Page 135 of Season of Gifts

“Now, Constance.”Leaning forward in her seat, Mom patted the other woman’s sleeve.“I’m certain it won’t hurt a bit this one time.The boys are accompanying you to the service this evening, aren’t they?Dinner won’t be until after you return.It’s a long wait for a little boy.”Mom made the best face, all pointy-mouthed sadness and puppy-dog longing in her eyes, and laughed gently.“Robert and Henry often needed an afternoon snack on the holiday as well.Their father was quite particular about the order of the events for the night; he enjoyed passing along the traditions.I believe it resurrected childhood nostalgia for him.”Tapping a finger on her lips, she hummed.“I don’t think you’ve shared much about your own traditions, and of course Alice and Jay won’t have heard our old stories yet.Shall we go around the room and share some piece of the holiday we recall with fondness?”She nodded toward the boys and winked at Jay.“With the understanding that little pitchers have big ears, of course.”

He winked back.No spilling the beans about Santa Claus, got it.Not that he would’ve anyway.This wasn’t his first time at the cool uncle gig.

Gabriel ran little fingers along his fork, but he waited until Robert picked his up.The older boy gravely nodded at Jay.“Thank you, Mr.Kress.Uncle Henry is a competent chef, Mother says, and we appreciate you including us in the dessert tasting this afternoon.”

“You bet.”Two words were better than none, and about all his brain could manage.That kid didnottalk like Jay’s other nephews.He did sound like a high-octane version of Henry and his dad, though.Too bad Henry didn’t have home videos of himself as a kid.He’d pay good money to watch his husband have the same personality at nine that he did at thirty-nine.“There’s cookies, too, and caramel corn that Henry and Alice made.Probably good to try a little of everything.”

“Unless you’re allergic.”Gabriel cut neater squares from his cake than Jay would’ve—well, ever.“I’m not, but there’s a girl in my class who can’t have milk, so sometimes she has to say no to stuff at lunch and that’s still polite.”

Jay solemnly agreed it was and added another piece to the puzzle, a wintry forest scene not unlike the woods he tramped through as a kid.“There, that’s my brainwork for the day.Two pieces is a big contribution, don’t you think?”

“Well.”Robert rested his fork on his plate, squinted slightly, and folded his hands in front of him.“It’s two percent of the puzzle, which is a small but not insignificant return on investment.If you’d like”—he gestured to the seat across from him—“you could join us in the endeavor, Mr.Kress.Do you have a fondness for landscapes?”

He could sit down before he fell down, maybe.The vocabulary and quiet confidence on this kid might seem less odd the more time he spent with him.“I might just do that.Let me get your folks and everybody some dessert, and I’ll catch up with you and your brother afterward.”

“Duty first, certainly.”The boy nodded, and his short sandy brown hair didn’t even twitch.“The cake is excellent—pleasantly moist with a robust cherry flavor.You and Uncle Henry should be commended.”

Jay pinned an imaginary commendation to his shirt and puffed out his chest on his way back to the dessert cart.The smaller boy hid a giggle behind his hand.Jay served Mother next, earning a kiss on the cheek, and then the guests.

Constance accepted her plate with a small smile and leaned up toward him.“Thank you for engaging with the boys.I do hope they weren’t bothering you with their questions.”

Bothering?If his nephews played that quietly, he’d be checking them for heartbeats.“Not even a little bit.My siblings have fourteen kids between them.I’ve been Uncle Jay for a long time.”

“Fourteen, my goodness.”She didn’t swoon like a lady in an old-fashioned movie, but she did tip back enough that her husband steadied her with his hand.“You must have several siblings.”

“Four, but only three have kids so far.”Raising his voice, he headed back to the dessert tray and started slicing the last round.“The oldest are college age, and the youngest won’t start preschool till next year.You must be real proud of your two.”Three plates for Henry and Alice and himself.He balanced one on the bend in his elbow.“You send Mom regular updates on their clubs and sports and stuff, I bet.”

“I—well—” She didn’t, not with that kind of answer.“The boys do speak regularly with their grandmother, except recently, of course.We know she’s been resting to stay healthy.”

“Then there must be a lot to catch up on.”Alice’s bright smile might’ve been fifty-fifty for the cake he was bringing her and for playing co-conspirator in getting Mom stories about her grandsons.“What grades are they in this year?”

That uncorked the barrel.They’d drained off the polite talk, finally, and gotten to the good stuff.Alice scooted over and made space for Jay between her and Henry.An unspoken game started up, Jay and Alice alternating bites of yummy cake with questions to keep the conversation from drifting back into boresville.Mom joined in the questioning, and Henry rested his hand approvingly on Jay’s back.Even picture-perfect Constance had relaxed into her seat by the time Jay cleared the empty plates and rejoined Team Puzzle.

When the sun went down, Jay lit up the tree and started laying a fire in the fireplace.Robert’s family headed out for church, promising to pass along Mom’s regrets.No battle or anything—Henry hadn’t said a word about Mom’s condition before Mom volunteered that she was gonna nap before dinner instead.Watching Jay work, she claimed one of the two tall-backed chairs on either side of the fireplace.“You’re doing quite well, darling boy.”

“Thanks, Mom.”He’d made a fire or five hundred before, and the kindling bucket had plenty of material, so he didn’t have to strain to get the flames going.The flue moved smoothly; Mom probably had the whole setup serviced every year.“You being smart about maintenance is a big help.”

She brushed his hair, tickling his ear, and when he stopped to look, she took hold of his chin and gave him a good-job waggle.“At setting the mood, though the fire is also lovely.The holidays often bear the weight of a melancholy aura here, and it is exceptionally difficult to be melancholy around your joy.”

He pulled his brows down and flattened his mouth into a line.“I could shoot for stern, if that’d help.”

Mom’s laugh flipped his smile back across his face in a heartbeat.“I’m not certain you could be dour if you tried, and I dearly love that about you, Jay.My boys are subdued at showing their emotions—perhaps you’ve noticed?”Her sly look had him snorting at the understatement.“But Henry smiles with much more frequency since you and Alice entered his life, and I quite understand the impulse.You are the life of the party, Jay.Not out of any wildness, I daresay, but out of your sincere interest in others and your boundless curiosity.You are a sorely needed refreshment to shake up hidebound traditions.”

“Nottoo much?”He air quoted himself, the sting of something in his chest.Not fear, exactly, but an old pain of waiting for the inevitable scold.Danny would ask him whose voice that was.More than one, none of them his, and all of them a couple hours away, decorating the last felled tree of the season in a gathering way more raucous but somehow less loving than the shine in Henry’s mom’s eyes.

“Never.” She tugged him toward her and kissed his forehead.“You are delightfully you, my sensitive, exuberant bonus son.You needn’t change for anyone.”

By the time his in-laws came back from church and updated Mom on the social goings-on, the table groaned under the weight of the deli trays and Henry’s appetizers.Jay had a strong fire going in the fireplace, and the pocket doors to the halls had been tugged mostly shut.The music room seemed a whole house on its own, a cozy one with thick rugs and a warm glow and the occasional whistle of wind against the windows.After they’d all stuffed their bellies, the kids disappeared upstairs with their mom.

As the house clock chimed nine, Mom lifted her head and listened.Her eyelids lowered, and her distant smile made her look like she was sitting for a portrait, except Henry didn’t have his sketchbook out.“It’s about that time, darling.”

“So it is.”Henry braided love into his voice as thick as the caress he smoothed across Jay’s shoulders.“Jay, may I trouble you for assistance redistributing the furniture?”

“No trouble.”He leaned into that hold for all he was worth, and Henry upped the ante with a brief clasp at the back of Jay’s neck.He stood at the tug, leaving Alice sprawled against the back of the little couch Henry called a settee.Eyes on Henry, Jay tipped his head toward the couch.Or their wife.Maybe both.“You want this one?”

“I do.”Oh yeah, Henry held a laugh in his throat somewhere; the rich warmth in his voice gave it away.He guided Jay with a glance and a single eyebrow lift.“On three?”

“One.”He crouched for a solid grip.

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