Picking Up the Pieces

By the time Alice pulled into the parking lot of the tree farm, which was almost an hour outside of the Newark suburb where we were living, snow was falling heavy and fast. I let out a chuckle, and glanced at Alice, who looked elated to be in the snow.

“I told you!” she beamed, holding out her arms and spinning in a circle like a little kid. Her scarf and hair flew out and I couldn’t resist the urge to grab her by the waist and pull her in for a quick kiss. She giggled before lacing her gloved fingers through mine and dragging me off towards the trees. The smell of pine trees was the first thing to hit me, and I smiled again. It was a nice little farm, where people would actually come and cut down the tree you picked. We walked quietly through the rows of trees, shaking our heads at ones that were either too tall, too short, too thin, too full, or just plain ugly. Finally, after almost two hours, we both stopped and looked at the same tree. It was perfect.

“Marc, this is our tree,” Alice smiled quietly, and I nodded in agreement. She trotted off to go find someone who would cut it down, and a few minutes later she returned with a rough looking guy who probably wasn’t a lumberjack most of the time. He cut down the tree and loaded it onto a sled before dragging it off towards the front of the farm.

“Alice, isn’t this the kind of thing couples do?” I asked as we walked slowly back towards where we would buy the tree. Alice froze and looked at me with wide eyes.

“I…I guess it is,” she muttered.

“Everything we do is something that couples do,” I muttered.

“We’re not ready for the title,” Alice said quietly.

“I know we’re not, but I feel like we’ve kind of earned it,” I sighed.

“I guess you’re right…I mean…things happen all of the time, even if people aren’t ready for them,” Alice said, a distracted look forming on her face.

“Does this mean that we’re together now?” I asked. Alice bit her lip, and then nodded slowly.

>>>December 24th<<<

I slumped into our apartment after a hard loss against the Senators. I was off my game, and it was pissing me off. The apartment was decorated gorgeously, with lights hanging around all of the windows. The normal lights were off, so the tiny icicle lights were the only source of light in the room. They cast a soft, warm glow throughout the apartment, and I noticed that Alice had wrapped garland around the base of the TV, which was sitting in its usual place on the entertainment center. There were also tiny Christmas lights in that, and a small nativity scene was set up on one of the empty shelves of the entertainment center. Alice and I weren’t the best Catholics in the world, but we both decided that it wouldn’t be right to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. In fact, Alice had woken us up early just so that we could go to confession.

“To be clean for Christmas!” she had said, almost too happily. I dropped my coat on the couch, and my suit jacket quickly followed it. I raised my eyebrows as I loosened my tie and noticed that Alice wasn’t coming out to greet me. Instead, there was a tiny box sitting under the tree. I picked it up, and it was labeled “To Marc”, so I tore open the dark green wrapping paper and found a piece of paper inside. Bedroom. was all it said, and I felt my eyes widen. I wasn’t exactly sure if this was some sort of erotic Christmas gift, in which case, it would have been completely useless for us to have gone to confession in the first place, and as I pushed open the door to the bedroom, I almost sighed in relief. Alice was sitting on my bed in a soft gold top that flowed nicely, and black leggings. There was another box in her lap, and she looked up at me and smiled weakly as I walked over and kissed her forehead.

“Merry Christmas Alice,” I said quietly, and she simply pressed the box into my hands. I opened it, and found another piece of paper. This time it was folded up, and I slowly unfolded it. My heart was racing. I was afraid that this was the end, that she was breaking up with me, but as I finally unfolded it for the last time the words on the tiny slip made me feel even weaker and more shocked than if she had been breaking up with me. Je suis enceinte (I’m pregnant).

“Alice…” I croaked. She swallowed roughly, and bit her lip. Her eyes were shut, and I knew that she was fighting back tears. Suddenly, I was struck with the realization that she probably thought I was going to leave her.

“This…this is great. This is really, really great,” I whispered, climbing onto the bed and hugging her to my chest. She let out a relieved chuckle and I felt a few tears soak into the fabric of my shirt. I pulled her back and wiped the tears from her face with the pads of my thumbs.

“Why are you crying?” I asked, and Alice just smiled weakly.

“I’ve been terrified these past few weeks Marc. I didn’t know how to tell you, so I hid it from you. That’s why I was so cold after the doctor’s office. I figured that Christmas would be the right time to tell you…I mean…life is a gift, right?” she asked, and I felt something inside of me begin to soar.

“Yeah…it’s a gift,” I smiled before kissing her gently. She wrapped her arms around my neck and her fingers ran through my hair as usual. The sweet smell of cherries and coconuts reached my nose, and as I pushed Alice down onto the bed gently, I knew that my gift just wouldn’t compare. I rested my forehead against hers and stared into her eyes. They were bright, happy, and full of relief, and I smiled again. In that moment, I knew that I was home. Alice and I were fighting commitment tooth and nail, but now we were stuck together forever, and I was determined to make her the happiest mother on earth.