Epilogue

Carradine's eyes shot open early the next morning and he jumped out of bed, scurrying out of his room and running down the hall to the living room. He slid to a stop in front of the Christmas tree, his eyes opening wide as he stared at the brightly-wrapped presents practically bursting from beneath the tree. He scrabbled around for a few minutes, touching everything he could reach as his little hands plucked at the name tags on the gifts. His name was on almost every single one of them!

He jumped up and ran over to check the plate left out with Santa's cookies and the reindeer treats, laughing with glee when he saw that the glass of milk was empty and only a few crumbs remained on the plate. He clapped his hands together and hurried back to the hall so he could get Mama and Daddy. He had to tell them that Santa had stopped at their house! He turned around when he heard the front door unlocking and he peered around the doorway, surprised to see Gramma coming inside.

He was momentarily distracted when she carried a small box into the kitchen, but a quick glance at the Christmas tree reminded him of his goal and he took off running to his parents' bedroom. He reached up and turned the doorknob, throwing his weight against the door and stumbling inside when it swung open; his grip on the knob was the only thing that kept him from falling on the floor and he quickly righted himself and ran over to the bed.

They were both asleep, he realized. He grabbed hold of Daddy's hand and tugged on it but that only made Daddy roll over on his back and Carradine laughed when Daddy's mouth dropped open and he started making the loud noise.

"Michael…"

Carradine covered his mouth with both hands when he heard Mama's sleepy voice and a moment later he saw her reach out and give Daddy a good shove. The little boy couldn't contain his giggles when she pushed Daddy again and he rolled over towards her, wrapping his arm around her and falling silent once more.

He suddenly realized that they weren't getting up and if they didn't get up, he couldn't unwrap presents. Well, that wouldn't do at all! He ran around to Mama's side of the bed and latched onto her hand since it was hanging off of the edge of the bed. He tugged on it several times, losing his grip on the last attempt and falling backwards to land on his backside.

Frustrated at their lack of response he ran to the end of the bed and scrambled up onto the wooden trunk, grabbing onto the footboard and hauling himself over to land on the bed. He ran up and pounced on them, shouting at the top of his young lungs, "Mama! Daddy! Santa came! Santa came!" He pushed against their shoulders, certain that they were never gonna get up when they suddenly grabbed him and started tickling him. He screamed and squealed, laughing and squirming around as he tried to get away. He finally broke free and sat at the end of the bed, grinning at them triumphantly as he basked in the knowledge that he had escaped.

He crawled back up between them, grabbing their hands and tugging on them. "Santa came! You gotta come see!"

Maria pulled him closer and hugged him and kissed his cheek before releasing him. "Merry Christmas, sweetie."

"Yeah, Merry Christmas, little man," Michael growled, ruffling his son's hair as he kissed his other cheek.

"Daddy," Carradine complained as he giggled, "you're all scratchy."

Michael laughed and his right arm snaked around the little boy, tumbling him to the mattress and rubbing his whiskered cheek against Carradine's exposed belly when his pajama shirt rode up.

Maria watched her boys, enjoying their laughter as they roughhoused and wrestled on the bed. They carried on for several minutes before Carradine suddenly remembered why he had come in to wake them. He jumped up unexpectedly and she just barely managed to pull him back before he accidentally kneed his father in the groin. She bit back the smile that surfaced when Michael automatically curled up to protect himself, releasing a relieved breath when the expected impact never materialized.

He scooped Carradine up and lifted him over the side of the bed, letting him go once his feet were on the floor. "Why don't you go see if Grandma's ready to open presents, little man?"

"What about you an' Mama?"

"We'll be there in just a few minutes, Carey." Michael flopped back against the pillows and turned his head to look at his wife. "Thanks for the save; that would've seriously ruined Christmas mornin'."

Maria leaned over him and pressed a soft kiss against his lips. "Carey's right," she whispered with a smile, "you're all scratchy."

"Mama, Daddy, c'mon!" Carradine's impatient voice traveled from the living room and a moment later he ran back to stand in their doorway. "Gramma said she gots breakfast snacks so you gotta come an' eat."

Michael shook his head when their son turned and ran back to the mountain of presents waiting to be torn open. "He's not just gonna play with the boxes this year, right?" he asked.

Maria patted his arm in a consoling gesture. "I think he's old enough to have more interest in the toys this year. Although, I think once he gets his hands on that puppy he's gonna forget about everything else anyway."

"Did Carey say your mom made breakfast?" His stomach rumbled in response to that thought and he laughed when Maria shoved his shoulder. "C'mon, woman; I'm hungry and I'm tired after sittin' up half the night puttin' toys together and wrappin' gifts."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Amy was setting a plate of fresh, warm croissants on the coffee table when they came into the living room a few minutes later. She disappeared and returned with two cups of coffee that she placed next to the plate and then she hugged both of them, wishing them a Merry Christmas before turning them loose. She chuckled when Michael targeted the food and snatched up one of the croissants with a chocolate center, dousing it with the Tabasco sauce she had remembered at the last minute.

"You ran down to the bakery around the corner," Michael said as he washed the first bite down with a swallow of coffee.

She nodded. "How did you know?"

He smiled and held the croissant up. "Rene's shop is the only one in the neighborhood that makes these an' Maria only let's us have 'em on special occasions."

Carradine was just about ready to start bouncing off of the walls as he hopped up and down in front of the Christmas tree, little fingers itching to tear into all of the pretty packages.

His parents glanced at each other and smiled before settling down together on the couch and Michael nodded at the little boy. "Go for it, buddy."

For the next hour they watched as Carradine tore into the gifts, shredded paper gathering into piles as he moved around the tree. He would pause after opening each gift, playing with the toys for a few minutes before moving on to the next package. He was wearing the hockey jersey over his pajamas as he ripped the paper off of yet another box.

Michael glanced up when Carradine suddenly snatched something up and ran across the room, leaning against his left leg as he handed it to him. "What's this?"

"Santa musta thought you been good too, Daddy."

His fingers played over the edges of the envelope and he turned to look at Maria. "Santa thinks I've been good this year, huh?"

Maria leaned against his shoulder and stretched up to kiss him. "I don't know what Santa's thoughts are, but I do know what I think." She nudged him with a smile. "Open it."

Carradine quickly lost interest in the envelope and he ran back to start his attack on the wrapped gifts under the back side of the tree.

Michael slid his fingers under the edge of the seal and tore it open, reaching inside to remove the card and open it up. He set the envelope aside as he stared at the tickets carefully placed inside, his fingers brushing over them reverently. "Maria, these are… they're…" He glanced at her and shook his head. "A whole week?"

Maria smiled at his less than articulate response and nodded. "You've been saying that you'd like to spend some time where it's warm; sea, sun, sand…" She grinned up at him. "And maybe something else that starts with an S… Max and Liz are in Florida, and they can keep Carey for a little while so we can have some time for the two of us."

His thumb traced along the edge of the tickets. They hadn't really spent any time alone since Carradine had been born. Was it selfish to want that for a little while?

"I love you for questioning it, Michael, but it's not selfish."

He turned his head to look at Maria, smiling in response to the expression of reassurance on her face. "Was it that obvious?"

Maria laughed quietly and nodded. "I've thought the same thing, and the truth is we'll probably be the ones having a difficult time leaving him with Max and Liz; Carey will be so excited about spending time with them and his cousin that he'll forget all about us." She kissed him. "For a little while at least; there's nothing wrong with us wanting to spend some time alone without our little boy underfoot."

Michael smiled and nodded. "Thank you, I love it."

"You're welcome." She motioned to Carradine when she noticed how engrossed he was with one of the toys, investigating all of its moving parts. "You should sneak away while he's so occupied and get the puppy."

"Okay."

Amy saw Michael stand up and creep out of the room and she kept her grandson busy when he started to turn away to show his parents the toy. It was only a couple of minutes before Michael returned and settled back down beside Maria. She knew they had planned to put the puppy in a large gift box and leave it right outside the door and then knock on the coffee table to announce its arrival, letting the little boy answer the door and find the present.

She hid a smile when a knock sounded at the front door and her son-in-law looked down at his right hand in surprise. Maria looked at him and he shrugged, shaking his head as he shifted, intending to stand so he could go and answer the door.

"Who's here, Daddy?"

"Uh…"

Before he could answer a hearty Ho, ho, ho sounded from the other side of the door and he exchanged a shocked look with his wife. Maria shook her head, clueless about what was going on and she stood as well. Carradine scrambled to his feet and ran to the front door with his parents right behind him.

Michael pulled the front door open and his mouth fell open in shock when he saw the man crouching down next to the large present on the floor. The red velvet suit and hat trimmed with white fur, the wide black belt circling an ample waistline, cheeks flushed red, a long white beard, and rectangular wire-rimmed glasses perched on the end of his nose all indicated that their visitor was old Saint Nick himself.

"Daddy," Carradine whispered, his hand fisted tightly around a handful of his father's shirt, "it's Santa Claus."

"The elves tell me you've been a very good little boy this year, Carey," the large elf said with a broad smile.

Carradine crept closer to him and reached out to grasp a handful of the long beard, giving it a couple of good tugs. He stepped back after a moment and glanced up at Mama, taking her hand and pulling on it to get her attention. "Mama, it's really him!"

"I see that, sweetie." Maria had no idea what was going on and it was obvious by her husband's slack-jawed expression that he was completely clueless as well.

Santa tapped on the box and smiled at the look of awe on the little boy's face. "You should take this inside, young man. I believe you've been waiting for it. It was just too special to bring down through the chimney." He stood and held a small package, wrapped in brightly-colored paper out to Michael. "I do hope you'll forgive an old elf for being a few years late, Michael." He smiled gently, faded blue eyes twinkling merrily behind his glasses when the younger man reached out to tug on his beard. "It's never too late to believe in the magic of Christmas."

Michael was still trying to process the past few minutes when the old elf turned to walk away, a spring in his step as he called out another "Ho, ho, ho!" and a "Merry Christmas!" and then disappeared down the stairs at the end of the hall.

"Daddy, I can't move the present," Carradine said, tugging on Daddy's hand to get his attention.

"Michael." Maria nudged him, breaking his trance as he stared after Santa Claus, and motioned to their son. "He needs help getting Santa's present inside."

"Right." He handed the oddly-shaped package to Maria and then leaned down to pick up the box, following his wife and son back inside the apartment. He carried the box into the living room and placed it on the floor in front of the Christmas tree.

"Who was at the door?" Amy asked. She had watched them from the door and Michael looked like he was in shock as he moved back to the couch to sit down.

"It was Santa, Gramma! He came to bring more presents! He even brought Daddy one!"

"He did?" She glanced at her son-in-law as he turned the package over and over in his hands, his confusion evident. "Why, yes he did. You should go open yours now."

Carradine ran back over to the large box and ripped the paper off, unaware that the lid on the wrapped box could have been lifted off without tearing the paper off. He jumped back when the lid lifted and then dropped back down but his curiosity quickly had him reaching for it. He pushed it up and off and his excited squeals and laughter filled the room as he lifted the puppy out of the box and hugged it to his little body.

"Mama! Daddy! Look what Santa brought me!" He was barely aware of his parents' voices as he played with the puppy, giggling when it wiggled around and licked his face.

"Are you gonna open it?" Maria asked, her hand resting on her husband's shoulder. He was staring at the small package, his fingers following the creases in the paper as he turned it over in his hands.

"Huh?" Michael glanced at her. "Oh, yeah… yeah, I'm gonna… I'm gonna open it." His fingers slid under the taped edges, carefully lifting them up one by one until they were all sticking up. He unfolded the flaps and lifted the plastic package with the cardboard back up, staring at the figurine inside in disbelief.

"What is it, Daddy?" Carradine asked, handing the puppy to Mama as he crawled up to sit on the couch between his parents. He quickly reached for his new pet, cradling the animal in his arms as he reached up to grasp one edge of the thing Daddy held.

"It's um…" Michael cleared his throat and glanced at Maria helplessly. "It's somethin' I asked Santa for when I was little." The Han Solo action figure with weapon had been the one toy that he had dared to ask for and it hadn't showed up on Christmas morning. Nothing had shown up on that Christmas morning or any of the ones that had followed until Maria had come into his life.

"I think I'll go start breakfast now," Amy said as she stood and went into the kitchen.

"I should go give her a hand." Maria kissed her husband and son before following her mother. "How did you do that?" she asked as soon as she was alone with the other woman.

Amy smiled as she reached for the carton of eggs. "I ran into him when I was coming back from the bakery and I couldn't resist. I hope you don't mind?"

Maria shook her head. "No, of course not! Did you see Michael's expression? But, where did you find that toy?"

"You found that toy," Amy said. "It came in the mail a few weeks after you left; I didn't understand the significance of it until one of our conversations a couple of years ago. When Michael contacted me about this trip I had to find it so I could bring it with me; I hope you don't mind that I had Santa give it to him."

"No, the look on his face was sooo worth it." Maria threw her arms around her mother's neck and hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Mom."

They spent the day relaxing and talking, watching Carradine as he played with the puppy and played with his toys. Michael decided to make dinner to give Maria and Amy some time to spend together and talk about the things that he had no interest in talking about, or hearing about, since some of those things were sure to include him.

As early evening settled over the apartment, lit only by the fire crackling in the fireplace and the twinkling lights on the tree, Amy settled down in the chair to look at her family. Michael and Maria were dozing lightly in the corner of the couch and Carradine had fallen asleep more than an hour earlier, comfortably wedged in between them. The puppy, that had aptly been named Snow by his new master, was stretched out, his nose buried in the crook of the little boy's neck, worn out just like Carradine.

She was convinced that her daughter was happy and she knew that when it was time to go home again she wouldn't be burdened by the concern that had weighed so heavily on her when she had left home the day before. Her daughter had grown into a strong woman, she had a beautiful little boy, and she had the love of a man who would do anything to keep her safe and happy.

The End – For This Christmas Anyway!

7