Where You Are

Christmas Day

Birgitta

I never minded working Christmas Day. In fact, I volunteered for it most years, there were nurses with young families that needed to be home more than I did. And, it was an excuse for me not to go to Alberta to see my own family.

This year, however, was different. I'd told Jesse he didn't need to be here, he could spend the day with his family. But, like for our honeymoon, he'd insisted, for which I was grateful. There was no one else I wanted to spend Christmas with than him. It was still weird for me to consider that someone actually wanted to spend Christmas with me because they genuinely loved me and wanted to spend time with me. I knew that was the Imposter Syndrome again, and I was really trying to work on it. So, I'd picked up a few things for Christmas dinner, not much, as it would only be the two of us and he'd be leaving again the day after Boxing Day. I'd woken up to a picture of his view from the cockpit at Heathrow Airport and I'd been tracking his flight all morning. He would land in Halifax and then rent a car to get to my apartment in just a few short hours.

I was practically giddy, I had only been two weeks since I'd last seen him, but it felt like an age. I'd talked to him every opportunity that I could and was slowly emptying my apartment of things I didn't need. I didn't want to make a big production of moving when I finally got my visa. I didn't have many things to begin with anyway.

There were only four babies in the unit that Christmas, so Cheryl and I had started the day at seven o'clock and the other two nurses had drifted in later once they'd had their Christmas morning at home. The holidays were so relaxed, there was no management to be seen so we'd all brought in food to share and families and parents had brought in a huge assortment of chocolate, candy and home baking for the nurses and staff who had to work over the holidays.

They day went by slowly. I kept an eye on the weather outside. Jesse had definitely flown in snow before, but he had very limited experience driving in it. Plus, he was driving on the wrong side of the road to what he was used to. I tried to reassure myself that he had driven my car before, so at least he had experience driving in good weather in Canada. It was clear out anyway, with no snow in the forecast until that night. He should be fine.

The day got a bit busier, a baby was born with respiratory distress and came to us for a few hours before going back out to be with his mom, one of the babies that we already had pooped and the threw up all over his cot and needed a bath, and then the doctor-on-call finally showed up at two in the afternoon to check on the babies.

I was just sitting down again to catch up on my paperwork when the doorbell to the unit rang and Cheryl, who was wearing reindeer antlers, jumped up to answer it.

'Birgitta, you have a visitor!' She reappeared at the desk, my husband following a step behind her.

'Jesse!' I exclaimed and jumped up to greet him.

'Oh, it's so good to see you,' he groaned as I launched myself at him and wrapped his arms tightly around my waist.

I sighed into his coat that was still cold and inhaled the smell of his cologne and the lingering scent of jet fuel. It was still hard to believe that he was mine, that I was his wife. We were married. Probably because we still lived apart, but I was so hopeful that would change soon.

Now, it truly felt like Christmas for the first time in years. The person I loved the most in the world was here with me.

'How was the drive?' I asked him, pulling away as far as he would let me, which wasn't much.

'Fine,' he assured me. 'Roads were dry, skies were clear.'

'Good,' I said and rested my head against his chest.