Savage Hearts

The Carter family came into an empty apartment, bundled up in thick pea coats in attempt to shut out the bitter holiday chill that had settled over Chicago. The family had gone to the ballet, which was Lila’s early Christmas present to her little sister. Lila smiled as the warmth of her apartment engulfed her.

“Jesus Lila why did you choose to live here? The south is so much nicer, and warmer.” Her younger sister said as she peeled of her scarf, two pairs of gloves, and hat.

“You get used to it, but unlike me you spent most of your life in the south, so you don’t appreciate a nice chill.”

The Toews and Carter families had gone separate ways on the 24th, agreeing they would spend Christmas day with each other. Right now Jon was skating with his family, presumably having a similar conversation except with his family complimenting on the warm Chicago winters. The two families had yet to meet each other; the plan was to introduce them over dinner, making Lila very nervous as she made her way over the kitchen.

“Do you need any help in there dear?” Her mother asked as she watched her daughter pull out ingredients and dishes.

“Sure that would be nice. Dad you can go into the living room and watch TV or whatever you want to do.” Lila smiled as she set out the recipe for her mom.

The two women worked around each other not really talking, while Melissa sat nearby playing with her phone. It was a comfortable silence Lila and her mom had. They had never been particularly close but they understood each other. Within an hour, the two had made quite the dinner with marinated salmon, rice, and asparagus.

“Wow, sweetie where did you learn to cook like this?” Her mother asked as she took a small taste of the salmon.

“Mamere and Grandma taught me, I did not grow up with maids and cooks so I have some skills unlike princess over there.”

“Hey, it’s Junior Miss. USA for your information.” Her sister rolled her eyes.

“Oh yeah how could I forget that I am sitting in the presence of posh royalty? Now if Miss. USA would be willing to help the needy you could help set the table.”

“I don’t even live here, I’m your guest.”
“And your family, now do what your sister says.” Her father called out from the other room causing Lila to smirk, and Melissa to angrily grab plates.

“That’s not all there is to eat right?” Melissa asked with disgust as her sister set the salmon down on the dining room table.

“I know you don’t like boys anymore but it doesn’t mean you need to cut meat out of your diet altogether.” Lila laughed as her mother’s head snapped in her daughters’ direction.

“Lila!” Melissa shrieked.

The loud noise was the first thing Jon heard as he opened the apartment door with his family close behind. And at that moment he was very glad he warned his family that Lila’s family dynamic was very different than their own.

“That’s her family so just bear with me for this,”

“Oh Jonathan, we know not everyone can be as blessed as us and having a close and loving family, I’m sure they’re lovely anyway,” his mother said.

“Well, it’s now or never, Lila we’re here.” Jon called out.

“Don’t freak out mom, Melissa isn’t a lesbian, she’s just confused about her sexuality right now.” She yelled out while she walked into the hallway to greet the Toews family as her sister let out another angry screech.

“Hey babe, how was skating?” Lila grinned before giving Jon a quick peck, “And the Toews family is here, it’s so good to see all of you, dinner is ready whenever you come in.”

She smiled before jumping for to David and hugging tightly and messing up his hair. She then hugged Bryan and Andree before making her way back to the dining room, corralling her family near the table for the introductions.

“Bryan, Andree, and David, this is my family: my sister Melissa, my mom Robin, and my dad Michael. Guys these are the Toews.” Lila smiled as the two families shook hands and smiled.

“Well it smells delicious in here so why don’t we all sit down and eat?” Bryan asked and everyone agreed.

The two families sat across from each other while Jon and Lila sat on opposite sides of the table. The beginning conversations started out with compliments about the food, to how both mothers spoke French before Lila’s dad brought up Lindsey.

“So I saw Lindsey’s father the other day and he tells me that Lindsey isn’t coming home for Christmas because she has a boyfriend now.” Jon snorted at this comment as he immediately thought about how Lindsey had secretly went off to Switzerland to be with that boyfriend, something Lila was blissfully unaware of.

“She says that every year so she doesn’t have to spend Christmas with her sister and that perfect husband of hers.”

“Lila he is a nice boy, if you knew him.”

“I know he’s nice, I took their weddings pictures and their pregnancy pictures, I know him very well. It’s just Lindsey doesn’t like to get compared to her housewife sister who’s married to the heir of coca cola or whatever and she is just a guidance counselor. I wonder what that feels like to be harshly judged for doing something you love over making money or finding a man.”

“Don’t make this about you.” Melissa rolled her eyes.

“It’s not also she said she mainly didn’t go home this year because her parents weren’t taking her brother out of rehab for the day. I mean because when they ignored the problem last time that really helped him. Besides he’s like 10 months sober now.”

“Oh that poor boy, he had so much potential and those drugs just got in the way, I’m glad you two never got married.” Robin said.

“Mom, he never asked me to marry him for one and two we were never like that, ever. I lived in Atlanta at the same time as him that was the extent of our relationship.”

“Your mother’s right though we all thought you would get mixed up with him, we all saw it coming I mean we almost sent you to rehab back then too.”

“For what?” Lila flushed bright red as her parents began to say all her secrets to her boyfriend’s family

“All the acid you used to do.”

“I don’t think people really get sent to rehab for acid problems, especially rich girls whose parents ignore the black sheep.”

“Well then you moved to Chicago with Lindsey and we just let you go besides we didn’t want to cause anymore of a fight than we needed to. And I’m glad we didn’t because you came here and eventually found Jonathan.” She smiled warmly before turning to his parents, “he’s a great man, I don’t have son and he is a great substitute for that.”

“Well Lila is lovely as well, I also don’t have a daughter so it’s wonderful to have another woman around all this testosterone.” Andree replied with a warm smile towards Lila.

The conversation turned away from Lila and turned to sports as the men talked about the lockout and Michael gave his knowledge about the baseball lockout, although Lila rolled her eyes because her father was on the side against the players.

Once dinner was done the men grabbed some beers and sat in the living room while the women opened a bottle of wine, Lila quickly poured some into a glass to discreetly give to her underage sister. They then set off to clear the table and do the dishes.

“Well, now was that so bad?” Lila’s mom asked putting some of the plates into the dishwasher.

“No, minus the whole let’s talk about drugs part you were the ideal mother, you didn’t even pester me about getting married and popping a few kids out,” Lila smiled cheekily.

“That may be my dream especially with a man like Jon, but I’m not an insensitive mother, I would never bring that up after the miscarriage.” The sound of a clattering glass of wine happened behind them and both Andree and Melissa stared on with bulging eyes.

“Mom, that was just between us…” Lila trailed off, blinking fast to try and fight off the tears that were suddenly pooling in her eyes.

“Honey, I thought all mothers involved knew, I’m sorry.”

“Lila, mon cher,” Andree came up and hugged the girl tightly her voice cracking, “is this why you went to Europe? To get some time to put yourself together? Jon told me you left but you know how he is with privacy, even with his own mother. I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that but know we are always here for you, because I want you around for a long time,”

“Thank you, but it’s fine now, I just, I don’t really like to talk about it.” Lila shrugged wiping away stray tears.

“Jesus, Lila Bird, you can’t even tell your sister something as big as that?” Melissa asked incredulously.

“You’re to young and pretty to be burdened with your sister’s tragedy of losing a fallopian tube.” She replied before giving her sister a big wet kiss on the cheek.

After the dishes were done Lila hugged her family, asking one more time of they wanted a ride back to the hotel as Jon offered also offered for them to just stay in the apartment with everyone else. They declined both offers and left to catch a cab.

“That turned out much better than expected.” Jon laughed as he pulled Lila in for a hug.

“Yeah, they didn’t even fight, they were acting even nicer than they did when they were married.”

“Lila you have a lovely family, and that sister of yours is absolutely stunning are you sure she’s only seventeen?” Andree asked

“Yeah, Junior Miss. America is just a baby. Which is the reason why my parents are being so perfect, they are trying to create some padding before they tell her they are finally getting divorced. I still think they should tell if she hasn’t accepted the fact they are not together after ten years she never will.”

“Either way, you have some good people in your life,” Bryan replied before deciding it was time to retire for the night, hugging Lila and Jon before going to the guest room with Andree.

“So Lila would you be willing to give me your sister’s number as a Christmas present.” David asked from the couch he would probably be staying on for the night, despite the extra room nearby.

“She’s underage Davie, so back off at least for another year.” Lila said with a wink as she went to the master bedroom.

~~~~~~~~

The next day was a blur of Christmas excitement. Andree had gotten up early to make the traditional Toews breakfast. Then the Carter family came with a bag of Christmas gifts.

Soon the families were gathered by the tree, stuffed with food, laughing, and opening presents. The Carter’s gave out a slew of Atlanta Braves paraphernalia, saying they weren’t sure what to get, so they gave what they knew. Lila gave the parents a framed photo of Jon and Lila wearing ugly Christmas sweaters. While Jon gave Melissa a small tiara, which made roll her eyes, and a ticket to Chicago for whenever she wanted to visit as long she promised to see a game once the season started since the girl had never seen a hockey game live before. Coincidently, Lila gave David a similar gift only with the promise of taking him to a baseball game and that she would leave Jon for him if he asked nicely.

The next day Lila’s family prepared to return to Georgia, gearing up to file divorce papers and break the news to their youngest. Before the family left for the airport they came to say their goodbyes, the mothers exchanged numbers while the fathers shook hands. Then Lila hugged her family, her mother then held onto Jon a second longer than she should have before Melissa hugged him.

“You better pop the question soon because I want to see that cute brother of yours more often.” She whispered into his ear before her father firmly shook his hand while his eyes gave a brief fatherly warning.

The following day the Toews family was to return to Canada. The family hugged Lila and Andree began to get teary as she sadly left her son and the girl she had grown to consider her own daughter. Jon rolled his eyes but hugged his mom tightly reminding her she could visit whenever she wanted as long as she gave him fair warning in advance.

“Now you better put that beautiful ring to good use because I want to b eable to call that girl my daughter very soon. Comprendre, mon amour?” Jon nodded and added a quiet oui before kissing her cheek.