Five Times a Charm

Gina took all of her 9-year-old frame and jumped up as high as she could off of the trunk of her mom’s car, coming down right in the middle of a large puddle of muddy, Texas water. It was perfection for her brother and sisters as they cheered her on, while receiving a large amount of the water on themselves. Gina’s new dress was supposed to be yellow, but it now had become an off brown/tan color, as the mud dripped slowly onto the ground below.

“Way to go, Gina! Perfection!” They held up 10 fingers for a perfect score, including the oldest sibling, Susan, who was 14. Gina’s big sister was exactly who she wanted to impress. It had been like this since she was a baby. As a matter of fact, all the McDonald kids spent most of their off time, daring and trying to impress each other through stunts. Riding down the stair banister, hanging upside down from the large oak tree in their front yard, chasing after wild rabbits, these were everyday events around the McDonald household.

“Gina Ann McDonald! You get your scrawny little butt in here right now!” Oh, crap! When her mom used her middle name, it only meant one thing: trouble.

“Gina Ann McDonald!” Gina’s only brother, Bubba, loved teasing her and then he took two handfuls of the puddle water and threw it directly onto her back, causing all four of her siblings to explode in laughter.

As Gina made her way onto the front porch, she yelled behind her, “I’ll get my revenge, Bubba, when you least expect it!”

The McDonald family had been calling the boy, Bubba, his whole life. So much so, that no one really remembered that his real name was Reggie. His four older sisters, Susan, Maureen, Louise, and Gina had trouble pronouncing ‘brother’, so they just made it Bubba and it stuck.

As Gina pulled open the screen door and the rusted hinges announced her entrance, she slowly tried to sneak by and up the stairs without her mom seeing her.

“Don’t you dare try and come in here without me inspecting you, little girl!”

Caught. Dang it.

She slowly made her way into the kitchen as Mom finished prepping the Christmas Eve meal that she was making for a special Christmas Eve dinner. As she entered, Mom did not turn around from her oven, but could somehow still see where Gina was. The always talked about ‘eyes in the back of her head’ theory that all the kids swore was true.

“What were you doing?”

Suddenly Gina thought of a lot of answers, all of them lies, but she knew her mom would find out, so she mumbled “puddle jumping” and hoped it would suffice.

Mom spun around in one move and let out a wail so loud, the other kids ran to the back-screen door to see what was happening.

“That’s your dress for tonight? You’ve ruined it!” Just as she said that Gina realized the enormity of her actions and began to cry real tears, big, real tears.

“It’s okay. Just get it off and change into some jeans and hand it to me. I’m going to have to rub some spot cleaner on it. Bradley will be here in 20 minutes. Go, go, go!” Gina scrambled up the stairs and tore the yellowish-brown dress off as she bounded up the 12 steps. “Is he coming dressed as Santa?” Gina inquired from the top of the steps. “Probably, I don’t know. He said he’s got some questions for all of us.” Melody had an idea about what he might ask her, but at the same time she felt she might jinx it if she thought too hard.

This night had been planned for a year now. One year ago, Melody took the kids to a Christmas Eve party at the local firehouse. One of the firefighters playing Santa that night was a single man, Bradley, and as fate would have it, he would change the whole trajectory of her and the kids’ future. All of Melody’s friends and family had formed a prayer group, praying that he’d pop the question tonight. Which only served to make her more nervous than normal.

The rest of the gang filed in the back door and through the kitchen, and as they began to ascend the stairs, Melody stopped them with a sergeant’s voice, “Line up for inspection!”

Bubba made it up three steps, only to freeze and slowly head back down, backwards, getting in line, in front of his big sisters.

Throwing her hands up, Melody began to tug and use her super mom saliva to clean Bubba’s face. And worked her way down the line, giving all the girls a look and saying, “Why did you all do this? You know tonight’s a big night!”

“We didn’t…” before Susan could get a third word out, her mom shushed her with three fingers near her mouth. “You know better, Susan Allison McDonald!” Again, the gulp inducing middle name. “I don’t want to hear it. Now, Bubba, go get deodorant on and change your shirt to the blue polo.”

“Ah, mom!” with a look, Bubba just bowed his head and confirmed, “yes ma’am.” As he bounded the stairs to his room.

Somehow Melody pulled a brush out of nowhere and began to try and untangle the ‘rat’s nest’ on Susan’s head. “Ahh! Mom!” she screamed in pain, causing Melody to push the brush in her stomach, “Fine, you go do it! But I want smooth hair in ten minutes.”

The other two sisters rushed up the stairs together, as Melody playfully slapped their butts with a kitchen towel.

Melody ran into the front room and grabbed toys, tossing them into a ‘catch all’ bucket. She turned on the Christmas tree lights and the lights on the banister, then ran into the kitchen to look in the oven one last time at the goose, cooking slowly.

This year had been amazing in so many ways. But in her mind, she must plan on him not proposing. She’d been so used to troubles and struggles, that she couldn’t let her guard down.

It was seven years ago when her first husband, the kids’ father, decided he didn’t want to be married and what’s worse, he didn’t want to be a father anymore. Two months after Bubba was born, he just walked out of the house, never to come back.

Her parents helped when they could, but she got another job and she has primarily raised all five kids by herself.

Then, Christmas Eve last year, there he was, Bradley Goodman, a firefighter, 42 years old and a widower, living by himself. Well, he was really Santa at the time. In-between shuffling the kids up to sit on his lap, Bradley found out who the cute lady was and slipped her a note, asking if she’d like to get a drink sometime. They did, and now one year later, as she found herself looking out her window and remembering the year, she smiled.

For someone who was resigned to accept her single mom fate with five kids, Bradley was an absolute miracle. He took a liking to each kid, even though they gave him a hard time, and his patience was unbelievable. And he had to bond with the kids. She wouldn’t dream of bringing anyone into their lives without the connection.

“Mom! Is this okay?” Melody spun around to see Gina, in a new shirt and jeans, with her hair up in a red bow. She caught herself tearing up and quickly turned to avoid her youngest daughter seeing her emotional. She had to be strong, which meant covering up her emotions.

Gina ran up behind her and wrapped her arms around her mom, squeezing as tight as she could. “It’s alright, mom, I can change again if you want me to?”

“What? No, honey, no, you look fantastic. I’m just feeling a little emotional.”

Suddenly the other kids ran in and formed a circle around their mom, all of them squeezing hard, as if she might run away.

Melody turned around as her tears dropped on their small heads. She never thought a day like this would happen.

Suddenly, a series of red lights appeared on the wall next to them, and the sound of sirens began to come into range. This caused the whole family to run to the front window and place their faces on the windowpane. A huge fire truck barreled down the country lane and Santa, or Bradley, could be seen hanging on the back, waving away.

“Oh, my gosh. What is going on guys?”

“He did it! He came as Santa!” The kids all burst into joy and danced around, high fiving each other.

The whole family ran out on the front porch and began to wave frantically, as the sirens got louder and louder and as the huge, red truck got closer to the house.

When the truck finally made it to the front of the house, Bradley, dressed in a plush Santa costume jumped from the back and shouted the accustomed greeting: “Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas!” Flung over his shoulder was a large red sack, bursting with gifts.

The kids were absolutely transfixed and speechless. No fighting, no arguing, just jaws dropped, and eyes wide open.

“Well, hello, McDonald family! Merry Christmas!” Bradley walked up to each kid and bent down to hug them all individually. When he finally got to Melody, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “Oh, Santa, you need a shave! Your whiskers are tickly” she teased. “Would you care to come in?”

“But of course, Ms. Melody. Thanks for the ride fellows!” Bradley and the family waved goodbyes, as the fire truck drove away with sirens blaring.

“First, let me set some things up. Line up by age, oldest to youngest, McDonald kids.” Much like the Von Trapp kids in Sound of Music, everyone lined up next to Mom, like they’d done it a lot, because they had.

“Alright, I want you all to come in the living room, one at a time, so Santa can make sure he has the right gift for each of you. Starting with Susan, my you’re getting tall!” Bradley punctuated his observation with a squeeze of Susan’s nose, which caused her to turn red and the group to giggle wildly. “Then Ms. Maureen, what a beauty you are! And Louise, the athlete of the bunch, you’re a fast one! Then, Gina, the comedy relief…” Bradley gave his best raspberry, followed by Gina giving it right back. “ And finally, Mr. Bubba, the man of the house!” He made a body builder pose and smiled, causing Bubba to crack up. “Once you’re done, the next will come in and so on, and so on. Got it?” The whole group agreed as they sat on the front steps.

Bradley held his arm out offering it up to Melody, who accepted and walked inside the house through the screen door.

“No peeking you rascals!” The kids giggled at the ‘rascals’ comment.

As the screen door shut behind them, Melody grabbed Bradley’s butt and squeezed. “Hey now, you don’t want to be on the naughty list, do you? Or maybe you do?” he bellowed, causing both to laugh.

Bradley quickly moved a big back, armed chair, positioning it perfectly next to the well-lit artificial tree. He then moved another chair next to his and motioned for Melody to sit.

“What have you got planned here, Santa?”

“Oh, just you wait, my dear, just you wait. You know we’ve always talked about how important the kids are to you, and how I’ve bonded with them more than any other kids I know?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I think they’re all equally important and I want to treat them as such.” Once seated, Bradley called out toward the opened door, “Okay, Ms. Susan, Santa is ready!”

Susan slowly opened the screen door and gingerly walked in.

Out on the porch, Gina stood on a lower step. “I imagine he’ll ask what we want for Christmas. I mean he is Santa and all.”

“Not really. I mean, he’s Bradley playing Santa. He does it to help the real Santa.” Gina gave the other sisters a wink without Bubba seeing.

Well, I already told Santa, I want a life size adventure doll and the horse to go with it! Man, I hope he comes through for me!”

Bubba stood and announced, “I want a monster truck set!”

Susan’s voice could be heard shouting from inside, “Yes!” followed by Melody with a resounding, “Yes!”

The kids on the porch looked at each other with the wonderment that only Christmas can bring.

“Next!” was then heard through the screen door, followed by Maureen, who was standing and nervously, walking through the door, leaving Louise, Gina and Bubba filled with giddy excitement.

Bubba leaped from the steps in one move landing on the dirt below with a big thud. “What did they yell ‘Yes’ about? Was it her present? Oh, I hope I get a monster truck set! I will play with it all the time!”

Gina stepped down, grabbed Bubba by the arm and walked him back up to the top of the steps. “Calm down, Bubba! Sit here. Oh man, the youth today!” This caused all three to crack up.

“Yes!” Maureen screamed through the screen door, followed by Melody, Yes!”

Gina stood up high on her heels and tried to glance through the front window, as Louise pulled her back down in the seated position. “Don’t ruin the surprise, Gina!”

“Next!” the call came through the door again, followed by Louise bounding through the screen door, leaving Gina and Bubba alone on the front steps.

They sat for a while, as Bubba took a small stick and tried to write on the front porch. “What do you think they’re doing in there?” Bubba asked his older sister.

“I don’t know but I think we should just say ‘yes’” With that Bubba, screamed, “Yes!” and the two laughed and fell back onto the wooden slats.

“You’re pretty funny for a younger brother, Bubba.”

“Thanks. You are, too. Uh, I mean for an older sister.”

“Yes!” Louise yelled through the open door, followed by Melody with another resounding, “Yes!”

Gina and Bubba looked at each other with awe.

“Next!”

“I guess that’s me. You going to be okay out here by yourself?” Bubba nodded and shook Gina’s hand, “Good luck.”

Gina stood and flew through the screen door, as it closed abruptly behind her. Bubba leaned back again, looking up at the wooden porch cover. He took his finger and made a periscope for his right eye to look through. He then aimed his fake periscope out toward the creek he played at every day. It’s tough being the youngest and finding out last, he contemplated.

Gina’s “Yes!” exclamation caused Bubba to stand on his feet in one quick motion. “Yes!” Melody strongly proclaimed for a fourth time.

Bubba slowly opened the screen door to see his sisters on the couch, next to his mom and Santa next to the tree.

“Next?” Bubba exclaimed, inching into the front room.

“Come on in, big guy.” Santa stood and reached into his almost empty bag and produced a large box labeled, ‘Monster Truck Rally’. Bubba’s eyes got so big they took up most of his face. “Is this what you had in mind for Christmas?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Bubba exploded and hugged the gift like someone might take it away.

The whole house burst into laughter as Santa moved Bubba to the chair. “There’s something else I need to ask you, Cowboy.”

“Since you’ve been patiently waiting, I’ve been asking the whole family a question. It’s a profoundly serious question, so I want you to really think about it.” Bubba looked confused. “A very, very serious question.” Santa leaned in closer and spoke directly into Bubba’s eyes.

“All of your sisters have accepted my offer and your mom has graciously said yes, four times before.” He cleared his throat and extended his hand out to Bubba.

“Bubba, will you allow me to marry your mom and to come into your life full-time and be your stepdad? I will do everything within my power to raise you and work right beside your mom to help guide you, and…”

“Yes!” Bubba screamed, before he could get the rest out, followed by the whole family shouting, “Yes!” with an explosion of laughs and clapping and dancing around.

Santa then placed a ring on Melody’s finger and stood facing her. She smiled and whispered, “Yes” one last time.

Melody grabbed him and kissed him through the fake beard as the kids tried to separate them. “Come on, Mom! That’s gross!”

Bubba grabbed some mistletoe and stood on the chair attempting to raise it over their heads.

That night, the McDonalds celebrated like never before, and the next morning, it continued.

How happy they all were, that they said yes, five times that night.

And they lived…well, you know the rest.