Page 125 of Stolen Hearts
“You gonna come join us? Kelly’s getting frustrated at having to wait to open her presents.” David rolls his eyes.
Kelly was always the one to wake us up first thing in the morning when we were kids. I’d always run down the stairs and checked to see whether the mince pies were gone from the mantlepiece first. But Kelly would rush to the presents under the tree, unwrapping them with brute force, determined to find out if she’d been a good girl and gotten what she’d written to Santa for.
I get up, grab the empty glass, and slowly make my way to the kitchen.
“Finally,” Kelly says, leaning over the oven to check on the turkey, a baster in hand.
“Jesus. It’s barely seven thirty,” I say, rubbing my eyes.
“I’ve been waiting since six a.m. for you fuckers to get up.”
Kelly closes the oven door and waves the baster at us. I want to say something, but Daniel shoots me a knowing glance and I think better of it. She’s not one to mess with when it comes to Christmas Day and tradition.
By the time I’ve quickly made and downed another mimosa and scarfed back a couple of the salmon parcels left on the side, I start to feel more human and ready to face the day.
“Shall we open the presents then?” I say, knowing it will diffuse Kelly’s emotions.
I don’t have to ask her twice. Kelly is already in the lounge and under the black and gold ball-adorned Christmas tree, grabbing her presents, before Daniel and I can make our way in. She throws each of us a present as she sits down on the couch and opens her first gift.
“Thank you, baby,” Kelly says, holding up the Cartier watch for me to see before putting it on her arm. I sit down on the couch beside her as she starts to open the present I got for her.
Daniel and I hold off opening our own gifts, knowing the roles we play in this annual tradition.
“Oh my God!” Kelly screams, opening the box to reveal the diamond heart-shaped necklace and earrings that I had only just managed to afford, with the help of the one hundred thousand dollars still sitting in my bank from June.
“Baby, can you put it on for me?” she asks, waving at Daniel, who’s standing at the fireplace. Daniel cuts me a look as he heads toward Kelly.
“Jesus, bro. Did you have to upstage me?”
He really doesn’t want me to answer that question.
Kelly hands Daniel the necklace and lifts her hair up. Daniel struggles with the latch before finally locking it on. Kelly lets her brown hair fall back down over her elf T-shirt, then gets up and heads to the mirror.
“It looks beautiful, thank you.” She comes back and hugs me.
“Don’t get used to it, next year it will be lumps of coal,” I laugh.
“Fuck off.” Kelly shoves me and I fall further back into the couch.
I grab my present and open it up, revealing a navy Ralph Lauren jumper with the American flag stitched across it. I throw it on over my green mini-reindeer pajama top.
“We thought it was apt, now that an American has your heart,” Daniel says, kicking my shin with his foot.
“Have you heard from him?” Kelly asks, opening another one of her presents.
“Yeah, he texted an hour ago, which reminds me. I must get that envelope.”
I get up and head back to the nursery, picking up my phone and the envelope next to the cot. I return to the living room andopen it as Daniel and Kelly dig into opening their smaller presents.
My jaw widens in a state of disbelief when I read what’s on the paper inside.
“What is it?” Kelly asks. I hand it over.
“Holy fuck,” she says and passes it to Daniel. His eyes also widen as he reads down the page like the lawyer he is and flicks over to the back.
“You better get a move on,” he says, handing it back to me.
Alexander wasn’t kidding when he said I would say no to this present if I said no to the Tiffany ring. It feels like too much. Plus being here is our annual tradition, and I don’t get to see my sister half as much as I’d like to, even if that means having to tolerate our mother.
