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Violet turned the car into the farmyard and slid it to a stop next to the barn, smiling to herself. Home for Christmas, and with her girlfriend beside her, what could possibly make the holiday better?
Turning off the ignition, she reached over into the back seat to grab her coat, wiggling in her seat to hook both her arms into it before capturing her handbag from the footwell. Josh was still asleep, as he had been for most of the journey, and he didn’t even stir as she turned back to the front of the car. She looked over at Judy, who was staring straight out the windscreen,
“Judes? You okay over there?”
Judy started from her reverie at Violet’s voice,
“Yes, fine.”
She gave a small smile, which didn’t fool Violet in the slightest. She’d been quiet the whole journey, even when Violet had attempted to start a faux argument about people who went overboard on their Christmas decorations. Judy loved everything Christmas-related, her apartment looked like a Christmas catalogue had exploded all over it, and she always got defensive if Violet so much as suggested that 5 singing reindeer might be 4 too many. But, on this occasion, Judy had not taken the bait, instead nodding vaguely along while Violet complained about the plethora of inflatable Santas in front gardens.
Now, Violet narrowed her eyes and reached out to take Judy’s hand in hers, marvelling as she always did at how perfectly they fit together, even while her mind gradually worked out what had got Judy worried.
“They’re going to be so happy Judes, I promise. They love you!”
Her girlfriend turned to look at her, and Violet saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes, as Judy said,
“As your friend, maybe, but not as-” she gestured to their joined hands.
“Why not?”
Judy ducked her head and said softly,
“What if they think I’m not good enough for you?”
Violet felt her heart break, and reached over to pull Judy into a hug,
“Oh Judes, honey, is that what you’ve been worrying about?”
She felt Judy nod against her chest as she answered,
“Their daughter, the charismatic, successful CEO, dating a divorced, mediocre secretary who can’t even meet her girlfriend’s parents without turning into a crying, nervous mess. Surely they want more for you than that?”
Violet placed a gentle kiss on the top of her girlfriend’s head,
“What they want is for me to be happy, and you, Judy Bernly, make me happy, even when you’re being a nervous mess. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I’ll tell that to anyone who will listen, including my parents. Hell, I’ll stick it on a billboard, if that’s what it takes.”
Judy gave a watery giggle and lifted her head up to meet Violet’s eyes,
“You make me so happy too, Vi, happier than I ever thought I could be.”
Violet smiled,
“Good. Now, let’s get rid of these tears,” she gently wiped away the couple of tears which were glistening on Judy’s cheeks, “and have a kiss for good luck.”
Violet gave her girlfriend a soft kiss, feeling the same rush she always felt kissing Judy. It had been nearly 5 months since they’d confessed their feelings for each other, but, to Violet, every kiss felt as special as their first.
“Love you, Judes.” She said, as they pulled apart.
“Love you too, Vi.” Judy replied, reaching over to grab her own coat, “ever so much.”
Then, as an afterthought, after they’d woken Josh up and got out of the car,
“And thank you for putting up with my worries.”
“I’m your girlfriend, honey, it’s my job to help with your worries,” then, thinking back over their previous conversation, “And don’t call yourself mediocre, you’re the best damn secretary in the whole office. And that’s with both my girlfriend hat and my CEO hat on.”
Judy giggled,
“2 hats! And you had the nerve to laugh at my hat on my first day.”
Violet smirked, taking her girlfriend by the hand, as they walked towards the farmhouse together, Josh rushing ahead of them towards the chicken coop, eager to see his feathered friends,
“You were still the cutest girl I’d ever seen, even in that ridiculous headwear.”
Despite her girlfriend’s assurances, Judy could still feel her nerves churning as they approached the front door. Violet smiled down at her as she reached for the bell rope, and said,
“Stand by for the excitement in 3, 2, 1…”
The door flew open to reveal Violet’s mother, Barbara, wearing a Christmas apron, liberally dusted with flour, and beaming at them,
“Vi! Finally!”
She pulled her daughter into a tight hug, leading Violet to also become lightly floured, before spotting Judy,
“Judy! How lovely to see you, Vi didn’t tell us you were coming too! She said she was bringing her-
Then the realisation hit her, splitting her speech into excited exclamations,
“You two? Oh Vi, why didn’t you tell us it’s Judy who- How wonderful!”
She pulled Judy into a big hug, and Judy caught a glimpse of Violet rolling her eyes and grinning behind Barbara.
“Thank you for letting me come for Christmas, Barbara, it’s very kind of you and John.”
“Not at all, lovely. We’re so pleased that Vi finally has someone special in her life to bring for Christmas, and doubly pleased to find out it’s you!”
Then, as she ushered both of them into the farmhouse and closed the door,
“I didn’t know you were, well, you know, batting for the other team. Or rather, batting for the same team as Vi. Especially as you were married?”
Judy felt herself blush, she knew Barbara meant it kindly, but she still wasn’t very comfortable discussing her sexuality with anyone who wasn’t Vi. It had taken her so long to admit it to herself, that the idea of having even an accepting conversation with anyone else was difficult to consider. She heard Violet begin to protest, but it was a man’s voice who spoke from the hall behind them,
“Barbara, love, I think all that matters is that Judy and Vi are together now and that they love each other. Right?”
He turned to smile at his daughter and Judy, who felt a rush of gratitude towards him, and he then added,
“And where’s my favourite grandson got to, eh?”
“He’s-” Violet started to say, but was interrupted by the door bursting open, framing Josh in the doorway, on the shoulders of a tall, sandy haired man.
“Hey sis!” The man decanted Josh on to the ground, who promptly ran across to throw his arms around his grandparents, before swooping Violet into a hug, “and hey Judes, I’ve just been hearing all about you two from my little nephew.”
Judy smiled, and found herself pulled into the hug,
“Hi Freddie, how are you?”
“I’m good, thanks,” He stepped back and seemed to be surveying the pair of them, “Trust you, Vi, getting a girlfriend before me and scooping up such a pretty one.”
He winked at Judy, who felt herself blush.
“Eyes off my girlfriend, thank you,” said Violet, mock glaring at him, “Or I’ll confiscate the present we brought you.”
Freddie mimed a surrender, and chuckled,
“Just kidding, you guys are far to cute together for me to want to break that up.”
Judy smiled, happiness bubbling inside her, as she watched Violet and Freddie tease each other and laugh together. She was here, with Vi’s family, who had accepted them being together so quickly and so easily, and it felt so right.
The rest of the evening passed in a state of wonderfully organised chaos. There was a feast of Chinese food for dinner, with everyone reading fortunes from cookies, some of which had been doctored by Freddie, which earned him a playful swat of the tea towel from Barbara, and an exasperated eyeroll from Vi after one of the fortunes introduced Josh to the alternative lyrics to Jingle Bells.
There was a small scuffle over who was going to wash up and who was going to dry, but no-one was left alone in the kitchen with the chores, as had always been the case at Judy and Dick’s Christmases (and it had always been her left in the kitchen). Instead, the rest of the family entertained the washers up by singing along with the Christmas carols on the radio, substituting their own words if they forgot the traditional ones and attempting the descant in ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ with mixed results.
There were the after-dinner games, in which she and Vi were soundly defeated by Freddie and Josh at Pictionary. But then, after Josh had put the cookies and milk out for Santa, and had done his rounds of ‘goodnights’ (making Judy’s heart melt when he gave her a huge hug and said “goodnight Auntie Ju-Ju”), she and Vi trounced the rest of the family at Articulate, a moment made all the better by her girlfriend pulling her close for a celebratory hug, and then not taking her arm from around Judy for the rest of the evening, as the family lapsed into a contented silence, enjoying the warmth and crackle of the log fire.
It was an evening that never could have happened when Judy was a child, her parents always treated Christmas more as a religious duty than a fun celebration, and the idea of anyone singing the wrong words to carols would have horrified them. Her Christmases with Dick and his parents hadn’t been any better, stilted conversation and small glasses of lukewarm champagne, rather than the raucous laughter and homemade mulled wine of Vi’s family, both of which were flowing liberally.
Judy snuggled closer to Vi and let her eyes close briefly, hearing the gently buzz of conversation and feeling Vi’s fingers softly stroking her shoulder, before hearing her girlfriend say, teasingly,
“I think we’d better get to bed before this one falls asleep on me and pins me to the sofa all night.”
Judy stirred, they said their goodnights and Vi led her up the stairs to their bedroom. As her girlfriend pinged the lamp on, Judy spotted a gift sitting on the bottom of the bed, and looked at Vi questioningly, as Vi groaned,
“Oh no. I thought we’d outgrown this particular Newstead tradition.”
Judy frowned,
“What do you mean?”
Her girlfriend tossed the gift to her and said,
“Open it and see.”
Judy carefully pulled off the bright blue wrapping paper, complete with jolly, dancing Santas, from the squidgy parcel, and out fell two pairs of matching pyjamas. The ‘Newstead Christmas Pyjamas’, according to Vi, who quickly explained that every year, on Christmas Eve, Santa delivered new pyjamas to the household. When they were much younger (and not so much younger, she added in parentheses) she told Judy, she and Freddie had had matching ones,
“But now, thank God, I can match with you. And you’ll look considerably better in-”
Here she consulted the front of one of the pyjama tops- “ ‘Rudolph the Rockin’ Reindeer’ pyjamas than he ever did, I can assure you.”
Judy chuckled, the image of Vi and Freddie as gangly teenagers in matching pyjamas tickled her immensely and she decided she would ask Barbara if she had any photos in the morning.
She scooped up the smaller of the two pairs and changed, ready for bed. She admired the, admittedly somewhat ridiculous, bright red pyjamas, adorned with reindeer hoof prints on the bottoms and a large sparkly Rudolph on the top, in the mirror, smiling delightedly as Vi came to stand behind her in her matching outfit, wrapping her arms around Judy and bending slightly to rest her chin on her girlfriend’s shoulder.
Judy felt tears unexpectedly prick at her eyes. A year ago, she was spending an unhappy Christmas Eve alone, feverishly checking items off her to-do list, hoping everything would be as Dick wanted it and waiting for him to come home from his club, drunk and demanding.
Now, she was wrapped in the arms of the woman she loved, wearing pyjamas picked out for her by her girlfriend’s parents who had welcomed her to their family with open arms, accepting her for exactly who she was.
Violet guessed at some of what Judy was thinking and drew her by the hand over to their bed. Once they were both in and she’d snapped the lamp off, she slipped both her arms around Judy, gently pulling her close and feeling Judy snuggle even closer against her.
Violet kissed her girlfriend tenderly, delighting at the speed and enthusiasm with which the kiss was returned, before Judy whispered to her,
“I never imagined Christmas could be like this. Here with you.”
“Me neither, honey. But I hope there’s many more to come, just like this.”
There was silence for a few minutes, each just contented to feel so close and warm in each other’s arms, before Violet saw the luminous digits on her alarm clock shift,
“It’s midnight,” she said, softly, “it’s officially Christmas now.”
She felt Judy smile in the darkness, and then stifle a yawn,
“Merry Christmas, Vi.”
“Merry Christmas, Judes.”
She placed a soft kiss on the top of Judy’s head,
“Sleep tight, honey. Love you.”
“Love you too, Vi. I can’t wait to see you unwrap my present tomorrow. Today, I mean.”
She gave a sleepy giggle. Violet felt Judy cuddle back in against her chest and shortly afterwards heard her girlfriend’s breathing become deep and regular. Judy was fast asleep.
Idly, Violet wondered what Judy might have brought her. She didn’t need to get me anything, Violet thought as she drifted towards sleep, the very best present was the last 5 months with Judy, and the infinite number of days they had in their future together, stretching out in front of them and sparkling with promise, like an endless string of Christmas lights.