The Christmas Miracle

The Chrismtas Miracle My Entry for the Writer's Block Winter Showcase

Welcome to my entry for the Writer's Block Winter Showcase, The Christmas Miracle. This story is dedicated to an amazing friend of mine, her name is Sarah. We've been friends for 3 months now, but it feels as if I've known her my entire life. She's been with me through thick and thin and is always so supportive. Just know that as I wrote this, I was thinking of you Sarah. Happy holidays everyone and enjoy my story!

As I stared out the window at my mom's favorite flower, her delphinium, I couldn't help but release a sob. "This can't be happening," I muttered to myself, letting the warm tears roll down my cheek. My mom has been sick with ovarian cancer for the past few years now, but it's really begun to kick in lately. Go figure, it's also the holiday season.

Dad refuses to believe that Mom is sick, but we all know that deep down he just doesn't want to lose her. We can't blame him, none of us do. Every winking moment my father spends next to my mother, awaiting the few minutes he talks to her every day when she momentarily wakes up.

I heard the door to my parents bedroom open, but I didn't bother turning around. I knew it was Doctor Hearting who was just going to just make my Chrismtas more horrible than it already was by telling me some unfortunate news. "Excuse me, Kimberly?" Doctor Hearting interrupted.

I didn't budge at his request, I remained deep in thought staring out the window. A few minutes later I reluctantly found the energy to turn myself around and face Doctor Hearting. I began to tense up and sweat heavily, I forced a smile of hope across my face, "Yes, Doctor?"

 

"I have some urgent news that I've been instructed to deliver to your father."

"He's on the bed."

I inhaled and let out a deep sigh, knowing the news he was about to share was most likely not promising. Doctor Hearting came to our house a few time a day, since my mom refused to remain in the hospital. He did what he needed to do, but he wasn't caring, he just saw us as people who had an ill family member. He didn't try to get to know us, or even offer any sympathy. Someody's in the holiday spirit.

Doctor Hearting and I stood side by side as we watched my father hastily leave my mother's bedside, clearly thinking he's be receiving hopeful news. Hearting rolled his eyes at my father's look of anticipation and began tapping his foot. The jerk! Not wanting to be near him anymore, I strided over towards my helpless mother. 

"Everything is going to be okay," I assured my sleeping mother and myself. I reached out and brushed my mom's hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. God, she was so beautiful. I soon began to hear hushed whispers between my father and Hearting, and I tilted my head in order to understand their shared words.

"Long story short, the tests came back positive, and she only has a maximum of a week to live."

"No."

"Yes, Mr. Jordan. Your wife will be dead by Chrsitmas."

"It can't be."

"Mr. Jordan, I understand the news is devastating but if you want we can put her down right now."

"My wife is strong, she'll beat the odds."

"No she won't, Mr. Jordan. No she won't."

"Yes she will, you jerk of a doctor! Now leave my house! I'm not paying you to stick around!"

As soon as I heard the doctor's striking news, I hurried over to my dad and placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off and went to his bed. My parents don't share a bed anymore because my mom has a fear that my dad will catch her cancer, even though it's impossible. Dad stayed there on his bed in deep thought all night, the tears poured out of his eyes like buckets off water being emptied. I left my dad to think in peace and retreated to my bedroom where I let out some tears of my own.

 

After receiving the heart-wrenching news I got on my computer and sent my boyfriend and best friend messages that said, "I need you." As an only child I had no one to share this tragedy with, so I depended on two people who had been there for me throughout my life. They both immediately answered saying they'd be over as soon as possible.

My best friend Merideth made it over to my house first. She saw my distress look and greeted me with a much needed hug. "What's up?" she worried.

"Let's wait until Jeremy gets here," I decided.

Not long after, Jeremy arrived and he saw the frantic expression on my face and pulled me into a romantic kiss. Merideth watched the normal routine and let out a sigh of impatience. When we finally broke away Jeremy interrogated, "What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"Let's go talk about it inside," I suggested, leading everyone up the stairs. Truth is, I didn't want my neighbors to see me as a wreck, because I planned on letting go of my control and just bawling my eyes out. Merideth and Jeremy exchanged glances, shook their heads, and then followed me into my house.

I lead everyone into the living room and grabbed Jeremy's hand and directed him to sit on the sofa next to me. We sat down and he casually placed his arm around me, comforting me instantly. Love has that power.

"Come on, Kim! The suspense is killing me! Tell us already!" Merideth whined.

I bit my lip sheepishly and a tear trickled down my cheek, "Mom only has a week to live."

Simultaneously, Merideth and Jeremy gasped. Once the horror of the truth sunk in, they both joined me in the parade of tears. After all, they practically grew up around here, and my parents were their parents. They were losing a piece of their lives too.

"Kimberly, I think you might want to come and see this," Doctor Hearting remarked. His puzzled expression told me something was wrong, and I think I knew what. There was one less person living amongst Sunset Valley: my frail mother.

I shakily stood up and Merideth and Jeremy shared an intense look of worry. I wiped a few tears from my eyes and straightened my dress, preparing to meet a limp corpse in the neighboring room. I took a deep breath and began to follow Hearting.

I trudged slowly behind Doctor Hearting and the image of my parents' bed slowly came into view. My mom was still in there, sound asleep like a little baby. This had me questioning the doctor's purpose for bringing me in here. Perhaps he had good news, perhaps my mother was going to live to see another Christmas.

 

"Goodbye Kim, tell Indigo I loved her," my father mumbled his last words before dropping to the floor with a thud. His eyes fluttered and then remained open, I watched as they rolled back in his head.

"Dad!" I excalimed as I rushed over to check his pulse. He was gone. Forever. 

After examining his body, Hearting came to the conclusion that the cause of death was a panic attack gone awry.

The next morning we held Henry Jordan's funeral in my backyard, only Merideth and Jeremy could attend. Mom was too sick, but she told me several words to share with my father's remains. We all stood there for minutes, taking in the fact that he was truly gone, and that... well, we wouldn't be spending the holidays without him this year. 

I knew the silence meant that everyone was clueless when it came to what happened next. "Why?" I questioned helplessly. My eyes instantly became blurry as tears overwhelmed them, and I started to cry like I never cried before. Full blown sobs, gasping for breath, I was down on my knees clutching my stomach. Merideth and Jeremy cried a little too, but not nearly as much as me, after all, he was my father. The one whose blood raced through my veins, the one and only man who raised me. The man I called Dad.

Finally, I found the confidence to step forward and begin my prepared speech. "Dad, I'm gonna miss you. As if you didn't already know that. Never did I expect that it would be you we would be losing at this time in our family's lives. But what's done is done, and there are no redos. The point is that you lived a full life, and we're here to remember it. You were a great person Dad, and continue to be like that wherever you are now. I love you. And I told Mom what you said, she says that she loves you too. She also wants me to tell you that she feels terrible that she's not here, but you know Doctor Hearting... Well, I guess that's it. I'm gonna miss you Dad, and I love you. A lot." I knelt down and kissed his grave as I watched a tear stain his tomb. I placed one of Mom's delphiniums near his remains and a few other flowers for him to remember us by.

Once the funeral had concluded, Jeremy came over and stroked my soaked cheek. "Everything is going to be okay," he cooed. I grabbed his hand and pulled him in for an amorous hug, knowing the words weren't true. I would end up losing my mom in a matter of days and then spend Chrsitmas alone. All alone. I just knew it.

"Jeremy's right," agreed Merideth, "We're here for you. We always will be." I found her words tempting to embrace, but all I could do was bite my lip and cry. Merideth threw her arms around me and patted my back, like a true best friend would do.

After the funeral I just wanted to be alone. So I sent Merideth and Jeremy on their way and then bolted into my room to clear my head. I started thinking about all of the fun times I'd had with my dad: when he took me to the park, when we saw a baseball game together, when we threw Mom her surprise birthday party. Life seemed so dull now without his presence, and I just want him back. I just want my mom to live. The problem is, we want lots of things.

After hours of thinking passed by I managed to haul myself out of bed and into my parents' room. I headed straight for my father's bed, the last place he was before the untimely incident of his death. Being in this corner of their bedroom brought back the vivid memory of my dad on the floor crying out in pain, dieing. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh, then turned around.

"Hello, Sweetie," my mother greeted me.

"Mom?" I questioned, not believing my eyes.

"Yes, it's me Dear."

"What are you doing out of bed? Get back in there! Doctor Hearting said you need you rest!'

"No need to try to fool me Kim, I heard that I'll be dead by next week."

I started tearing up.

"Come," my mom said patting the spot on the king bed next to her, "Sit."

 

I srode over to her bedside instead of sitting, eager to hear what my sick mother had to tell me.

"Kim, don't lose hope. If I go before Christmas, I want you to have one of the best days you've ever had."

"But I won't have the two people I care about most."

"Merideth and Jeremy are always there for you, don't forget that. And Sweetie, I love you."

"I love you too Mom."

"Kim. Kim. Kim. Kim!"

"What is it Mom?"

"Kim! Kim! Kim!"

"Kimberly Jordan!"

"Huh?" I jumped, recovering from the day dream.

"I have some good news for you," Doctor Hearting shared, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Really?"

"After rerunning a few tests, we've noticed a mistake. Your mother is actually on the road to recovery and will be almost 100% back to normal in a matter of a few days."

"Really?!?!?"

"Really."

The news that my mother was going to see another Christmas lifted my hope ever so much, and that was to be expected. I wasn't going to be alone, I was going to be surrounded by people who cared about. People who genuinely cared about me. And my sickly mother was going to be one of them. As I stared out that window, I though about the past two days events. The horror, the unfortunateness, and the miracle... The Christmas Miracle.

Is that- is that what I think it is? No! It can't be! Not here in Sunset Valley!

Snow. It was the first time Sunset Valley had ever seen snow. I looked back at my sleeping mother, and a grin the size of Texas spread across my face. We were going to have a white Christmas. My mother shivered, the freezing temperature too much for her brittle bones. I draped a blanket over her, calming her shaking immediately.

I felt like I was in a fantasy, finally seeing snow in person for the first time. I watched as the neighbors' children came outside and marveled at the unique substance falling from the sky. A few of their mothers called them back inside to put on proper clothing. I smiled to myself, knowing this moment would be an event no one in Sunset Valley. After all, it was snowing everywhere.

It was snowing over Mum's delphiniums...

...and over Dad's grave. We all experienced our first snow together as a family. And snow would continue to represent peace and unity in my family. Jeremy and I got married on the day of the Sunset Valley Blizzard, and I had my first child as white flakes fell from the sky. And my mom died as a proud grandmother at the age of 103, while sitting on the porch with me, watching my kids play in the snow.