Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Twenty

Bernard's house, though considered expansive when compared to the other elf homes, was much more intimate than a typical human's house. It had a total of four very small rooms. A bedroom with an attached bathroom, a kitchen, and a sitting room. He always felt like it was a bit much, but now that Jessie would be moving in he wondered if it would be enough for her. If he would be enough for her. Dr. and Mrs Miller's house was pretty big, there was room for everyone there. In contrast Bernard's house yielded no room for privacy. The head elf chewed nervously on his bottom lip as he guided a blindfolded Jessie through the snow.

"If you hate it or it's too small, we can move." He assured his future wife. He didn't know where they'd move. He already owned the largest elf house in the arctic circle, but he loved Jessie and would do anything to make her happy. He'd build her a house if he had to. She was willing to give up her whole life to be with him.

What he didn't know, was that Jessie would have been perfectly happy sleeping on the cot in his office as long as it meant she got to be with him. The girl who wanted a "normal" family finally understood what the word family actually meant. It didn't matter if she lived in a small elf house or on the moon, as long as she was loved by Her parents, Charlie, Lucy, Neil and Bernard. Jess laughed when she felt Bernard grip her waist anxiously. He loved her laugh, it sounded so much like the chimes on Santa's sleigh.

"Bernard, I'm sure your house is wonderful." Jessie whispered. She listened to the bells around his neck jingle as they trudged further into the snow.

"Well if nothing else, it's clean." Bernard promised. They stopped walking and Jess felt the blindfold slip off her face. She opened her eyes to see they were standing in front of a small Christmas red home. The outside was decorated with twinkling icicle lights and a giant wreath on the front door. Curious to see if the inside was as nice as the outside, Jess instinctively reached for the handle but her arm froze midway. "Here," Bernard put Jessie's suitcase down so that he could riffle through his brown satchel. From the bag he pulled out a large gold skeleton key and handed it to his fiancé. "Go on, it's your house too." He encouraged her.

Jess put the key in the door's keyhole and turned it. The tumblers click and the front door opened. Jess stepped into the house's sitting room. It was decorated with red walls and a green carpet. A dark red loveseat was pushed against one wall, the rest of the room was filled with bookshelves.

"This house was a given to me when I was Keeper of the book." Bernard explained as he stepped by her side.

"Keeper of the..." Jess began to laugh.

"Well I wasn't always head elf." Bernard frowned.

"That's not why I'm laughing!" Jessie gasped. "I'm just picturing you running around with that giant book in your hands chasing the head elf down and telling him everything he was doing wrong!"

"I wasn't...I didn't..." Bernard tried to objected but truth be told that's exactly what he'd been like as Keeper of the Christmas Handbook. He'd do anything to impress Conroy, the head elf of the time.

"You're so serious!" Jess stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him. "The house is wonderful. Least what I've seen so far."

"I, um, I cleaned off a few shelves for you." He pointed out a few empty shelves on a nearby bookcase. "And in the kitchen..." He took Jessie's hand and dragged her into the next room. The kitchen was bright and mostly white with peppermint stripped wallpaper. A large picture window occupied a majority of the west wall. Under the window was a rack of paints in every shade. Bernard had even moved Jessie's easel from her guest room in the workshop to his kitchen. "It's the nicest view in the house."