Blurred Lines

Chapter 27 - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

December 25, 1992

Marlena's Lakehouse

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Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Let your heart be bright

Next year all our troubles will be out of sight

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Marlena opened her front door looking a little frazzled, as most mothers did on Christmas morning. Sami had been begging her to open presents, but Marlena refused until Eric was dressed, and downstairs with his sister. Then there was the problem of getting Carrie out of bed. Sami kept saying it wasn't fair, and Carrie was so deeply rooted in sleep that Marlena didn't think anything was going to reach her. Grabbing John's arm in relief, she pulled him into her house. Assuming he was willing to help her, she asked, "Oh, thank G-d you're here! Do you want to wake Carrie, or get Eric dressed and carry him downstairs?"

"Hmmm, I don't know," he said, rubbing his chin. John set his bag of gifts on the floor just inside the mudroom. Shrugging out of his dense coat, he mumbled, "Let me see... wake the beast or get Eric ready? I believe, my dear Dr. Evans, that I will get Eric. Carrie can be scary early in the morning. Any particular outfit he's wearing today?"

Marlena wrenched her hairband out of her messy hair, and struggled to put it back up as she huffed, "He's insisting on wearing the NHL All-Star jersey you got him. You know, the one with Daren Puppa on it?"

John stepped behind her, taking her hairband from her fingers, while swatting her hands away from her hair. Smoothing it out by raking his fingers through it, he told her, "I know the one. So no fancy suits for Christmas at the pub?"

His fingers played in the strands of her hair for much longer than it would take to give her a simple ponytail, but neither of them mentioned it. Marlena's eyes closed briefly, and she found herself getting lost in the moment, before her mind tugged her back to reality with a harsh snap. John finished fixing her hair, and she stepped away quickly. "Thank you. That's much better." She glanced towards the stairs, "I sent Sami to get dressed hoping to stall her. Nothing fancy, today is going to be casual and fun and light. Roman's absence will not put a pall on this day. Are you coming to the pub today?"

"I might stop by," he told her without committing. He would be alone, since Isabella would likely refuse to go with him. "Let me go get the Twinners! You get Carrie. I brought gifts!"

Twenty minutes later a groggy Carrie was curled into an overstuffed chair watching with sleep glazed eyes as Sami and Eric opened John's gifts with screeches of joy.

Eric almost fell off of the couch as he yelled, "You got me a Super Nintendo?" Realizing there was a game taped to it, he screamed even louder, "Zelda? You got me Zelda? Thank you Daddy!"

Sami sat on the floor with her gift half unwrapped, and her eyes full of tears. It was exactly what she wanted to take Barbie and Midge on adventures. "Daddy, you remembered?"

Marlena had no idea what was going on between John and Sami, when John said, "Peanut, of course I remembered. How else are Barbie and Midge going to go on their best friend adventures?"

Sami's small hands ripped the rest of the wrapping paper off, and she stared at the box containing her Barbie's Golden Dream Motorhome. Her face glowed when she looked up at John, "Barbie adventures, and they can leave Ken behind, because they don't need him!"

Sami's words were so unexpected that Carrie snorted instead of laughing, causing Marlena and John to laugh while Carrie's cheeks turned a vivid shade of pink. John pulled an envelope from his pocket, and walked towards Carrie, "I didn't forget you Punkin'."