When Jaxsen woke the next morning he found himself nestled still in Sebastian’s arms. He felt safe and warm and loved. He smiled at the feeling.
“Daddy, wake up.” Jaxsen gently shook Sebastian awake. When he opened his eyes Sebastian smiled at the blue eyes smiling back at him. “Morning, Daddy. It’s Christmas. Let’s go see what Santa brought,” Jaxsen exclaimed excitedly. While he had admitted his knowledge about Old Saint Nick, Jaxsen had decided, just before succumbing to sleep, that he’d hold on to the magic Santa had to offer.
Nizhoni and Rose, both hearing Jaxsen’s excited yelps about Santa, stepped from their rooms smiling. They found Jaxsen in the living room standing in front of the lighted tree, mouth a gape at the sight of the mountain of colorfully wrapped gifts.
Nizhoni and Rose were in the kitchen chatting idly as they prepared a late lunch for when the boys returned. As she was washing a glass at the sink, a horrifyingly desperate feeling washed over Nizhoni and she looked through the kitchen window above the sink.“Oh, my God.” Nizhoni saw Sebastian running, Jaxsen clutched to his chest. They both ran to the front door to receive them. Sebastian stumbled a couple times, his lungs and legs and arms quivering painfully with adrenaline and exertion. Nizhoni opened the door just as Sebastian reached it.“Mom! Mom!” Sebastian called as he approached the door, ignoring Nizhoni’s inquiry about what happened. Rose, who wasn’t far behind Nizhoni, met him in the living room. Carefully Sebastian set him down.“He fell in the pond. I g
He clenched his fists tightly in his hair in an attempt to stave off the manic-like scream building up deep from his bowels. He opened his eyes. His world was silent, his vision blurry at best, and the last thing he saw was Nizhoni’s face hovering worriedly above him. He came to several minutes later, his head pounding with a tenacious audacity that refused to kowtow to logical reason. Said logical reason being that he had to get back to Jaxsen. Sebastian cracked his eyes slightly before slamming them shut again. His forehead furrowed and his mouth twisted into a grimace of pain.His head throbbed with his pulse making his eyeballs feel as if about to burst from their sockets.“What happened?” He kept his hands clasped over his eyes.“You hyperventilated yourself and passed out. Are you alrig
“How about a cup, or three, of some coffee?” Nizhoni suggested as they trudged into the living room once arriving back at home.“No, I don’t think so, dear. I think I’m going to turn in for the night.” She sounded tired, but not from a lack of sleep.“Mom.” Rose’s eyes snapped to Nizhoni, the name making her stop in her tracks. It was rare that the younger woman called her ‘Mom.’ It was a name she’d bestowed upon the older woman many years ago, and it made Rose’s heart clench with maternal adoration just as much now as it did when she was a child. “Have some coffee with me, please. It’s been a long, extremely emotional day and I could really use your company.” Rose looked down, lids lowered away from the piercing ebony depths, and breathed once, twice, and again.
The two women sat cordially side by side on the sofa, feet tucked under their legs to ward off the cold. The lights were dimmed, casting shadows and enveloping the room in easy ambiance. Jaxsen reached for Nizhoni when she got up, meeting them halfway. Nizhoni took him in her arms, kissing his head and automatically gently swinging him back and forth; slow and soothing.“Would you mind taking his temperature and giving him some of this, please? I’m gonna go heat up some soup for him to take with it.”She nodded and made the attempt at a reassuring smile, but knew even before her lips curled up in the faux pas expression, she’d failed. “Of course,” she answered.“Thanks.”“Hey,” she called him back softly. When h
“I…” Rose shook her head minutely, failing to swallow the lump in her throat. “I have no excuses. I was out of line.” She looked up, meeting Nizhoni’s hard gaze with a fixed and determined expression, her jaw tight and prominent. “Please tell him when he comes back I’d like to speak with him if he’ll allow it. It’s been a long day. Good night, dear.” She spoke quietly, in a dull kind of monotone Nizhoni had never heard Rose employ as a speech pattern. Rose smiled at Jaxsen, briefly patting his head before vanishing silently into her bedroom.Jaxsen, who looked on puzzled, turned around and padded the rest of the way into the kitchen. He stopped at the threshold and frowned. Nizhoni sat at the table, her head in her hands, her face partially covered with splayed fingers.“Zhoni?” He t
“It’s not your fault, Jaxsen. You don’t know the area, or the boundary lines.” She gently uncurled his fingers and smoothed out his tiny hands.“So that’s why you’re mad at my daddy. You think he wasn’t paying attention, huh?” His tone was soft and just as accusatory as he lowered his eyelids. Rose took a deep breath before counting to ten as she exhaled. Her nerves on the whole matter were rather raw, and she’d made a few, but some personal realizations last night after Sebastian left. Sebastian was the boy’s hero and Rose didn’t want to tarnish that idolism with her own personal issues that are stuck in the past that mercilessly broke the surface the moment Sebastian came back into her life. Before she could say anything Sebastian came through the back door.“Good morning, Dad
“Ready, Jack?” Sebastian asked, his voice carrying a forced airiness to it. Sebastian knelt down and with a soft smile wrapped Jaxsen’s new scarf around him. Lightly he tucked the lock of hair that fell into his eyes behind his ear. He smiled, but Jaxsen saw the pain he tried so hard to hide. He didn’t understand why Sebastian looked so sad. As he walked away Jaxsen sent a questioning look to Nizhoni in the hopes that maybe she could help, but she smiled sadly and told him to hug Gramma Rose goodbye.They’d been on the road just over an hour and Jaxsen was getting hungry. The ride had been mostly heavy silence, and Jaxsen dared not break it but hunger and the urge to pee was getting too hard to ignore.“Jack, you getting hungry back there?” Sebastian asked as if reading his mind.
“Hey, what are you doing this weekend?” Jaxsen asked as they packed up their books for the day. Basil shrugged a broad shoulder. He’d been quiet all day, showing only brief moments of avid conversation. The rest of the time he was withdrawn, forlorn, his eyes clouded with whatever happened on his Christmas vacation. Basil stopped moving, his hand inside his backpack, his fingers draped loosely over his history book.“Probably nothing. Why?” Finally he made eye contact.“Wanna maybe come stay over? I don’t think my dad will mind.”Basil visibly swallowed, closed his eyes and nodded. “Yeah that might be fun.” Without a word Jaxsen zipped up his pack and slung an arm around his friend.“It will be. Do you nee