IN HONOR OF CHRISTMAS

by Nancy

“I love you, Vincent.  You.  How am I supposed to live with that, out there, while seeking another?”

He was silent, unmoving, staring into the distant points of light that marked other lives being lived, in other high-rise buildings across the night-dark Central Park.

“If you have no suggestions for me, and I’ve none for myself, then maybe we must acknowledge the reality that we are meant to be together.  You have become, you are, the love of my life.  Throughout forever, Vincent.”    She’d been facing him, hoping, but there was no sign he’d come to agree. “I know you love me.”  Whispering, she asked, “Why do you struggle so?”

He clasped the brick wall’s edge more tightly.

She covered the hand closest with her own, and he heard her soft sigh.  When she spoke, he closed his eyes in gratitude.

“Come inside.  We’ll taste the Christmas cookies Joe’s mother baked.  He said they’re the best in all New York.”  She eased his fingers off the concrete.  “We won’t tell William that, even if we think so, too.”

As she closed the glass door behind them, he gathered her into his arms.

“Catherine, I …”  He hesitated only the briefest moment before continuing, “I do love you.  And I am more grateful than you could imagine for the way you dream for us.”

She smiled at him.

“That’s comforting to know.  That you appreciate my stubbornness?”

His turn to grin.

“Tenacity is the word I’d have chosen.”

“Thank you.  I like it better.”  She kissed him gently.  “But it’s three days until Christmas and I am done being stubborn and tenacious.”  She squeezed the hand she held.  “I’m calling a truce for the holiday.  It’s my gift to you.”

“A truce in honor of Christmas?” he chuckled, grew serious.  “Catherine, I love you so much.”

“Knowing that gives me the strength I need to be stubborn, I mean tenacious, but not until after Christmas.”  Her glance strayed to the pine tree aglow in the corner, and to the manger scene beneath it.  She asked, only half-playfully, “Peace to all, even to us, Vincent?”

He touched her chin to reclaim her attention.

“I promise never again to ask that you seek another to share your life.  I promise to cherish the gift of you, for you are my all, and there would be no life for me without you.  In honor of Christmas, Catherine,” he nodded, “and in honor of the love we bear one another, I make my eternal promise to you.”

They stood embracing for long, joy-filled moments.  When he leaned back to see her face, he found himself loved in her gaze.

“You really are the best Gift.”

“Nope, you are,” she told him, and he smiled, as she reached to kiss him.

 _________

for you, H

December 21, 2024