Chapter seven in the series. Please make sure you let me know if this series is worth more of your time and I'll keep writing! Thanks for all the encouragement to everyone who's written to me so far!
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Christmas came and went with a renewed air of civility in our house. Beth had been a bit shaken by Matt's attentions that one night and the result had been some militant attitudes towards Matt by Karen and Rebekah, but when they found that Matt shared their concerns for Beth their militancy softened somewhat.
The dinner on Christmas Eve had been a great time with everyone pitching in to help make the night memorable. Karen and Rebekah worked on the dessert, Beth set a grand table with a set of China she'd found in the attic, Claire plucked and cleaned the goose Matt had shot when he was out hunting the day before, and Ashley and I put ourselves to the task of a feast fit for a king. The question of having wine with dinner raised a few chuckles when Ashley and I demurred for what were becoming obvious reasons. Claire elected not to imbibe as well and there were a few glances around the table as we all wondered if this meant anything.
The conversation was genial and light and the several weeks of friction just seemed to disappear with the steam from the goose on the table. The dessert was finally served and while Rebekah and Karen complained of being 'stuffed' the rest of us had no problem putting it away after a long day of kitchen work. And then we all managed to get to our feet and clear off the table, migrating the mess into the kitchen. The chatter, fueled with a bit of wine, made Matt feel a little lost, as if he was a rooster in a hen house and I got a little laugh at his expense wondering if he really wanted to have six women in his life after all.
Cleaning up the dishes and all of the pots and pans took about half-an-hour with fourteen hands all working together and we soon headed out to the living room once the last dish was in its place. The living room was the very picture of a grand lodge with the fire roaring, the Christmas tree decked out with ornaments and tinsel, and the overstuffed chairs and couches cleverly arrayed about the room to encourage several conversations at once. Ashley took Melissa and sat by the tree with Beth for a nice time while Rebekah, Claire, and Karen cuddled together on a couch like the friends that they are to chat the way close girlfriends do. I was pleased to have Matt slide in next to me on another couch where he wrapped his arms around me and we held court on the success of the evening.
Matt was going on about the gravy when I recall that I looked around the room at all the happy faces and realized how truly happy I was. The warm glow of the fire and the delicate colors of the Christmas lights were reflected ever so gently on the smiling face of each person. I found myself crying a few tears of joy as it occurred to me that I'd never been happier in all of my life. I had everything I never knew I wanted until that very moment, my sister with my baby girl and herself with child, a loving man with his arms wrapped securely around myself and our second baby in my warm belly, and four women who were fast becoming the best friends I'd ever had. No worries about jobs, careers, schools, parents, or bills. Just an easy life of sharing love with one another.
"Here now, what's this?" Matt whispered, deftly lifting a tear from my cheek with his fingertip.
"Matt," I snuffled, "I've never been happier in all of my life. Never."
He pulled me close to let me rest my head on his shoulder and then he draped his arm around me to caress my belly while I drifted off to sleep.
Much later, with the fire reduced to glowing embers, he woke me and took me upstairs to his room. As he was helping me up the stairs I noticed that everyone else had already gone off to bed themselves, politely leaving me undisturbed with Matt.