Calvin
He couldn’t help but smile as the boys unwrapped their gifts. They were very animated, and then to hand his own gifts to them and be jumped on in their excitement, he’d gone from being hunkered down to falling on his backside, and the entire room had laughed. He’d loved that moment, it was the perfect Christmas moment and his heart was filled with joy.
Though hearing Marilyn wouldn’t let them have an electric scooter made him look right at her with concern that he’d done something she wouldn’t like. She just waved it off and stated it was fine. Didn’t seem bothered by it at all. He’d have to ask her about it later but right this minute they were on him about getting them charged so they could ride them about.
He’d already read up on what had to be assembled, and how to do it, even watched a video of it. Quick and simple, only the handle bars needed attaching, and a quick check that everything was tight and ready to go, but he took his time in reading the instructions while the boys were pulling at him, pointing out the handle bars. “You just got to put them on,” he was told.
“I’d best read the instructions, boys, I’ve never put a scooter together before,” he told them, and saw them turn and look at their mother, who shook head at them, then they were gone over to their grandpa. “Grandpa, you know how right?” they asked him.
“Nope, they didn’t have them back in the day when your dad was a kid, or not that he would have used it, into computers even at your age.”
Calvin chuckled softly as he stood up. Everyone was helping him torment the twins. “I got it,” he finally told them, and then he pretended to go to put the handle bars on backwards. “Hmm, that doesn’t look right.” he scratched his head.
“It’s backwards.” They told him, and he chuckled as they tried to fix it themselves.
“I’m teasing you.” he laughed down at them, and saw their eyes go wide as everyone in the room burst out laughing. It was a quick assembly. It only took all of three minutes, and then they were plugged in and charging.
“You’re mean, dad,” Callum stated.
“You should have seen the look on both your faces.” He chuckled, “Priceless.” Then he ruffled both their hair and hunkered back down and pulled them into him, to whisper in their ears. “I bought you something to give to your mother as a gift. Those two red boxes with white ribbon are for her, from you,” he pointed them out.
No one had been expecting Marilyn tó be here, and she was the only one that hadn’t opened a Christmas gift all morning. Yet she’d made sure that the boys had given gifts to not only himself but their grandparents as well. He’d not even known what to get her. That’s why he’d taken so long doing the shopping yesterday.
What was he to buy her? That would be a nice gift from the boys to her, something that she would also accept. When they’d been married it was easy. He’d bought high–end jewellery for her for all occasions where gifts were needed. Watches, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. She’d been his wife and he could buy her whatever he wanted to. She’d accepted all the gifts from him, they were all upstairs in the walk–in still.
But here and now was a little bit different. She wasn’t likely to accept anything directly from him, but she
1/4
CH 133
couldn’t refuse a gift from the twins, and he watched them smile right up at him. They liked the idea of being able to give her something, and he wondered if she’d even gotten a gift for Christmas over the past seven
years.
saw her eyes
They ran over and got the presents; he’d even labelled them to mum from Cal or Vin, so they could give her a gift from each one of them. They ran over to her and held them out, “Merry Christmas, mum.” He move to him. She knew there wasn’t anything under that tree for her, from them because she’d obviously not bought anything for herself from them.
He said nothing, just sat himself back down, he’d had to really tone down how much he would normally spend on her and went for something simple but elegant, he’d thought. He watched her open the first one. and in it was a Tanzanite tennis bracelet. It had been Vincents gift for her, and in the other from Callum, was a matting set of Tanzanite earrings.
They matched her eyes perfectly, he thought. Simple and not what he would call expensive at all, but he didn’t want her rejecting the gifts from her boys, even though he’d been the one to pick them out, he would have let the boys do it, if they’d been allowed to go shopping with him. He would hopefully be able to do that for her birthday, take the boy to get her something they chose.
She had three dozen pieces of jewellery upstairs that were worth many thousands more dollars than what he’d purchased for her for this Christmas, but he was trying to show her that he’d thought about today, and that she’d not likely get gifts. But that he’d also toned it down, and thought about what the boys might want
to get her as well.
He also didn’t want to buy her something so expensive that she wouldn’t actually accept it, tell him it was too expensive and hand it back to him. Simple but pretty and nothing at all like he would have purchased for her when she’d been Marrin. He’d made sure not to do that, not gone to one of the high–end jewellery stores he
would normally do.
He had purchased both of them from the jewellery store in the shopping mall. It had kind of gone against everything in him, and he’d had to fight himself on it a bit, but he didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable with what he’d chosen. She smiled at the boys and thanked them, and they’d done exactly what he’d thought they would, insisting on her putting them on. She kind of stared at them for a moment and at the boys‘ pouting little faces, before nodding and doing so and both the boys hugged her, and stated “I hope you like it. We asked dad to buy you something from us.”
That surprised him, because it was something he’d mentioned in the movie theater if they had a Christmas present for their mum. They’d shaken their heads at him, then when they’d gone to his car with him the next morning he’d asked them about what they wanted to get her for Christmas, had stated ‘if you could get her anything, what would it be?‘
They’d thought about it and stated a bracelet and earrings. He’d just followed through only the choice had been his on what to get her. They were, it seemed happy with the choice he’d chosen as well. It was his mother that smiled at her and told her they matched her eyes. That had gained the boys‘ attention once more, and they’d looked right at her and the jewellery and smiled “It does mom.”
She was wearing it. That was all that really mattered to Calvin.
It was a lively morning and once those scooters were charged up, the boys wanted to go and ride them. He offered to take them out to the driveway. It was long and there was plenty of room. There was also that path that went around the house and through the gardens for them to ride on.
CH 133
Marilyn had called out “Helmets.” And the boys had run off to get them and told him they’d meet him out there. His father had walked with him. “I think your boys like you.”
“Me to.” he answered with a smile. “Just got to take it one day at a time.”
“Slow and steady wins the race,” his father stated.
“Yes, baby steps is what Wil calls it,” Calvin agreed. “Getting Marilyn to spend the day with us though, I had to push hard for that. She wanted to just leave the boys with us, and go to the beach for a few hours to give me time with them, without her. It’s not right for her to spend the day alone.”
“No son, it’s not. Especially when we’re all here, but she doesn’t recall anything, so she is probably trying to be polite and respectful of all of us, could feel like an intruder on our day is all.”
He nodded, “I managed to convince her, but I didn’t think I was going to be able to at one point.”
The boys came running round the side of the house and smiled up at him, and turned the scooters on. “Go easy on the speed, I don’t want you getting injured today of all days. And if your mum is worried about that very thing, then let’s not give her a reason to be hey.”
“Okay dad.” They both answered him and then were off. They took it slowly at first, getting used to it, but within just 10 minutes they were racking up some speed and laughing as they zoomed about, all the way down the driveway to the closed gates and back again, many laps of the driveway before pulling up before him “Can we go round the house and through the garden?” he was asked by Callum. Telling them apart was as easy as looking at the scooter colour right this minute.
“Go on, but no riding it in the house and be extra careful around the pool. They won’t survive being plunged into the pool.”
“Alright.” They nodded and were gone off to play on their own.
“They do like calling you dad, don’t they?” his father chuckled, “I dare say Marilyn has not once vetoed it or even tried to stop them from doing it.”
He nodded. “Honestly, it’s a nice feeling, to not only hear the words, but see how much they want to spend time with me as well.”
“You’re lucky son, that Marilyn allows it at all.”
“I know. It could well stem from them never having a family, from herself deep down inside knowing she was an orphan, so she wants them to have that family she never got to have.”
“Could have if you’d not divorced her,” his father murmured.
“Not could have. Would have.” Calvin sighed. “Come on, I know they’re all inside working on prep for lunch.”
“I’m not getting involved in that. Your mother hates it when I get in the way of her pre–planned things and today is just that: She knows what has to be done, and at what time for everything to come together. I’ll just get in the way,” he chuckled “She also likes being in the kitchen cooking with the girls. Reminds her of when they were little, and they would stand around and bake cookies and cupcakes and other things.”
Comments
10K
M
