Page 2 of Just Say Christmas
* * *
Finding Isaiah was easy.He was on the top bunk of the beds Rhys and Zora had moved over from the other house last winter, after Rhys had made his public declaration and finally got his ring on her finger. Isaiah was reading, no surprise. A grown-up book, as Casey had said, that appeared to be about space exploration. Isaiah was interested in many subjects, but space ranked pretty high.
“Mate,” Rhys said, “come into Casey’s room. We need to have a chat.”
“Lights out is nine o’clock, though,” Isaiah said, “and I’m in the middle of a chapter. It’s a very exciting book. It’s about a guy who gets stuck on Mars, but he’s a scientist, so he can use his knowledge and figure out how to survive. Plus, he’s not anexcitingscientist, like you’d think. He’s a botanist, which is plants, but he’s good at other things, too. Physics and math and things.”
“Ah,” Rhys said. “Uses his brain, does he.”
“Exactly,”Isaiah said, and blinked at Rhys as if he was having a hard time bringing him into focus. “He has to stay calm and think. That’s why it’s a good book, because it explains how he thinks things out, and they’re scientific knowledge.”
“Awesome,” Rhys said. “Maybe I should read it, too. I can always use some more scientific knowledge.”
“Really?” Isaiah asked. “If you read it, we could discuss it.”
“We could,” Rhys said. “Meanwhile, I’d like to discuss something else. In Casey’s room, and right now. Where’s your mum?”
Isaiah closed his book. Reluctantly. “She went to do flowers, because she has twelve centerpieces for the wedding on Saturday. I said I’d help, but she said no, because it was too late.”
“Never mind,” Rhys said. “I’ll help.Afterour discussion. Rattle your dags.”
* * *
Zora
“Hard-working or bloody-minded?” Zora heard. “That’s the question I’m asking myself.”
She nearly dropped her clippers. She didn’t nearly drop her flower, though. It was an orchid, and it had cost twenty dollars a stem. “Don’tscareme. Huge, hulking fellas sneaking up behind me when it’s nearly dark?”
Rhys came up—yes, behind her—wrapped his arms around her waist, and buried his face in her neck. “Except that the only huge, hulking fella who’s going to be doing any sneaking is me. That’s why we have a fence. And what I’m here for, of course.”
She was laughing. His confidence always got her. Also, his mouth felt good. “Scare them off, will you? I’m a wee bit . . .” She caught her breath as he found the best spot. “Busy. Some of us haven’t made it to the offseason yet.”
“What if I helped?” he asked.
“Depends.” She set down her orchid, turned in his arms, wrapped her own arms around his neck, and kissed him, because here he was, big and hard and hers, and he still made her knees weak. “Are you going to mash my roses? It’s an all-white wedding. Enormous fingerprints will be noticed.”
“Nah,” he said. “I’m gentle with fragile things.” Which was true. “Got ten minutes for a conversation first, though?”
“Uh-oh.” She got her mind back on the program. “What happened?”
“Casey. I could explain, but I’d tangle myself up. I need your communication skills. In other words, I’m out of my depth. So come on. Afterwards, I promise to help you with your white flowers, and maybe to make you happy, too. You never know. Like you say—itisthe offseason, and I’ve got some time to make up for. Also, I’d like you to want to marry me. Next month. You and me. Rings. Vows. Lifetime. Let’s get on with it.”
It took a while all the same, once Zora was sitting on Casey’s bed, along with Isaiah and Rhys, to sort out the issue.
“So,” Zora said slowly, “you’re wondering about what our family is. It’s called ‘blended,’ I think. Means we all mash up together. Is it your mum, though, Casey? That you think having me be your stepmum means forgetting her, somehow?”
“No,” Casey said. “I can’t forgether, because I remember her in my mind.I don’t think you can forget yourmom.She was the one who said what my name was, and at Christmas, we did fun things, like hot chocolate and ice skating, and she held me up so I could put the angel on the tree. She wasn’t very tall, so she couldn’t reach, but together we could reach. So I can’t forget her. But I kind of wish she was here to hold me up for the angel.”
That was the thing about Casey. She just took your heart. “Would you like to do some of those things this Christmas?” Zora asked, putting her hand on Casey’s knee and squeezing. “Christmas is a bit different in New Zealand, but the important parts are exactly the same. We’ll go to the beach instead of ice skating, and we’ll have a barbecue, but we’ll have family time. Special time. And we can have a tree.”
“An artificial one,” Rhys put in, and Zora gave him a look that said,Not helpful.
“We could buy it together,” Zora said, “and a new angel, too. One that looks like your mum, with blonde hair. Your mumisa little like our angel, because she gave you to us, in a way, and we could all remember that and thank her when your dad lifts you up to put our new angel on the tree. What do you think?”
“OK,” Casey said. For once, some of her confidence had deserted her, and she looked like the lost little girl she must have been, no matter how brave she’d tried to be. Her mother dead, her bunnies gone, sitting on a couch in a foster home on an icy winter day, waiting for a dad she’d never met to take her to a land she’d never seen.
“And I know you miss her,” Zora went on. In for a penny, in for a pound. “I won’t be the same person, the same kind of mum, but there are all kinds of mums, you know. The only thing that matters is that they love their kids, and I love you with all my heart.”
