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If there was a heaven, Carol figured that she had just about found it in her home. No lights were on in the house except for the soft Christmas lights on the tree, the glow of imitated fire in the electric fireplace, and the overflow of light from the kitchen, where the door had been left open. She had cuddled up on the end of the couch, watching Daryl and Sophia open presents.
This would be their ninth Christmas as a family of three, and in that time, they had created the tradition of buying each other two gifts. One was generally a funny gift, borne of an inside joke or just as a prank. The second was typically more meaningful. Tonight’s coziness was especially due to the yellow-ducky patterned snuggie that Daryl had given her and the delightful crunch of the Maple Sugar candy that Sophia had given her.
Sophia had planted herself on the other end of the couch, taking stock of everything in the roadside assistance kit that Daryl had given her. Carol wasn’t sure if that was the genuine gift or the prank gift, since everything in the bag so far seemed very useful. After all, this was Sophia’s first year with her driver’s license…And of course her daughter was proudly wearing the obnoxious, ugly neon colored holiday socks that Carol had given her.
In a hilarious turn of events, Carol had also given Sophia a black utility watch for her camping activities, and Sophia had given Carol a beautiful silver watch too. Daryl had just laughed and shook his head at them and their ‘shared brain.’ Daryl was across from them in the recliner, inspecting the new motorcycle helmet from Carol. He had tucked behind his ear the bright blue pen that Sophia had given him, complete with a fluffy blue pom-pom shooting out of the back of it. Sophia had hinted that the pen was part one of a bigger gift, and only Carol knew what the rest of the gift was: official adoption papers for Daryl to sign.
It was driving her crazy, knowing what that last gift under the tree was, and Daryl had to have sensed both Carol and Sophia’s anxiety about the little gift to him, because he was taking his sweet, torturous time getting to it.
“What the—oh my God,” Sophia cackled, sliding back in her seat as she held up her second gift from Daryl. “Mom, look at this. It’s a selfie stick!”
“Daryl, what even?” Carol laughed.
Daryl shrugged, squinting as he read the label on the bacon-scented candle from Carol. “Figured it’d be better than dislocatin’ her arm every time she tried to act a model.”
Sophia squawked and threw a wad of wrapping paper at him. Daryl snorted and batted away the projectile.
Yes, this was her personal heaven. It had taken years to get here, but Lord, had it been worth it. For the first six years of Sophia’s life, it had just been her and Carol against the world. Carol and her first husband, Ed, had divorced within a year of Sophia’s birth, and he was barred from having any contact with her until her 18th birthday. The only time Carol had to even think about the brute was when the monthly child support came in. She hadn’t depended on those checks for years now, and she would have gladly surrendered any future checks if Ed would just agree to give up his paternal rights. He had stubbornly held onto those rights for sixteen years, probably just to spite her.
She and Daryl had been married for six years now, together for ten, and it was a constant hurt for all three of them that Daryl couldn’t officially adopt Sophia. She remembered when Sophia had been eight years old and called Daryl ‘Dad’ for the first time. The little girl had acted like it was the most normal thing in the world, and Daryl had played it off as such until Sophia left the room. Then, he had looked at Carol with wide, wet eyes and crumpled when Carol hugged him, both reduced to teary messes over the moment.
But today that changed. Today was the first Christmas since Ed had finally signed the papers surrendering all of his paternal rights to Sophia. The past month had been testing Carol’s limits not to tell Daryl the good news. Sophia had been adamant about surprising him herself at Christmas.
Well, dagnabbit, it was Christmas, and Carol was about to burst!
She settled for fidgeting with the Cherokee Rose necklace that Daryl had given her, but she stared pointedly at Sophia as they both realized that the big one was the only gift left.
“Okay!” Sophia announced, with all the subtlety of a brick through a window. “Drum roll please! The last gift goes to Daryl from me!”
She tugged the bright pink gift bag from under the tree. There were tufts of neon green tissue paper sticking out from the top of the bag, and Daryl snorted loudly at the crazy bag.
“Aw, wow, it’s even my favorite color,” he teased, taking the bag and holding it up.
He looked to Carol with a grin. She smiled and gave him two thumbs up.
“Open it!” Sophia squeaked.
“Hold up now.” Daryl waved her off, settling back in his seat with the gift. “Gotta make sure this thing is up to code on Proper Wrapping Technique.”
Sophia groaned loudly, and Carol pursed her lips, already feeling emotion bubble up in her chest. And the damn gift wasn’t even open yet.
Her vision unexpectedly blurred, and, oh god, this was going to be even worse than when Sophia was eight.
“Now, see, this tissue paper here is more of a wad than a fluff. You really need to master the art of the fluff,” Daryl was torturing Sophia by prolonging this.
“Just open it!” Sophia hopped once with impatience, and Daryl snickered, enjoying her misery.
“Okay, keep your pants on.” He tugged out one individual sheet of tissue paper, painstakingly straightening it and then folding it. He set it on the coffee table, giving Carol a devilish grin when Sophia dramatically groaned.
Finally done teasing, Daryl pulled out the rest of the tissue paper, reaching in and pulling out the orange envelope that contained the official adoption papers. He inspected the bag to make sure there wasn’t anything else. Sophia had battled for days about whether to write up a card for him. Carol had only been a sounding board, while Sophia debated herself on the pros and cons of it. In the end, she had decided not to include a card. Sophia and Daryl’s relationship had always been a very nonverbal, understanding thing, built on looks and laughs and inside jokes that even Carol didn’t get in on. It wouldn’t have been ‘them’ to include a wordy, sentimental note now.
Daryl’s expression of playful teasing shifted to curious as his brows knit together, and he tore the edge of the envelope away. Sophia had gone still, arms hugging her knees to her chest as she watched him tug the folded documents out of the envelope.
Carol piped in. “What is it?”
Daryl unfolded the papers and turned them upright, eyes reading the top of the document. His frame abruptly stilled, and his face went smooth in surprise. His gaze snapped up from the papers and looked to Sophia, then to Carol.
“What is this?” he asked, his voice going up an octave.
Sophia’s face was already red and wet, and Carol knew she was going to break soon too.
“Read it,” Carol encouraged.
“I just—“ Sophia started. “Y’know…make it official—“
Daryl lifted a hand to shield his eyes from them both as he leaned over the papers, reading them again. Carol laughed and folded her hands in front of her. Sophia fluidly moved from the couch to the armrest of the recliner, putting her arm around his shoulders. Her lips were moving, but Carol was too far away to catch what she said.
Daryl’s breathing hitched, and he turned, wrapping both arms around Sophia. Sophia sobbed once and pushed her face into his shoulder. Carol wiped both eyes and watched the two hug.
“I love you, Dad,” Sophia said firmly.
Carol broke then and the tears flowed freely. Daryl turned his head and kissed Sophia on the side of the head, looking over at Carol with wet eyes.
“Love you too, kiddo.”
Carol climbed out of the couch then and went to join the emotional cuddle puddle. Daryl got one arm around her and pulled her in easily, and Sophia gave a wet laugh and a sniffle.
“There’s my girls.” His voice had gone raspy.
Sophia sat up, wiping fiercely at her eyes. “Now you know what the pen was for.”
Daryl looked at her, barked out a laugh, and took the fluffy pen from behind his ear. “Is that what this was—you sneaky little—“ He bopped the pom-pom end against Sophia’s nose.
He bent backward into the recliner, wiping at his eyes with a low curse. That only made Sophia start cry-laughing, and Carol held on to Daryl’s hand and rubbed her daughter’s shoulder. Sophia beamed at her.
Carol smiled back and looked to her husband. “So I guess you’re going to sign them?”
Daryl let out a long, cleansing exhale and abruptly looked at her. “You knew about this?”
Carol’s smile widened. “Yeah.”
“I live with a couple’a ninjas.” Daryl shook his head. “A’right, give ‘em here.” He reached for the adoption papers, since Sophia had grabbed them to keep them from splashing to the floor.
Sophia paused with a laugh. “You don’t gotta do it tonight—“
“Yes I do. Gimme.” He reached for them and wiggled his fingers. “Been waitin’ years for this.”
Sophia surrendered the documents and emotionally covered her mouth with both hands, bouncing a bit on her heels as she watched him go through the papers. That little blue pom-pom wiggled every time he signed on the marked lines.
Carol pulled Sophia into a tight hug.
Yeah. She had found heaven in her home.
She whispered to Sophia, “You should get your selfie stick and commemorate this moment.”
Daryl looked up from his signing. “Oh my God, please don’t.”
“Too late!” Sophia chirped and went to fetch the selfie stick.