Sleep finally engulfed them, the sweetest sleep either of them had ever experienced. If one would stir slightly, they’d curl back up to the naked warm body beside them, moaning in their grogginess at the contact and drift back. When morning came, their bodies naturally moved in rhythm before words were spoken, before eyes locked, before the list of ‘to do’s’ and ‘have to’s’ ruled their day.

Lani had to go in to work for a few hours anyway. Nick had to get his brother to the airport. It was a difficult parting, Nick knowing that the last thing Aaron wanted to do was get back to the mess that awaited him. But, he had to. For now. And he could go back rested and fully knowing that he had a place to run if he needed. He’d be back for part of the Christmas holiday. He hoped.

And even though the weather said otherwise, Christmas started immediately in Florida too. The weekend following Thanksgiving brought Nick and Lani outside, decorating her house, hanging lights in palm trees, on the porch, twisting and turning in strings of them to decorate the artificial tree, making hot cocoa, even if they were dressed in shorts. Christmas is Christmas, no matter where you are.

One of the strings had fallen out of her leaning palm tree in the back yard and Lani went out to investigate, leaving Nick to answer the ringing doorbell. The always loyal man in brown greeted him. “Looks like little Ro got an early present.”

“Ah…good. Do I need to sign?”

“Nope. Happy Holidays!”

Nick closed the door and checked out the box, not seeing any return address on it. “Hey, Ro…come here, Muñe.”

“What is it, Nicky?”

“You got a package…let’s grab a knife and head outside with Mamí to open it, huh?”

“Who’s it from?”

“I dunno. There’s no return on it. Maybe Abuela?”

“I got hers already. Maybe she forgot something.”

Nick slid the patio door open and let his little doll baby out first, lifting the box in explanation to Lani who jumped as she heard the door slam closed. “UPS just showed up. Did your Mom forget something for Ro?”

“She better not have…sent enough as it is.” Lani plugged the lights back in and motioned for Nick to flip the porch light on to check her connection.

“Yay, Mamí! You fixed it!”

“You rule.” Nick kissed her as she approached, never ever feeling like he could get enough. “Should she open this now or wait?”

“I don’t know what it is…go ahead now. Abuela keeps everything wrapped so it doesn’t spoil any surprises.”

“Yeah, Mamí won’t let me open her stuff yet. It’s just under the tree driving me loco.”

“It’s a short drive; you’re already loco.”

“Cut the tape, Nicky. You’re a stinker.”

He settled into a chaise and patted the end for Rosalie to join him as he slit the sealed package open. “Did you order something?”

“I wouldn’t have put it in Ro’s name…”

Rosalie ripped the box from Nick’s hand, excited even though it wasn’t the biggest box she’d seen. It looked big enough to hold a doll. Or maybe some books. Maybe some pieces for her castle. Or, some stuffed lovey animals. Just the right size for a perfect 3-weeks-before-Christmas-gift. She pulled the tissue out, tossing it everywhere and stopped cold when her hands finally hit something solid. “Ooh…there’s something in here.”

“Well, I should hope so!” Nick chuckled and soaked in her childish excitement wanting to enjoy this Christmas more than any he had up until now. He was staying here. This was his family now and if any of his blood family wanted to see him, they knew where to find him.

At home.

Unbeknownst to Rosalie, but very noticed by Nick, Lani swiped an envelope out of the tissue rubble and held it until Rosalie could enjoy her gift first. She wouldn’t have cared who it was from now anyway.

“What’s in there, Muñe? You just gonna keep us wonderin’?”

She pulled out a small item, wrapped in more paper. “There’s a lot of these…” She put it on the table and pulled out a number of wrapped objects, all almost the same size as the first. “They feel like statues. See, Nicky?” She handed Nick one and picked another with a bit of pink peeking from the tissue, choosing to open it first. “Ooooh…is that Mary, Mamí?”

Lani put the envelope on the bench out of Rosalie’s reach so it wouldn’t get lost in the shuffle. “Yep, looks like it…is Joseph in there?”

Rosalie started quickly opening the statues naming them as she could, looking to Nick for guidance when she wasn’t so sure. She knew the Christmas story, but only a little. Church wasn’t somewhere they frequented, even during the holidays. “Who’s this one, Nicky?”

“Looks like a shepherd. He’s got a staff to help lead his flocks.”

“Oooh, sheep!!!!”

She opened them all but one, finally finding Joseph, the three kings, camels, sheep, a couple of cows, some more shepherds and she squealed knowing who the last one had to be. “Es niño Jesús!” She kissed the small doll and put him into the resin bed made to look like a feeder filled with hay. “It’s so pretty, Mamí! Can we put it in my room?”

“Yeah…we’ll put it under your tree, okay?”

Rosalie took baby Jesus and left the rest, disappearing into the house.

And Lani collapsed onto the picnic bench, color draining from her face.

“Lani?”

She said nothing, but handed him the envelope. “Read it.”

He took it from her, totally confused. “How’d you read it already?”

“I didn’t…but I can’t. I might throw up.”

Nick’s heart sank, knowing there was only one person who could send Rosalie something that would make Lani freak out like this. “Oh shit.” He sighed and slipped his finger under the flap, stopping before he pulled the card out. “You sure you want me to read this? Maybe we should just toss it and keep it a mystery to her.”

“She needs to thank him…” Her eyes closed at her words, swallowing the bile that threatened to rise. “I can’t allow her to hate him.”

Nick didn’t understand, but finally pulled the card from the envelope, sighing at the sweet picture on the front. “Cute card…it’s Nemo in a Santa hat.”

She smirked in spite of herself, rolling her eyes at the audacity of it all. Although most kids liked Nemo, Rosalie and Nick loved it, going off on Crush and Squirt imitations ad nauseum. Somehow now…that even felt defiled. “What’s it say inside?”

Nick took a deep breath and quickly read the pre-printed message filled with ‘dude’, ‘righteous’, and ‘awesome’. And then, he read the hand written portion.

Rosalinda,

Love this nativity like I did as a little boy. We’d start the holiday season with only the animals and the empty manger. Every day, my brothers and I would add one of the characters to the scene, ending with baby Jesus on Christmas night.

I know you don’t know me yet, but maybe we can work something out with Mamí to change that. I know it’d be the best Christmas for me if we could. If not, have a very Merry Christmas!

Nick didn’t look up to Lani as he read, feeling her tension and strain from across the table. But, he’d gone this far, so he figured he might as well finish the whole thing. Taking a deep breath, he finally looked up to her, sadness filling his eyes. “It’s signed ‘Su Papí, Neron’.”

“Su papí? Su papí!? That fucking son of a bitch! How dare he do this to her? To me? To us? What the fuck is he trying to prove, huh?”

“I have no idea, baby…are you going to tell her?”

She was too upset to think, to answer, to even consider doing anything short of murder. “I have…I don’t…I can’t even…”

“Are you guys coming? I want to put up Baby Jesús and his friends…” Rosalie stopped cold when she saw the tears streaming down her mother’s face. “Mamí? What’s wrong? Why are you sad?”

The last thing Lani wanted was to cry more tears because of Neron, especially in front of her daughter. So, the only solution she had was to leave. The tears weren’t going to stop. She shook her head in apology and ran out of the fenced yard, leaving Nick and Ro on the patio wondering what to do next.

“Nick? What’s wrong with Mamí?” Rosalie tried to be strong and not cry, but she wasn’t doing well. Mamí never ran out like that. And she rarely cried.

“She, um…just heard from someone she hasn’t heard from in awhile.”

Rosalie didn’t believe him, but was smart enough to tell that she wasn’t going to get any more information out of him either. “Can we take my new dolls to my room, Nicky?”

“Yeah, Muñe. Let’s do that. And I have a great idea on how to help you count down ‘til Jesus’ birthday…”

Rosalie faithfully placed a new character into her nativity scene every night at bedtime. She never asked who had sent it to her. She never asked what had upset Mamí so much the night she’d received it. She was just happy she had this pretty set and could count down the days until Christmas by how many statues she had left to put up. Besides, Mamí didn’t cry about it anymore, so maybe it wasn’t so important after all.

And now, she was down to one. Christmas Eve. Aaron had come over for dinner and Mamí had made a huge spread of mostly traditional Boricano dishes. It was just going to be Mamí and Ro in the morning and then Nick and Aaron would come back to share in presents and the rest of the day. Aaron took off for Nick’s house, enjoying his brand new driver’s license and letting the three of them have some family time alone. And now, it was bedtime. Bedtime on the most impossible night of the year to even begin thinking about sleep.

“What numbers do I have to wait for on my clock, Mamí?”

“Before you come bouncing on me? Oh, I don’t know…I’m thinking 10.”

“TEN!? Mamí, it’s on the 10 now! I can’t wait that long!”

“You can’t? Oh, well…let’s see. Nick, what do you think? How late should I make her wait to see what Santa brought her?”

“Mmm…we always had trouble waiting until 7. I still suck at sleeping on Christmas Eve.”

“I like 7 better, Mamí.”

“You do, huh? Well, I suppose 7 is fine. Not one minute before, you understand, young lady?”

“Si, Mamí. The first number on the clock says ‘7’, not ‘6’. I’ll wait.”

She bounded into her bed and under her covers, reaching over her head for a book resting between her mattress and her headboard. “Katy found this and said to read it tonight. You read it, Nicky?”

He snuggled in next to her and cracked the book open, sniffing in its musty smell. “Mmm…it’s an old one.”

“Yeah, Katy said it was hers as a little girl. It’s the Christmas story!”

And so it was. And so Nick read. And Rosalie got up numerous times to grab certain characters from her nativity to hold or kiss or put in a better spot. Then she’s snuggle back in, only to get up a few pages later. She was exhausting Nick and Lani just from her energy alone. When Nick finished the book, he had to retrieve her from her nativity and carry her to bed. “Are you going to sleep at all tonight, sweetie?”

“I don’t know. I’m bouncy, huh?”

“Just a little.” He kissed her cheek and she pointed to her forehead. He kissed her forehead and she pointed to her nose. A peck on the nose and she pointed to her chin, sticking it out so he could reach it better. Finally, she pointed to her lips and puckered, pulling him in for a full hug when he was done kissing everything she wanted kissed.

“Te amo, Nicky. Feliz Navidad.”

“Te amo, Muñe. Duérmase.”

“I’ll try…’night, Mamí. Te amo!”

“Te amo, Rosalinda. Feliz Navidad.”

Nick and Lani left, Nick closing the door softly and abruptly opening it again checking to see if she’d already gotten back up again.

“I’m sleeping, Nicky…go away now.”

She snuggled into her pillows as she heard him giggle behind the door, knowing that no matter what Santa brought, he couldn’t bring anything better than what she already had.

Although, a Dora the Explorer tape recorder and microphone would be nice.

Nick and Lani quickly nestled into the couch, surfing channels to find a good movie to watch, to ignore, to backdrop a full fledged make out session. No love making tonight, as both were too concerned with one certain 4 yr. old who would probably be up numerous times making intimacy a virtual joke. But they could love and cuddle and appreciate their quiet time now, knowing that it would be nothing but loud and noisy tomorrow.

They settled on It’s a Wonderful Life and didn’t get much past George meeting Clarence before they heard scuffling in the hall.

“Is she up already?”

“Shh…let her be. Maybe she just has to pee.”

They heard the toilet flush and fought the urge to go help tuck her in again. The more jostling her awake, the longer it’d take her to settle back in. As they waited for the familiar creak of her bed and didn’t hear it, Lani lifted her head from Nick’s chest and silently questioned the…well, the silence. “What’s she doing?”

“You’re asking me?”

“No, I’m asking the elves.”

“Stay put. I’ll go check, smart ass.”

Lani didn’t argue, not wanting to move anyway, but lifting up enough so Nick could get out from under her and she could smack back down onto the couch, willing sleep from totally taking over her body.

Thinking maybe they’d just missed the sound of Rosalie’s bed, Nick slowly turned the knob to her door and peeked in, silently gasping at the sounds and sight before him. He left the door cracked and scurried down the hall to collect Lani. “Come here…”

“What?”

“Come…listen…”

He recognized the tune out of Rosalie’s mouth as Silent Night. But the words were unfamiliar to him…at least in this setting. The little girl was standing in front of her nativity, rocking the small doll of baby Jesus singing her heart out in her native tongue.

Noche de paz
Noche de amor
Todo duerme en derredor
Desde los astros
Que esparcen su luz
Bella ‘lumbrando
Al niñito Jesús
Brilla la estrella de paz
Brilla la estrella de paz

For such a young child, her tone was lovely, taking both Nick and Lani’s breath away, bringing tears to their eyes. Rosalie kissed the baby Jesus one more time and gently laid him in his manger, patting him with her finger and speaking softly to Him.

“Feliz Cumpleaños, Niño Jesús. Feliz Navidad.” She sighed a burdened sigh and Nick and Lani quickly closed the door, not wanting her to know she had an audience. They heard the familiar creak of her bed now and her soft voice as she sang herself to sleep, giving them comfort amidst all the tension that the nativity had brought to their hearts.

And a little child will lead them.

Sleep in heavenly peace.
Sleep in heavenly peace.