One Christmas Wish

There is a day I became closer to my wife that I will always remember. No, I’m not talking about our wedding day, the day I’m talking about started off about as normal as it could. It was the third day of very severe blizzard that had snowed in our little town of Surrey quite a bit, in fact already three feet of snow had already fallen since the last five in the previous two days and needless to say no one was going anywhere anytime soon. Unfortunately stuck in the house there was no where for me to hide from that growing “honey do” list she was making of chores that needed to be done before the holidays which were fast approaching, God help me.

I thought I would tackle the easiest one which was to clean out the front closet, she wanted all the winter coats and whatnot to be brought out so our family wouldn’t freeze to death getting the mail or paper, which may I say wasn’t going to come for awhile. In other words she was telling me to get my stinky gym clothes out mostly and organize all the stuff that we had both stuffed inside of it, which I had to admit wasn’t a bad idea since I couldn’t close the door all the way. How does stuff pile up so fast?

Everything had been going smoothly, and I had reached the back wall by lunch time. I had also found something that was very curious to me. What I had found was a beautifully wrapped present which was addressed to someone who I had never heard of in my life and it was from my wife! Who was Dan? Was this a co-worker secret Santa present? Was she secretly seeing this Dan behind my back? How could three years of marriage be washed down the drain in a blink of an eye? All these questions and many more were going through my head a hundred miles an hour. I wanted to know the truth above all else.

I called out her name and asked her to come and look at what I had found. I would corner her, surprise her, and make sure she had no where to run and that the truth would be known to me this day.

“Who’s present is this?” I asked.

“Oh my God you found it! She said
“Yes and who’s is it?”

She then walked over to the couch sat down and started balling her eyes out. I stood there with a look of concern on my face at why my wife was crying but I still had questions I wanted answered.

“Stephanie, whose present is this?”

“It belongs to Dan.”

“Yes I can see that, but who is Dan?”

“Dan is my long lost adopted brother.”

“Wait, I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“Yeah, he and I were separated at the orphanage the day I was adopted. I haven’t seen him since. I went back to get him years later I learned he had run away. I’ve had that present for twelve years, waiting to give it to him one Christmas day.”

“Honey why didn’t you tell me you were adopted?”

“It is a part of my past I’m very ashamed of, a part of me I want to forget.”

“Haven’t you tried to find him?”

“Yes I have, but I can’t find him.”

I sat there shell shocked at the information I was hearing. A part of me felt ashamed that I would ever doubt her. I loved her so much, and her being adopted didn’t change one bit of what I felt for her. I knew what she needed now was her brother and I was going to find him come hell or high water. I had only two months before Christmas so I knew I had to act fast.

I looked online, at court records, and even public records. Those two short months had flown by fast and with no avail I had not found Dan anywhere, it was as though he has dropped off the face of the Earth and Christmas Eve was tomorrow. It hurt me a bit because I had failed, or so I had thought until I received a phone call that shocked the hell out of me.

“Hello?”

“Yes, um is this the Harper residence?”

“Why yes it is, how can I help you?”

“My name is Danny Phelps and I’m looking for my sister Stephanie Harper. Does she live there?”

My heart dropped to my stomach. Dan had found us! I told Dan she lived here and that she had been looking for twelve years for him but could never find him. He was so thrilled to finally call the right house; he too had been looking all those years. I talked with Dan for about an hour, answering all the questions he had about Stephanie. In the end I arranged for him to fly in tomorrow night with his wife and kids to surprise Stephanie for Christmas. When Dan arrived at the house that next night, I had never seen my wife any happier, and I couldn’t blame her. She had waited twelve years to be reunited with her brother; her only real wish for Christmas was finally met, to see him again and give him that one gift that she had been holding on to for so long. That Christmas Eve we grew even closer since we got married, she loved that I thought  her brother was important enough to go on a quest to find him for her. Isn’t that what husbands are for, do whatever we can to love our wives to our fullest? Oh by the way, that closet still hasn’t been cleaned out.