I said a little louder, so he could hear me, “I’m a little old for stockings Dad.”
“Then I’ll eat the candy.” He echoed in the distance.
I laughed, “Ok, you do that.”
My mother added, “How’s your day, dear?”
“Can you take me off speaker, Mom?”
“Of course, dear.”
I went into the resort, stepping into the same quiet corner I’d dragged Brett into. “That’s better. Thank you.”
“How are you really, sweetie?”
“I’m fine, Mom. The resort is always crowded at Christmas. I’m glad I’m here.”
She was silent. I continued, “I’m having dinner with some of the other orphans tonight.”
“Orphans? Is there an orphanage up there?”
I laughed. “No, Mom, it’s called an orphan Christmas. It’s when everyone who doesn’t have family gets together and has dinner together.”
I heard her sigh heavily. Here it comes - the weight of duty and expectation.
“Elizabeth, I want you home for Amanda’s engagement party in February. I’m over this childish behavior of yours. You are a grown woman. A grown, mature, intelligent woman. We all need to move on.”
I was done fighting her. “Okay.”
“We need to be a family and support her,” she rambled on.
“I said okay.”
“Okay?” She asked in disbelief.
I said flatly, “You’ve been telling me for weeks now. Do you want me to keep fighting you?”
She stumbled over her words. “Well, no, but you haven’t acted like you would ever come home again.”
A sense of finality came over me. Relief that I would be home for Amanda’s engagement party, and that I could hopefully move on. I’d realized over the past few days that I was exhausted from carrying around all this pain. “Remind me when. Send me an email and I’ll make arrangements.”
“I’ll have Amanda call you.”
“Don’t go that far. I won’t answer her call. Just send me an email.”
“Are you going to…”
I cut her off. “Mom, I’m coming. Can we just start with that?”
“We can start with that.” I could hear her gentle smile through her words.
“Okay. Well, I need to get back to Santa and his reindeer. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
We hung up and I rejoined the chaotic distribution of presents outside. Christmas at Alyeska suddenly seemed a little brighter.
*