“Merry Christmas” when a surprised Wither saw us standing on his doorstep.
“We made you brownies,” I said, handing over the plate. “I know it’s not much, but we just wanted to say thank you.”
“Are you kidding me? This is the best gift I’ve gotten in years,” he said, taking an appreciative whiff through the plastic wrap that covered them. “Come in, come in. I got a few things for you guys too. I was going to bring them over later, but now you’ve saved me the trip.”
“Presents?” Kevin asked reverently.
“Yeah, presents,” Mr. Wither said, leading us in through the front door. “Those ones are yours,” he said to Kevin, pointing to a small stack at the far end of the coffee table.
Kevin squealed with glee when he saw his stack. “Can I open them?” he asked me pleadingly.
“Of course,” I said, feeling an odd tickle in the back of my throat.
Needing no further encouragement, Kevin tore through his packages with shrieks of pure joy when he discovered a Nintendo DSI and several games to go with it.
“Um, Mr. Wither, that is way too generous of you,” I said, mentally adding up the cost of Kevin’s presents in my head.
“Oh shush, I haven’t had this much fun shopping for presents in years. Me and my Marge would head to the shelter in Bozeman every Christmas and hand out gifts there. I haven’t been much in the mood to keep up the tradition since her passing until now. So don’t deprive an old man, okay?” he said with a twinkle in his eyes, making it obvious he was well aware of his nickname.
“Katelyn, look, it’s a Marvel Hero game,” Kevin said, stroking the package lovingly. Mr. Wither and I burst out laughing at the fawning look on his face.
“I guess you can tell he’s pleased,” I said, still giggling.
“Why don’t you open yours,” Mr. Wither said, handing me a present and a card. “Open the present first, though,” he added, smiling at me.
“Okay,” I said, suddenly uncomfortable. I couldn’t recall the last time I had gotten a present, much less from someone who barely knew me.
Sensing my unease, Old Man Wither sank into his oversized recliner on the other side of the room, giving me the space I sought. I opened the present gently, taking care not to tear the paper since I planned on keeping it with a few items I had managed to slide past Lucinda over the years. The paper slowly gave away, revealing a rectangular-shaped box. My heart raced as I read the word “Kindle” across the carton. I had seen electronic book readers advertised on the TV but knew there was no way I would ever be able to get one.
“No way,” I whispered, holding the item with trembling hands.
“You don’t like it?” Old Man Wither asked worriedly. “Kevin told me you like to read.”
“I love it, but there’s no way I can accept it. It’s way too expensive.”
“Nah, the salesclerk said they’ve come way down in price since they were first released.”
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever gotten,” I said truthfully, thinking about all the books I had abandoned over the years and the possibility of never having to do that again. My eyes filled with unshed tears of happiness at the thought. Embarrassed at my sudden wet eyes, I pulled up the flap of the envelope and extracted a funny Christmas card with a dancing reindeer on the cover. Opening it up, I discovered a fifty-dollar gift card to Amazon taped to the inside.
Before I could protest that it was too much, he held up his hand. “Now, the salesclerk also said there’s a slew of books you can get for free, but I also wanted you to have a little money to get the books you want. No arguments, okay? You wouldn't want to deprive me of my first happy holiday in a long time, would you?”
“No,” I said, still uncomfortable with the expense.
“Trust me, my dear, I bet my Marge is smiling down on us with approval,” he said with sudden wet eyes.
“Well then, in that case, thank you so much. You’ll never know how much this means to me,” I said, hugging the carton close to my chest.
“How about a brownie?” Kevin asked in his typical exuberance.
“Sounds good to me,” Mr. Wither said with a laugh, pulling the plastic wrap off the ceramic plate.
Kevin and I spent several hours with Old Man Wither as Kevin taught him the finer art of playing a handheld game system. While they took turns playing Marvel Heroes, I sat by the wall while my Kindle charged surfing through the automated manual. By the time Mr. Wither volunteered to take us home, I had found a mess of books I wanted to read. I was thrilled to see that tons of them were priced as low as ninety-nine cents.
Lucinda was still in her room when we returned home at nine, so I allowed Kevin to pick a present he wanted to open after we had sorted through them all. I wasn’t surprised that Lucinda and Jim’s own piles were twice as large as Kevin's and mine, but I was pleased that Kevin had almost a dozen for him alone.
“Your pile is pretty small,” he said, looking at me worriedly.
“Hey, don’t worry about it, pal. I got the best gift ever tonight thanks to you. If you wouldn’t have told Old Man Wither I like to read, I would've never gotten this,” I said, holding up my treasured Kindle. "So, which one are you going to open?”
“I think this one,” he said, holding up a heavy, large rectangular box that had puzzled us for weeks.
“Okay,” I said, secretly pleased the mystery of the package would be solved.
Kevin tore through the wrapping and opened the large carton beneath the paper. I swore under my breath when I saw him extract a baseball bat. Damn her! Lucinda was so intent on keeping Kevin from his love of action figures and superheroes that she would stoop so low to buy him something he had absolutely no use for.
Kevin shocked me by bursting out in laughter. “Wow, she really wants me to play sports,” he said, looking at me with more understanding than someone his age should have.
“I guess so,” I said honestly, looking at him with concern.
“Do you find it funny Mr. Withers knows us better than our own mom?” Kevin asked seriously as we turned off the living room light and headed for our rooms.
“Yeah, I do,” I said, giving him a quick hug. “Merry Christmas Eve, bud.”
“Merry Christmas Eve, Katelyn. I love you.”
“I love you too, bud,” I said as he slowly closed his bedroom door.
***
Kevin woke me early the next morning, excited to be celebrating the first Christmas morning with gifts that he could remember. I pretended to grumble about wanting to sleep in, but willingly allowed him to drag me out of bed. Lucinda didn’t respond when we knocked on her bedroom door, so we headed to the living room without her.
“You open one first,” Kevin said, handing me one of my six presents.
“How about we do them at the same time?” I suggested, knowing he was anxious to open his.
“Okay, ready, set, go,” he said, tearing through the wrapping paper, making it fly everywhere.
I watched him for a minute, enjoying the moment. I’m sure most teenagers would have resented all the time they had to spend with their younger siblings, but I had been taking care of Kevin since he was born when I was eight. He was such an easy baby, hardly ever crying or demanding attention, so it was easy to bond with him. I could never remember a moment in my life when I had resented him. Even when I suffered Lucinda’s wrath, the payoff seemed worth it if Kevin was protected.
“Katelyn, open yours,” Kevin demanded, breaking me reverie.
Focusing on him, I saw that he had already opened his presents. “Oops, sorry bud, I guess I’m still sleepy. What did you get?”
Kevin showed me all his gifts that ran along the same theme as the night before, including a baseball, cleats, a football and a basketball.
“Wow, seriously? I guess you were right, Lucinda must be trying to give you a hint,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.
“Yeah, I’m glad she thought to get me this, though,” Kevin said happily, holding up a new ske
tch book and drawing pencils.
“That’s true and those are sweeeeet,” I said, dragging out the word.
“True dat,” he said. “Now, open yours,” he added impatiently.
“Sheesh, keep your shirt on. I’m doing it now.”
My gifts were a little better than Kevin’s in the respect that Lucinda got me items I could at least use. I got a makeup case filled with Elle makeup, a hairbrush set that would come in handy and a hair dryer. I set the makeup case and hair dryer to the side and opened my last two packages which turned out to be a book that I had already purchased the night before for my Kindle and a giant can filled with miniature chocolate candy bars. I was disappointed I didn’t get the heat iron for my hair I asked for, but the tin of chocolates was a nice treat.
“Should take Mom her presents?” Kevin asked, munching on one of his own chocolates while I rounded up the wrapping.
“Nah, no reason to poke the sleeping beast,” I joked, trying to take the abnormality out of our Christmas. “I’m gonna take out the trash, and then I'll make us some breakfast, okay?”
“Okay,” he said, propping his new sketch pad up against his scrawny knees.
I pulled my hoodie on over my thermal pajama shirt and grabbed the light bag off the floor. My forward momentum out the front door was stalled from a huge gift basket sitting on the top step of the trailer. I looked around for who had left it, but saw no one. The sheer weight of the basket was more than I expected as I grunted, trying to pick it up.
“Holy Toledo, where did that come from?” Kevin asked as I staggered in.
“I don’t know,” I said, setting it down on the table so we could both peer inside.
“Wow, that’s a pie,” Kevin said, pulling an item out of the far side of the basket. “Sweet, it’s cherry. Wait, is that a ham?” he asked with wide eyes as I pulled the main item out of the center of the basket.
“Yeah it is,” I whispered, wondering if Old Man Wither was once again responsible for swooping in and saving the day.
“Oh my God, mashed potatoes,” Kevin said, holding up a container of ready-made spuds.
“And corn and green beans,” I added, handing him two more containers to add to his stack.
“And rolls,” he said, holding up a package of rolls. “Oh, and presents,” he said, discovering two packages at the bottom of the basket.
Now I was really confused. If Old Man Wither had given us our gifts the day before, who was the basket from?
“Katelyn, look, it’s an Angry Birds t-shirt and a game for my DSI,” Kevin said, holding up his loot.
Clarity instantly sank in as I looked at his gifts, feeling a mixture of both gratitude and mortification.
“Here, Katelyn, this one’s yours,” Kevin said, handing over a small gift-wrapped box attached to a card.
Pulling the package away from the envelope, I carefully set the gift-wrapped package on my knees while I opened the card with trembling fingers and read the contents.
Katelyn,
My family’s Christmas wish was to make sure you and
Kevin had a nice meal to enjoy on Christmas Day. I know how
proud you are and like to keep your problems to yourself, but
we hope you accept this gift.
Love always, Max
P.S. A little bird mentioned to my dad that Kevin had a new DSI,
which is why we bought him the game.
My heart dropped as I reread his words. Was it pride that had prevented me from allowing Max in? At the time, my actions seemed so justified, but as I rubbed my fingers over his written words my actions seemed so cold and callous.
“Katelyn, aren’t you going to open your present?” Kevin asked.
“Sure, bud,” I said, setting the card aside to be analyzed later. I pulled the wrapping away, taking care not to tear it.
I slowly opened the small velvet box underneath the paper and gasped when I saw the heart-shaped pendent attached to a delicate gold chain nestled inside. I pulled it gently from the box, holding it up so Kevin and I could get a better look. It swayed back and forth as I held it up, revealing an engraving on the backside.
Turning it around, I read four simple words—My Heart is Yours.
I felt an instant lump in my throat. I’ve never had feelings this strong for anyone before. Was it possible after only our brief time together that his feelings matched mine? I had spent the last two months burying my own feelings, thinking I was doing the right thing, but after reading the words on the back of the pendant as it swayed gently in front of my face, I felt a greater sense of longing and regret.
“That’s pretty,” Kevin said, breaking the trance the necklace had put me under.
“It is, isn’t it,” I said, clasping it around my neck.
“Max?” Kevin inquired.
I nodded. “Cool shirt,” I said, looking at the slightly big shirt he had slipped over his pajamas.
“I know, right,” he said, looking down at the big red bird that dominated the front of the shirt.
“Alright, how about you help me put away these goodies,” I said, indicating the food that littered the top of the coffee table.
Chapter 14
The rest of our Christmas break passed with Kevin and me spending most of our time together reading and taking turns playing his DSI. Though he was practically half my age, his video game skills put mine to shame, and he giggled obsessively every time he beat me, which was ninety-nine percent of the time.
The food Max’s family gave us for Christmas dinner lasted several days, allowing me to stretch our other groceries and leaving me optimistic about making it until Lucinda’s card got replenished.
Bethany and I hung out for a while after Christmas, but wound up fighting when she spied the heart-shaped pendant around my neck. After being put through the third degree, I finally relented and told her it was from Max. She stomped out my room in a huff after I refused her request to return it to him.
Lucinda stayed in her room the majority of the time, only emerging to use the bathroom or to tell me to pipe down when Bethany had blown a gasket. I couldn’t help noticing that her skin was beginning to take on a sallow complexion from being cooped up in her small room constantly, chain-smoking. I tried to encourage her to join us in the living room, but she ignored my suggestion. The only thing she uttered, besides telling us to shut up was to not touch the remaining Christmas stuff until Jim came home. I didn’t bother reminding her that Jim’s public defender had told us he would most likely serve the majority of his sentence. The defender hoped to have Jim out after he served six months.
The day before school was due to start up again, we got our first eviction notice. My heart broke when I saw it. I knew I should have been expecting it considering we had been through this drill many times over the years, but I had somehow allowed myself to believe this time could be different. I showed the notice to Lucinda before crumpling it up. I wanted to keep it from Kevin, but Lucinda flew into a rant, saying it was inevitable that he would find out anyway. We had to listen as she screamed about the injustice of the situation and how grossly unfairly we were being treated. I sent Kevin to his room and continued to listen to Lucinda’s tirade until she crashed into a self-medicated stupor. I left her snoring on the sofa as I headed to my room. One thing I had learned from experience is that screaming about injustice would not resolve anything. The countdown had started and in ninety days we would be escorted off the premises by the local cops.
That night I didn’t sleep a wink as I tossed and turned, trying to decide how I should handle our current situation. Receiving the notice made me rethink wearing Max’s necklace to school. I hated to give him false hope by wearing the token of his love when I knew we’d be leaving sooner than later.
The lack of sleep gave me a massive stress headache the next morning, making the freezing cold trudge to the bus stop even less bearable. I was tempted just to go back home and crawl into bed.
As tempting as the idea was, I got
on the bus anyway, nervously playing with my necklace during the short ride to school. A bus full of screaming kids wasn’t exactly the best remedy for a pounding headache. By the time we made to school, I had to take a detour to the bathroom outside of Kevin’s classroom to empty the contents of my stomach.
“You okay?” Rebecca asked as I emerged from the stall.
“Yeah, I just have a stinking headache,” I said, trying to smile, but felt it was closer to a grimace.
“Do you need to go home?” she asked concerned, taking in my ashen complexion.
“No, I’ll be fine,” I lied, not wanting to admit that I would rather have an ax to the head then listen to round two of Lucinda’s rants.
“Here, how about some Advil then?” she asked, extracting a small tin of pills from her shoulder bag.
“That would be great,” I said, smiling gratefully.
I washed the pills down with a bottle of water she handed me.
“Did you have a nice holiday?” she asked as we made our way to the classroom.
“Not bad, how about you?” I asked, trying to take my mind off the pain in my head.
“It was great. We went skiing in Tahoe,” she said, chattering away.
I listened to her, but in sort of a half-dazed state as we entered the room. Despite the pain in my head, my eyes instantly zoned in on my first sight of Max in more than a week.
He smiled at me, glancing at the necklace I wore around my neck. I watched his smile broaden as he approached me.
“You got your gifts?” he asked as I nervously twisted it around in my fingers.
“I did,” I said, losing myself in his eyes. “Thank you so much. It’s beautiful,” I said, grimacing from a sudden sharp pain that stabbed through my head, reminding me of its presence.
“You okay?” he asked, grabbing onto my elbow.
“Not really, my head is killing me,” I answered honestly.
“Do you want me to take you home?” he asked concerned.
“No, I really don’t want to go home,” I mumbled.
“Did something happen?” he asked, sweeping his eyes over me looking for an injury.