Under One Roofa short story.

by: SAM Gordon

half-smiled

As he walked back towards the house they made eye contact through the kitchen window. He half-smiled to himself that he still felt a skip in his heart everytime he saw her smile. His dogs trailed behind him as they returned from their walk around the property hiding giant candy canes in the trees for the grandchildren to find later in the week. It was December 24, 2037 and all of their daughters were coming over with their families to spend a few days with Anne and Sam at their new retirement home.

Delicious

Anne was finishing up another batch of sugar cookies as he came through the door. She handed him a snowman with no head for a taste test. Delicious as always. The dogs sat at attention hoping that she had messed up a couple more cookies but no such luck, with a pat on the head she sent them off to the fireplace where they laid down for a mid-afternoon nap. It wouldn’t be long before the girls started showing up.

decorations

Anne and Sam had spent days, and enough money to keep the local home and garden store in the green for a couple years, getting the house all decorated. There were lights, garland, trees, and wrapped presents everywhere. The decorations even spilled to the exterior of the house down the drive and along the fence by the road. There was no chance anyone could doubt that an amazing celebration was going to happen in that home. It was the first time in years that they had ALL been together for Christmas.

perfect timing

They kept making up new chores to do to keep themselves busy and from exploding with anticipation. But they dropped what they were doing the second they heard a truck coming down the drive. It was Elle. Anne rushed through the house making one last pass through every room to be sure everything was just right. Sam waited by the front door, knowing he would be in trouble if he went out to greet them without Anne. As he looked out the window he saw his son-in-law quickly jump out and run around to the passenger side of the truck. He opened the car door and helped his 7 month pregnant wife out of the car. They were so excited that Elle was going to become a mother. It was perfect timing for her and her husband Enzo. He had just been promoted to a new position at the same university as her as the Associate Dean of the Italian program, and Elle had been the Director of the Honors program for two years.

Anne

As Elle waddled into the house Anne ran out to meet her with a giant Christmas hug. Sam followed her out and met Enzo to start unloading their luggage and presents. Once they all got inside Elle announced she couldn’t wait till time for presents and handed her mother a gift. Anne ripped the package open to see it was a 3D ultrasound of the new baby. We began playing the video when the titles came onto the screen. Anne S. Ritelli due February 18, 2038. Anne covered her mouth in shock. Not only did she just discover that her little girl Elle was going to have a baby girl but that Elle chose to name the baby after her mother. Anne and Elle fell into an embrace appropriately intense and grateful from the point of view of both women. The hug would have lasted for hours had the sound of the doorbell not interrupted the moment.

her arms full

Sam went to open the door and found Amelie standing there with her arms full of presents. He helped her unload them under the giant tree in the living room next to the dogs who woke when they heard Amelie’s voice. The dogs were quite fond of Amelie as she was a frequent visitor as she only lived about 30 minutes away.

always said

Amelie made her way around the room hugging everyone finishing with her mother. She asked why she was crying and Anne pointed to the TV where the video was still playing. Amelie saw the name of the coming baby and reminded everyone that she always said it was going to be a girl. Amelie gave Enzo a high five and announced she was off to go to the airport to pick up Penny. And as quickly as she arrived she was gone.

grandchildren

Sam, Anne and Elle went back to the kitchen to frost the sugar cookies, leaving a couple for the grandchildren to finish when they arrived. Enzo asked to take the dogs out for a walk while he called his family back in Italy to wish them a Merry Christmas. After they had decorated a couple dozen cookies they heard the front door open and assumed it was Enzo returning from his call. But soon they realized they were mistaken as they heard yells of, “Grandma, Grandpa!!”. Miami Lane, Elliot Bay and their mother Quincy had arrived. The little children sprinted to their grandparents and gave them giant hugs. It had been a couple months since they had seen each other. Sam bent down to give the 5 year old Miami a kiss just as she noticed all the presents under the tree and ran off to check which ones had her name on them. Sam smiled as Quincy walked over and volunteered to take Miami’s kiss that had run away.

proudly stated

Two year old Elliot asked her grandma where the doggies were, and Anne told her out on a walk with Uncle Enzo. Quincy’s husband Jacob trailed behind through the door with another armful of presents and unloaded them by the tree. Jacob came into the kitchen and gave everyone a round of hugs. He asked Elle if she had any news or if we were going to have to wait until present time. Anne couldn’t contain herself and proudly stated that, “Anne Ritelli will be born February 18th.” Quincy gave her little sister a giant hug and kiss on the cheek. They had been exchanging messages all about pregnancy. Quincy let Elle know that she was blocking off two weeks of vacation at work so she could be there for her at the delivery. Enzo walked back in to the house and Miami and Elliot quickly got involved in a game of tag with the dogs.

starting to feel

All the adults sat down at the table as Anne brought everyone some hot chocolate and coffee. It was starting to feel like Christmas as they all laughed and told stories about their travels to the celebration. Anne took a seat that had a clear view of the driveway so she could be the first to see Amelie and Penny arrive. It was starting to get a little dark when Anne saw a pair of headlights coming down the drive. Anne announce that she saw them coming and Miami and Elliot ran to the window to see their cousin arrive. As the car parked all the adults had made their way to the front door of the house. Penny got out of the car and smiled at the warm greeting she received.

group hug

Her 8 year old son Henry jumped out of the car and ran towards the house as his cousins ran out to meet him. Penny had lived in Australia for the last 6 years where her husband Mitchell was from. Quincy and her family had just spent their summer vacation there and they cousins had made a really strong bond. Penny, inspired by her son, ran to hug her sisters Quincy and Elle, Amelie getting out of the car didn’t want to be left out and joined the group hug on the front lawn. Sam didn’t cry much but seeing his four grown daughters giggling and hugging was too much for him to contain. Anne looked up knowing the moment would move Sam and put her arm around him. He looked down at his perfect wife and said, “Best Christmas Ever”. Choked for words at their shared happiness she simply nodded in agreement.

excited

The grandchildren ran off into the game room which had been specifically designed with nights like this in mind. They unloaded Penny’s family luggage and gifts and all sat around the fire in the living room. It was the first time Penny and her family had been to the house so Sam got up and gave Penny and Mitchell the tour. Quincy asked Amelie how her new promotion at the law firm was working out. Amelie was excited to tell her big sister, who was also a lawyer, how her firm was set up and the type of work she was doing. Amelie had already been promoted after just two years in the firm and had proven herself to be an excellent asset.

oooooos

Elle interrupted all the lawyer talk by asking Amelie about her new boyfriend Ted. Amelie announced that Ted actually would be joining them later in the evening. Everyone let out an oooooos and awwwws as they all recognized bringing a new boyfriend to a family event was a pretty big deal. Sam, Penny, and Mitchell arrived back in the room as they heard the oooos. Penny was excited to be there to tease her sister’s new boyfriend. Now that things had settled in and all the adults were in the living room they decided to all watch the sonogram video together. There was quickly an argument between the sisters about who Baby Anne looked more like. Even Sam jumped in and said she looked a lot like her grandfather.

helped

After the video ended everyone pitched in and helped Anne get dinner ready. She had made her famous turkey meatballs and sauce the day before knowing that she would rather visit than cook on Christmas Eve. Anne put the pasta on and started heating the noodles. Elle got yelled at by everyone for reaching high up into the cabinets to get the plates in her condition. Her husband quickly stepped in and took over setting the table, Elle was sent to go gather all the grandkids to wash their hands to come to the table. Amelie got out the bread and butter, Quincy worked on getting out the drinks popping a meatball into her mouth each trip back to the kitchen. Penny helped her husband put together a salad. The kitchen was full of action and laughter.

meatballs

After the video ended everyone pitched Elle eventually returned with clean children and everyone sat down for an amazingly delicious meal. Henry commented that the long flight from Australia was worth it just to eat Grandma’s turkey meatballs. They all laughed knowing the little boy was right.

start learning

Sam asked Penny how her marketing company was doing in Sydney. She replied that everything was going great. The business had built such a great reputation that they had to start turning away clients because they just had too much work. Anne asked Henry how he liked his school and he said that his favorite part of school was rugby practice. Mitchell proudly told tales of his son’s amazing rugby talents. Sam looked at Anne and she knew that the look meant it was time for them to start learning a lot more about rugby so they could follow their grandson’s career.

Joke of the Day

The grandchildren all wanted their Grandfather to tell them about “Joke of the Day” and the rest of the meal was spent by all the daughters trying to remember as many “Joke of the Day” awards as they could. As dinner was finishing Sam offered to go get another round of drinks and coffee from the kitchen, Anne got up to help. In the kitchen they caught each others’ eyes and Sam pulled Anne in for a tight embrace. They brought their foreheads together and stood still in the kitchen. From the dining room they could hear laughing and their daughters voices. They held still for what felt like hours of perfect contentness although it was probably only seconds.

most importantly

They kissed and then opened their eyes onto each other in a knowing gaze that assured them that they had done a ridiculously amazing job raising four beautiful and successful daughters. But most importantly they had raised a family that knew that there is nothing like a family gathering around a table and sharing food, stories, laughter, and love. Then they heard Penny shout from the dining room, “Are you guys making out in there again?”

rewind

After diner the grandchildren put together a variety show built out of pieces of all the holiday performances they had been in. Miami sang the 12 Days of Christmas, Elliot sang Jingle Bells, and Henry played Joy to the World on his guitar. Then Sam surprised everyone with a video he had put together for the occasion of photos of Christmas past. Everyone loved watching the four sisters grow up from babies to grown women as the video past, especially the grandchildren who still had a hard time imagining their Mommies as little girls. It was taking along time to get through the 10 minute video because the girls would keep asking Sam to rewind so they could see pictures again. Then they would pause on a photo and one of girls would share a story that they remembered from that Christmas.

squished

As they were in the middle of the photos there was a knock on the door. It was Amelie’s boyfriend Ted. Everyone greeted him at the door and it took several minutes for everyone to introduce themselves to Ted. Penny warned Ted that there would be an interrogation later but for now he could join them in watching the holiday photos from years past. The whole family made their way back to the living room and squished onto the couches.

hilarious

Little Elliot was starting to get pretty tired and as the video finally finished Sam and Anne began to set up everyone’s sleeping areas. Enzo read The Night Before Christmas which had become a tradition since Elle brought him into the family because The Night Before Christmas in an Italian accent is hilarious. Quincy and Penny headed off to tuck their children into bed and Elle sat in anticipation knowing that next Christmas she would be part of the Mommy Team too.

caught up

Once all the children were tucked into bed all the adults gathered back around the table to eat desserts. All the sisters got caught up on what was going on but it didn’t take long as they all spent a lot of time on Skype throughout the year keeping each other posted on their exciting lives. The attention soon turned to Amelie’s friend Ted who was meeting the family for the first time. Penny started the interrogation stating that Amelie is the baby sister and her older sisters look out for her. It was clear this information was a threat but Ted seemed to take it all in stride. After about 30 minutes of questioning about his schooling, work, family and interests it became clear that Ted was a pretty nice guy.

favorite part

Quincy reminded Jacob that they had to put together Elliot’s doll house and Miami’s craft table to put under the tree. Sam quickly volunteered to help as being Santa’s Little Elf was one of his favorite jobs as the girls grew up. Penny jumped up too as it was also her favorite part. But living halfway around the world meant that Henry would be getting very small, easy to pack, gifts this year. Penny, Jacob and Sam quickly had the toys assembled and under the tree.

marveled

They all stood and marveled at the sea of presents. It was going to be a very exciting morning the next day. Elle was pretty exhausted from the days activities and growing a baby so she and Enzo decided to turn in for the night. After a late night piece of pie Penny and Mitchell decided to get some rest after the long flight and try to get adjusted to the new time zone. Quincy and Jacob decided they wanted to stay up and watch a holiday movie and Amelie and Ted joined them. Sam stocked the fire and put on another log to last the girls through their movie and then he suggested to Anne that they go get some sleep as the grandchildren would be up and excited before long.

under their roof

As Sam and Anne got ready for bed they both saw the giddiness and heartfelt joy in each other’s smiles. It had been a perfect evening. All their girls were under their roof again. It felt so right and special. He hugged her from behind as she finished brushing her teeth. They looked at each other in the mirror above the sink and smiled. There were no words said. There didn’t need to be any words said. They had built a love, a life, a legacy by honestly, intentionally, and freely giving each other passionate peace unceasingly.