapter, I hope you finish it, absolutely beautiful.

tygztygzover 10 years ago

I would buy this book in an instant.

The tension buildup from the first couple of chapters is still lingering, kept stoked by Kim, and I'm falling more and more in live with Adi... I can't wait to learn more about Natalie. And now this family... Omg is all I can say there, mine is much smaller but is still more than is comfortable - what Adi is going through should be prohibited by the Geneva convention! It's setting up for a cataclysmic showdown in the future, that's for certain.

AnonymousAnonymousover 10 years ago
next chapter

please write the next chapter

HlovestoreadHlovestoreadalmost 11 years ago
Love it!

I think you are doing a great job. Keep up the good work. I love this series.

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