I let my silence speak for itself.
“That was a stupid question. I would, too.” She giggled.
“I won’t bug her then. Where’s Dee?”
“Oh,” she said sadly. “She went home when Frodo showed up. Well, by show-up, I mean, Cam saw him walking by and invited him up. And he, uh, wasn’t alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, he brought a woman with him. One that’s not Dee.”
I sighed, because what else could you say about that? “I guess it had to happen sooner or later. But, you know…”
“What…what do I know?”
“Frodo…he’s…I bet you anything he’s doing it for her. He’s in love with her, Tor. But I think he knows she can’t be with him for whatever reasons, and that’s why. He’s probably making it hurt so she’ll be forced to let go.”
“I hate a sad ending,” she told me.
“Me, too,” I agreed.
“Dee’s at home?”
“Yeah. Cam went up to check on her.”
As I was listening, Becky came into the bedroom and shut the door behind her.
“Okay, well, I love you. Merry, merry, Tor.”
“Merry, merry, honey.”
Katherine
After I’d hung up, Holst’s mom moved closer to where I was sitting on the bed.
“They all went for a walk since it’s nice and sunny. I told them I’d let you know where we’re headed. But I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“It’s been…” I closed my eyes and smiled. “This was my first real Christmas since I was a kid. And from what I’ve seen under the tree…it’s just getting better and better.”
“What’s that?” she asked, nodding toward the beautiful box on the bed.
“Oh! This is from your son. I should open it now so I don’t have to start crying in front of him again.”
“Your ring is lovely by the way. Maybe it’s earrings to match.”
I started ripping at the paper. “I’ve been single, for, like…years so no one ever gets me jewelry but me. It’s a nice treat.”
She sat on the end of the bed with an expectant smile on her face, probably matching my own when I discovered a plain white box. Then I took off the lid and lifted two velvet pouches out.
“Oooo, the presentation is excellent!” I grinned. Then I opened the first one and lifted out a silver ankh. The second was almost identical.
For a change, I wasn’t the one crying; his mother was.
“Oh my God, Becky…what…?”
“My baby…” she sobbed.
“I don’t…”
“His father sent me the first one. He had it made and sent a note that told me life was eternal, even if the body ended…the spirit went on. And when Chelle and Holst had that fight…”
“He—” I began, but she didn’t let me get a word in.
“It wasn’t his fault. I watched that woman, Katherine. She was a violent drunk, and when he pushed her…it was self-defense. He was going to work with bruises and cut lips from trying to control her. He thinks he’s like his father, but he’s nothing like him. He’s—”
“Mom?” Holst asked as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
She wiped her eyes as I sat there with the two pieces of jewelry in my hand.
“I was just…Holst, I was just…”
He held her eyes with his own and asked, “Can you give us some time alone, Mom?”
“Of course,” she said and wiped her face. “Of course. I’ll catch up to Al and your mom,” she said to me.
And left us alone.
“So, the second ankh and the second tattoo?”
“I got the first one for my sister. The second I got after I lost control with Chelle.”
“And by ‘lost control,’ you mean…?”
He took a breath and picked up the small box and took out the two ankhs. “I pushed her off of me…harder than I should have. It was two weeks after I’d fired her, and she wanted her job back. I said no, not until she got her drinking under control.”
“That put you in a pretty tough spot, Holst.”
“Yeah,” he scoffed. “She came at me with an empty wine bottle. It was then I told her I was done. I couldn’t do it anymore. In the months before, she wanted me to fight with her. She punched me, slapped me, threw anything she could find at me, came at me with a knife…twice…but that night, she pulled out all the stops and got the rise out of me she wanted. She hit me in the head with the bottle. You probably haven’t noticed it, but I have a scar at the back. It probably needed stitches, but she came back for another hit, and I pushed her. I did it to protect myself, but I also did it in anger, Katherine. I completely lost control.”
I was watching him stare out the window, but the whole scene must’ve been replaying in his head.
“She landed on the coffee table with such force, it broke her nose, fractured a bone in her jaw, and knocked out two of her teeth. Even with blood dripping out of her nose and mouth, she smiled and said, ‘See? You’re just like him.’” He dropped his head and looked to the floor. “I live with the fear I’ll lose control again, and the second tattoo is a promise to myself that I will never lose it again.”
“Please…let me say something,” I requested and spoke just as calmly as he had. I walked up to him and put my arms around his neck. “You’re not him,” I whispered. “Remember yesterday, how pissed you were when you found me at the train station? You weren’t violent, and you were pissed.”
“Katherine.” He shook his head. “I was pissed at myself. That’s completely different.”
“And when Mark called me a slut, and when my dad came into Bear Claw and insulted me…I think with Chelle, you were faced with a violent drunk, and it stirred something up in you.”
“I reacted, plain and simple, no other thoughts in my head, and unlike Frodo, I can’t use drinking as an excuse. I was sober.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
He blinked away tears and breathed deeply through his nose. “The time was never right. When would it ever be right to warn you I had the ability to hurt a woman?”
“I should have let you tell me this morning, H. I’m sorry.”
“The night you told me about Max…when you opened the door for me and I asked you to let me in. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think you could handle this.”
“We’re in this together,” I promised.
He let his head fall on my shoulder and whispered against my neck, “Merry Christmas, my Katherine.”
“Merry Christmas, H. Next year, let’s try to have a little less drama.” I smiled.
“Next year, let’s get married,” he suggested.
“Okay,” I replied.
“Okay?”
“Absolutely.”
***
After all the drama, it appeared the world around us had called a truce.
I, for one, felt it was about fuckin’ time.
There were no more fights or break-ups, no more surprise visits from unwanted relatives or ghosts of the past. All was well in our little world.
And my best friend was having a baby.
Paper Petal had a growing reputation for exquisite party packages created by Ruby. She’d gone baby-bonkers and had outdone herself for Tori’s shower. The nursery colors were pale yellow and muted turquoise with a theme of clouds and sunshine. Dee organized the food with Tori’s mom, Joan, and mother-in-law, Paula. Her dad’s wife, Jenny, was bringing some kind of white wine Sangria with tropical fruits to match the theme. It was all about the color scheme, according to Ruby, who, I hadn’t known before, was petite in size, but huge in bossy-bitch attitude—as far as I was concerned, a strength. First impressions, she was adorable and cute. But when there was a job to be done, she was like Mary Poppins on speed.
I walked into Tori’s place armed with something called a diaper cake. I had my own crafting skills, so I trolled the Internet to come up with ideas for a gift. I’d already gone nuts with the entire Spring/Summer collection from Baby Gap. Now, I was on to practical items. This resulted in a three-tier diaper cake with little white and yellow socks fashioned into roses and each tier wrapped in muslin swaddling blankets in hues to match the nursery.