Before anyone realized it, Christmas Day was upon them. Come Christmas morning, Jennie woke up to the sun shining and the birds chirping. Her alarm clock read nine-thirty, and she stretched her tired limbs. She had only gone to bed at two forty-five, having stayed up late to wrap Lisa and Ella's presents. With a groan, she climbed out of bed and threw a robe on over her pajamas.
As she descended the stairs, she was accosted by the smell of bacon and eggs. Jennie inhaled the scent, following its path to the kitchen. Inside she found Lisa standing in front of the stove with a spatula in her hand. "Good morning," she greeted, yawning.
"Merry Christmas," replied Lisa, giving her wife a cheerful smile. "I was wondering when you'd wake up."
"What are you doing up so early? Don't you ever sleep?"
Lisa smirked. "Lawyers never sleep. Truth be told, I finally conked out around three in the morning. I've lived on a lot less than six hours of sleep, especially when I was in college."
"You big party animal," Jennie teased. "So, what's cooking for breakfast? Aside from that delicious-smelling bacon."
Lisa flipped the eggs. "Ella told me about the Kim Christmas morning tradition of omelets, bacon, pancakes and toast. I thought I'd try to keep things traditional for the two of you. You know, given the circumstances."
Jennie shook her head in wonder. "Has anyone told you how amazing you are? I can't think of any fake wife who'd do that."
Feeling slightly hurt by her words, Lisa couldn't look her in the eye. "Yeah, I'm real amazing."
"Is something wrong?" Jennie noticed the change in her tone. She was afraid she'd said something wrong.
"No, everything's fine. Just sit down at the table, breakfast will be ready in a few minutes," Lisa told her.
Jennie looked toward the doorway. "Do you want me to wake Ella? She can be a real bear when it comes time to get up."
"I already woke her. She's getting ready now."
*****
"You have to open mine first," Ella told her sister, handing a gift-wrapped box. "I hope you like it, Unnie helped me pick it out."
Jennie took the box, shaking it. It was light in weight. The contents hit the sides of the box. "It isn't a sweater, is it? Remember the one you bought me last year? It wouldn't have fit a Barbie doll."
Ella laughed. "It's not a sweater, Jennie, I promise. And I know for a fact you don't have one of these. I sifted through your closet before Jisoo took me shopping last week."
"Why am I suddenly frightened?"
"Just open it," the fifteen year old sighed. "Lisa, tell Jennie she's being a big baby."
"You're being a big baby, Jen," Lisa repeated.
Jennie swatted her wife on the upper arm. "Shut up. Don't encourage her." With extreme curiosity, Jennie unwrapped her gift. When she opened the box, seeing its contents, her eyes were wide with shock. "I don't believe you actually bought this."
Ella grinned. "Believe it."
"What is it?" Lisa asked.
Laughing, Jennie lifted her gift from the box. Ella had given her a black negligee that, if she had it on, would conceal nothing. Lisa nodded with appreciation. "I like it."
"You would!" Jennie accused.
"What's the big deal?" Ella wanted to know. "It isn't like you'll be wearing it for very long. You put it on, Lisa looks at it on you and five minutes later it's on the floor."
"Not even five minutes," Lisa said with a smirk.
Jennie glared at her. "You're not helping, Lisa."
"I'm just putting my two cents in."
"Save it. She doesn't need your encouragement. And as for you," she continued, turning her attention to her younger sister. "Who let you buy this?"
"I told you. Jisoo was with me. We went into Victoria's Secret, I picked it out and she paid for it."
Shaking her head, she put the nightgown back in the box. "Okay, who's next?"
"Open something from me," Lisa suggested. She took a small box from the pile and placed it in front of her.
Jennie eyed it suspiciously. "Jisoo didn't buy this with you, did she?" After the last gift, she was afraid to open anything else.
"No," she answered with a shake of her head. "I don't need anyone's help when I do my Christmas shopping. Especially for you."
"That's a relief. I think." She ripped off the wrapping paper, finding a velvet box, obviously from a jewelry store. "Good lord."
"Open it," prodded Lisa.
Carefully, Jennie opened the box, gasping when she saw the gold necklace sitting inside. On a long gold chain hung a heart-shaped opal and a crown on top of it. "Lisa, you didn't."
"I did."
Ella ran over to see it. "Wow. That's really beautiful. And expensive, too, I bet."
"Well, it definitely set me back, but the look on your face makes it worth it," Lisa told Jennie.
"I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything. May I put it on you?" she asked.
"Of course you can."
With great care, Lisa removed the delicate chain from the box and placed it around Jennie's neck. Her fingers fiddled with the tiny, complicated clasp but after ten seconds, she prevailed. However, she let them run lightly across the soft skin of her neck. "All done."
Jennie stood up and walked to the mirror hanging on the wall near the front door. "It looks."
"Perfect," Lisa finished, coming up behind her. She met her eyes in the mirror. "It's absolutely perfect."
******
"Sorry I had to miss Christmas morning with you guys," Jisoo apologized. "You know I would have been there if I could. I needed to work that double shift today to pay the utilities on this house."
Jennie cradled the phone between her ear and right shoulder while she slid into her robe. She had just gotten out of the shower ten minutes earlier. "It's okay. The three Kim girls will just have to do Christmas later this week. Lisa leaves the day after tomorrow, so we can do it then."
"Sounds like a plan to me. Tell me, did you like Ella's present?"
"I hear you helped her pick it out."
"No, no. She picked it out, I went up to the counter and paid for it. The salesgirls were giving Ella weird looks."
Jennie chuckled. "Gee, I wonder why. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that she's a fifteen year old girl shopping at Victoria's Secret."
"Hey, if it were up to me, we'd have been shopping at Frederick's of Hollywood. You're not ready for that yet, Jenjen."
"Unnie, where am I supposed to wear that thing?"
"I'm sure Lisa wouldn't mind if you modeled it for her," Jisoo teased. "Go on, put it on and walk into her room. See if you can get a rise out of her."
Jennie shook her head. "Yeah right. I *so* don't think so."
"So, what did Handsome Girl get you for your first Christmas as a married couple?" she wanted to know.
"A gift certificate to Maria's Massage Parlor, a couple nice blouses, a painting of a beach sunset, and a few other little things. Oh my god, unnie, she gave me a gold necklace with an opal in it. And she even said it wasn't cheap."
Jisoo whistled. "Sounds nice. What's the big deal? she bought you some nice, expensive jewelry."
"It doesn't strike you as weird at all?"
"Should it?"
"She bought me an expensive necklace. Isn't that something you do when you're *really* married to someone? It's not a gift you buy for someone you are pretending to be married to."
Jisoo sighed with exasperation. "The girl bought you a nice necklace and you're making it out to be the crime of the century."
"That's not it. I mean, what if that's her way of saying she wants more? Maybe Lisa's buying me nice things so I'll stay after the three years is up."
"A girl like that doesn't need to buy a wife. Well, present company excluded, considering you two have a business arrangement. You're paranoid, you know that?"
"No, I'm not!" Jennie argued.
"Then ask her. Grow a pair, Jennie."
Fifteen minutes later, the two hung up. Jennie knew she needed to talk to Lisa, but was unsure of how to bring it up without possibly hurting her feelings . That was the last thing she wanted to do, especially considering how nice she'd been to her. Taking a tentative breath, she knocked on her bedroom door.
"Come on in, Jennie," Lisa replied.
She entered, finding her seated at the small oak desk on the other side of the room. "Am I interrupting you?"
Lisa shook her head, standing up. "It's nothing that can't wait. What can I do for you?"
"I came to give this back." Jennie handed her the box containing the necklace.
Lisa stared at it, dumbfounded. "What's wrong with it? Don't you like it? I thought you did."
"I do. I love it, Lisa. It's the most beautiful necklace I've ever seen. And that's why I'm giving it back, because it's so beautiful. I can't keep it, it's not right," Jennie told her.
"I don't get it."
"Lisa, I don't want to owe you anything when it comes time for this marriage to end. And I'm afraid I won't be able to give this back." 'I can't do it; I can't tell her the truth.'
Lisa handed it back to her. "You don't have to give it back. The necklace is yours. When I saw it, I immediately thought of you. Jennie, you deserve beautiful things. You'll meet someone someday who'll buy them for you, but for now, it's my privilege. Please, keep it; wear it next Monday night at the New Year's Eve party. I don't want anything in return. You have my word on that."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Trust me." 'But she doesn't trust me. I know it. I have to make her see that she can trust me with her life.'