Military Holiday: A family member serving in the military surprises the family by returning home for the holidays, exploring emotional reunions and reintegration into family life.

Family Holiday

"Are you absolutely sure?" Mike asked the tenth private investigator he had hired. All the others had told him Christine and the girls had died. This one had handed him an address where they were.

"I am, Sir." He said.

"Thank you." Mike answered. The private investigator left Mike's office and Mike stared at the address. It was Christmas Eve. He had planned on working as late as possible but his wife and daughters were at some random house.

Not wanting to show up empty handed, Mike stopped at a local mall and bought presents. A ring for Christine, a locket for Hannah and bracelet for Katie. Nice gloves and perfumes and whatever he could find that he thought they might like. He paid to have it wrapped, stopped for groceries sensing that money might be tight for Christine, and then drove to the address he was given. It was a small house, and the lights were on. He grabbed some of the gift bags and his go-bag, hoping he would be invited to stay. He knocked on the door and waited patiently. Finally, Christine opened the door and immediately looked at him in shock.

"Mike?" She asked with tears shining in her eyes.

"Yes." Mike said simply. He sat the bags aside and pulled her into a hug.

"I've missed you so much." Christine sobbed into his chest.

"I've missed you all too." Mike said. The house was ice cold, and he was worried.

"The girls are upstairs. It's warmer. I can't get the damn pilot lit." Christine said.

"Let me?" Mike said. She handed him the lighter and closed the door behind him. He would get the bags once he got the pilot lit. The furnace was not in great shape, and he had some serious concerns about it, but Christine was proud. Within just a few moments, he had the heater working. "Its going to take it a while to warm up in here." Mike told her gently.

"Thank you. I can get the girls?" Christine offered.

"Yes. I'd like that. I need to get some stuff out of my truck." Mike said.

"Okay. Sorry about the house. It was all I could get us into." Christine said.

"Don't worry about it." Mike assured her. He kissed her forehead and watched her climb the stairs. He went out and got the go-bag and all the bags of gifts and groceries. He had put the presents under the meager tree and was unpacking groceries, glad he had gotten them. Christine's cupboards and fridge was nearly bare. Fortunately, Mike had bought entirely too much. Suddenly, he heard feet bounding down the stairs and Hannah ran to him.

"Daddy!" Hannah said. Mike hugged her immediately. A much calmer Katie and Christine had also come down the stairs and Katie was waiting her turn patiently. Of the two, Hannah had always been exuberant. Katie was calm. Finally, Mike pulled away from Hannah and gave Katie a hug. He could tell she was a bit unsure of him. Their relationship hadn't been great before. Mike made a point to hug her even tighter and squeezed her gently.

"Mike, all these groceries?" Christine asked.

"And there's presents!" Hannah said. Mike pulled away from Katie but kissed her forehead.

"Yeah. I went a little crazy." Mike said.

"I can help you fix something for dinner, Mom?" Katie offered.

"How about these pork chops and maybe some scalloped potatoes?" Christine suggested.

"Whatever you girls want. I also got for breakfast and Christmas dinner. Hopefully, its thawed enough. I knew a turkey wouldn't be, so I opted for a ham." Mike said.

"The ham should be fine for tomorrow." Christine said as she inspected the groceries. She and Katie went to work on fixing a dinner. They seemed to work together easily. The house was warming up but Mike knew that it was not adequate. He would be finding Christine and the girls a new house, regardless of what happened between he and Christine. His girls were not going to be living in squalor.

Mike was used to eating out, not bothering to cook for himself; so the meal that Christine and Katie put together was especially delicious. He could tell they were particularly hungry. Mike made a point to do the clean up and got Hannah to help him while Christine and Katie got ready for bed.

He was able to kiss the girls good night, knowing that he and Christine had some talking to do. Their marriage was nearly over before and it had been years. She had to feel anger at him for staying gone for so long, for Lucas dying and all the issues before. It might just be too much to overcome. Finally, once he was satisfied that the girls were asleep; he spoke up.

"Look; I know things weren't good before and its been a really long time. Once I found you all, I just really wanted to have a good Christmas. Can we…make sure the girls have a good Christmas before we make any decision about the two of us?" Mike begged. He sat down next to Christine on the couch, glad the house was warming up finally.

"Do you want a divorce?" Christine asked quietly.

"Not particularly but I know that is what you were pushing for before. So many years apart probably didn't diminish that desire for you." Mike answered.

"I…have missed you." Christine admitted. She had always been very assertive and confident before, but now she just seemed so worn down.

"Christine, if you want a divorce, I would make sure you and the girls were taken care of. I wouldn't just abandon you although I'm sure that's what it seems like I've done all these years." Mike assured her. He didn't miss that she had rapidly wiped a tear away, like she didn't want him to see it.

"Thank you but…is there a version of this story that we don't get a divorce? Where we work things out?" Christine asked.

"Of course. That is actually the version I would prefer." Mike told her.

"You always did. I am just so tired. Working twelve to fourteen-hour days. Not knowing how I was going to manage. And then watching Katie fall into the same habits to help me out." Christine admitted.

"Honey, this can't only be for financial reasons. I want a good marriage. We had one once and I think we could do it again." Mike said. Christine nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we did." Christine agreed. She turned to him and he saw the tears welling up in her eyes. He put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head, glad she was finally leaning in. He held onto her for quite a while before they both decided to go to bed. Nothing more than sleeping would happen and Mike was fine with that. He changed into his pajamas and settled into the lumpy double-sized bed next to Christine.

"Least you'll be warm tonight." Mike said. Such a small bed forced them to lay closer than their king-sized one from before. That had allowed the distance between them to grow.

"True. Sorry about the bed. I wanted to make sure the girls had decent beds." Christine admitted as she cuddled close. Her worn flannel nightgown was not sexy and Mike didn't care.

"Hopefully, the girls let you sleep in a bit." Mike said.

"Ah-huh." Christine agreed. She was already drifting off and Mike smiled into her hair. He made sure she was in her favorite position from before and began feeling sleepy for the first time in a long time. He usually stayed awake and only slept when he crashed out of exhaustion. Hopefully, now he would sleep finally.

As Mike suspected, he and Christine both slept through the night and were still sleeping when Hannah woke them both up at seven. She was still as exuberant as she had been as a small child. Katie was downstairs starting breakfast.

"I thought we might eat breakfast and then open those presents." Katie said.

"Oh, that's crazy! We can eat when we're done." Hannah exclaimed as she danced around. Christine took the whisk out of Katie's hand and shut the stove off.

"We'll open and then fix breakfast." Christine said. She led her into the living room and Mike and Hannah began distributing the gifts.

"I had no idea what you all liked now, so it was just kind of a guess." Mike admitted, feeling a bit odd about the gifts. Now that he knew how his wife and daughters had been living; jewelry, perfumes and such seemed a bit stupid.

"Mike, thank you." Christine said. They sat down on the couch and Katie was in the chair while Hannah pulled a chair in from the kitchen. "Okay." Christine indicated to both girls.

"Dad, we don't have anything for you." Katie remarked.

"I'm alright." Mike said. Katie narrowed her eyes and jumped up.

"I'll be right back." Katie said, grabbing one of the gift bags Mike had carried in the night before. Hannah let out a frustrated sigh and Christine shrugged her shoulders.

"She's still a mystery to even me sometimes." Christine remarked. Katie had always been their odd child. Mike had never fully understood her and it had always caused issues. Suddenly, she reappeared and handed Mike the gift bag. It was now heavy.

"Now, we can open presents." Katie said. Mike looked down in the bag suspiciously but Christine just shrugged. The girls began opening their presents. There were lots of giddy screams from Hannah and Katie's calm remarks that she liked something. Christine had been moved to tears by several of her gifts, especially the ring Mike had gotten her. Finally, Mike opened the bag Katie had given him and smiled at a framed photo of Mike and Katie when she was small and a small painting of a man and young girl fishing. It was hand painted and made Mike smile.

"Katie painted that her senior year of high school. She's always been really proud of it." Christine explained.

"There's an ash tray in there too. I made it the same year. I assumed you still smoked cigars." Katie said. Mike lifted it out of the bag and smiled. For some reason, the gift was that much more meaningful to Mike.

"Thank you, sweetie. I love it all." Mike told her. The painting was good and could have been taken from a photo of Mike and Katie when she was younger. To Mike, it was the best present he could have received. He winked at her, knowing that the gifts were from the heart. The best sort.

"I am hungry!" Hannah announced.

"Then you can help me with breakfast." Christine said in response. Hannah let out a sigh but followed her mom into the kitchen. Mike took the chance to talk to Katie as she cleaned the wrapping paper up.

"I really appreciate those gifts, honey." Mike said.

"I wish I could have actually gotten you something." Katie remarked.

"I loved what you came up with. It was very heartfelt." Mike replied.

"Dad…do you remember right before you left for the Arctic? The night before?" Katie asked. Mike remembered it well. There had been a hellish fight between him and Katie. She said somethings and Mike didn't react the way he should have. He didn't even wake her up the next morning to say goodbye. Something he had regretted deeply. He should have been the adult but he hadn't been and for years, he had thought Katie had died thinking he hated her.

"Yeah, I do." Mike answered.

"I've…felt really bad about that. All this time. I told you that I hated you." Katie remarked.

"Yes, but you were fourteen. You didn't like that I was leaving again so soon and didn't understand why I couldn't just say no. I should have handled it better." Mike explained.

"I still shouldn't have said it." Katie said. Mike took the wrapping paper out of her hand and sat her down beside him.

"Honey, as I said; you were fourteen. You couldn't always be expected to be so mature. You were upset that I was going to miss that camping trip I had promised you." Mike said.

"Maybe we can go when it gets warmer?" Katie said with a smile.

"I'd love that." Mike said. He put an arm around Katie and smiled down at her. Surprisingly, she cuddled in close. It was odd for her before to do anything like that. She was never the cuddler. That was Hannah and sometimes Lucas. Mike thought about assuring her that she would not be working twelve to fourteen hours a day anymore or that they would be living in a warmer home, but right now, that didn't matter. What did matter was just holding his oldest daughter.

Over Katie's head, Christine winked at Mike and Mike smiled in response. He was doing exactly what he needed to do at the moment. Christine was already preparing their dinner and Mike was excited for just a day with his daughters, watching stupid movies and visiting with them. He had a lot to learn.

It was the best day Mike had had in years. They ate, watched movies, napped, and made plans. Mike would retire at the first of the year. Christine and Katie would quit the exhausting jobs and find things more suited to them, if they wanted. Mike wanted Katie to go to college. They would find a bigger house and would just spend time together. Mike had already made reservations at a camp site for him and Katie. He would take Christine on dates and couple's weekends. Hannah would do whatever she did. But they would be together as a family.