Chapter Twenty-six
When Phil entered the kitchen the following morning, his mother was at the stove making pancakes and bacon, his father was at the table reading the newspaper, Katie was hunched over a bowl of cereal, staring down at her cell phone, and Megan was at the kitchen island eating a yogurt.
He glanced down at his cell phone to confirm the time, but instead his attention was caught by the date. It was December twenty-third, Liam’s birthday. A year ago to the hour he’d received a text from Kim telling him her water broke and she was on her way to the hospital. She’d asked him to come. He hadn’t. Instead he’d waited until the following morning.
It was Christmas Eve. Phil arrived at the hospital early, hoping to catch a glimpse of the baby in the nursery without having to see Kim. He stood before a wall of windows, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the dozen or so newborns.
“Which baby are you looking for?” A young nurse with a friendly smile came to stand beside him.
“Ryan. Kim Ryan,” he answered.
“He’s with his mom. Room 211. I can show you.”
He hesitated, not wanting to see Kim, but his desire to meet his son was powerful. “Thanks.”
Kim was alone in her room, feeding the baby from a bottle. She looked up when Phil paused in the doorway. “Hi.” She gave him a tired smile. “Do you want to meet your son?”
He took a deep breath. “I do.” He thought of Lina as he approached the bed. It should have been Lina, not Kim, holding his baby. “May I?”
“Of course.” She shifted slightly, so he could pick up the baby.
Phil was overcome with the same sense of wonder that had hit him when he’d met Megan, Katie, and Logan for the first time. The little person he was holding in his arms was his child. He felt a surge of protectiveness at the knowledge.
“He was over ten pounds,” Kim said. “I had to have a C-section.”
“Big boy,” he said, continuing to stare down at his son.
“He takes after his father. I was thinking of naming him Phillip Jr.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Logan has my middle name.” He wouldn’t do that to Logan or to Lina.
“Do you have any ideas? I want him to have your last name. He’ll carry it his whole life.”
Phil thought of his favorite uncle. “Liam. Liam Michael Hunter.”
“Have a seat and I’ll bring you some coffee,” his mother said, breaking into his thoughts.
“Why is everyone up so early?” He wrapped his arm around Megan, who’d crossed the kitchen to give him a hug, dropping a kiss on top of her head.
“I wanted to make sure I got to the kitchen before Lina,” his mother answered. “I know how she loves to wait on everyone, and she’s in no condition to do so.”
“No worries on that front. She woke me up and told me to go to the bakery down the street and pick up breakfast.” He joined his father and Katie at the table.
“That isn’t necessary. I’ve got it under control. She’s still feeling bad then?”
“She’s on the mend,” he answered. “Fifty percent better than yesterday.” He frowned at Katie, who was wearing earbuds. “You know those aren’t allowed at the table.” It had been months since he’d had to remind her. “Take them out.”
She tugged them from her ears. “It was too noisy in here.”
“Families are noisy. You can handle it for a few days.”
“Dad?” Megan called out. “I was one of only ten As in chem from my professor, and he has over a hundred students.”
“Maybe you should be a chemist,” Bruce Hunter said.
“No. I’m going to be a lawyer like Dad.”
“You could be a patent attorney,” Phil said. “Get your undergrad in chemistry or engineering.”
“I didn’t really like chemistry. It was just easy for me. I think I’m going to get my degree in political science. That’s what yours is in, right?” she asked Phil.
“Yes.”
“Are you making pancakes?” Logan asked, looking only half awake as he came into the kitchen.
“Yes,” Mrs. Hunter answered as she placed a cup of coffee before Phil. “They’ll be ready in a few minutes. What would you like to drink?”
“I can get it,” Logan answered, stifling a yawn. “Is Mom still sick?”
“She’s better.” Phil was staring down at his phone, looking at the picture of Liam Kim had sent him the night before.
“How come you’re allowed to have a cell phone at the table when you get on me for having one?” Katie asked.
“Excuse me?” Phil lifted his gaze from his phone, staring across the table at her.
“It’s a double standard. You should be acting like you want us to act.”
“He’s the parent,” Megan said. “He makes the rules. When you’re a parent, you—”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Katie said, frowning at Megan.
“I’m just giving my opinion.”
“No one asked for your opinion.”
“No one asked for your opinion about Dad looking at his phone at the table, but you gave it.”
“If I stand with my cereal can I put my earbuds back in?” Katie asked Phil.
“No. For my Christmas gift, I’d like you to be nice to your sister regardless of how you’re actually feeling inside.”
“I’ve already bought your gift. I’m not giving you two.”
***
Lina put on her running clothes, determined to go down to the basement and sweat the lingering hangover out of her body. She was lacing her shoes when Phil joined her in the master suite.
“What are our plans today?” he asked.
“My plans are to go grocery shopping, bake, and finish wrapping the gifts in the basement. I’m overwhelmed just thinking about everything I have to do.”
“Do you need anything from me?”
“You said you’d make a run to the liquor store. We need wine for Christmas dinner and whatever else you think.”
“Is that it?”
“I think so.”
“I was going to go out to buy Liam a birthday and Christmas gift and then swing by to drop them off. I thought I’d ask my parents if they wanted to join me. Maybe take him out for an hour or so if Kim’s agreeable.”
“Oh.” His announcement surprised her. She’d put Liam out of her mind, assuming they wouldn’t see him again until after Christmas.
“They haven’t met him. I’d like them to. It’s his birthday.”
“His birthday,” she repeated. She’d completely forgotten about his birthday. “Of course. Of course they should. I already bought him gifts. You don’t have to get him more. They’re wrapped and in the closet in his nursey.”
“You bought them?”
“Yes.” She stopped beside him, pressing her hand into his stomach as she kissed his cheek. “Of course I bought them. Don’t I always buy the kids their gifts?”
He snagged her hand before she could walk away. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I wanted to.”
Thirty minutes later Lina dropped down on Phil’s weight-lifting bench, feeling almost faint. She removed her earbuds and was just bringing a water bottle to her lips when she heard the sound of someone coming down the basement steps.
“Oh, Lina,” Susan said when she came into view. “I couldn’t believe it when Phil told me you were exercising.”
“I just felt like I needed to cleanse the toxins from my body,” she explained before taking another sip of water.
“But you barely ate yesterday.”
“I just did a light workout,” she assured her. “I can already tell I’m better.”
“Do you need me to bring you some Gatorade? You look a little shaky.”
“I promise you, I’m fine.”
Susan nodded. “Honey, are you sure you’re okay with us going to meet Liam? Of course I want to meet him, but with Christmas only two days away, I don’t want to do anything that will bring you pain.”
“I told Phil I was okay with it.”
“I know you did, but I wanted to check with you myself. We could wait until the spring.”
“No.” Lina shook her head. “He’s already a year old. You should meet him. He’s your grandson.”
When Lina returned home from the grocery store, she was surprised to find Susan in the kitchen. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going with Phil.”
“He’s at the liquor store with Bruce. Phil couldn’t get ahold of Kim. We drove by and her car was there, but there was no sign of them. I suppose it will have to wait until spring after all.”
***
The sound of Frank Sinatra’s rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” grew louder as Phil descended the stairs. Logan was kneeling on the floor in front of the Christmas tree, wearing pajamas covered in elves and assembling the tracks for their electric train.
“I think I’m going to get it myself this year,” Logan told Phil. For the past three years he’d attempted to put the tracks together himself, but he could never get the connections quite right and he’d have to ask for help.
“Good.” Phil squeezed his shoulder before continuing to the kitchen.
“Are you going running in that?” Mrs. Hunter asked, taking in Phil’s shorts and Georgetown T-shirt. “It’s only twenty-five degrees outside.”
“I am, but inside.” He stepped around her to pour himself a mug of coffee. “Where’s Dad?”
“He’s still sleeping. He isn’t used to this nonstop activity anymore. We aren’t getting any younger, you know.”
“Neither am I.” He glanced down at his cell phone as it buzzed with a new text message. It was Kim finally responding to his text from the day before.
I’m not home. I offered him to you for Christmas a month ago and you said no.
He frowned as he reread her text. I wasn’t asking for him for Christmas. I was asking to see him on his birthday. Any chance of me bringing my parents around today to meet him? It would be inconvenient, but he’d make it work.
No. We’re away for Christmas.
He’d assumed she was staying local, but that didn’t appear to be accurate. Thanks. Tell him Merry Christmas for me. I’ll see him Friday.
Friday? Her response was almost immediate.
Yes. It’s my weekend.
“Do we have to do this?” Phil asked Lina. He came out of his wardrobe in only black boxer briefs. “It’s midnight and we still have to put all the gifts under the tree. I’m tired.” They’d just returned home from Christmas Eve Mass, and Logan was insisting they come down to watch Elf.
“It’s a tradition,” Lina said.
“Last year I was the only one awake at the end of the movie. And one year doesn’t make a tradition.”
“Don’t be a Scrooge. Here.” She paused beside him, holding out a pair of elf pajamas, the exact replica of the ones Logan was wearing earlier.
“What in the hell are those?” he asked, making no move to take them from her outstretched hand.
“I bought us all a pair for Christmas.”
“I’m not wearing them.”
“Come on. It will be fun. It will make the kids laugh.”
“No.” He crossed to his bureau.
“For me?” She watched him step into a pair of dark-blue lounge pants, the muscles in his upper arms and back rippling beneath his skin. “Just wear them long enough for a picture. Do you know how hard it was to get a pair large enough for you?”
“That’s because there’s no market for them.” He tugged a long-sleeved dark T-shirt over his head. “If I put those on I’ll lose my man card, and neither of us wants that, do we?”
“I’m willing to chance it,” she said dryly.
“Well, lucky for you, I’m not.” He stopped before her and dropped a soft kiss on her lips. “My wife isn’t going to have a memory of me in those.”
She tossed them onto the end of the bed, knowing he wasn’t going to change his mind. “You’re no fun.”
Phil wasn’t the only one not wearing the elf pajamas when they made their way down to the family room. Katie, too, was in her normal sleeping apparel, loose cotton lounge pants and an oversized sweatshirt. “No one is taking a picture of me in those.”
“I think they’re cute,” Megan said, curling up on the couch beside Logan. “I already have fifty-three likes on insta, and it’s only been five minutes.”
Phil dropped down on the other side of Megan, stretching his arm out along the couch behind her. His request to watch It’s a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story instead of Elf was greeted by a chorus of no’s.
An hour and a half later, Phil was the only one awake. His gaze traveled over Lina and then over each of his children. His family. His thoughts shifted to Liam, as they had been doing on and off all day. He wasn’t sure if it was due to guilt because he hadn’t shared his birthday with him or just the unease associated with not knowing where he was, but something felt off.