— may your days be merry and bright —
Christmas Day, 1937
A SOFT KNOCKING at the door roused Giselle from her sleep.
"Giselle?" Will's voice slipped through the door, pulling her out of bed.
She was halfway across the room before her brain started to wake, halting her in place long enough for her to run a hand through her hair and wipe the sleep from her eyes. She glanced at the mirror hanging by the door, using the moonlight to gauge her appearance.
She opened the door once she felt that she looked decent enough. Will stood in a navy sweater with the collar of a white dress shirt peeking out, his grey slacks perfectly pressed and his brown belt matching his shiny shoes.
"What time is it?" Giselle asked.
"4:45 am," Will answered.
"4:45?! That's so early!"
"You told me to wake you when I got up."
"You could've warned me that you'd be up this early," Giselle told him.
Will shrugged, grinning. "Put your robe on, I want to show you something in the sitting room," was all he said before heading down the hall.
Giselle sighed and did as he said, meeting him in the sitting room. A smile brightened on her face when she entered the room.
Will was stoking the fire in the fireplace. The tree was lit up, a few presents stuffed under it that weren't from 'St. Nicholas,' and the curtains to the large windows were pushed back, revealing a land of snow illuminated by the stars and moonlight. Snow flurries floated down from the sky, clinging to trees and frosted windows and making Giselle pad across the room towards the windows so that she could take it all in.
"A white Christmas," she breathed out, her breath sticking to the window. "I'm actually having a white Christmas." She turned around, meeting Will's eyes as he leaned against the wall next to the fireplace, his hands tucked into his pockets. "Where's my radio? I want to put on Christmas music."
Will smirked, removing his hands from his pockets to cross the room towards the window closest to the tree, where the radio sat plugged into the wall. He pressed the 'play' button and Christmas music began to play.
Giselle felt like the Grinch in that moment—not because she hated Christmas, but because it felt like her heart grew three sizes at Will's simple gesture.
She looked around the room once more. Had he set this all up for her? She quickly shook the thought away, telling herself that he had done it for the children.
But the radio . . . that was all for her.
"The children will wake within the next hour, I'm sure," Will said as he moved away from the radio. "We should start setting everything up."
They fell into what Giselle joked was 'Santa mode' after that, sticking presents from Santa under the tree, filling the stockings, and eating the cookies and dumping out the milk the children and set out—a tradition Will had found absurd.
"That was fun," Giselle said as she plopped onto the couch, gazing at the Christmas tree puddling with presents.
Will sat on the cushion next to her. "Yes, it actually was."
Giselle whipped her head towards his. "So, do you like Christmas a little bit better now?"
Will glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the backrest. "It's alright."
Giselle beamed. "You do, don't you?" She laughed under her breath. "Welcome to the dark side," she teased him.
He ignored her, his eyes trained on the tree and the presents. "It reminds me of when I was a boy," he said, the wistful look on his face softening Giselle's teasing smile, "before Uncle Joseph died when he and Selene and my mother would decorate the house like this. Father always said he hated it, but I knew that he truly enjoyed it." His eyes swept over and landed on Giselle. "I didn't realize how much I missed all of this until now. And Selene missed it, too. I can tell she did." He took her hand in his. "Giselle—"
The sound of feet clambering down the staircase sprung Will apart from her. He quickly dropped her hand and stood, turning to the staircase and throwing on a smile as Albert and Barbara descended, Selene with Dorothy on her hip following after the pair with Frank bringing up the rear.
"Look, Albert, St. Nick came!" Barbara declared, beelining to the presents.
"Can we open them right now, Will?" Albert asked as he sat right in front of the tree.
"Not right now, we need to wait for Marguerite to—"
"Heavens! Look at all the presents!" Marguerite exclaimed as she entered the room, her face freshly made up and her hair perfectly styled. She sat next to Giselle on the couch, Selene coming to sit on the other side.
"Now can we open?" Albert asked his brother once more.
Will nodded. "Yes, but one at a time, please."
The children tore through the presents, shouting with glee each time they opened a new one—especially the ones that Giselle gave them. Once they were finished, Albert and Barbara took it upon themselves to pass out the presents to the adults.
Giselle ended up with a bottle of perfume from Selene and Frank, drawings from Barbara and Albert, and a mint green day dress from Marguerite, but Will's gift topped them all.
Albert had handed her a small, perfectly-wrapped box with a ribbon bow on it. "Who's this from?" she asked the group.
Will raised his hand briefly before turning to look out the window at the rising sun.
Giselle suppressed a smile as she looked back down at the present, slipping off the bow and ripping through the paper to reveal a leather-bound clamshell box.
She opened the box, her mouth parting in surprise as her eyes roamed over the dainty, diamond-studded silver wristwatch inside.
"Oh, it's so pretty," she cooed, drawing the watch out of the box to put it on. Marguerite helped her to fasten it. "Thank you," she told Will.
Will turned back to face her, the smallest of smiles on his lips. "You're welcome," he said. "I, uh, thought it would be comedic to get you a watch because—" his eyes darted to the children, who sat watching the exchange, "—well, you know."
Giselle nodded, smiling. "Yes, I definitely do know."
"Aunt Selene, may I use my paints?" Barbara asked, holding up a set of watercolors Selene had given her.
"There's still some presents that need to be passed out," Selene said. "Why don't you wait?"
"Nonsense," Will waved a hand. "It's only my presents that are left. I don't mind." He looked to his sister. "Let's go get you some water," he said, motioning for her to follow him into the kitchen.
Marguerite turned to Giselle as soon as they left, a smirk on her red lips. "Will had to go to three different stores to find that watch," she told her. "He was adamant about finding one that 'looked like you.'" She nodded her chin towards the watch on Giselle's wrist. "Apparently this reminded him of you—and cost him a fortune! No man would do that for just anyone, you know." She raised an eyebrow, a knowing look on her face. "You should go thank him with a kiss."
Selene lightly elbowed Marguerite. "You just can't let anything happen naturally, can you?" the older woman teased.
Marguerite flashed a smile. "What's the fun in that?"
"Alright, I suppose it's my turn to open presents," Will said as he re-entered the room.
Albert and Barbara crawled under the tree to retrieve his presents. He opened everyone else's presents to him first, carefully avoiding the long, skinny box from Giselle as if he purposefully wanted to open that one last.
His eyes briefly shot to Giselle's as he began to tear at the paper to reveal a brown box. Apprehension rose in Giselle's chest as his hands moved to lift the lid. She was suddenly scared that he wouldn't like it, but the lopsided grin that spread on his face when he unveiled the shiny, new axe with his initials burned into the handle said otherwise.
He gingerly took it from the box and held it, admiring the craftsmanship.
"It looks better than your old one!" Albert declared. "Look, there's no rust!"
"It should be better than the old one, too," Giselle said bashfully. "The guy at the store said it's the best for chopping wood. And, hold on," she moved over to the Christmas tree, finding a small, forgotten box that was meant to go with his gift, "here." She handed the box to him.
He opened it, uncovering an axe sharpening tool. He grinned up at her. "This is much better than the one I have." He looked down at the tool again. "Thank you, Giselle."
Giselle ducked her head, her cheeks warming. "You're welcome."
"Let's test it out, Will," Frank said, standing up from where he sat on the ground next to Albert.
"Make sure you two wear your coats," Selene told them. "Do you mind taking Dorothy, Marguerite? I need to go start on breakfast."
Marguerite beamed. "No, not at all!" She happily took the toddler into her arms and began to walk out of the room. "Come on, Dorothy-Joanne, let's go get you dressed in the new dress I got for you!"
"Why don't we all get dressed?" Selene suggested as she stood from the couch, her eyes trained on Albert and Barbara. "Right now. You can play with your toys when you are finished. Hurry along."
The two siblings obediently departed from their toys and scurried up the stairs—no doubt trying to hastily get dressed in order to return to their toys as fast as possible.
"You, too, Frank," Will said, nodding towards the stairs. "Put on something warm. We can take turns splitting the rest of the wood."
Frank nodded and followed after his siblings. Selene left shortly after, leaving Will and Giselle by themselves.
Suddenly Giselle felt very awkward and nervous, looking down the watch on her wrist. "I really love this watch," she said, glancing up at him. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, and thank you for this axe." He held up the axe in his hand, looking it over. "I've needed a new one for years now."
"Will you let me try it out?" Giselle asked.
Will laughed under his breath. "As long as you promise not to cut off one of my limbs, then yes."
"You know I won't cut off any limbs. I'm too good at chopping wood to do that. Don't you remember how well I split that one log? It's was my first try and everything," Giselle said playfully.
"That was beginner's luck," Will shot back, smirking.
"Was not. It was raw talent."
"If you say so."
Giselle shot him a fake glare. "You're just jealous that I'm better at it than you are."
"Careful now, love, you don't want people to think that you're cocky, do you?"
Love. He called her love.
If he hadn't said that word, Giselle would have easily followed up his friendly jibe with one of her own.
But he had said it, which caused Giselle's response to catch in her throat.
Awkward silence fell, and she could see Will realize his blunder in the way he immediately averted his eyes and shed his playful demeanor.
Their little banter was over, as was Will's friendly attitude.
"I'm going to fetch my and Frank's coats. You should help Aunt Selene with breakfast." He began to walk past her, but froze when something shattered in the kitchen, followed by a sharp gasp.
Giselle was right on his heels as he ran to the kitchen, nearly ramming into his back when he stopped abruptly in the doorway, looking over Selene as she stood shell-shocked next to the sink, eyes pinned on the window that overlooked the snowy forest outside, a hand on her chest.
"Selene, what is it?" Will asked, but Giselle suspected he already knew.
Selene turned her head towards him, teary-eyed and face devoid of color.
"It's finally time for me to go back."
— E N D O F P A R T I —
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Word count: 2,062 words.
Question: What is your favorite candle scent?
Call me basic or unoriginal or whatever you want—but I love pumpkin or any type of spiced fall scents.
PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT TO MAKE ME SMILE!!!