Chapter 5: Keeping It Simple
Haru woke to feel Tsuge Junior bouncing up and down on her stomach. Opening a bleary eye, she saw that he was wearing a Santa hat and a jumper with a Christmas tree on it. When the time came for that jumper to get a second use, she felt sure, it wouldn't fit any more.
"Wake up, Auntie Haru, wake up! Mister Cringle came and left you a present!"
Haru smiled at the boy. If she knew anything, the only reason he was bouncing on her bed was because his mother had said that there was to be no opening of presents until everyone in the house was awake. That only meant that he would wake them all.
"Alright, I'm awake, you can get off me now," she said, tickling him to get her point across. When he was out of the room, Haru put on a dressing gown and followed him. There was no point in actually getting dressed until after breakfast today, no one had to be anywhere until the large Christmas lunch was spread out for everyone.
Haru was surprised to see that there was a gift for her under the tree not from Hiromi or her mother. The two families living together had come about as a bit of an accident. Haru's mother had become so busy with quilting conventions that she was hardly ever home, so Haru had invited Hiromi to live with her, staving off a greater pit of loneliness, and when her best friend had married Tsuge, they just added to the house. It was more fun with lots of people in the house, particularly when so many of them were children.
The unknown parcel had a card attached, which Haru read while she waited for everyone else to be woken up by Junior.
So that you are never sad again, Merry Christmas.
"Well Haru, since you already have a present in your lap, why don't you go first?" Hiromi said, the last to enter the lounge room where they had set up the Christmas tree.
Haru nodded mutely, wondering what it could possibly be as she slipped her nails between the tape that held the wrapping in place. Beneath the shiny red paper and green ribbon there was a simple white box, thinner than it was long, but there were no openings to show her what was inside. Removing the lid, her brown eyes grew wide at what she saw lying there.
He smiled back at her as he lay perfectly still in the box.
"Baron," she breathed, gently lifting him off the green silk cushion he had been lying on. The same green as his eyes.
"Baron? I'm surprised you could think of a name so quickly. He's handsome, for a cat," Hiromi said, kneeling down to start handing out presents to her children.
Haru just shook her head at her friend and sat through the rest of the gift giving, keeping the Baron in her lap the whole time. He stood, stiff as a statue through the whole thing, which Haru supposed should not have surprised her, but when she ran her fingers over his ear, it was warm and soft. He was not just a statue.