"JANE! Just shove it in!"
"I'm trying my dearest Teresa, but it doesn't wanna to go."
"What do you mean it doesn't wanna go?"
"It's too big to fit in that small space."
"Jane, there's never been a problem fitting one in before."
"Have you ever had one this big before?"
"This isn't the first one Jane. Just shove it in and let's get this show on the road!"
"Tessssssss-"
'' Oh Patrick stop moaning and come on''.....
"What good is having a cathedral ceiling if you don't put a big tree up? Besides," she added as she came up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, "now that I have TWO big strong men at home, I can go wild with the decorating."
"Oh you think so, do you?" Patrick whispered before placing a sweet kiss on her lips. "
Her answering laughter warmed his heart. "No, but I would like to put lights in all the trees in the yard this year. I thought you could teach Ben some cool shortcuts for that."
"Here you go Dad, this should do it." Their son returned and handed one end of the rope to Patrick and they worked on securing the large evergreen to the rooftop.
"OK, time to get this thing home and get decorating!"Teresa enthused as she jumped in the car.
3 hours later …………
They were all attempting to pacify Teresa, by decorating the tree to her specifications….
"Just with the tree lights. She likes it lit from the inside out, with every branch wrapped and no light wires visible. That's why we have a million strings of lights,"Ben. answered.
"I thought your Aunt Grace was bad," Patrick huffed.
"Hey! Enough chit chat. We'll never get this thing decorated if you two don't get cracking!" Teresa said as she surveyed their work.
"Well if you weren't so picky about stringing the lights we would have been done by now," said Patrick as he handed his son another string. "Do you realize how long it's going to take to finish a tree this big?"
"Forget it Dad, she'll never agree to do it any other way. Believe me I've tried."
"And every year don't you tell me how beautiful our tree is and how it was worth all of the effort?" Teresa said. "Besides, you're more than halfway done. Now be good boys and finish it so we can start with the ornaments."
After another couple of hours and some good-natured teasing of Teresa, all of the lights were on the tree and they began to open the many boxes of decorations she had brought down from the attic.
"Now is there any particular placement scheme I should follow or can I just hang the ornaments like a normal person?" Jane teased his wife.
"No, just the usual; smaller ones at the top and larger ones toward the bottom. Ben honey, why don't you go up the ladder and we'll hand you the little ones to do the top half of the tree,"Teresa said as she searched through the boxes looking for one ornament in particular.
"OK Mum. Did you find it yet?" he asked as he climbed the ladder, knowing what she was searching for.
"No- oh wait- here it is!"Lisbon held up the golden stick and yarn piece, and with a huge smile on her face handed it to her son.
As Patrick listened to Teresa and their son reminisce while hanging the many special pieces he grew quiet. After hearing yet again how one year Teresa rigged up bells on the roof and rang them so Benedict would think it was Santa's reindeer flying away, he felt his eyes welling up with tears and said "I'll be back in a minute" before making a quick exit to the front porch. It was there that Teresa found him a few minutes later staring out into space. She could feel his melancholy mood through their connection as she sat next to him and gently took his hand in hers. "Patrick What's wrong?"
Patrick sighed deeply as he continued to stare straight ahead. "It's just that you two have all of these great memories of Ben when he was growing up. I was picturing him on Christmas morning as a little kid, all excited about his presents." He turned to look at her, and the sorrow she saw in his eyes made her heart break. "I missed all of that Teresa. I never got to see him doing any of the things you both were talking about. I never got to see him take his first steps, or teach him to ride a bike, or help him with his homework. I missed it all . I should have been here."
She leaned over to kiss away the tear that had escaped his tortured eyes. Bringing her hand up, she softly brushed it over his cheek as she answered him in a quiet voice. "You couldn't be Patrick, and you didn't know about him, either. This was nobody's fault except Red Johns.. It was the hand that fate dealt us." She kissed him softly and lay her head on his shoulder as she took his hand again. "What is important is that you are here now, and you will be here for all of the Christmas's to come. We'll make new memories, Patrick. The three of us."
They sat together silently until their son came looking for them. "Are you two giving up on decorating already?"
Teresa stood and pulled onPatrick,s hand to follow her. "No honey, we're coming in right now."
As they finished the tree Teresa's mind was churning on how to cheer Patrick up. As she mulled over one particular idea a secret smile began to spread across her face. Oh yeah, she thought; time for some new memories.
Christmas Eve
"Mum, dinner was incredible. I'm so full I think I might explode," her son said as he rubbed his stomach.
"Thank you, but please don't explode in here. I just mopped the floor," Teresa replied with a smile.
"Ha ha. If it's OK with you guys, I'd like to go upstairs. I have to wrap your gifts and then I'm going to have a lie down for a while.
After kissing both his parents goodnight Ben went up to his attic room, leaving them to clean up the dinner dishes. After finishing they carried out the presents and set them under the tree. Patrick stifled a yawn as he put his arm around Teresa's shoulder and pulled her into his side. "It really does look beautiful Tess."
"Oh, so all that work on the lights was worth it, huh?" she teased.
A few hours later…
jingle jingle jingle….
"What the?" Patrick thought as his mind tried to emerge from the fog of sleep.
jingle jingle jingle…
"Tess what's that noise?" he said as he turned and reached out for her. Upon finding nothing but empty space next to him in their bed his eyes flew open.
jingle jingle jingle…
"Teresa?" he called out as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Tess where are you?" he said again as he swung his legs over the side and climbed out of bed. "Tess?" he called to her as he walked into the hallway. He saw a soft glow emanating from the living room so he headed toward it, continuing to call her name.
"Te…"
Her name was frozen on his lips as he entered the room and took in the sight before his eyes. The tree lights were on and several candles were lit, but what had made him stop dead in his tracks was Teresa. She was perched in an over-sized armchair with a sexy smile on her lips, and dressed in a Santa hat, red velvet micro-mini Santa-type coat held closed with two large buttons and a thick black leather belt, and black leather stiletto-heeled boots. In her hand she held a set of bells which she dropped on the floor as she rose. Patrick remained frozen in place as she began to move toward him, his mouth hanging open as his eyes roamed her body.
Teresa's eyes did some roaming of their own, taking in his beautiful physique, currently covered only by the boxers which he slept in. When she finally looked at his face she had to suppress laughter at his shocked expression. His mouth was moving but no words were coming out. She giggled softly as she walked around to stand behind him and whispered in his ear. "What's the matter, Patrick; haven't you ever seen one of Santa's helpers before?" It was breathy and seductive and he felt like every hair on his body was standing at attention. Among other things.
