20. Seven Plays Sherlock

TWENTY

SEVEN PLAYS SHERLOCK

A fter about fifteen minutes, we can hear sounds from upstairs. I look over at Luke. “Someone is up.”

He points at the tree. “Which means the other kids will be up soon. Quiet time is over.”

I eye the mountain of presents under the tree. “Yeah this is about to be complete chaos. I put your gift under there when we arrived but I don’t know where it is now.”

He laughs. “Let’s wait until after the kids open theirs first. Then we can dig through whatever is left. Actually, let’s move too. The kids will need this space to open gifts.”

We move to the other couch so the area in front of the tree is open.

I pat his chest gently. “I have to say, I’m a little shocked that you broke the rules. I figured you would be the one husband who actually stuck to the budget.”

His eyebrows shoot up. "Wait, what?"

“You broke the budget. You definitely spent more than a hundred dollars.”

He looks confused. “But I didn’t?”

"You got me two gifts. The hot chocolate," I remind him since he still looks completely perplexed. “Remember last night?”

“I remember bringing you hot chocolate last night but what does that have to do with the budget?”

“It came with a little extra something—a hotel stay?"

He scratches his head. There’s no way he’s faking being this confused. If he was this good of an actor, he would be in Hollywood.

"Hold that thought.” I dash upstairs, my socked feet silent on the steps. In our room, I grab the envelope from my nightstand and walk back downstairs.

I hand it to Luke. "Exhibit A."

He takes the envelope. “I’ve never seen this before."

"You haven’t? It was on the tray when you brought me the hot chocolate.”

He snaps his fingers. “No wonder you seemed so happy. You kept saying thank you and I thought you meant for bringing the hot chocolate upstairs.”

I laugh. “No, I was saying thank you for the gift. I wonder where this came from?”

He shrugs. "Maybe Santa knows you need a break."

I roll my eyes playfully. “I don’t think Santa and his elves are booking luxury hotels now.”

I take the envelope back and look it over, searching for clues. There is no name written on the front. The card inside looks like it was printed on a home printer. That was why I originally thought it was Luke’s doing. A homemade gift certificate is exactly his style.

He leans closer. "Maybe you have a secret admirer. Shall we play detective, Watson?"

“I’m totally Irene Adler,” I correct.

We're interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Ivy appears at the base of the steps. “Hi guys! You’re up early. I thought I would be first.”

“Morning!” Rissa comes down next followed by Finn. They both look exhausted. Then Finn slides an arm around his wife’s waist and squeezes her bottom.

I look away quickly. Okay, I guess I know why those two look so tired. Luke must have seen also because his chest is shaking with his laughter.

“Good morning. Did you guys sleep well?” I ask.

Rissa beams at us. "Like babies! This mountain air is magic."

Finn grumbles something that sounds like agreement as he collapses onto a nearby armchair.

“I wonder if Grace is awake yet. She might be feeling shy about coming down if she doesn’t know we’re already up.” I pull out my phone and send a quick text to Grace.

Seven

Hey, sis. Merry Christmas!

Grace

Morning! Where are you? I just knocked on your door.

Seven

Downstairs. We got up early.

Grace

Okay, I’ll be right down.

I look over at Luke. “Grace is coming down now.”

Ivy glances around the room. “Is anybody else starving?"

We all raise our hands. My stomach growls in agreement, and I swear it's loud enough to echo off the walls.

She chuckles, shaking her head as she makes her way to the kitchen. "Well, I’ll start breakfast then. Poor Emma was on her feet all day yesterday, so hopefully she’ll sleep in a little."

Rissa winces. “She’s already awake. The kids woke us all up just now. But Tank volunteered to bring all the littles downstairs.”

Finn laughs. “He’s going to regret that in about three minutes.”

Just then we hear a loud shriek from upstairs and Finn nods knowingly. “Liam doesn’t like wearing pants. Maybe I should go rescue him.”

“Rescue who? Liam or Tank?” Rissa asks.

“Yes,” Finn replies before he heads for the stairs.

While he walks upstairs, Ivy goes to the kitchen. A minute later comes the familiar clatter of pots and pans moving around. Even though I enjoyed our quiet moments before everyone woke up, there's something about these familiar family noises that I find really comforting. Before long, the rich aroma of eggs and bacon fills the air.

Grace pokes her head in the room. “Merry Christmas everyone!”

I jump up to give her a hug. “Merry Christmas! Come sit with us.”

Luke moves over so there’s enough room for Grace to sit next to me. She leans down to give him a quick hug before plopping down on the end. “Have you guys opened gifts yet?”

“Not yet,” I tell her. “I think we’re all afraid we’ll get lost under there.”

Rissa smiles at that. “Somebody has to take one for the team. I guess it’ll be me.” She leans over and snags a gift from under the tree.

Just then Gabe and Sasha enter the room. Sasha’s eyes light up when she sees the gift in Rissa’s hand. “Did you guys start already?”

“Not yet,” Rissa assures her. “You’re right on time.”

Gabe ducks under the tree to retrieve a neatly wrapped box that he hands to his wife. He starts reading out the names on the labels and handing them to Rissa. When he calls out Grace’s name, I reach over to get it.

“Here you go. I hope you like it.” I watch as she tears at the paper, eagerly awaiting her reaction. It took ages to find the special edition hardback of her favorite fantasy novel.

Meanwhile Sasha sits and carefully peels back the gold wrapping paper on her gift. Inside is a box with a red card inside. She reads it silently before she suddenly closes the card. “Oh!”

Gabe looks over. “Everything okay?”

Sasha clears her throat. “Um, can I talk to you?” she whispers. Then she walks out of the room.

Gabe follows. The room goes quiet as we all exchange looks.

Grace leans over and whispers, “What was that about?”

I shrug.

She has finally pulled all the paper off her book. “You found it!”

“It was the last one in the store. I think I got lucky.”

She hugs it to her chest. “Thank you. I love it.”

Next to me Luke starts laughing. He holds up a tiny superhero cape. “Nice one. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

Grace snickers. “You’re welcome. I couldn’t find the life-sized one but I figured it was the thought that counted.”

Ivy comes back into the room about thirty minutes later. “Breakfast is ready.”

We all follow her into the kitchen. The counter is lined with platters of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. There is a stack of clean plates at the end.

“Wow. Ivy you didn’t have to do all of this!” Now I feel bad. I should have offered to help but I didn’t know she planned to cook a whole feast.

Rissa gives her a quick hug. “Yeah. I thought you just meant whipping up some eggs.”

Ivy smiles. “I have to confess, I didn’t make all of this. Emma made the pancake mix last night.”

“Still. Thank you. I’m starving.” Luke hands me a plate and then grabs one for himself.

Finn enters the room carrying his oldest son. He quickly gets the boy settled in a high chair. The next few minutes are a flurry of activity as everyone fills their plates and finds seats at the long banquette table in the breakfast nook. After getting his son settled with some cereal and a sippy cup, Finn starts eating at the counter close by.

Ivy brings out a carton of orange juice before finding her own seat. The room is quiet as we all focus on the food. Then suddenly Luke nudges my leg and gestures to the doorway where Gabe stands, looking uncertain.

“The game is afoot,” he whispers.

I nudge him back until he stops staring. Although I have to admit, I want to know what’s going on, too. What in the world was written in that card? And where is Sasha?

Gabe walks over to the table and sheepishly hands the box to Rissa. It still has some of the shredded wrapping paper attached. “This was intended for you.”

Rissa looks just as confused but she takes the box. “For me? Are you sure?”

Gabe tries to smile but it looks pained. “Yup.”

Rissa shrugs and reaches inside the box. She pulls out the card and starts reading it aloud. "My love. Even after all this time, I still dream about making you scream my?—”

Her words trail off into a shocked silence, her cheeks blossoming with a sudden rush of color. The rest of us exchange wide-eyed glances.

Rissa clears her throat. “Finn, did you put Sasha's name on my card by mistake?"

Finn blinks looking confused. Then he suddenly glares at Gabe. “No. I didn’t.”

Grace leans over to peek at the card. “Unless you meant to call your sister-in-law a sexy mama , I think there's been a mix-up."

The room erupts into laughter.

Luke mock whispers, “Maybe we should check all the cards in case he declared his love to anybody else’s wife.”

Finn puts his middle finger up. “You can all bite me.”

Gabe holds up a hand. “It’s my fault. I wrapped Finn’s gift for him. It must have gotten mixed up with my gifts. I don’t know what happened.”

As the laughter starts to die down, Sasha reenters the room looking slightly less mortified. She sits at the table and whispers thank you when Gabe brings her a plate of food. I can tell she’s trying to play it cool but there’s a suspiciously rosy tinge to her brown skin.

“You know, this isn’t the first gift that’s gone off course,” I point out. “Luke brought me hot chocolate that had a certificate for a stay at a luxury hotel. Did that come from any of you?”

Everyone looks around curiously.

“What’s going on? Is someone playing Secret Santa?” I wonder aloud.

Finn snorts. “Maybe. But this time it was just Gabe screwing up. I thought you said you lost the envelope! ”

Gabe winces. “I did lose it. But apparently I lost it among the gifts that got transferred under the tree.”

While the two argue back and forth, Tank and Emma appear in the doorway, each juggling a child. Tank sets his daughter on her feet and she runs off to stand next to Liam’s high chair. She giggles as he feeds her a piece of his dry cereal. Emma snuggles her nephew Riley as she walks him over to his mother.

Once he’s settled on Rissa’s lap, Emma notices the gift box on the table. "Sasha, you opened your gift already?”

Gabe stares at her. "How did you know that was Sasha’s gift? "

Emma beams. "I recognize the wrapping paper. You left it in the closet and forgot to label it. So, I wrote Sasha's name on it for you. You're welcome."

The room dissolves into laughter. Emma looks around in confusion. “Did I miss something?"

Ivy leans over and gives her a hug. “I’ll tell you later.”

I look over at Luke. “Well, that’s one mystery solved. Emma, you didn’t happen to give me a hotel stay, did you?”

She shakes her head. “Not that I know of? But at this point, who knows what’s going on.”

Luke squeezes my hand. “Maybe every mystery doesn’t have to be solved.”

I take another bite of my pancakes. “You’re right. We’re safe and happy. My sister is here and our daughter slept through the night. Mostly . Clearly this is some kind of Christmas magic.”