The Ornament
Part Three: Adrian and Sheridan
By
Dana Marie Bell
“Oh, Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, why don’t I know the stinking words. Ya dada da, ya dada da, nobody knows the stinking words.” Sheri bit her lip to keep from laughing as Emma belted out the wrong words to Christmas song. “Oh please. Do you know them?”
“No. That’s why I don’t sing it.” Sheri could hear Becky rummaging through the ornament box, her voice absent as she answered Emma’s question.
“When do we close again?” Emma’s enthusiasm was beginning to get to her.
This would be Sheri’s first real Christmas in years, and she was planning on enjoying every minute of it with her new mate, Adrian.
“Emma!” Becky’s voice was full of laughter. “Christmas Eve is still two days away.”
“Your point?”
“Didn’t you say Max was hinting at something special for then?”
“Yes.”
“So why are you so hyper now?”
“Hello! Max and surprises. Last time he surprised me I found myself mated to him and contemplating kitty condos.” Sheri choked on a laugh. Listening to Emma and Becky talk was one of the highlights of her day. “And because of the mating the surprise isn’t going to be something like, ‘That chick over there is having my love child’, so it can’t be bad, right?”
Becky was silent.
“Right?” Emma sounded worried, but Sheri wasn’t sure why. Max would walk over broken glass barefoot if Emma asked him to. “Becks! He can not tell me that.”
“Oh no! No, of course not,” Becky laughed nervously. “No way.” She scurried into the back room. “Need more tinsel!”
Hmm. I wonder what she’s up to?
Sheri shrugged and continued to hang the lights. Under her breath she sang, “Oh Tannenbaum, oh Tannenbaum, Wie grün sind deine Blätter! Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit, Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit. Oh Tannenbaum, oh Tannenbaum, Wie grün sind deine Blätter!”
From behind the curtain came two laughing voices. “Show-off!”
Sheri threw her head back and laughed. God, it was good to finally have a home.
Adrian stared at his home, his lips twitching. “Think she’ll see it?”
Max and Simon stared at him like he’d lost his fucking mind. Maybe he had.
Perhaps the cheery penguin Ferris wheel with the megawatt spotlight under it had been a tad much, but he wanted to make sure his legally blind mate would see everything she could of what he’d done for her.
Huge colored lights blazed from the roof. An outdoor Christmas tree sat on the front porch, it’s blinking lights and spinning stand making a unique statement. Dancing dolls in cute Christmas costumes littered the front lawn, an animatronic Santa grinning down at them all. Every now and them it would “Ho ho ho!” in a loud, booming voice, startling the birds out of the trees.
It was perfect.
Adrian couldn’t take his eyes off it. No way could Sheri miss this.
Sheri stepped off the bus, Jerry’s lead firmly in her hand. It wasn’t far to the front door of Adrian’s house, but it was better to be safe than sorry, especially when crossing a street. She stepped carefully down the curb, Jerry leading her serenely across until her feet were once again on the pavement.
As they walked Sheri thought she could hear the “Ho ho ho!” of an overenthusiastic Santa. Shrugging she kept going, serene in the knowledge that it couldn’t possibly be coming from her house.
By the time she reached her front door that serenity was broken. She slowly lifted the dark glasses from her face but snapped them back down again as the blinding glare of the floodlight hurt her sensitive eyes. She walked around the lawn, taking in the five foot moving Santa, the seven foot tall Ferris wheel, the dancing dolls and the revolving Christmas tree.
“What the fuck?” Sheri pulled out her cell phone and dialed Emma. She knew Adrian had been with Emma and Becky’s mates Max and Simon. She wondered what horrors had been perpetrated on the other womens’ lawns.
“Really? A blow up snow globe?”
“Yup. And do you know what those things look like outside of a store?” Emma’s voice was glum as she drove Sheri home from Frank’s diner. Sheri had a meal for Adrian at her feet, but she wasn’t sure if she would give it to him or not. As much as she’d preached acceptance to Emma and Becky she wasn’t sure if she could take her own advice.
“Okay, you win.” Emma pulled into Sheri’s driveway, her voice filled with amused horror. “Holy moly. That’s a lot of lights.”
Sheri sighed. “I know.” She opened the car door. “I’d say be careful, since it’s getting dark out, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”
“No, I’m pretty sure space aliens could navigate by this light.” Emma waited until Sheri had Jerry and Adrian’s dinner before waving goodbye, pulling out onto the street and heading for her own home.
Sheri turned for the front door, hoping she was ready to forgiver her mate for what he’d done to their lawn. She knew him. His heart was in the right place.
But by this time his eyeballs had to be practically burned out of his head.
“Ho ho ho!”
Sheri took a deep breath, opened the front door and stepped into her home.
“Sheri?”
“Hmm?”
“Mad at me?”
Mad at him? How could she be mad at him? He’d started a fire in his fireplace, had set up fresh fruit and wine, and a blanket for them to rest on. He’d even taken her shoes off, covering her with another blanket before he’d finally eaten his dinner, seeing to her comfort before his own. In the corner a Christmas tree twinkled, delicate stars of light in the green blur of its branches.
So what if he was trying to get out of the dog house? He was doing a pretty good job of it! “Mm-mmm” Now he was cuddled up at her back, his big strong arms wrapped around her, his wine glass dangling from his fingers as he nibbled at her ear. “Good.”
She smiled. Her big bad Marshall sounded relieved.
“Do you want to tell me what is really going on?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She turned, staring up into his face.
He smiled. “Can’t I do something nice for my mate?”
“Adrian. The front yard is not nice.”
“Our kits will love it.”
“We’re not pregnant.”
“Yet.”
She licked her lips, her heart racing. “For a man who didn’t want a mate you’re suddenly eager for kits.”
He kissed her shoulder, those chocolate eyes of his beginning to turn gold.
“You’ve persuaded me of the error of my ways.”
“You are so full of it.”
His face was serious as he lifted it from her shoulder. “Am I?”
“What are you saying?”
He smiled. “There’s something for you on the tree. It’s the only bit of gold there.
Can you bring it to me, please?”
Her eyes drifted to the tree Adrian had put up in their living room. He’d decorated it in burgundy and silver. Finding something made of gold should be a piece of cake. “Okay, but I’m all toasty and comfy. It had better be worth it.”
His voice drifted over to her as she made her way to the tree. “I think it will be.”
She would have thought he’d make the ornament easy to find, all things considered. She was delighted to find that he hadn’t, challenging her to look for it by hiding it in the branches near the top, towards the back. She pulled the gold ornament down and brought it to him. She could feel hinges on one side, and what could be a latch on the other. Delicate gold filigree was a delight to her fingers.
She settled back down into the blankets, wrapping his arms around her again.