Chapter 6
It's surprising that I slept; usually Christmas Eve consists of me tossing and turning until I can justify waking everyone else up. But, this Christmas morning I slept in until 6am. Then I jumped in the shower and pottered about in my room.
I was putting on the last touches of makeup when I heard the first telltale sign that there was life in the house. James was squealing. He had gone into the living room and seen the presents that Abigail and Tom had placed, unwrapped, under the tree after he had gone to bed. Within moments I could hear the honking of the horn on the toy fire truck and the whole house seemed to come alive.
Suddenly dishes were banging in the kitchen, carols were playing from the radio in the living room and Dad was whistling along to "Deck The Halls" from his room. I did a last minute check in the mirror, slid my phone in my pocket and went to join the hubbub.
For the next two hours, the whole family sat around the living room, watching James open his presents and laugh delightedly. Then we opened our own gifts.
Abigail and Tom gave me a magnificent first edition, signed copy of
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,
and mom and dad gave me, among other things, a
Daily Devotional Guide,
"Because those English don't have enough religion."
Finally, Mom and I cleaned up the torn wrapping paper, or Christmas shrapnel, as mom calls it, while everyone else got ready for Church. After the place was reasonably clean enough for the rest of the family to come over for lunch, I went to my room to change.
I was putting on the set of earings that Abigail had given me a few years back when there was a knock on my door. "Come in."
The door opened and dad stepped in. He looked good in his suit and tie. I was filled with a rush of love for him and smiled. "Hey pumpkin," he said. "Your mom and I got you a little something to show you how proud we are of you. We didn't want to put it under the tree" He pulled a ring box out of his pocket.
Inside was a small silver ring with a ruby set amongst diamonds. It was beautiful. I took the ring out and slid it on my right ring finger. It didn't quite fit. I pulled it off and slid it on my pinky finger instead. I held my hand out and admired the ring; it sparkled in the sunlight streaming through my window.
I smiled and hugged dad, thanking him profusely. "Well, I'm glad you like it. I need to round up the troops for church. You're picking up Grandmother Strum, right?"
"Yep, I'm leaving now." I grabbed my purse off the bed, pulled on my black jacket and headed to the car.
It was freezing outside. I turned on my car and switched the heat settings to high; then high-tailed it back into the house. Mom was in the kitchen wiping counters and looked startled when I ran in. I said, "Geez, it's cold."
"It's supposed to be; it's Christmas." She smiled and wiggled her fingers at me, "Let me see that ring."
I held up my hand. She frowned. "It's on the wrong finger."
"I know, but it's too small for the others." She twisted my hand this way and that.
"Well, I thought it might be a little tight, but it was your great grandmother's and I couldn't bear to cut it and add pieces to make it bigger. It looks nice. Do you like it?"
"I love it!"
"Good," she dropped my hand and hugged me. "It was her engagement ring, you know."
I studied the ruby. "Aren't those supposed to be diamonds?"
"Traditionally, yes..." Mom was cut off by dad walking in the room.
"But your great granny wasn't the most traditional of ladies. She didn't want the diamond."
Mom shook her head and hooked her thumb at dad, "That's what he says, but I bet it was just because rubies were cheaper than diamonds. Nothing says happily engaged like a single, empress cut, big, fat diamond. That's what every girl wants."
"But, dear," dad was patronizing, "it's a ruby
surrounded
by diamonds." He looked at me, "No, she didn't give a lick for all that tradition. She was different."
"Those diamonds, Mr. Strum, were added in the years that followed."
"Says who?"
"Says the jeweler who cleaned it and appraised it for me last month."
"What does he know?" Dad winked at me.
Now that my car was all toasty, I got in and got a gentle whiff of perfume off my coat. It smelled like Natalie. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. A knock on the window jarred me back to the present. Dad tapped on his watch; I nodded and put my car in drive.
Within fifteen minutes I was at Grandmother Strum's house. I gave her a quick ring to let her know I was outside. While I was waiting I cleared off the passenger seat.
Shit
. The book was sitting right there. I hoped dad didn't notice. Grandmother was almost to the car; I didn't have much time to think about what to do with it. I shoved it under the passenger seat just in time to look like I was leaning over to open the door for her. Luckily she thanked me and never noticed.
I wished Grandmother a merry Christmas and pulled back onto the main road. She talked about previous Christmases and my late Granddad as I followed the familiar route to the First Baptist Church. I was waiting at the last red light when my phone buzzed. It was a message from Natalie.
Merry Christmas. I hope your day is perfect.
I smiled and looked at the traffic light. It was still red; I hit reply.
Thanks Nat. You too! I hope you get everything you wa...
I was still typing on my phone when Grandmother Strum yelled, "Adi!"
I looked up and was almost on top of the car in front of me. I slammed on the breaks and squeezed my cell phone, and the car jolted to a halt inches from the car in front of us. Grandmother's purse slid from beside her onto the floor. I dropped my phone in my purse as the light turned green and grandmother began to collect her things from the floor.
"Sorry, I was distracted."
"It's ok. Dang cell phones. You shouldn't play with it while in the car. And your mother wants to get me one. To think!"
She continued to dig around on the floor; then she sat up slowly. "Adrianne, What's this?"
She was holding the book.
Shit
.
"That?" I grabbed it from her and shoved it down between my seat and door. "Nothing."
"That's not nothing. That's blasphemous! Those gays are a sin against God! And to think! They have their own places and churches and it's not right!" Her voice was getting dangerously high.
"It's not mine Grandma!" I jumped in as soon as I could. "It's for Kim's boyfriend's sister. Kim picked it up yesterday and left it in my car after we went for coffee. It's no big deal."
Grandmother eyed me, measuring my lie. "Anyway, it's wrong. You should throw that away. No one needs that sort of stuff. That's what's wrong with this world. Too many of them gays. Not enough church. If I had it my way..."
I had parked in the parking lot of the church. "They're still people grandmother," I said quietly. She stopped talking. "They still have families and values; they just love differently."
Grandmother put her hand over mine and her face softened for an instant. "Well, it's still wrong in the eyes of the Lord. But never mind that. It's Christmas, let's go in."
She opened the door and got out. I let out a breath that I didn't realize I had been holding in, and followed her into the church.
After church I had two messages from Natalie on my cell. Grandmother Strum gave me a warning look when I flipped the cell open and began to respond. "Don't worry, I'm not going to drive while typing again." I smiled reassurance.
I wrote,
"Sorry about the abrupt message. I'll tell you about it later. Hope your day is great!"
The rest of the afternoon passed in a breeze of food, family, tinsel and lights. I finally made my excuses and went up to my room around 11pm. Christmas is always so tiring.
I dropped down onto my bed and booted up my laptop. I typed out a message to Natalie:
Hey,
Sorry about the phone messages today. I was with driving my grandmother to church and went to reply to your text and I got a bit distracted and almost rolled into the car in front of me. Grandmother yelled and I hit send. But it's fine. I didn't hit anyone and the rest of the day went smoothly. Except for grandmother pulling the book out from under the seat and giving me a lecture about the "sins of the gays." But luckily she soon forgot all about it. I really need to get that book out of my car. I bet it has better exposure there than it ever had on any bookstore shelf. Otherwise, the day was great. I'm exhausted from all the activity and am moments away from bed. How was your day? I hope it was wonderful.
-Adi
The next morning, I woke up early and went downstairs. No one was up yet and the family wasn't expected to begin arriving again until lunch time. I put a pot of coffee on and went to my car to get the book.
I was looking at it while walking back inside when I saw movement in the window of the kitchen. Dad was up. I stuffed the book under the elastic waist of my shorts and pulled my sweat shirt down over it. I hesitated at the door before the freezing temperature sent me scurrying inside.
Dad spun around and said, "Hey, what are you doing outside so early?"
"Uh...just looking for my cell phone; thought I must have left it in my car," I lied.
