Page 57 of Just Say Christmas
“Do you . . .” Zora began, then stopped.
“What?” Nyree asked.
“I was wondering,” Zora said. “If you know somebody, a painter, who’d want to paint murals for our kids, in their bedrooms. We’re blending our families, and . . . and maybe you know that we’re pretty blended already. We thought it would be good for Christmas. Security. Ownership of their space, since it’s new to both of them.” She shut her mouth on what probably sounded like too much nervousness. She was still a little sensitive about the public-perception thing. One thing was sure. when she and Rhys did get married sometime in January—she really did need to think about a dress and a date, sometime in here—Woman’s Worldwasn’t going to be covering it. They’d be lucky if news of the event didn’t make some kind of horror-show gossip program, preferably dredging up as much sordid backstory as possible. “I know it wouldn’t be you,” she hurried on, “obviously, but if you knew somebody.”
“I don’t know,” Nyree said. “Maybe if I could meet the kids and find out what they love, and what they’re like? Then I’d know who’d be good.” Things had escalated from there, which was wonderful, of course, since Isaiah’s ceiling was brilliant, and what she’d seen so far of Casey’s room was good, too. She’d tried not to look when she went inside, so she could be surprised along with everybody else, and Rhys, Casey, and Isaiah had stayed out altogether. In fact, Nyree had taped anXof yellow Caution tape over the closed door every night as she was leaving, in a sort of ceremonial act, and broke the seal anew every morning. Zora appreciated the theater, and Casey loved it.
Her hands were moving with precision now, but absolutely as fast as she could go, arranging bird-of-paradise flowers, red roses and asters, and the rich green of two kinds of ferns into exotic, Christmas-themed tropical centerpieces while Isaiah handed her the stems.
Tomorrow was his and Casey’s last day of school before the holidays began, and then the two of them were staying with Zora’s parents while Zora did wedding flowers and she and Rhys attended the wedding. They were waiting to decorate the many-tipped five-hundred-fifty-dollar tree and the rest of the house until two days later, since Casey had informed them that “it can’t happen until Christmas Eve. That’s the rule.” Probably because her mum had been too busy working to do it until just before Christmas. Zora knew how she’d felt. Anyway, Isaiah thought decorating was silly, and Rhys was happy if the rest of them were happy, so . . . no worries.
Isaiahwasexcited about the school holidays starting, though, about going to Nelson during them and seeing his cousins, and about having all the time he wanted to read and create robots. He’d got home today all the same, changed out of his uniform, and come out to the shed to help her in the same way he always did, and she spared a moment to be grateful for that.
Casey bounced in, now, the way she’d been bouncing in and out sinceshe’dgot home, unable to stand still, and asked, “Can Nana Tania come and see, when it’s time for Nyree to show my room tonight? And can Jenna and Sophie and Harry and Lily and Ethan come and see, too? Because it’s very exciting, and we could have a tea party in my room with my tea set.”
Zora tried to think how to answer that. What shewantedto say was,That’s what’s lacking in my life right now. My mum to notice that I haven’t dusted for well over a week, there are crumbs on the kitchen floor, and I don’t exactly look like I’ve been doing the abs regimen she sent me. Rhys is cutting the grass now, so that’s good, but . . . when did I last clean the guest bath? Oh, God, can’t remember.
Isaiah said, “Harry isn’t going to want to have a party.”
Casey sighed in exasperation. “Iknow.He can play with your LEGO Boost with you, or you can play cards or something. He has to come, though, because I want Jenna to come and see. She’ll think it’s very interesting, because she likes stories, and Lily and Ethan like it when I tell them stories, so they’ll want to come and see too. Plus, Harry’s akid.If your whole family goes somewhere, you have to go there too. That’s how itworks.”
“We can invite them.” Zora tried not to feel tired. Thiswasan important day for Casey, and the reason she and Rhys had arranged for the murals in the first place. “They can choose. It would be the last minute, remember, and they may have plans. If Harry and Sophie want to stay home with their dad, they can do that, but they may want to come, and so may Finn, you never know, since Finn and Uncle Rhys are friends.” They didn’t even always talk about rugby.
Oh, wait. Isaiah’s objection could be about something else. He was a little in awe of Harry, who was two years older and had read even more science books. “You know,” she said, “I don’t think Harry always finds it easy to make new friends. Not everybody shares his interests, but you do, which is why he enjoys spending time with you. You could even ask him to bring his book and have a reading party with you, if you like.”
“You don’t have areadingparty,” Casey said. “That’s not what a party is.A party is talking.”
“A party,” Zora said, “is whatever you want to make it. It can be an eating party, or a reading party, or a storytelling party, or a rugby party, or a party where you play soldiers in the back garden or cricket on the beach with the little kids. Or asuddenparty, like this. A party is whatever helps the other people feel included. A party is for fun.”
Rhys had come into the flower shed for the end of that. “Yeh,” he said. “We don’t need no stinkin’ rules.” Which made Casey laugh. “Why are we having a party?”
Zora pushed at her hair with the back of her hand. “Casey wants to invite my mum, and Jenna and the kids, and maybe Finn, who knows, to her wall-unveiling tonight.”
“Ah,” Rhys said. “Except that you have dozens of floral arrangements to do, and a party is also work for the hostess, to make sure other peopledofeel included and have fun. And give them something to eat, maybe.”
“Well,” she said, “maybe. I’d just need to ring people up, and, yes, see if we’ve got something to give them. Food-wise. Drinks-wise. Beverages suitable for kids and non-drinkers, since Jenna and Nyree are pregnant, and Luke doesn’t drink, and my dad probably has surgery tomorrow.”And talk to my mum so she doesn’t make comments about our wedding plans, especially in front of Rhys’s players. Pretty please, let it not happen.She didn’t say that. She said, “We’ll need to ask Nyree’s brothers to stay, as they’ve been painting for two days, and we can’t do pizza two nights in a row.”
“Why not?” Isaiah asked. “Everybody likes pizza, and we could get a different kind from last night. It’s just bread and cheese and vegetables and things. It’s kind of like having a sandwich, and you can eat a sandwich every day. You just eat a different kind of sandwich. Also, I think we should invite Uncle Hayden. He helped with the painting, too, and he likes parties, and he’ll be done with work if we have it at six-thirty instead of five-thirty. I think Nyree might be late anyway. We should invite her other friends, too, because they helped.”
“Good points,” Rhys said, “but your mum may not be comfortable with the pizza idea, or have time to plan a party right now.”
“Oh,” Casey said. “You mean Auntie Zora has too many things to do.” She took a breath, then said, “I guess I don’t need people to come and see.”
Zora looked at Rhys. She knew thatPlease solve my problemswasn’t a basis for a relationship, but just this once . . . He was sogoodat it. If life was an ocean, Rhys was an island.
“Can you give up on that part?” he asked her. “The hostess thing? Let me and the kids do our meager best at ringing people up, and planning the party?”
She had to laugh. “Rhys. You are never going to have a ‘meager best.’ And—yes. If you can take over the room-unveiling party, and let my mum know you did, and that it was meant to be casual, so she doesn’t comment about the state of my baseboards or my sticky kitchen surfaces, I will be eternally grateful to you. Just until this wedding is done, because I could be . . .” She had to pause a minute, and then she admitted it. “Hitting the wall.”
His eyes softened. “And, you see . . . that’s why I keep wanting to give you my best.” He leaned over and kissed her, rubbed his thumb over her cheek, and said, “You have dirt on your face. And I love you like crazy.”
Isaiah sighed and said, “Loving people is a lot of talking.”
Both Zora and Rhys laughed at that one, and Zora felt about a thousand times better. “Yeh, mate,” Rhys said. “It can be a bit of talking. Take notes. It’s husband school. You don’t always get it right, but you can always try.”
30
The Road to Magic
