"I just HATE the holidays." I whined, throwing down the scotch tape and shoving the half-wrapped gift I'd been working on about three feet across the floor. Orlando walked into the living room and picked up the box.
"This is a gift, not a softball." He laughed, walking over to me and sitting down next to me on the floor. I looked him in the eyes and sighed.
"I've never liked the holidays." I said, resting my head on his shoulder.
"I know, but my family really gets into the whole thing." He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight.
"Yeah...and that's why I'm doing all this. So that your family will like me."
"They'll like you, Emma. There's no way they wouldn't."
"How can you be so sure? Your whole family is just so different from mine. There's no way I'll fit in."
"They'll like you, because I like you."
I looked up at Orli's smiling face and slowly smiled back. He kissed me softly and then he stood up and handed me the package. "You don't need to try so hard for them to like you." He said.
"So I don't need to wrap it the rest of the way?" I asked innocently.
Orlando laughed. "You don't know how to wrap a gift correctly, do you?"
I hung my head. "Nope...I have no clue."
Orlando laughed again. "I'll help you finish these up then. It's not that hard to do once you get the hang of it."
We sat there in the living room for the next half hour, wrapping the rest of the presents. When we were done I was nearly capable of flawlessly wrapping a gift.
A week later, on the day before Christmas Eve, we were headed from our home in LA to England, where we would stay with Orli's family for the holidays.
"How much do they know about me?" I asked as we settled into our first class seats on the plane.
"Quite a bit, I suppose." Orli said. "I tell them a lot about you. They're all really looking forward to meeting you."
"Do they know about her?" I asked, pointing to my stomach.
Orlando shrugged and looked out the window.
"Do you mean to tell me you haven't even mentioned to them that I'm pregnant?" I said, my voice slightly on the hysterical side.
He looked back at me and his eyes wandered down to my stomach, which wasn't much bigger yet, as I was only four months along. The bump was noticeable, though at the moment it wasn't yet obviously a BABY bump.
"It just...slipped my mind." He said, his voice shaking slightly.
"Just slipped your mind?" I got up and headed to the bathroom near the front of the plane. I locked the door and sat down on the toilet seat, my face in my hands. A million thoughts were running through my head. A million reasons why Orlando would not tell his family about the baby. Would they not be accepting of the fact that we weren't married? Was he scared and trying to deny the fact that I was pregnant in his mind? After a few deep breaths I had calmed down. I left the restroom and headed back to my seat.
"I'm sorry." Orlando apologized when I returned. "I just wasn't sure what their reaction would be, and I'm quite nervous about telling them."
"But you have to. You have to let them know that you're going to be a father."
Orlando sighed. "You're right. We do have to tell them."
"We'll tell them together. While we're here. Okay?"
"Sure." He said, looking like a little boy who had to go tell his mother that he's broken her favorite vase.
I leaned over the armrest between the seats to give him a kiss. Then we both sat back and tried to get some sleep. I'm pretty sure that neither of us slept though.
Orlando's mother met us at the airport in England when our flight arrived on Christmas Eve. She was a very cheerful woman, and her good mood was definitely appreciated. After we got our luggage we headed out to the estate where Orlando's mother lived. He used to live there with her, before he decided to move to LA to be closer to me. His mother chatted the whole way home, asking fifty million questions, lucky we didn't have to bother answering any of them because she'd be off on another topic before we'd even manage to get one word in!
We pulled into the driveway and I was impressed with the amazing building that loomed up in front of us. "You told me your house was 'nothing much'!" I said to Orli.
"It really is nothing much."
"Oh my god. If you call this 'nothing much', then I'd really, really love to see what you thought was a big deal. I thought our place in LA was huge, but this is like five times bigger."
"What does she mean, 'your place'?" Orlando's mother asked, giving him a suspicious look. "She doesn't mean that you two are living together, does she?"
I covered my mouth with my hands, my eyes wide. I hadn't meant to say something that his mother hadn't been told yet.
"We'll talk about it later, mother." Orlando said, smoothing it over. "Right now I want to see the rest of the relatives and give Emma a tour of the place."
"Ok, but I want to have a chat with the both of you. BEFORE dinner."
"Okay, mother. We'll meet you in your lounge at 5:00. I promise."
Orlando didn't bring up the subject of our chat with his mother at all while we toured the house. I was getting more and more nervous as 5:00 approached. It spoiled the fun of meeting his other relatives and I didn't get much joy out of helping the younger kids hang last minute decorations around the house.
At 5:00 on the dot Orlando and I walked into his mother's 'lounge'. The lounge was really more of a tiny ballroom. A high ceiling, tons of floor space, and lots of gold, glass, and mirrors. Cute, but also sort of out of place. The rest of the house had been big, but still lived in and friendly. This room was more of what you'd see in a palace, or a grand hotel. Orli's mother was sitting at a desk that was in the corner of the room, two chairs were set on the opposite side of it and that's where Orli and I sat. I felt like I was about to be interviewed, instead of having a chat with my boyfriend's mother.
"Before you say anything," Orli said, holding up his hand to halt his mother's speech, "Emma and I have something VERY important to tell you."
His mother closed her mouth and tilted her head to the side. I took a deep breath and looked at Orlando. He raised his eyebrows and nodded towards his mother. "Go on." He mouthed.
"Well, you see..." I started, then stopped. I took a deep breath and started again. "Orlando and I..."
"We're going to have a baby." Orlando burst out. I looked at him, he looked at me, and we both smiled. He reached his hand over and took mine and we sat there, waiting for his mother to react.
"A baby?"
I nodded. "A baby."
"But...you're not..."
"Yes, we know mother. We're not married."
"But it's okay, because I love him, and he loves me."
She scratched her head and then sat back, still stunned by the news.
"So...?" Orlando said.
"I'm so happy for you!" His mother exclaimed, finally seeming to take in the reality of the situation. She jumped up and headed out the door, we quickly followed. "This is so amazing! We must go tell everyone!"
"I told you it would be okay." I whispered to Orli.
"You always seem to know." He whispered back.
We reached the family room, where everyone else was, and it was obvious that Mrs. Bloom had managed to spread the news already, and we'd only been five steps or so behind her! We were surrounded by relatives congratulating us, asking us questions about due dates, etc... Then after awhile it calmed down, when all of a sudden... "What's that smell?" Orlando's mother asked, sniffing the air. All of a sudden her eyes opened wide. "OH MY GOD! The turkey!!!" She ran from the room to the kitchen and we all broke into horrible fits of laughter.
When she returned (shaking her head and annoucing that we were ordering pizza for dinner), we all settled into our seats and we passed out the presents that were to be opened that night. Orlando and I got matching, his/hers sweaters from his brother (dorky, but somehow so sweet), boxes of chocolates from his cousin, and many more little fun gifts. The kids threw wrapping paper around and starting driving their new hotwheels cars around. Alicia, the one girl, sat in the middle of the couch, dressing her new Barbie dolls. Everything was happy, fun, and I finally, for the first time, understood the spirit of Christmas. I was finally enjoying the holidays.
Not long after all the gifts had been opened. Orlando and I managed to sneak away. We put on our coats and stood on the front porch, watching the fresh snowfall. It seemed just like something out of a picture book. Orli had his arms around me as we stood there and when I looked up at him I noticed a huge wreath of mistletoe hanging from the porch roof. I pointed it out to him.
"You know what that means." He said. I nodded and closed my eyes as he leaned down slightly to kiss me. |
