Chapter 10

Christmas-Part 2

Jack says, I have to work tonight until 6 am in the morning. My mom and dad are going to stay at my house tonight so Jarrick can wake up at home for Santa. Elizabeth says, that's great! Jack asks, do you want to come to my house for Christmas dinner tomorrow? My mom always cooks at my house so Jarrick can play with his presents. Tommy will be there to. Elizabeth asks, aren't you going to be tired? He replies, not really. I'll sleep tomorrow night. Dinner is at noon. Then we can come back here about 3:00 pm. She replies, that sounds like a good plan to me! Jack finally gets the train set put together. He has about 4 hours before he has to be at work. Elizabeth has dinner ready when he comes in. He says, something smells really good in here! She replies, I hope you like Italian! He replies, I do! What did you fix because I smell garlic bread? Elizabeth says, chicken parmigiana! Jack chokes up and gets really quiet. Elizabeth comes from out of the kitchen with it to set it on the table. She tells him to go get washed up while I finish putting everything on the table. She notices that he is just standing there. She calls him, Jack, Jack, Jack. He looks up at her with tears in his eyes and apologizes. Elizabeth walks over and puts her arms around his waist. With his head on her shoulder, she says let me guess it's your favorite and Jenny use to fix it for you all the time? He nods yes. Elizabeth apologizes. She tells him that's ok. I'll just put it the fridge when it cools and call for something to be delivered. Really I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I should've asked. Who knew my favorite meal would bring back such sad memories for you? Jack stands back away from her and says, no you went to all this trouble to fix it so we are go to eat it. Let me go get washed up. Elizabeth followed and asked, are you sure? I don't mind ordering something else. He replies, no really it's fine. He takes his shirt off to shake the dust out of it. He bends over the sink and washes his face and hands. Elizabeth had to turn around and walk back to the kitchen. She grabbed a pot holder to fan herself. Jack walks back in and sees her fanning herself. He smirks and had to ask, is it hot in here? She turns around in total surprise and says, you with no shirt on...I ...had...to...leave out...of ...there! She turns around and picks up the rest of the food. She takes it to the table. She walks around the table and points for him to sit at thread of the table. He pulls out her chair for her to sit. She sits down then he sits. She asks him to say grace. He begins, Kind Heavenly Father we come to you tonight to thank you for everything in our life. I pray for peace and comfort at this time. Bless this for for the nourishments for our body. Protect us as we go forth. Bless the one that prepared this food. In Jesus name. Amen. He sniffles and proceeded to eat. He put the first bite in his mouth and got a lump in his throat as he couldn't swallow. As he chews, he says a silent prayer peace in this situation. Please allow me to be able to get past this. Before he gets finished chewing the lumb goes away. He took a drink to swallow. He looks up at Elizabeth, takes her hand in his and says, thank you for being here for me and being so patient. They finished their meal. They get up from the table and cleans up the dishes. He tells her that he should be going. My shift starts in a couple of hours. She puts her arms around his neck and kisses him softly. She whispers in his ear please be careful. I'll see you tomorrow. He put his coat on and heads out the door. She watches him get in his car and leaves. He waved goodbye and drove off.

Elizabeth goes into the kitchen, fixes a cup of tea. She sit down at the bar and tries to think of something to bring for Christmas dinner tomorrow. She thinks back to all the Christmas dinners at home as a child coming up. She never remembered her mother cooking or baking. They always had chefs growing up. She remembered this one Christmas on the dessert table was the most scrumptious cake. It looked like a gift box. It was a thick square box with white glittery icing. There was the biggest red candy bow on top. I couldn't wait to get a taste of it. After dinner I asked mother if I could please have a piece of that cake? Mother told the chef to cut us a small piece. My sisters and I all watched as he cut into it. Our eyes were so huge with delight and anticipation. As he sliced and placed a piece on a plate, we seen what rooked out from inside the middle. We were so excited. There was all kind of gold wrapped candy on the inside that just rolled out of it! It was the most delicious cake we had ever had in our little minds. As Elizabeth came back to her present thinking, she decided to make that cake. She got started and made the cake. While it was baking she was trying to decide what to put in it when it was done for the surprise. She looks over at the candy in a bowl on the bar. She has a bag of snickers, a bag of Reese pieces, a bag of m m's, a bag of peanut butter m m's, a large bag of cherry slices. She happens to think that she hasn't seen Jarrick eat anything with peanuts. She says, I better ask. She picks up her phone and calls Jack. He still had 30 minutes before he had to be at work. Jack answers, hey babe! What's up? She says, hi handsome! Well I was wondering if Jarrick could have peanuts because I haven't seen him eat anything with nuts in it? Jack replies, how observant. No he can't. He's allergic. Why? She replies, I can't tell you. It's a surprise. Jack laughs in the phone and says, he has to go. Good night Beth. She says good night handsome. They hang up. She looks back at all the candy she has and she thinks these will not do. She thinks real quick, she has Hershey bars in her night stand. She always kept them for late night studying at college. It just became a habit. She runs into her bedroom and pulls out the huge bag from her night stand. She takes it back to the kitchen. Pour them out on the bar. She separates them out. She puts all of the ones with nuts back in the bag and sets it aside. They have gold wrappers around them under the label wrapper. She pulls all the labels off and puts them in a bowl. She was thinking how Jarrick was going to be so happy as she was when he cut into it tomorrow! When the cakes were done she took them out of the over and let them cook for just a minute before turning them over onto a piece of parchment paper to finish cooling. She thinks about how to assemble the cake. She decides to let the cakes cool over night. She'd get up early in the morning and finish the cake. She goes to bed after she covers them with a towel. She sets her alarm for 5:30 am. As she was laying there she starts thinking about Jack. She decides to text him good night because she knows he's at work.

E. I know you may be busy but I was just thinking about you and wanted to say good night before I go to sleep.

Not expecting an answer she shut the light off and goes to sleep. Her alarm goes off at 5:30 am. She reaches over and shuts it off. She goes in to the bathroom and washes her face and hands to wake herself up. She grabs the towel and dries her face off. She hears her phone ding. She hangs the towel back up real quick and runs into the bedroom to pick up her phone. She noticed the name on her phone. It was a text from Jack.

J. Sorry. I was out on a call when your text came in. I didn't get until just now. I know your still sleeping but just wanted to say good night and good morning beautiful!

E. Good morning handsome! Hope the rescue went well. I just got up. See you at noon!

J. See you then!

Elizabeth goes into her kitchen and puts on a pot of coffee. Puts her apron on. Places one layer of cake onto the cake plate. She carefully cuts out the center on both layers and set them aside. Both layers were 3" thick. She ices the bottom layer then carefully places the top layer on top of the bottom layer making sure the holes match up. Before she ices the top layer, she drops the gold wrapped candy down into the center. She takes one of the center pieces that she cut out. She cut it in 2 across and puts it back into the hole to cover the gold wrapped candy. She carefully ices the top layer. She smooths out the icing to look like a box. She wipes all the excess icing off the plate and sets it aside. She decides to go ahead and ice the other half of the cake for Jarrick for the next time he was over. She was thinking how much she was starting to love that little man like he was her own! She sets the little cake in the freezer. She spreads powdered sugar on the counter. She grabs the bag of cherry slices. She starts rolling the out flat. After she gets them all rolled out she places 2 side by side. She wets the edge of one and places one just so they over lap. She rolls it out until it's the same thickness as the rest of it. She does this to all of the slices. Then she wets the ends of them and places one strip on top of the other. She rolls them the same way. She continues until she has them all done. She measured the height and the width to the center. She adds the 2 together then cuts them the length she needs. She cuts 4 the same length. She measures the strip to the length of the thickness. She bends it over and puts a crease in it. She does it to all 4 strips. She places them on all 4 sides. Making sure they stay in place. Then she goes to work on the bow. She takes the remaining 4 strips that she needs and wets the end. Bends them over and presses them together. She places them on the top. Then she takes a small strip and wet the end. Bends it all the way around to make a circle and presses the ends together. She places it on top of the ends of the bow. To finish it off to make it a gift she takes one of the Hershey candy bars on a piece of parchment paper and sets it in the microwave to melt just a little. She takes it out and lets it almost completely cool. She cuts it the size of a gift tag. She takes a tooth pick and pokes a hole in the end. While it completely cools she cut a long thin strip from the cherry strips. She peels the gift tag from the parchment paper. She melts some white chocolate and put it into a bag with the tip cut off. She writes "To: Jarrick. Runs the thin strip through the hole. Then she stands the tag up on the cake. She is so delighted with the cake. She looks at the clock. She has just enough time to get her a shower and get ready before it's time to go. She decides to where a dress to dinner. Nothing to fancy but nice. She chooses her red lace dress that comes just above her knees with her black pumps. She looks in her floor length mirror. She pleased the way she looks. She grabs her black dress coat from her closet. She goes back into the kitchen. She puts her coat on. Grabs her clutch purse and starts to put her phone in and remembered she didn't know where Jack lives. So she calls Jack. Jack answered and says hey beautiful. Are you on your way? She replies, I was until I remembered that I have no idea where you live? He says, oh well that would help, huh. I'll text you the address but it's just 4 houses up on the right. She says, really, you live that close? He says yep! She says ok. I'll be right there and they hang up. Elizabeth take the cake out to her SUV and uses her remote to open the back hatch. She places the cake in a box she keeps back there. She shuts the hatch and gets in and backs out of her driveway. She says, I can't believe he lives this close! She pulls in his driveway a couple of minutes later. Jack meets her out at her SUV. He opens her door and says Merry Christmas beautiful and kisses her so soft and gentle. It takes her breath away. He leans back and asks can I carry anything for you. He didn't notice that she had a dress on until she stepped out of her SUV. He tells her that she is looking extra beautiful today! She says I try extra hard on holidays. She steps to the back of her SUV and opens the hatch while he closes her door. She tells him to grab the cake. It takes one look at it and says, oh Beth that's beautiful! Jarrick is going to be so surprised! They step back and close the hatch. She takes his arm and they walk into the house. He goes over and sets the cake on the bar. He comes back to help her out of her coat. After he hangs her coat he takes her hand. He leans in for a kiss. He says, you look so beautiful that you take my breath away. He leads her into the small living room. He sits down in his chair and pats his legs for her to sit. She gladly excepts. He takes her hand and pulls it to his lips and gently kisses it. Charlotte is in the kitchen finishing up dinner. She tells everyone dinner is in about 15 minutes. Jarrick is playing with all his Christmas presents. The Christmas in New York Parade was on the tv. Jarrick was so enthused with his gifts that he wasn't paying attention. Jarrick asked Ms Elizabeth if she wanted to see what he got for Christmas? She told him sure little man! He said, I got a Thomas the train set with the wooden track, I got Thomas the train pjs, I got Thomas the train bowl and cup too! She said, boy you must really like Thomas the train, huh! He says yeah I really like trains! I want a real train set but daddy says we don't have room to set one up in here. I'm gonna get me one when I get bigger! Elizabeth asked, what else did you get? He said, I got Thomas the train movies, I got a fire truck with the rescue set too! Daddy works there! I got clothes, I got color books, crayons, markers, and candy, lots of candy! She said, it looks like you had a great Christmas! He said, I did! Everyone was watching her and Jarrick. They noticed how well they got along. She didn't put him off. She sat there and listened to everything he had to say. Jarrick asked her if Santa came to her house? She told him that Santa didn't come to her house. Jarrick looked her for a minute then said, was you naughty this year? Everyone laughed so hard. Then she said, I don't think so. I forgot to write to him and give him my new address. He said, oh maybe you can write to him next year and tell him! She said that's a good idea! You know what Jarrick? I truly am blessed that I met you, your dad and grand parents! I hint that's gifts enough, don't you think? He jumps up and hugs her neck and says, I'm glad we met to. I love you Ms Elizabeth! She said I love you too little man! Jack was amazed at the 2 of them. He felt tears coming but tried to blink them away before anyone seen them. Charlotte was standing in the kitchen watching her son's expression. She was so pleased that he found someone that loved him and his son!