Page 99 of Until You Came Along
We were going to spend Christmas Eve with Catalina and Baco at Hermes’s house, the house where I was already living.For this reason, on December 23rd, I took the afternoon off to buy Christmas decorations since he had never set up a Christmas tree in his house nor decorated it for the occasion. I had asked him if he would allow me to do it, and he had responded that it was my house too and I should do as I pleased.
That day I arrived home around four in the afternoon with a significant load of bags and boxes. I had gotten very excited about the shopping and had bought many things. I had visited several stores selling Christmas decorations and had really enjoyed doing it. In all the streets, plazas, and shops, you could see beautiful decorations, colorful ornaments, Christmas lights, and lovely trees. It was a whole display of light and traditional colors that excited you and invited you to participate with joy. Full of enthusiasm, I arrived at the house with the idea of decorating it and transmitting to Hermes a little bit of that Christmas spirit. Although I had noticed he was cheerful these days, I knew that for many years, these traditional holidays were simply an occasion for him to meet with his mother and brother, nothing more. For me, these dates stirred up many feelings and awakened a lot of nostalgia. As a child, I used to experience them with wonderful excitement, and every detail was filled with magic. Since I had been alone, because I rarely saw my brother, there was no longer joy, only longing, though I tried to experience them with enthusiasm and enjoy them. That’s why I had planned to set up a beautiful tree that would inspire us, creating a homey space that would revive that Christmas feeling.
I opened the door of the house and a powerful, sensual voice surprised me.
“My love, are you behind all those bags?” he said, laughing.
“Hermes? What are you doing here?”
“I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to set up the tree with you. I’m here to help you.”
I put everything I was carrying on the floor and threw myself at him. I jumped onto his body, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. The momentum was such that we almost ended up landing on the floor. Hermes let out a laugh, but I silenced it with a kiss, pressing my lips to his mouth and taking possession of it. I kissed him with all the love I felt for him and with the happiness that filled me at that moment.
“Thank you for coming, my love. I’m sure we’re going to have a lot of fun.”
“Everything I do with you is wonderful, but let me tell you that I’m not very good at this. I think the last time I put a trinket on a Christmas tree was when I was eight or nine years old,” he said, looking at me with a smile.
I was still hanging from him, and Hermes was hugging me tightly to hold me up. I kissed him again, but this time I did it sweetly.
“Everything done with love always turns out well, and our first Christmas tree is going to be beautiful because we’re going to set it up with so much love.”
I let go to get down from his body, but he wouldn’t allow it. He looked into my eyes and then rested his forehead against mine. It seemed to me that joy had given way to a certain fear.
“Don’t ever leave me, Delfina, don’t abandon me.”
I pulled my head back a little to look into his eyes; he was looking at me with insecurity reflected in them.
“I won’t. I love you, Hermes. The mere thought of being separated from you breaks my heart. How could I live without you? I couldn’t.”
“And I couldn’t live without you.”
“Then you’ll have to keep putting up with me here. And now let’s stop all this chatter and go set up our Christmas tree,” I said, to lift the mood, because I had noticed that Hermes had become nostalgic.
I got down from his arms and began to pick up all the bags I had left on the floor. He did the same, and I took his hand and began to pull him toward the living room.
“And then you say I’m the bossy one,” he said, and smiled happily again.
“You are, and you’ve infected me a little with that ‘bossiness.’”
“Bossiness? Does that word exist?” he said, laughing.
“I don’t think it exists, but if it doesn’t, I just created it to express that you’ve managed to pass on a bit of your bossy side to me.”
Hermes let out a hearty laugh, that laugh that made my heart and soul tremble. That laugh I could spend my whole life listening to and it would always make my heart beat faster.
I left the bags and boxes on the couch and began taking everything out of them. First was the tree, which came disassembled in a large box. Since Hermes’s living room was enormous, I had bought a six-foot tree. When I took it out and began connecting the pieces to assemble it, Hermes watched me with a big smile.
“Would you like help with that?” he asked.
“Come here, we need to put the branches on like this,” I said, showing him how to do it.
He came over and began imitating what I was doing, and a few minutes later we had the tree assembled and positioned next to the large window, ready for us to start adding all the decorations. We undertook the lovely task and enjoyed itimmensely. We both laughed, and every so often we would stop what we were doing to share a kiss before continuing. It was obvious that I had managed to pass on my enthusiasm because we looked like two happy children eager to see the finished Christmas tree. While we were working, Felicia arrived with two glasses of lemonade and stood amazed watching Hermes. I approached her to take the glasses and she whispered to me:
“I’ve never seen him so happy, and I’ve worked for him for years. He’s a great man and deserves all this happiness.”
“He is a great man,” I repeated, watching him enchanted as he stretched to put the lights on the tree. “Thank you so much for the lemonade.”
“Felicia, what do you think of how our work is turning out?” Hermes asked when he noticed her presence.
