Underneath The Mistletoe {Phan} (Book Three)

🌨Three🌨

"I knew that that smile of yours was fake." She sat down in that oak rocking chair that she's had ever since I was a baby. "I knew that there was something wrong."
I sighed, placing my elbows on my knees as I did so. "Yes, Granny. Something's terribly wrong."
"I thought so. Now, tell me everything."
I sighed once more, struggling to hold back tears just like I had done when Dan and I were talking earlier. "You said to Ellie that I'd be such a good dad to her."
"Yeah, I did..." Granny trailed off, clearly confused because I had brought up this out of all things. "Is that what's wrong, Phil? Because I don't see anything wrong with what I said."
"Yes, it's what's wrong. Your statement was wrong."
"Care to explain as to why?"
"Granny... Dan and I... We're not going to keep Ellie."
"What?" Granny was shocked to hear this. "But you said that you were going to spend Christmas with her and make sure that she has an amazing Christmas."
"I know. And I'm still going to do those things." I looked down at the ground, not wanting to make direct eye contact with Granny. "But Dan and I agreed that we weren't ready to be dads."
"But where do you plan to have Ellie live?"
"Well..." I forced myself to look up at Granny. "Dan and I were kinda hoping that she could come and live with you. She could be nice company for you."
"Yeah, I suppose that's true." Granny started to slowly rock back and forth in her chair. It wasn't until a few moments had already passed when she spoke again. "I'll take her in then."
"Thank you so much Granny." I stood up and walked over to her before I pulled her into a hug. "I owe you so much for this."
"Oh Phil, you don't owe me anything." She hugged me back as tightly as she possibly could, which wasn't exactly very tight at all since she was so old and her aging body had sapped away most of the strength that she had in her youth. "I'm just glad that you're making sure that Ellie's going to a place where she'll be loved."
"It's the only thing that I want." I held back both sighing and tears. "But let's not tell her just yet. I want her to be happy."
"Phil?"
I heard Ellie's little voice a moment later before Granny had the chance to give me a response.
"Did you get my glasses?"
She nodded as she walked over to me and placed them in my hand.
"Did you make sure that you locked the door before you came inside?"
She nodded again.
"Thank you." I smiled at her as I held my glasses in my hand, not wanting to put them on because I had my contacts on.
"No problem." She smiled as she sat down next to me.
"Hey Ellie, do you want to see pictures from when Phil was a baby?" Granny asked the young girl.
Ellie smiled and nodded excitedly. "Yeah, that'd be awesome!"

*****

"...And that was when he decided to try on a dress." Granny explained to Ellie as she pointed to a younger version of myself wearing a purple dress. "His mum told him that he was cute but that he wasn't a little girl. The look on his face after she said that is something that I'll never forget."
Ellie looked back at me and smiled. "You're so funny Phil."
Granny laughed. "Yeah, he sure is funny, isn't he? He's been funny ever since he first learned how to talk."
Ellie laughed as well. "Do you have any more pictures?"
"Oh yes, I have plenty." Granny informed Ellie excitedly as she stood up and went over to where she kept all of her photo albums. "I'm so glad that you asked because the photo album I have from when Phil was a teenager is priceless. There are so many good photos in there. You'll laugh so hard that your sides will hurt."
I groaned as she grabbed the dreaded photo album that contained photos from my teenage years, which I definitely consider to be the most awkward years of my life. There were many, many photos in the photo album that Granny currently had in her hand that I would just love to either tear to shreds or burn.
"Granny, this is why I didn't bring Dan over when we first started dating." I groaned again as she sat back down in her rocking chair and opened up the photo album. "Ellie's only been here once and you're already showing her all of my pictures. I thought you were just going to show her my baby pictures."
"Oh hush Phil, your pictures from when you were a teenager aren't even that bad." Granny scoffed a bit while letting out a small laugh. "Besides, I don't get why you don't like it when I pull out your pictures and look at them."
"It's because they're all so embarrassing." I ran a hand through my hair and immediately looked away from the photo album when I saw the very first picture. "Especially these pictures."
Ellie laughed. "Phil, they aren't embarrassing. You look funny in all of these pictures. Your great grandma was right when she said that these photos were really funny."
"Oh no, not you too!" I covered my face with my hands. "Literally everyone loves my pictures and think that I either look cute or funny."
"It's because you do." I knew that Granny was smiling at that moment without even having to look at her. "You shouldn't be so self-conscious about your old photos, Phil."
I shrugged. "I can't help it."

*****

"Did you have fun today?" I asked Ellie as I got into the car and put my glasses back into the glove box before closing the door behind me.
She nodded. "Yeah, I had a lot of fun today. We should go to your great grandma's house more often because she's so nice."
I smiled, pushing the fact that that was going to her new home after Christmas was over to the very back of my mind. "Well, my family and I always have Christmas at her house every single year so you'll see her again then."
"Yes!" Ellie cheered as she buckled in her seat belt. "Now I'm even more excited for Christmas than I already was!"
I chuckled slightly as I buckled in my seat belt as well before placing the key in the ignition. "I'm so glad you're excited. You know, Christmas is my favorite holiday."
"Really?" Ellie asked as I turned the car key and allowed the car to start up before putting the car into drive and backing out of Granny's driveway.
I nodded as I looked to see that a sunset was nearby. I was shocked to see that Ellie and I had been at Granny's for that long. Time seemed to fly by as Granny showed Ellie all the photo albums she had of me and shared funny stories about me that made everyone, including me, laugh. I almost wished that I had the ability to turn back time and do it all over again. "That's right. I've loved Christmas ever since I was little. What about you? Do you like Christmas?"
Ellie shrugged slightly. "I kinda like it. My mommy and daddy always had to work on Christmas so I would always get stuck going over to my grandma's house and she absolutely hated Christmas so she never got me or anyone else any presents." She sighed. "My mommy and daddy would drop me off at her house and all my grandma would say to me was, "Find something to entertain yourself so that you aren't bothering me.""
"Oh Ellie..." I trailed off, not really knowing what to say to make her feel better. "That's horrible. I'm so sorry that you had to go through with that." I forced myself to give her a reassuring smile. "But hey, I can promise you that Christmas won't be like that for you this year. You'll be with Dan, me, my great grandma, and all the other members of my family that you have yet to meet."
Ellie smiled as she looked out the window. "Thank you so much Phil. You've done so much for me and yet I've done nothing to return the favor."
"I wouldn't say that." I glanced at her through the rearview mirror. "You've done so much more for me than you think you have." I smiled as I said this, realizing that I meant every single word that I said.