Christmas Surprises Read online

  Natalie, Micah's mother, would also be there. As far as mothers-in-law went, Natalie was the best, always the calm, quiet voice of reason and never one to be critical, at least not of her daughter-in-law, who she took special care around, especially with all that Rachel had on her plate with Micah's schedule, the kids, the new house, Joy and Taylor always here, and --

  Her phone buzzed at her just as she was making her way to the fridge, thinking through the preparations she had to do before the guests began showing up.

  Barbara Finn.

  Ahh. Speaking of critical.

  "Hey, Mom," Rachel sighed, stopping her preparations for her guests and preparing herself in another way instead.

  Yeah, there were daughters who had issues with their mothers, but Rachel hadn't ever been one of them. She and Barbara had always had a good relationship, had honestly been friends, and were once able to share freely with each other, in a way that had naturally progressed from openness when Rachel was a teenager to real camaraderie as she'd become an adult.

  And then, she had children and left her career, and... things were different with her mother.

  No fault of Barbara's. That's just who she was. A bra-burning, vocal, angry feminist who was now entering her senior years... and wouldn't dream of going braless (seriously, menopause does things to your body), was no longer angry about much of anything (and why would she be, given how great her life was), but still a feminist at heart, at her very core. She'd applauded Rachel's decision to give her all to the twins because it was Rachel's decision, and wasn't feminism about being free to do whatever you wanted to do because you were a woman who could do whatever you wanted to?

  Be a homemaker, baby. Just do it because you can do it, Rachel. Because women can have it all! Be with your little ones while they're little and don't let the man or a raging feminist tell you that you should miss out on any of that!

  Women empowered! Empowered to give up their careers and be barefoot and pregnant and...

  But, seriously, Rachel. For the rest of your life? A homemaker? Enough is enough. Once the girls are in school, enough is enough, surely, and you need to get back out there and be fabulous once again.

  Barbara hadn't said that, of course, but Rachel had heard it in the relieved breath her mother had released when her daughter had announced that she was going back to work.

  She also heard it in all the little, “innocuous” side comments Barbara made all the time.

  Sigh.

  "Hey," Barbara Finn answered back. "Hope I'm not waking you up. Stay at home moms get to sleep in, right?"

  See? Like that.

  "If they do, I've really gotten the raw end of that deal, Mom," she said. "I've been up getting things ready for hours. There's no rest for the weary around here. Especially not during the holidays."

  "Get that husband of yours to help out a little more," Barbara chided. "Women aren't made to carry the entire load of the housework by themselves. You're in an equal partnership."

  Well, she was in fine form this morning.

  Yes, Barbara and Rachel were friends... the kind of friends who could offer unsolicited advice like this. (One sided, though, as Rachel had never dared to suggest that her mother was wrong about some things. Which she so totally was.)

  "He carries the load, too, Mom," Rachel murmured, smiling to think of how Micah had gotten up before she had this morning to run a very special errand. "He does a lot around here. And he brings home the entire income, which is more than his load, quite honestly."

  "He's not going to be the only one bringing home an income for much longer," Barbara answered. "Can't wait to hear how it is back at the clinic for you."

  Yes, her return to work was being lauded near and far by her parents. It was good for a woman to have something outside of the home. It was good for a woman to contribute to society in a meaningful way.

  It was good for a woman to earn her "own" money, even if she was in an "equal partnership" with her husband. (Barbara tended to talk out of both sides of her mouth about this, quite honestly.)

  "One more week at home," Rachel said, not surprised that the mention of her diminishing time here made her just a little sad. What would she miss out on? Being the carpool mom, volunteering at the school, going to a ladies' Bible study on a weekday morning, having the afternoon free to meet up with some of the college girls from church and have coffee, invest herself in discipleship relationships because she had the time to do it all...

  There was all of that, of course.

  But Barbara didn't hear what her daughter didn't say.

  "And a busy week at that," she added, continuing on as Rachel thought about what was ahead. "I want to help take some of the burden off of you and see if I can get the gifts earlier for you and get it all set up."

  "I can handle it," Rachel said. "Grant's got the food for tomorrow set up. Said he'd try to get away to eat with us, but... well, we'll see. But either way, he's having it delivered straight to your house."

  "He needs to take a break," Barbara chided.

  Get to work, Rachel. Take a break, Grant.

  See? Both sides of her mouth.

  "That's what he's doing today," Rachel murmured, agreeing with her mother on the part about Grant needing to rest, at least.

  "I tried to get in touch with him to see when he might come by, but I can't reach him. Maddie either. Do they ever answer their phones?"

  Grant, no. Maddie, yes. But only now and again and only for sad, discouraged conversations where she never spoke ill of Grant or her marriage but exuded so much disappointment that Rachel could easily discern it.

  No wonder at that, what with the schedule Grant kept. Rachel doubted that he even got more than an hour with Maddie every day.

  Barbara didn't need to know this. "She's working on the next book," she said, explaining it away. "Spends most days at the library, working on that, so she probably keeps her phone silenced."

  "I remember those days," Barbara sighed. Yes, Barbara was published as well. Her dissertation in women's studies had led to a book on feminism and its impact on traditional home values.

  Yeah. She'd written the book on that. Literally.

  Rachel couldn't remember her mother's busy writing schedule or the promotion that followed because she'd been so young when it all happened. But there had been plenty of talk about it all, was talk of it even now, all these years later, along with the still shocked murmurs from other women's studies experts who couldn't fathom why Barbara had married, then taken her husband's last name, and then -- gasp! -- had children, of all things.

  Seriously, Barbara. What were you thinking?

  But even that had worked to her advantage later on. Grant and Rachel were successful adults which made it to her credit all these years later. Before Rachel had married and made the choice to stay at home, Barbara had regularly paraded her daughter around, telling people about her career, about how she was single, about how she was making her own way in the world and all. (Yes, even as Rachel had been abysmally lonely, wishing for nothing more than a husband and a family. She wouldn't dare say anything of the sort to Barbara, of course.)

  She had a good relationship with her mother.... kind of.

  "I'm looking forward to seeing you," she said, thinking that her mother's concern was rooted in love and that no matter what she said or how it hurt, she did what she did because she honestly believed she was looking out for her children's best interest.

  "Me, too, Rachel," Barbara answered. "I was thinking --"

  "Oh, hey, Mom," she said, looking at her phone. "I have another call coming in."

  "Take it," Barbara said. "It could be work."

  On Christmas Eve? Before she even started working again?

  "Probably," Rachel sighed, knowing that her mother needed to believe it, to think her daughter this important, to assure herself that this staying at home business was good and done. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

  "Sure."

  And with that, Barbara was gone
, and Rachel pressed a button and murmured, "Hello?"

  "Hi, Rachel."

  Natalie. Her mother-in-law.

  Rachel let out a long breath and smiled.

  Natalie was the kind of woman Barbara regularly applauded. Early to college on her own merit, studying in an engineering field that was still very much a boy's club, and at the top of all of her classes even though she was four years younger than all of her classmates, she was the model of young feminism. And, to make things even better, she was a minority student, bilingual and the first person in her family to go to college, making strides not only for women everywhere but for Hispanic women especially.

  And then, she got married at eighteen. And had a baby at nineteen.

  A risky couple of moves, of course. Because those things, love and children? Can slow a woman down in the modern world.

  But even this would be lauded by Barbara, because a teenage Natalie had swaddled Micah right up, taken him to class with her, and had perfected the art of nursing, soothing, and rocking a baby to sleep while simultaneously taking notes on physics and computing calculus, sketching schematics for projects and contributing to group discussions while she took excellent care of her son.

  Yes, women can have it all.

  And Natalie had gotten more than most women have when Joy had been born a few years later with special needs that required all of her attention. She left her career for a few years but got back to it when Joy went to school, and in the years since, she'd raised both of her children, seen them into adulthood, and had lost her husband in a car accident.

  Rachel wasn't sure if it was hardship or the grace of God that had made Natalie the woman she was, but she was thankful for her understanding heart and the grace she always showed, from the first moment she met her until now.

  "Natalie," she said, smiling even as she went about her work, no longer measuring each breath like she had with her own mother. "How are you?"

  "Oh, I'm fine," she said, an uneasy edge to her voice.

  "Is something wrong?," Rachel asked, hearing it immediately, concern for her mother-in-law already mounting. Natalie never had a problem, ever, so Rachel prepared herself for something big.

  "No, nothing's wrong," Natalie murmured. "I just... I'm so sorry to do this to you at the last minute. I know how busy you must be as you're getting everything ready for everyone --"

  "I'm not too busy for you," Rachel said, meaning it entirely.

  She honestly meant it. Even with all that she had going on, this was something she excelled at, putting everything together, planning for everyone, and arranging it all just so.

  They should have done this years ago.

  "I was just calling to see if I can bring another guest with me to dinner," Natalie said, bringing Rachel's attention back to the issue.

  Well, of course. There was probably another widow from Natalie's church group who she wanted to bring along. How like her, noticing someone else's grief, wanting to help alleviate it at Christmas.

  How thoughtful.

  "Of course, you can," Rachel said. "Grant's cooking, so we'll have more than we need, like always. Is it someone from your widow's group?"

  There was a long pause, long enough that it made Rachel wonder what exactly was going on with her mother-in-law.

  "Yes, actually," Natalie said, a tiny uncertain laugh in the answer. "But if it's going to cause a big fuss, I don't want to bring the drama on you and all --"

  "No drama in bringing a nice little widow over for dinner," Rachel grinned, thinking about how glad Micah would be to see that his mother had made a new friend, given how much he worried about her now that she was a widow. Rachel hadn't been in the picture when they lost his father, but she'd seen the concern and responsibility Micah carried ever since grow more and more.

  "But, Rachel," Natalie said, "my guest is --"

  "Knock, knock..."

  And all talk of Natalie's guest was forgotten as yet another guest came into the room, held closely in Micah's arms.

  "Surprise, surprise," he whispered, looking to the girls' room, where the door was still shut and the twins were still sleeping.

  Rachel put down all that she was working on in the kitchen, the snacks that she planned on having out before the meal Grant was making, the snacks that he would likely criticize. Rachel, did you just pick up that awful ready made cookie dough?! I could have made you better stuff!

  But it would give him five minutes with his wife to have someone else do it, something that he didn't have all that often, given his time constraints with the restaurant.

  (None of her business, of course, but anyone could see how lonely Maddie was after spending just five minutes with her. Five minutes that she wasn't getting with her husband, but hadn't Rachel already mentioned that?)

  Pushing her brother's troubles to a back corner of her mind, Rachel made her way over to her husband, her hand to her mouth, barely concealing her grin.

  "Hey, Natalie, I gotta let you go. Micah just came home with the girls' gift!"

  "Oh," Natalie breathed, and Rachel could hear the smile in her voice. "Well, then, we'll see you tonight, okay?"

  "Sounds good," Rachel said, hanging up the phone and grinning at her husband.

  "What do you think?," he asked.

  "Aww," she whispered, looking at what he held. "She's perfect!"

  "Told you this would be the most amazing Christmas gift," he said, leaning over to kiss her, such pride in the smile he gave. "Are the girls still asleep?"

  "Sure are," she said, reaching out for the small bundle. The towel Micah had been holding fell open to reveal a ball of white fuzz, a quivering little nose, and a tiny pink tongue, which darted out and licked Rachel as she cuddled the bundle close.

  "A puppy for Christmas," Micah murmured. "Best dad of the year, right here."

  "Except it was my idea, too," Rachel insisted, looking the puppy over. "Any special instructions from the breeder? Any particular type of food she needs to eat?"

  "Taylor's bringing it in, along with the crate, the leash, the collar, the food bowls, the puppy pads, the pet bed, the toys, the paperwork for her vet visits... already spent a fortune on this dog," he said.

  "And it's just starting!," Rachel murmured, her nose right on the furry little dog's nose. "Maybe Seth will give us a discount on the shots, huh?"

  "Doubtful," Micah muttered. "Even though I give him a discount on all of the dental work all of his kids are always needing."

  "You do that for him, and yet you charged Grant full price for his root canal," she chided.

  Micah grinned. "That's payback for all the meals he's refused to comp us over the years. The tightwad. The lack of family discounts goes both ways, you know."

  "Family discounts?" Taylor had heard that as he'd come through the door, his arms full of puppy products. "Who's giving family discounts?"

  "Not Micah," Rachel answered, reaching over to put her arm around her brother-in-law and hug him close. "Taylor, what do you think about the puppy?"

  "She peed on me in the truck," he said, frowning, pointing to the large wet spot on his shirt.

  "Oh, no," Rachel murmured. "Well, that's to be expected, right? A puppy and all."

  "She peed a lot," Micah confirmed. "Taylor, let me help you get all that stuff hidden so the girls won't see it when they wake up. Then, I'll get you something dry to wear."

  But Taylor was still focused on the issue of the pee. "And she peed on the truck seat, too."

  Uh-oh. The drive was only a ten minute drive. Did this puppy have a bladder that huge?

  "Really?," Rachel asked.

  "Yeah, Joy's cleaning it up," Taylor sighed, handing off things to Micah. "That dog kept going and going and going --"

  "And going," Joy added as she came through the door, too, her hands full of paper towels. "It was a mess."

  "But the puppy is cute, right?," Rachel asked, holding the dog up to her face.

  "No," Joy frowned. "She bites, and --"

  An
d sure enough, she did, licking Rachel's cheek right before she clamped her little puppy teeth down on her lip.

  "Ow!," Rachel cried. "You little --"

  "Just a puppy thing," Micah said, coming in and taking the puppy into his arms. "I think we should suggest the name Sugar to the girls. Because she's white like Sugar, obviously --"