A Moment in the Cabin

Merry Christmas

Things feel tense in the room with Tasha and me there, and although I haven't told Rose about the complaints Tasha filed, I did explain some of it to Christian. Sitting on the couch beside Rose and Eddie, Christian wanders over to us holding two beers in his hand and hands one to me. "You look like you could use this," he says, and I give him a nod.

"I didn't invite her; Lissa did before I could tell her not to."

That explains the distressed look on his face when we got here.

I flick my gaze up to where Tasha was chatting with Lissa, but Tasha is already staring at me. I advert my gaze and look back at Christian who had noticed it as well. Christian shrugs at me as he sips his beer. Rose's hand slides into mine on the couch and squeezed it. Leaning into my shoulder she stretches her lips towards me ear, "Are you going to tell me why the tension between you and Tasha is stifling?"

I look down at her and she is looking at me with her brows raised at me. "It's almost suffocating," she says as she squeezes my hand.

"Later," I say and squeeze her hand before setting our clasped hands in my lap and turning to converse with Christian.

Sitting down for dinner and the tension gets thicker. I have been keeping my anger and irritation towards Tasha in the back of my mind in sake of the holiday, but it got to the point where the nasty glares she was giving Rose and others were starting to notice it. Rose, being the bigger person was ignoring the scathing looks, instead, she was gracious and passed the food around the table. Lissa said grace over the meal and gestured for us to start and I observed the patrons around the table.

It is entertaining to witness Lissa, Rose and Mia having an excited conversation amongst themselves when a year ago they were at each other's throats.

"I didn't realize you could act like such a lady," Christian says to Rose across the table. Rose rolls her eyes at him and flicks a piece of bread at him. "That's because you are never around to see it," Rose tosses back and offers me the bowl of stuffing. I take it from her and pile some on my plate before passing it to Eddie.

"I don't see any lady," Tasha grumbles under her breath across the table and Christian nudges her elbow with a glare. I slide my eyes to Rose and see that she hasn't heard the comment or chose to ignore it.

"What did you get Rose for Christmas?" Eddie whispers to me and I smirk at him. It had taken me weeks to get it, but I had mentioned to Mama on the phone that I was stumped on what to get Rose, and Mama insisted that I give her a bracelet that she had from when she had given birth to me.

Two weeks later through Express Mail, a small bubble-wrapped box arrived in the mail. I had seen this bracelet multiples times on my mother's wrist and she loved it dearly, so the idea where Mama wanted Rose to have it made my heart swell. A vintage Gzhel bangle with two gold bands was nestled in the box with a note for Rose. The blue and white floral bangle is not something that Rose would wear every day, I hope that she will on special occasions.

I carefully explain to Eddie the bracelet and he nods his head enthusiastically, so I am taking that as a good sign.

Christian has done an amazing job with dinner and we all move into the parlour for drinks and to exchange any gifts we have bought. Lissa was bouncing in her seat as she hands her gift to Rose and it was contagious how happy Lissa was. Rose protests the gift, but Lissa just shakes her head and thrusts the gift into Rose's hands. I leaned back on the couch with a small smile and watch Rose open it carefully.

Rose stills as she looks down at the box in her hand and gives a small sigh. It was a box filled with a bunch of Knick knacks and what looks like drawings in crayon and pencil. Rose reaches in and pulls a few pieces of paper out of the box and holds them closer to her face and I lean over to look at them.