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Soft, golden lights lit up the silver and gold tinsel nestled on the dark green needles of the homestead’s Christmas tree. Wynonna took a step back, shoving her hands into her onesie pockets, admiring her handiwork. A lump formed in her throat. She shook her head, grabbing the glass of whiskey from the side table, swallowing the invading feelings with her favorite past-time.
When was the last time they’d had an actual fucking Christmas tree?
She finished her glass and set it back onto the table. The tree was almost perfect. Lights - check. Tinsel - check. Ornaments - check. The menstruangel at the top was the finishing touch. Waverly, and all her obnoxious Christmas cheer, was going to freak when she got home and saw the tree.
Wynonna bent over the Christmas box, digging for the tampon tree topper, but coming up empty.
“Why that is a view a gentleman could get used to seeing,” Doc drawled from the doorway, his duster and hat flaked with snow, a cigarette perched between his lips.
Wynonna stood up, hands on her hips, ignoring him. She could have sworn the angel was here. She’d just seen it.
Right?
“Wynonna?” Doc asked, having removed his hat and jacket, “Are you alright?”
“I can’t find…” Wynonna trailed off, snatching her glass and wandering into the kitchen seeking the bottle.
“You can’t find what?”
“I swear it was here. We found it when we were cleaning the homestead. It’s here. I know it is,” Wynonna muttered, filling her glass and turning around to look at Doc.
“I would most surely be willing to help, if you would be so kind as to tell me what we are looking for,” Doc said, moving past Wynonna to get and fill a glass of his own.
“Maxi-pad angel. Bout yay big,” Wynonna held her hands apart. “Goes on top of the tree.”
Doc shook his head, “I have not a clue of what you speak. I have not come across it in my dwellings either.”
Wynonna crossed her arms, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She sipped her whiskey.
It was here. Where had they seen it? God, this was going to bother her. Had someone - or something - stolen it? What the fuck could they want with it? Some chick revenant having a hell of a….
Waverly’s closet!
The realization hit her like a brick. Right in the middle of a very very funny thought. Wynonna set her glass down and took off up the stairs to Waverly’s room.
“I’ll be in the barn if you need me,” Doc’s voice floated up the stairs, as Wynonna burst into Waverly’s room, very grateful that it was blissfully empty. She’d seen Nicole’s bare ass one too many times for her liking.
Wynonna crossed the room to Waverly’s closet. She turned on the light and glanced up to the shelf above all of Waverly’s hanging clothes.
“Good god, girl, ever heard of Marie Kondo?” Wynonna muttered, staring at the wall of boxes, finally spotting a gold box with snowflakes. “There you are, you sneaky ho ho ho.”
Wynonna stood on her tippy-toes and stretched for the box, swearing as she snagged the golden box but sent the box on top of it tumbling to the ground as well, its contents spilling out onto Waverly’s bedroom floor.
“Tits,” Wynonna huffed, setting the snowflake box down on Waverly’s dresser and bending down to clean up the mess she had made.
She paused, her hand hovering over a refrigerator magnet from Mykonos. She glanced around at the rest of cheap baubles scattered around the floor: A magnet from Athens, a Pope bobblehead from the Vatican City, a keychain from Delphi. All of Wynonna’s travels condensed to gift shop gag gifts and postcards spread out in front of her.
Wynonna picked up one of the postcards, flipping it over to read the back.
Merry XMAS - <3 W
She set the postcard back down on the floor, picking up another postcard.
HBD - Wy
Wynonna looked at the date on the birthday card - February 8th.
God, had she really not known her little sister’s birthday?
She sat back on her heels, the edge of a picture sticking out from underneath another lame, half-assed postcard catching her attention. She grabbed it and swore her heart broke in two.
Wynonna stared down at the picture of her, Willa and Ward smiling in front of their Christmas tree. Next to Wynonna, in thick black Sharpie, was a crudely drawn figure of a little girl holding a bunny-rabbit.
Waverly.
Wynonna flipped the picture over and read her father’s handwriting on the back -
WILLA/WYNONNA/WARD Christmas 2000.
Large, youthful handwriting had written in AND WAVERLY.
Where had Waverly been during that picture? She should have been around to be in it. Wynonna racked her brain, desperate to find a good reason for her sister not to have been in their family Christmas photo. She’d been sick. Or at Gus’s. A memory hit her like a sack of bricks.
He’d sent her to her room. She’d been singing in the living room. He’d started drinking. He hated it when Waverly sang. He’d sent her to her room and then gathered the rest of them for the picture. “The real Earp family.”
His voice echoed in her brain clear as day.
The lump in her throat returned with a vengeance.
This shoebox on the floor full of cheap trinkets, sloppy post-cards, and doctored ‘family’ photos were all the love Waverly had from her family. From her father. From her sisters.
Wynonna wiped the tears from her cheeks and started to clean up the mess, shame burning through her with every new piece she discovered.
No wonder Waverly had settled for Champ.
No wonder she’d settled for being a small town bartender.
When had anyone ever told her she deserved more?
Wynonna reached for the last memento, a red envelope with a silver bell sticker holding it closed, curious and hopeful that it was something redeeming.
“What are you doing?” Waverly’s voice, cold as the winter wind, blew across the room, knocking Wynonna’s hand from its path.
Wynonna jumped to her feet, holding the open, mostly re-filled shoebox.
“I was looking for our angel and this fell,” Wynonna said, clutching the box.
Waverly crossed the room and snatched it from her hand, her jaw set in a hard line.
“I’m sorry,” Wynonna said, holding up her hands in surrender.
Waverly turned her back on Wynonna who grabbed the snowflake box and moved slowly towards the door, desperate not to invoke Waverly's anger. As much as Wynonna loved her sister, she couldn’t deny that Waverly could have a temper.
“The tree looks pretty.”
The whispered words stopped Wynonna in her tracks. She turned back and smiled at Waverly.
“Thanks, baby girl, I wanted it to be perfect for you,” Wynonna said, lifting the snowflake box ever so slightly, “It’ll be all done as soon as she’s in her rightful place.”
Wynonna jogged down the stairs and immediately placed the angel on top of the tree. She took a step back and admired her handiwork. This Christmas would be different. They’d do it together, as a family. She’d do her best to make sure that every Christmas from here on out would be the best Christmas ever. Waverly deserved it.
***************
Upstairs, Waverly set the box of mementos on her dresser and picked up the red envelope from the floor. She opened it and took out the picture. She stood laughing, looking up at Nicole in front of a field of Christmas trees. Nicole grinned down at her, with that look on her face that made Waverly weak at the knees. She flipped it over. In Nicole’s neat handwriting it said:
Our First Christmas Tree - Dec. 2016
She placed the envelope back in the box and put it back on the shelf with the biggest smile on her face.