Christmas Rendezvous

This present to my faithful readers was inspired by a writing prompt from my friend Sheila. I hope you enjoy it and remember to make your holiday and every day special.

The darkened house flooded with light, one room at a time. Tessa stepped from room to room, turning on lights and inspecting every possible hiding place. She looked behind curtains, under tables, in closets, and even checked behind the couch. When her eyes revealed nothing, she turned to her other senses.

Closing her eyes, she tilted her head to the side. The soft sound of her own breathing entered her ears first. The sound of her fingers drumming on the bare mantle followed. She stopped self-consciously, closing her eyes and listening more intently for sounds outside herself.  Only the soft plop of a leaky faucet a few doors down broke the near silence.

She let out the air trapped in her lungs with a heavy sigh and opened her eyes. Looking around the room once more, she tiptoed back to the open door. She surveyed the empty hallway one more time before tiptoeing from room to room one more time. Her shoulders slumped as she resigned herself to the fact that her boyfriend hadn’t made time for their rendezvous.

Faltering steps carried her down the stairs. The click of her heels echoed across the foyer. She paused for a last glance around the rooms visible from this vantage point.

“I can’t believe he isn’t here.” Her soft voice echoed through the spacious room.

She placed one hand on the doorknob, pulling her coat closer around her with the other. As the door opened, snowflakes swirled in to meet her. And then she saw the ukuleles. Without thinking, she closed the door, shutting out the cold. In three quick steps, she stood before three gleaming ukuleles. Lifting one crafted from dark wood, she strummed the strings gently.

“You called?” John stepped from behind one of the floor length red, velvet curtains that hung on either side of the door.

“Why were you hiding from me?” Setting the ukulele down to cross her arms, Tessa put on her fiercest look.

“I wasn’t hiding. This was.” His grin softened her, but the box resting on his outstretched hand melted her completely.

Before she could speak, he was on one knee before her. “Will you share this Christmas and all of those to come with me… As my wife?”

She paused, wanting to refuse him because he had worried her so, but one word escaped her lips in a raspy whisper.

“Yes.”

“What was that?” He half rose, tilting his head a little.

She leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Yes.”

He smiled and slipped the ring onto her finger before pulling her into his arms. When he finally let her go, he picked up the ukulele. As his fingers strummed the strings, John began to sing. Tessa added her soft harmonies to his, filling the foyer with the echoing refrain of “Silent Night.”