"This is Ma's house," Sully said, as he parked Michaela's Mercedes in the driveway next to a truck.
Sully offered to drive them all there together, and of their two vehicles, the Mercedes had the best seating. Michaela had never sat in the passenger seat of her car before, and it felt a little strange, but she was happy to allow Sully to drive them.
She looked at the truck that Sully had parked next to and thought it looked just like his truck, except it was navy blue and his was dark gray.
"That looks like your truck," Michaela remarked.
"That's a Silverado," Sully informed her, "It's my brother's truck. It's kinda like mine, but I drive a Tundra."
"Oh," Michaela said, "You've taught me something new."
Sully smiled and winked at her.
After having spent a full twenty minutes with her at around 2:00 am that morning, Sully went home and went to sleep. Instead of calling her at 7:00 am, like he'd been doing every morning since their lover's tiff, he showed up at her home with his children. He wanted to ensure that Michaela got her much-needed rest, and he knew that she was only going to sleep easily, while her children were awake, if she felt that they were safe and had adult supervision.
It was a small world, Michaela thought as she and Sully climbed out of her car. She just hadn't realized how small the world was. Sully told her who Daniel's girlfriend was after she'd awoken from her long morning nap. She remembered that Carol woman, and how disgusted she was when she put her hands all over Sully. It wasn't the act that angered Michaela, per se, it was the fact that the woman believed that Michaela was his wife, and she was trying to make her think that she and Sully were having an affair or something. It was behind them now, and though she wasn't exactly thrilled to be having dinner with the woman, Michaela simply shrugged it off. She wasn't about to allow this to ruin her night. They were having dinner to celebrate Sully and that was what was most important to her.
Once they were both out of the Mercedes, they both opened the back doors to let Zachary, Colleen, and Matthew out of the middle row of seats. Then they folded down the middle row and unbuckled Brian and Hanna from their car seats and helped them out of the vehicle.
"It's nice to have extra seats today," Michaela told Sully as she walked around the car to take his hand. She adjusted her large tote bag that she'd brought with her that evening.
"What do ya mean?" Sully asked, taking hold of her hand and bringing her fingers to his lips.
Hanna raced up to the front door with Brian following behind her. Matthew and Zachary followed behind them, and behind the two older boys, was Colleen.
The two adults hadn't moved yet and stood in the driveway holding hands.
"I usually only have four people at most in my car at one time," Michaela explained, "so there are always three extra seats that are not in use. I always thought that perhaps I should trade my car in for something smaller, but the car was perfect for us today. There are seven seats for seven people."
Sully smiled at her and looked back at her Mercedes. He turned back to the house, and after interlacing their fingers, he started to lead them up the driveway. His mind wandered to his dreams. He'd seen their house, but never their cars. He wondered if one day they would be trading in her GLS for a Sprinter to fit their growing family. Perhaps they would need a large passenger van as their family car, but they would get her something smaller to drive to and from work every day.
As they walked up the driveway, Michaela looked at the house. Snowbird lived in a tan prairie style cottage, with dark brown trim. Sully had told her already that when he was young, they lived in a much larger home, but when half of their family died in the fire, Snowbird downsized to the three-bedroom-two-bath home that they were having dinner in that evening.
"Hello!" Snowbird called from the front door. She walked out on her porch and was first greeted by her two-year-old granddaughter wrapping her arms around her legs, "It's my Hanna Pretty Flower!" she cheered as she hugged her back with one arm.
"Hi, Grandma!" Zachary shouted happily.
"My handsome Zachary," Snowbird said sweetly and held out her free arm for him, "You're getting so tall!" She looked around and said, "Who else do we have? I see two more handsome young men. Hello Matthew, Hello Brian! And last but not least, I see Colleen with all that pretty hair. Welcome! Welcome! Come inside!"
Snowbird let go of her grandchildren and allowed all of the children to go inside. The only one that didn't go in immediately was Colleen.
"You look a little lonely," Snowbird said, she could tell the child felt a little out of place.
Colleen looked up at her and nodded. She loved Sully, Zachary, and Hanna and she was happy to have them around. Regardless of that, Colleen still sometimes did feel like the odd one out because she didn't have a partner or best friend like everyone else.
Michaela saw how sad her daughter looked when she nodded at Snowbird and thought she was about to be sick, but then the situation changed.
"You aren't the only one," Snowbird told her and held out her hand, "Everyone has their special friend with them, but you and I. How about we team up and be special friends tonight?"
Colleen's eyes brightened at the idea of having Snowbird be her special friend. She smiled up at Snowbird and took her hand as they went inside the house.
Sensing her thoughts, Sully squeezed her hand and said, "She gets along real good with Rosemary when she comes to conditionin' with Matthew. Ya know, maybe I can talk to Rosemary's folks about–"
"Sully, that's very sweet," Michaela interjected, "It would be impossible to take Rosemary with us to every function we go to."
"I wasn't suggestin' that," he explained, "I'm just sayin' that maybe we can have her invite a friend to come with us, every now and then, and it would be easy to invite Rosemary to come along."
"That isn't a bad idea," Michaela said, having had that same idea herself in the past, but then she protested, "I just don't know how realistic that is. Most parents are not going to allow their six-year-olds to attend someone else's family functions, especially during the holiday season. I wouldn't do it. I want mine with me during this time of the year."
"I do too," Sully said with a chuckle, "Still, when we start the new year, we can let her bring someone along sometimes."
"What do we do in the meantime?" Michaela asked, "It's very sweet of your mother to engage Colleen tonight, but it's also something that I don't think we can rely on for the long term. Your mother has her own life. It's a 'sometimes' thing like having her invite a friend."
"Then we can engage her more," Sully said as if it was common sense, "We can make her feel special. In fact, I have somethin' for her. I'll show you once we get inside."
"What is it?" Michaela asked.
"I'd rather ya see it first," Sully insisted and then guided Michaela inside his mother's house.
When Michaela entered Snowbird's house, the first thing that caught her attention was the flooring. It was a mixture of very vibrant browns, reds, burnt oranges, and dark yellows.
"Me and Daniel laid all the Spanish tiles in here," Sully informed her when he watched her eyes glance downward to view the terracotta flooring. Sully then pointed up, "and we put in all the light fixtures."
Michaela's eyes followed the direction that Sully was pointing to. She saw several wrought iron light fixtures, including a large chandelier that hung over the dining room table.
"That rug was my father's favorite," Sully said, pointing to the blue and cream-colored woven rug that was anchoring the living room furniture of brown leather chairs, a cream-colored, chenille couch, and a long, sturdy, oak coffee table.
As she looked around the room, what caught Michaela's attention was the window coverings and throw pillows. The patterns and colors had a strong Native American influence. She'd seen some similar patterns in Sully's house, but his home wasn't as well put together as his mother's. With the exception of the children's bedrooms, Sully's house was rather stark. It was clean and he had some furniture, but Michaela sensed that the minimal decor that was present was Snowbird's doing.
Furthermore, it didn't escape her notice that Snowbird's Christian beliefs were also present in the home. She had her Christmas tree up and she'd turned on the lights. It had a hodgepodge of ornaments and a brightly colored star on top.
"I have to get my Christmas tree up," Michaela whispered to him, feeling so behind.
"Me too," Sully whispered back, "Ya wanna do it together? I can put your tree up, cover it with lights and put on the topper. Then you and the kids can put on all the ornaments. After that, we can do the same thing at my house…kinda"
"What do you mean by kinda?" Michaela inquired.
"I don't have very many ornaments," he confessed.
"Even if you did, I have a feeling that you don't like putting ornaments on the tree, " Michaela teased him with a laugh.
"I consider myself to be more of a fire safety guy, than a tree decorator," he admitted, grinning at her.
Michaela smiled and shook her head, "What kind of ornaments do you have?"
"I have a star for the top, like that," he replied, pointing to Snowbirds tree topper, "I got all of Zac's handmade ornaments, Hanna hasn't made me any yet. I usually go to the Dollar Tree and get some construction paper. Zac and I have our tradition of making our paper garland."
"That's all?" Michaela asked. She had the paper, felt, and popsicle stick ornaments that her kids made for her too, but she also had a large variety of hallmark ornaments and glass balls. Then she thought that perhaps his wife decorated the tree for him, and it was too painful for him to pull out all of her ornaments. She wanted to ask him if that was true without hurting his feelings, so she decided to ask, "Is that how you decorate every year?"
"Yeah," Sully said with a shrug.
Michaela wasn't expecting that answer, so she decided to ask him what she was thinking outright and prayed that it wouldn't hurt him, "I don't want to bring up any sadness, especially when we are here to celebrate your birthday, but how in the world did you get your wife to agree to that? She must have been a saint."
Sully chuckled loudly, "Ma used to say the same thing. Abagail liked listenin' to Christmas music and stringin' popcorn with Zac. That was her favorite thing. Her ma had a collection of Christmas ornaments, but she always strug popcorn with her pa. So, bottom up, we had a row of popcorn and then a row of construction paper. It was like a pattern. We had lights and Zac's homemade ornaments and the star on top."
"That's very sweet," Michaela commented.
"Yeah," he agreed, "I guess I'll do that with him too this year, if he wants to."
"Perhaps I can do that with him," Michaela volunteered.
"Really?" Sully questioned; he'd never ask her to do that.
"If Zac wants to," she prefaced, not wanting to overstep, "I don't want him to feel like I am trying to replace his mother. I'm not trying to do that at all, especially not in his heart. I would just like a chance to build a bond with him. You've bonded so well with Matthew already, and I love how much you care for Colleen. And…and… I think it has been very simple for me to bond with Hanna and for you to bond with Brian because they're both so young. It's harder with older children…and… I want to bond with Zachary."
Sully smiled warmly at her, wondering how he got so lucky. Wherever their future may lead, she would try to make a go of it. She would put forth the effort for his children, and she also knew that he wanted to do the same for her children, "I'll talk to him first, but I think he'll like that."
Michaela smiled up at him, liking that answer.
"I suppose you have a whole Lyndals catalog of Christmas ornaments to unpack," Sully teased.
"No, not an entire catalog," she joked back, "I do like to put out the handmade ornaments that my children have given to me. I also have my share of store-bought ornaments, and I actually have three different angel toppers, they were all gifts. I usually let the kids decide which angel to put on top."
"Do they have a favorite?" he questioned out of curiosity.
"Matthew usually wants the one that is wearing a white dress and has fiber optic wings," she said, as Sully chuckled, "Colleen usually likes the one that is wearing a red dress because she thinks it looks like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. We watch a Beauty and the Beast Christmas movie every year and Belle is wearing a red dress in it. Brian's not old enough to care."
"What does the other angel look like?" Sully asked, "You said you had three."
"That one is beautiful," Michaela informed him, "She has on a green velvet snow cloak with white fur trim, and she is wearing it over a white lace dress. Unfortunately, the only light it has on it is the candle that she's holding in her hand. Since it doesn't have the fiber optic wings and it doesn't look like Belle…"
"It never gets picked," Sully finished her sentence.
"Yes," Michaela said, and then something else caught her eye. Snowbird had a gorgeous nativity set out. Michaela walked toward it and admired the beauty of it.
"That's pretty new," Sully told her, walking up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and gently placed his hands on her abdomen, "It's a nice one. Believe it or not, Daniel found that at Costco a couple of years ago."
"It's lovely," she commented, feeling her skin tingle because of his close proximity, "Didn't it come with an angel?"
"Ma doesn't usually put out angels unless they come from an LDS store," Sully said.
"Why?" Michaela questioned, turning a little in his arms so she could look into his eyes.
"She was taught that angels don't have wings," he explained, "Most nativity sets that are sold, like this one probably, come with an angel that does have wings. She's not a practicin' Mormon anymore, but there are some beliefs and traditions that she still holds from childhood."
"Of course," Michaela said softly, "Does it bother you to see angels with wings?"
"No," he replied with a laugh, "My birth parents didn't teach us that, and Ma doesn't really harp on it. She got me and Abagail the star tree topper, as a Christmas gift, the first year we got married. Had we changed it out for an angel with wings, Ma woulda been okay. We never did, but Ma wouldn't have fought with us... well, me… about it. She didn't raise us as Mormons, not even Walter. She knows that other Christians don't share the same interpretation of angels."
Michaela noted to herself that she wanted to find a nativity set from an LDS store to get Snowbird. Perhaps next Christmas, she thought. She couldn't afford it this year and she knew from within that planning for next year wasn't too far in advance. She and Sully were going to be together next year, she just knew it. She could practically taste their future, and thanks to the dreams she'd been having about them lately, she felt like she could see their future too.
"Didn't you say that you have something for Colleen?" Michaela asked, remembering their conversation from the driveway.
"Yeah," Sully said. He unwrapped his arms from around her waist and took her hand, "It's in my old bedroom–"
CRASH!
Michaela and Sully both looked toward the loud sound.
"Careful, Daniel!" They heard Snowbird yell from the kitchen.
"Great," Sully groaned, knowing his brother had started rough housing with the children.
"Take them outside, if you wanna play like that!" They heard Snowbird shout.
"We best go check on that first," a frustrated Sully said.
"Indeed," Michaela answered.
It was only 5:30 in the evening, but the sun had already gone down. Sully, Michaela, Daniel and Snowbird all sat around the outdoor firepit on Snowbird's back porch.
Since Daniel got the children, all riled up, Sully and Snowbird decided that he was going to get them calmed down. Daniel went to his old bedroom and dugout their old Super Nintendo and set it up for the kids. Matthew and Zachary took turns as Mario and Luigi while the toddlers watched. Colleen didn't seem that interested in watching Mario and Luigi kick Koopa shells, so he found a coloring book pack that he'd brought with him for Hanna and opened it. He gave Colleen a book and some crayons.
The opening to Snowbird's back porch was a sliding glass door. Daniel simply closed the screen door that separated them from the children so the adults could talk but could still hear if there was trouble inside.
"You have great kids," Daniel told Michaela.
"Thank you," Michaela replied with a sweet smile.
"You're welcome," he said. He also wanted to say that she had great legs, but he held that in. Michaela was wearing a dark red, long-sleeved, dress that reached her knees. She paired it with black tights and black ankle boots and completed her outfit with a simple string of white pearls. She wore her hair long and straight. Though she wasn't showing very much skin at all, Daniel still thought her legs looked nice. His deviant mind started to wonder what she'd look like on her back with her dress wrinkled and bunched up at her waist...her legs wrapped around him...her body writhing beneath him, but he stopped himself and pushed those thoughts away. Whatever she looked like in that state was his brother's business, not his.
"I thought you were going to introduce me to your girlfriend," Snowbird said, "Please tell me it's a real woman and not a pool floaty."
Sully burst out laughing and Michaela looked at him, wanting him to explain the inside joke.
"Am I ever gonna live that down?" Daniel demanded to know, but was starting to laugh, "It was just a joke."
"You brought a blow-up doll home and introduced it to me as your girlfriend…Sally?" Snowbird said, "No, you are not going to live that down unless you finally get married, to a real woman, and start giving me grandchildren."
"Susie," Daniel corrected. Then he looked at Sully feigning bitterness, and said, "I named her Susie, and I'd still have her if Sully hadn't murdered her." He was only partly feigning bitterness, however, because he was still a little upset with his brother for destroying the doll. Susie had been a gag gift to him from his band mate.
Michaela looked to Sully to find out how he "murdered" Susie.
Sully looked back at her and explained, "Genius over here brought that thing to the pool and let my son use it as a floaty…"
Michaela eyed Daniel strangely.
"He didn't know what it was," Daniel told her, attempting to justify his actions, "He thought it was another raft. He and Hanna both have alligator rafts, courtesy of their Uncle Daniel."
"...and I popped that thing," Sully continued, sounding a little more serious, "Then I threw it in the trash where it belongs."
"Enough," Snowbird said, wanting to move on from the conversation. What was meant to be lighthearted talk was turning a little South, and she didn't want Sully and Daniel to end up in a fight, so she got back to the topic at hand, "Where is she, Daniel?"
"Deerie works in real estate," Daniel explained to Snowbird, "She had to do a final walk through with a client today and get some contracts signed. She said she was comin' right after she was done with that."
"My roast will be done in thirty minutes. We can let it rest for fifteen minutes or so after it's cooked, but then it's time for dinner," Snowbird said. This was a dinner in honor of Sully. She spent a lot of money buying fresh venison from a local butcher and didn't want her venison roast to get cold before Sully had a chance to taste it.
"She'll be here," Daniel insisted, and just like magic, the doorbell rang, "I think that's for me. Ya wanna come to the door with me Ma?"
"I do," Snowbird said and got up to follow Daniel to the front door.
While they were sitting out there alone, Sully took the opportunity to kiss Michaela's cheek and rub the back of her neck with one hand, "You've been great."
"So have you," she replied, placing her hand on his knee to rub it the same way that he was rubbing her neck, "Watching you and Daniel is so strange."
"How so?" he inquired.
"In some ways, you're both just alike," Michaela said, "You're both very charming, and have similar interests. In other ways, you're nothing alike. He doesn't seem to have as much common sense as you do."
"What makes ya say that?" Sully questioned. Sometimes Daniel did do things that lacked common sense in his opinion too. He was just curious as to why Michaela thought that way.
"If someone handed an inflatable doll to one of my children to use as a float, I would have popped it too. I don't understand why he would do that. That's not funny, it's just...gross," She explained, calling his actions "gross" for the lack of a better word.
"You're right, but for what it's worth, I don't think he was tryin' to be gross," Sully said. He wasn't attempting to defend Daniel, he was simply trying to explain his actions, "Since Ma called it a pool floaty, he decided to use it as one. It was another joke. When Zac said he wanted a turn, he gave him one. Zac didn't know what it was, but it still made me mad to see him playin' with it. Daniel doesn't have any kids, and sometimes he doesn't have any sense about kids. They're only innocent for so long. They get exposed to a lot of crap, and it can happen anywhere. As parents, you and me…we wanna keep trash out of their heads for as long as possible."
"Yes," Michaela agreed, "That's exactly right."
Sully heard the sound of footsteps and turned around. The first thing he saw was his mother looking at him cross-eyed through the screen door. Then he looked behind her, saw why, and scoffed. Sully said quietly, but loud enough for Michaela to hear it, "That's embarrassin'." He felt that he and his brother definitely had different taste in women.
Michaela turned around and followed the direction of Sully's gaze. Her eyes widened and she said, "Good Grief!"
Carol walked into the living room on Daniel's arm. She was wearing a long, white peacoat, as protection from the cold, but she had unbuttoned it to reveal a skintight spaghetti strap mini dress that was made out of black faux snakeskin. Her hair was half-up and teased to make her look like Brigette Bardot.
Sully turned his attention to Daniel. Daniel just about ate her up when she came to his party, dressed in something similar, on the previous night. However, as far as Sully could tell, Daniel appeared to be a little embarrassed with her on his arm right then.
"I guess she wanted to be the prettiest woman in the room," Michaela commented.
"You're the prettiest woman in the room," Sully said, sounding absentminded.
When Michaela looked his way, she realized that he was still studying his brother's face, so he probably hadn't meant to say what he'd just said out loud. However, it thrilled her to know that he was thinking it. She leaned forward and kissed the side of his face, and smiled at him when she made him jump, "You mean you wouldn't want to see me dressed in something like that?"
Sully chuckled and licked his lips at the thought of her bare skin, "I suppose… if we were alone and behind closed doors… then yeah, I'd like to see ya in something like that or maybe even a little more undressed than that."
"Sully!" Michaela scolded and looked down. She knew her cheeks were turning pink.
"I don't care about arm candy, Darlin'," he explained, smirking at her response, "If we went to a club or a concert and ya wanted to show some leg, I wouldn't exactly complain. But we're at a family dinner tonight, and I'm very happy with what you're wearin'."
Once dinner was served, Snowbird sat at the head of the table. They decided it was best to sit Brian and Hanna at the other end, because their chairs would fit, and they didn't need much elbow room. Michaela and Sully sat across from each other both on either side of Brian and Hanna, so they could be there to help them, if it was needed. Next to Michaela, sat Matthew, then Zachary, and then Colleen. Colleen chose a seat next to Snowbird. Next to Sully, was Carol and then Daniel.
They lined the food up on the kitchen counter and served themselves buffet style. Snowbird helped serve Colleen, and Michaela held up both Brian's and Hanna's plates so Sully could put food on each plate. Then Michaela placed them in front of the two toddlers. Once everyone was situated, they had a nice meal. When they were finished and everything was cleared, Snowbird shouted, "Present Time!"
"Ma," Sully said with a nervous chuckle, getting a little red.
"Yes," Snowbird insisted, "and you can open mine first." Then she got up, retrieved a large, red gift bag from under her Christmas tree and set it in front of Sully. After giving it to him, she quickly returned to her seat so she wouldn't miss the look on his face when he opened her present.
Sully removed the tissue paper from the bag and inside was a fur pouch, and he wondered if it was genuine deer skin that he was holding or was it a high-quality faux fur. His inquiry about the pouch disappeared as soon as he opened it and saw what was inside. Sully was surprised to find genuine Cheyenne medicine arrows inside the pouch.
"They belonged to your father," Snowbird said, "They've been passed down from generation to generation. They were special to him, and I know he'd want you to have them."
"Oh, Ma," Sully whispered, but was loud enough for everyone to hear. He honestly didn't know what to say.
Cloud Dancing had always meant to pass those down to Walter. Since neither of them were still living, Snowbird entrusted them to Sully. She knew that he respected Cloud Dancing and his traditions. Sully would take good care of the arrows and wouldn't let them get damaged.
"I know you'll treasure them," Snowbird beamed softly and smiled warmly at him.
"Thanks, Ma," he said earnestly, truly moved by her gift.
Snowbird felt tears welling in her eyes, but before she let them fall, she shouted, "Who's next?"
"Me!" Daniel trumpeted loudly, pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Sully, "I didn't wrap it. I found it at a pawn shop. I thought it summed up a few of your loves: tools, campin', Swiss Army Knives, and cookin'."
Sully examined the gift and started laughing, "This is pretty cool," Daniel's gift was a 12-in-1 multi-tool of cooking utensils. The tool included a cheese grater, zester, garlic crusher, channel knife, small paring knife, serrated knife, peeler, fork, spoon, bottle opener, corkscrew, and can opener, "I'm gonna take this with me the next time I go campin'. Thanks, Daniel."
As Michaela watched the interaction between Sully and Daniel, she took note of a few things. She knew he loved tools and cooking, but she didn't know he loved Swiss Army Knives and camping.
"Let me see that," Snowbird said, and Sully handed the gadget to her. She looked at Daniel and told him, "This is great, I want one!"
"We'll look online, Ma," Daniel promised.
Zachary then got up from the table and went to the Christmas tree, like Snowbird had, and retrieved a blue gift bag. He set it in front of Sully and said, "Open ours next. I put my gift and Hanna's gift in there."
"Thanks, Son," Sully said with a smile and opened the present. First was a small five-by-seven canvas. It was a beautiful, life-like, painting of Pike's Peak.
"It's for your office," Zachary said proudly.
Sully was so proud of his son. His talent and skills improved every year, "Zachary, this is great work! Look at this!" He passed the painting around the table.
"Oh, it's wonderful," Michaela said honestly. She was very impressed by the obvious skill level of someone so young.
"Now I want one of these," Snowbird said, when she saw the painting.
"Me too," Daniel added, "You better get busy, Kid."
Zachary laughed at his uncle's comment.
"Nice," Carol said plainly, as if she could care less, and handed the painting back to Sully. Thankfully, nobody was paying attention to her reaction.
"What else is in here?" Sully asked, knowing Hanna's present was next, "Ohh!" He pulled a long necklace made of multi-colored rigatoni out of the bag, "Did you make a necklace for Daddy?" he asked as he pulled his daughter out of her chair and started kissing and tickling her, "Did you make a necklace for Daddy?" he asked a second time.
Hanna squealed with delight as she was being tickled. Once her father placed her back in her chair, she shouted, "I make one for Gamma too!" Which made all of the adults at the table laugh, "I go get it!" she said next and tried to get out of her chair.
"No!' Snowbird said with a laugh, stopping Hanna from getting up, "Give it to Grandma on Christmas."
Sully put on Hanna's necklace and then smiled at Michaela who was gazing at him with a very dreamy look on her face.
Michaela was in love. She knew it. She was head-over-heels in love with the man sitting across from her.
"Anymore presents?' Snowbird asked everyone at the table.
"Our pwesents!" Brian shouted.
"You got me a present, Little Man?" Sully questioned sweetly.
Brian giggled and nodded proudly. Then Michaela got up to retrieve his gifts from her purse.
"We all did," Colleen announced with a big smile on her face.
Then Sully looked at Matthew who was looking down like he was embarrassed, like he wasn't proud of the present he was giving to Sully.
Sully knew things were tight right now at Michaela's house. Brian and Colleen, being much younger, didn't know the difference, but Matthew was old enough to understand. A gift is a gift, and the boy shouldn't feel embarrassed, Sully thought to himself. He would have to discuss this with Michaela later and perhaps she would allow him to talk with Matthew and explain to him that the value of a gift, in his book, came from the love behind it and not the price tag.
Michaela placed a manilla file folder in front of Sully and then returned to her seat.
He opened it and found a blue piece of construction paper with splotches of green, red, and yellow paint on it. Then he heard Brian laughing and clapping his hands.
"Is this a finger paintin'?" Sully asked and Brian puffed up his chest and nodded happily.
Michaela smiled warmly at her son and kissed his cheek.
"Look how proud he is of himself," Snowbird commented quietly to Daniel.
"He's real cute," Daniel said back.
"This is goin' right on the fridge!" Sully said very enthusiastically, "Thank you, Brian!"
Brian clapped happily and got so excited that Sully got up, picked him up and threw him in the air and caught him. Then he kissed his cheek and set him back in his seat.
As Sully sat back down, Snowbird's eyes shifted to Michaela, who was staring at her son. It was clear to her that this woman just adored Sully. She whispered in Daniel's ear while everyone was distracted by Sully's loud expressions of gratitude, "I think we may be planning another wedding soon."
"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, Ma," Daniel whispered back. He too looked at Michaela's face and could tell that she was in love with his brother. He didn't begrudge Sully anything, but after meeting Michaela tonight, and seeing how lovely and down-to-Earth she was, especially compared to how ostentatious Carol could be, he couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy set in.
"What do we have next?" Sully asked. Next, was a pink piece of construction paper. It wasn't a drawing or a finger painting, but a collage of magazine pictures. There were ballerinas, hearts, Barbies, kittens, ponies; everything a typical six-year-old little girl would love. Sully chuckled out loud and looked at Colleen, "I bet ya made me a picture of all the prettiest and best things that ya could find!"
"I did!" Colleen said with pride. She found him all of her favorite pictures.
"I love it, Colleen! Thank you," Sully told the little girl, "It's definitely fridge worthy! It's going right up there next to your brother's finger paintin'!"
"I'm glad you like it!" Colleen said happily with a huge smile on her face.
"What else do we have here?" Sully questioned as he got to the last picture and glanced at Matthew who was looking down quietly. Sully turned his attention back to the piece of paper. It was a white piece of printer paper and there was a drawing of a large baseball, and in the middle, it read, Number One Coach, "This one is goin' in the office!"
"Really?" Matthew asked, perking up.
"Yeah!" Sully said with a wide smile, "That's where all my coachin' paperwork is. I hate paperwork, so I gotta have somethin' special to remind me why I do it. Thank you so much, Matthew, this is a great gift."
Matthew didn't get giggly like his younger siblings, but he did feel a sense of pride.
"I told ya he'd like it," Zachary quickly whispered to Matthew.
Then Michaela reached over and rubbed Matthew's back.
"I think that's it," Sully said and when no one responded, he said, "Thank you everyone for all of my wonderful presents, and Ma, thank you for dinner. This has all been real nice."
"You're welcome," several people at the table said in unison.
"Can we play bears now?" Hanna asked, referring to the gift that Horace had given him at his party.
"The bears are at home, Baby," Sully said. He knew that Hanna was going to love that contraption that Horace made him and was going to want to play with it over and over again. He was already tired of hearing the Happy Birthday song and knew that Hanna wasn't going to tire of it for a while.
"You should've brought it here," Snowbird told Sully.
"That needs to stay home, Ma," Sully replied and signaled to her, with his eyes, to drop the subject.
"I see," she responded and understood that this bear thing was probably something she didn't want in her house.
After Sully finished opening his gifts, and everyone was settled in the living room, he finally had a chance to take Michaela to his old bedroom to show her what he had for Colleen.
"I believe you ordered a dollhouse," Sully said, showing Michaela her daughter's Christmas present.
"Oh, Sully. It's gorgeous," Michaela told him with gratitude as she looked at the beautiful dollhouse. It was a small wooden house from Ikea. It was the same house that Hanna had, but it was painted differently. Hanna's was pink and had floral gardens painted on the outside. This one was painted white, and the interior walls were pink, white, and gray.
"Zac painted the wallpaper in these two rooms and all of the small paintings for the walls," Sully said, pointing to a room with pink and white flowers on a gray background. The other room had a gray background with white raindrops. The final rooms in the small dollhouse had white walls, but Zachary had created miniature paintings of swans, bunnies, and flowers, and Sully had glued each painting to the white walls.
Michaela couldn't believe how well the dollhouse turned out. She wasn't expecting it; Sully hadn't even told her that he'd found a dollhouse for Colleen. Moreover, the dollhouse was fully furnished. Michaela certainly hadn't expected doll furniture, "Where did you get all of this?"
"Ma found it on Facebook Marketplace, and it came with all of the furniture. Zac and I painted everything to match the house, and Ma ordered a pink blanket and pillow for the bed," he informed her.
"Thank you so much!" Michaela exclaimed and threw herself into Sully's arms, "It's exactly what I was looking for!"
"I'm glad ya like it, Darlin'," he said into her hair and hugged her tight. Then he bent down and kissed her a few times, "Will Colleen like it?"
"Yes, of course," Michaela confirmed and kissed him back.
Sully packed the dollhouse in a box with Michaela watching. Then, the two adults made a plan to get the box out of the house and into Michaela's SUV without any of the children noticing.
Michaela returned to the living room to ensure that the children were distracted. She kept their attention long enough for Sully to slip outside undetected.
Once he made it outside, he put the box into the back of the car and hid it so none of the kids would see it. He and Michaela also made a plan of how they were going to get the box into her house, without the kids knowing, and would put that plan into play once they left for the evening.
He closed the back of the Mercedes, turned around and was stunned when he found himself face to face with Carol.
"Hello, Sully," she greeted him.
"Hi," he said, taking a couple steps backward.
"You know if you were my boyfriend, I would've bought you a present," she informed him in an effort to tell him that she still liked him and would be a better girlfriend to him than Michaela.
"I really don't care about gifts," he answered with a shrug, not taking the bait. Then he turned to walk away from her, but she blocked his path.
"I would have treated you to a private viewing of me in a red silk negligee. I'm wearing it right now as a matter of fact. Even though I'm not your girlfriend, I'll still let you see it," she informed him, attempting to seduce him.
"Aren't ya datin' my brother?" Sully questioned, trying to get her to come to her senses before this got completely out of hand.
"If you haven't noticed, he's barely said two words to me all night," Carol complained, crossing her arms in front of her, "Since we've both been slighted by our significant others, I thought we could team up and get even."
"Michaela hasn't slighted me," Sully insisted, starting to get upset and also defensive of his love, "You don't know anything about her." Without another word, Sully walked out of the driveway, where the car was parked, and into the middle of the street. He made a large circle back to the house. He did so, simply to get away from Carol without having to push her out of his way.
Carol, completely humiliated, considered herself lucky at that moment because she hadn't brought her purse into the house that night. She buttoned up her coat, removed her keys from her pocket, and then got in her car and drove away.
Unbeknownst to her or even Sully, Daniel was standing outside in the shadows, and he heard everything. He'd watched her leave the house without saying a word to him, and he went outside to check on her. The last thing he expected to see was her trying to seduce his brother.
Daniel shook his head and sighed. He hadn't meant to ignore her all night long, and he hadn't meant to hurt her feelings. He just couldn't believe she'd come to his mother's house dressed like they were going to a bar, and he didn't know what to say.
He didn't know what was wrong with him. Had Carol come to his mother's house the night before, and dressed like that, he wouldn't have thought anything of it. Additionally, on the previous night he liked Carol's boldness and forward personality. He had thought it made her more attractive. Now, all of those personality traits seemed obnoxious. So, what changed between last night and this night? Daniel thought to himself. He didn't have to think very hard; the answer was simple: the night before, he had not yet met Michaela.
Michaela, his brother's girlfriend that he now found himself to be completely smitten with.
To be continued. Please review =)
This chapter went through a ton of edits and rewrites. I hope you like it.