George - Chapter Nine: Christmas Surprises - A Christmas Full of Surprises

I woke up on Christmas morning and as I stood up from the bed, I looked around my old room. Even though I had been over to the house many times since moving out, I hadn’t seen my room very many times, let alone sleep in it. Mom had been true to her word, she hadn’t touched anything. There was still the cork board with pictures from high school, pictures of people I didn’t see anymore. My old rocking horse was still sitting in the corner. I wondered if she kept everything the same to help her remember the times when we were all here together. 

I got my clothes out and walked towards the bathroom that was in between Charlotte’s and my room. I stopped right before entering and couldn’t help but chuckle. There had been a handful of times growing up that I had barged into the bathroom while Charlotte was in there. Thankfully, I hadn’t seen anything but I learned after a couple of times to knock first before entering. I knocked lightly on the door and listened for any signs that Charlotte was in there. I didn’t hear anything and was relieved when I opened the door and no one was there.

As I stepped into the hot water, I thought back to the previous morning when I had run into Steph making tea in my kitchen. I wondered if she would be downstairs when I ventured down there. I was hoping she was, and that she was alone so I could talk to her.  After I had talked about Christine and me, she had acted differently, which I was sure had to do with her opinion of me changing. I didn’t think that my talking with her would change her mind, but I hoped that she would at least give me the opportunity to tell her the whole story. Not that it excused my stupidity, but to help shed light on my mind set at that point.

I finished getting ready and headed downstairs. I was disappointed to hear more than one voice as I rounded the corner to enter the kitchen. 

“Ah! There’s my early riser! The only one of my children who gets up at a decent time.” Mom joked. I should have figured that she’d at least be up since she had always woken up even before the sun came up.

“That was always fun when we were in school.” I looked at Steph. “I was the one that was sent upstairs to wake everyone else up. I had several pillows, alarm clocks, anything that any of them could reach, thrown at me for being the ‘wake up brigade’”

Steph chuckled and I was relieved that she seemed to be more relaxed this morning.

“Merry Christmas.” Mom said and gave me a hug.

“Merry Christmas, Mom.” I hugged her back.

As we pulled away she was already starting about her presents. Something that Dad had always given her a hard time about; her inability to handle having something be a secret, even if it was good. “So. . .what did you get me?”

I laughed. “Wow, Mom. You know, Dad would give you one of his lectures right now. . .”

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, he would.”

“Wasn’t Will and Emily coming here enough?” I joked with her.

“Of course it is, it’s more than enough.” She admitted as I walked over to make myself some tea.

Her thoughts about presents were interrupted. “Did you know that Steph likes tea, too?”

I had to stop myself from chuckling as I remembered walking into the kitchen the morning before, startling Steph and watching her almost spill the creamer.

“Yes, it’s something I learned yesterday morning.” I said as I looked over at Steph. I noticed that she blushed slightly when we made eye contact and then she quickly looked away.

Mom smiled and I instantly recognized it as her meddlesome smile and at that moment I was very glad that Steph didn’t know Mom very well. It was so obvious what she was up to.

“I just think it’s interesting. I mean, not very many people drink tea in the morning. . .”

“That’s true.” I said as I turned my back to Steph so only Mom could see me. I gave her a warning look and she nodded.

“Well, I guess I’ll go get ready. I hope the others wake up soon. We have a busy day ahead.” She walked back up the stairs and I waited till I heard her door open and close before I started talking to Steph.

“How long had the two of you been down here?” I wondered as I sat down next to her.

“I heard her messing around in the kitchen around 5:30. I finally gave in around 6:30.”

“Yeah, it probably wasn’t the smartest design to put the guest room next to the kitchen. Sorry about that. She has always woken up early; she and Dad both.” I took a sip of tea and then continued. 


“So what have you two been up to for the last hour?”

She got a mischievous grin on her face. “She pulled out picture albums and told me several interesting stories. . .”

I about spit the tea out that I had just drank. “Oh. . .Do I want to know?” I winced.

She laughed. “Well, let’s just say that I’m actually very thankful right now that I don’t have any old pictures for family members to show others. Especially ones where I’m taking a bath. . .”

I hung my head down and shook my head. Why did parents feel the need to take pictures of their children taking baths and then years later show them to nonfamily members.  I chuckled. “I’m going to take a guess and say that I was in one of those. . .?”

“That college education is really paying off for you.”

I was once again relieved that she seemed to be more relaxed today and even joking around. It had been obvious that something wasn’t quite right yesterday afternoon and as much as I was enjoying our banter, I knew I needed to talk to her about yesterday.

“About what happened yesterday. . .”

“You don’t have to explain. It’s really something that should have been discussed with family and I feel horrible that I was there.” She interrupted me.

“I wanted. . .wait. . .so you felt uncomfortable, like you were intruding?” She nodded and I started thinking back to how she had been acting yesterday. Had I misread her quietness, or was it a combination of feeling out of place and that her opinion of me had changed. Once again I was finding that what I thought about her was not really the case. 

I was about to ask her about it when I heard Trev’s boisterous  voice. “Merry Christmas, you two! Whose ready for some presents?” I shook my head at Trev’s crappy timing but also couldn’t help but be amused at his enthusiasm. 

“What are you doing up?” I asked him.

“There’s presents that need to be opened. . .why wouldn’t I be up?!”

I looked at Steph. “Mark it on the calendar. This is the only day of the year that you’ll see Trev up early.” I joked.

“That’s not true, I get up plenty of times during football season.” 

“Oh, my bad.” I said sarcastically and Steph laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Charlotte asked as she came into the kitchen. It looked like that if I wanted to have a conversation only with Steph it was going to have to wait.

“George was giving Trev a hard time for waking up early.” Steph filled Charlotte in.

“We all know it’s for the presents. . .” Will added as he and Emily also made their way down the stairs.

The kitchen became a mad house and we were all scrambling around trying to get breakfast when we all stopped at the sound of hearing laughter. We looked over at Emily and Steph and they seemed to be laughing at us.

“What’s so funny?” Will asked.

“It’s just that it’s like a crazy zoo in there with the four of you scrambling around. It’s kind of funny to watch.” Emily said and Steph nodded in agreement.

“I personally think it’s a wonderful sight.” Mom said as she came back into the room. “It’s been a long time since the four of you have been in the kitchen together; scrounging for food.”

“When are we opening presents?” Trev asked with a mouthful of cereal.

“Trev, really? No one wants to see your food.” Charlotte complained. Trev got closer to her and started making smacking noises as he ate. “STOP!” Charlotte complained.

I had moved out of the kitchen and near Steph and Emily. Steph turned around. “Was this what it was like growing up with the four of you?”

“Pretty much.” I confessed. “Lots of complaining, poking fun, annoying each other, getting on each other’s nerves. . .”

“Surely you didn’t give people a hard time.” She half joked and everyone in the kitchen stopped.

Trev started laughing. “You’ve got to be kidding! George is the most sarcastic out of all of us and can definitely be a pain in the ass.” He looked over at Mom after he said ‘ass’ and she threw up her hands.

“I figure they know how we are by this point so there’s no reason to keep up a good appearance.” She laughed.

“Wait. . .” Steph turned back around and looked at me. “You’re the most sarcastic?! Is that some kind of BS?” She turned back around towards Trev.

“No, and don’t forget the pain in the ass part too.” Trev smiled at her.

“Oh, I believe that part.” She joked.

“What the hell is this? Pick on George day?” I jokingly complained.

“Really, why don’t we stop picking on George, even if it is true, so we can get to opening presents.” Will suggested.

“Umm. . .thanks bro.” I said.

Everyone started laughing and finished their breakfast. Once everything was cleaned up, we gathered in the family room and Mom asked us guys to pass out the presents from under the tree. We started putting the presents in piles and noticed one under the tree for Steph. As I walked over to where she was sitting she looked at me surprised.

“What’s this?”

“Surely you didn’t think you’d come here and not get something. That’s not the way our family works. I wouldn’t be surprised if you have another gift at the ranch.” I confessed as I placed the bag down in front of her.  I turned back around to see that all of the presents had been given out and looked around to try to find my pile of gifts. I noticed Trev point and smirk as I realized that my pile had been placed so I would be sitting next to Steph.  I sat down next to her and waited for Mom. We had all agreed the night before to have her open up her gifts from all of us first.

“What are you all waiting for?” She asked.

“We want you to open up your presents first.” Will admitted.

“Wha. . .Why?”

“Just do it.” Charlotte said while grinning like a cheshire cat.

We all watched as Mom unwrapped the smaller of the two boxes and watched as she pulled out a bracelet that we had all pitched in to get her. She turned it around in her hand as she examined it.


“This is beautiful! Thank you so much!” She said and looked at each of us.  She put the bracelet on and then picked up the big gift. I wasn’t sure how she was going to respond. It was something that I had found one time when I was snooping in the house and I had asked the others if they thought it was a good idea. They had agreed but I was still a little worried.

I looked around at the others as Mom started to unwrap it and we all started to hold our breath. As she removed  the wrapping paper, she gasped. Several weeks prior, I had found a box of old photos and inside was one of Mom and Dad that looked like it had been taken not long before he passed away, one I had never seen before.

 “Where. . .” She started to get choked up. “Where did you find this?” I explained how I had snooped around and found it. I had left it with Charlotte in Bridgeport to have it enlarged and then Trev had gotten it framed. Will had written a poem that we placed on the back.

“Thank you.” She quietly said and as she touched the picture. “You all need to open yours now.” She motioned and while we got to work on ours I noticed Mom looking at the picture from time to time, smiling.

As I started to open one of my last presents I noticed that Steph hadn’t opened hers. “Aren’t you going to see what’s inside?” 

“I was just enjoying watching everyone open theirs.” I had a sudden thought and wondered how often she got presents. With no family, the only presents she would get would be from friends.

“Well, if you don’t look inside the bag soon, Mom’s going to fuss at you.” I joked and she chuckled. I picked up the bag and handed it to her.

“Do you know what it is?” She asked.

“No, I had no input or knowledge about it.”

She pulled out the paper that was sitting on top and peered inside. Whatever she saw surprised her.

“Do you like it?” Mom asked as she watched Steph.

“How, how did you know?” Steph asked Mom and she smiled and pointed to Charlotte.

I watched as she reached inside and pulled out a tea infuser and imported tea. “It’s the same one that I got George for his birthday this past year so I figure it must be a good one.” Mom admitted and I agreed.

“Thank you so much.” Steph said quietly and started reading the box for the infuser. We eventually cleaned up the mess that we had all made from opening our gifts and took our gifts to our rooms. Soon Mom was rushing us to get out the door.

“You know how Grandma and Grandpa hate it when people are late.” She complained.  Mom and I ended up driving and Trev and Steph rode with me. As we pulled into the drive of Grandma and Grandpa’s house, I noticed Steph in the rearview mirror looking up at the three stories of the massive house. As we got out of the car I walked over to her. “Like I said, they got a little carried away. . .”

“Who lives in a three story house?”

“Four.” I corrected her. “There’s a basement too. And apparently a retired movie composer and horse rancher do.” I joked. As if on cue, Grandma and Grandpa came out to greet us.

“Oh my goodness! I can’t believe my eyes! All four of you are actually here!” Grandma said as she and Grandpa went around and hugged each of us, squeezing Charlotte a little tighter than the rest of us. She greeted Emily with a hug and then noticed Steph. “You must be Stephanie. I don’t know if you’re a hugger, but I am.” And with that Grandma hugged Steph and I was surprised by her actually laughing.

“I’ve learned quickly that this is a family of huggers.”

Grandma laughed. “That we are. Must have passed that down. I’m Amanda and this is my husband, Chuck.” I looked at both of them and even I had to admit that for their age, they looked great. I had started to notice more recently that Grandma was having more and more trouble getting around, but for the most part they seemed to be in good health.

“So who do you belong to?” Grandpa asked. “Is she with you Trev?” Steph started blushing.

“I told you, honey, she’s a friend of theirs.” Grandma reminded Grandpa.

“Oh! I must have forgotten. It’s nice to meet you anyways.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Steph admitted.

“Maybe we should all go inside.” Mom suggested and we all piled inside.

****Steph****

We walked into the ginormous house and into a hallway. It seemed to be the area that connected the whole downstairs area together. We then walked into a large room that had a large Christmas tree and tons of presents under and surrounding it. I was looking around the room when I heard Charlotte next to me. “Let me give you a tour. You’ll need one just to find the bathrooms.” She joked.

I followed her into what she called the family room and was introduced to her Uncle Charlie and Aunt Kate. They seemed like nice people and I was somewhat surprised to learn that he was their Mom’s twin. They kind of looked alike but more like brother and sister and not twins. We walked next into the dining room and I was introduced to their cousins, Charles and his fiancé Celeste, and Anne and Amelia. I was learning very quickly that twins ran in their family. We walked into the kitchen and ran into their grandmother again before we headed upstairs.  While in the hallway and ran into her Aunt Scarlett who I immediately recognized since she was a famous singer, her husband Garrison and their twins Patrick and Diana. She and Scarlett We continued through the rest of the house and then ended up back in the kitchen.

“I’ve heard that you like to cook.” Their Grandmother said.

“Yes, I do; and bake.” I admitted.

“Would you like to help?” She asked.

“Be careful, Mom reprimanded George for letting Steph help him with dinner two nights ago.”

“How silly! Why shouldn’t she be allowed to do something she enjoys. I swear, Bridge can be so silly sometimes.”

“Well, in her defense, I think she was joking.” I offered.

“Still. . .” Their grandmother said.

“Charlotte, you’re more than welcome to stay, but I have a sneaking suspicion that unless you’ve been bitten by the cooking bug, you’re not too interested in helping. . .”

“Yeah, I still don’t enjoy cooking.” Charlotte said. “Is that okay?”


She asked me and I nodded. I really liked their Grandmother and thought it might be fun to stay in the kitchen with her. It would definitely be a lot less chaotic then going back into the family and living room with all of their relatives.

“Do you mind stacking the mini pies on a plate?” She asked me once Charlotte left.

“Sure.”  I walked over to where the pies were and placed each one on a plate. As I finished placing them I asked her if there was anything else I could help with.

“You can keep me company.”

“Do you usually cook everything by yourself?” I asked surprised. I couldn’t imagine cooking for this many people.

“Kate usually cooks the meals and she’s done most of the work for today. I’m just doing the last minute things like biscuits. But I did used to do most of the cooking and I taught all of my children to cook. Most of them have taught all of theirs too.”

I nodded and figured that’s how George must have learned.  “So, tell me about yourself. I don’t know a whole lot. Where do your parents live?” I immediately wanted to crawl into a hole. This was the last thing I wanted to talk about since it could cast a cloud over everything.

“Well, I don’t really know. I haven’t seen them since I was sixteen.”

She nodded and I was surprised by her lack of being shocked. “By choice or was that decision made for you?” 

“Both. . .I was told to leave and I’ve chosen not to find out anything about them since.”

“I can understand that and I can relate, in a way.”

I was the one who was shocked. “You didn’t have a good relationship with your parents?”

“No, I did, but after a certain point they weren’t in my life anymore. They were killed in a car accident.”

“Oh. How old were you?”

“I was in my early twenties. I’ve gone through most of my adult life without my parents.”

I had never really talked to anyone else who didn’t have parents. “How has it affected you? Or has it?”

“Oh, it has; more so when I was younger and my children were younger. I often found myself wishing that my parents could have met their grandchildren. But then as Chuck and I became grandparents, that sadness turned into gratefulness. I’ve been so grateful that we’ve gotten to meet and know our grandchildren, and soon, we’ll meet our first great-grandchild when Will and Emily have their baby. So sometimes even a negative thing can change into something almost positive; a lesson that Bridge’s family has learned too, with Carson’s passing.”

She continued. “Now Chuck, he didn’t know his dad. He left when Chuck was really small; and then his Mom committed suicide so he was raised by his aunt and uncle. They were nice, but not very affectionate people. So it sounds like Chuck could relate better to your earlier years.”

“How has it affected him?” I’m sure she thought I was odd asking these questions but I really wanted to know how, if both of these people had dealt with similar issues, that they had ended up so happy; so normal.

“You know, I firmly believe that when people are presented with challenges they can either repeat the mistakes they’ve seen others make, or they can learn from others’ mistakes and choose a different path. That’s what Chuck did. He recognized what he lacked in his childhood; and instead of doing what he saw, he did the opposite and provided our children and grandchildren with what he didn’t have. He turned something negative into a positive.”

She pulled more pies out of the oven and placed them on the counter. “Are you worried that you’ll repeat your parents’ mistakes?” I was shocked by her bluntness and the fact that she seemed to read my mind.

“Kind of.”

“Well, I can tell you that I don’t think you’re the type of person who would tell their child to leave home. . .”

“Umm, no; I wouldn’t.”

“See, you’re not them. You can choose your own path and it doesn’t have to be anything like how you grew up. In fact, it can be the complete opposite if you want.” We smiled at each other. I had liked everyone that I had met from Charlotte’s family, but I really liked her Grandmother. I had never known either of mine so I had no idea what it was like to have one; but when I imagined what it was like, this was it. 

“Do I smell pie?” I heard George ask as he entered the kitchen.

****George****

I had smelled Grandma’s famous pies from the family room and couldn’t help but wonder into the kitchen. I was surprised when I walked in and found her and Steph talking.

“This looks like trouble. . .” I joked.

“What? You mean the two of us talking? Afraid I’ll tell her something embarrassing about you?” Grandma kidded.

“Well, Mom’s already taken care of showing embarrassing pictures and I’m pretty sure I covered the telling something embarrassing about myself. . .I suppose you could add to it.” I said, smiling.

“Sounds like you have it covered then.” Grandma winked. “We’re you hoping to come in here and sneak a mini pie?” It was crazy how she always seemed to know what everyone was up to.

“Maybe. . .”

“I don’t know, Stephanie. Should we let him have one?” Steph looked at me and got that mischievous look on her face again.

“It’s not like he’s done anything to earn it.” She said and Grandma laughed. 

“I knew I liked you. You don’t take anything from any of them do you?” 

“No, she doesn’t.” I answered for Steph. “I’ve even seen her put Trev in his place a couple times. . .”

“Serves him right; someone needs to stay on him.” She shook her head. “I love him but he’s a piece of work. Anyway, we’re almost ready to eat. George, has Charlie and Charles set up the table in the living room?”

I nodded. There were too many people at the house for all of us to fit at the dining room table so some of us grandkids were going to sit at a table in the living room.

“I never thought I’d see the day that our family couldn’t fit around our dining room table. Looks like we’ve gotten to that point. Do you two want to set the table in the living room?” We agreed and made our way into the living room.

“Did you have an interesting conversation with Grandma?” I asked her as we set the table.

“I did. She’s a very interesting woman.”

“That she is. I’ve always enjoyed coming here even if it was just to talk with her and Grandpa. They’ve both done and know so much.”

“There’s a vase of flowers that you all can put on the table.” Grandma yelled from the dining room. I saw the vase she was talking about and reached out to get it. I was about to grab it when I felt something brush against my hand. Steph had reached for the vase at the same time and for a brief moment, our hands touched.

She pulled hers back quickly. “Sorry.” She said and looked away.

I nodded and placed the flowers in the middle of the table and as we finished setting the table, I could still feel on my hand where we had touched. I was surprised by it, even confused by it. The last thing I wanted  was to feel anything like that for someone, especially after the mess that had happened with Christine. It was obvious from that relationship that I didn’t need to be in one. 

Steph walked back into the living room and I looked down at my hand and then in the direction which she had walked. Had she felt the same thing? If she had, she hadn’t given any indication; but everything about her confused me. What she thought, how she felt, how I felt; it was all one big unanswered question and right now the answers were eluding me.  


I was saved from my thoughts by Grandma calling everyone into the dining room and we gathered in there to pray before eating. Once that was done, we all sat down at the tables and started eating. I watched Charlotte as she took her first bite.

“Oh my God!! I wish we could box Grandma’s food up and take it back to Bridgeport with us!” 

“Sign me up for that!” Trev joined in.

“Do you remember the food fight we had when we were small?” Will added.

“Oh my gosh! You all had a food fight, here? Did your Grandmother about kill you?” Emily wondered.

“I did and I made them clean it all up. These four knuckleheads were by far the wildest set of grandchildren I had.” Grandma joked as she entered the room. “I was just making sure you had everything you needed, and please, don’t start another food fight. Your aunt and I have worked hard on this dinner.” She smiled and walked back into the dining room.

We all laughed and started eating again. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much conversation after that since everyone was too busy eating.  When everyone was done, we took our plates into the kitchen and made our way into the living room.

“Shouldn’t we offer to help clean up?” Steph asked us.

“No, they have more than one dishwasher so they just load all the dishes in the different ones. It doesn’t take them much time.” I explained.

Steph nodded and we waited for everyone else to join us in the living room. Soon Grandma and Grandpa were making their way into the room.

“We normally would have youngest to oldest open their presents, but that would take way to long this year.” Grandpa announced. “If you boys want to hand out the presents, we can all open them at the same time.” He addressed us grandsons and once again we went on present delivering duty. It took a little while to get everyone their presents but it eventually got done and we all sat back down. I looked over to where Steph was sitting and noticed that there was a present sitting in front of her.

Grandma motioned for us all to start and the free for all started. Everyone had one present but it was one that Grandma and Grandpa knew the person wanted, needed, or would just like. I opened mine and was surprised to find a small laptop. “That’s for taking notes with when you’re out and about. Instead of having to lug your big laptop.” Grandma stated. I got up and hugged both her and Grandpa. I turned around right as Steph was opening her gift. I smiled as I saw her look at what was inside. She once again had a shocked look on her face and looked up at Grandma and Grandpa. 

“A little bird told me that you like to bake.” Grandma smiled and Steph looked at me.

“How. . .We just had that conversation yesterday morning!” Steph argued.

I nodded. “I knew that Grandma wanted to know something to get you so I called her after we got back from our run and she must have found a way to get something.” I walked over and looked inside the large box and saw all kinds of baking supplies.

“Thank you.” Steph said and almost looked like she was about to cry. 

“You’re more than welcome. I’m just happy that there’s someone else around here who likes to bake.” 

After everything was cleaned up, everyone started to socialize and catch up on what was happening with everyone else. I noticed several times that Grandma, Grandpa and Steph were talking together. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about. I noticed several times that Grandpa said something that made Steph laugh. 

At one point, I noticed Steph step outside and I jumped at what I figured was my only opportunity to talk to her alone.

I walked outside and instantly noticed how cold it was; and yet, there she was once again, standing outside as if the cold didn’t affect her.

“Don’t you get cold standing out here? Most people would look at the snow and decide not to go outside.” I joked with her.

“I just like to clear my head sometimes and the cold air helps me do that.” She said but didn’t look at me. I started to wonder if it was such a good idea to talk to her about what she had found out about me yesterday. I still didn’t know for sure why she had acted the way she had at Mom’s house the previous afternoon.

I looked back over at her and noticed that she was staring off into space. “Hey, are you okay?” I wondered.

“Yeah, just a little. . .overwhelmed I guess.”

“From all the people here?”

“That and. . .I mean, I’ve never seen anything like this. I didn’t have grandparents, parents, or even friends that were this nice. I know that this is the way other families are, but it’s still. . .shocking to me to actually see it, to be a small part of it. I used to wonder what it was like to be part of a happy, large family.”

“That’s one thing that irks me sometimes about Trev, Will, and Charlotte.”

“What?”

“I’ve always been grateful for our family. That when we went through what we did with Dad that we had a large family that looked after us, looked after Mom, made sure that even through that. . .hell that we went through that we were still loved and they gave us hope that everything would eventually be okay.  My siblings, they ran away from all of this, away from Mom and away from me. Instead of trying to deal with it together, as a family, they chose to deal with it on their own.”

“Do you resent them?”

“No. . .not resent. For a while I was hurt, especially by Charlotte. Dad had just died almost two years before she ran off and right when I started to feel like I had come to grips with that, she leaves. No goodbye, unless you want to count the note, and then we didn’t have contact with her for years. Then Trev left and never came back, and then Will did the same thing.”

“But they were just living their own lives.” 

I nodded. “I know that, but I always felt like someone, at least one of us needed to stay around for Mom.”

“Why? She seems to be fine on her own.”

“I know that now but after I had first received my doctorate, I wasn’t so sure. Plus, I wanted to get as far away from Bridgeport as possible so it just made sense to me to move back to Appaloosa but when I first moved back here, I wasn’t resentful, I was just angry, and hurt.”

I noticed that she got quiet and she had a similar expression to the one she had had the previous afternoon. “I’m sorry, we were talking about you and I completely made what you were talking about, about me.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind listening. . .”

“But. . . “

She turned to look at me then. “I just can’t help but keep thinking that some of the things you’ve talked about this weekend were things that I shouldn’t have heard.”

“Why do you think that?”

She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “Just. . .certain things that I’ve heard, that I’ve heard them because I was there, that you or others wouldn’t have talked about them with a non-family member present but since I was there you were forced to disclose. . .things with me present. Shitfire, I don’t even know if that made sense.” She turned back away and I couldn’t help but smile. At some point I was going to have to ask her about the whole ‘shitfire’ thing but this wasn’t the time. I made myself think back over what she had just told me.

“So you think that there were certain things discussed yesterday that people were forced to talk about with you present. Things that we wouldn’t want a non-family member to know?”

I saw her nod and I saw my opening. “Is one of those things when I talked about. . .being engaged?” She nodded again. I stood there for a moment trying to collect my thoughts.

“I’m not the type of person that goes around disclosing personal information to people. I’ve never been like that. In order for me to share personal things, I have to feel comfortable with someone.” She whirled around.

“That’s what I figured. So what I thought was right.”

“You’re missing the point I’m trying to make.” She looked somewhat annoyed and confused. “If I hadn’t wanted you to know, I wouldn’t have said anything. I would have told Charlotte to shut up and that would have been the end of it. Mom, Trev, or even Will would have steered the conversation elsewhere. My only concern about admitting that in front of you was that, well. . .whatever good opinion you may have had of me before that, it would be lost.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Wasn’t one of the smartest things I’ve done and it’s definitely something that I feel ashamed and embarrassed about.”

“So you thought that because you made a maybe questionable choice about a past relationship that it would change my opinion of you?” I nodded. “Like I would be in any position to judge you, because I’ve made such fabulous decisions myself. . .” 

“I. . .” Now that she said it all back to me, it sounded completely stupid.
 

“Look, I’m not trying to make you feel stupid, or even make light of what happened.” It was weird how it almost seemed like she could read my mind when it seemed like I had no clue what was going on in hers. “What I’m saying is I don’t go around judging others because God knows that there’s a lot of things in my past that people can and do judge me for. And honestly, there’s not much that anyone is going to tell me that’s going to shock me.”

Once again, I had completely misjudged her; and once again, I was surprised by that fact. I wondered if there was ever going to be a time that I wasn’t surprised by her.  We were suddenly both shocked by a voice behind us. “You know, if the two of you want to talk alone, you could always go in the barn where it’s a lot warmer. . .” Grandma suggested. “It would be a lot smarter than just standing out here in the cold.” She hurried back inside and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“She’s always like that, isn’t she?”

“Fiesty?” Steph nodded. “Yeah, I guess Mom gets it from her. She does have a point though. Unless you want to go back inside. . .”

“I’m fine. But it would be nice to go somewhere warmer.” I nodded and walked ahead of her toward the barn. As we walked in, she made a noise that made me turn around. She was looking over at the horses and had a huge smile. “Oh my gosh! They’re so pretty! Can I pet one?”

“Sure, just don’t go up to one of them too excited. You might upset them.” She forced herself to calm down and slowly lifted her hand after approaching one of the horses. He sniffed her hand and the nuzzled it. “Do you want to feed the horse a carrot?” She nodded and I went over to one of the bins and grabbed a carrot.

“Do I just hold my hand out? It won’t bite me, will it?”

“No.” I broke the carrot in half and gave her one half. “Here, I’ll show you.” I held my half in my hand and then opened it up. Thumper gently took the carrot out of my hand and ate it. “That’s all there is to it.”

I watched as she cautiously lifted her hand up and Thumper moved his head towards her hand. As he was getting ready to grab the carrot, Steph closed her eyes and braced herself. As soon as he took the carrot she opened her eyes and relaxed. “What’s her name?”

“Well, his name is Thumper.”

“Oh! Why Thumper?”

“That’s what happens when you let children name horses. One of my cousins thought that the sound that he made while he ran was like a thump. . .”

She started laughing and Thumper jumped back a little. She immediately stopped. “Sorry Thumper.” She whispered. He came back over and she started petting him again.

“Do you ride?” She asked me.

“Sure. I’m guessing you don’t.”

“You guessed correctly.”

“If you come back sometime when the weather is warmer, Grandpa will make sure you do. Once he finds out someone doesn’t know how to ride, he makes it his mission to have someone teach them. That’s kind of how he got Grandma to agree to go on a date with him. He started to teach her how to ride and one thing led to another.”

“Sounds like something a cowboy would do.” She joked and stopped petting Thumper. 

****Steph****

As much as I was enjoying petting and feeding Thumper, I couldn’t help but wonder about something he had said when we were standing outside.

“You mentioned earlier that you had wanted to get away from Bridgeport, even though I don’t know the whole story, I can understand you feeling that way then, but what about now?” 

“I never disliked Bridgeport, I just didn’t really have a reason at that point to go there.”

“What about Trev?”

“That’s what eventually lured me back. Certain times a year it’s harder to see him though with his football schedule and at that particular time, he was heavy into the football season. So once things calmed down with him, I started going back.”

“How long have you been coming to Bridgeport to visit Trev?”

“Ever since he moved there, but I didn’t start going more regularly till about a year ago; a little after I moved back here.”

I was trying to figure out the timing of everything. Did that mean that he had moved here not long after he and his ex called off their engagement? Had it been that recent? I was curious but I didn’t want to ask. I kept trying to figure out a way to ask without him figuring out what I was really trying to figure out, but as smart as he was, he’d figure it out.

“So if things had worked out, you’d be living in Bridgeport?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I would. But even if things had ‘worked out’ it wouldn’t have lasted.”

We once again came to a point where I didn’t know if he wanted to tell me what had happened and even though I was curious, I didn’t know if I should ask. 

“Do you want me to elaborate. . .?”

I couldn’t help but smile. For a split second I had forgotten who I was talking to and that most of the time, he was very good at reading people. “Only if you want to. . .”

He walked over to one of the other horses and started petting it. “A little over a year ago I was finishing up my PhD. Like I said yesterday, she moved to Bridgeport; she had gotten a job with a group practice in Bridgeport.”

“Is she a psychologist?” 

He nodded and stopped petting the horse. “For a couple months I went there on the weekends and I eventually started thinking about what I wanted to do after graduation. I started to feel like the distance was hurting our relationship, and it started to feel like we were slowly drifting apart. Instead of taking that as a clue that maybe the relationship needed to end, I did the opposite. I panicked and one weekend while I was there, I proposed. I didn’t even have a ring, that’s how spur of the moment it was. For a couple of weeks, things seemed to be okay. One weekend I decided to leave the university early and surprise her. I was only a couple of hours earlier than normal. I had a key to her apartment so when I got there I used the key and let myself in.” I watched as he got a distant look in his eye, similar to what I had seen the previous day when we had been jogging. “I heard a noise and figured she was in the bedroom. When I opened the door, I saw that she was in the bedroom but she wasn’t alone. . .”

“Oh. Wow.” I didn’t know what else to say. I could only imagine what it would feel like to catch your fiancé cheating on you.

“After some heated words, I walked out and haven’t talked to her since.”

“In all the times you’ve been to Bridgeport you’ve never run into her?”

“No.”

We stood in silence for a moment before I asked him about something that I didn’t understand. “So, if she wasn’t serious about your relationship, which obviously she wasn’t since she slept with someone else, why did she say yes when you proposed?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Your guess is probably as good as mine. Maybe she was like me at the time and thought that she wanted something when in reality, she had no idea what she wanted. I mean we did date for four years, sometimes when people date that long they almost feel like they should go to the next step, because if they don’t, they’ve wasted however many years.”

“So you finished your PhD and moved here instead.” He nodded. “How long have you been a practicing psychologist then?”

“For almost a year; I moved back here last December and opened up my own practice by late January.”

“Do you ever think about moving away from here? Since Charlotte and Trev both live in Bridgeport?”

“Sometimes, especially since Charlotte now lives there. That’s one of those odd things about being a twin. Even though we haven’t seen each other for years, we still have that connection. And even the four of us were really close growing up, even though we drove each other crazy.”

I smiled. “That’s pretty obvious. It’s very entertaining to watch all of you together.”

“I always come back to Mom. If I left, none of us would be here. So for right now, I’m okay staying here. Maybe that will change someday.” He looked at his watch and then back at me. “We should probably head inside. We’ll be leaving to go back to Mom’s soon. You all are leaving in the morning, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, Charlotte and I are supposed to work tomorrow night. It was what we agreed to since we were able to be off on Christmas Eve.” 

“That was nice of Ethan, to let you both have off. I just don’t see why Charlotte won’t open her eyes and give him a chance.”

“I know. I’ve tried talking to her about it and she doesn’t want to listen to anyone. She’s just too stubborn to see what’s right in front of her.”

“Stubborn, that’s one word I’d use to describe Charlotte.” I laughed and we continued to talk about Charlotte as we made our way back to the house. Back into the loving, crazy, and fun Hobble ranch.

*****

Several notes:

- This marks the end of the Christmas chapters. When I was initially planning out George's story timeline, I was looking for a period when George and Steph could get to know each other better and Christmas time provided that opportunity.

- I tired something new with the pictures this chapter after seeing something similar on A Pair of Brown Eyes. It's a fabulous story with amazing pictures and I was inspired to try something new. If you haven't checked it out, head over there. It's a fabulous read!

- This week is a special one for Listening to My Heart and along with this chapter, there will be another chapter posted and also a special chapter/post. I hope you enjoy the multiple reads. :)

- Thanks so much for reading!