Page 47 of Wounded Christmas Wolf
“Oh, this was mine,” she said, giggling, as she hung it up. “It was one of those glass fusion kits. Shaped like a pineapple. I don’t think it was supposed to be a Christmas ornament, but it looked like it would go on the tree if you put a hanger on it.”
Although Jace seemed enthusiastic about encouraging her childhood memories, she began to notice that he wasn’t offering any of his own in return.
“What were your childhood Christmases like?” she asked, as he stood to drape a paper chain on the already loaded branches.
“Not much like this, I can tell you.”
“I’ m still curious. I don’t mind hearing about it.”
Jace blew out a breath. “It’s just ... not really something I like thinking about too much, I guess. I lived with my dad when I was a young kid, and the old man was more the type to blow all his paychecks on booze than to buy toys for afamily Christmas. After that, I was in and out of foster homes. Probably the closest thing to home for me when I was a teen was a group care home.” He smiled lopsidedly, without humor. “Nobody was that interested in adopting a sullen, angry teenager.”
Holly’s heart broke for him. She wanted to reach out and put her arms around that younger Jace.I would. I would have. I wish I could go back and do it now.But what she could do was hold him now, and she leaned over to put her arms around Jace, pulling him close to her.
He nuzzled his face against her hair. They sat that way for a minute, until Holly remembered that her dad might walk in on them at any moment, and quickly let him go.
“Tell you what,” she said, reaching for an ornament box at random. “You can pick the topper.”
“The what?” Jace looked slightly dazed, as if he was dealing with some kind of emotional whiplash.
“The box must be around here somewhere—aha.” She took the lid off one of the larger ornament boxes and removed a slightly squashed cardboard carton containing a treetop angel. “One of our family arguments for years was over what to put on top of the tree. Mom had an antique tree topper from when she was a kid, but no one in the family really liked it all that much. We just didn’t want to tell Mom that. It’s this kind of—glass pointy thing? Oh, here it is.” She removed the box carefully, with a rueful grin. “The one glass ornament we managed not to break over the years. Anyway, one year Noelle saw this absolutely exquisite treetop angel, and cried and cried until Dad bought it for her. And over the years we acquired a few more, and it turned into a thing where every year one of us kids would get to pick the treetop ornament. We usually rotated, but sometimes it would be the person in the family who needed to feel special the most.”
She paused briefly, her hand on the topper box. “It wasMom, that last Christmas when we were all together, when everyone knew that Mom’s condition was—” She stopped and cleared her throat, then managed to smile. “We all expected Mom would choose the antique glass ornament, one last time. Instead she picked Noelle’s angel.”
Holly swallowed, her eyes swimming.
“I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories,” Jace said, leaning his shoulder against hers.
“You didn’t. I mean, the memories aren’t bad. They’re always going to be there. I’m glad to have someone to talk to about them.” She shook herself out of the melancholy mood and put her hand on the angel box. “Anyway, I think this year, you should be the one who chooses. And you don’t have to pick Noelle’s angel. She’s not here to complain about it if you don’t.”
There were two angels, a star that lit up, the antique glass topper, a Santa-shaped topper, and ...
“Is this a sloth?”
“It’s a sloth with a Santa hat, yes.” Holly picked it up. “I think this was something Ivy picked out. She was the animal lover among us. See, it clings to the top of the tree.”
“Yeah, I gotta go with the sloth.”
Jace climbed up on a chair to place the sloth at the top of the tree, which was now less obviously a pine and more a festive cone of tinsel and ornaments.
“Oh, oh!” Holly jumped up again, dug through her bags, and found the stuffed dog. “Here, put that up there too.”
It was hard to find a place to nestle a fairly large stuffed toy, but Jace got it squeezed in between the branches, just below the sloth, balanced among the Christmas lights. It made the top of the tree a little lopsided, but with the mishmash of other ornaments, it didn’t look bad to Holly’s eyes.
“If we can’t buy a hairless dog ornament, we’ll make ourown,” Holly said, satisfied. “Now for my favorite part. It’s time to turn the lights on.”
Jace turned off all but one of the lamps, and plugged in the power strip running the tree’s lights. The lights flickered to life, and the tree glowed with festive cheer. Holly clapped her hands and sat back against the pile of ornament boxes. Jace sat beside her and put an arm around her, and she snuggled against his shoulder.
“I forgot how satisfying that is,” Holly said quietly. For that calm moment, all the unpleasantness about Rob, the grief, all the uncertainty and pain of adulthood fell away. She was once more a child at Christmas, staring at the tree with joy and wonder. “Oh, and we even have some gifts to put under it. One, anyway.”
She fetched the gifts for Kaden and placed them under the tree. Carol’s present would have to be mailed.
“Will the dogs bother any of this?” Jace asked.
“Rocket never does. I’m not sure about Cupcake, but he’s been pretty good so far. Oh, that reminds me, Jace, you should give him his presents.”
“What, before Christmas?” Jace faked shock.
“He’s a dog. He doesn’t know what Christmas is.”
