All I Want for Christmas by Lynn Emery Read Free Book Online Page A

the rest of the furniture. Darcie Lee Wallace would
have looked younger than her sixty years, but a permanent stamp of
dissatisfaction marked her brow with frown lines. Still her nut
brown skin had few wrinkles. She ate from a big bowl of popcorn in
her lap while Gaylynn fiddled with her mother’s Blu-ray
player.
    Nedra’s older sister,
Jarae, was in her mother’s spare bedroom, setting up a movie and
the games console to keep her own and Gaylynn’s kids entertained.
She had two boys, while Gaylynn had a six-year-old boy and a
four-year-old girl.
    Minutes later, Jarae
entered the den and flopped down on the loveseat. At five feet nine
and with nut brown skin like their mother, she had briefly been a
model in her teens. “Damn, those kids should be tired after being
at school all day and playing since they got in.” She let out a
deep breath.
    “They’re young, with energy
to spare, baby. Get used to it. You got a good twenty years to go,”
Darcie Lee retorted. “I told y’all not to have those kids without a
husband. I learned my lesson young.”
    “Now why did you get her
started, Jarae?” Gaylynn muttered. At thirty, she already matched
her mother’s constantly harried look. With cinnamon skin and
reddish brown hair, Gaylynn turned more than a few male
heads.
    “You know Mama’s gonna
bring that up every chance she gets. I didn’t have to start her
off,” Jarae grunted. She was about to go on when her ten-year-old
son, Noah, and his nine-year-old brother, Christian, raced
in.
    Darcie Lee glared at them.
“What did I tell y’all about running through my house?”
    “Yes, ma’am,” said
Christian.
    “Mama, can we have some
more Kool-Kid punch?” Noah waved an empty, plastic cup in the air.
His little brother raised his as well.
    “Y’all can only have one
more cup. You’ll be up all night peeing,” Jarae shot back. She
stood up and stomped into the kitchen, fussing as she went. Moments
later, there was the pounding of feet and Jarae returned. “Kids eat
and drink like bottomless pits.”
    “They’re growing boys. Just
wait until they’re teenagers. Then you’ll really have something to
complain about,” Darcie Lee replied, nodding. “Now, if you had two
incomes it would be a whole lot easier.”
    “Look at it this way, Mama,
you didn’t have to chip in and pay for any weddings,” Nedra joked.
Then she sobered when Jarae stared daggers at her.
    “I wouldn’t have paid for
weddings anyway. Name me one couple who stayed together, out of all
my friends who paid a lot of money for fancy weddings. Name one,”
Darcie Lee replied.
    “Make up your mind, Mama,”
Gaylynn shot back. “You say we should have gotten married. Then you
turn around and say marriage is a waste.” She tucked her legs
beneath her on the sofa.
    “I didn’t say it was a waste. I said most of
your generation doesn’t have the good sense to pick the right
person. Course I have to concede that you girls don’t have much to
choose from when it comes to men.” Darcie Lee gave a sharp nod.
    “You and Mr. Jesse seem to
be rockin’ steady. When are y’all going to get married anyway?”
Jarae asked, and shot an amused look at her sisters. Jesse Franklin
had been their mother’s boyfriend for the last year.
    “I’m talking about these
young men,” Darcie Lee snapped back. “My plans are none of your
business.”
    “Well since we’re talking about men and going
to the altar, I don’t see why we can’t all be held to the same
standard,” Jarae replied.
    “First of all, I don’t have
young kids to support, so I’m in no hurry. I’m not going to have
any more babies either. I don’t care what these other women are
doing, having babies in their fifties and sixties. That’s slap
crazy.” Darcie Lee shook her head. “Jesse and I have raised our
children. Now we can relax and take things slow.”
    “I’m just checking. We
could start picking out your wedding dress and deciding on colors
for the