The Gift

8

On the night before Christmas, Sebastien sat in the driver's seat of his Cadillac, heater on, staring through the heavy sheen of snow at the event hall where the party was being held. He wore a coat over a denim jacket and a pair of simple trousers, in an effort to combat the subzero temperature. In preparation for this party he had saved up what meagre money he had and taken Wayne's suggestion of a grand romantic gesture. He took a list out of his pocket and read over the evening's choreography one last time. With a deep breath, he stepped out of the car and began walking through the snow.

Mary didn't have especially high hopes for the Christmas party. In fact, she was only there because her dad had dragged her along. The entirety of her plan for the evening was to politely greet the few people she knew and then wait out the rest of it in the corner of the room. Under her dad's insistence, she had, at least, gone to the effort of putting on a nice dress. For a while, Mary watched Betty walking around and socialising. It was good to see her back to her usual self. Mary was worried that the events of the past few months would have more of an effect on her, but she seemed to be dealing with it in her own way. Her dad was also making a decent recovery, emotionally speaking. Physically speaking, he was still stuck in a wheelchair, but he had been able to return to work and Mary had seen him talking to the woman who had hit him. Wayne claimed that it was only to make sure there were no hard feelings, but Mary sensed that there was more to their relationship than that. Looking around, Mary realised that she was the only one still clinging to the past and what could have been. She hadn't seen Sebastien after his late night visit to her bedroom window. She didn't know how things stood between them.

Not wanting to get lost in her own thoughts, she turned her attention to the live band and the song they were playing. She enjoyed that for a while, but at the end of the song, the lights dimmed and the band stayed silent for a minute. When they resumed, it was with the high, lilting tones of Time of my Life. Mary sighed, wistfully remembering how this song had been playing when she and Sebastien had shared their first kiss at the drive-in. Slowly, two spotlights came on: one illuminating the band and the other pointed directly at Mary. She raised her eyebrows, confused and mildly embarrassed. Up on the stage, the second spotlight revealed to her that the band's lead singer had been stepped back and his place had been taken by Sebastien. Mary brought her hands to her mouth, realising that this must be his doing. Sebastien started singing and Mary bit her lip, overwhelmed.

As he continued to sing a disco ball was lowered from the ceiling and couples around the room stopped staring at Mary and began to slow dance. Sebastien smoothly gave the microphone back to the lead singer and made his way onto the centre of the dance floor, where a space around Mary had been cleared. He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes.

"I know you were still unsure about our relationship after the night I visited you. I talked to your dad as well, and with his help, I've done everything I can to make tonight special for you. I really want to show you how much you mean to me."

"You talked to Dad?"

"I did. In the wake of our breakup, it became clear to me just how important your dad is to you, and I knew that for you to even consider taking me back, we would have to be on good terms. I never wanted to come between you and him."

"Sebastien, I want to believe you-"

"See for yourself." Sebastien gestured to where Wayne was sitting, half smiling, half laughing. He caught Mary's eye and gave her a knowing nod of approval.

The song came to a close and the lighting returned to normal. Seeing all that he'd done for her, Mary's indecision about Sebastien was quickly fading. Feeling more confident than she had in months, she turned to Sebastien and gave him a quick peck on the lips while his attention was elsewhere. Sebastien jerked his head back in surprise and they both shared a laugh.

"So does this mean you forgive me?" he asked.

"Well, that depends," she replied playfully, "What else do you have planned for tonight?"

Sebastien's face split into a wide grin. "I thought you'd never ask. I've got to prepare a few things first, why don't you talk to your family for a minute?"

"Gladly. I'll see you in a bit."

As Sebastien left her, Mary headed back to Wayne and Betty, who both looked at her on approach.

"How are you enjoying the party, honey?" Wayne asked.

"It's wonderful! Sebastien's really outdone himself."

"Does that mean you two are back together?"

"I haven't told him yet, but yes! He has a way of making me feel really special, and I just love it! I also hear he sought some professional help with all this romanticism," she added, nudging her dad.

"What, me?" he shook his head. "You've been misinformed. I haven't talked to him since that night he came to your window."

Mary frowned, confused. "He said you two had talked?"

"We did – that night. Everything here is his doing."

Mary bit her lip, love struck. In her head, she took a moment to reminisce on the time she and Sebastien had spent together – him saving her from a goat at the festival, defending Betty against John at the drive-in, the nights they'd spent in his trailer and the heartfelt apology at her bedroom window. She knew more than ever that he was the one for her.

Betty interrupted her thoughts. "Hey, uh, who's that girl Sebastien's talking to?" She nodded to where he was standing, talking in what looked to be a hostile manner, to a tall albino girl with an extravagant red Mohawk. Someone moved and Betty saw a third person in the conversation. With a start, Betty recognised the British woman who had rescued her from John's friends months earlier. There was lots of gesturing from both Sebastien and the albino girl. The girl looked to be antagonising Sebastien. He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated motion and caught sight of Mary watching him. Seemingly worried, Sebastien jabbed a finger at the newcomer and walked away from her. He hurried back to Mary and took her by the hand. He addressed her family.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. Might I sneak Mary away for a moment? I have our next surprise lined up."

"By all means," Wayne replied. "I see you took my advice."

"I did. Thank you."

Wayne looked up at Sebastien and Mary. They stood beside each other, their hands on each other's waist. Mary was looking up at Sebastien's face and Wayne could see the adoration in her eyes. He smiled as they kissed and he felt, for the first time in a long time, that he had done right by Mary. He was proud of them both. "You two enjoy your night."

Mary let Sebastien lead her out onto a secluded balcony away from the party. The balcony was small and had a guitarist in a suit and sunglasses standing in the corner.

"This is Rick," Sebastien introduced the guitarist. "A friend."

Rick started to strum while Sebastien kept talking. "I first heard this song shortly after our break up. It made me think of you and what we could've been – hopefully, what we will someday be."

Quietly, Rick started singing and Mary recognised Never Tear Us Apart, softly enough for Sebastien to be heard over it.

"I love you, Mary, like I've loved no other." He looked up and she followed his gaze to the sprig of leaves above the doorframe.

"Mistletoe," Mary remarked. Sebastien looked at her with no pretence of bravado, simply love and innocence in its purest form. Tenderly, she pulled him close and pressed her lips to his. As the kiss broke off, they rested their foreheads against each other. "I love you too Sebastien."

From behind his back, he produced a ring box. "Apromise ring," he explained, as he presented her with a silver ring, cradling asmall but ornate sapphire. She put it on and pulled him into and embrace, lost,for that moment, in a feeling of pure ecstasy.oogle_lt_qu