the twenty-first century ellinghams

chapter nine: it's a wonderful life

"give it a spin," stevie says, laughing. david, with a deadpan expression, turns slowly in a circle. "yep. you officially look like you can star in a hallmark movie."
"says you," he replies. they're in david's room, after dinner, examining the matching pajamas they were both wearing. "this is awful."
"it's sweet."
"it's cult-like."
"maybe just a smidgen cult-like," she admits. "but your mom wants to do it and so we do it. snap a picture, sell our souls to shutterfly, and done." he chuckles at that and doesn't even try to debate. he could debate with stevie, he could debate with allison, he could maybe even debate with becky, but all three? forget about it.
"ready?" he asks.
"yeah," she replies, taking one last look in the mirror.

allison had been entertaining dana and henry in the guest room after dinner, allowing them to breathe for a bit. she was not yet in the pajamas, but she had changed the kids into theirs. when she looks up at stevie and david, she starts laughing.
"you guys look like a kohl's black friday catalog," she says in between laughs. david rolls his eyes.
"you're aware you'll eventually have to wear these too, right?" he says.
"oh, i know," she says. "but, i'm going to savor this while it lasts." she uncrosses her legs and gets up off of the floor. "the keys?" she asks stevie quietly.
"on the dining room table, the button that opens the trunk has a trunk symbol on it," stevie whispers back. allison nods, then turns back to the kids, who were playing hot wheels on the floor.
"goodnight, munchkins," she says to them. "see you in the morning." she blows them a kiss and leaves, shutting the door behind her. she, jack, and becky were going to take the presents from the trunk to the christmas tree while stevie and david tucked them into bed.
"alright guys, time for bed," david says. this is immediately greeted by no's from both dana and henry. "if you don't go to sleep, then santa can't put the presents under the tree," he adds. this does nothing either. david turns to stevie, clearly searching for some help.
"what about a story?" she suggests.
"we didn't pack any," he replies.
"you're telling me that you have three huge bookshelves filled with books and none of them would work?" he thinks for a moment, then nods his head a bit.
"i think i might still have something. i'll be right back." he leaves, and she begins collecting the cars off of the floor, placing them in a bin. if they would not sleep, at least they wouldn't be playing either. he returns a moment later, a copy of 'twas the night before christmas' in hand.
"that'll work," stevie says. "alright guys, let's read a bedtime story." since they had had their hot wheels confiscated, and were too stubborn to sleep, dana and henry complied. david sits on dana's bed, and dana joins him, sitting on his lap. he places the book in front of them so she's able to see. stevie picks up henry and carries him to dana's bed. she places him in her lap as well. it's way too many people on a twin sized bed, but it would do. henry leans back and rests against her chest, and she wraps her arms around him.
"'twas the night before christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even the mouse," david begins.

as he tells the story, they all slowly fall towards each other. it was still pretty early in the evening, the sun had only set a few hours before, yet stevie finds herself growing sleepy. henry's breathing slows a bit, and his eyelids begin to struggle to stay open. dana is similar, but because of her age and stubbornness, she's able to hide it a bit better. david is a good storyteller, his reading voice clear and theatric. she knew how bittersweet these moments were for him, how he loved them and also longed for them as well. he was always trying so hard to give dana and henry the childhood he wasn't lucky enough to have. trying so hard to be the father he never had. and he was good at it too, it almost seemed to come naturally to him, but she knew it didn't. she hadn't missed the way his hands shook when he first held dana or the flash of terror that went across his face when they found out henry was a boy. but she never worried about him either, how could she? his hands may have shaken then, but he still had held hers throughout the whole delivery. his face may have shown terror at henry's sex, but he still had taken a trip all the way to harrisburg to retrieve as much of his old toys and books becky still had. and he listened to both of them intently, even when their words made no sense. and he was always home for dinner, even when that meant working while the kids slept. he tried.

"happy christmas to all, and to all a good night," he ends, pulling stevie back into reality. she glances down at an asleep henry and barely awake dana. she picks up henry carefully and brings him to his bed, tucking him in. david does the same with dana, who was no longer as willing to argue as she had been fifteen minutes ago. stevie waits by the doorway, and david joins her.
"goodnight," they say to dana, who mutters a "goodnight" back. david flips off the light switch, and they walk out of the room, closing the door quietly behind them.

back in david's room, they both sit on the edge of the bed. she rests her head against his shoulder.
"i can't believe it's only eight o'clock," she says.
"neither can i," he replies. "merry christmas eve, by the way." she laughs a bit.
"merry christmas eve." they sit in silence for a moment. becky had placed a mini christmas tree in their room, and the twinkling lights were the only source of light in the space. outside of the window, snow was falling down gently.
"so, what'd you get me for christmas?" david asks.
"you'll have to wait and see," she replies.
"can i get a hint?"
"oh my god, are you twelve?"
"no, just impatient. i'll give you a hint if you give me one."
"oh my god, you are twelve! well, it's not going to work on me. you should try your luck with dana, though. but, she might be too old for that." he laughs at that.
"i think you're right." he turns his gaze down at her, and she lifts her head to look at him. he places a hand on her cheek and kisses her delicately. when he pulls back, his eyes are focused on her, the reflections of the twinkling lights in them. "i don't care if it means spending the rest of my christmas eves driving on icy highways, or at ellingham holiday parties, or whatever the future may hold for us. you, and henry, and dana, you are what make christmas matter. i just wanted you to know."
"i know," she replies, a bit confused.
"then i just wanted to say it again. sometimes i feel like i forget to say how much you guys matter. sometimes i feel like i'm so wrapped up with work or other unimportant things, that i forget to say so."
"david," she says. "you never need to remind me how much our family matters to you. i know." she knew what was going on, it happened every holiday season. the feelings of family and love were always so heightened this time of year, and all the time spent in harrisburg with becky and allison always made him a little more vocal about how much he cared. she knew all the bad memories he had tied to this house, all the feelings he had felt in these four walls. she knew the cause of most of them were his father, and how it was probably harder to avoid certain fears here.
"i love you," he says.
"i love you, too." there's a quiet knock at the door, and it opens to allison standing in the doorway. jack is standing behind her, and they're both in the pajamas.
"oh, how the mighty have fallen," david says.
"very funny," allison replies. "everything is taken care of with the presents. we were going to watch 'it's a wonderful life' with mom downstairs if you guys want to join." stevie looks at david who shrugs.
"we'd love to," stevie says. allison and jack leave. stevie and david get up to follow but before he can get to far, stevie wraps david into a hug.
"you are not him," she whispers. "never have been, never will be." she doesn't need to clarify.