Diva 04 _ Diva Cooks a Goose, The by Krista Davis

honey? Did something break?”
    “I want to sleep upstairs with Hannah tonight.”
    “Okay.” I tried to smile reassuringly, though I was surprised that Jen was turning down the chance to watch TV until the wee hours in the family room.
    “See, if I sleep with Hannah, Alice and Jasper can sleep with us.”
    Dumped for kittens! I laughed aloud. “I can’t blame you one bit.” Though I did suspect that George and Laci were going to have a devil of a time getting her to leave Alice and Jasper behind when they went home.
    Satisfied, she bounded out of the kitchen, leaving Dad and me to enjoy our snack. Although my mother would be horrified, I stacked the dirty dishes in the sink when Dad bade me good night. The day’s events had taken their toll on me and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed—or at least stretch out on the sofa in the family room. Mochie and Daisy snuggled up with me, and I fell dead asleep until two in the morning. When I woke, Mochie and Daisy were gone, and I could hear someone crying in the kitchen.

ELEVEN
    From “THE GOOD LIFE” :
     
    Dear Sophie,
    My husband thinks we should leave the Christmas tree up and just scoot it into the basement and cover it with a drop cloth. I have a feeling that’s a very bad idea. Please side with me.
    —Apprehensive in Evergreen, Louisiana
     
    Dear Apprehensive,
    I’ve heard this advice before and I disagree. Scooting a Christmas tree is sure to result in broken ornaments. It’s not easy to move a tree through a doorway. Even if you take off the ornaments, do you have enough space to devote to the tree all year? And how much will you enjoy the decorative spider webs when you take it out again? You win, Apprehensive!
    —Sophie
    My hand was on the kitchen light switch when Laci’s teary voice said, “Please don’t turn on the lights.” In the near darkness, I could make out a shape in a chair by the dying embers of the fire. Daisy sat before Laci, her head in Laci’s lap.
    “How about the Christmas lights?” I turned on the little white lights in the pine greenery.
    “That’s nice,” she sniffled.
    “Are you okay?”
    “Oh, Sophie. I wanted to have the Christmas I’ve always dreamed of—with all the relatives in good cheer, the house beautifully decorated, fabulous food, with us all singing Christmas carols—not stolen gifts, a cobbled-together dinner, a father announcing his engagement to his mistress, a drunk mother, and certainly no deaths!”
    I poured eggnog into glasses embellished with white snowflakes, and added generous dollops of coffee liquor and rum. “Everyone has a family, Laci, and there are no perfect families. Everything that happened was outside of your control.”
    “You know the worst part?”
    I cringed. The falling-down drunk mother?
    She exhaled, her breath ragged from crying. “Bonnie is dead and that’s horrible. Just the worst possible thing that could happen. Yet, there’s this teeny part of me that’s relieved because she’s not a threat to my parents’ relationship anymore. I’m so ashamed!”
    I handed Laci an eggnog and sat down in the chair on the other side of the fireplace. “Don’t you think that’s only natural? Bonnie brought major problems and heartache to your family.”
    “I still feel guilty. What a heartless person I must be.”
    “You can’t beat yourself up over it. How could you possibly have embraced Bonnie given what she did? Bonnie brought your antipathy on herself through her actions. You’re not actually glad that she died—you just wanted her out of the way. You wanted to protect the people you love.”
    Laci sniffled but sounded a little stronger when she asked, “Do you think your mother will ever agree to letting me host Christmas again?”
    I leaned in her direction. “As long as you promise Jen will be there, Mom will agree to anything.”
    Even in the low light, I saw her smile.
    “Besides, the holidays aren’t over yet. Jen wanted to go ice-skating, and we have New