It was when they were starting to unpack the boxes of decorations that the idea took root in Jamie's head. Mom had found the stack of Santa photos from when he and Phillip were little, and she and Grandma had been cooing over them and looking misty-eyed and Lee had started teasing them about it. He and Phillip had managed to put their foot down in the past two years that they were way too old to do Santa photos anymore. It had been hard especially when Mom had made that kind of disappointed face and sighed and made a comment about how her babies were growing up so fast… but he had backed up Phillip in refusing to do them anymore. It was bad enough to have the braces and the glasses and to have a brother who was good at sports and popular with girls, he certainly didn't need to be seen joining a line of crying toddlers at the mall, even if it would make his mom happy.
But this year… this year, they had an ace up their sleeve. This year they had Lee. Okay, yeah, so Lee had been around at Christmas last year but back then, he'd just been "Mr. Stetson", a guy Mom had just started to date. Last year, they hadn't even been sure how long he'd stick around but then Mom had that accident out in California and after that, he'd been around way more. And, Jamie had to admit, it had been kind of annoying at first, the way he was always there after she got home from the hospital and if he was honest, he'd been jealous of the way Mom was always so happy to see him, when all Jamie wanted was his mom all to himself. It was one thing to share her with Phillip and Grandma, but she'd almost died and then there was this guy who was always around, acting so protective, like she belonged to him and Mom had been kind of soppy the same way and so yes, he'd been jealous.
Eventually though, even he had been able to see that Lee really loved Mom, like really loved her. Loved her enough to put up with him being sulky and still trying to do things that would include him and Phillip. Showing him how to use the camera, showing up at Phillip's team games, telling them stories about the stuff he'd gotten up to at their age – he'd really done a lot to try and be nice to them. None of it had really worked though – although it had been getting easier – right up until that day a few months ago when Mr. Jones down the street had freaked out on them.
It had been a perfectly normal day, walking back from the school bus stop with Phillip bouncing his basketball and dancing around trying to bug him and they'd gotten into one of their usual little shoving matches, just joking around and he'd tripped, sending his backpack off his shoulder and flying up Mr. Jones' driveway, stopping just short of the car parked there. He'd barely gotten back on his feet and was leaning down to pick it up when Mr. Jones had come barrelling out of the house, screaming blue murder about them being on his property and marking up his car. They'd tried to explain that they hadn't been anywhere near his car, that nothing they'd done had made that scratch, but he just kept yelling that he was going to call the cops and get them arrested for trespassing. They'd been backing up away from him in a panic and were actually in the street, barely missing being hit by a car passing just inches behind them as it went by, when he'd reached out to grab Jamie by the arm. Jamie had frozen, not sure what to do and then Lee had appeared out of nowhere, standing behind them with his arms crossed and telling Mr. Jones in a voice that sounded quiet but somehow really scary that he had better calm down and let Jamie go or there would be consequences.
Mr. Jones had let go of his arm, but then he'd gone for even more bluster at that point, saying that if Lee was responsible for them, then he'd better be prepared to pay for the damage they'd done. Jamie had taken one look at Lee's face and although he'd never thought Lee as being dangerous before, he found himself racing to explain that they hadn't done anything and Phillip had as well and then Mr. Jones was shouting them down and then suddenly Lee's hands had come down on their shoulders and squeezed until they'd gone quiet, and then he'd leaned forward a little bit and glared down at Mr. Jones and he'd said in that same scary-as-hell voice, "If Jamie and Phillip say they didn't damage your car, I believe them. And you sure as hell better have proof before you go calling in the police, because your dog is loose without a collar on, your licence plate tags are out of date, and most important, Jamie was on the street on public property when you grabbed him which means you could be brought up on an assault charge. And let me assure you, the state of Virginia has a very poor opinion of people charged with assaulting a minor. And so do I."
He paused to let that sink in and they all watched Mr. Jones go a little pale before he went on, "So are you absolutely sure you saw them damage your car? Or is it just coincidence that the scratch is an exact match for the height of the handle of the garbage can you've left out? Which by the way, is also a ticket because you've left it out too long since garbage collection was yesterday."
There was a long silence and finally Mr. Jones had taken a step back, still red with anger but looking like he knew he was in the wrong.
"I'll take that as a no then," Lee had said calmly. "Okay boys, let's head home – I hear it's pot roast and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight."
Phillip had shot off without needing any further encouragement, but Jamie had still been off-kilter from the whole thing and he'd turned more slowly, feeling shaky. Without a word, Lee had taken his backpack from him and swung it up on his shoulder before dropping an arm around Jamie and starting to walk slowly toward the house. It was then he'd seen the Corvette, at a slight angle in the middle of the road, nowhere near their house, with the driver's side door wide open and the alarm bell chiming. It hadn't made sense for a moment that Lee hadn't taken his usual care parking his pride and joy, and then he'd realized that Lee hadn't parked it at all – it had been his car that has passed behind them moments before and he'd obviously just stopped dead when he'd seen Mr. Jones yelling at them. He turned to look up at Lee, who glanced back down at him and gave him a quick shoulder squeeze before letting go.
"You head on home, I'll just finish parking properly," he said, all trace of that scariness gone from his voice. "Here, take your bag – your mom's waiting."
"Lee? We really didn't touch his car. We never even got close to it." He was babbling but for some reason, Jamie felt like it was really important Lee knew that.
Hazel eyes had looked down with surprise. "I know – you said you hadn't and I believe you."
"You do? I mean, you barely know us – why would you believe us over him?"
Something in what he'd said had made Lee's face light up with a grin, but he wasn't sure what.
"I know you better than you think and besides…" Lee leaned down and rested his hands on his knees so that they were a little more eye-to-eye and said in a conspiratorial tone, "You're Amanda King's son and I know for a fact, she didn't bring up liars." He waited a beat, then straightened up. "Come on, hop in, you can ride the rest of the block with me."
Jamie had nodded and climbed in without another word, but when they got to the house, Mom was on the doorstep, looking worried and hadn't really stopped looking that way, even when she saw them. Jamie had given her a hug on the way in, and she'd hugged him back with a kiss on the top of his head and sent him to wash up but he couldn't help overhearing his mom and Lee talking through the slightly open door of the powder room.
"Phillip says you were quite the scary white knight, Mr. Stetson." She'd been teasing but still a little serious.
"Yeah well, that little toe rag better not try anything like that again – I won't be so nice next time."
"Watcha gonna do, Sweetheart? Call the feds?" Mom's voice was lighter now and Lee's was too as he'd laughed.
"Worse – I'll call his mother. Or yours." That had made Mom really laugh, and it was a nice sound, a sound he hadn't heard enough of since her accident because they'd all been too worried to think anything was funny anymore. He'd made sure to make noise leaving the bathroom because he was pretty sure they were kissing, even more so when they were still hugging a bit and smiling at each other, even with his efforts to alert them. It was the first time he'd really seen the way they looked at each other, the first time he'd really noticed how happy Mom looked when Lee was around.
"Um, thanks for helping us out back there, Lee," he said gruffly and Lee's easy grin had appeared.
"Anytime, Kiddo."
After that, it had been easier and easier to have Lee around. He and Mom still worked a lot of crazy hours but now it seemed like they were trying harder to be around more and he had the feeling that a lot of that was because of Lee. He noticed the way Lee was always so careful with Mom and Grandma, pulling out chairs for them, helping them reach things on top shelves, carrying the heavy stuff, helping in the kitchen… But it also seemed like he really enjoyed being around all of them, not just Mom. He seemed just as happy to spend time out on the driveway shooting hoops with Phillip as he was to hang out with him and talk about things like science experiments or the possibility of building a dark room in the basement.
Even Dad liked Lee and that was probably how they'd all ended up sitting in the family room after Thanksgiving dinner and the football games were over with Dad and Lee teaching them the finer points of poker. It was obvious that they were letting him and Phillip win at first while they were still learning, but somehow, he didn't really know how, he'd grasped the patterns pretty quickly and soon he was winning hands on his own. Lee had looked a little surprised a few times when Jamie had won the hand, but Jamie could tell that he thought it was just beginner's luck. Then, he'd started winning more and more and you could just see Lee getting more competitive – it was kind of fun watching him get riled up.
Jamie couldn't explain it. He wasn't cheating, he just kinda somehow knew what cards were still in the deck. Later Dad would explain the concept of card-counting – which it seemed he'd been doing without knowing it was a thing - and how it could get him into trouble in a real casino, but for now, he just got to enjoy watching the stack of chips pile up in front of him as Lee's got smaller and smaller.
Finally Lee had almost nothing left in front of him to meet Jamie's last raise, but he seemed pretty certain he had a winning hand, so Jamie had teased him, "How about an IOU for a chore to be completed later?"
Lee had readily agreed – and then thrown up his hands in disgust when Jamie had laid down his cards and wiped the floor with him, which had made Mom laugh really, really hard.
"Good thing you didn't try and bet the car this time, Sweetheart."
Phillip had groaned with disgust. "You could have won his car? Way to waste a bet, Wormbrain!"
He really had just meant to hold onto the IOU until the first big snowstorm so that he could make Lee do the shovelling instead, but now he had an even better idea. He was pretty sure it counted as a chore – he knew it was one for him and Phillip – and he knew Lee had a code of honor so he'd probably go along with it, especially if he knew it would make Mom laugh…
"You want me to do what?" Lee was staring at him with a mix of confusion and disbelief.
"You heard me – and I have an IOU that says you have to do it." Jamie crossed his arms and tried to stare down his nose at him – or rather up his nose at him since Lee was so damn tall.
"That was not the spirit of that IOU – and besides, I still say counting cards is cheating, no matter what your lawyer dad says! You shouldn't even be allowed to use it!"
Jamie held a hand up, cupping his ear. "Is that the sound of Lee Stetson welching on a bet? A bet he entered into willingly and with no strings attached? Tsk, tsk, tsk. That's a terrible example to be setting for two small impressionable boys whose mom you claim you want to marry someday."
That had made Lee bark with laughter, mutter something about learning poker from your father and blackmail from your mother, and then he'd agreed – with conditions. "I will pick you up from school on your lunch hour and do it in the middle of the day so that I can be sure no one I know sees me."
"That's fine," Jamie grinned at him. "It's not like we won't still have photographic evidence when we're done."
"Don't remind me," Lee grumbled. "The things I do for your mother…"
It had been worth it. When that big snowstorm finally came in mid-January, Jamie was perfectly happy to shovel the driveway, still warmed by the look on Mom's face when she'd unwrapped the parcel they'd presented her that night.
"Boys, Christmas is still days away – are you sure you want me to open this now?"
Both of them had nodded vigorously, Lee not so much, although he'd been grinning pretty broadly too. "Oh yeah, you need to open it now – it's going to need to be on display ALL of Christmas!" explained Jamie, shooting a smirk at Lee.
"Maybe even all the way to Valentine's Day!" added Phillip, laughing. "Maybe forever!"
Mom had opened it carefully, finding the slim box for the picture frame and slowly opening it up with a quizzical look at all of them and then stopping to stare at the photo. "Oh. My. Gosh," she'd said and then she'd started to whoop with laughter, struggling to catch her breath before looking at it again and starting all over.
"What is it?" Grandma had asked, coming to look over her shoulder and then she'd begun laughing too.
"How on earth did you let them talk you into this?" Mom had turned to Lee.
"Now wait a minute... why do you think that I didn't do it of my own free will? Or maybe it was my idea!" he protested. "You're just assuming-"
"I called in the poker IOU," said Jamie bluntly, and watched Mom and Grandma collapse laughing again.
He had to admit, it was a really great photo. In the end, Lee had insisted that if it was for Mom, they all needed to be in it, so he and Phillip had leaned up against Santa's throne, but it had been left to Lee to sit on Santa's lap. Well, not really on it since he was so big, but sort of beside him, with his legs draped across the arm of the chair. And then the mall Santa had gotten into the spirit of the thing and suggested Lee should wear a Santa hat too and they had really thought that was going to be the last straw where he'd refuse to do it, but he'd been game after all and pulled it on with only a tiny bit of fake grumbling and a threat to frown in the picture like the Grinch.
But then that little six-year-old waiting to go next had said in a loud voice, "Mommy! That man must have been really really good if he still gets to ask Santa for stuff even when he's so big!" They'd all started to laugh just as the elf had snapped the picture, capturing Lee with his eyes closed and obviously mid-belly laugh and he and Phillip hadn't been much better. The elf had offered to take a new one, but they'd all agreed this was exactly the picture they wanted. They'd quickly bought a frame and had it gift-wrapped and then Lee had dropped them back at school with Mom never knowing a thing about it – until now.
"I can't believe you did this," she was saying now, running a finger along the frame with a look of wonder. "It's beautiful."
"Beautiful?" he and Lee had said at the exact same time and in the exact same tone of disbelief.
"You know what I mean!" Mom had huffed at them.
"I do," agreed Lee, leaning down to kiss Mom on the top of her head. "That's why I have another copy of it over at my apartment. Now who wants more cocoa?"
Dotty had jumped up to go help him, leaving Jamie to watch his mother as she gazed down at the photo, a fond smile still on her face. She looked up and met his eyes. "Thank you, Sweetheart. This means… a lot to me."
He knew she meant more than just the photo, that she understood the intention behind it. He leaned over to give her a tight hug. "Merry Christmas, Mom."