Epilogue
“Larry, hurry up. The car has been here for ten minutes,” Brenda called up the staircase.
“I’m trying to get this stroller together,” he said from the second floor.
Moaning, she ran up to their bedroom. “Just fold it up and stick it back in the box. The baby’s too small to take out in the weather anyway. Trust me on this.”
She helped him wrestle the fancy stroller back into its folded state, stuffing it in its box.
“What about wrapping it?” Larry said, holding a tube of Christmas paper.
“Just bring the paper and we’ll wrap it when we get to Terry and Alex’s place,” she answered.
They were headed to a weekend-long pre-Christmas celebration at Terry’s house in Mount Airy, only a half hour away, but as different from Center City as if it were out in the country. The first time they saw it they were blown away by the house; a veritable stone castle on several acres of parkland, it even had a turret. In the early winter, the light snow accentuated the rolling hills and woods along the Wissahickon Creek which ran parallel to Terry and Alex’s property.
Loving the Christmas holiday the best, Terry’s husband, attorney Alex Hawthorn had decorated every tree in their yard that was taller than three feet with miles of twinkling fairy lights. He and his father-in-law, Harry had decorated the front door of the house, along with its massive granite porch, with festoons of pine roping, more lights, pine wreaths and red velvet ribbon.
“Alex is on a first-name basis with the clerks at Michaels,” Terry said. “They even call him at home now to let him know when his favorite craft items are on sale.”
Anytime Terry invited Brenda and Larry to visit, they accepted, often spending a long weekend in nearly royal splendor, with Terry’s dad and his girlfriend, Anna also in residence. Anna loved to cook and was the quintessential hovering grandmother, showering Brenda with the attention Estelle had been too busy caring for her large family to give her.
Alex had started working at the firm just over a year before, and he said it was love at first sight for him. Their baby Elizabeth was born in late summer. Reversing roles, Alex was the stay-at-home dad, and Terry went back to work when Elizabeth was six weeks old.
When Brenda and Larry’s car pulled up into the circular drive, Terry was waiting under the porte-cochere.
“Hurray! You’re here!” she shouted, jumping up and down. She reached for the door and opened it, grabbing Brenda in a hug. “I’m so excited you’re here. Arvin and Tina got in early and you should see the food they bought; my father is in heaven. All stuff from the Jewish deli in south Philly.”
Tina was the Israeli neurologist from the hospital that Arvin had fallen madly in love with. They were engaged to be married.
“Who else is coming?” Larry asked, hoping no other lawyers from their office would be there to spoil his peace.
“Rick and Jason will be here for dinner tonight,” Terry said, mentioning her old neighbor and his partner while she hugged Larry. “It’s a friends only weekend.”
He stayed behind to pay the driver and lug the stroller inside. “An early Christmas gift,” he said, balancing the wrapping paper on top of the box.
“Don’t bother with the paper,” Terry said, eyeing the stroller on the side of the box. “Did Alex put you up to that?”
“Not at all. He mentioned he wanted to run for exercise when the baby was old enough so we thought it was the perfect gift for him.”
“I know how much that thing cost,” she said, frowning. “It was very generous of you.”
“Not really,” Brenda said. “Staying in this house is worth every penny. What room do we get this weekend?”
“Your same one,” she said. “Top of the stairs to the left.”
In spite of Terry’s original concern they’d never be able to furnish the many roomed house, the previous owner had made them a deal they couldn’t resist, selling the couple some of their furniture. The bedroom Brenda and Larry stayed in was full of ornately carved mahogany pieces including a four-poster bed that had a down-filled mattress. “One of these days I’m going to sink so far into this bed I’ll never get out of it,” Larry said. “You’ll have to bring me my meals. Or hire a crane to lift me out.”
Terry and Alex’s room was the complete opposite. Containing the bed and nightstands, from her apartment, her dresser and another one from their favorite thrift shop, the walls were painted white, with white cotton bedding. “It looks so sterile,” Brenda whispered to Larry. “I feel selfish in this beautiful room while they have that hospital room.”
“It’s what they like,” Larry said. “Plain and simple.”
Next to the master bedroom was baby Elizabeth’s room, currently undergoing a transformation. Terry, convinced she was having a boy, had had the room painted blue with a train mural running around the wainscoting. Her father was in the process of painting the room pink, but leaving the train. “Just in case she likes trains,” they said.
The big kitchen stretched across the back of the house, the other guests sitting around the island, talking and laughing. When Brenda and Larry entered, they stood, crowding around to greet them with warm hugs and expressions of love.
After he observed the joyful reunion, a smiling Alex left his station at the stove where he was helping Harry’s girlfriend, Anna prepare lasagna, to join the melee of greeters. This was what he lived for, these house parties of friends and family where he fed them delicious food and gave them comfortable accommodations, like a hotelier. In the few months they’d been in their house, he’d already established the reputation of being the warmest host, usually with a tiny baby strapped to his back.
“She won’t fall asleep now unless he puts her in that papoose thing,” Terry complained. “I don’t know what I’ll do if he ever goes on a trip.”
“There’s no chance of that happening,” Alex said, reaching for Terry. “Less than no chance. I don’t even like to pick up the mail unless she’s on my back.”
The loving group knew Alex suffered with a vestige of PTSD from a tour in Iraq, and that Terry and the baby had miraculously healed him. So added to the quirkiness of their diverse and wonderful neighborhood was the young father who was often seen with a baby strapped to his back, or running up and down the hilly streets pushing an expensive stroller his best friends had given him for Christmas.
After Terry’s friend and neighbor, Rick arrived with his partner, Jason; the meal could begin in earnest. The beautiful dining room was set with china from Terry’s mother, candelabras at both ends lit, a roaring fire in the fireplace. Harry Kovac had cut down the Christmas tree, a nine-foot-tall spruce, and it was in the bay window off the living room, visible from the dining table.
“We’ll decorate this behemoth after dinner,” Harry said, proudly studying the tree.
“It’s the biggest one we’ve had, isn’t it Dad?” Terry asked.
“How beautiful everything is!” Tina cried. “This is my first Christmas.”
“It’s not for another week, honey,” Arvin said, kissing her. “Don’t get overwrought.”
“You can come back for Christmas,” Terry said. “Anyone who doesn’t have plans with family is welcome to join us. It will be more of the same, won’t it, Alex?”
“Absolutely. With Anna and Harry’s help,” he said, sitting on a stool instead of a chair so he didn’t squash baby Elizabeth by accidently leaning back.
“To family!” Harry called out, holding up a small glass of sherry. “Thank you so much for joining us tonight.”
“To family!” they cried, tapping glasses, while a little baby slept soundly on her father’s back.
The End