Free Our First Christmas by Lindsay Paige, Mary Smith Page B

wouldn’t ask in the first place.
    “ Nothing’s changed, Levi.” Her voice softens as she adds, “Nothing’s ever going to change.”
    I don’t say anything. Instead, I leave her alone with her thoughts. One thing I wish I could do for her is make things better between her and her parents. Maybe one day I’ll be able to do that.
    Soon, we arrive at the hospital. I hold her hand as we walk down the halls, leading to his room. Pops is sitting in a wheelchair, waiting to be wheeled out. He lifts his head when we walk in, a grin quickly overpowering his face.
    “ There’s my beautiful girl.” Pops holds out his arms, and Presley rushes over to him for a hug.
    “ Hey to you too, Pops.”
    He chuckles, but then gains a serious face. “You’re late, son. They were about to roll me outside to wait in the cold.”
    I walk behind him, grabbing the handles so I can push him. “They were not. And we were late because of Presley.”
    “ We were not!” Presley slaps my arm.
    Pops laughs. “Well, I’m all ready if you are. Like I said, I was waiting on ya.”
    A nurse comes in just then and walks out with us. Pops acts irritated when I help him into my car, but I ignore him. He sits up front with me, and soon we’re on the road to his house.
    “ My girl, are you ready for Christmas?” Pops asks, looking back towards Presley.
    “ Of course! I’m spending it with you two.”
    “ You are?” Dad looks over at me, a faint smile on his lips.
    “ Surprise, Pops! Smarty decided to bless us with her presence this year.”
    He grunts a little when he turns in his seat to look at Presley. “That’s the best Christmas present I’ve had in awhile, but is your family okay with this?” Dad doesn’t know much about the situation, but I have offered a few details. Enough for him to know that it’s rocky.
    “I’m just happy to spend it with you, Victor.” I see her smile in the rearview, but it’s one that’s hiding something.
    “ What about me?” I ask to lighten the too serious mood.
    Smarty laughs. “You too, I guess.”
    We pull up at the house and Presley ushers my dad inside while I get our things. I hurry because I don’t want to miss too much of their reaction. It was exhausting to go back and forth between the hospital, school, and here, but I know that it’ll be worth it. I step into the house five seconds after them and hear Presley gasp softly.
    “ It’s just like when your mother was here,” Pops says quietly, looking around the room at all the Christmas decorations.
    Clearing my throat, I tell him, “Yeah. I still have to do the outside, but I thought it would be a nice surprise.” I take a deep breath. “It’s, uh, been awhile since we’ve put up more than just a tree. Thought it might be time.”
    Two pairs of emotional eyes land on me. When Pops swallows hard, I wonder if maybe I shouldn’t have done this. The past few years, all we’ve done is put up a tree, decorating it together as we’ve always done. This year, I decorated the entire house, every room having something Christmas-y in it.
    “ Thank you, Levi. It looks great,” Pops finally comments, his eyes wandering around the room again.
    There’s the undecorated tree in the corner, a wreath on one of the walls, and Mom’s little village of houses with the fake snow. There’s garland over the doorways and so much more. It looks like Christmas exploded in this house. It’s overwhelming, really, but that’s the way Mom liked it. She used to say that there should be no mistake as to what time of year it is.
    “I’m going to go put these up.” I exit the room with our bags. This Christmas is going to be different. It’s not going to be just me and Pops with me waiting for the time when I can get back to campus. It’s not going to be awkward and suffocating because Mom’s not here and the house lacks all her holiday decor. This Christmas, we have Presley with us and things are better between me and her and me and my dad.