Page 54 of Stuck Together

“You better not.” She teased. Grandmother was just about to sit down when there was a knock at the door. “Well, I wonder who that could be. Are you expecting someone?”

With her hands on her hips she looked to me. I shook my head no and started to get up. She shooed me to stay. “I'll go see who it is. You pick out the presents.”

I heard warm greetings after Grandmother answered the door but couldn't make out who was here. A moment later, Grandmother returned. “Look who I found. And bringing presents on Christmas Eve.”

Grandmother was dramatic in her introduction of the new arrival. When she stepped to the side so Rylee and I could see who it was, my smile dropped.

“Madison.” Her gaze met mine, and the look in her eyes nearly broke me. There was so much pain behind her forced smile. I hadn’t expected to see her until after the first of the year. Yes, I planned on being that kind of coward, hiding from her for as long as possible until I figured out how to fix this.

I wasn't prepared to discuss what happened. Not on today of all days. The pain of what Kimberly did, leaving me and our newborn baby on Christmas Eve with her only parting gift of divorced papers, still stung.

“I just wanted to drop off this present for Rylee. It is Christmas Eve and I remembered the tradition from when we were kids and I thought, or hoped, since Rylee is a new introduction to my life, that it would be okay to bring her a present.”

“Of course.” I squeezed my eyes shut at the coldness in my tone. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that, but I was still so confused. When I opened my eyes, Grandmother glared at me and shook her head in disappointment.

Grandmother put on a smile and turned to Madison. “I'm so glad you came, dear. Come sit down. We were just about to start.”

“Oh, no. I can’t stay. I'm just dropping this off. I don’t want to intrude on your family time.” She sat the present on the table and waved. “Merry Christmas.”

“Madison, please stay.” I stepped forward, the urge to pull her into my arms was strong.

“I can’t.” Her voice cracked. “I can’t. I need to get back to my own family.”

With a final wave, she left, and an even bigger hole formed in my heart.

“Daddy, why didn't you make her stay?” Rylee cried.

“You heard her, she had to get back to her own family.” I felt Grandmother’s eyes on me, but I ignored her. “Now, which present do you want to open tonight?”

“I want to open the one from Madison, but I want her here when I open it. Make her come back.” Rylee pouted.

“Sorry, pumpkin.” I pulled her into my lap and hugged her. “I can’t make her stay.”

“She would’ve stayed if your daddy fixed whatever problem he created. I'm sure Madison would’ve loved to watch you open the present if she had felt welcome,” Grandmother barked.

“Why does this have to be my fault, Grandmother.” She always blamed me for everything that went wrong in my life. She even blamed me for Kimberly leaving. She said if I had paid more attention to her, she might’ve stayed. What Grandmother didn’t understand was that I gave Kimberly everything and it still didn’t matter. She left anyway.

She huffed. “When it comes to women, I'm sorry, Logan. It tends to be your fault.”

“Yeah, well this time it's not.” I snapped, and she flinched. “Here you go, Rylee. Go ahead and open it.”

I handed her the present from Madison and she looked up at me with sad eyes. She didn’t take the present from me, but instead turned to the tree and dug around until she found what she was looking for.

“I want you to open this one, Daddy.” Rylee handed me a small box with wrapping paper taped on crooked. “I wrapped it myself.”

“Thank you, pumpkin.” I kissed her forehead and smiled.

“You open mine and I’ll open Madison’s at the same time.” She bounced on her feet. I loved seeing her excited. It didn’t completely push away the pain inside me, but it certainly helped.

“Sounds perfect.” I glanced over at Grandmother. She had her arms crossed over her chest and shook her head. She had known something was wrong between Madison and me, but she didn't bother asking. I sure as hell didn't bother telling her either, but after this awkward exchange, I expected to Grandmother to drill me with questions after Rylee was in bed.

Looking back to Rylee, she nodded to get started. I ripped open the present that she wrapped for me, while she ripped open the present from Madison.

When I lifted the lid off the box, I sucked in a breath.

It was an ornament of a man who looked a hell of a lot like me with his arm wrapped around a little girl. My Rylee. The little girl was wearing a red and green Christmas scarf wrapped around her neck and there were little sparkling stars hovering around.

“Rylee, where did you get this?” I asked.