Chapter 18

Two more days had passed in Thunder Bay with Patrick’s family and despite myself, I was having fun. His family was amazing. They were sweet, funny, and real. This was a real family, the prime example of a real family in fact. They laughed and joked with each other, telling embarrassing stories lovingly and without malice. I ached for that. My whole life I’d always ached for that.

Patrick and his father had gone outside to get something from a shed a while ago. Two days ago I would have felt awkward being left alone with his family, but not now. Now I hardly noticed that he was out of the room and I was alone with people I’d only just met. Periodically my mind would wander and I’d find myself almost waiting for the panic attack to come, because by now it should be, but it never did. It was never even close.

It didn’t even kick in a few hours later when the rest of Patrick’s family showed up for dinner. There were aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. The house was alive with strangers and despite the crowded house the panic attack never came. Somehow throughout the evening the genuine smile remained on my face as I met and talked with each of them.

Everyone was curious about me, the girl that Patrick had brought home from Chicago for Christmas. I strangely didn’t mind the attention they all seemed to be paying to me as I was basically given the third degree about my job, my hobbies, and what I was interested in. Oddly though, the topic of my family never once came up in all the conversation.

“Did you need a break?” I heard a voice ask from behind me. I’d grabbed a mug of coffee and had made my way outside.

“No, it’s not that. I just think it’s so pretty here at night with all the stars out. I don’t get to see stars like this too often,” I told Elise truthfully. She smiled at me and nodded.

“I guess that’s the downside to living in a big city.”

“Only one of many,” I joked. She laughed a little and then we stood there in silence looking out over the stars for a while.

“You know, Patrick’s never brought anyone home for Christmas before, even when they lived close by. In fact, since he moved away from home almost 9 years ago he’s only introduced us to one other girl.”

Her words caught me by surprise and I wasn’t really sure what to say. I looked over at her and she simply smiled at me before turning and walking back into the house leaving me outside with that statement running through my head. She’d come out here to specifically tell me that and make sure I knew that I was different, but why? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, or any of it.

“Are you ever coming back inside?” This time it was Patrick’s voice that I heard behind me. I turned back to him and smiled, trying desperately to hide the turmoil going on inside of me.

“Yeah, I was just about to.” He held the door open for me and followed me back inside.

A little while later we were all seated around a long table covered in food. Plates were passed around and everyone was encouraged to take as much as they wanted, because leftovers were not desired. The same jovial conversation I’d been witnessing the past few days continued through dinner and I found myself temporarily forgetting about what Elise had told me.

No one was in a hurry to get up from the table once we’d all been stuffed full of food. It was only when Ian decided it was time for after dinner drinks that anyone made a move to leave their chairs. I got up along with Patrick and prepared to head out into the living room with the majority of the others when Elise surprised me again.

“Gabrielle, do you think you could help me clean off the table?” she called over to me.

I stood frozen in my spot for a moment. She glanced back at me over her shoulder as she carried a dish into the kitchen, and smiled warmly. What she’d said to me outside on the porch suddenly came rushing back into my head as sudden understanding flooded my brain. I fought back the tears and picked up a dish myself, carrying it into the kitchen behind her.










Patrick followed his father across the snowy yard to the shed his parents had along the tree line in their backyard. He wasn’t sure exactly what they needed, but when his father had asked for help with something, he hadn’t questioned him. They stepped inside the shed and his father turned the light on.

“So what did we need to get?” Patrick asked, looking around at the boxes and tools that were stored in there.

“Nothing really,” his father replied. Patrick looked at him in understanding. His father wanted to talk to him about Gabrielle alone. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the work table.

“What do you have to say?” he asked. Ian took a similar stance against the wall across from Patrick.

“Gabrielle is different, isn’t she?” Patrick knew what he meant, and he nodded.

“I can’t explain it, but yeah, she is. There’s just something about her.”

“You’ve never brought anyone home with you before. Especially over a holiday like Christmas.”

“I told you about her family,” Patrick started and Ian nodded his head.

“Yeah, you said she doesn’t have any. What happened?” he asked. Patrick sighed and shrugged.

“She hasn’t said and I haven’t asked. I can tell that whatever it was wasn’t good. She won’t talk about them. The pain in her eyes is very apparent when they come up and I can see how difficult it is for her. I think there might have been an accident,” Patrick told him.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, something had to happen for her to lose both her parents and two sisters at the same time. I also noticed some scars on her arms that she told me came from glass in an accident, but she clammed up pretty quickly about those too. I think she was the only one that survived.” Ian took that information in and was quiet for a while.

“I’m sorry that anyone has to live with something like that. It can’t be easy,” he said after a while. Patrick agreed.

“That’s my only hesitation with her. Everything else is amazing. I just wish she’d open up to me about them and about what happened,” Patrick explained.

“People grieve in their own ways. Maybe when she lost them she lost the only people she’d been able to rely on. It takes time to be able to trust someone again.”

Patrick took that in, knowing his father was right. He would just have to be patient with Gabrielle and let her realize that he was here to stay as long as she’d have him and that she could trust him. Being here with her and watching her with his family had shown him even more that she was someone special, something different.

“If it helps, we all like her,” his father said. Patrick smiled over at him.

“Thanks.” Ian turned and began to search the shed, signaling the talk was over.

“We should probably find something in here to bring into the house. Otherwise they’ll wonder what we were doing out here.” Patrick laughed and began to help his father search for something.

Later that night Patrick watched Gabby help his mother and his aunt clean up the table after dinner. It was the last night they’d be here with an early flight back to Chicago the next morning. Even so, he couldn’t keep the smile off of his face when he thought about the break they’d had and shared together.

As the night wore on, everyone began to pack up and leave. He and Gabrielle hung back to say goodbye to his immediate family when the rest were gone. After doing so they got into the car and headed back to his house. The car ride was silent and Gabrielle kept her face turned towards the window and away from him. He wondered what that was about.

After pulling into the driveway he parked and got out of the car. When he got around it and reached Gabrielle he heard a sniffle. At first he assumed her nose might be running from the cold, but when he heard another immediately following the first he grabbed her arm and turned her to look at him. He was surprised to find tears flowing freely down her face.

“Gabby, what’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.

“Your mom asked me to help clean off the table,” she said between sniffs.

He was confused for a moment. She was crying because she was asked to help with chores? Really? But as he looked into her eyes searching for the cause of the tears he found his answer. Guests were never allowed to help with any sort of chore in his parents’ house and he could blatantly remember his mother saying that to Gabrielle when she’d offered to help with something the first day she'd met them.

He pulled Gabrielle into his arms and let her continue to cry on his shoulder. He wasn’t sure exactly what to say or do and figured that just letting her cry was the best thing. Tonight she’d gone from being a guest with no family to being accepted into his. He couldn’t imagine the emotions that were going through her right now. He heard her crying begin to fade and pulled away just a little.

“Why don’t we get inside out of the cold?” he suggested. She nodded and let him lead her inside.

She took off her coat and walked straight upstairs. He followed her a few minutes later after grabbing some things that they would need in the morning and found her tucked into bed. She was no longer crying, and he changed before getting into bed beside her. She turned over to him and looked straight into his eyes.

“Thank you for bringing me here with you,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome,” he returned before placing a kiss on her forehead.

She buried her head into his shoulder and closed her eyes. He watched her sleep for a while as he thought about what had just happened. He felt like she’d just cracked open a door for him, no longer keeping him completely shut out. He couldn't have been happier.