"We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas" Everyone sang. The sound of fire crackling behind the Mercer's who were gathered around a baby grand piano. The house was elaborately decorated with elegant Garland, wood snow gathered village settings, seasons greetings cards pinned around the stocking adorned fireplace. Kristin always went all out for the holidays making their Arizona home look like something out of a winter Christmas tree stood 8 feet tall white twinkling lights glimmered and danced on the walls. Sterling silver ornaments of angels, trumpets, snowflakes and icicles dangled from the dark green branches. Christmas gifts wrapped in glittery gold and silver wrapping sat stacked under the tree. Emma looked at her twin sister. Sutton held Kendall on her hip, she was dressed in a short sleeved silver dress, a thick dark blue ribbon wrapped around her waist. Her long brown hair was tied up in a twisted undo. The family had just returned from their annual Christmas Eve church service- one of the few times the Mercer's ever went to church together as a family. Laurel played her violin every Christmas Eve in the church service and now she played along with her mother's piano playing.
The house smelled of cinnamon sugar cookies and peppermint hot cocoa. Kendall looked at Emma and gave her a smile. It had only a week since Sutton had gotten her daughter back and most nights Kendall had spent the night either with her or Sutton and even though she usually woke up from nightmares it didn't bother either of them when she'd roll over and tap them on the shoulder and hold her until she fell back asleep. Tonight the girls planned to stay at the families home in their old rooms. "Will Santa know where to find me?" Kendall asked when the music stopped.
Kristin looked up at her granddaughter and smiled, "Well sweetie, Santa knows where all the good little boys and girls are. He will find you my sweet baby." Sutton let the little girl down. Suddenly a sound of clattering outside the house made Kendall perk up. She ran to the front window and pushed aside the drapes. Sutton followed along with Emma and Laurel. Kendall looked up at her mother, "What was that?" She asked. Her eyes were filled with wide-eyed wonder.
Kendall looked out onto the Mercer's front lawn, it all looked the same like nothing had been there, "I don't know honey. Why don't we go get our PJ's on. We don't want-" Sutton started to say deterring her daughter from the window. A pit formed in her stomach. It seemed like any noise out of the ordinary made her worry, constantly looking over her shoulder for a sign of Thayer.
"SANTA!" The three year old shrieked. She pushed past her family into the jolly old man's arms. Emma gave her sister a warm smile.
"Alec?" Sutton mouthed. Emma gave her a slight nod. It wasn't like Alec to dress like Santa Clause for the holiday's but after the recent events, he'd been fairly close to his granddaughter. "You could've told me." She whispered.
"I didn't know until today. Kristin set it all up. She wanted it to be a surprise." Emma whispered back. She looked back at Kendall.
Now "Santa" had knelt down. A bag full of wrapped gifts sat beside him, "Hey there, little girl. What is your name?" He asked tapping his gloved finger over Kendall's little nose.
Kendall blushed and smiled, "Kendall Alexandra Mercer!" She said proudly swaying her shoulders from side to side, "Did you bring me presents?" she asked peering over "Santa's" knee at the gifts in his bag.
Kristin pressed her hands to her mouth, enjoying these precious moments. It still seemed like yesterday when that little girl was still living in her home. Santa let out a chuckle and lifted Kendall onto his knee, "Well let's see, have you been a good little girl this year." For a moment Kendall paused. The smile from her face faded and she lowered her eyes and shook her head. Alec took his gloved finger and tipped his granddaughters chin, she raised her eyes to meet his, "Why do you say that?" He asked suddenly forgetting the character he was playing.
Kendall looked at him with complete seriousness, "Because." Her voice was soft. The entire room was silent waiting for this little girls answer. She looked at "Santa" and frowned, "I was a bad girl. Daddy's friend told me. She told me that my mommy didn't love me and she needed to be punished." Anger boiled in Sutton. She still wished she'd had a reason for why Olivia had formulated all of this in the first place but she hadn't heard from Thayer since she'd gotten her daughter back and quite frankly, she wasn't itching to talk to him.
Sutton took a step forward and placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder, "Baby, you're not a bad girl. I know you don't understand what happened recently but none of it was your fault, ok?" She pushed a lock of Kendall's long hair behind her shoulder.
Kendall looked up at her mom and then back at "Santa." Her eyes glimmered with lingering tears. Alec gave his granddaughter a bearded smile. He pulled a sparkling gift from the bag and looked at the tag, "well look here, Miss. Kendall. This one is just for you."
Kendall let her frown fade to a beaming smile as she took the gift from Santa, "Really? I'm not a bad girl?"
Santa shook his head, "I think that's impossible he said." He brushed his gloved hand across his granddaughter's cheek.
Sutton took Kendall's gift, "Come here sweetie, let's sit here and open it." She said. This was the first Christmas where Kendall had been old enough to understand the concept of gift-giving and Santa Clause. She sat on the couch next to her mom and pulled the gold foiled bow off the present and stuck it to Sutton's nose. She let out a laugh and then started to pull at the wrapping paper. When she'd managed to pull all of the paper off the gift, she held up a barbie doll play set. It had been an item Kendall wanted for her birthday but didn't receive so Alec purchased it for one of her Christmas gifts. "What do you say to Santa?"
Kendall looked up at Santa with a smile, she slid off the couch and ran towards Alec, wrapping her arms around his legs, "Thank you Santa!" She said.
Alec smiled and bent down to lift up the little girl. He held her on his hip, "Merry Christmas, Kendall." He whispered. She smiled and pressed a kiss to his nose.
"One more song!" Kristin insisted, "Santa can you stay for one more Song before someone has to go to bed?"
"Oh! Why yes!" Alec said. He moved to the piano and Laurel began playing another song on her violin. Kristin accompanied her daughter on the piano and the family began to sing, "Silent night, holy night…" When the song was over Alec looked at his granddaughter, "Well Miss Kendall. I guess it's time you get to sleep. I've got to get these gifts to the other boys and girls."
Kendall nodded as Alec passed her to Sutton. Kendall yawned and looked at Santa, "Goodbye, Santa. Don't forget to come back for mommy and Auntie Emma and Auntie Laurel. They were good too, okay?"
Alec gave Kendall a smile, "I won't forget. Merry Christmas little girl." He said and with that Sutton took Kendall into her bedroom. She pulled out her daughter's reindeer onesie pajama's and a fresh pull up.
When Kendall was changed, she cuddled with her mom on her bed, "mommy?" She asked as she rested her head on Sutton's shoulder.
"Whats up, darling?" Sutton said. She yawned and almost felt herself falling asleep.
"Is daddy on the naughty list?" She asked. Her voice sounded sincere and concerned.
Sutton opened her eyes and stared up at her ceiling. The soft glow of the bedside lamp gave off the only light in the room. "I don't know, baby." she said honestly. Her hand stroked her daughter's hair.
"Is he going to be alone on Christmas?" She asked. "I know that Olivia died." She said openly. Sutton felt her heart pull. she didn't think about Thayer being alone on Christmas. It seemed stupid that after everything, she'd not care about what Thayer was doing but nobody deserved to be alone on Christmas. "Grandpa killed Olivia, didn't he?"
Sutton really didn't know what to say to her daughter, "Listen baby. I know that it seems like a lot of bad things have happened lately, but you after to know that what Grandpa Alec did was to keep you from getting hurt. You know that, right?" She moved her head look down at her daughter.
Kendall looked up at her mom, "I know that." She said, "Why did daddy take me away from you though?"
Sutton looked at her daughter, she felt a tear fill in her eye but she blinked it away, "I don't know why, baby. But you know that daddy loves you right?"
Kendall nodded, "I know. He told me that a lot."
Sutton looked at Kendall. A light sparked in her mind, "Did he say anything else to you?" She thought that maybe if she could gather as much information from her three year old then maybe she could piece together what happened when Thayer had her.
Kendall shook her head, "No. He told me he loved me and that he was sorry." She said.
"Why was he sorry?" Sutton questioned, trying to gather as much information as she could. Kendall shrugged, "Did he not say why he was sorry?" She suddenly felt anger boiling inside her and she snapped at her daughter.
Kendall sat up and looked at her mom, "I don't know, mommy." she said.
She looked at her mom with tears in her eyes. Sutton sat up and pulled Kendall into her arms, "I'm sorry baby. I didn't mean to snap at you." She said. Kendall rubbed her nose on Sutton's shirt and rested her head on her mom's chest. Sutton took a few moments to sit there with her daughter, rocking her gently until the child had fallen asleep on her chest. When Sutton knew she was fast asleep, she gently laid the child down on one side of the bed and kissed her forehead, "Good night, princess. I love you."
When she entered the living room again, Alec had left and Emma and Laurel were sipping mugs of cinnamon hot chocolate, sitting on the couch watching the fire crackle in the fireplace. When Emma saw Sutton enter she got off the couch and handed her a mug, "Hey, so that was sweet, right?"
Sutton took the mug and nodded, "Yeah, I guess." Her face seemed slightly distant.
"Are you okay?" Emma asked as they moved back to the couch.
Sutton sank into the soft leather and pulled a throw blanket over her bare legs, "Kendall asked about Thayer. I don't know what I'm going to do." She shook her head.
"Look, Sutton." Emma put her hand on her sister's knee, "I know all of this is hard to wrap your head around. Kendall doesn't understand what happened. We don't even understand what happened. But right now, let's just celebrate the holiday's okay? You have so much be thankful for. Your daughter is safe, Sutton." Emma leaned forward as Sutton fell into her sister's weight. Emma wrapped her arms around Sutton's body, "And she's healthy."
"She could have died last month, Emma. What if Olivia really did hurt Kendall?" she asked. She felt hot tears pierce her eyes and she looked at Emma.
"You can't think about the what-if's. Fact is that Kendall is here and she is safe and healthy." Emma brushed a tear from her sister's eyes.
"I know. But the fact that I can't sit here on Christmas eve and know that no one is going to sneak in my room and take my daughter again. I'm genuinely scared, Emma. I shouldn't have to live in fear." She said, she felt Laurel put a hand on her shoulder and she reached up to place her hand on her half-sisters.
"Nobody is going to take Kendall, Sutton. But I understand that you're scared." Emma pulled her sister into a hug. "It's Christmas Eve. You shouldn't feel scared of Christmas Eve, Sutton. Halloween was two months ago. This is a jolly holiday. Everything is going to be okay." Emma gave Sutton a reassured smile and Sutton nodded.
"Fine. But tomorrow we make Nutella hot chocolate." Sutton said taking a sip of her cinnamon hot chocolate.
Emma looked at Sutton and smiled, "Deal."
