Merry Christmas, Alex Stone

BY: Rosie Posie

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Note: I had originally written this in about five minutes last July as an example short story for a Christmas Short Story Contest I was planning to put on that never happened. Sorry if it’s not too good.

Daniel glanced around the main room of the Widow's Walk. It was full of happy patrons. Tonight was Hope Island's First Annual Christmas Eve Party. He smiled to himself. It was his second Christmas on Hope, and he couldn't be happier with the way things had turned out. He felt a tug on his arm, and turned to find Dylan Stone, his girlfriend's son standing there.

"What's up, buddy?" Daniel asked, picking Dylan up and placing him on the bar. Dylan laughed. "I won't be able to pick you up much longer Dylan, you're getting way too heavy!"

"Well, I am twelve you know," Dylan said matter-of-factly.

Daniel rolled his eyes playfully. As if he didn't know! Dylan had repeated the fact that he was going to be twelve every day for months before the event.

"Oh, really? I didn't know," Daniel said sarcasticly. This time it was Dylan who rolled his eyes.

"I wanted to know if you could help me get some presents off of the top shelf of my closet. They're too high for me to reach," Dylan said.

"Sure!" Daniel exclaimed, setting Dylan back on the floor, "Who are the presents for?"

"Sue and Rebecca. You have to wait for yours!" Dylan said softly as they started to climb the stairs.

"Still haven't been able to choose between the two? You're going to run into trouble sometime soon if you have two girlfriends. One's hard enough to handle," Daniel warned with a twinkle in his eye.

"Oh really?" The two males looked to the top of the stairs to see Alex Stone standing there with a grin on her face. "And how exactly am I hard to handle?"

Dylan laughed and looked to Daniel who was looking suitably sheepish. Daniel climbed the rest of the stairs and walked to Alex's side and whispered in her ear.

"I didn't me -- It's not that you're -- It's just --" Daniel tried to figure out what he was going to say to get himself out of this one. Alex burst out laughing and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You've got yourself stuck this time, Daniel Cooper!" She shared a grin with her son, and then went off down the stairs. Daniel stood there with a crooked half-smile on his face.

"Women," Daniel muttered.

"I heard that!" Alex called up the stairs.

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Dylan stood on the porch with two presents in his hand. One for Sue and one for Rebecca. He sighed a happy smile. He had his two best friends, his Mom had recovered from his Dad's visit, and was now dating the man that Dylan wanted as a father more than anyone else in the world, and Daniel, that man, spent tons of time with them. Life was great!

"Dylan?" a voice questioned from the doorway, "Are you out here?"

Dylan turned to see who it was. It was Rebecca.

"Yeah, I'm here."

She came out and stood beside him.

"I wish we had snow, that would be the best Christmas present ever. We never get snow!" she said. Dylan remembered his present for her, and picked it up off of the bench that was on the porch.

"Here, Rebecca. This is for you," he said nervously. He handed her a thin box. She took it eagerly and tore open the lid, revealing a pretty necklace.

"Dylan! This is beautiful!" The girl threw her arms around his neck, kissed his cheek and ran back into the tavern to show everyone her present. Dylan shook his head in disbelief.

"Dylan?" another voice asked. He turned to the voice, it was Sue.

"Yeah. I'm here. Sue? I have a present for you," Dylan said, handing a similar box to Sue.

She too eagerly opened the box, revealing a bracelet.

"Oh Dylan! Thank you!" Sue too threw her arms around his neck and she kissed his other cheek. As she ran off into the house, a bewildered Dylan muttered under his breath, "Girls!"

"I heard that!" came Sue's reply.

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Alex stood on the hilltop by Daniel's church. It’s where the best view was. She had needed a break from the crowd, and so she had fled to find peace in the silence of the night. It was almost midnight. Almost Christmas Day.

The moon shone brightly, and she could see the mountains in the distance, and the peaceful ocean all around the island. It was beautiful.

"All we need now is snow," Alex whispered, shivering slightly.

"Maybe you'll get it." A soft but unmistakable voice spoke out from behind her.

"Daniel," she whispered, "Hey."

"Hey, you," he returned with a smile. He took off his leather jacket, and wrapped it around her shivering form. It was cold out!

He stood behind her and encircled her with his arms. She leaned back against his chest and listened to the steady beating of his heart.

What was your Christmas wish, Daniel?" Alex whispered.

"For you and Dylan and I to have a happy and peaceful Christmas," he said softly. "And what did you wish?"

"For the same, and that we would have snow for Christmas day," she said, "I've never told anyone this before, but I've never seen it snow before. It would snow in Seattle, and if we were over there in the winter we would see some dirty snow from the streets, but it was just a little. It wasn't, I don't know, it didn't seem real. It didn't seem like snow is supposed to be. It never snowed here, just rained, and it definitely didn't snow in Miami!"

"I haven't seen snow either, that I can remember. I lived in California for most of my life, and it didn't snow where we lived. If it does snow it will be a new experience for both of us," Daniel answered.

They stood quietly for a few minutes, and Daniel glanced at his watch. Three minutes before midnight. He smiled and held Alex tighter.

When the bells from the Catholic Church signaled midnight, Daniel turned Alex to face him. He smiled at her and gently kissed her. As they parted, and as the bells stopped chiming, Alex felt something wet on her hand, as did Daniel.

"Daniel, it's snowing!" she exclaimed.

He kissed her again, and gently wiped a snowflake off of her lower lip.

"Merry Christmas, Alex Stone. Merry Christmas."

~ The End ~

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