A/N: SM owns all things Twilight, I own the plot of this story.
Chapter 45 - It's Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (U2)
Despite Charlie's absence time marched on. I tried desperately to avoid pity parties. Charlie was in a much better place. Of that I was certain. So I was sad for me; missing my dad, missing the plans that would never come to fruition. Oh my kids would still have grandparents in Carlisle and Esme, also a pseudo-grandma in Sue, but they won't have Charlie. He'd never meet our little angel and that made me very sad.
As the world kept spinning, it seemed to spin my inner ear - not really, that was likely my morning sickness. I didn't get physically ill often; instead I got lightheaded and felt off in the mornings. Usually a piece of toast with peanut butter cured this rather quickly. I ate so much peanut butter Edward had taken to calling the baby "Peanut" in my tummy.
The kids were over the moon when we told them about the baby, each offering to share their room with the baby. I thought that was so sweet. We reminded them of the extra room at our end of the house, but promised when he or she was older one of them would get a roommate, depending upon if "Peanut" was a boy or girl. They were each adamant they'd get one their same gender.
Everyone was guessing as my tummy started to pooch a bit. It was fun to speculate but quite a few people were displeased when Edward and I revealed that we would not be learning the baby's gender at our ultrasounds.
You'd have thought I had three heads when people asked about it - as if we were inconveniencing them by enjoying the mystery and anticipation of my pregnancy. They'd say "What are you having?" and I'd answer them, "A baby." Oh boy the looks people gave me! Alice was the worst though - and got worse after she and Jasper learned there baby was a boy.
"Bella this isn't 1920, we have this technology for a reason! It's convenient, you can plan and ... ugh, how can you stand not knowing?"
"Alice, you were one of those kids who peeked at their Christmas presents, weren't you - I bet you carefully opened and re-wrapped your gifts so you wouldn't get caught." Everyone laughed at the blush spreading across her cheeks. "I happen to really like surprises and I've had some rather unpleasant ones lately. It's nice to have a good surprise to savor. Besides, I'm only 12 weeks along; we wouldn't be able to tell for another month anyway!"
"Yeah!" Edward said teasingly as if he was a bratty little girl on a playground. "No more picking on the preggo."
Emmett howled with laughter, "Preggo - It's in there!" Like the old Prego Pasta sauce commercials. He poked at me tickling my ribs.
Edward piped up with, "HEY! Leggo my Preggo!" And Emmett barked out another guttural laugh.
Jasper added to the antics, "What's the difference between a pregnant woman and a light bulb? You can UN-screw a light bulb." Everyone groaned. I remembered Steve Martin telling that joke in "My Blue Heaven" and couldn't help but chuckle when Alice teasingly elbowed him in the ribs.
I was laughing so hard at their antics I had tears rolling down my cheeks, "Guys stop, you're gonna make me wet my pants!" They continued to guffaw at my expense.
"Depends ... what's in it for me?" Emmett chimes in and everyone boos because seriously, that's lame even for him.
We were out to lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise to satisfy my baby's insane burger cravings and were getting some rude looks from other tables - though we were probably the rude ones since Emmett has no indoor voice and Edward gets loud when he's with Emmett.
"Nice. I'll be right back, see if you can grow up by the time I get back," I say feeling my mood change on a dime. Darn it! Sometimes pregnancy hormones really sucked. Alice and Rose followed me into the bathroom.
"You okay?" Rose asked me.
"Yeah, I dunno what that was about, actually I do. I felt a little cornered - they hit a sore spot for me. I hope I don't end up having to wear depends, I did nearly pee myself back there and I'm barely showing now, what will it be like when I look like I swallowed a beach ball?"
"You'll be fine, just do your kegels, at least that's what my doc said. It's supposed to help with pushing, too," Alice said.
"I know, not like being worried ever changed anything anyway," I said.
"So true," Alice said as we washed our hands and checked our makeup in the mirror before rejoining the guys.
"You want me to beat 'em up for you, Bella?" Rose asked with a smirk.
"Nah, I'm just being a big baby."
"More like having one," Alice teased and we all laughed.
When we rejoined the men at our table, they were suitably subdued and even apologized for making me mad. I just chalked it up to my crazy hormones and they moved on to talk about other things.
When Alice brought up the baby gender question again, I reiterated to her (yet again!) that, either way I'd need diapers, some baby clothing, my breasts, a car seat and a bassinette. If anything else HAD to be gender specific, it could wait. Life has so few really great surprises so we decided to savor the moment.
At home, things were great. Sue stayed on as our nanny. I loved having her at Charlie's home, I felt like she was doing me a favor by living there. She, however, said she felt like a nuisance. I wanted her to live there for free and she refused, saying I was already paying her so we compromised with a reduced pay to include her rent.
I understood how she felt though. It still felt odd to me, having actual money. I grew up counting pennies so to find myself with not one but THREE homes, all owned free and clear without mortgages, was somewhat disconcerting. I'd have given it to Sue but her pride would not allow it. There was a small part of me that wondered if any of the kids would all live there as adults. That was a very cool thought. It would be their decision much, much further down the road. No matter what, Edward and I totally lucked out getting to keep Sue next door.
Sue, bless her heart, had been very helpful in cleaning out Charlie's possessions. She and Esme essentially boxed all his small stuff and swapped out Sue's boxes in the shed for Charlie's. This bought me some time before I'd have to wade through it all. At the moment it was cold and my hormones made sentimental things much more difficult. I'd go through it all a little at a time later on, when I was ready. We donated his usable clothing and whatever furniture Sue didn't want as we already had two furnished homes. I think Paul took the bed from the guest room. I was glad to see it put to good use.
I royally ticked Sue off when I sent in a painting crew to paint every single room, I told her to pick whatever colors she wanted, but she raised a fuss saying it was unnecessary. I said she better pick or else I would, it needed to be done so she finally caved but she was miffed at me for a while. I had planned to overhaul the bathroom, too. But that would have to wait or she might quit and move out. I'd save that for when she went on a vacation or something.
I was pleasantly surprised when Leia moved in with Sue. It was a great way for Leia to pay off her student loans and save some money so I was all for it. Leia was quickly becoming a very good friend to me. I wouldn't have managed half as well through Charlie's illness without her there to help me. It helped that we just clicked, she got what I meant and I never had to repeat myself with her because she was on it, whatever "it" happened to be. I totally respected her abilities and trusted her judgment.
After I got over the initial shock of losing my dad, I jumped back into work as much as possible. Keeping busy helped keep me afloat. With Leia and Emmett in the office, my workload was so much more manageable I got to dive headlong into the pleasure of designing more clothing and house wares. I could definitely see myself handing more of the "work" of running Eclectic over to them so I could spend more time at "play" aka designing.
I showed Alice my ideas about having our own line of "under armor" and she was giddy then showed me her sketches for maternity wear. I was thrilled. With our manufacturing centers we could totally do all of it! We'd have to devote a lot more time and attention to design, and quickly! We decided the other lines would help keep our production lines busy between seasons - we'd just have to be super organized and way ahead with those decisions. Our first priorities would be our new clothing lines, which meant the spring lines needed to be completed and sampled like yesterday, so we could schedule the manufacturing slots for all our items.
Together Alice, Edward, Emmett and I decided to hire an assistant for Leia and farm out more of my office tasks to Leia, who had more than proven herself in the past few months. We also decided to promote Angela, again. She would be in charge of acquiring purchases for our stores. Essentially she'd do the purchasing but Alice and I had the final say-so in what she did or did not purchase. In other words, she hunted and we said yay or nay. It was handy to not have to globetrot, especially given our pregnancies. Angela wouldn't have to travel as often as I had in the beginning, since we had an established network of artisans. We could also have them ship samples and talk shop via skype. That would help keep costs down, too.
Eclectic continued to grow and improve, despite the horrific economy. I was so proud of all we'd accomplished in relatively few years.
The company also grew despite the tarnish of the looming trial. I received a summons to testify at the trial, set to begin in early January. Part of me really wished they'd just get it over and done with. I didn't want the drama dragging into another year. The rest of me was glad it would happen after the holidays and would give the prosecution more time to organize their case. We were really flying blind where the case was concerned. There were no more leaks or credible sources commenting on the status. I hoped they had something good to bring those bastards down. I hated that they'd not only messed with us, but other hard-working business owners too.
At home we were busy with the kids. Seth's basketball season kicked off and Emily's dance class was rehearsing for their Christmas pageant ... err... excuse me, I meant "Winter Holiday Extravaganza." Every single kid in the group attended our church, why on Earth they felt the need to eliminate the word "Christmas" was beyond me. Edward joked that they'd be dancing around a Festivus Pole, and then cringed when he realized he'd made a joke about his daughter dancing around a pole. It was quite amusing.
They roped me into making some of the costumes for the event. And by "roped" I really mean I hopped up and down on my tiptoes waving my hand in the air like Hermione Granger when she knows the answer. "Ooh! Ooh! Let me! Let me!" I loved having a little girl and making pretty things for her was par for the course in my book. She was thrilled and offered herself as my helper, which was code for playing with pins and buttons whilst chatting my ears off my head as I stitched along. Of course that delighted me beyond measure - as did Edward's response to seeing me toil for his beloved princess. His grin was quite large as was mine after he demonstrated, multiple times, just how much he loved me.
I had to duke it out with Esme, but in the end, we all agreed that our lake house was ideal for hosting Thanksgiving dinner. There we have the basement "Romper Room," complete with pool table, full-service bar and big, comfy couch with ginormous plasma T.V. for game time. We also have a huge dining room table plus the kitchen table for extra seating, if necessary. Plus that kitchen totally rocks for cooking. Esme and I divvied up the workload as she was thrilled to feed a whole crowd. Sue, Leia, Jake, Paul and Kate would be joining our regular crowd for the day, bringing our total to fourteen.
I had an ulterior motive for hosting the dinner at that house, though. I had always made the meal at Charlie's house, so this would be my first Thanksgiving at this house. We would be making new memories together. That was the final straw that broke Esme's will in allowing me to play hostess. She understood. However that did not stop her from demanding that she be allowed to handle the turkey. Apparently Esme and Carlisle have a long-standing rivalry about the best way to cook a turkey and they'd finally have a crowd large enough to warrant cooking two turkeys - they would settle it by vote, once and for all.
Edward just rolled his eyes and walked away shaking his head when he heard that Carlisle would be preparing his "Famous Weber Turkey" for our "dining pleasure." Those two were a riot - Edward had no clue how lucky he was to have them for parents. Well I think he had an inkling since learning about Renee, but seriously, how fun it was to have a rivalry over turkeys, of all things! Emmett wanted to do a fried turkey too, but I put my foot down, saying we'd have turkey coming out our ears! I promised him he could do one for another holiday and that placated him a little bit. Instead he decided to bring his Nona's sweet potato pie, saying we had three people from the South and it would be criminal if Jasper, Alice and he had to go without. I rolled my eyes because, hello, I'm pregnant, like I'll turn down yummy pie - especially if someone else was making it!
It turns out by taking over the turkey responsibility, Esme had essentially spoiled me. There was no early-morning wake-up for this lady Thanksgiving morning. That was probably a big part of why Esme was so adamant about it. She wanted to spare me while I still suffered my morning dizzy spells. I was always a big believer in planning ahead, so a lot of my prep work was already done, pies were baked and I had ingredients ready to go so it would be smooth sailing later on. Edward even got up with the kids and let me sleep in a bit.
We still hadn't remodeled the kids' rooms at the lake house, so they shared the guest room at the moment. We'd have to shuffle rooms and stuff around soon to accommodate them; I really hoped we'd use this house as a weekend/summer retreat so I wanted it to be as user-friendly as possible. I had big plans, but they'd hold for a while.
In the meantime, I dressed and headed into the kitchen to marshal the troops. We had a lot of work to do before everyone would arrive for dinner.
As it turned out, my guess about Esme wanting to spoil me was complete crap. She and Carlisle were completely serious in there competition over the turkey and I learned this when my father-in-law showed up with his Weber grill and his "special blend" of fuel for said grill around 11 a.m., he was going to grill it at the house so his wife wouldn't "tamper with my masterpiece." Edward just shook his head and rolled his eyes as he helped his dad unload and set up his grill.
Carlisle was great fun in the kitchen, he helped me chop stir, and he was especially great help for drinking the beer! He had a mild buzz going while we watched football and cooked the feast. He even made a delicious broccoli salad, something his mom had made for him all his life. I boiled and mashed potatoes; baked sweet potatoes - both the decadent sweet version with maple syrup and pecans, as well as my special savory version; made the requisite green bean casserole topped with french-fried onions; corn casserole; and a delicious Lithuanian bacon roll recipe Mrs. Cope had taught me many years ago. Esme was handling the stuffing and a few other side dishes, and Sue would bring her "famous" home-made cranberry sauce. The others were bringing their own specialty dishes as well as beer, wine and ice cream for the pies. It would be quite the feast.
By the time 3 p.m. rolled around, the house was sparkling, the tables were set beautifully, and the house smelled of good things to eat. Esme rolled in with a turkey that looked as if Norman Rockwell had painted it, and promptly took over my kitchen in her usual fashion, something I didn't mind in the least. She plated dishes and set out casserole dishes that I'd had warming in the oven, and did all the last-minute preparations, including making gravy from the drippings, along side Carlisle who did the same with his own drippings, because neither wanted the other to get credit for their turkey's unique flavoring. Edward grinned at my expression of disbelief.
"They had you snowed, didn't they, Bella. Oh sure they seem all sweet like Ozzy and Harriet, but they're cut-throat when it comes to competitions!" He said.
"Thank God!" I said. "They seem much more human, less Stepford, this way. Seriously, your folks are like too perfect normally, with the way my parents were it felt unnatural. This," I gestured between the two," I can totally relate to," I added making everyone laugh.
Soon the rest of the crowd arrived and the entire feast was laid out on the tables, which we'd pushed together so we could all eat as one big family. When we went around the table to share what we were each grateful for, it became very apparent how happy everyone was to be together, part of our family, and for the two little additions who would be arriving in the springtime.
The evening passed so pleasantly I was nearly spared the heartache of missing my dad, but when everything reminds you, it's hard not to think about it. He would've loved the football games and especially the fierce game of Uno we played, not to mention all the delicious desserts. In honor of my dad, I made my special cherry pie, his favorite, as well as blueberry, pumpkin and a pumpkin cheesecake - another of Charlie's favorites. Emmett's pie was to-die-for; he would be teaching me how to make his flaky crust if he ever wanted to eat my food again. He swore the recipe would go to the grave with him on Nona's orders, but I begged to differ, anything that amazing cannot become extinct.
We had epic games of eight-ball, alternating between teams of couples then boy versus girl and even straight pool and nine-ball variations. Despite not being able to drink, I had a truly fabulous time.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving Edward suggested we have a "family meeting" with the kids to discuss Christmas plans. It was a riot to see how seriously they took the meeting. I had never witnessed anything like that, but then it was usually just Charlie and me, so anytime we were together was a meeting. But this was different. When Edward said, "family meeting," even Emily got very serious. She went and got crayons and paper to take notes. The girl can't read or write yet, but she was going to take notes! What a little cutie.
Edward informed me that he used that term when he wanted their undivided attention, when they heard "family meeting" it meant he wanted to talk with them and they needed to be serious. Well done, I thought to myself. When everyone was seated around the dining room table Edward started.
"Since this is our first year with all of us together, I wanted to talk about Christmas and traditions. I want this to be very special for everyone so please, remember one at a time, tell us what you love to do at Christmas time."
Seth piped up immediately, "I like to make cookies with different shapes and sprinkles!"
Emily said, "Me too! And I love to eat fudge!"
Seth said, "I like to make ornaments for our Christmas tree."
Emily said "Me too!" She also started "writing" on her paper. It was random letters and shapes that she said was her list of activities. Had I not already been pregnant I might have ovulated then and there!
Seth continued, "I like to listen to Christmas music and sing along."
Emily, again, agreed with him, then added, "I want to be in the Christmas play at church!"
Seth said, "Me too!" and I couldn't help but giggle because they were so alike sometimes. Then he added, "And like when we get to open one gift on Christmas Even, even though I wish we could open them all!"
Emily giggled, agreeing that it would be nice to be able to open all their gifts earlier.
I piped in with a few of my own suggestions and they loved them. I thought it would be cute if we had matching pajamas for Christmas morning. Edward groaned a little bit but he was a sucker for Emily's puppy dog eyes, but Seth and I joined in and he caved. I also suggested we make our "Family Day" activities be more Christmas oriented, something they thought was "awesome," even though I didn't elaborate on the plans I had because we still loved to surprise the kids with our outings.
I also had a few tricks up my sleeve to surprise each of them.
I piped up with a tradition I'd read about and decided to adapt for our own family. It was based upon a short story called "The Last Straw." "Guys I have one other thing. See this basket?" They all nodded. I'd shared the idea with Edward ahead of time and he loved the idea. "We're going to pretend that it's Baby Jesus' bed. See this bin?" I held up a bin with tiny fabric scraps from my sewing studio and they nodded. "We're going to set this up on the sofa table in the living room. Every time we do a good deed for someone, especially without being asked, we get to add a piece of fabric. Each piece will help make Jesus' bed nice and soft for when He comes on Christmas. We won't really have a baby in there, but imagine how nice and soft you'd like Jesus' bed to be, so be extra helpful to others, okay?" They both nodded and Edward grinned at the eager looks on their faces. I though this would be so much nicer than threatening that Santa wouldn't come or some other tactic, the kids were mostly good but even good kids get wildly eager at Christmas time.
Emily asked if she could set it up and she ran off with the basket and bin then came running back. "I put one in because I helped you," she said, beaming with pride.
I smiled at her, "Very good, baby!"
"Can I put one in? I took out the recycling earlier," Seth asked.
I nodded, "Of course! And when you guys go to school and help others, that counts too."
I loved the idea of spreading it out to the world around them; it would help spread Christmas cheer to others. It also helped us to celebrate Advent, as it kept us looking forward to Christ's appearance at Christmas, instead of counting down until Santa arrived, or that was the plan anyway. We would see how that panned out. I was new to this whole parenting thing but so far I absolutely loved it.
Our Thanksgiving had been so enjoyable that even Esme admitted it was ideal for entertaining and ought to be the location of our Christmas celebrations. She was less begrudging when I insisted that she and Carlisle should stay over Christmas Eve and enjoy Christmas Day with us as well. What they didn't know was that I had made them pajamas to match all of ours; I knew they'd get a kick out of having us all match.
The plan we hatched was this, since Seth and Emily would be performing in the Church's Nativity play, we'd all be eagerly attending that Mass with everyone returning to the lake house to party together - we'd have finger foods instead of a heavy meal, and a special dessert plus cocktails for those who could drink. I, for one, could see that becoming a new tradition for the whole family. It's not like Midnight Mass is very realistic when you have small children, and they get more out of church if they're awake and alert. Plus the Nativity play was so adorable with all the parish kids dressed up and acting out the First Christmas. This year Emily would be an angel and Seth would play the donkey that carried Mary. His costume was adorable. Fortunately he only had to crawl next to Mary and Joseph, not actually carry anyone on his back.
Anyone who wanted to return for dinner on Christmas Day would be welcome. I planned to serve my stuffed pork roast and all the best side dishes, and some yummy desserts.
The Sunday "Family Day" adventures leading up to Christmas were among my favorites. The first weekend, we took in the awesome "Christmas Around the World Exhibit" at the Museum of Science and Industry - I loved sharing that with Emily and Esme especially since they each have a flair for creativity. We took pictures of our favorites and planned to Google how to make some of the more intricate woven ones. Our favorites, by far, were the Irish, Polish and Peruvian displays. The Irish one had a gorgeous Baleek crèche set up below it.
The next Sunday we took in the window displays at Macy's downtown - the old Marshall Field's building was famous for it's Christmas window displays, a tradition the new company had continued. We also stocked up on Frango Mints (a local delicacy) and other goodies in addition to doing some Christmas shopping. I was starting to appreciate Edward's sentiment at my birthday dinner - it was really flippin' hard to buy a gift for someone who buys what he needs or wants! Didn't most couples have this problem when they bought gifts for their parents, not each other?
It was hard to not overdo it, too. I would've loved to buy him a classic car or some other insanely expensive gift, simply because I could, but I didn't. In the end I paid for a guys' weekend at a ski resort in Galena Illinois. I'd overheard Emmett, Jasper, Edward and Carlisle talking about skiing on Thanksgiving. Edward had declined going because I couldn't, because of the baby, and he seemed a little bummed by that. So I booked a suite for the guys and paid for their lift tickets. I checked with Esme and Alice to be sure their hubbies would be able to miss work, and both loved the idea. Alice actually piggy-backed my gift by buying Jasper his own ski gear. I thought that was a great idea and copied her, buying Edward a ski outfit but I thought he should buy his own skis and boots. That's hard to buy for someone else.
We had bought most of our gifts for our family while we were on our honeymoon, so I didn't have a lot of shopping to do besides Edward and the kids. We got the kids each a fully-loaded I-pad and I-tunes cards in case we missed any fun apps. We also debated getting a puppy but decided it the timing was lousy as no one would be home with the dog at the moment. Also, with a baby on the way we weren't sure how much chaos we'd want in the house! Of course there were lots of other toys and cute outfits and trinkets. Frankly we would be spoiling them come Christmas morning, but they're always so good, we didn't see the harm in being so generous this Christmas. Edward even bought a train set to set up around the Christmas tree. I couldn't wait to see them open their gifts!
The next Sunday everyone who wanted to help invaded the kitchen at the lake house (it had the most work surface available of all our homes, with tons of counters plus the island and tables!) and we made tons of cookies in all shapes, sizes and flavors. Alice surprised everyone with matching aprons - she appliquéd tiny little apron shapes on ours, applied right about where our babies were growing. The adults' aprons coordinated with the kids' - ours were made from a homespun green with red batik trim, and the kids' aprons were smaller and made from the red batik fabric with the green as the trim. We were glad to have them by the time the flour settled! We were all gooey from cooking all day long, but the house smelled fabulous and we had very happy tummies.
That week, I had a special date with each of the kids. I took Seth to the local do-it-yourself pottery place where he painted a mug for Edward's Christmas gift. I swear he picked the biggest mug available used every color they had there! But he was so excited to make something special for his dad. I thought about it and he probably never had someone able to make the time take him to do something like with him. But I didn't want to focus on the past; we had a bright future together. I also had him paint a mug for Carlisle. He picked a smaller one and used blue and orange because Carlisle was a Bears fan. It was actually really cool, he painted the logo on one side and did the body of the mug in blue with the inside and handle painted orange.
For Emily's "date" we looked through Esme's photo albums for a nice picture of Edward and the kids, which we enlarged at the photo booth at Target. Then I took Emily to the pottery place so she could paint a frame for the picture. She was excited that her daddy would be able to keep the picture at work with him. Emily was thoughtful enough to only pick "boy colors" for her daddy's frame, but she still used ALL of them - green, blue, orange, red, black, gray, yellow, brown ... yeah, all of them. It was quite a site to behold when she was finished and I knew Edward would absolutely love his gifts from the kids. She also painted a mug for Esme, this time using only "girl's colors" of pink and purple with white, yellow and some green. She decided to paint the inside of the mug pink and the handle purple the body of the mug was also pink but it had polka dots of all shapes and sizes and in all the colors she'd chosen. It was very cute and very clearly painted by Miss Emily, I had no doubt Esme would cherish her mug.
What the kids didn't know is I made another trip alone and painted one for each of them and one for myself so we could all have special mugs for our cocoa on Christmas morning.
I wanted to take the kids to see The Nutcracker at McCormick Place, but Edward said it would be a waste this year - even though Emily was in dance, it's a long ballet and the kids would be bored. We compromised by watching it on Channel 11, and Edward was totally right, they were so bored they each went to their rooms on their own accord and we spent the evening making out on the couch, I voted to make that another family tradition and Edward seconded it.
Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones, and maybe it was the thrill of being married and having my own family, but I had never enjoyed the holiday season more than I did that year. Neither the sadness of losing my dad, the conspicuous absence of Renee, nor the looming trial could dampen my spirits.
Thanks for reading!
