Do I Dream Again

“Mom! Dad!” Sophia called out as she opened the front door of her parents’ house, setting her suitcase down as Kyra ran towards her, her arms outstretched, not having seen her twenty-year-old daughter for the past four months since Sophia went to college in California.

“Sophia,” Kyra smiled as she wrapped her arms around Sophia, hugging her tightly. “I’ve missed you so much,” she told her, letting her go and taking a look at her daughter. “You look beautiful,” she told her.

“Thanks, Mom,” Sophia smiled. “Where’s Dad?” she asked, looking around the Christmas-decorated house for Henrik. He had officially adopted her fifteen years ago, right after he and Kyra had gotten married.

“He’ll be home soon. They had practice today,” Kyra answered.

“On Christmas Eve?” Sophia questioned.

“You know how he is. He feels like the team needs to always practice. I’m still in shock that he’s giving them tomorrow off,” Kyra told her. Henrik now coached the Grand Rapids Griffins after retiring a few years before. “And, then they play again on the twenty-seventh. Luckily, it’s a home game, though.”

“Yeah, I’m going to it, remember?” Sophia asked.

“Yes, he’ll be happy to have you here,” Kyra smiled.

“Where’s Jakob at?” Sophia asked, changing subjects. She hadn’t seen her little brother since she left for school in August, and she had missed him. Growing up five years apart from each other hadn’t meant that they were any less close to each other. In fact, they were practically each other’s best friends, and Sophia had missed him a lot whenever she was in California.

“He’s at practice,” Kyra answered. “He’ll be home soon, too. Dinner’s at six tonight.”

“Is everyone coming over like always?” Sophia asked, and Kyra nodded her head. “Good, I’ve missed everyone. I’m going to put my stuff in my room and change and then I’ll come back down here and help you with the rest of dinner, okay?” she asked, and Kyra nodded, happy to have her daughter home, even if it was only for a few days.

***

The doorbell rang, and Sophia ran to answer it, wondering who it was going to be this time. Kristina and Valtteri had already arrived with their thirteen year old son, Peter. His twin sister, Emilia, was going to come over later with Sadie, Jonathan, and their three children, seven year old Annalina, ten year old Molly, and thirteen year old Mark.

Just as Sophia expected, it was Emilia, Sadie, Jonathan, and their family. “Sophia!” Sadie exclaimed, hugging her. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you!”

“Yeah, about four months,” Sophia agreed as the kids filed in. She had to take a second glance at Mark and Emilia, who were holding hands, before she looked back at Sadie and Jonathan curiously.

“They are officially boyfriend and girlfriend,” Sadie answered her unasked question.

“How are you two and Kristina and Val taking that one?” Sophia asked.

“We’re all fine with it. At least we know they’re dating good people,” she laughed.

“Good point,” Sophia nodded as Kyra came out of the kitchen, hugging her best friend and her husband. “Mom,” Sophia began, turning towards Kyra. “I thought you said Dad was going to be home soon, and he’s still not here. If he doesn’t hurry up, he’s going to miss dinner,” she said, glancing at her watch.

“He’ll be here,” Kyra promised.

“Yeah, he’s probably making the team do a whole bunch of drills since they get a day off,” Sadie laughed. At that exact moment, the front door opened, and Henrik walked in. “Speaking of him,” Sadie mumbled as Sophia ran towards him, engulfing him in a hug.

“Sophia!” Henrik smiled as he returned the hug. “It’s been way too long since I’ve seen you. You need to come home more often,” he told her.

“Yeah, that’s going to happen,” Sophia said sarcastically as Kyra brought out the ham and set it on the table, telling everyone to sit down and get ready for dinner.

“You need to tell me how your school year’s going,” Henrik told Sophia as they sat down at the dinner table, Sophia sitting in between her brother and Sadie.

“It’s been great,” Sophia told him. “I love sports management. And, I’m thinking about getting an internship this summer. The Blackhawks are looking for sports management majors,” she told him.

“All those years we all spent with the Red Wings, and you decide to go and work for the Blackhawks,” Henrik joked, and Sophia nodded her head as everyone around the table started laughing.

“So, any guys you have your eye on at school?” Kristina asked her, as both Henrik and Kyra looked at Sophia with interest.

“Maybe,” Sophia said vaguely, trying to hide the blush that was creeping up her neck and into her cheeks.

“Well, you can tell me all about him later when you’re not around your parents,” Kristina smiled at her, and Sophia nodded.

“So, Jakob, how was baseball practice today?” Sadie asked him. As much as Henrik had tried to sway Jakob into playing hockey, he had fallen in love with baseball and had been playing it the past ten years. Needless to say, once he saw how much his son loved the sport, Henrik soon learned to love it, too, and he tried to make it to as many games as he could while still coaching the Griffins.

“Good,” Jakob replied in between bites of food. “I got a home run and a triple,” he added nonchalantly. He was by far the best player on both the high school and travelling teams he was on, and everyone believed he had a legitimate chance of going to college on a baseball scholarship.

“Nice!” Sophia said, giving her brother a high five.

Everyone continued chatting, getting caught up on everything that was going on in each other’s lives, while celebrating the holidays together.