Five Miracles Until Christmas

Second Miracle - December 21

After Margareth told him Gregory was coming home tonight to spend the holiday with them, Harrison got a new motivation to make this the best Christmas party they ever had.

He couldn't even believe his son was going to be with them after 2 years of calls and little conversations through that damn Skype thing.

He realized he was thinking about nonsense instead of paying attention to the words he was reading in the book in front of him. He started the page again, just to be interrupted by Johanne and Jake fighting once more. Their father just rolled his eyes.

"GET AWAY FROM ME, JACOB!" His daughter screamed and came around to the living room. "Dad, look at what Jacob did!" She opened her hand to show a little tub.

"I'm sorry, Joh-joh." Jake came running right behind her.

"You don't talk to me!" She turned to her dad again. "Dad!"

Harrison pinched the bridge of his nose and closed the book. "What now, Johanne?" His daughter motioned to the tube in her hand. "What is that, Johanne?"

"How can you ask that?" She sniffed. "This demon destroys my favorite lipstick and you ask me what is this? I should ask what have I done to deserve this family that can't comprehend me!" Her voice cracked at the end and she stomped her foot upstairs and slammed her bedroom door.

Harrison stood there, wide eyes, and turned his head to his little son. "Jake, come here." His son came closer and he wiped a tear from his little cheek. "Jake, you know your sister is acting like a crazy woman this last weeks, so why do you go and do something like this?" He asked his son.

Jacob's face fell and he started to cry. "I'm sorry, dad. I wanted to make Joh-joh happy. She doesn't like me. I want her to like me." His father hugged him and tried to calm his son.

"Shh... It's okay. Your sister loves you. She's just in a bad mood, okay?" He felt the little head against his chest nodding. Harrison looked up to see his wife leaned on the door frame to the kitchen.

Margareth came closer and took Jake in her arms. "I'll distract him and you go talk to Johanne. I think she's having some girl problems, and there's that guy she likes... Just talk to her, okay? I'll take her with me later to the market and try to put some sense into her too."

Her husband nodded and climbed up the stairs, preparing for the worst. He sighed before knocking on his daughter's bedroom door.  "Johanne?"

"GO AWAY!" The girl screamed at the top of her lungs.

Harry closed his eyes firmly and opened them again before making his way inside his daughter's room. She was laying down on her bed, with her head face first against the pillow and her body shook with hiccups. Her dad could just look and ask himself how she could be breathing with her face pressed against the pillow the way it was.

He walked the few steps towards her bed and took a seat at the edge, instantly putting a hand on her back and caressing it. "Johanne, I think you have some things to put off of your chest. Am I right?" He asked gently and waited his daughter to calm down and turn to him, never stopping to caress her back.

She sniffed and rested her head on her dad's chest, like when she was five. "I don't know, dad. Everything seems to go wrong to me." Her voice cracked.

"What is going wrong, princess?"

She hiccuped before she was able to reply, "First, you don't let me go to that party, then Liam acts all strange when we meet up and then Jake is messing with my things."

Harrison hugged her closer and said, "Princess, you are my only girl. You're precious to me, and I hate seeing you like this. The reason I don't want you to go to that party is because Christmas is about being with your family and celebrate this special date with them. Being in a room full of strangers has nothing to do with the meaning of this holiday. You have to understand that. Can you do it for me?" He asked as softly as he could, trying to keep her calm, as she stopped crying.