An Unexpected Holiday Gift

“There’s my tall, handsome nephew,” Elizabeth said, pulling him into her outstretched arms.

“You say that about all of your nephews.” He stepped out of her arms and kissed her on the cheek. “Now, don’t you look sunny?” Keylan smiled, admiring the bright green, short-sleeved dress she wore with no shoes. Her wrinkle-free, fair skin, makeup-free, only accentuated her youthful image. Her shoulder-length, dark brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail. She looked nowhere near her fifty-two years.

“I know. Now, get in here. Everyone’s dining already. Your mother is losing her mind.”

They walked halfway down her white-marble hall and turned right into a large, bright, circular dining room with walls of gold leaf. His mother and cousin were seated at the large, sixteen-seat table that dominated the room.

“This is everyone?” With six kids in the family, Keylan wasn’t used to such a small gathering whenever his mother and aunt required their presences for dinner. “Where is everyone else?”

“This business dinner isn’t for everyone, just you and Travis.”

“Look who finally showed up.” Victoria Kingsley stood and crossed her arms. “Did all your time-keeping mechanisms fail you, son?” she asked, sarcastically glancing at his watch.

“Good to see you, too, Mother.” Keylan kissed her on both cheeks.

Victoria Kingsley, a tall, more slender version of her sister, the powerful matriarch of her family, looked more like someone’s thirty-year-old sister than a fifty-four-year-old mother of four adult men. The no-nonsense businesswoman could even be ruthless at times.

“Enough of the pleasantries, let’s get down to business.” Victoria sat at the table where several documents and a laptop were placed. Elizabeth sat next to her. Keylan sat across from his cousin.

“Victoria, can you at least wait until the dinner is on the table?” Elizabeth pleaded.

Victoria heaved a sigh, reached for the glass of wine in front of her and sat back in her chair. “Thank you. It’ll only take a few more minutes. You flew in here so fast, barking orders, I didn’t get to ask about the highlight of your day.” Elizabeth smiled like an excited child.

“This should be good,” Keylan interjected.

“Man, don’t start,” Travis said, shaking his head.

“Of course, just as long as you stick to the rules.” Elizabeth smiled. “Positives only, please.”

When Victoria and Elizabeth had been forced to raise their children alone and run their growing businesses together, they’d had to make several adjustments to their daily routine and find creative ways to make sure the relatives all remained close as possible. One way they’d done that was by sharing their daily highs and lows over nightly dinner.

Victoria returned her sister’s smile and placed her wineglass on the table. “This is my highlight. Seeing the son and nephew I don’t see nearly enough because they chose not to come work for our family business.” Victoria picked up her glass and raised it in the air as if she had just made a toast.

Elizabeth threw her head back and laughed. “You really can’t help yourself, can you? Well, it seems we share the same highlight, only for different reasons.”

“Surprise...surprise.” Victoria took a drink.

Travis raised his right hand. “I’ll go next. My highlight was seeing Romeo over there—” he pointed to Keylan “—tripping all over himself behind Mia.”

“Mia?” his mother and aunt echoed.

Keylan narrowed his eyes at his cousin before turning his attention back to the choir of two. “I was not tripping over Mia. I’ve never met her before and I think she has a really cool kid, is all.” Keylan picked up a glass of water and drank it down like he was a man just escaping the desert.

Travis smirked. “Yeah, she’s fine as hell, but one hard nut to crack.”

Keylan put down his empty glass a little harder than he intended. “What did you just say?” he demanded, feeling unexpected anger building inside him.

Travis jumped up, started laughing and clapping. “Told you. I told you.”

“Travis, behave yourself and stop teasing your cousin,” Elizabeth ordered, smiling. She’d always felt her and Victoria’s children were more like siblings than cousins.

“I can’t believe you fell for that, son.” Victoria shook her head as she took another sip of her wine.

Linda, Elizabeth’s longtime housekeeper, entered the room, rolling her service cart. She placed a plate with lamb chops, potatoes and greens in front of everyone before making her exit. Everyone bowed their head as Victoria blessed the food. “Now that the dinner has been served, can I please get back to my agenda?” Victoria asked her sister.

“Not yet. We obviously know Travis’s highlight of the day but I don’t know Keylan’s.” Elizabeth smiled.

Victoria sat back in her chair and raised her hands in surrender.

Keylan, who was now cutting his meat, could see the excitement and expectation on his aunt’s face. He could even see the interest in his mother’s eyes that she was trying to hide. He looked over at his cousin, who was waiting to pounce, and placed his knife and fork down.

“Yes, my highlight was meeting a really cool kid and his interesting mother.” Keylan turned to his cousin. “Happy?”

“Yep,” Travis acknowledged, placing a piece of meat in his mouth.

“Now may I continue?” Victoria asked to no one in particular.

“Of course.” Elizabeth began to dig into her food.

“The rest of the family already knows this, but we’re about to go to war with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the IRS!”

Chapter 5 (#uf3978852-afe2-546c-b4e5-dc8ad14ec10a)

Mia walked into her son’s bedroom and smiled at all the superheroes that greeted her entrance. A poster featuring all his favorite characters had been placed on the right wall where his bed sat. The round rug covered a large portion of the dark hardwood floor and a beanbag chair sat next to the window. Mia walked to the left side of the room and placed Colby’s laundry in his dresser drawers. She crossed the room to turn down the comforter when she heard her son running down the hall.

Colby ran into the room wearing his superhero pj’s and jumped on his bed. “Teeth all clean! See, Mommy?” He opened his mouth wide.

“I see. Good job.”

“Story time...” Colby leaped off the bed and went to select a book from the shelf under his window.

“Cat hat book,” he said, climbing back on the bed and handing it to Mia.

“It’s The Cat in the Hat, Colby,” she replied, accepting the book, kissing him on the head. “Under the covers you go.”

“Mommy, Keylan is coming tomorrow,” he said, smiling.

Mia’s heart jumped at the thought of seeing Keylan again. She sat next to her son on the bed. “Is he, now?” she said, opening the book.

“Yep. I can’t wait.”

“That’s great, son. Now, let’s start the story.”

Mia expected she’d have to read the book a few times before Colby fell asleep. He always found reasons to stay up past his bedtime. However, it seemed his excitement to see Keylan outweighed his need to stay awake. She kissed her sleeping son, put the book away and pulled his door closed, leaving it cracked open.

She made her way back to the kitchen, where she pulled out a bottle of Stella Rosa from the refrigerator and poured herself a glass. She took a sip before she started to clean the kitchen.

Mia had just finished loading the dinner dishes into the dishwasher when her cell phone rang. She looked at her phone and smiled. “Aunt Mavis, is everything all right?” Mia, born to a teenage mother who’d decided after few years that parenthood wasn’t for her, had been raised by her mother’s sister and her husband. She often found it ironic that she too had become a single mother; only she couldn’t imagine not raising her son.