The morning of Christmas Eve found Paige and Emily seated on the couch together. Emily was tucked underneath Paige's arm, her head on Paige's chest. They were mostly silent, their sadness keeping their words to a minimum. In just a few short hours, Paige would set out for her father's house, in Emily's car. As much as Paige wanted to see him, she didn't want to be away from Emily. Especially not at bedtime.
"We're pathetic," Emily said. "It's only two nights!"
"Yeah, one day, when we're an old married couple, two nights will feel like nothing. 'You want to go see your dad? Great! Spend the whole week!'"
Emily sat bolt upright as Paige said this. Paige felt exposed and vulnerable at having spoken of marriage as if it were inevitable, so early in their relationship. Emily put her hand on Paige's chest, and Paige could hear the smile in her voice as she said, "So, you see us married?" Paige glanced up and saw that the smile was on Emily's face as well as in her tone.
"Well, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't be in this if I didn't think that it was at least a possibility."
Emily gave her a kiss. "A wonderful possibility," she corrected. She giggled and reclaimed her position underneath Paige's arm.
They fell silent again, the silence, this time, broken by Paige's phone. When she saw that it was her dad, she picked up right away. "The roads are terrible, Paige," he said. "Maybe you should plan to stay out there with Emily's family."
"But I want to see you!" Paige was almost whining. Emily put a comforting hand on her thigh.
"We'll see each other. Soon. I want to see you too, but I don't want to worry about your safety on those roads."
"Dad, you can't be alone on Christmas Day."
"I'll be okay, Paige. Just stay safe. Merry Christmas. Tell Emily's family that I said the same."
Paige was about to hang up when she decided to try again. "Dad?"
"Yes, Paige?"
"Maybe you could drive out here for Christmas?" Nick McCullers might not have trusted his daughter to drive in the snow, but he himself was a seasoned driver. Paige thought that it was worth a shot.
"I wouldn't want to put the family out."
"They won't mind." She looked over at Emily who was nodding her head vigorously.
There was a long pause. Finally, she heard her dad say, "Okay, P-Kay. You make sure that it's okay with Emily's parents and text me the information. I'll be there."
Paige hung up on the phone with a huge smile on her face.
Emily gave her a kiss, the look on Paige's face telling her what Nick's response had been. "I'm so happy for you, Paige," Emily said, rubbing Paige's shoulder.
"He said 'Okay, P-Kay!'" Paige said in explanation of the smile on her face. Paige hadn't heard that phrase in years. It had been a little ritual between her and her dad, one that had disappearedat the same time that Paige's mother did. Paige had all but forgotten it, except deep in her subconscious.
Paige briefed Emily and her family on what to expect from her Nick McCullers. Emily was surprised when Paige told her that she wouldn't see her dad in a suit and tie on this trip. Paige explained that her father had made a lot of money as an insurance salesman by being good at reading people and responding to situations. When Emily met him at Stanford, he was in businessman-mode: the potential donor and the father of a team member who was to be respected. In Rosewood, he would be the accommodating guest, the man you'd gladly welcome in your home. And by the end of the evening, you'd find yourself a lot better insured.
Paige moved her luggage from the guest room into Emily's room, to free up the guest room. After all, she hadn't actually been sleeping in the guest room but in front of the Christmas tree with Emily. There was no reason that their luggage couldn't share a room so that Nick would have a place to stay.
Sleeping in front of the tree was no longer just about Christmas tradition for Emily. It meant that she wouldn't have to sneak into the guest room to snuggle off to sleep with Paige. Even though there were physically separated by sleeping bags, she could still shelter in Paige's arms and belulled to sleep by the steady rhythm of Paige's breathing.
On Christmas morning, the door opened and there stood Nick McCullers, an overnight bag in his left hand and a bottle of wine in his right. "Merry Christmas!" he said warmly as Paige introduced him to Emily's parents.
Paige had never seen her father in salesman mode. At dinner, she was blown away. He was relaxed and personable. He had a lot to say about his daughter, but not his usual boasts about her times or achievements. He told cute stories about her when she was growing up, some that she remembered, some that were new to her. And he was smiling. Nick McCullers was smiling at the memory of times with his daughter.
"Well, it's obvious that you're very proud of your daughter," Wayne Fields commented. "With good reason," he added, laughing good-naturedly.
"I am," Nick affirmed. Then, to Paige's astonishment (not to mention Emily's), he pressed on. "And I know that she loves your daughter. I don't know Emily well, but I know my daughter, and she has a good head on her shoulders. She loves your daughter, so that says a lot about who she is, and how you two have raised her. When I met Emily, I understood why Paige loves her. I can see that she really cares about my daughter, and that makes me happy. And I want to thank you, Pam and Wayne, for raising such a loving, caring daughter. And thank you, Emily, for taking care of my daughter. She's not always as strong as she thinks she is, and she needs someone like you. Thanks for being there for my Paige."
Paige broke when she heard that. My Paige. She had to excuse herself from the table and go somewhere to regain her composure. Emily stood up to go after her, but Nick stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
He heard his daughter muffling her tears in the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Paige, may I come in?"
Paige opened the door and hugged her father. She could hardly remember how it felt to do that. "Paige, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I haven't been the kind of father that I should have been – the kind that you needed. I can't make up for all those years, but I can do better starting now. I hope that it's not too late."
Paige was just shaking her head over and over on her dad's shoulder while he said all of this. Why was he apologizing? He wasn't the one who left! Paige was sorry that hadn't been able to help him when he needed someone. She didn't know how to put words to everything that she was thinking. Finally, she had collected herself enough to speak. "Daddy," she heard herself say, "You stayed. You didn't leave me. You were always there for me. Daddy," (There was that word again.) "I love you!"
"I love you, too, Paige." It had been ages since either of them had said that in so many words.
He held her for a few moments longer. "I'm going to get back to the table," he said as he broke away. "You take all the time that you need."
When Emily's family heard Nick's heavy footsteps approaching the table, they pretended that they had been eating all along, not sitting in hushed anticipation, trying to glean any indication of how things were going. "She's okay," he said in response to the question that hadn't been vocalized. "She'll be here in a minute."
The table was silent until Wayne boomed out, "So, Nick, is this the part where you sell us some insurance that we don't really need?" Wayne broke into contagious laughter. It had spread to the whole table when Paige got back, moments later. She squeezed her dad's shoulder as she took her seat between him and Emily. He looked up and gave her a wink. "Actually," Paige said, doing her best to keep a straight face, "Everybody really needs insurance!"
"That's my girl" The smile on Nick's face was only slightly wider than the one on Paige's. She was getting her dad back. She knew that it would be a long process, and that it wouldn't be easy, but she could tell that things were changing.
Later in the evening, when Emily and Paige were reclining on Emily's bed watching "Santa Claus Versus the Zombies" on Emily's laptop, they heard a knock against the open door. They looked up and were somewhat surprised to see Paige's dad standing in the doorway. Emily paused the movie and Paige went over to see what her dad wanted. "Hi, girls. I'm sorry for interrupting. I just wanted to give you your Christmas presents." Paige went over to her suitcase and grabbed the envelope with her gift to her father. It was the same as it had been for the past few years: a Barnes and Noble gift card and one from Starbucks. This time, though, the Christmas card had Emily's name on it as well.
Paige was surprised to see her dad stretch out small, rectangular, wrapped boxes to her and Emily. She was expecting his usual: an envelope with a check. They opened the boxes to find identical Movado watches with black faces and black leather straps. They were speechless. "I was going to get you stopwatches, so that you could time each other in the pool, but I thought better of it," Nick said grinning, in an attempt to ease the tension. Paige leaned in and hugged her dad. Emily looked up at him, not knowing the appropriate way to approach him. He stretched out his arms with a smile, and she hugged him warmly. "I meant what I said earlier, you know," he told them, once they had retreated from their hugs. "You two are good for each other. I really am happy that you found each other." With that, he dipped his head and waved as he backed out of the doorway.
"Paige, he's really…" Emily didn't know what the word she was looking for was.
"Yeah," was all that Paige replied as she hugged Emily, choking back a sob.
Paige and Emily were up bright and early the next morning. They wanted to make breakfast for everyone before Paige's dad got on the road. Emily glided effortlessly through the kitchen, leaving it spotless in her wake. Her father had taught her the Army way: Clean as you go. "I didn't know that you had such skill in the kitchen, Emily."
Emily grabbed Paige by the collar, narrowed her eyelids, and husked back at her, "That's not the only room that I'm skilled in, McCullers!" She drew Paige in for a deep, passionate kiss that was interrupted by a hearty laugh that Paige hadn't heard in years.
"Wayne," Nick called out, "If the smoke alarm in the kitchen goes off, don't worry. It's only our daughters!"
Wayne rounded the corner in time to see Paige bury her bright red face in Emily's shoulder, playfully smacking her girlfriend for having put gotten them busted. Wayne shrugged his shoulders. "Young love," he mused. "What can you do?"
After breakfast, Nick gave hugs to the ladies and a firm handshake to Wayne, and was on his way. And just like that, it was over. Paige had a hard time believing that it hadn't all been a dream. Had it not been for the pictures, she might not have been convinced. As soon as Pru saw Paige's new profile picture on facebook, she texted Paige: "So happy for you! 3 #ChristmasMiracle"