The Saturday before Christmas, the whole group was gathered in the family room to have an early celebration with Dotty and exchange gifts before they left on their separate trips.
"It seems so strange not to have a tree up," Dotty commented with a little sigh.
"I know it does, Mother," Amanda replied. "But I already explained to you that it would be a little silly to go to all the work of putting one up here at home for just a couple of days when none of us is going to be here to enjoy it."
"Besides that, we're going to have one where we're going," Lee added. "And I'm sure Curt's family will have one there."
"Of course, they will," Dotty nodded. "It's just a little odd. That's all I was saying."
"You know, you could always still come with us," Lee suggested. "We'll have plenty of room."
"No, I couldn't do that when I already made a promise to Curt to meet his daughter and her children." She then grinned at both Lee and Amanda and teased, "Besides, with the way you two have been going back and forth on the subject, it may be the closest thing I'll ever get to having another grandchild."
Amanda rolled her eyes. "We're not going back and forth. We just agreed to wait until after the busy holiday season is over to really talk about it."
"But surely, it's still on your minds since you made an offer on that big house," Dotty countered.
"It was just time to find a place that we can really make ours," Amanda explained. "You know, for a fresh start without any old memories creeping in." She glanced to her older son as she reflected back on her conversation with him about Joe, "Right, Phillip?"
"Right," he agreed.
Jamie caught the downcast look on his brother's face and chimed in eagerly, "So, when do we get to open presents?" in an attempt to change the subject to a more pleasant one.
"Now, remember, you only get to open the ones from your grandma since she's not going to see you until after Christmas," Amanda reminded him. "The rest will have to wait until Friday."
"What about the ones Dad left?" Jamie inquired. "He won't see us for Christmas either."
"Don't you want to wait until you see him tomorrow when you say goodbye before he leaves and open them with him?"
"I don't," Phillip inserted curtly. "Why should we wait? We're only going to see him for like an hour or two before he hops on a plane." He then added under his breath, "As usual."
She cast a worried glance at him, but didn't have a chance to respond before Dotty jumped in with, "Well, you know you can at least have the ones from me." She began handing out wrapped packages and the bitter moment was soon overshadowed by a frenzy of flying bits of wrapping paper and the "oohs and ahhs," and "thank yous" that accompanied gift-opening.
The moment was not forgotten though as Lee caught sight of Amanda's furrowed brow. "Hey, you okay?" he whispered.
"Sure, Sweetheart," she lied as she pasted on a smile. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"
"Amanda..."
"I'll tell you all about it later," she promised, though she wasn't certain how well that would go over when Lee already felt threatened by her past with Joe. She wondered if her mother had been right in what she'd said about her past with him affecting her new marriage more than she thought.
"Amanda, Darling," Dotty cut into her daughter's thoughts. "What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to open yours?"
"Oh...right." She gave her mother a smile and a nod as she tried to force her mind to happier thoughts. After all, they were all together for now and she was determined to enjoy the holidays with her family.
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Late Monday afternoon, the Stetson-King clan arrived at their vacation destination. "Wow, this place looks great!" Lee gushed as they entered the spacious cabin.
"Sure does," Jamie agreed.
"All right, let's get a plan together. Jamie, since you've got the decorations, you take them into the living room and just set them aside for now and then you can help your brother find your rooms and get unpacked since he's got your luggage? Then Lee can take care of ours while I put the groceries away in the kitchen. After that, we'll head out to the tree lot to pick out our Christmas tree before dinner." Amanda suggested. "And then after dinner, we'll decorate it. How does that sound?"
"Sounds like you taking charge again," Lee hissed in her ear.
"Do you have a better plan?"
He let out a resigned sigh and uttered a defeated, "No," and then turned his attention to the boys. "You heard your mom. Come on, let's get to it so we can go pick out our tree. Won't that be fun?"
Lee quickly deposited their luggage in the master bedroom and then returned to the kitchen. "Here, let me help with that," he offered.
She shot him a scolding look. "Now, I know you didn't have time to unpack already."
"That can wait until later. I...uh...I just thought I should help you out in here."
"Well, if you really want to help, there are two more grocery bags you could bring in from the car," she suggested.
"I-"
"That's what I thought. You're not really here to help. You just want to argue again," she sniffed.
"No, not argue," he corrected. "Talk."
"Look, I'm sorry if I was taking charge too much," she began. "I know now how much you hate that everything's always 'my way.'" She remembered all too well his comments about her keeping to the same old routine and how he felt as if he were being excluded. "It's just habit for me to take charge of things around the house."
"Okay, yes, I see that, but this isn't our house. It's a vacation house and I thought...I don't know..." He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I thought that since you wanted me to do all the planning for this thing and since this is a vacation, that maybe you wouldn't be so rigid about things for a change."
"I just thought we should get things neat and organized before anything else so that we can really enjoy the vacation part," she explained. "I wasn't trying to keep you out of anything, really. It's just part of who I am."
"I know that, Amanda. Like those insane lists you've been making since we made the offer on the new house."
"Well, there's a lot to do between now and then," she reminded him.
"Yes, there is," he agreed. "But I noticed that one thing you didn't include is dealing with my stuff."
Their conversation was cut off by a loud female voice, shrieking, "Don't touch me!" followed by a loud "Ouch!" from Phillip.
Jamie ran into the room with a "Mom! Lee! Come quick!" and then ran off again toward the bedrooms.
They hurried behind him with Amanda questioning, "What on earth is going on?"
"See for yourself," Jamie crowed as they entered one of the smaller bedrooms. "Looks like Phillip's got himself a new girlfriend."
"Shut up, Wormbrain," Phillip groused as he rubbed his jaw and glared at the girl opposite him who barked, "I am NOT his girlfriend!"
Lee and Amanda exchanged a surprised look. They glanced around the room, both at a loss for words for the moment as they wondered just what was going on.
"What'd you have to go and hit me for?" Phillip demanded.
"Serves you right," a younger boy jumped in. "You shoulda' left my sister alone when she asked you to."
"I was just trying to be friendly," Phillip defended himself.
"Okay, what's going on here?" Amanda questioned finally finding her voice. "Are we in the wrong cabin or something?"
"Maybe they accidentally double-booked it," Lee suggested. "After all, the keys they gave us worked and I highly doubt that they'd have multiple cabins keyed the same. That wouldn't be very secure for vacationers."
At Lee's comments, Amanda caught sight of the guilty look that passed over the teen girl's face. "Or maybe they're not supposed to be here." She cautiously approached her and met her eyes. "You're not...are you?"
The girl didn't answer, but her younger brother did. "See? I told you we'd get in trouble."
"No one's in trouble here," Amanda said gently. "We just want to know what's going on. Where are your parents?"
"Heaven," a small, frightened voice answered.
"Ivy!" the older girl hissed.
For the first time, Amanda noticed the third child, a girl of about four or five hiding behind the older two children who had just poked her head out to answer the question. Amanda knelt to her level. "Hi there, Ivy. My name's Amanda. I'm very sorry to hear that your parents are gone."
"Oh, like you really care," the older girl snapped as she scooped her sister up in her arms and pulled her away from Amanda.
"I do care," Amanda insisted. She gestured to Phillip and Jamie. "As you can see, I have two children of my own and I-"
"Then maybe you should teach your son to keep his hands to himself," the girl cut her off sharply as she glowered at Phillip.
"I didn't do anything wrong," Phillip protested. "I swear!'
"Hey, Chief," Lee crooned softly as he laid a hand on his older stepson's shoulder. "Why don't you and I go have a man-to-man talk, okay?"
Fearing he was in for a lecture, he still tried to defend himself, "But, Lee, I swear I didn't do anything but try to be nice and she-" He glared at the girl. "She just belted me for no good reason."
"Come on, you can tell me all about it, okay?" Lee replied in a more insistent tone.
Amanda mouthed, "Thank you," to her husband as he led Phillip off and then she turned to Jamie. "Jamie, there are still two more bags of groceries out in the Jeep. Would you go bring them in for me?"
"Sure, Mom," he agreed eagerly to get away from the tense situation in the room.
"Okay, listen," she began once she was left alone with the three orphaned children. "I don't know what your situation is, but I want you to know that I really am truly sorry to hear that your parents passed away."
"Yeah, right," the girl scoffed.
"Look, I think we both know you're not supposed to be here and I can just bet there is someplace you are supposed to be." She gave her a pointed look. When the older girl remained silent, she asked, "Well, how about at least telling me your name?"
"None of your business!"
"Are you gonna' turn us in?" the boy asked worriedly as he sidled up closer to his sisters.
"Glenn," the girl hissed. "We don't talk to strangers, remember?"
"Oh, shut up, Sunny. You're not the boss of me."
"Ahh...Sunny," Amanda smiled. She then nodded to the boy, "And you're Glenn..." She then gestured to the younger girl still held tightly by her older sister, "And this is Ivy."
"So what?" Sunny shrugged. "You know our names. Big deal. Now, you can tattle on us or stab us in the back just like every other grown-up in the world."
"Well, that's going to be rather difficult to do if I don't know where you come from or where you're supposed to be or even your last name." First names were at least a good place to start though, she mused. Her heart ached for these sad, orphaned children and her thoughts flitted back to her conversation with Lee about adoption. It was kids just like these siblings who fell through the cracks of the system as she'd mentioned to him. That was aside from the fact that she'd heard horror stories of overcrowding and understaffing in orphanages as well as inept foster parents. Clearly, these children had run away from something. She just wondered what it was and until she had more information, she didn't feel comfortable sending them back where they came from. She turned her attention to Glenn and informed him, "And no, I'm not going to turn you in. It seems like you've had a difficult enough time as it is and I don't want to make it any worse for you."
"Thank you," Sunny gratefully said as she finally released her hold on her sister and set her on her feet just as Phillip and Lee re-entered the room.
"Everything okay in here?" Lee inquired warily.
"I think so," Amanda replied.
"Good." He nodded to the older girl. "Hey...uh...young lady..." He looked to Amanda for help.
"Her name is Sunny," Amanda answered his unspoken question.
"Sunny..." Lee smiled. "I think Phillip has something so say to you."
"Hey...I...uh...I" Phillip sputtered nervously, worried that she might slug him again. "Sorry. I shouldn't have touched you without your permission."
Sunny eyes him warily for a moment and then grudgingly replied, "Thanks. And I...uh...I shouldn't have hit you. It was just...you know...a reflex."
"Listen," Amanda chimed in. "Why don't you guys get to know each other a little bit...without touching each other...while Lee and I go have a talk about what we're going to do here."
"Hey, you said you weren't going to turn us in," Glenn protested.
"And I meant that, but you still need some place to stay, don't you?"
The boy nodded. "Okay."
"Lee?"
"Yeah," he acknowledged and followed his wife back to the kitchen where they found Jamie finishing up with the groceries and neatly folding the now emptied paper bags.
"Jamie, thank you," Amanda praised her younger son. "You didn't have to do all this."
"Well, someone had to do it and you guys kinda' had your hands full." Jamie shrugged. "Besides, it was kinda' crowded in there."
"Yes, it was," Lee concurred. "I can understand why you wouldn't wanna' stick around."
"Sweetheart," Amanda said sweetly. "I really appreciate you doing all this stuff, but could you give Lee and me a moment alone to talk?"
"You're not gonna' argue again, are you?" he questioned worriedly.
"No, we're not. We just need to talk about our little situation here."
"Okay," Jamie nodded.
The moment he was out of earshot, Lee and Amanda spoke in unison, "We should let them stay."