My Southern Gentleman 7

On Christmas day, December, Damian, and all Damian's family went to the nursing home to visit Alan. December noticed that Paul and Fawn were holding hands and beaming at one another.

"It is good that she found love again, with my nephew," Damian said to his wife. "Pasha is a good man."

December was shocked at the sight of her father. He'd lost so much weight that he almost seemed to be swimming in his pajamas, and his face was so drawn and haggard that he appeared to have aged ten years since his daughter had last seen him. However, his eyes lit up when he saw her.

"Dad!" she cried, rushing to hug him. "Merry Christmas!"

Alan looked around. "Who are all these people?" he asked weakly.

"Damian's family is visiting from Virginia. Don't you remember?" December replied. "Since you couldn't come home for Christmas this year, we brought Christmas to you!"

Alan smiled, and his eyes sparkled. For just a moment, the father December had always loved was back.

Jewel, Olga, and Damian's sisters had all brought various Christmas dishes from home, and they began to serve them up on paper plates.

"This is so much better than the food they serve you around here," Alan announced. After everyone had finished eating, they all gave Alan the presents they'd brought for him. December had bought her father a dark grey sweater made of lamb's wool. "It's lovely, darling," Alan said when he saw it.

"I'm so glad you like it," December replied as she gave her father a big hug.

Little did she know at the time that it was the last time she'd ever see her father alive.

Several days later, December returned from an outing with Damian and his family to find the telephone ringing. "December! Thank goodness you're finally home!" Jewel cried. "Your father is back in the hospital. The place where they inserted the pin into his hip got infected. They're gonna have to operate to take it out tomorrow morning."

"So can he come home again after that?"

"No, honey. He's never gonna be able to come home. When he's recovered from the surgery, he'll just have to go back to the nursing home."

"Oh, Mom..." By the time December had hung up, she was crying.

"Is he worse?" asked Damian.

"The place where they operated on his hip got infected," December replied miserably. "They're gonna operate on him again tomorrow morning. Oh, Damian, he's been through so much..."

Right away she felt her husband's arms around her, comforting her. "You are tired, darling," Damian murmured. "You need to rest now. Everything is going to be all right." She buried her face in his chest, and he held her and rubbed her back. After a few minutes, she got Violet settled and then joined her husband in bed.

For a long time after she and Damian had made love, she lay awake in the dark, listening to his heartbeat and gentle snoring and thinking about her father.

The following morning, she awakened to Damian gently shaking her shoulder. "Someone is hungry," he told her. She saw that he was holding Violet, who was vigorously sucking her hand.

"Come here, baby," she murmured, reaching for her daughter. By the time she'd finished nursing Violet, she saw that it was already nine thirty. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "My Dad's surgery was supposed to start at eight. I need to get to the hospital!"

"I will call my mother and tell her what happened," Damian said. "I am sure she will understand."

After dressing Violet snugly in a pink blanket sleeper, December left with Damian for the hospital. As he drove, she felt the knot of insecurity in her belly growing tighter and tighter. At a red light, her husband placed a comforting hand on her knee, and she felt a little bit better.

Damian parked the car, and they got out and entered the hospital, where Damian pushed the elevator button for the surgical floor. They stepped off the elevator and walked into the waiting room, only to see a physician speaking to Jewel, who was weeping copiously. December felt her heart sink.