January took a few steps backward toward the corner of the room and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. There weren’t any more open seats and no one moved to make a spot for her. It was moments like this that made her feel like an outsider in her family, but maybe she had been looking at it all wrong. She had always isolated herself from everyone making little attempt to join them. They knew about her disdain for the holiday, so they never asked her to join them.
Augustus was crouched under the tree and reading out the names on each of the labels as he passed the gifts out. He startled and almost knocked the tree over when January grabbed the present in his hand.
She noticed that the room had grown quiet as she had deserted her spot against the wall and moved toward the tree.
“Can I help?” she asked her brother. He blinked at her with a blank gaze then his smile grew as he let January take the present in his hand.
It was a family tradition to allow the youngest child to go first, and January held her youngest niece in her lap as she helped the toddler tear into the wrapping paper.
It was the most fun January had on Christmas since she could remember.
An hour later, the carpet was covered in hundreds of pieces of multicolored wrapping paper as the kids played with their new treasures. She particularly enjoyed helping her eldest niece put on the makeup that January had gifted her. The cross expression on her brother-in-law’s face was easy to ignore as she applied another layer of lipstick on the almost-teenager.
“Do I look as pretty as you?” her niece asked.
“You’re beautiful without makeup,” January told her, noticing her brother-in-law's sigh of relief at her response..
The doorbell rang and her mother went to answer the door for another one of their many neighbors that stopped by on Christmas Day. They had already had three couples drop off plates of goodies since January arrived.
She was busy explaining to her niece the use of each different makeup brush and how to handle them that she didn’t see her mother reenter the room.
“January, you have a guest,” her mother called out as she stood next to January’s father’s vacated chair.
She looked up in surprise and almost dropped the brush she was holding “Deckard?” she asked as she stood up.
Sheepishly he shrugged his shoulders, but his gaze never strayed from her. “Merry Christmas.”
On autopilot, January replied, “Merry Christmas.”
He pulled his stare away and looked at the room filled with her family that had all grown quiet as they took turns looking between both of them. “Can, we. . .uh. . .talk? Privately.”
“Yeah, sure.” January handed the makeup brush back to her niece and nervously wiped her hands on her jeans. Her steps felt as if they were weighed down by blocks of concrete. Each tread took longer than the previous.
“Mom, can we use the sunroom?” she asked her mother, but she never pulled her eyes away from Deckard, afraid he would vanish into thin air.
“Sure, sweetie.”
He followed her down the hallway and through the kitchen, which had a door leading to the sunroom. It was decorated from top to bottom in Christmas décor. A room that January refused to step foot in during the holidays now made her smile as she stepped inside.
In the middle of the room, January turned around and looked at Deckard, wondering what he was still doing in Pineville with a stare of awe and adoration in his eyes as he drank her in.
“Deckard, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you in Atlanta?” she questioned.
“I remember, January. I remember everything.”
She furrowed her brows in bewilderment. “I don’t un -” she began but Deckard placed his hand on the back of her head and kissed her.
“Last night, I wished that you could have everything that you loved. The ornament was the snowflake you had told me about.”
Her eyes widened in shock as she recited the poem that had been attached to the ornament when she received it. “Make a wish, say it twice.”
“I remember everything, just like you had with Christmas.”
“You helped me realize that I actually loved Christmas all along, and it came back,” she whispered in surprise. “But why are you here?”
He smiled down at her indulgently. “Because I love you, January.”
Automatically she replied, “I love you too.” Then he paused, waiting for the revelation to come to her. “Oh! I love you! You’re here because I love you,” she said bouncing on her toes enthusiastically.