Page 118 of Free Heart
“Now, that’s nice to see,” Peggy Jo says from behind us. She’s got her arms crossed over her chest, and she’s leaning back against Buck’s solid form as she watches us make up. “It’s a Christmas miracle, Buck. The first one of the night.”
“Will there be more?” I ask.
She laughs. “Oh, you never know, buddy. Wait and see.”
I take my coat which she hands over to me, and I follow everyone outside to start dinner. Sitting by Sejin, drinking a nice glass of wine that someone else paid for, and eating a delicious meal, I’m struck by how life is full of surprises. Cliché, I know, but for years I never felt surprised by much of anything.
Now, I watch Martin try to fork food into his mouth while cuddling a sleeping Sarah Kate, and Leenie making sure Jeremiah eats his meat before diving into his dessert, and I listen to Buck talking to the kids about the arrival of Santa Claus tonight. I think about the presents in the house. The ones with my name on them—not just in Sejin’s handwriting, and not just in Peggy Jo’s either. Many presents, from everyone present. Even Buck seems to have wrapped a gift for me.
Speaking of, I watch Peggy Jo making eyes at Buck, and I think about how I never saw that coming. I think about the fresh sheets out in the van waiting for us tonight, and I think of thestockings hanging on Peggy Jo’s wall beside the woodstove. I think about how one has my name on it in glitter pen.
As I let the warmth, the ease, and the belonging slip into my muscles and bones, Sejin slips his hand onto my knee…and I’m surprised. At all of this. Somehow, some way, this is my life.
I want to keep it.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Sejin
“Ilove you!”
“I love you too.”
“No, I really love you.”
“And I really love you too,” I say as Jeremiah squeezes my cheeks between his little palms and gazes into my eyes.
“Not as much as you love Dan,” he pouts, his bottom lip quivering.
“Come on,” Leenie says, taking hold of Jeremiah and pulling him from my arms. “Santa will be here very soon. If you’re not in bed asleep, he might skip us.”
Jeremiah’s eyes go wide, and he looks briefly torn between his desire to continue to woo me in his earnest little boy way and his absolute hunger for those promised Christmas presents. He turns to his mother. “Do you think he’ll bring a climbing wall forourgarage?”
Sarah Kate chooses this moment to squall in frustration, unhappy to be waking up in her daddy’s arms and not her crib.
Martin and Leenie finally get out the door with their kids both making a ton of noise, and I follow them outside without a coat. I help them get Jeremiah settled in the back seat, make one last promise to come visit in the morning to see what Santa has brought, and wave them down the drive. The wind is icy in my hair, and the fresh snow and salt crystals crunch beneath my boots.
Just as I reach the front door, it swings open and Peggy Jo steps out wearing her red puffer coat and holding my ownsimilar blue coat in her hand. “Come with me,” she says, nodding in the direction of the woodpile. I’ve kept up with it pretty well, and it’s still stacked high. “Let’s get some more logs to hold us over tonight.”
I put on my coat, wondering how she managed to come out here to do this work without my dad insisting he’d do it instead. Dan would never try to stop her, not just because he’s used to being mothered by her, but also because he knows how strong she is, how independent, and how she’s the one who chops the wood when wearen’ton the property.
We round the corner, and the mountains loom above, dark and twinkling with the occasional headlights of a car and the Christmas lights of houses typically hidden by the trees.
“Sejin,” she says, taking hold of my sleeve to pull me to a stop before we get to the pile. “I wanted to talk with you.”
I zip up my coat, the cold night air starting to seep into my bones. “Sure, what’s up?”
“Your father…” She pauses, and a smile that isn’t so different from Dad’s when he speaks of her crinkles the corner of her eyes. “I hope you can forgive me for taking so much of his attention during this trip.”
I swallow, a little ache blooming in my chest. “He likes you. I’m glad.”
She nods, still holding onto my coat sleeve. “I like him too. He’s a good man. You and I both know those are few and far between these days.”
I laugh, a hint of tears stinging my eyes, though I can’t say just why.
“I should have been more considerate of you, though,” she goes on. “I admit I was so struck by the attraction between us, the likes of which I haven’t felt in a long, long time. I just threw myself after it like a dog on the scent of a long-lost person he’s been searching all over for.”
“Sounds like my dad’s way of talking is rubbing off on you,” I say, wrinkling my nose on a laugh. “He hasn’t said anythingthatAppalachian since he’s been here, I don’t think, but somehow you’ve picked it up.”
