LesleyLSmith
Stories
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 Santa Baby
| by Lesley L. Smith I dropped one of the bags of presents as I tried to unlock the back door. Our string of Christmas lights swayed gently in the wind. I got the door open and yelled into the kitchen, "Jose, I need help unloading the car." I put the bags I hadn't dropped on the table and went back and scooped up the one lying in the doorway. I glanced inside the bag and nothing was broken. That was a relief.
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"It's the adopt-a-family presents. And there's a bunch more in the car. I need your help unloading." A hint of a frown shadowed his face. "I know you're warm-hearted, but you didn't buy all this, did you? We're saving our money for the doctor. We agreed." "Calm down, Jose. Yes, I did buy this stuff." At his alarmed look, I put my hand on his arm. "But it's not our money. Everyone in the lab pitched in. I just did the shopping." I took a step toward the back door. "And now we're going to have a wrapping party." "We are?" Jose asked. "Do I have anything to say about this?" The corners of his mouth turned up, betraying what he really thought. "Nope." I grinned. "The party is tomorrow night at work, so you don't. No time to find anyone else." "Well, you know I love a fiesta," he said smiling. He followed me out the door. After dinner we had our wrapping fiesta in the family room. The lab adopted ten families this year so there was a lot of wrapping to do. As usual, the parents all picked sensible items like underwear and socks and clothes and the kids all requested toys. I would have loved to buy the most stylish clothes and most popular high-tech toys, but of course the budget didn't allow for that. Still, I'd found a lot of nice stuff. I thought everyone would be pleased. And after we got done wrapping at about 1:00 a.m. one thing led to another and Jose and I had another kind of fiesta. It had been a long time since we'd made love spontaneously, without doctors instructions, and it was wonderful. It was probably the only Christmas gift we'd be able to afford this year. The next night Jose brought the wrapped presents over to the lab in his truck. As he brought in bag after bag of wrapped presents, my co-workers on the party committee were impressed, as was the Santa we'd hired. He came over to Jose and I as we were arranging the gifts under the tree. "Ho, ho, ho. It looks like Santa has a little help this year." I glanced at him and he was the best Santa I'd ever seen. His whiskers looked real, his blue eyes twinkled behind his wire-rimmed glasses and his red velvet suit was beautiful. Jose chuckled from his position kneeling on the floor. "Looks that way, Santa." He pointed up at me. "My wife is too generous." I flushed. Did Jose know I did spend a tiny bit of our money supplementing the gifts? "Uh, it was the generous people here at the lab. They donated the money for the adopt-a-family. They wanted to have a special Christmas celebration." Jose settled more comfortably on the floor next to the tree, and grabbed my hand. "Maybe next year, we'll have something extra special to celebrate." I sighed. "I hope so." I prayed so. But so far, the fertility treatments weren't working. Santa looked at us carefully from under his red velvet cap. Someone turned on the CD player and the words, "Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree, for me. Been an awful good girl. Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight," wafted over the room. Read the entire story: Santa Baby (pdf)
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