It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

19.

One year later...

December 24 - 7:00 PM

The Shepherd family was enjoying the children's Christmas carols, hot chocolate and conversations of the past year. The weather was mild this year, and though there was the usual ring of Christmas cheer through the house, Mrs. Shepherd found herself periodically glancing towards the door.

"Don't worry mom... he said he'd try to be here." Nancy said, passing her mother, touching her shoulder softly.

"I know... You know me... I just miss my boy...He's always so busy." She said softly as she turned her attention towards the children once again. As soon as the doorbell rang though, she was on her feet and on the way to the door. She swung the door open, and her worried face was suddenly brightened by the face on the other side of the door. "Meredith!" She exclaimed happily as she threw her arms around the girl standing at the door.

"Hi..." Meredith laughed, her arms wrapped around her tightly as she hugged her back.

"Where is..."

"He had to work..." Meredith said sadly as she felt her loosen her grip slowly. She reached her hand down and lifted a large bag with gifts. "He sent me on instead... he said he'd try to make it tomorrow morning." Meredith said softly as she watched the hurt flash before her eyes. "I'm sorry..." Meredith whispered.

"No... no, sweetheart... it's not your fault..." She said with a smile.

"Meredith?" Joann's voice came from the hallway as she poked her head from the family room. "Everyone! Meredith is here!" She exclaimed. Meredith grinned when she heard the cheers from the family in the family room and looked at Mrs. Shepherd with a laugh.

"Sounds like you have quite the party going on in there..." She said with a giggle.

"You bet we do..."

"I brought the..." Meredith said, pulling out the small box that Mrs. Shepherd had handed to her before she had left with Derek one year prior. She opened it slowly.

"Oh... the ornament..." She said with a smile, looking at the tiny silver plated star that she had given Meredith.

"I don't... really have a Christmas tree... and Derek didn't have time to put one up this year... so I wanted to know if I could..."

"Of course." She said with a smile as she took Meredith's hand, leading her slowly towards the family room. "Alright everyone... you be nice to Meredith... Derek couldn't make it... he had to work... so he sent her along anyway..."

"He's a good boy!" Bethany exclaimed.

"There's no reason that you can't have a good time without him!" Michael exclaimed.

"How is the car working out for you?" Neil asked as Meredith made her way over to the couch.

"It's working out great." She smiled as she sat down on the couch, noticing that once again, there was that decorated red chair in the corner, just begging for Santa to visit. She sighed in resignation, knowing that Derek wouldn't be able to be Santa this year. "Thanks again..." She smiled. "I've kept it away from snowbanks and snow plows..." She laughed as they all settled back to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere. Kathleen brought her a cup of coffee, and the conversation warmed her heart as she slipped right back in where she had left off the previous year.

Every now and then though, she would think of Derek, slaving away at the hands of her mother at the hospital. He was sure that he was going to be able to get the time off, but at the last minute one of the other residents fell sick. She needed an extra few hands available, and Derek was of course one of them. She watched the door, just praying that he would walk through it, though the happiness of his family members warmed her heart.

He had convinced her to head over to his mother's house, knowing that if he didn't, she'd just spend the evening at her own mother's house alone and lonely while he was at work. She didn't want to leave him, knowing that they'd at least have the time when he came home, but he had convinced her that he'd most likely be too exhausted to do anything, anyway, and that she should really go on ahead to his mother's house, to at least send the presence of him along the way.

She had driven alone and sadly, the long winding roads from school, but he had gone through the directions with her and she had found the house in no time. It had helped a lot that there wasn't much snow, and that the weather had been clear, but she couldn't help but feel that pang of loneliness knowing that he wouldn't be there when she got there.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang once again, and Mrs. Shepherd looked up in confusion as she glanced around to everyone who shared the exact same look.

"SANTA!" One of the children exclaimed, running quickly to the door.

"Oh dear..." Mrs. Shepherd said nervously, knowing that it was most likely a neighbor or a family friend stopping by to wish them a Merry Christmas. There wouldn't be a Santa this year, and she felt awful knowing that when the door swung open, and it wasn't Santa, that her grandson would surely be disappointed. Neil had offered to dress up as Santa, but they figured in the long run that it would work out if they tried to dissipate that tradition, since it was getting too difficult to organize it completely.

"Donnie... Santa called baby... remember... he said he wouldn't be able to make it this Christmas..." She said softly as she took her grandson's hand and opened the door slowly.

She nearly lost her footing in surprise when she saw the red suit and black boots, those bright blue eyes and familiar smile shining from behind the snowy white beard.

"I TOLD YOU IT WAS SANTA, GRANNY!" Donnie exclaimed excitedly.

Mrs. Shepherd was speechless as she watched 'Santa' enter the house. "Ho Ho Ho!" he exclaimed, listening as he heard the pounding of feet running to the doorway of the family room, heads popping out to see the visitor at the door.

"I... I..."

"You thought Santa couldn't make it this year..." He said with a smirk beneath the beard. "You're not the only one that I tricked... are you?" The doorway was filled with family members, watching as Santa reached out and wrapped his arms around Mrs. Shepherd. "I told you that I'd make it if I could..." He whispered.

"Meredith is going to kill you..." She whispered in his ear as she listened to him chuckle in her ear.

He looked up and amid the crowd of family members stood Meredith, her mouth wide open in surprise as her cheeks turned bright red. He smiled beneath his beard as he grabbed the large red bag of gifts from beside him. He headed towards the family room as everyone parted to let him through. "Ho Ho Ho!" he exclaimed as he laughed, walking into the room. As he passed Meredith, she gave him a shake of the head as her mouth still hung open. "Meredith... if your mouth hangs open any wider, you're going to catch a fly in it." He whispered as he touched her chin with his gloved hand, smiling beneath the beard, she caught a glimpse of the wicked sparkle in his eye as he walked to the 'Santa chair' and made himself comfortable, his eyes trained on her the entire time as he placed his large bag of gifts beside him.

Slowly, Meredith's shock became happiness, feeling intense warmth pushing up through her body to her heart as she watched the first niece climb upon Santa's lap, starting the Christmas tradition all over again.