The Christmas House (10 page)

    
“Okay, I will,” replied David as they entered the hospital elevator and pushed 3 for the third floor. 

     As they entered room 324, Arianna was already sitting in a wheel chair with Nicole on her lap.

     “All ready to go home you two?” asked Michael.

     “You bet we are Michael,” Arianna said as she returned a kiss from Michael.

    
“Mom?”
“Dad and I were talking and
- ”
started David.

     “David, let’s get mom home and settled before we start telling her about our little talk okay buddy?” Michael jumped in.

     “What little talk?” asked
Arianna.

    
“The
where do babies come from talk
.
I didn’t do very well so I told him to talk to you about it,” replied Michael as an orderly came into the room to transport Arianna out of the hospital.

     “Me? Well thanks a lot Michael. He’s your son. I will have that talk with Nicole when she is his age. It is your place to talk to your son, not mine,” she replied.

     “So you don’t know either huh mom?” asked David.

     They both looked at David and couldn’t help but laugh.

     “Time to get a move on folks,” said the orderly.

    
“Please follow me down to the cashier and you will be on your way home.”

     As they made their journey down the hall and into the elevator, Michael prayed that the insurance would cover the majority of the expenses for the birth. They exited the elevator and Michael proceeded to the cashier.

     “Can I help you?” asked the woman behind the desk.

     “Yes, I need to settle the bill for Carter, room 324,” replied Michael.

     The cashier turned around and looked for the Carter file behind her in a stack of files that were in a bin clearly marked, “Check Out.” She located the file and turned back toward Michael.

     “Well, Mr. Carter here we are. Your wife had complications with a standard birth, so
that has effected your payment but it s
eems that your employer has a special emergency clause on their insurance policy that applies to these types of situations. Thus the balance due from you is a total of ... let’s see-” (
She started entering numbers into a calculator. After the longest 30 seconds of Michael’s life she responded
), “Thirty four dollars and twenty-three cents.”

     Michael smiled widely and asked, “Do you accept cash?”

     The cashier smiled back and replied, “That would be fine Mr. Carter.”

     Michael paid the bill and returned to where Arianna and David were waiting for him near the front entrance of the hospital.

     “Everything
okay
Michael?” asked Arianna.

     “Everything is better than okay. Let’s go home,” replied Michael.

    
As Michael pulled the car into the driveway at 148 Festive Lane, Arianna was amazed to see the amount of work that has been accomplished in just a few short days. She immediately noticed that the mailbox now read, “148” instead of “1-8” as before. The front yard was clear of dead branches and shrubs. The grass was starting to turn to green and had recently been raked. The shutters that were hanging cock-eyed from the front windows were now secured and hung evenly. The
front door had recently been freshly painted a bright clean white. Michael pulled the car through the iron gates and parked on the driveway.

    
“Oh, Michael.
You guys have been so busy. It looks great! What an improvement,” she proclaimed.

     “Well, Jack and Wanda really helped a great deal. We just kept at it a little at a time and even I was surprised how quickly things started to look better,” Michael replied.

     “Wait until you see the family room mom!” exclaimed David.

     As Michael turned off the engine, two familiar faces appeared from along side of the house carrying dead branches and old newspapers.

     “Howdy neighbor! About time you got back. There’s work to be done!” Jack said with a smile.

     As the Carters stepped out of their car, Wanda approached Arianna.

     “Well, you all must be the momma and yes... oh there she is, the little bundle of joy,” said Wanda as she looked into the car and saw Nicole lying in the carrier.

     “Hi, you must be Wanda. I’m Arianna and this is Nicole. Michael has told me so much about you I feel I have known you for years. Thank you so much for looking after them.”

     “Oh now hush, it was nothin. Can I hold Nicole? I love little babies, even though Jack and I never had
none
,” she stated.

     Arianna took Nicole out of the carrier and placed her in Wanda’s arms. Nicole awoke and opened her eyes wide at the sight of Wanda. Surely this 3-day-old could not focus that well as of yet, but as she stared at the flaming red hair and large soda bottle bottom glasses on Wanda’s face, a smile appeared and she cooed.

     “Oh my, I think she likes me!” Wanda said with true excitement in her voice. She continued, “Jack honey, why can’t we get us one of these?”

     Jack placed the dead branches he was carrying on a pile near the garage and responded to Wanda, as he walked toward Arianna, “Well honey, as soon as we are finished here, we can go on home and try for a little while alright.”

     Still smiling, he walked up to Arianna and said, “Welcome home Mrs. Carter. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

     Arianna embraced Jack and hugged him tightly. She whispered in his ear, “Jack, we have never met but I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there for Michael and David.”

     “Don’t mention it. Just so all of you are healthy and safe,” Jack replied softly.

     Michael and Jack started to unload the car as Arianna, David and Wanda entered the house through the garage that led to the kitchen.

     As they entered the kitchen, Arianna was truly amazed. Although still in need of much work, the entire area had been set up and was ready for use.

     She assumed Wanda was responsible for this, since Michael didn’t know what a pot or pan was, much less where it should be stored. The floors were bright and shining, a drastic contrast from the last time she saw them stained and dull.

     Arianna walked into the dining room area. This room hadn’t changed all that much. The grandfather clock that Martha left behind was still keeping perfect time and chimed out every hour without fail. Michael stripped off the old gold flock wallpaper shortly after closing and the walls were in need of patching. The ceiling was still peeling with thin layers of paint hanging off in large sections. She pondered to herself, “all in good time.”

     She turned the corner and walked into the family room, and then stopped. The floor that had been ripped up leaving holes that reached all the way down to the basement was now totally replaced. A brand new light oak floor had been laid. It was stunning. She thought, “How in the world did Michael get all of this done so quickly?” The furniture for the living room was placed where she would not have put it, but decided she better not say anything for a few days. She didn’t want to hurt Michael’s feelings since she knew he probably felt that his decision of the placement was what she would have wanted. Regardless of the furniture set up, the room was so large their furniture was dwarfed by comparison.

     The walls were still wallpapered with a very outdated, large blue flowered print which did not compliment their contemporary couch, love seat, chairs and tables. She snickered to herself as she looked at the modern painting of bright yellows and reds hanging on the wall, as it clashed with the wallpaper behind it.

     Regardless of the color coordination, the room was still beautiful. The floor caught the sun
light
from the crystal clear windows now stripped of the old fashioned gold draperies that once hung there. The large stone fireplace had been cleaned up as well and looked very romantic and inviting even while dormant. Michael and Jack entered the room.

     “So, what do you think?” asked Michael.

     “Oh honey, it’s beautiful,” she answered as she walked up to him quickly and gave him a kiss.

     “How in the world did you get this floor laid in two days?” she asked inquisitively.

     “A few of the guys from work came over and basically did all of the work. I think they felt guilty for not helping us move when they learned of the problems we experienced that day,” replied Michael.

     “Well that was really nice of them. You will have to invite them over for dinner when we get a little more settled,” Arianna responded.

     David rushed in from outside and stated “Those baby birds are still there and getting much bigger!” He stopped and really looked at Arianna for the first time as she stood by the window.

    
“Wow Mom, you got skinny!”

     They all laughed and Arianna replied, “Well David, your little sister was a good amount of the weight I gained.”

     “Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that Mom, when a baby is born where do
they
come fro...” Michael cut David off in mid-sentence.

     “Why don’t we take a look at the upstairs okay?” he said as he gave David the eye that silently meant, “
not now!
”

     Arianna led the way as her family and the Stevens, with Wanda still holding Nicole in her arms followed her up the stairs. As Arianna reached the landing at the top, Michael instructed her to proceed to the end of the hallway and then to the last room on the right. As she approached the room, she looked at the door and there was a pewter plaque that read, “Baby’s Room.”

     She opened the door and was nearly knocked off her feet. The room, which was in the best condition of any of the rooms available to begin with, was converted into a nursery. The walls had been repainted and decorated with Winnie the Pooh
wallpaper and borders. A brand-new, light beige carpet covered the floor and matching Pooh Bear curtains hung on the windows.

     In the center of the room, was a beautiful white wooden crib with a mobile hanging above it that featured each of the characters from the Winnie the Pooh story books. The bed inside the crib was freshly made with soft white sheets and an ivory colored lace-trimmed pillow made of silk.

     In the far right corner of the room were many boxes of presents wrapped in baby style gift paper. A bassinet was featured in the middle of the pile and was adorned with a pink bow and ribbon.

     Michael entered the room behind Arianna.

     “I tried to get the room ready for Nicky, but I ran out of.... (
He stopped in mid-sentence
) What the.... Where did all this stuff come from? There wasn’t any furniture or presents in this room when I left this morning. Jack?” Michael asked in a raised voice.

     Jack shrugged his shoulders and said, “Hey, you can’t have your daughter sleeping on the floor.”

     “I am going to repay you for everything you have bought. No arguments okay?” Michael asked.

    
“That’s fine with me Mike. You owe me, let’s see... nothing,” Jack responded.

    
“Nothing?”
Michael asked.

    
“Nothing!”
Jack replied and he continued.

“I told all of my employees down at the office if they wanted to help out two really nice people that needed a hand, they could all pitch in and get you something for the baby. I think I mentioned something about if they wanted to keep their jobs as well, but I am sure it came from their hearts.
Happy Baby Shower, Michael and Arianna.”

     Beside themselves with Jack’s generosity, Michael and Arianna were speechless. Wanda walked over to Arianna and placed Nicole into her arms. Arianna smiled as she took the baby and the walked over to the crib. She gently set Nicole down in the
crib for a well-deserved nap. As they turned and walked out of the room, Michael closed the door slightly and whispered, “See you later princess.”

     As Arianna walked back down the hallway she opened the door to the master bedroom and found that the furniture that
use
to be in the guestroom was now in this room. (
Michael came into the room.
)

     “I thought that we would use this furniture in our room. Martha left it here for us, so I thought we could put it to good use. It is actually in much better shape than our stuff. What do you think Arianna?” he asked.

     “Well considering we won’t be having any guests such as family or out-of-town friends, I guess that makes sense. What did you do with our bedroom set?” she asked.

     “I put it in David’s room. His old twin bed was getting pretty beat up so I think he will appreciate the double bed we were using,” he replied.

      Arianna concurred, and shut the door to the Master bedroom. As she continued through the large house, the contrast between what was already repaired and what still needed work was astonishing. The majority of the house still looked like it was hit by World War III and yet there were these small sections of newness that enforced the fact that this house could be and would be beautiful someday. Descending the stairs back to the first level of the house, Arianna walked slowly for she was still quite sore from the operation. She complained to Michael how the stitches from the C-section felt tight and ached. Michael suggested that they sit down and relax for a while. As they made their way to the family room, Wanda came in from the kitchen with a pitcher of iced tea and some homemade cookies. She set them on the coffee table in front of the couch and offered a glass of tea to Arianna.