2017

"Can you pass me the piping bag?" Gabriella asked.

"Sure honey. Those gingerbread men are smelling divine!" Lucille exclaimed.

"I'm going to be tempted to eat them all right now," Maria laughed.

"Better save at least one for Troy, he won't be happy if he misses out," Lucille warned, knowing her son very well. He might be a grown man, but he still loved his sweets.

"His fault for not being here to have them," Gabriella joked. "He could've been here for baking day, done all the taste testing, but no, he had to work."

Their plans for Christmas in 2017 were small but special. She and Troy had been trading off between families since the year they moved in together. 2017 was the first Christmas since they'd gotten married and so it was significant for them, and they were delighted to be able to spend a quiet Christmas Eve and then Christmas morning with all of Jack, Lucille and Maria. The event was being hosted officially by Lucille but Maria was an equally big part, the women sharing all duties of preparation.

Gabriella had flown into Albuquerque from LaGuardia on Friday the 22nd, however Troy had been sent away. The last year had seen him do significantly well in his job, and he was now officially the main 'alternate' anchor for cable sports show Sports Update. The show was small but had reasonably good ratings. It was on nightly, and each of the main anchors would have one night off each week, which Troy would cover at the desk, and on other days he would film a mixture of pre-recorded and live updates from various sports events. Usually his assignments were in the immediate tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but occasionally he was sent away, and in the week leading up to Christmas, he was sent for an assignment in Chicago. He had separate plans to join Gabriella with their family in Albuquerque, to fly in on the 23rd.

The three women were all in the kitchen baking, ready for the Bolton's holiday party which they were hosting for friends and neighbours on Christmas Night. Smells of gingerbread and shortbread wafted through the Bolton household.

"Gabriella, have you seen a national weather update?" Jack asked, coming into the kitchen.

"No, why?"

"There's a really bad blizzard forecast for Chicago."

Gabriella blinked. "How bad?"

"Very bad."

Immediately, Gabriella pulled out her cell phone and called Troy, who picked up after just three rings.

"Hey babe! I was going to call you soon. I'm almost at the airport."

"Did you check your flight status online before you left the hotel?" Gabriella asked urgently.

"No, why?"

"What's the weather like there at the moment?"

"Well, it's snowing a bit, but that's pretty typical."

"Your dad says there's a major blizzard forecast."

"Oh... I'm sure it's not gonna be an issue. Normally you get a text from the airline if there's an issue. I'm about ten minutes away, I'll call you back once I get there and suss it out, okay?"

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you too."

Gabriella hung up the phone and went back into the living area, sitting down at the breakfast bar.

"Troy says that he's not worried. He hasn't gotten a text from Southwest or anything about any changes to his flight. But he's almost at the airport so he'll update us soon."

Maria pursed his lips. "Hopefully his flight is departing before the storm hits."

"And flying in the opposite direction to it!" Lucille added.

Gabriella distracted herself by focusing on the gingerbread men that were in front of her and a piping bag, decorating each one differently. Twenty minutes later her cell phone began to ring, and she quickly wiped her hands on a dish towel before answering it.

"Hey!"

"Hi."

Troy's tone was glum.

"What? Oh, don't tell me..."

"At the moment it's just a delay but... there's other airlines with cancelled flights."

"Oh..."

"This storm is meant to be hanging around all day."

"Oh... what about tomorrow?"

"Well, the flights are already pretty full. So... unless they put on extra flights..."

"Troy! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!"

"I'm very well aware of this, babe."

"I should've known better than to agreeing to you taking this assignment so close to Christmas," Gabriella grumbled.

"It was for work, it was hardly a matter that you could agree or not agree on," Troy said patiently.

"I just... you know... it's our first Christmas since the wedding!"

"I know."

"Listen, let me find out some more information okay? We don't quite know yet, so there's no need for you to get upset."

Gabriella sniffled. "Okay."

…

The news didn't get any better. Within the next few hours, it became evident that there was pretty much an entire airport shutdown with both airports in Chicago. All flights scheduled to land and depart were either significantly delayed – and in the case of Troy's flight, it had become completely cancelled. Updates on re-scheduled services were being held off until further weather forecasts could be provided. There were no rental cars available from a single Chicago location.

Back in Albuquerque, Gabriella was devastated – the idea of not having Troy there for the holidays was completely unacceptable. Troy had delivered the news to her that he was trying to find an alternative route home and although she'd pretended she was okay, he could hear her sniffling at the other end of the line. She kept telling him that his best bet was to try to find a way to get to Denver, Phoenix or El Paso. It made sense to him, get away from where the weather was bad and he should be able to make his way into the seat of a rental car.

The one available option wasn't one that appealed to him, but he decided that he had to suck it up, because he just had to get home to be with his family -and so Troy cabbed it to the bus station, and arrived just in time for the 11:30am Greyhound. It was bound for St. Louis, where he would change buses bound to arrive in Kansas City late that night. From Kansas City, he could get a flight first thing in the morning to Denver – and he was hoping that from Denver, he'd be able to find a way back to Albuquerque.

At 10:30am on December 24th, Troy was weary as he exited the secure area into the arrivals hall in Denver. The only solace was that when he checked his phone for weather and news updates, it appeared that Chicago was still a mess with the blizzard, and that if he'd stayed put that there wouldn't have been much luck. It was pretty much the only solace that he had in that moment. The sleep he'd had at the Hilton Kansas City Airport had been fitful at best, nothing to do with the comfort of the room, but just because his mind was racing with the need to be getting home. He'd had no luck in being able to book a rental car, but all the rental car companies had told him that there was a chance they'd have a car available if they had a cancellation or a no show on the day, so he'd decided to try his luck and then if there was no success, then he'd look into his other options to get from Denver to Albuquerque.

He stood staring at the luggage belt, willing it to start moving around with bags. Suddenly, a pair of hands covered his eyes from behind, his vision being blocked out, and he gasped.

"Guess who?"

He didn't need to guess, immediately spinning around and grabbing her in excitement. She giggled gleefully as he lifted her from the ground.

"What on earth are you doing here?" he exclaimed.

She shook her head. "If you can manage to get the Greyhound to Kansas City and then fly to Denver, the least that we were able to do was get in the car and drive here and meet you midway."

"We?" Troy asked.

Gabriella glanced back, spotting Jack not too far away, walking over toward them. Gabriella had practically bolted away from where they'd been sitting waiting the moment she'd spotted her weary looking husband.

"Dad!" Troy exclaimed.

"You didn't think that your dad was going to let me drive here on my own, do you? We had to leave at 4am after all!"

"I can't believe you guys are here."

"It's the holidays, of course we came here, I can't believe you didn't figure that out for yourself," Jack chuckled. He held out his hand, he and Troy exchanging a hearty handshake and then a manly hug.

"That's why we kept telling you to just get to a major city near here... Denver, Phonix, El Paso..." Gabriella added.

Troy shook his head. "I thought it was just because then it would be easier for me to drive the last leg if I could find a damn rental car available."

"Oh, bags coming," Jack observed.

Troy's arm looped around Gabriella's waist, leaning against her a little.

"Thank you so much for making sure you'd get home today," Gabriella murmured.

"I knew how important it was for you... for us."

He pulled away from her just long enough to grab his bag from the conveyor belt, and immediately seized her hand with his available hand.

"Come on, let's get going," Jack said. "Gotta get back for dinner or there will be two very unhappy women back in Albuquerque."

When they reached Jack's car in the parking garage, Troy asked, "Do you want me to drive?"

Jack shook his head. "I've got it. Gabriella did the last half of the first leg."

Gabriella slid into the back of the car, and without word, Troy slid in beside her, leaving Jack up the front alone – not that he minded. He felt glad that Troy and Gabriella were very clearly still in those early days of marriage where they never wanted to be apart.

Within half an hour they were on the Interstate 25 headed south. Jack glanced back in the rear vision mirror, seeing Gabriella curled into Troy's side, Troy's chin lolling in a doze. With luck they would be home by 4:30pm, in plenty of time for their Christmas Eve feast.

It was the holidays, and the holidays were about being with family – and the biggest blizzard in a decade wasn't enough to keep the Bolton-Montez family apart.