My Mother Married Into Four Brothers, and Each One Says I Saved Him novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve there were nine of us at the long table, and for the first time in two months Kasper passed Soren the potatoes.
He did it without a word, in the middle of grace, with his eyes shut.
Soren took the bowl in both hands.
Nobody commented.
My mother, at the foot of the table, found something in her napkin and dabbed her eyes with it.
We ate ham, and green beans with almonds, and a pan of my stepfather's sister's scalloped corn.
Snow ticked on the window.
The old man said his nine words of grace, and then, to everyone's surprise, a tenth.
"Amen," he added, and looked at me.
It was the nearest he had come to a speech in three months.
After dinner we did presents by the tree in the front room.
Kasper went first.
He handed me a long box, and I opened it on my knees.
It was a set of four snow tires, still in their wrappers, for my Subaru.
"They're mounted," Kasper said. "I took your car in Tuesday while you slept. I'd like permission to drive you in January, when the dike road drifts."
"No," I said.
"Understood."
"Kasper."
"I'll be at home with the phone on," he said. "That's all. If you want me."
I looked at his big hands, folded on his knee.
"I'll call," I said, "if I want you."
His face went still with something I think was joy.
Eero was next.
He gave me a small box wrapped in brown paper and string, with a tag that said, in his neat hand, Tested.
Inside was a slim silver pocket meter.
"It reads pH and conductivity," he said. "For your thermos. For anything. It's yours. I won't test your water again unless you hand it to me."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of My Mother Married Into Four Brothers, and Each One Says I Saved Him are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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