6Work dragged on forever Saturday, as I counted the minutes until my first official date with Brandy. At 6:01 I was in the car and racing home; Brandy and Katie were there when I got there. I let them in and changed clothes; the babysitter was due at 6:30.
We had a very nice dinner. It was a little awkward at first, in part because I was so nervous. But in time we got to talking, and I felt like we were bonding. We went to a club afterwards, and had a good time there too. But we couldn't stay out too late on account of the babysitter.
Back at my place after the babysitter left, and Brandy and I stood in middle of my living room, embracing and kissing. We had decided that Katie would stay at my house since she was by now fast asleep.
"I had a really good time tonight," Brandy told me.
"I did too," I answered, and we kissed again. "I'd really like to do it again, soon."
"I'd like that," she smiled softly.
"I have to work Friday night next week, but are you free Saturday?" I asked.
"I'm sorry Will, but my friends are all meeting at the bar for a last hurrah. Pete, Janie, Ellyn, Joe, and Jenna are all graduating; it's the last time the whole gang will get together," she explained.
"Oh…I see," I replied. In my mind, my thoughts were racing, mostly of the 'here we go again' variety. But it certainly wasn't going to help me make a better impression if I were to get pissy about her going out with her friends. I tried not to look as disappointed as I felt, but not doing a very good job of it. I realized Brandy was studying me; I think she wanted to see if I would lose my temper or pout or something in response to the bad news. I needed to take it like man.
"And then you're moving back to your parents' house for the summer?" I asked, reiterating an earlier conversation and changing the subject.
"My last exam is Wednesday, I'll probably leave Thursday," she said.
"Well…my days off are Monday and Thursday. So I'll come out to see you and Katie the following Monday?" Brandy's parents lived about an hour from school; we decided it was best if I went out there to visit when I could.
"We'll be waiting for you," she replied.
Oh well. I had hoped for another date before the end of the semester, but I guess a week from Monday was going to have to do. "OK then," I said and kissed her again.
After the kiss, she stood holding me for a moment, and the look in her eyes told me that she was pondering something. I had no idea what; I decided it was best just to look back into her lovely blue eyes. I was beginning to trust that if she had something to say, she would say it. Tentatively she broke the silence. "Will…do you think you could get a babysitter for Katie on Saturday?"
"I'm sure I could, why?" I replied.
"I was just thinking…if you could get a babysitter for Katie, why don't you join us?"
I wasn't expecting that. "Are you sure? This is your last chance to see the old gang."
"And I will…that doesn't mean someone else can't come along. It happens all the time. Besides, three of girls are from the volleyball team and you already know them," she said. "But just to warn you, my ex-boyfriend Pete, will be there."
"Why, should I worry that he'll punch me out or something?" I asked, only half-jesting.
"No, it just could be a little awkward…" she began. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen Pete since I broke up with him, and it was kind of low of me to break up with him over the phone. I would feel a lot better if you were there with me."
"OK; I'll be there then," I answered.
She smiled broadly now, then with one big kiss she went to her car and drove home.
A week later I was following Brandy into a popular bar that I had never been in for more than hour before. I was nervous, intimidated even, by being in the presence of the in-crowd. The guys were all good-looking, and the girls were all hot and dressed to impress, if you know what I mean. Most of the gang was already there by the time we got there; three girls and two guys sat on bar stools facing away from the bar, while the rest of the gang circled around them. They were laughing and talking. A voice rose up from the background din saying "Brandy!" followed shortly by what I might describe as howls of greeting from the others.
She walked into the circle; she put her arms on the two girls she stood between, and they to her. Then she backed up a step so that I too could become part of the circle. "Some of you already know him, but everyone this is Will."
"Hi," I said awkwardly.
"Will!" the three girls I knew from the team sang out.
"So what's going on?" Brandy asked, and the group broke up into separate sub-conversations. I noticed a number of whispered conversations followed by nods; I imagined that the fact that I was the guy from the Mexico trip was being passed from person to person. Whether this meant they also knew I was Katie's father I didn't know, but it didn't matter either way.
Two empty cups were passed to Brandy, who handed one to me, then they were filled from the pitchers of beer on the bar. I was standing almost completely behind Jenna, one of the girls from the team, and so I was really kind of out of the loop—a physical arrangement that echoed the way I felt. But Brandy hadn't brought me along in order to have me be a stiff and drag her down all night; I needed to get involved.
I noticed one of the two guys sitting at bar stools kept looking over towards me. I tapped Jenna on the shoulder and asked her if that was Pete; it was. Brandy was right, he was very good-looking—and it seemed to me, from where I stood, that he was quite aware of this fact and expected deferential treatment because of it. Then Jenna asked me if I was graduating, and I explained that my program was five years and I'd be graduating with a Master's in PT. Someone else in my corner that was having trouble hearing the larger conversation joined in, and so we had a little sub-conversation for a while about school and graduation and stuff like that.
When the conversation had run its course some time later, I tried listening in on some others, and realized that Brandy wasn't standing there. Then I realized Pete wasn't either—uh oh. I started scanning the room without being obvious about it. I finally spotted them, in the back corner to the right of the bathrooms. Pete had her cornered, although I'm sure he wouldn't have coerced her to stay there if she really wanted to leave—but she didn't look happy. She was gesticulating in a way that looked angry at a distance. I decided it was time to use the bathroom anyway. I walked slowly, trying to make eye contact with Brandy to see if she wanted assistance or to be left alone, but she was too embroiled in her argument to notice. Even at the distance I was from them, I overheard Brandy say "You fucking left me there…what if Will had to go somewhere? I'd have been stranded there, in the middle of the night, WITH the baby!" as I entered the bathroom.
After I did my business, I washed my hands slowly to buy time while I decided what to do. Do I leave them alone, and go back to the group? Do I go over and see what's going on? I don't want to be a bother and perceived as intruding, but she didn't look very happy. I decided that the best course of action was to just walk up and ask if everything was all right, and then play it by ear based on the response.
I walked out the door, turned left and slowly headed towards them. Pete was saying something adamantly to Brandy, and she had her arms crossed in front of her in a defensive stance. I kept inching closer, not wanting to interrupt, but wanting Brandy to know I was there. Pete's back was at a 45-degree angle to me, so I knew he wouldn't see me first. I was probably just three feet away before Brandy noticed me. "Hi Will," she said, with an expression that looked like relief that the dynamics of the argument had changed.
As was my intention, I simply asked "I just wanted to see if everything was all right over here."
"Why don't you mind you own fucking business," Pete snarled as he turned towards me.
"Fuck you, Pete," Brandy countered, coming out of the corner and standing between us with her back towards me. "Will IS my business. You just don't get it do you? We're a package deal. You try to convince me that you love me, but then you want nothing to do with my daughter? Well Katie and I go together; you can't have one and not the other. And if Katie is involved, then it's Will's business too. And you know what? I'm really glad that Will was Katie's father and not you, because Will is a responsible dad and takes care of Katie. If it were you, I'd have to do everything myself and listen to you complain that the baby was cutting in to your going-out time—because all you ever think about is yourself. You've never loved me, you just liked the things I did for you—only Katie doesn't fit in to that picture. Well fuck you, because if Katie doesn't fit into your picture, then I don't either!" She turned on her heel, saying "C'mon, let's go Will" to me as she stormed towards the door.
The rest of the gang had noticed her absence and was welcoming her back but she walked right past them, too angry to even acknowledge her friends. I chased behind her, quickly telling them "argument with Pete" as I followed her out the door.
Brandy re-crossed her arms angrily, but walked more slowly once we got outside, waiting for me to catch up to her. I drew even with her, and thought about putting my arm on her shoulder, but decided she was still too mad. "I'm sorry," I said simply, walking at the same slow pace.
"You didn't do anything," she replied testily.
"Maybe if I hadn't been here, it wouldn't have turned out like this," I offered.
"Maybe if he wasn't a selfish jerk it wouldn't have turned out like this," she countered. "Maybe if I wasn't so blind and had noticed how selfish he was long ago it wouldn't have turned out like this. It's not the signs haven't been there since day one." And with that the anger started to turn to sadness and she started to sob. Now was the time to put her arms around her. She buried her face in my shoulder and wept. I held her, protecting her, comforting her.
I noticed the Jenna and one of the other volleyball players came out of the bar, looking around; I guessed they were coming after Brandy like real friends would. They took a few steps and then saw her with me. Jenna mouthed to me "Is everything OK?"
"We'll be fine," I mouthed back, nodding. They decided that the best thing for them to do was to leave us alone, so they went to the bar.
When Brandy had cried it out, she wiped her eyes and said "I'm sorry."
"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about," I said.
"I just want you to know, the thing at the hospital was just the last straw—it's definitely not the only reason that I broke up with Pete."
"Thanks for telling me that," I replied honestly, "but you don't owe me an explanation."
"No—I owe you a lot more," she sniffed. She paused, then said "take me home."
"I can," I replied, "but if I take you home now, then your last memory of your last time with your whole group of friends will be this. If you've had so many good times together, your last time together should end on a happier note than this, don't you think? So if you want we can go home now, or you can hold your head up high and go back in there and have fun with the rest of your friends. I'll do whichever you choose."
She thought to herself for a minute. "You really think I should go back in there?"
"I think it would be a shame if the last time you saw your friends you left without even saying goodbye."
"Hmmph. Some friends," she mumbled.
"Sure they are. Two of them came out looking for you to make sure you were OK a few minutes ago," I told her.
"They did?" she asked, turning towards the door, as if she expected them to still be there.
"Yup," I said, "Jenna and I forget the other one's name. I guess they were concerned about you, like real friends would be, and came to see if you were all right."
"Oh, god," she murmured, wiping her face again, "there's just too much going on!"
"Yeah," I replied, "but right now only one of those things has to be dealt with, and that's what to do about your friends. I think if you stay away from Pete, you can still have a good time if you go back in there."
"He was waiting for this," she seethed, "he waited for me to go to the bathroom and corralled me when I came out."
"I didn't think girls ever went to the bathroom alone!" I quipped.
She snorted a half-laugh. "We usually don't! I just couldn't wait anymore."
"So just be sure you have company from now on," I suggested.
"Will, will you stay close to me? I feel so much less vulnerable when you're near," she asked softly.
I kissed her forehead, and said "That's something you'll never have to ask me twice." Then with a sigh of relief, she kissed me.
"C'mon, let's see what the rest of the gang are up to," I said, putting my arm on her waist and turning back towards the door.
"Don't you ever lose your cool?" Brandy wondered. "It seems like whenever I'm losing it, you're always calm and collected."
"Sure I do," I countered, "remember what a jerk I was in the coffee shop when you said you just wanted to be friends?"
Brandy stopped cold. "Will…" she began. I stopped and turned to face her. "I'm really sorry for cutting you out of so much. I cut you out of the pregnancy, shortchanged you on a lot of Katie's first six months…"
"Stop," I interrupted, "what's done is done. I'm a lot more concerned about the role I hope to play in Katie's future—and with any luck, yours too."
"I just can't believe that I chose that jerk over you," she said distantly.
"Don't go there Brandy…I know it feels that way now, after what just happened, but that's not how it felt then," I replied. "I don't know how long you've been dating him, but I bet it started before you knew you were pregnant."
She nodded, adding "Yeah…and about the time I started to show, he mysteriously disappeared. When I came back this semester, suddenly he was around again, and told me he wanted to get back together. I bet if I hadn't lost all the baby weight, he'd have wanted nothing to do with me."
"Maybe," I said, while thinking that was 99.9 probable. "But he was someone you liked once, and there's no question he's a lot more popular and better looking than I am—drives a nicer car than I do too, no doubt."
She almost jumped to cross the distance between us and embrace me. "Who cares about a stupid car? What there's no doubt about," she answered softly, "it that you're twice the man he is." And then she really kissed me. Back in Mexico, our kisses were driven by fear and lust; they were almost primeval. In the last few weeks, our kisses had been just that little bit reserved, as we felt each other out and reserved the right to change our minds about each other. But when she kissed me on the sidewalk that night, she kissed me with real emotion, of wanting to be with me in a spiritual sense. That was the first time I thought that maybe, just maybe, she might change her mind about me—the first time I dared to dream about us.
Brandy and I did go back in to the bar. She chatted, drank, and sang with her friends like the group of co-eds they were. But she kept herself surrounded by girls on both sides and me at her back; if she wasn't doing something that prevented it, she pressed gently against me for the rest of the night, reassuring herself that I had her back, literally. At 12:30 I whispered to her that I should go and relieve the babysitter; she could get a ride home with Jenna or I'd leave her my car if she wanted, but she insisted that she wanted to go with me. The gang was all sad (save Pete, who developed a sudden interest in billiards) to see her go, but she said "I've got to go, the baby is calling." They all hugged; a few even hugged me in the spirit of the moment. Then I drove us home.
"Will, let's go to your apartment—I want to see Katie," she said as I was driving. I was wondering how she would get back to her own apartment; I certainly wasn't going to let her walk by herself in her moderately intoxicated state. But something told me just to go with it and figure that out later.
We relieved and paid the babysitter, and I found Brandy in the doorway to the extra room watching Katie sleep in her crib. I came up silently behind Brandy and put my arms around her. "She's a beautiful baby, isn't she?" Brandy sighed.
"Of course she is," I whispered into her ear, "she takes after her mother."
Brandy turned to face me with a soft look in her eyes, then kissed me. I held her, and felt a closeness I'd not felt to her before. We made love that night for the first time since Katie was conceived.
The next morning, I bid them goodbye and I headed off to work. I couldn't help but notice the irony; once again Brandy was taking Katie home wearing the same clothes she'd worn the night before—only this time, the strange bed she'd slept in was mine.
Unfortunately, the very next week she and Katie moved back to her parents' house for the summer. I drove out to see them twice a week, on my days off. Sometimes Brandy had stuff to do while I was with Katie, but unlike in the Fall, she didn't arrange to be gone whenever I was around—in fact, she made sure that she saw me for at least a little while every time I came by. And a lot of times she didn't go anywhere at all, and we were able to do things together, the three of us. I called and talked to Brandy every day, and now that she didn't have school and had more time to pay attention to Katie, she would grow wistful at how quickly she was growing up—especially when Katie learned to walk in early June. The rest of the summer I was either working or running around, bent over, trailing my daughter as she would go-go-go and explore the world.
One of my favorite things that we did a lot that summer was go to the beach. Brandy would pack a lunch and we'd head down in the late morning. I'd play with Katie: digging in the sand, playing in the waves, splashing in the water, whatever she felt like doing. Brandy would get some down time to lay out—but I knew that she was almost always watching me and Katie. I may not have swayed her heart when I was just a guy looking for a date, but I was pulling at all the right strings by being the dad I wanted to be for Katie.
Because Katie and I were down by the water, a lot of times Brandy appeared to be alone, and as her long athletic figure lay out in one of her bikinis, she was often approached by guys. It was almost predictable; they'd ask if she was alone, and she'd say no, that was her daughter playing in the sand with her boyfriend. Some of them left smoke trails as they high-tailed it out of there—I only regretted not being close enough to see their eyes bug out at the thought that young, slender, shapely Brandy was nevertheless a mom.
One time, Brandy's mom told us we should go to the beach, just the two of us, and she'd watch Katie. I think that her parents liked me, especially as a good dad to their first grandchild; I suspected that secretly they were rooting for me with Brandy, but knew better than to openly admit it lest that fact alone ruined everything. That day we both laid out for a while, but I admit, I'm restless if I'm not doing something, and lying in the sun only does me for so long. But I saw that some guys were organizing to play some beach pairs, and I said to Brandy "Hey, want play some ball?" She sat up to look at them, saw that they weren't pro level players, and said "Sure."
We moved over by courtside to watch the end of a game; I put my shirt on the wire of the net to indicate I had winner. They kind of snickered a little when we took the court—I was only six foot and my partner was a girl, although her attractiveness did not escape them. That lasted all of one point, when she took the first serve, I set her outside and she slammed the ball down the line inside of a half-hearted token block attempt. That got their attention. Then she served up two straight aces before they put the ball in play. Our physical abilities were still similar, but with all of her game experience and top-level coaching, she was clearly the better player. We won three matches before they figured out that they needed to serve to me, so that Brandy had to set to me, because I was much less lethal on the kill than she was. When we finally lost, we broke for lunch, and came back to win one more and lost one in overtime before we decided we'd had enough. She certainly impressed the hell out of a couple of beach guys, though.
Classes started August 15, and Brandy was originally planning to come back to school the first week of August. It was quite the nice surprise, then, when I came home one night during the last week of July and Brandy and Katie were waiting for me.
"Brandy! Katie! What brings you here?" I said in pleasant surprise, kissing them both.
"Practice starts this week," Brandy replied. "Coach called me, and told me that since I didn't play at all last year, I still have a year of eligibility left. I'll have to move over the Jenna's old spot as weak side hitter, but I'd love just to play again."
"Oh Brandy, that's awesome!" I said, hugging her. "I'm so glad you'll be able to play another year."
"Yeah," she said, "it's nice—but it's different. My life isn't all about volleyball anymore." She hugged me again and gave me a kiss. "I might have come back early even if I wasn't playing—I missed you."
"I missed you too, Brandy," I said and we kissed again. When the summer began, I had finally gotten my chance with Brandy and gone on one formal date. Now, as she came back, it felt like she was my girlfriend.
Then I realized Katie wasn't right next to us anymore, which led a brief but panicked search for her until we found her inspecting the ground behind a bush. We picked her up and went in to my apartment. First thing I did was give Brandy my second set of keys, which I had kept at my parents' house but retrieved in one of my rare visits to them over the summer. "This might make it easier to do pickups and dropoffs. You won't have to wait around outside for me anymore." We played with Katie until she fell asleep, and then we went right to bed ourselves—the one thing we couldn't do at her parents' house over the summer was have sex. As soon as Katie was sleeping we made love, soaking each other up like a dried-out flower soaks in the first rain that has fallen in two months.
Afterwards, I was feeling unbelievably close to her. She was lying face down, her head resting on her crossed arms, facing me. I lay on my side, gently tracing patterns on her back. "It feels so good to with you again," I whispered.
"I really missed you, Will," she replied.
"Brandy, I…I've told you that I had feelings for you for a long time, and now, after having a chance to really spend time with you, those feelings are a thousand time stronger." Then I faltered, saying "But…but I know that you've not felt the same things for me as I have for you, so I don't want to say or do anything that would make you feel awkward, or feel pressured…"
She turned to her side so she could hold me. "Will," she said softly.
"Hmm?"
"I love you," she whispered.
"Oh Brandy," I sighed with joy, "I love you so much." I hugged her tight—then I had second thoughts. Did I just talk her into saying that somehow, anyway? I pulled back and searched her face intently, asking "Brandy, I…I feel like I just somehow pressured you into say that…"
"No, Will, you didn't—I've thought about this a lot over the summer," she said with emotion in her eyes. "All summer I found myself looking forward to Mondays and Thursdays. And the best times I had were when we were together, either as a family or just you and I. I admit you may not be exactly what I pictured for myself when I was a teenager, but how long was I going to ignore the facts? When you're young and dating is just for fun, you gravitate towards the blonde guy with the tan that looks good in a tank top. But when you have responsibilities, you want to settle down with a man that's supportive… caring… giving… and a good father. You're all of those things, Will."
I held her close to me. I had once called Brandy a pipe dream—well, apparently I just became a plumber, because it felt like that pipe had just landed in my lap. We shared a moment of closeness, kissing from time to time, but mostly just being together. Eventually we made love again before falling into blissful sleep in each other's arms.
Brandy had keys to her place made for me, but I seldom went there; between school, practices, games, and road trips, Brandy wasn't home very much. When she did have some time she spent it at my place, often staying the night. Her apartment had become little more than an inconveniently-distant closet. When one of Brandy's teammates complained about having trouble with her roommate in the athlete's dorm and desperately wanting someplace else to live, Brandy mentioned it to me and we decided to take the next step; she sublet her apartment to her teammate and moved in with me. I was busy with work and school too, so poor Katie spent a lot of time in daycare that fall, and during road trips we sometimes had to leave her with Grandma. But for all of her home games that season, Brandy had her own special cheering section: her mom and dad, me, and Katie. Katie was as much into crawling around the bleachers as anything, but she would sometimes notice the game, point to Brandy as say "mommy." By the end of the season she knew that when mommy jumped and hit the ball, we clapped. We even made up a little shirt for her that looked like the team jerseys; one time she imitated what her mommy blocking by jumping jump up and down with her arms stretched high over her head, over and over. It was the cutest thing. Lucky grandma had a video camera with her that day. Brandy took the video in with her to practice, and the whole team said "Awww…, that's so cute."
Brandy wasn't an all-conference player anymore—she just didn't have the time to work at it like she use to. But she made the team better, more than adequately filling the void left by Jenna's graduation, and more importantly, she cherished the experience so much more than when playing volleyball was just the thing she'd always done. She still contributed enough that she was able to end her playing career as the university's all-time career leader in kills.
The end of a career can be very difficult for athletes, who have dedicated years of their lives to honing their skill and suddenly a big part of their life is gone. Having Katie to think about made that transition a lot easier for Brandy. With the season over and life returning to normal, Brandy and my lives were thoroughly intertwined. I know it sounds strange; but it was wonderfully exciting and yet completely comfortable at the same time. There was still a group of volleyball girls that went to the same bar she used to frequent, but save for once or twice where we went there together, she didn't go there anymore. She opted to be with Katie and me instead—and she really didn't seem to miss it. So by the holidays, I felt pretty good about us. I decided it was time to see if Brandy really meant it when she had said I was "the kind of guy you settle down with."
We spent Christmas eve at Brandy's parents' house. I had snuck a tiny box with Brandy's name on it along with the myriad of mega-sized boxes destined for Katie. I hadn't told anyone about my plan; I knew I was running the risk of ruining Christmas if she turned me down. I suppose you could argue that doing it in front of the family at Christmas put added pressure on Brandy to accept, but as well as I knew her by now I trusted that she wouldn't accept unless she felt in her heart that it was right, not even if the whole world was watching. Brandy's mom noticed me stashing it, however, and I saw her crack a slight smile as she turned and pretended not to see; she had a pretty good guess what it was. Brandy, however, wasn't expecting it.
First the spotlight was on Katie—literally, as grandpa taped the whole thing. Now 14 months, she was talking pretty well (oldest children often talk more, sooner) and boy did she get in to the tearing-open-paper thing. The fact that what was in the boxes were new toys for her wasn't as clearly grasped perhaps, as she tore open every box—hers or otherwise—all but ignoring what was inside. For her, it was like the most fun ever invented. I managed to hide Brandy's special box before Katie found it.
Once everything else was open, Brandy's younger sister we tried to interest Katie in some of her new toys by taking them out of their boxes. Katie instead found that there was almost no limit to the number of thing you could do with a box that was bigger than you are. Auntie Holly was frustrated until grandma told her that she had done exactly the same thing when she was that age.
As Katie played hide-and-seek with no one in particular by covering herself with the biggest of the boxes and popping out from under it, I snuck over to the couch next to Brandy.
"Look, I found a present Katie missed," I said as I presented the box to her, "looks like it's got your name on it."
Brandy took one look at the obviously jewelry-sized box (wrapped in ambiguous silver rather than Christmas-themed paper), looked at me wide eyed for a second, then started taking the paper off of it. I hadn't called attention to what I was doing, but a hush came over the room as one family member alerted another that something major may be happening. She opened the top and found a single shiny diamond glistening on a golden ring. She sucked in her breath and put her hand to her mouth in happy surprise.
"Brandy, will you marry me?" I asked her.
"Yes," she said, hugging me close before tears of joy rendered her temporarily speechless. Brandy's mom and sister had damp eyes, too. I pushed away so I could retrieve the ring and slip it on her finger, then we hugged and held each other close. And the whole thing was captured on tape, because grandpa had left the camera rolling because Katie was so cute playing with her boxes.
Katie now realized something was happening, because all eyes were now on Brandy and I instead of on her. So she crawled out from under her box and ran to us, grabbing hold of one of each of our legs and giving us a look that said "What about me? If everyone is looking over here, then I'll go here too."
"Look Katie," Brandy said, showing her the new ring, "Mommy and daddy are going to get married."
"What married?" Katie asked.
"Mommy and daddy are going to live together from now on," I said, trying to boil down the concept to something a toddler could relate to.
She looked at me in total confusion. "Mommy 'n daddy live a'gether now!" she exclaimed. That brought laughter from everyone; Katie had no idea why they laughed, but was glad to be the center of attention again.
Grandma tried to help, picking Katie up and explaining, "Getting married means mommy and daddy love each other very much, and it's a very happy time. Can you go 'Yay!' 'Yay!'" On the second prompt Katie clapped, as she had learned during the volleyball season.
"Katie love mommy 'n daddy too!" she exclaimed.
"And we all love you," grandma said, giving Katie a kiss and then tickling her. Brandy and I watched our little girl proudly—but Brandy kept holding my hand. I didn't mind, not one little bit—my wildest dreams were coming true.
Without doubt, it was the best Christmas ever.