Bright Haven: An Amberly Novella Read online

  After that we hung ornaments and had fun looking at each one and deciding where they went. Christmas music still rang throughout the house, and with the crackling fire, and the snow outside, and the festive tree, I felt like we were in a movie or something.

  I watched David with his girls, and thought about the visit from his parents.

  Did I want to see his happiness taken away by trying to accommodate them? I ground my jaw. No I did not. But David seemed adamant and relieved.

  I just hoped everything went as well as he wanted. It would be a great Christmas present for him.

  Speaking of which, my deep thoughts were interrupted by Chloe’s little face looking up at me. “What do you want for Christmas, Mike?” She looked so earnest and excited.

  I furrowed my brow and thought. I didn’t like a lot of stuff, and didn’t want to obligate my friends and family to spend money to give me more things to deal with. But what did I want? Just then Santa Claus Comes Tonight came on the speakers, and I grinned at David.

  He laughed and turned slightly pink before busying himself with the tree.

  “I want to take care of my little family,” I said, looking down into Chloe’s wide blue eyes.

  “You take care of us already,” Ava said. “You are even the king of making breakfast!”

  I laughed. “I’m glad you think so. And you guys are the royalty of eating it!”

  “What are you going to give my daddy for Christmas?” Chloe wanted to know.

  I glanced at David, wondering if he’d been trying to guess the same thing. David didn’t look at me, but his lips twisted in a funny half smile as he studiously avoided eye contact and adjusted a tree branch.

  “Oh, probably a lump of coal,” I teased.

  “A lump of coal?!” Ava practically yelled. She wagged her finger at me with one hand on her hip. “That’s not very nice.”

  “To be fair, I like coal,” David said from behind the tree. “It keeps the fire going all night long.”

  I chuckled. “Exactly. A lump of coal is actually a great gift!”

  Chloe scowled. “She meant like a present!” she said.

  “If I tell, what will be the fun of that?” I said, and dug into the box for the next ornament to hang.

  “We’re just nosy,” Ava said, a grin spreading across her face.

  “Yeah we are!” Chloe agreed, and both girls collapsed into shrieking giggles.

  “At least they admit it,” David laughed. He looked across the room at Bacon, who was stretched out snoozing in front of the fire. “Bacon has the right idea. I want a nap for Christmas,” he said.

  “Ugh, grown ups are so boring,” Ava said, disgust in her voice.

  “Being a grown up isn’t nearly as boring as you think,” David peeked at me through the tree branches and winked.

  “Can we have hot chocolate now?” Chloe said.

  “Not until we finish hanging all the ornaments,” David reminded her.

  “But we’re getting bored,” Chloe said, as if this argument would convince her dad. I laughed to myself, knowing what was coming next.

  “Only boring kids get bored,” David said.

  “I knew you were going to say that,” Ava said.

  “That’s because it’s always true,” David told her. “We’re almost done. Then we’ll have dinner. Then we’ll have hot chocolate.”

  “Are we having a Christmas party this year?” Chloe asked, like she suddenly remembered this possibility.

  “Yep, one on Christmas Eve,” David said.

  “And mama is coming, right?” Ava said.

  “Yes, your mother is coming,” David said.

  “Who else?” Chloe said.

  “Nikki and Noah, Josh and Jessica and Avery,” I said.

  “Ohhhh, fun,” Chloe said.

  “What about Aunt Heather?” Ava said.

  David furrowed his brow. “My sister hasn’t been in Amberly for Christmas for a long time,” he said. “So probably not? If they come into town, we’ll invite them.”

  “What about Gramma and Papa?” Chloe said. “How come they don’t come to parties anymore?”

  “They might,” David said, his tone slow and measured. “They might have other things to go to that night.”

  I had to admire David for not telling his girls that their Papa was not welcome.

  “But don’t they want to see us on Christmas Eve?” Ava said. “Do you know how to dance around the house without them showing us?”

  “You remember that?” David said, a puzzled smile on his face.

  “Yeah, we held hands and Papa and Gramma sang a funny song and we danced around the house. And Gramma said that we could both be Santa Lucia next time.”

  “How did you know about Santa Lucia?” David looked at Ava in amazement.

  “Gramma had a book about it, remember?” Ava said, exasperated.

  “She said we could both dress up as Santa Lucia,” Chloe said. “So can we?”

  David looked at me while he thought through this question. “Yes, you can do that for our party.”

  Ava shrieked with excitement. “Can we wear real candles on our head?!”

  “Certainly not,” David said. “Only electric ones.”

  “Aww,” Chloe said, the disappointment clear in her voice. “But the real Santa Lucia wore real candles on her head.”

  “She was older than you too,” David said.

  I didn’t know what this was all about, and gave David a puzzled look.

  “You’ll see,” he laughed.

  6

  David

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Mike said to my reflection in the mirror on the bathroom door. He sat on the edge of the bed and watched me finish my morning routine. He was already ready, of course. Dude ran like a precision clock.

  Bear laid curled up on the made bed, obviously claiming the whole thing for his daytime sleeping spot. If we didn’t leave soon he’d be giving us the stink eye, wondering why we were invading his sleeping space. Bacon sat at Mike’s feet, ready for the day ahead.

  “It’s okay. I know you have a lot going on trying to get all your Christmas orders done,” I said. Mike did custom carpentry, which usually translated into high end kitchens. You wouldn’t believe how many people decide they want their kitchen redone in time for a Christmas party.

  “I know, but you’re more important,” Mike said. I smiled pulled the toothbrush out of my mouth to peek around the corner to smile at my hunky boyfriend

  “You’re so sweet. It’s okay. I think I wanna do this alone — it feels important somehow.” I wasn’t sure why, but it did. “I think they squirm more when you’re there, which is good, but if they are alone I won’t have their ‘guest manners’ and I can see what they are really up to.”

  Mike coughed a reluctant laugh. “Hoping they aren’t up to anything except wanting to see you.”

  “Here’s hoping,” I said, shutting down the bathroom and speeding into the bedroom. “You’re going to be late,” I said as Mike stood.

  “I’m never late,” Mike said, grinning at me. “But you will be unless you leave right now.”

  Downstairs, he handed me a to-go thermos of coffee, kissed me goodbye, and I headed toward another day at work. I worked in the veterinary clinic in the next town and had a solid commute ahead of me. I would have to take a long lunch to meet with my parents and be back on time.

  This was good, then I didn’t have to sit through a long awkward meal. I’d show up, deliver my message, see what they had to say, and then leave. In, out, done.

  A lot of business lunches happen at country clubs. I’ve learned this over the years, and many old members have their favorite tables. I found my parents sitting at my dad’s. It was weird in a way, like old times, no big deal, another lunch at the club.

  Except this time I intended to run the meeting.

  “We haven’t ordered yet,” my mom said.

  “That’s fine,” I said, but inside I was glad t
hey hadn’t presumed to make any decisions for me. It would have been bad — symbolically.

  My dad took off his reading glasses where he’d been poring over the menu I was sure he already knew by heart. “I’m glad you decided to meet with us again, son.”

  “Me too,” I said. “And I’ve thought a lot about our conversation. You’re right, a lot of talk is just a lot of talk.”

  My parents glanced at each other and I saw my mother visibly swallow. “What kind of action would you like to see?” my dad said.

  “I thought about that,” I said. “Let me tell you a story.”

  Just then the waiter came by and asked for our order. I’d seen the menu on my way in. “I’ll have the special, Steven,” I said to the waiter I’d known most of my life.

  “Sounds good to me,” my mom said. She looked at my dad, and he nodded. Steven left and I looked at my parents back and forth, habit making me dread confrontation, but history making me relish keeping them in suspense.

  “All too often, teenagers are thrown out of their homes by their parents for being gay,” I said. My mom looked like she was going to say something and I held up my hand. “Let me say this.”

  My dad took her hand and held it, and stared at me.

  I continued. “A lot of these kids have nowhere to go, and end up being forced into prostitution in order to survive.”

  My father’s jaw dropped and my mother’s eyes welled up with tears.

  “We are talking sometimes really young kids, but at any age this is horrible. In some places, people have started trusts and opened safe houses for these kids. They are able to continue their education, get support, and hopefully create a family who cares about them.”

  I stopped and looked at my parents. They simply stared at me. Then my mom said, “That is awful. Why are you telling us this?”

  “That’s that I want to do. I want you to start a trust and I want you to open a safe house for LGBT kids. In the UK there is a thing like this they call the Purple Door Project. I want an Amberly Purple Door project.”

  My dad frowned. “That would be incredibly expensive.”

  I nodded. “It would. Good thing you have lots of rich friends.”

  My mom’s lip quirked in a little smile when I said this.

  “Part of my stipulation is that this be a publicly known project and that you enlist all of your fat-wallet friends. You can remind them that their donations are tax deductible,” I said.

  “What’s the second thing?” my dad said. “You said there were two things.”

  “Ah, yes. The second thing is a little smaller. I want to open a pet shelter in Amberly.”

  “So your theme here is shelters?” my dad said, chewing on the end of his glasses in thought.

  “My theme is safe homes,” I said. “I was too much of a coward to stand up to you when I was a kid, but some of these kids aren’t even given a choice. It would balance a karmic debt for you to do these things.”

  “How does the animal shelter fit into this?” my dad wanted to know.

  “Because Amberly doesn’t have one, and you get to finance one because I asked you to,” I said. “Think of it as justice for holding the practice over my head.”

  My mother laughed, and then covered her mouth. My dad turned and looked at her incredulously, and she shrugged her shoulders and said, “Well, ask a silly question!”

  “This would take quite a bit of time to get off the ground,” my dad said. “How is that going to work?”

  “I’m a reasonable man,” I said. “We can meet with your accountant and your attorney, and get a signed notarized contract that you will do these things. You will put the teeth in the contract so that you show me in good faith that you will do it.”

  My father raised his eyebrows and sat back in his chair, just as the salad course arrived. “I’m impressed by your straightforward demands, I have to admit.”

  “Good. Then you’ll do them?” I felt my heart pound as I stared into my father’s gray blue eyes.

  “Absolutely,” he said, and extended his hand to shake mine. I looked at him for a moment to gauge whether he meant it, and then shook his hand.

  My mom jumped out of her chair and pulled up up for a hug. “I missed you David,” she said, sniffling into my ear.

  “I hope you’re ready for a new hobby,” I said loud enough my dad could hear.

  “We are,” he said. He picked up his fork and regarded his salad. “We could get the shelter moving quickly, especially since it sounds like you want to spearhead that.”

  I nodded, he was right.

  “The other would require more fund raising and more legal structuring in order to do the most good. It might take a year before we could get a house going, but we can have the meeting you want right away.

  “That works for me,” I said. I felt numb, after so many years of working under the conforming pressure of my parents, and then these last few months of zero contact. “You just have to give me time to acclimate. Most people don’t change overnight,” I said.

  “This isn’t overnight,” my mom said. “We’ve done a lot of soul searching in the last few months. Nothing is more important to us than righting the past.”

  I knew she was right, and I also knew that while this would take some effort on their part, I wasn’t asking for the impossible. My mother came from a lot of money, and my dad’s family were decidedly well off. “The most important part for me is that you would undertake these projects publicly,” I said.

  “Absolutely,” my father said. “I’d name the trust after us, but I don’t think you want us to do that,” he chuckled.

  For the first time in a long time, I felt my humor lift in the presence of my parents. “Heh, yeah no. But thanks for the smile.”

  Steven appeared with the entrees and I realized I’d barely touched my salad. “Can you box all of mine up for me?” I said. “I have to get back to the office.”

  “When are you going to eat lunch?” my mom wanted to know. She seemed aghast.

  I laughed. “I’ll find fifteen minutes somewhere.” I stood up to leave and looked at both of my parents. “I’m glad we had this talk.”

  “I’ll call the attorney today and keep you in the loop,” my dad said. He seemed energized by this already. I thought about reminding mom this would keep him out of her hair but thought better of saying it. This was going to give him an excuse to call me with constant updates.

  I sighed. I guess I’d get to find out if he really meant all this or not. As I stood, Steven appeared with my take-out boxes. My dad stood and shook my hand, and my mom hugged me.

  I decided to go for it. “We’re having a party on Christmas eve, if you aren’t doing anything else.”

  My dad’s face lit up and my mom clapped her hands. “Oh goody!” she said. “I love your Christmas eve parties!”

  “The girls asked if we were going to sing the ‘juley ooley’ song,” I laughed.

  “What did you tell them?” my mom said.

  “What do you think he told them?” my dad boomed, a big grin breaking out on his face.

  “Of course we are!” I said, unable to control my smile. “And the girls want to dress like Santa Lucia,” I told my mom. “I haven’t done anything about that yet.”

  “I’ll get the dresses!” she said, clapping her hands. “And the crowns!”

  “Good plan,” I said. “Electric please.”

  All the way back to the office I had the “juley ooley” song in my head. My dad would start the song on this old record, and we held hands and circled the Christmas tree around and around, and then he would lead us through the house. We would sing along as best we could.

  I found out years later that the lyrics go something like, “Christmas is here, Christmas is here and it will last until Easter. No it won’t, because first there’s Lent and fasting.” These repeat over and over, as the song goes faster.

  I laughed out loud to myself at the absurdity and fun of it all. Maybe Christmas could last
all year. Or at least until Lent.

  Nu är det jul igen, och nu är det jul igen, och julen varar än till påska.

  Nu är det jul igen, och nu är det jul igen, och julen varar än till påska.

  Det var inte sant och det var inte sant för däremellan kommer fasta.

  Det var inte sant och det var inte sant för däremellan kommer fasta.

  My parents taught me it was this traditional Christmas song and maybe it was, but I realized when I got older that it was probably also a drinking song.

  If I could have a good relationship with my parents, believe they have changed, and create safe havens for animals and kids, I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted for Christmas.

  Well, maybe one thing. I’d have to wait until Christmas to find out if I got it.

  7

  Mike

  “Do we have everything?” I said to no one in particular, though everyone was nearby. Bacon followed me around the house as I made the last-minute preparations for our Christmas eve party.

  Bear was usually nowhere in sight but today seemed to be in the Christmas spirit and played with Bacon while we got everything ready. When people started arriving he would vanish, leaving people to wonder if we even had a cat.

  “I think we’re right on track,” David said, frowning over my party preparation list. He looked around the house, his hands on his hips. “Relax, everything looks perfect.”

  “That’s because it is perfect!” Ava said. She spun in her white dress, around and around, Chloe spinning with her. Bacon tried to chase them at first and then gave up and laid down to watch them with a wary eye.

  I surveyed the house with a new critical scrutiny. All the decorating was done. The tree looked perfect. Bacon did not eat the popcorn or the cranberries. David had candles absolutely everywhere. He said it was a tradition thing. Lots and lots and lots of candles, but it was too early to light them.