Seasons To Remember
Chapter 1: Home For Christmas
"I'll be home for Christmas;
You can count on me.
Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love-light gleams.
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams."
Carolyn Hilary Oliver was humming the nearly 100-year-old song softly to herself as she put the finishing touches on the large, festively-decorated dining table. For once, truly everybody in the family would be home – and was coming to her house this Christmas Eve.
Well ... not quite everybody. The surviving grandparents would come on Christmas Day, for a more quiet gathering, and of course two places would remain empty that hadn't been filled in ages – Jason and Kimberly's, her father and mother-in-law respectively. Quickly the pretty brunette dabbed at her eyes; even after so long, she still missed both. But at least Mama Kat and Uncle Tommy would be there; as usual, they were visiting the cemetery first.
Meanwhile, the Oliver and Scott children plus their respective spouses were busily preparing food, stacking presents under the tree and generally making themselves useful. The next generation was out carolling in the neighbourhood, but were expected back any minute now. Lynne smiled to herself as she surveyed her handiwork.
"Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents on the tree."
"Only two out of three, love," her husband Jason David teased as he passed her with the bowl of eggnog – alcohol-free, so that the children could try it, too. There was another, proper adults-only batch in the kitchen pantry for later. "No snow in Angel Grove."
"That's enough for me," Lynne laughed. "I'm just glad everybody could make it here tonight. I only hope it won't be too much for Ricky," she worried. "He's awfully small for such a big party." Her youngest son, an unexpected but much-loved late addition to the household, slept upstairs in his cot, all of three months old.
"He'll be fine," Jay assured her, stealing a quick kiss. And not a sprig of mistletoe in sight.
"You hope."
"Well ... yeah," he grinned sheepishly. "Any sign of the brood yet?"
"No. Nor of Mom and Uncle Tommy. Do you think they're alright?"
"Positive. Dad is still a pretty good fighter for his age, and Aunt Kat will make sure they're on time."
The family relations were a bit complicated – rather inevitable, when one's nominal aunt (or uncle) also happened to become one's mother (or father) -in-law. For simplicity's sake, they had stuck to the familiar form of address when they got married.
"I'm just glad that Mom has managed to cheer your Dad up again lately." Lynne commented. "I was really worried about him last year, he was so depressed."
"Yeah – they've been good for each other, haven't they? Going out to dinner, doing stuff together … if they weren't our parents, I'd say it was almost like they were dating or something," he teased.
"As if! You know very well that neither would even look at someone else, they loved Dad and Aunt Kim so," his loving wife scoffed.
Just then, a car stopped in front of the house, and childish shouts of "Grandma! Grampa!" could be heard, along with a rush of thundering feet.
"They're here," Katrina Michelle DeSantos called from the front parlor; she didn't wait for her brother Jay but simply threw the door open wide.
"Merry Christmas, Dad! You too, Aunt Kat!"
"Merry Christmas, Trini." Setting a large box unobtrusively down near the hallway table, Tommy smiled at his daughter. She was just as enthusiastic about the holiday as Kim ever was ... looked a lot like her, too, even if she was about three inches taller than his beloved wife had been. He swallowed the lump of pain that threatened to lodge in his throat. Three years since she had died, and he still missed her.
A soft hand on his arm drew him out of his momentary funk. He glanced up to meet compassionate blue eyes framed by silvery-grey locks. "It's okay, Tommy," Kat murmured. "I miss Jason, too."
He patted her hand. "I know. Thanks for understanding, Kat."
"You were there for me when he died; how can I do anything but return the favor?" she murmured back, then let herself be drawn inside by the children – his and her grandchildren, and in the case of Scott, Lynne and Jay's firstborn, both. Inside, the rest of their offspring were waiting – Oliver William Scott and his wife Jasmine, daughter of Adam and Tanya Park. Jared Taylor Scott and his lively redheaded wife Rachel, daughter of Will Cranston and Consuelo DeSantos, Rocky's youngest sister. Trini and her husband Ramon DeSantos, making Rachel her sister-in-law twice over. Among them, a total of seven grandkids so far, with the youngest being Ricky – Richard Adam Oliver.
"No, don't look in there yet, kids," Kat gently removed curious hands from the box and shopping bags she and Tommy had brought. "Yes, there're presents inside, but you know Santa won't allow us to open them until after dinner."
A chorus of disappointed "Awwwwwws" answered her, but she remained adamant, giving them a slightly stern, patently discouraging look. It proved enough. There were a few long faces, though, as the inquisitive bunch reluctantly obeyed.
"Why don't you go help your moms?" Kat suggested. "The sooner dinner's ready, the sooner you'll get to know what Santa has left at grandpa's and my house …"
"Awright! Come on, guys!" Scott led the rush towards the kitchen, followed by amused glances from the adults.
"How do you do that?" Oliver asked as he helped Kat out of her fleecy dove-grey coat. "They never listen to me that well."
His mother smiled serenely, smoothing down her hair in front of the mirror.
"Practice, dear. Practice."
"I knew you'd say that," her oldest son grumbled good-naturedly. "You've been saying it for as long as I can remember."
"And you still don't remember?" Kat said archly. "Then I guess I'll go on repeating myself for a while yet …"
"Give it up, Bro," Jay laughed at his best friend. "You know you can't win against Aunt Kat!"
Tommy straightened the collar of his pullover shirt and cast her a wry glance as the rest of their offspring grinned at Oliver. "You're really enjoying your role as family matriarch, aren't you?"
"But of course," Kat replied, a twinkle in her eyes. "One of the few advantages of reaching a higher age than others in the family."
"Oh? So have I; what does that make me?"
She took his arm, preparatory to walking into the living room. Her wedding band glinted golden in the lamplight, and Kat smiled to herself, thinking of a jeweller's box tucked away in her handbag. She'd show the contents later, after they'd broken the news to their children and when the grandchildren would be occupied with their presents.
"Old?" she said, tongue in cheek
General laughter drowned out Tommy's mock-enraged sputter.
~*~
Dinner was a huge success with everyone, and the four young women beamed proudly at the compliments being generously showered on them by their husbands and parents. Lynne was still recovering from her son's birth, so food preparation had been a joint effort by all of them. The children had torn through the wrappings of their presents, handed out gifts to their elders, and were now happily ensconced in Scott's room, reading, playing, and whatnot while the young men took care of cleanup.
With a satisfied sigh, Kat leaned back in her armchair. "This is nice," she commented, accepting a cup of coffee from Jasmine with a nod of thanks. "Being able to sit like this, not having to freeze leftovers, load the dishwasher … never mind all the cooking! Not that I'm complaining, I loved doing it for you kids, but Christmas always was a very busy time for me."
"You usually were running around like a headless chicken, too, because of the recitals you used to put up the day before Christmas with your ballet classes," Tommy reminded her somewhat ungallantly. He was slightly put out because his son, son-in-law and Kat's boys had firmly locked him out of the kitchen as well. 'Go and entertain the ladies, Dad,' Jay had told him in no uncertain terms. 'We'll manage.' Just because last year he'd broken two plates of Lynne's favourite china set … he'd replaced them right after New Year's, too! What did it matter if the colour of the glaze didn't match 100%?
"Dad!" Trini protested. "You can't say that to Aunt Kat!"
"It's not very nice," Jasmine agreed, her almond-shaped eyes laughing. With her café-au-lait skin and delicate Asian features, she was like an exotic flower in the group of lovely young women surrounding him.
"Typical for the men in this family, I'd say," redheaded Rachel huffed, exaggerating only slightly. "Tell me, Aunt Kat – did Jared learn his lack of tact from the guys, from Uncle Tommy here, or did they all rub off of each other?"
Lynne grinned and winked at her mother. "Oh, definitely the latter, I'd say. After all, Uncle Tommy is still one of the boys at heart, isn't he?"
Kat's lips twitched with barely-hidden amusement. She loved the easy banter, so full of affection, that her and Tommy's family shared. "No comment," she said.
"Aw Mom, that's a copout!"
"No copout, Sweetie. Just bearing in mind that Tommy is providing my ride home."
"Sassy and materialistic. A fine mother you've raised, Lynne," Tommy mock-grumbled, causing the next round of laughter. To tell the truth, he was beginning to rather enjoy being surrounded by five beautiful women, being waited on with fresh coffee and sitting on a comfortable couch. *Much better than drying dishes after all,* he admitted silently to himself.
By and by, the young men finished in the kitchen and drifted back, bearing plates with cookies and a cake Kat had provided over her daughter's protest – but the nut roll was an old family recipe that had emigrated with her family from England to Australia and then to the USA; she was not giving up on that tradition until she had to.
"Ah, this is the life," Jay moaned contentedly, stretching out his long legs as he half-leaned, half-sat in the same chair as his wife. "Good food, work all done, great company … what more can a guy want?" He beamed impartially at his family.
"More coffee?" Ramon asked dryly, refilling his brother-in-law's cup. "You guzzle that stuff like Oliver's car does oil!"
"Not anymore," the oldest Scott said complacently. "I had the oil pump fixed last week."
"Can't we try that with Jay?" Jared inquired slyly. "I'll gladly chip in!"
"Me, too," Ramon added.
Oliver grinned. "Somehow I doubt that Jay's bottomless pit can be fixed for only $68,79."
Kat's silvery laughter rang over the others'. "You know, Ramon and Rachel, that's what we used to call Rocky," she reminisced fondly. "That boy could eat like nobody else when we were still in high school!"
"Yes, as if food was in danger of going out of fashion the next day," Tommy added with a grin. "We used to tease him a lot about that."
"Really? I'll have to ask Tio Rocky about some of your youthful misdemeanours one of these days," Rachel mused. "Dad never tells me anything; he just smiles to himself in a way that I just know he's thinking of some really juicy stuff, but he just won't talk!"
"Billy always knew how to keep his mouth shut," Tommy murmured to Kat under his breath. She nodded, put on her most angelic expression and met her offspring's enquiring looks blandly.
"Indeed. Besides, who says there is anything to tell about us at all?"
"There must be!" Oliver insisted. "I just can't believe that a group of friends that included Uncle Rocky, Uncle Zack and Aunt Aisha does not have some pretty good things to pass on!"
Trini spoke up without thinking. "If Mom were still here, this is where she'd get out her photo albums for some show-and-tell," she recalled. "I used to love that part of Christmas – almost as much as my presents!" Too late, she remembered why and when that tradition had been discontinued – three years ago, after Kimberly's death. Tommy just hadn't been able to face it without breaking down.
She raised stricken eyes to her father. "Dad, I'm so sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I …"
Tommy's laughter had faded at the reminder of what he'd lost, but this time, he recovered quickly. Reaching out, he patted Trini's knee. "It's alright, baby," he murmured. "It still hurts, yes, but I don't mind. Much, anyway." He drew a deep breath, glancing surreptitiously at Katherine, who gave him an encouraging nod. "As a matter of fact, I've been thinking about that as well recently, and … well, if you kids don't mind, we can resurrect that tradition today and go through the albums together. I've brought a few," he added almost diffidently.
There was a moment of general silence, then Jay looked fully at his father. "I'd like that a lot, Dad," he said quietly. "Like Trini said, it was one of the best things about Christmas."
"Tell me where you left the albums, and I'll get them," Oliver offered. He usually wasn't particularly keen on taking a walk down memory lane, preferring to live in the present rather than in the past, but he'd loved Aunt Kim, too, and if it would help Uncle Tommy cope with his loss, he wasn't going to argue. Besides, his own mother liked looking at old pictures as well.
"They're in the trunk of my car." Tommy tossed his keys to Oliver, who caught them deftly.
"Right." Quickly, he went to fetch the mementoes.
"When did Aunt Kim start this tradition, anyway?" Ramon wanted to know.
"I think that was my doing," Kat interjected. "Kim always was the one of us who loved to collect pictures, but when I gave her her first scrapbook with childhood pictures, the habit really took off. That was the year Jason died – that Christmas when you two fell in love," she added with a wink at Lynne and Jay.
"How do you know that?" Lynne gasped, her blue eyes wide.
"Because I saw you two kissing out on the porch."
"Oh." Even twenty years after the fact, the realization that her mother had caught them smooching had the power to make Lynne blush. Jay just looked sheepish.
"Oops."
Thankfully, he was spared from more than a few snickers and rolled eyes by Oliver's return with an armload of cloth-bound albums.
"Here we are," he said with a satisfied grin. "I even managed not to sneak a peek."
"You wouldn't have known where to start, anyway," Tommy commented, quickly sorting the volumes into chronological order. He stacked them beside his seat, started to reach for the first, then hesitated. He looked up and across at Kat, who sat in the armchair next to him. She met his questioning glance serenely and nodded, laying her hand in his. He squeezed the slender fingers gratefully.
Tommy swallowed, inhaled deeply, then let his eyes sweep the room. He looked especially intensely at Jay, Trini, Oliver, Lynne and Jared.
"Before we begin," he started, "there's something we have to tell you."
"What is it, Dad?" Trini asked, still a bit fearful her innocent recollection had hurt her father's feelings.
"And who's we?" Oliver wanted to know, raising an eyebrow at the two slightly wrinkled hands resting entwined on the couch's armrest.
"'We' is Tommy and I, hon," Katherine said calmly, her voice shaking slightly despite her best efforts at control.
"As in, the two of you together?" Jared blurted, seeing the same thing his older brother did and drawing the right conclusion with astonishing speed.
Lynne gasped as both Tommy and Kat nodded solemnly. It was only her father-in-law who answered, though.
"Yes. Kat has agreed to become my wife."
There was a moment of stunned silence, broken by a flabbergasted Jay. "You're getting MARRIED?!?!?"
"Yes," Kat confirmed, her crystalline eyes shining with affection as she glanced at Tommy. "I hope you kids don't mind too much …"
"Mind? I think it's wonderful," Jasmine gushed, surging towards her mother-in-law. "Oh, I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!"
Ramon and Rachel chimed in, adding their best wishes along with heartfelt hugs while the Scott and Oliver children just sat there, stunned and wide-eyed. This was something they hadn't expected. Not that they objected to their parents' choice of mates, but .. it was pretty sudden nonetheless, and would take time to get used to. Characteristically, Jay and Oliver recovered their wits first – and nearly simultaneously – when Kat's anxious blue eyes swivelled towards them over the dark heads of her children's spouses.
"I … I think that … that's great," Jay murmured. "Unexpected, but … great."
Oliver nodded firmly. He, of all his siblings, maybe knew best how hard his mother had been hit by Jason's untimely early death. He'd been the oldest, and while his sister had shared more of Kat's emotions than himself, he'd helped carry the family burden from that day onward. "Yeah. Terrific, in fact. I'm very glad for you guys," he declared staunchly.
"Thank you all," Kat whispered, feeling a little weepy. "We were a little concerned about how you'd react."
"You didn't think we'd yell and scream in protest, did you, Mom?" Jared queried, feeling his surprise slowly give way to a whole welter of emotions – wonder, gladness, and even a touch of relief. He'd been the last to move out of his childhood home, first for college, then quite a distance away when his career as a champion figure skater took him from California to Colorado, to the USFSA's national headquarters. Having followed in his mother's and Kimberly's footsteps, he'd been a Pan Global, even Olympic contender, won several medals and was doing quite well now as a choreographer and talent scout as well as performing on the pro circuit.
"Well … yes," Kat admitted, an embarrassed blush staining her cheeks. "I wasn't sure you'd understand our decision."
"Mom, anything that makes you happy is making us happy, too," Oliver said warmly, giving her a hug. "To tell the truth, we were worried a bit about you staying all alone in the house. Now that you're going to be with Uncle Tommy, we know you'll be taken care of."
That bit of filial overprotectiveness helped Kat regain her equilibrium.
"Thanks a lot, Oliver. For your information, I can take care of myself – have done so for almost two decades – quite well," she said, a touch of exasperation in her voice. "And the three of you, I might add! I'm not marrying Tommy because I'm some kind of damsel in distress, or a helpless little old lady!"
Jasmine whapped her husband on the arm, shaking her head. "Don't mind him, Kat; we know you're not."
"Why do you want to marry, Dad?" Jay asked, still somewhat dazed by the news. "I mean, Mom's been gone only three years …"
"Three very long, very lonely years, son," Tommy murmured. "With you guys having your own lives, I was feeling kinda lost, as you know. Kat has helped me so much to get my life back on track … she's truly a wonderful person, always has been." He sent her a fond smile. "Can you blame me for wanting to hold on to her?"
"Not at all," Trini declared firmly. "I'm with Oliver on this – if it makes you guys happy, I'm all for it. Let's face it, much as we might wish otherwise, Mom and Uncle Jason are not coming back, ever, and it's your life to live. And if I have to have a stepmother at all, I can think of no-one I'd rather have than Aunt Kat!"
"Oh good grief, yes," Jay exclaimed. "You'll not only be my mother-in-law, but my stepmother as well! And Dad'll be the same for Lynne … honey, we're being smothered in double-duty parents!"
"Is that like double Oreos?" Ramon snickered irrepressibly, liking the thought. He'd heard some stories from his father, about how Kat and Tommy used to date each other before both marrying someone else … suddenly, he eyed the stack of photo albums with new, eager eyes. If the few times he'd experienced the tradition while Kim was still alive were any indication, there were bound to be some good stories hidden in their pages.
"Is food all you can think about?" Rachel groaned, shooting her cousin a baleful glare. "After the huge dinner you just had, too! Here, have a cookie!" She shoved a brownie into his hand, and rolled her eyes when Ramon unrepentantly bit into it.
"Well, maybe we should all be thinking not about food, but about drink," Lynne suggested, smiling at her mother. "Jay, I have some champagne on ice; will you get it? I think this calls for a toast." Her voice was a trifle unsteady, but the announcement had come as something of a shock, after all.
"Right! Come on, guys!"
Within minutes, crystal flutes were filled with the sparkling wine.
"To the happy couple!"
Glasses clinked together, and more hugs and congratulations were exchanged when Tommy ceremoniously placed the ring Kat had carried in her purse on her finger. It was a narrow platinum band with a single diamond set in a triangular protrusion; it fit perfectly over the gold wedding band Jason had given her so long ago.
"Not a replacement, but an addition," he explained softly, kissing Kat's hand.
"That's how I feel, too," she replied with a smile. "Thank you."
At last, everybody resumed their seats again, and Jared spoke up with a comical waggle of his eyebrows.
"Before the girls get lost in wedding plans and stuff, can we please look at the pictures?" he wheedled. "After all, that's what we were going to do, right, before we got that bombshell dropped on us?"
Four pairs of eyes zeroed in on him in various stages of outrage. "Jared, if I didn't need a footstool to reach that high, I'd pull your ears," his older sister chided.
"I can throw him out of the chair to the ground, if you want," Rachel offered sweetly. She'd been an instructor at the Red Dragon dojo during her college days and perfectly capable of doing so.
"Yeah, and I'll sit on him so he can't escape," Jasmine said, a challenging glint in her eyes that was very reminiscent of Tanya at her best.
Lynne grinned. "I'll help, too."
Jared pretended to flinch away and cowered in his chair. "Help, guys!"
"Not on your life, kiddo," his older brother flatly refused, lips quivering with mirth. "My wife wants a shot at you, she's my guest!"
"Yeah. You want to live dangerously, leave us out of it. We're way smarter than that!" Ramon nodded sagely, to his wife's derisive hoot.
"Looks as if you're on your own. Tough luck," Jay commiserated with false piety. "He's all yours, ladies!"
Jared sputtered in mock outrage, at the same time scooting back rapidly, out of harm's reach … only to bump into the dining table. His blue eyes grew faintly alarmed as the girls converged on him, retribution clearly on their minds. "Mom! HELP!"
~*~
Kat and Tommy listened to their children's bickering with secret amusement and long-suffering expressions. He couldn't suppress a chuckle. "Now that sounds familiar."
"Yes," Kat said dryly. "We've only been hearing it for the last thirty-plus years or so. Will it ever stop?"
"Probably not," Tommy murmured, then raised his voice in a tone he usually reserved for the dojo – one Kat had heard more than once on the battlefield in her youth. It demanded instant obedience.
"That's enough, kids."
"Uh-oh. The Master's Voice has spoken," Oliver muttered to his best friend as they all went docilely back to their seats. Jay only grinned. When everybody had settled down again, Tommy cleared his throat, smiled briefly to show he wasn't angry, then reached for the first album. Opening it on the front page, he looked at the pictures pasted there. A reminiscent smile played around his mouth – it was a collage showing him with Kimberly before their break-up, then with Kat at the Prom shortly before she went to London, Jason and Emily at the Beach Club, Kat and Jason sharing a soft drink at a family cook-out, he and Kim again after their reunion, and lastly all four of them together, both women proudly displaying their engagement rings for the camera.
"Oh my. There you have our relationship history in a nutshell," Kat chuckled, tapping a finger on the picture of herself and Jason. Even on the glossy cardboard, it was obvious that they had been lost in each other. "I hadn't even noticed someone was taking pictures!"
"What do you mean, Mom?" Lynne asked, intrigued. "This is your Prom, right? Why were you dancing with Uncle Tommy? Wasn't Aunt Kim there? Or did she take the picture?"
Her mother smiled.
"Yes, because he was my date, no, and no," she answered all questions succinctly and in order.
"Uncle Tommy was your date for Prom?" Rachel wanted to know. "Why not Kim? I thought they'd been dating since sophomore year …"
Tommy sighed, able now to laugh at the memory.
"We were … only … you know that Kimberly went to Florida, to train for the Pan Global Games, at the beginning of senior year, right?" He waited for her nod, then continued. "Well … while she was there, something happened that made her break up with me …"
"... and while trying to help Tommy through that, he and I became closer," Kat finished for him, summarizing those awkward, uncertain months when their relationship first blossomed. "By the time Jason had returned from Geneva, Tommy and I were a couple. Well, he asked me out on our first date shortly after," she amended.
"What happened to split you guys up?" Oliver asked, noting how happy they looked in the pictures. "Was it Dad coming home?"
"No, it was something that happened over time," Kat murmured, with a touch of sadness. She didn't regret how things had turned out after all, but still ....
"So when did you realize that things weren't going to work out between
you and Uncle Tommy?" Jared wondered.
To Be Continued ...