Chapter Fifty Eight – A Family Christmas

Olivia shivered and pulled her coat tighter around herself after she'd knocked on the door of the Ollenghy's home in New Jersey. While it was definitely cold enough to snow, Ben and Suvi's wish for a white Christmas hadn't come true. There was absolutely no trace of snow anywhere. It would have been a pretty adorable Christmas present to see the two of them out playing it in, but that just wasn't to be.

The door opening startled her out of her thoughts of human and canine snowball fights, and she looked up to find Ben's father smiling at her.

"Hi, Olivia. Glad you could make it," Bernard told her as he motioned her inside. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," she returned.

"I'll take your coat. You just go ahead in and join everyone in the family room."

"Thanks."

When she stepped into the family room she found Ben and Clarissa's kids camped out on the floor. Ryan and Clarissa were on the couch, and Cole was sitting on the arm rest. Sheila was sitting in one of the nearby arm chairs, watching everyone. What really stood out for Olivia were the reindeer antlers. Both of Clarissa's boys were wearing them, and they were complimented by Ben and Cole's Santa hats. Olivia tried to stifle a laugh but wound up drawing all of their attention anyway. When Ben turned and spotted her his face lit up rather like a child at Christmas, which seemed rather appropriate.

"Merry Christmas!" Ben called excitedly.

She returned the sentiment much more quietly as Ben stood and came toward her. He wrapped her up in a hug. A second later she wasn't sure if it had been meant merely as a distraction or if that was just an added bonus. Once they'd pulled apart Ben reached up toward her head with something in his hand. She immediately shied away even though she had no idea what he was holding or why. When she realized it was a reindeer antler headband she was glad she hadn't waited to get out of the way.

"Oh come on, Liv. It's a headband."

"No."

"It's fun. See? We're all wearing them."

After waving toward the group gathered by the couch he again tried to put the antlers on her head. Olivia caught his hand and held it firmly away from her. The look on her face said it all. That headband was not going on her head.

"You're going to get a knee to the balls pretty soon man," Ryan laughed.

"Ryan!" Sheila reprimanded.

"What?"

"There are children here."

"So? I'm sure they've heard worse."

Tommy and Chase both started laughing which only caused Clarissa to sigh and drop her head into her hands. Considering how many brothers she had she'd long ago given up the hope of keeping inappropriate things and comments away from her sons.

"They won't be repeating it," Bernard said in hopes of calming his wife. "Right boys?"

"Yes, Grandpa," they returned in almost perfect unison.

Olivia suspected they'd probably had to do that more than once before. She had to agree with Ryan too that they'd probably heard much worse. Ben slipped his arm around her shoulders, drawing her attention back to him.

"Can I at least put the antlers on Suvi?"

"Haa. Not a chance."

"Well, if you won't enjoy the Christmas headgear then at least come join the Christmas everything else."

After unclipping Suvi's leash so he could wander and enjoy the holiday too Olivia curled up beside Ben on the floor beside the couch. She was more than happy to listen to Christmas music while the kids passed out the presents they'd gotten for their grandparents and uncles. It didn't take long for her to find even larger entertainment. This was the first time Suvi had ever experienced a flurry of wrapping paper. At first he wasn't sure what it was and simply sniffed at the piles strewed across the floor curiously. It didn't take long for him to realize that this paper stuff could make the perfect toy. Then the fun began. Suvi started by racing through the wrapping paper and then trying to bury himself under it. From there it only got more hysterical. At first it took a while for Olivia to figure out what exactly Suvi was doing. He kept picking up a sheet of paper and trotting off to put it somewhere else. Then she got it. He was cleaning up. Suvi did it at home, but he usually did it on command and needed to know where to put things. The more she watched, however, the surer she became that her first guess had been wrong. His actions couldn't really count as cleaning up when he was piling the torn up wrapping paper on Tommy and Chase.

The boys put up with Suvi's antics for a bit and simply brushed the paper away, but as Suvi continued piling it on they got other ideas. It was much more fun to throw the paper away from them. Considering how many different directions the paper was flying they didn't really care who they hit. Suvi was more than happy to chase after whatever he could and bring it back to add to the pile that Clarissa's kids were quickly reducing. The three boys were having a blast, and Olivia had to admit that so was she. Kinsey, however, was not having fun. She was in the direct line of fire and was continually getting hit by flying wrapping paper. Every so often Suvi would jump over her legs or accidentally bump into her too. Finally she got fed up with her brothers' game.

"Mo-om!" she whined.

"Guys," Clarissa warned.

"Suvi started it!" Chase insisted.

"Aww, your dog's getting blamed," Ben whispered in a little kid "you're in trouble" voice.

Olivia rolled her eyes at him. She couldn't lie though. Suvi had contributed to the chaos even though he'd only really set up the opportunity. Since Clarissa was handling her own children, Olivia felt that she needed to deal with her own "child" too.

"Suvi. Come here."

He trotted over to her, happy as ever. Was he being reprimanded? Maybe according to Olivia he was, but to him definitely not. Besides, there was still more fun to be had. When he reached Olivia and Ben he literally climbed over top of them to find a place to sit down. Of course there were a ton of different places to sit, but there was only one he wanted. All he had to do to get it was turn here, squish in there, wiggle a little bit, and there! Perfect.

Ben and Olivia glanced at each other over Suvi's head. Somehow Suvi had managed to squeeze himself between Olivia and Ben, forcing them aside. All they could do however was smile at each other and each drape an arm over Suvi's back so they could pet his opposite side.

Clarissa gently bumped Cole's shoulder, rocking him a bit on the arm rest. Cole glanced up at her curiously, but she only nodded toward Ben, Olivia, and Suvi. He saw what she did right away. The three of them were so relaxed and happy. So natural.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," Clarissa said softly.

"Doesn't look that way."

Here Cole had been worried about whether Olivia cared enough to be Ben's girlfriend, whether she took it seriously enough. Now when he looked at them he saw a family, as strange as that was. Ben and Olivia seemed completely content and comfortable with each other, and Cole suspected they had no idea that was coming across so clearly.

Ben's siblings weren't the only ones who'd noticed the strong connection between Ben and Olivia. Kinsey kept glancing at them out of the corner of her eye so she wouldn't be spotted, though the beaming smile on her face would have totally given her away if either Ben or Olivia had been looking. Leaving everything where it was she slipped over to her mother and gently grabbed her arm.

"Mom. Look."

Clarissa smiled softly and said, "I know. I see it too."

"Do you think he's going to marry her?"

Cole had to choke back a laugh, but Kinsey didn't mind. She just wanted the answer to her question.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Kins."

"But look at them, Mom."

"They haven't known each other that long," Cole reminded her. "And Olivia can be a little shy sometimes."

Kinsey glanced toward Olivia thoughtfully. She'd never pegged Olivia as shy. Her uncle's girlfriend had always come across as confident and sure of herself even with her disability.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really," Cole almost laughed. "You really like her, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Me too."

Bernard had listened to the entire conversation between his children and granddaughter. It made him want to see what was going on with Olivia and Ben, but he suspected if he moved into the living room where he could see the moment would be broken. From the sounds of things the moment was too good to end it. He sat down at the kitchen table with his wife and Ryan.

"Looks like Olivia's stolen more than one heart in this family."

"The only reason she'd stolen Kinsey's heart is because she lives in the city," Sheila sniffed.

"Come on, Mom," Ryan said. "You're just fighting for every excuse you can find. She's good for him. Really good for him. Better for me really, but she'd got eyes only for Ben. It's about time that you see that."

"Ryan's right, Sheila. It's time to start looking at her as she is and not how you think she is. Past time. I thought we'd already fixed this."

After their last visit to see Olivia and Ben, Bernard had thought they'd gotten Sheila past Olivia's disability. Maybe he'd been wrong. Of course I was also possible that her dislike stemmed from more than that. Something that wasn't even related to Olivia herself. Ben's previous girlfriend had left scars on more people than just Ben.