“That’s excellent, now put them back into the pan and we’ll fry them up some more.”

Jack smiled at his accomplishment and did as Solana asked, carefully placing the fried plantains into the pan so he wouldn’t spatter the oil everywhere. “These smell so good!”

“Just wait ‘til you taste them…they’re my favorite.”

Solana pulled the roast out of the oven and ran it under Jack’s nose so he could smell. “Oh man…this is gonna be so good. Nick’s gonna love this.”

“I hope so. Looky at the cueritos at the bottom.”

“What’s cueritos?”

“The crunchy crusty fat stuff…it’s the best part.”

“Crunchy fat?”

“Trust me…you’ll love it…like pan drippings.” She peeked into the skillet watching Jack push them around so they wouldn’t stick. “You’re doing good…not too brown. Stick ‘em on these paper towels when you think they’re done.”

“You’re gonna trust me to know?”

“You’re a good cook, Jack…yep. You’ll know. I need to go help Rosalie get dressed.”

Jack hiked himself up on the counter, kicking the cabinets and making Solana freeze, afraid he’d burn something. “Can I sit on the counter to finish?”

“To cook, nooo…”

“Aw, mom let’s me sit up here and stir.”

“I’m not mom…come on, big guy.” He jumped into her arms and gave her a squeeze before she put him down. “You guys are getting too big to hold for more than a second.”

“You can still give us hugs, Miss Romero.”

“You better count on it!”

Christmas dinner. It was something Solana had always wanted to prepare for a large family and just never had the family to fit the bill. But this year, she did. Nick had been gone since his emergency visit, filling their missing time with phone calls, emails to Solana’s office and special delivery turkeys at the Casey’s and Romero’s at Thanksgiving. They all missed him fiercely and to welcome him home for a short break from his touring schedule, they decided to surprise him with a traditional Puerto Rican Christmas meal…only he had no idea what or who was waiting for him. All he knew was that Solana invited him to stop by, dress up and ask no questions. Now it was time to make sure everyone else was properly dressed as well.

“Mami! Mami! Is this good? Will Nicky like?”

Rosalie spun around in the hallway, her skirt mimicking her carefree spirit, flowing and twirling right along with her. “Oh Rosalie. He’ll love it…let’s get your hair up, huh?”

“Okay…Kitty said she do it.”

“Is she ready?”

“I dunno. Let’s go see.” Rosalie skipped back to her bedroom and knocked on the door. “Kitty…can we come in?”

“Yep…I’m dressed.” Solana let herself in and sucked in her breath. She was stunning.

“Oh Kitty…”

“Is it still okay?” Kitty looked down and smoothed out her floral skirt, fidgeting with the waistband and sleeves of her sweater.

“Yes…gorgeous. That shade of blue is perfect with your eyes.”

Taking one last check in the mirror, Kitty grabbed a hairbrush and looked to Rosalie. “Okay, girlie…you ready to get beautiful?”

“I already bootiful.”

“Okay, beautiful-LER?”

“Yes…bootifuller. Use the blue bow so I match you.”

Solana left the two beauty queens alone and knocked on her bedroom door to check on Ben and Liz.

“Come in…”

“You guys read-“ …seeing them, she had her answer. Yes, they were ready. Ben looked almost…

…like a man.

Little big man.

He looked downright handsome. “Ben…”

“Yeah?”

Humility always makes one more beautiful, doesn’t it?

Solana shook her head and looked to Liz who was trying to buckle a shoe. “Nothing…you clean up good, bud.”

“Thanks.”

“Liz, you need help with that?”

“No! I can get it…”

Solana threw her hands up in submission and looked to Ben who was shaking his head and walking to the door. “Don’t bother with her…she won’t let anyone help, Miss Romero. Stubborn as a mule.”

“She learned from the best.”

He jokingly scowled at her and headed into the kitchen. “Jack needs to get dressed, doesn’t he?”

“Yep, he’s finishing the tostones.”

“Need me to do anything?”

“Stir the rice…it’ll be sticky on the bottom, but that’s okay.”

“Sticky rice is okay?”

“YES! Pegao…yum…you guys need to learn how to eat!”

“Whatever…” Ben saw Rosalie and properly fawned over her, picking her up and carrying her into the kitchen, not giving his big sister a second glance. Typical brother…reminding Lani of the “little” in her little big man.

Solana pointed to Rosalie’s room when Jack appeared in the hall looking for his clothes. “You’re in there; I’m in here.”

“Okay…can you tie my tie?”

“Yep…just knock first.”

“He’s gonna be really surprised, isn’t he, Miss Romero?”

“I hope so, sweetie…”

She shut her door behind her and bypassed her closet for a moment, walking over to a large package and picking it up with great care. Running her fingers over the beautiful wrapping, she wanted nothing more than to open it and look at it again. But, she knew it’d have to wait until Nick had it. He would be so pleased. So proud. He had an irreplaceable family already…no one wanted to replace them. But these kids…they were his new family. A place of unconditional love, support and acceptance.

It’s how she felt for him, how he felt for her…and hopefully this Christmas season, they would all be able to share those feelings in a very special, permanent way. It really was her only Christmas wish.

Well, that and that her dinner would come out perfectly.

“¡Rosalie, conteste la puerta, por favor!” Solana stuck the spoon into the bowl of rice and peas, quite satisfied with how everything turned out. It looked good anyway!

“Okay, Mami!” Rosalie hopped off the kitchen chair, while the other kids scurried back to the bedrooms to hide, probably making more noise shushing each other than they would have had they just calmly disappeared.

The doorbell rang one more time and Rosalie called out to it in Spanish…since no one else was supposed to be there, of course. “¡Un momento! ¡Vengo!”

She flung the door open and looked up to her guest, smiling broadly knowing that she had a secret. It almost made her want to explode.

“¡Nicky! ¡Feliz Navidad!”

“¡Rosalie! ¡Feliz Navidad!” He bent down and scooped her up, hugging her tightly, totally missing her dressed up attire. But she didn’t mind. She was wrapped up in and around Nick…she could have been in her jamies for all she cared right now.

“I miss you so much, Nick.”

“I missed you too.” He pulled back and reluctantly put her down so he could take a good look at her. Squatting in front of her, he had her spin around for a good view. “You look beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you…Kit-…uh, I mean, Mami did my hair. You like?”

“I like.” Nick stood up and took in a deep breath, totally missing her almost slip up. “What’s goin’ on here tonight…smells wonderful.”

She tugged on his pants leg and he bent down again, picking her back up. He felt like he couldn’t hold her enough. Cupping her hands around his ear, she leaned in close and whispered loud enough for the neighbors to hear. “It’s a secret…I can’t tell you.”

“Oh…hmm…” He made his way into the kitchen and flirted with his eyes, trying to think of a way to weasel the secret out of her.

“Don’t look like that, Nicky. Mami said you try to trick me.”

“Oh she did, huh?” Damned woman. She was too smart for him. Whispering in a much more effective hush, he had his own idea. “Well, we’ll just have to trick her then.”

“How?”

“By acting like I don’t care about the secret.”

“You do, Nicky.”

“Shh…now you have a secret with me, too.”

Nick stopped cold when he saw the huge layout of food on the table. He just figured they were going to take Rosalie someplace nice for dinner or something…definitely not this. Looking into the kitchen, his breath left him as he saw Solana standing there looking more amazing than his wildest dreams could ever conjure up.

He felt Rosalie slipping from his grip and jerked his attention away from Solana long enough to put her down. And then totally forgot she was even there.

“Feliz Navidad, Nick.”

“Feliz…Navi-…Lani…my god…” He ran a hand through his hair and mindlessly loosened his tie. It was getting hot in here, wasn’t it?

Solana smiled and brought the final bowl of food to the table, brushing up against him as she leaned over the table. “You’re looking very handsome tonight, Mr. Carter.”

“Th-thanks…you’re um…wow. Amazing.” Damn, he was brilliant. He was lucky to get anything out.

He stood and watched her move around the table, confused as to why there was so much food for only three people. This was a feast…with a lot of foods he’d never seen before. It looked delicious. She looked…

…gorgeous. Her hair was tossed up in a loose bun, with slight tendrils of curls hanging loosely around her face. Her dress was obviously just for the holidays, a deep burgundy velvet that fit snugly around her body and fell freely off away from her hips, swaying gracefully as she moved. Her make up was typical, but more formal…understated yet somehow bringing out her finest features. Which, at the moment, Nick couldn’t have picked which features were finer than the others. All of it…all of her…she exuded elegance and beauty and…love.

“We’re almost ready to eat. Rosalie, didn’t you want to show Nick something in your room before dinner?”

“Oh! Yes…Nicky, come with me…” Rosalie grabbed Nick’s hand and started to pull him toward the hall but he was frozen in his spot, staring mindlessly at Solana. “Nick! Come on!” She tugged harder and finally smacked his thigh to get his attention. “Mami be here when we get back…you gonna mess up the secret.”

“Huh? Oh…oh, okay. I’m sorry. Where are we going?” He followed her, trying to shake his thoughts from his mind. The prime one being how he would kiss his way down her soft back as he slowly unzipped that damned dress.

“My ROOM! You not listen good tonight.”

“No, you’re right…I’m not listening…what’s in your room?”

“You see, Nicky…” She raised her voice in an obvious attempt at getting someone’s attention. Fortunately, Nick was still in a mini-coma. “You see, Nicky…I show you what’s in my room!”

She turned the knob to her bedroom door and Nick jumped out of his skin. Or would have had it been physically possible.

“SURPRISE!!!!!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!”

“Oh my GOD!!!! You guys!!!!!!!!” He opened up his arms and hugged them all as they ran to him, Liz grabbing a leg, Kitty and Ben each getting an arm and Jack getting squished in the middle.

“Hey! Hey! I can’t BREATHE here!” Jack started pushing against Nick’s stomach while everyone laughed and stepped back to free him. “God…kill me for Christmas dinner, I swear.”

“Oh…are you the surprise main course?” Nick ruffled Jack’s hair and finally took a look at them all. “Holy crap…what’s going on??”

“Christmas dinner, Nick…we all cooked for you.”

“And look at you…my god guys…”

“Yep. We’re damned gorgeous aren’t we?” Kitty fluffed her hair and stuck her tongue out at Liz who was already visually chastising her for her language.

“Yes…you are. What a great surprise.”

“It’s not over yet…but you can wait for the rest.” Ben led the gang out of Rosalie’s room, winking at Miss Romero on the way out as she slipped her camera behind her back.

“There’s more!?”

“Yup…but we’re hungry. Let’s eat!”

They all went into the kitchen and took their seats, already decided upon before Nick’s arrival to avoid the “I-get-to-sit-next-to-Nick’s” that would inevitably happen. Ben and Rosalie got to sit next to Nick. With Solana directly across from him and the others filling in anywhere else.

“Lani, this looks great.”

“Good…it’s a traditional Puerto Rican Christmas dinner…a week or so early. This is stuff Mami taught me to cook when I was little. I wish I could have made more.”

“You’re kidding, right? We’d be eating for a week.”

“No, not kidding…I just made a few dishes tonight.”

“All for me?”

“Yes, Nick…all for you. Everyone pitched in.” She eyeballed his plate and he handed it to her to serve up the meat. “Pernil al horno.”

“Roasted pork…with cueritos…crispy fat. She swears it’ll be good.” Jack still wasn’t convinced.

“I’m sure it will.” Nick took the plate and looked around, picking up the bowl of rice. “This is rice, obviously…”

“Yes, arroz con gandules…rice with peas sorta. Special peas.”

“They’re into crusty stuff…that one has…what is it again, Miss Romero?” Ben scooped up a few tostones and put them on his plate, passing the platter to Nick.

“Pegao…the sticky rice at the bottom. The best part. And then Ben has tostones there for you, Nick.”

He looked down at the platter and smiled. “Ah…the big, hard bananas, huh?”

Rosalie giggled at Nick’s silliness. “Platanos, Nick…big, hard platanos!”

“Right…big, hard plantains. You want some?”

“Yes, please.” Rosalie lifted up her plate as Nick served her, still having trouble keeping his eyes off of the beauty across the table from him.

“This is…great, Lani…thank you.”

“Thank them. They did most of the work.”

Looking around at the blue eyed faces surrounding him, he couldn’t help but smile…from the bottom of his big toe on up. “Thank you all, then…this is even better than home.”