The Gift of Christmas
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The Conversation
24th December
"Mercy the last thing I need is this fucking guilt trip" Sam hissed down the phone, he preferred to get mad with her, than to admit all this was his fault again
"I'm not guilt tripping Sam, I just thought we were going to spend Christmas day together, is that too fucking much to ask from my damn boyfriend?" she shouted back
"No it isn't usually but this Christmas I'm working"
"You were working last Christmas and the one before that, what are you trying to say?"
"That I get a lot of work at Christmas" he snapped sarcastically
"How about you get work to fill in for Valentine's, birthdays, and fucking new years too" she slammed the phone down on him, sitting on her bed so mad she needed to scream, she let out an almighty yell, grabbing her quilt so tightly in her fists she could feel her nails digging into her skin "Sam Evans" she screamed into the air frustrated that he wasn't there to take it all out on
She was at a comfortable place in her life right now, everything was going her way, work was steadily coming in, it was varied so she wasn't doing the same thing every project and she enjoyed dipping her hands in whatever pie she felt like, when she felt like it. She was the organised one of the two of them she had 2 years ahead planned to make time for birthdays, Christmas, Valentines, home visits and even New Year with her man. Sam was committed just as much as she was, but he was just up and coming in the music business, which was where he'd always wanted to be, he'd been stuck in small screen for a long while and thought if he didn't make his break now he was going to get stuck in what his audience saw him as, so he'd become a yes man, he needed exposure, he was following his Managers advice, and grabbing that any which way he could, to the detriment of his relationship.
Mercy looked down at her phone ringing again, she knew it was him and she was in two minds as to whether she actually wanted to hear his shit again she picked the phone up and looked at it for a while before answering it "What, have you booked something for the rest of the year now?" she asked sarcastically
"No" he laughed
"I'm glad you think all this is funny" she huffed down the phone
"I don't, I think you are" he told her still laughing "Listen" he stopped to talk properly "I just told Graham I'm taking a few hours out on Christmas Day, can you come to Brooklyn for the day?"
"I had Christmas planned here" she sulked, trying to hide the happy in her voice
"Mercy meet me half way here, I'm trying" his voice pleading
"I could try I guess"
"Come down the night before, I'll set everything up, and I'll be there sometime on Christmas Day"
"How much time are we talking about?"
"As much as we can squeeze in" he laughed "You matter to me, I love you"
"I know, I love you too"
"I don't want to be arguing with you on Christmas Day"
"I know what I want to be doing with you on Christmas Day" she giggled
"So now you're smiling?" he asked at her giggle
"Now I'm smiling" she confirmed
"The things I do for love"
"The things I do because I want you" she told him
"I'm going to try my best to make this up to you one day"
"Christmas Day will make it up to me Sam"
"You say that now but I know you" he warned her, sometimes she demanded so much of his time it was almost stifling and then other times she'd put everyone and their pets before him. At first he used to try his best to work around her, but that became tiring real quick, he just grew some and told her life wasn't going to be all never ending love and four naked legs in bed every minute of every damn day, they'd committed to music and he was serious about that. She admitted she was just seeing how much he'd give up for her, and things settled down, then after about year of finding their feet, which was hard, they settled into what they have today, something that worked most the time, and when it didn't they'd shout each other out about it, but they were both committed.
"I'll get the last flight in on Christmas Eve"
"And I'll see you when I see you"
"Bye, love you"
"Love you back, bye" she smiled at his words, and the fact that technically, she'd won the argument. The next thing she needed to do was book her flight and pack her bags in that order, she packed a few pieces of underwear a couple of dresses some casual clothes just in case and four pairs of shoes. Stuffing her toiletries and make up in another smaller case along with her weaves, before she jumped in the shower, dragged on her favourite denims and she was ready to go.
The ride to the airport was busy, it seemed everyone had the same idea, booking in was long, the flight was delayed by an hour and when she finally got to Brooklyn, she had to wait for nearly half an hour for the car to turn up. She'd forgotten, in all her shouting at the airport staff, to make the call to Sam telling him about the delay, so the car he'd sent for her had returned empty, having waited nearly two hours in total, for her to arrive
She'd called him cussing like it was all his fault before she realised she hadn't called, she apologised and eventually the car was rebooked, she reached the Pear Tree Hotel just five minutes to midnight, nearly 4 hours later than she'd anticipated. She was past tired and just about got out of her clothes before she fell into bed "Happy Christmas" she told herself before closing her eyes.
25th December
12 Drummers Drumming
1 x 12 = 12
09:00
Mercy couldn't believe her eyes when she looked at her phone, she'd slept for nearly 9 hours, that wasn't something she'd done in a long time, especially when she was out of her own bed, she stretched in the bed smiling, only Sam would have known to order that matrass for her bed "Thank you" she smiled at the thought of him trying to make whatever he thought he'd done up to her "I'm starving" she pushed the covers back off her, grabbing for the service phone on the side cabinet "Full breakfast please, for room 220" she smiled at the bright voice coming back at her as if nothing was too much trouble "In about thirty minutes" she told the woman before closing the call
Her favourite thing in the mornings was that first splash of cold water that hit her face making her grateful to be alive, the taste of mint in her mouth reminding her that her words needed to be positive and she should keep true to herself, followed by the hot steam of the jet shower telling her to get ready to be the best that she can be today, because tomorrow is not promised. She finally came out of the bathroom with a soft white gown wrapped around her, just a few minutes before her breakfast arrived, she jumped up at the knock at the door
"Your breakfast Miss" the woman smiled wheeling it in "Full breakfast Miss" she turned to confirm as the cart got to the middle of the room
"Yes thank you, and the names Mercy" she smiled back at the woman
"We're not allowed to..."
"Do they have cameras in here?" Mercy looked around asking
"No Miss" the woman laughed
"Then in here it's Mercy"
"Yes Mercy" she smiled walking past Mercy to leave the room
Mercy finally got time to sit out on the balcony taking in the noise of the city, it had been a while since she'd been to Brooklyn, it was yet another special place in America she'd found nearly everywhere she went in this country of hers held something she didn't know about the country or it's history, she took her tray outside and sat eating, smiling and wondering when Sam was going to appear, the not knowing was kind of fun.
The jazzy base of the tray finally caught her eye, it was what looked like a calendar, she lifted the plate to see it was a calendar for the coming year "Well ahead" she frowned impressed, thinking she maybe needed to revise her plans past Christmas Day. Gasping when she saw a Sam and Mercy Day on January 1st, and a small picture of a drummer in the corner, it made her smile to think she was actually going to spend that day with him and he'd planned it, that in itself made it special.
She flipped the page to see that he'd had Valentines day, their birthdays, important family days, Christmas, and even a two week holiday in August, she giggled to herself, this was a first in their relationship, she actually knew what he was doing for the next twelve months 'Happy Christmas Babe, drum rolls for the next twelve months' she read on the back of the calendar 'Can we synchronise our calendars?'
"We can" she smiled hugging her present
11 Pipers Piping
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34
10:00
There was a knock at the door a few minutes later that woman had come back for the used dished "Excuse me Mercy have you finished with the dishes?" she asked when Mercy opened he door
"Yes thank you...I didn't get your name earlier"
"It's Maxine" she smiled
"Thank you Maxine" she watched at Maxine walked across the room to collect the used dishes, cups and things, she piled everything back on the trolley and walked back towards Mercy, stood near the exit door
"Didn't you want this?" she held a CD up at Mercy asking
"Where was it?"
"On the tray with the Breakfast" she told Mercy holding it up as she passed
"I didn't see it, thank you" she smiled taking it off Maxine before closing the door behind her 'Love you' she read on the blank cover looking around for a machine to play the thing on "What's this about now?" she took the CD out of it's case reading, smiling when she found the player, she put the CD into it and started the music smiling as she heard 'Your Lovin' by Steel Banglez ft MO & Yxng Bane playing reminding her of their troubled beginnings "So why don't you talk to me, talk to me, say anything, cause I know once you talk to me, talk to me, we'll be okay" she laughed at the visualisation of Sam going mad at her back then, for her unreasonable behaviour, of course they talked.
She plain belly laughed at hearing '1Up' by Oscar ft Sarah Bonito coming at her, she held out on him for the longest time, she reckoned if he could put up with her crazy for as long as she dished it out, he might be careful with her heart. She'd walked into their makeshift studio one day to find him singing to her picture pinned on the piano, well just the words "Has it been too long? am I gonna die before I reach the next level?" over and over again, now she was sitting listening she realised she'd never listened to the rest of that song before
Then there was 'Just my luck' by Coco Jones she'd been sad at that time in her career, they'd not long got to the next level in their relationship after dating for nearly ten months and she was somehow addicted to the man, he was her everything, she wanted to give everything up and follow him where ever he was. At first they both went along with it, they were as bad as each other, she was with him everywhere neglecting her contracts, avoiding calls from her Manager everything until she got a letter telling her how serious thing were going to get, she was forced to go back to work, this song was the result, harsh but true at the time "I don't know where you're leading me to go, pulling me here, pulling me there, can't take no more, what happened to being happy, that's what I ask myself, over here trying to mask me, who even is myself" she sang, she still felt that sometimes even now
She flicked through getting her memories of their time together stopping again when she got to 'Flames; by David Guetta ft Sia that was their pump up song, they used it to get themselves through, she danced around to it singing along "So my love, keep on running, you got to get through today, yeah, there my love, keep on running, got to keep those tears at bay, oh, oh, my love, don't stop burning, gonna send them up in flames, in flames" she sung stopping only when the song finished, she was pumped
The last song was his current hit a version of 'Brooklyn in the Summer' by Aloe Blacc she guessed that was his way of reminding her why they were where they were right now, of course he needed to promote his new song, plus it was doing well, and despite whatever she said whenever she said it, he knew she was one hundred percent behind him every time
She got up and pressed repeat on the CD player, smiling when she read 'My pipes are tired, all eleven of them' "Loved it babe" she smiled kissing his words
10 Lords a Leaping
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34 + 3 x 10 = 64
11:00
"Twelve days to Christmas" she smiled as the lightbulb came on for her, he'd said he was going to make it up and she guessed this was his way
It was dead on 11am when her door knocked again, she smiled as she went to answer it "Maxine" she smiled "Have you been tasked with bringing something up to me every hour?"
"Not every hour Mercy, but I couldn't possible say" she smiled handing her a picture album as she spoke "Directly at 11am, and there's a key in the envelope" she smiled her eyes telling Mercy there was more to the day
"Thank you Maxine" she giggled looking down at the album as she shut the door, she got to the couch and quickly opened the album eager to know what was waiting "Gosh" she gasped looking around the room, this was so personal, she didn't even know when he'd taken the damn picture of his head between her legs her hands holding his head down and her eyes closed obviously taking care of business "Sam" she gasped crossing her legs "I was definitely leaping there, I was riding that face like a fucking horse" she giggled looking at the picture it wasn't something she was used to seeing about herself
Eventually she turned the page smiling at the picture she took of him while she was crying when they went to The Cayman he'd climbed up a mountain peak while she sat on the beach sunning, she hadn't even noticed until he's shouted her that he'd gone up so high "What are you doing?" she shouted up at him terrified for him standing on the peak of two rocks "Sam" she screamed when she saw him lift his leg "What he fuck are you doing?" her whole body cold watching him balancing on the ledge "Get down"
"Take a picture" he shouted at her, she quickly grabbed the camera and made ready to take the picture anything to get him down from there "Ready?"
"Yeah I'm ready" she smiled so he couldn't see the terror in her face
"Here Goes" he told her as she held the camera up and watched him jump from one ridge to the next
"What the fuck" she gasped, she'd taken photo's thinking he was posing but his two feet left the ground and she'd caught him in the air with a maybe 200 meter drop below him "Sam" she screamed watching as his front foot touched the other side and he grabbed onto the rock in front of him, standing up shaking his fists in the air like some sort of champion while she was on the ground, her heart beating out of her chest and her face filled with tears. "Get down here" she screamed still crying when he got to her "Don't you ever do anything like that again" she pushed him in the chest telling him
"I'd never leave you, you know that" he told her like what he'd just done was nothing "Sorry if I scared you" he hugged her saying
She smiled at the fact that he really didn't think he'd done anything wrong, she eventually learned that was Sam, a danger junkie, and at those times God was her best friend. she giggled at the next page showing her attempt at a leap of faith Sam had put the picture of her gliding through the air skipping on the sand, that was really as far as she was comfortable to go
There were pictures of him diving off the peer at their country cottage, their dog leaping in the garden, their holiday in the Caribbean when they watched the dolphins leaping, Mexico when they watched the bull fighters leaping over the bulls, a brilliant picture of his sister, the ballerina, doing a split leap, she smiled remembering Stacey's debut
There were ten all together the last one being of them holding hands, they'd took a leap of faith and brought their cottage, and two days later, they'd sat and planned out the rest of their lived together, it was a picture of them holding hands in the sunset, it looked like they were looking up at the sky, but they were looking at the selfie stick, it was wobbling
'Time for a movie' she read on the back page of the photo album
9 Ladies Dancing
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34 + 3 x 10 = 64 + 4 x 9 = 100
11:50
"Okay lets see what we have here" she smiled looking down at the collection of Blue Ray Movies on the rack "Here I go again" she smiled taking out Mamma Mia, here I go again they'd had a great time singing along to the first one, she was sad he wasn't going to be here for this one, but she knew if he was telling her to watch it he'd already streamed it from somewhere on one of those night he was finding it hard to sleep "So I say, thank you for the music..." she sang along with the opening song
"Sleep all day and woop all night" she wished, rolling her eyes, to get back to her reality, smiling as she decided to get lost in the film
She laughed her heart out when Tanya announced "Be still my beating vagina" it was so Christine Baranski that role was made for her, she cried when Maria jumped in the water to get her man.
She smiled at the music being common ground for Donna, that was their story too, it was where they felt comfortable, what they knew, she sat watching the film laughing, crying, feeling, thinking, wondering, it was a bit like the ghosts of past present and future going on in the life of Donna, she sat wondering what he needed her to get out of it smiling as her phone rang
"Hi Mercy it's Jean and the gang, can we face time, we've got something for you from Sam" she called down the phone
"From Sam?" Mercy asked surprised Sam even knew the girls
"Yeah just face time" she told her smiling, Mercy rolled her eyes doing as told because if they mentioned Sam it was another present, she linked in to see Jean and another eight women standing in front of her
"So what am I looking at?" she asked looking at them all
"Hit it" Jean shouted, Mercy smiled as she heard 'Don't Look Back' by Luke Christopher pumping through her phone as the girls started doing a routine dance, it wasn't your usual music video type dancing she was used to seeing them do, it was proper freestyle x-rated stuff, she laughed at the Sam of it all, before she finally relaxed and sang along to the song hitting a woo when the dancers did something different or difficult. They mixed classical with modern and added some street it was magical to watch,
I've been thinking 'bout you, babe, every damn night, every day, way I feel will never change, it's a crazy thing to say
Chorus
I've been in my head all day, wondering if you, you might feel the same, what if we just ran away, don't look back, don't look away
Don't look back, don't look back, don't look away, don't look away, don't look back, don't look back, don't look away, don't look away
I'm still thinking 'bout you, babe, every damn night, every day, never wanna take a break, through the hard times, I will stay
And I know it's not a secret, hard to wake up without a reason, never will I ever hesitate, no, I just wanna show you what I'm made of
Somebody to hold down when it's cold out, put your hair back, let the toes out, wanna give you something that's new, I know it's always the proof, ohh, take my word,
one day there'll be wedding bells, I don't know what you heard, baby girl, I'm scared as hell, you could be like Bonnie and I could be like Clyde
Us against the world, 'til the day we die
Chorus
I've been thinking 'bout you, babe, every damn night, every day
She smiled at Sam reminding her that she was on his mind as much as he was on hers, clapping when the girls finished up with a floor scraping crash "You guys are fantastic" she screeched
"Thank you it was all our pleasure" Jean told her "I guess we were nine ladies dancing" she smiled "It's just so romantic we had to do it"
"Well thank you, it really was amazing" Mercy smiled
"We'll leave you to it then Mercy, see you when you get back"
"Okay bye, and thanks everyone, that really made my day" she waved at the crowd around the camera
"Our pleasure, bye" everyone waved before the screen went blank
Mercy sat back in the couch smiling at her day, she'd physically seen nobody except Maxine every hour or so but she'd really enjoyed the day, she looked at the clock, time was slipping on and it was really nice to keep getting all these presents and surprises, but it was no substitute for her man
8 Maids a Milking
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34 + 3 x 10 = 64 + 4 x 9 = 100 + 5 x 8 = 140
13:00
"Mercy" Maxine knocked the door calling, Mercy ran to the door expecting, yet wondering what he was going to send for this next hour "Milk" she smiled holding up a tray with eight level small wine glasses filled with milk, she laughed before Maxine stepped into the room
"Thank you" she giggled as she watched her set them down in the tray on the coffee table, and turn to leave the room "Maids milking?" she laughed
"It's all so romantic" Maxine smiled as she left the room
She sat at the table thinking about the motel they'd walked into one night, they were tired from travelling half way across America to South Dakota to a gig Sam had for two days. They'd thought it was as easy as jumping in Sam's car and making the journey but the car gave trouble, the travel days were over exhausting everything just hadn't been thought out right and to top it all they'd ended up in this damn motel
They'd got there around 9pm with fast food in hand and booked in, ate, been to bed to deal with what they needed and found a burst of energy enough to want to venture out and see what all the noise was about
"What do you need?" the receptionist, now turned bartender, asked as they sat at a table for two in what looked like a café, with a few rowdy guests
"Could we get a whiskey and a..." Sam looked at Mercy asking
"A glass of milk please" she smiled up at the guy
"Milk?" Sam asked when the man moved off
"I just fancy some milk" she smiled "A long cold glass of milk"
"Whatever" he rolled his eyes at her with a smile on his face, looking around he could see the place wasn't your usual hotel bar, it seemed like the locals lived there too "Is this the only bar in the village?" he asked the bartender as he took the drinks off his tray
"For a few miles yes, we usually get the locals in the week, then weekends they dress up and go further afield" he told him
"Thanks" he smiled at the bartender waiting for him to leave them alone "We need to go" he threw his drink down his throat telling her "This isn't the place for you to be"
"Why" she looked around not noticing anything
"Mercy trust me, we need to go" he rolled his eyes as soon as the music started, he watched as her jaw dropped to the floor, as naked men came into view dancing around the crowd "Mercy" he called trying to get her attention she was stuck in shock
"Are you seeing this?" she finally asked as a smile came to her face
"Are you seeing this?" he asked her laughing at her reaction "Are you enjoying this stuff?"
"No" her eyes finally left the man dancing not far from her and looked at him "Are you jealous because I'm looking at another man?"
"No" he smiled "I know he can't give you what I give you" he smirked "Don't you want to go?"
"I've still to drink my milk" she looked at the full glass on the table smiling
"It will spoil with all this heat" he laughed
"Let it spoil" she laughed at him pulling his chair closer to her "So you're not jealous?" she asked him again
"No, I'm just getting ready to flatten any one of these bastards that think they can come up to you"
"They have company" she finally smiled looking at the naked women coming onto the stage "Shit" she gasped the same time as Sam, when the women started in on the men, there was no filter they were up for having sex right there on stage in front of everyone "I'm ready to go" Mercy's eyes wide as she looked at Sam
"Are you not going to drink your milk?" he asked
"It's spoiled" she told him as she stood up, there was no more of this she needed to see
But right now these specific glasses of milk she was going to drink, she picked one up and drank one, two, three eventually all eight small wine glasses of milk were gone "Happy Christmas" she smiled, she was disturbed by Maxine knocking again
"Your Lunch is here"
"Thank you" she smiled watching Maxine set her lunch up on the dining table before grabbing some bed linen from under the trolley and moving towards her bedroom "I have to do the bed now" she told her walking out of sight
7 Swans a Swimming
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34 + 3 x 10 = 64 + 4 x 9 = 100 + 5 x 8 = 140 + 6 x 7 = 182
14:00
"Your bath is set" Maxine came out telling her
"Oh I didn't … swans a swimming" she smiled at her, Sam had set her aside some time in her favourite place "Thank you Maxine" she told her watching her walk towards the door and out the apartment. She loved the shower in the morning no doubt, but at any time of the day she had no problem indulging in a hot bubbly bath.
She walked through into the bathroom smiling at the bubble filled bath looking up at the purple and cream swan shaped balloons floating in the air, a giggle left her mouth "I wish you were here" the space dark except for the candles casting shadows around the room "Here goes" she threw her gown off and pulled off her underwear, one foot, then the other stepped into the tub the warmth bringing a smile as she sat down closing her eyes as if all her troubles had been taken away. An afternoon bath was reserved for one of those days when you needed to shut everything out and just be at one in your own cocoon, releasing stress, rainy days when you just wanted to get warm, wet or better still after an extended love making session to get rid of some of those delicious aches.
This was none of those things, this was pure indulgence, time to be at peace with the world and herself, the dark room made the bubbles glisten in the candlelight, as hot water warmed her body to the core, she flung her head back onto the head pillow and lay taking in the coconut scent of the bubbles. She didn't know how or even why but suddenly she felt it was time to reflect, to think about the future, Sam's song earlier had talked about not living in the past, and at this exact point in her life she felt she was living in the present, she closed her eyes trying to get past the here and now.
The sound of cracking bubbles the only sound in the room, was somewhat disturbing for her at that moment, she leaned forward and turned the jets on to put some comforting noise into the room. Closing her eyes again to relax into the moment, the flicker of the candles still flashing through her closed eyes almost in tune with the jets of bubbles hitting her skin from all directions, somewhere in there she found a beat, then a melody and the next thing she knew she was singing her next hit
Something tells me that after I do this, I won't feel the same, it ain't drugs, it ain't lust, but it feels like it's numbing my pain
I've been hurt for so long, I forgot how to love is that strange, something tells me you know what I mean, and you feel the same
There ain't no choir, but I hear that angels sing, holy as water, falling from heaven's feet
Oh baby there ain't no alter, but I can't help but pray, baby tell me this feeling, I'm feeling is not in vain
Vain, cause you, you seen inside me, and you, you stood beside me...
"Wow" she opened her eyes at getting the bones of a song together in less than ten minutes, it needed brushing up, a middle and an ending, but she had a beginning, she was satisfied with her start 'Vain' by Kirby. She smiled as she remember the last time she'd made music in the bath, of course Sam was in there with her, they'd been humming something he'd been working on back then, it didn't quite make it to the charts, but it was one of his very first attempts and although the fail knocked them it never knocked them over as such, he just pushed on, to the next project. They'd been water fighting, as always he was winning, his arms and leg were much longer than hers and he had a habit of pinning her down and threatening to dunk her head under the water, at first she'd play the game thinking he wouldn't dare, but a few times he'd actually done it, he was so unpredictable, she smiled thinking that was what she loved about him too.
"We should sing a song together don't you think?" he asked randomly one day, she was all R&B and he was definitely stuck in Country at that time, she actually laughed at the thought
"What are we actually going to find to sing together?"
"I don't know, something not country but not too R&B either, think about it"
"I will"
"Seriously" he asked shocked she'd given in so quickly
"Seriously" she'd smiled at him
They'd come up with a beautiful rendition of 'Written in the Stars' by John Legend & Wendy
"I feel like a beautiful swan" she smiled looking up at the balloons hitting the ceiling, before closing her eyes to take in the relaxing soak "Shit" she woke up some time later with cold water all around her "Freezing" she shivered, jumping up to leave the bath, jets still humming, bubbles all over the floor, surely someone would be up to complain about the damn leak any minute now. She grabbed hold of all the towels she could find and threw them on the floor trying to save a full on flood
"Is everything alright Mercy?" she heard Maxine's voice through the door
"It's fine Maxine I fell asleep and flooded the place"
"Do you need me to do anything?"
"No I'll be alright for now, but you might need to come back in a minute when I'm dressed and get this sorted for me please"
"Will do" Maxine replied before turning to leave the apartment
6 Geese a Laying
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34 + 3 x 10 = 64 + 4 x 9 = 100 + 5 x 8 = 140 + 6 x 7 = 182 + 7 x 6 = 224
17:00
Night was coming by the time she'd gotten dressed after Maxine had helped her mop up the last of the water from the bathroom floor, there'd been no complaints so she assumed either the apartment underneath her was empty, or she hadn't caused as much damage as she'd initially thought. She was all up for having another bath by the time everything was back to normal, she smiled at the mischief she could get herself into and opted for a shower instead
She came out nearly half an hour later in her pyjama's skipping excitedly for seeing the Faberge Egg she'd always wanted sitting on the coffee table, she'd bugged him for it for nearly a year now, telling him if she meant anything to him, he'd think she was worth it, sulking when he hit her with the truth that they couldn't afford it. She stepped back for a second, maybe it was a fake one, because at no time did they have a conversation in which he'd told her he'd come into a significant amount of cash, but she sat down in front of it anyway
The blue and gold oval egg sat on it's side on four legs, decorated with gold swirly markings, just like the real thing, she undid the catch and opened the egg, gasping when she found five small eggs inside it "Trust you Evans" she smiled looking at the delicate paper shells. she took her first one out the box read 'Caviar' "Okay" she smiled at the time they'd made their first $100k and went out to celebrate it
"Champaign" she'd called for as they sat in the rather exclusive bar feeling like celebrities for the first time
"And caviar" Sam followed up with
"Are you sure?" she asked him "We've never tried it, it looks like tiny eggs that should have been left to be born"
"Your putting me off now" he smiled "I just thought we could try how the other half live for one night"
The Champaign and caviar came, they tasted both and ended up spitting the caviar into the sour juice "I don't think I'm built for the high life" she told him still trying to wipe the taste of both things out of her mouth
"I don't think I ever want to get that high again" he laughed ordering a whisky to get rid of the taste, they shared it and left the high life alone after that
She opened the fragile egg to find a gold drum trinket inside it, admiring it before she put it on the table and moved on to the next egg
"What's this?" she asked reading the very long word wrapped around the paper egg "Choccy Woccy Doodah, whatever Sam" she guessed she'd find out about that one when he got there, if that was going to happen today. She pulled it open to find a silver trinket of a leaping lady, rather dignified like Stacey's leap "I get where this is going" she smiled opening the third egg
"Poached" she giggled, reminding her of her time in England a while back, she'd woken up in a bad mood anyway, doing too much and Sam being so far away. Room service arrived with her pressed clothes as she'd requested the night before, she'd asked "What time is breakfast around here?"
"I can do that for you now if you want Miss Jones" the maid replied so polite
"Yes please" Mercy smiled back at her
"Eggs?"
"Yes please"
"Would that be boiled, fried, scrabbled or poached?" the woman asked
"Scrambled" she rolled her eyes at the choice, when Sam had called later that day she'd laughed about it "What exactly is a poached egg?" she asked him
"Hang on" he laughed coming back at her with "An eggs cracked into a bowl, then gently slid into a pan of water and cooked until the egg white has mostly solidified, but the yolks still soft." he told her
"You just read that off google didn't you?" she laughed
"Yeah I didn't have a clue" he laughed
"So basically it's a boiled egg without the shell?"
"Basically" he laughed
"The British are so proper they have a name for every damn thing" she'd laughed, giggling herself at the memory she opened the paper egg to reveal a gold musical pipe
The fourth paper egg just said Faberge she opened it and smiled at the silver bottle of milk
The fifth one was wrapped in foil, she took it out of its home and carefully pealed the foil off it smiling at the tiny nugget of chocolate, looking into the Faberge egg as she ate the chocolate he found her fifth prize a silver swan "I need a bracelet for all these" she looked at her trinkets all lined up alongside her long awaited Faberge egg
5 Gold Rings
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34 + 3 x 10 = 64 + 4 x 9 = 100 + 5 x 8 = 140 + 6 x 7 = 182 + 7 x 6 = 224 + 8 x 5 = 264
17.45
She sat waiting in anticipation to see what the five gold rings was going to bring about, she smiled remembering a conversation they'd had some time back about rings, she wasn't very much up for it all, too involved in her life and they'd only been together about five months. To tell the truth she'd thought he'd jumped ahead of himself thinking that was what she was waiting for before they could take that next step in their relationship and she was pleased he felt he'd want to go that far but, no
They were sat in the very noisy restaurant eating burgers and drinking beer, for a reason she couldn't recollect just now, but she knew they'd chosen this night out, he'd been fumbling and hot all night and she'd just put it down to him wanting to broach the bedroom question again, laughing inside as his discomfort.
"Mercy" he smiled grabbing her hand
"Sam" she couldn't hide the grin on her face, he'd come at this so many ways in the past, she was cracking inside for what ridiculous reason he was going to find next
"I know we haven't been together for very long, and.." we were both distracted by the change in the atmosphere as "How About Us" by Champaign came blasting through the speakers "Sorry" he looked back at her sweat forming on his forehead
"Are you alright Sam?" she began to get concerned about him at that point
"Yeah I'm fine just struggling with getting this out"
"Take your time" she said, not willing to laugh anymore she felt like she was verging on being cruel here 'Some people can hold it together, last all kinds of weather, can't we..." sang out as he looked into her eyes
"That's kind of what I want to ask" he looked at the duke box smile "How about becoming an us, same last name kind of us"
"What like married?" her eyes bulged out of their sockets "Sam we've known each other for what five months" she gasped
"Too soon?" he asked looking around the room
"It is, so... can I think about it?"
"Sure take all the time you need, years if you need to" he laughed nervously
"These old songs bring that love stuff out don't they" she laughed trying to lighten the air
"Yeah it does but I was asking from my heart" he looked into her eyes telling her "I will ask again" he smiled before tucking into his burger
She looked up at the clock it was well past 6pm he was late with his present or was she just expecting too much he'd already done everything for her all day, even without being there and having a busy schedule he was trying to keep to so he could get a hot minute. She took a minute to cuss herself out for being so thoughtless, he'd done a lot and for Sam to do stuff like this took some thinking she needed to be grateful instead of expecting more on top of too much already
However hard she'd cussed herself the knock at the door still made her heart skip a beat before it raced with excitement, she jumped up to get to it "What is it?" she asked Maxine before she even said hello "Oh" she frowned looking at the rather large box in Maxine's hand, no way was this a ring or even five gold ones
"Special delivery for Miss Jones, there's a note in the bottom of the box" Maxine smiled "And you're to handle with care"
"Thank you" Mercy smiled taking the box, the fact that she needed to be careful with it, peaked her attention
She closed the door and made her way to the couch, this needed sitting down for, he'd got her stumped she had no clue what could be so big for five gold rings. she carefully removed the four sticky sides and flipped the lid open laughing out loud at the stupidity of her man "Five glazed ringed donuts" she smiled looking at the treats, there was a simple glazed donut that she picked up straight away she knew that one was for her. one decorated in gold microphone she couldn't decide whether that was his or hers, another in guitars definitely his, a football also his and her face she couldn't decide on that one either, so she made do with the glazed one and left the rest for when he got there, it was her dinner time anyway.
4 Calling Birds
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34 + 3 x 10 = 64 + 4 x 9 = 100 + 5 x 8 = 140 + 6 x 7 = 182 + 7 x 6 = 224 + 8 x 5 = 264 + 9 x 4 = 300
19:00
Maxine was knocking on the door again, and Mercy was sitting counting her blessings, she'd already had more this Christmas than she'd had the previous 8 years "Hello Mercy" she smiled as she walked in with something over her arms "This is for you, you need to get dressed for Dinner"
"Is he here" Mercy asked seeing the dress
"No Miss, he picked it over the phone" he smiled
"So he's called?" she asked surprised he didn't use his spare time to call her
"To be honest someone was holding the phone for him, he was busy and getting shouted at"
"Okay, thank you" she took the dress off Maxine
"Oh" Maxine stepped backwards and turned back to look at Mercy "I guess things are going to go fast after this, the message is you'll need to keep your phone with you" she smiled
"Thank you" Mercy smiled grabbing her phone off the couch, before she went to her bedroom to go get ready
She couldn't resist she was putting on a brand spanking new dress, her body had to look the part, she jumped in the shower for the third time before she sat in the mirror doing her make up and sorting out her hair, there were hair dressers and even make up artist at her disposal she was sure, but when it came to looking good for Sam nobody ever really got that right except Mercy so she was happy to do this alone
She was sat on the stool, doing hair do number three, when her phone rang for the second time today, it had to be Sam, maybe he was on his way, she looked in the mirror at her almost finished self, sulking, "After all that this lot's coming straight back off" she told herself before she answered the call
"Mercy" a familiar female voice came at her shouting "We're on our way home, but Sam asked us to do this so apparently we're calling to say"
"You've got that wrong" Perrie shouted in the background
"Jade was that you?" Mercy asked
"It's us Mercy" Leigh- Anne laughed
"She was supposed to say this is your 4 calling birds" Perrie laughed
"From Sam" Jesy shouted out "We're on the train in England and it's full of people going home, all drunk, and we are" she giggled "We're off to a show in Manchester for tomorrow"
"Sam asked and we couldn't say no" Jade told her "So here goes"
Mercy put the phone on loud speaker and set it back down on the dresser 'When you dancing in the club, and the nights are getting hard, do you think about us?" ringing through the air as she danced around the room getting dressed "Do you think about us, do you think about us, do you think about us..." the girls sang 'Think About Us' by Little Mix
"Yes I do" she smiled as the girls finished their song, grabbing her purse she wasn't wasting this look, he must be taking her to dinner
"Happy Christmas girl" Jade shouted and the rest followed
"Your man is so romantically, sexy, cute" Perrie laughed
"I think you got the first two words correct" Mercy laughed "Thank you so much for doing that, it's really made my day, and, happy Christmas to you all"
"It's boxing day here" Leigh-Anne laughed
"Happy boxing Day then" Mercy laughed
"Bye" they shouted down the phone
"Bye" Mercy told them grabbing her phone to make her way downstairs to meet her man
3 French Hens
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34 + 3 x 10 = 64 + 4 x 9 = 100 + 5 x 8 = 140 + 6 x 7 = 182 + 7 x 6 = 224 + 8 x 5 = 264 + 9 x 4 = 300 + 10 x 3 = 330
20.30
"Hello Mercy" Maxine smiled as Mercy opened the door causing her to nearly knock her nose
"Maxine" she looked out the door to see if Sam was behind her "I thought Sam was meeting me for dinner"
"I don't know about that" she smiled "But I was just coming to tell you your table was ready"
"Okay" she closed the door behind her and followed Maxine to the elevator to get down to the dining room "Do they do stakes here?" she asked
"Normally they do but it's Christmas day so they have a set menu, sorry" Maxine told her
"What am I going to eat?" her eyes wide as she asked the question
"I think Mr Evans has that planned too" she giggled "If you don't mind me saying, he's very romantic" she smiled
"He is, but I still want him here" she smiled "Don't you have someone you should be with today Maxine?"
"My husband works in the kitchen and he's working today, we got to exchange presents this morning" she smiled
"How does that work you two working in the same place?"
"Actually it doesn't, he's working today because I didn't get the time off, but we wanted to see each other"
"I feel like you've just been working for me today"
"I have but I have three other high profile guests, not as demanding as you're partner true, but I love my work"
"I'm sorry I took you away from your family today"
"It's just us, no children, this place is our child" she smiled looking around as the elevator arrived
"Your child?" Mercy asked puzzled
"Yes we could have invested in a child or a hotel and we chose the hotel" she held her hand out for Mercy to get in the elevator "We never knew the child would never come around at the time, but I guess a split second decision is not always a beautiful thing"
"I'm so sorry" Mercy gasped she felt pain for this woman
"Don't be" she laughed "You weren't there when we made that decision 25 years ago"
"I know but..."
"There are no buts, we love each other, we've always been sure of that" she smiled as they got out the elevator on the ground floor "Enjoy your evening" she smiled leaving her to walk into the dining room alone
Mercy walked into the dining room looking around to see three more tables occupied, all with couples smiling at each other and holding hands, she rolled her eyes at the scene, she was going to stick out like a sore thumb. Worse still all these women would be giving her dirty looks thinking she was the mistress of one of these men, she felt absolutely naked right now because of a missing wedding ring and rubbed her naked finger.
Of course she drew attention when she walked in, everyone stopped to look at this single woman walking into the place "Good evening" she smiled looking around the room before a man came out and guided her to a well stocked table
"Good evening Miss Jones" he smiled pulling her chair out "I believe the hen on the menu along with Maxine and I, are your three French hens" he laughed "And you can put any word you want in front of my hen character, but please let my wife be a lady hen"
"And you Sir are a gentleman hen, I'm very much hoping the other hen is a dead one" she laughed
"It is" he laughed "And your menu is very much French for the evening at special request"
"French" her eyebrows went up saying she was impressed
"Sit back, relax and eat as much as you want" he told her wondering off to the kitchen
She sat listening to the very French music as she ate through a starter of big juicy, fresh tasting oysters it was messy but the taste couldn't be faulted, Mercy would go as far as to say they were the best she'd ever tasted
Next on the menu was a traditional fowl with a chestnut stuffing, Mercy couldn't tell if it was a substitute for; hen, wild fowl, quail, pheasant, goose and of course chicken but it was cooked to perfection and she enjoyed it
She sat in shock when the dessert came out she was faced with at least 13 different dishes "I'm not expected to eat all this am I?" she asked shocked
"No Miss Jones" the chief laughed "If you want you can taste them all, but they're just for you to know the French tradition"
"Thank you" she finally sat taking in the different tastes in her mouth, Merton had kept her entertained, she'd never been one of four guests in any hotel before, she was really getting into this personal service
"Enjoy the rest of your evening" Merton smiled watching as she got up to make her way back upstairs, it was getting late and still no sign of Sam
2 Turtle Doves
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34 + 3 x 10 = 64 + 4 x 9 = 100 + 5 x 8 = 140 + 6 x 7 = 182 + 7 x 6 = 224 + 8 x 5 = 264 + 9 x 4 = 300 + 10 x 3 = 330 + 11 x 2 = 352
22.45
She got back to her apartment and kicked her shoes off, the only thing not making this day perfect was an appearance from Sam, she was sure he was going to turn up for dinner, and she wasn't let down because the dinner was hell of a good but.. there was always a but with her, she smiled at Sam forever saying that to her
She threw her shawl over the couch and smiled when she saw the two Dove bars peeping out of an envelop on the coffee table, no matter how full she was, put a Dove bar in front of her and she at least had to take one bite, she took the envelop up and peeped inside smiling as she pulled out a letter "I didn't get you a card because I couldn't find one with the words I wanted to say, so I made my own" she read rolling her eyes as she sat reading his words
Christmas is where you are.. the presents, the songs, the food, all make a setting for us to feel a glow
But my idea of Christmas is more subtle than all to that, something beyond, fake trees, tinsel and mistletoe, it reaches deep within my heart
I know we found a song, so dear, that keeps us close when we're apart, so I hope you hear my voice loud and clear singing, though it wants for tears
Know that my heart holds, with sure faith, the plans we made, the dreams we chase. There might be miles between us now, but you my light, will guide me home.
I know this because Christmas is where you are, and Christmas holds my heart tonight
"I think you'll find Christmas is where you are Mr Evans" she smiled hugging the note to her, there was a funny story about dove bars that was making her smile right now. It was their first date, she'd been nervous as hell, they'd met at a gig in Los Angeles, found out they both lived there and agreed to meet up, she hadn't told her girls, this one seemed promising and she didn't want them all over him, scaring him away like they usually did.
She'd been waiting at the park gates for what seemed like an age, it was the wrong place to wait today the vendor man had parked his trolley of wares right outside the gate and chocolate was her thing. She kept looking at the dove bar and turning her head, she was meeting a man here for the first time, the last thing she wanted was melted chocolate all over the fingers and brown stained teeth
"Fuck it" she finally spun round and grabbed a bar, he was three minutes late anyway maybe that meant he wasn't coming "I'll have this please" she held out her dove filled hand to the vendor saying, with change in her other hand
"Thank you Mam" he smiled watching as the she flipped her wrist and the change dropped out into his hand
"Thank you" she smiled turning to leave
"Miss you gave me too much" he shouted after her
"It's fine, keep the change" she turned to smile at him saying
"Thank you" he waved throwing the change in his make shift till
She put the bar in her pocket, thinking she'd give him another ten minutes and then leave and eat it on the way home, but three minutes in and the thing was burning a hole in her pocket she needed it out. she took out the chocolate shocked to see it was melting so fast, opening the sticky mess she scraped some of the chocolate out with her teeth and folded the foil down opting for holding the melting thing in her hand to keep an eye on it. No sooner had the bit in her mouth melted she'd made the decision to eat it all before it melted even more
She'd just put that second bit in her mouth and put her sticky hand back in her pocket with the chocolate when she heard a voice say "Hi" she spun round the see Sam standing there
"Hi" she smiled taking her had out of her pocket, leaving the melting chocolate in it
"Hungry?" he asked smiling
"No not really" she looked up at him wondering if that was a question or an observation
"Only you've got food" he pointed at her lip. she quickly wiped it off and smiled away the embarrassment
They'd gone for a meal anyway got talking and sat for hours through a four course meal before it was time to go "I just need the bathroom before we..." she nodded towards it as Sam turned to get the attention of the waiter for the bill. She got to the bathroom to see a big splodge of chocolate bleeding through her dress pocket, against the cream of the dress it looked very deliberate. "Shit" she looked round trying to find something to get it out, in the end she opted for her jacket so she froze all the way home because she didn't want him to see the melted chocolate in her dress pocket
"Did you sort it?" he asked when they met again a few days later
"What?"
"The chocolate stain" he asked, he had her number from day one
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree
1 x 12 = 12 + 2 x 11 = 34 + 3 x 10 = 64 + 4 x 9 = 100 + 5 x 8 = 140 + 6 x 7 = 182 + 7 x 6 = 224 + 8 x 5 = 264 + 9 x 4 = 300 + 10 x 3 = 330 + 11 x 2 = 352 + 12 x 1 = 364 - Make Them Great
23.30
She sat for a while taking in the day, from waking up until now, she wasn't sleepy she was just fed up of waiting, he'd stretched this out as far as she'd ever want him to go with it, he had promised time, it was 11.30pm now how much time did that actually leave for them.
She'd felt so special for the whole of the day, she smiled picking up her phone, at least she should call him, say hello, happy Christmas and goodnight, he'd be gutted that he didn't get away. She called his phone and wasn't even surprised that he didn't answer, if he'd have had a second he'd have been calling her, it was just another wish, she put the phone down and decided to get her make up and hair sorted ready for bed, she'd maybe fly back home tomorrow and hope for new year.
Walking into her bedroom she smiled as she looked at her rearranged bed a spread on top of it with what looked like an embroidered pear tree on it "Sam Evans" she giggled walking closer to it to see it was a pear tree only the pears had pictures of her face in them and there was actually a partridge with his face on, she laughed so hard she had to sit down "Scraping the barrel on this one Evans" she sat laughing for a while before she went about the task of removing her make up, dress and taking out her hair
"Hi" she heard his voice at the door, just as she'd put the last hairpin down
"Sam" she jumped up and flew into his arms
"Just in time for my present, I see" he whispered in her ear as she clung to him "Happy Christmas" his lips grabbed her neck before she lifted off him to look up at him
"Happy Christmas" she smiled, grabbing his lips before he could say anything else "With minutes to spare" she tapped his chest walking towards the bed "I want to say thank you for all the presents" she pulled him with her
"Oh I'm taking the thank you, but there really is no need to say it" he giggled
"'Come with me" mystery in her eyes as she spoke, he smiled, he knew he was up for the time of his life, she pulled him down onto the bed with her and climbed on top of him "Kiss me" she smiled as she towered over him, he pulled her to him and did as told, she was only telling him to do what he'd got every intention of doing anyway. "What would you say to us starting a family?"
"I can work with that, but marriage first" he pulled himself up and kissed her "Will you?" he asked as she leaned in to kiss him back
"What?"
"Will you marry me?" he kissed her again
"I just told you I want a family, of course I want to marry you, I asked you" she giggled
"Was that what that was?" he giggled
"Sam Evans" she rolled her eyes giggling with him "I think it's safe to say we're getting married"
"Congratulations us" he smiled grabbing her lips again as his hands wondered
"There's just one thing" she pulled up from him to look into his eyes
"What?" he looked back at her puzzled
"This wedding... it's going to have to be within the next eight months"
"Why?" his eyes searching her face for a response
"I'm pregnant Daddy" she sat still looking at him waiting for his response "Happy Christmas" she smiled as she watched the smile break onto his face
"Shit Mercy" he pushed her off him, now she was laying below him "Really?" his voice had gone up several octaves
"Really" she smiled
"This is the best present ever" he smiled kissing her lightly before he got up to jump around the room
"Come back here, you're wasting time Evans" she sat up watching him
"I have all day tomorrow" he went back to her "Is it alright to do this, with the baby and everything?"
"It's fine, how the hell do you think he or she got there" she laughed
"Let's remind ourselves" he pushed her back to lay on the bed
"What was the key for?" she stopped to ask him holding the envelop up
"Oh" he laughed getting up "I nearly forgot" he grabbed a small box out his trouser pocket "Happy Christmas to me" he handed her the box
"You were going to ask anyway?" she looked up at him smiling, opening the box with the key to find he diamond ring looking at her "Beautiful" she gasped
"I don't think we'll ever top this Christmas" he smiled "Where were we?" his lips met with hers again
Happy Christmas & An Even Better New Year