Buttons and Bows
Chapter 1: Christmas Bows

	It was the shrieks and squeals of children playing in the 
snow that had drawn her to the window.  She smiled as she looked 
out on the chaos in the street.  The eight inches that had fallen 
seemed to have made the neighborhood children’s day, even more than 
the presents in their houses, she was sure.  Observing the chaos 
did bring back some happy memories after all.

	“Melinda, are you ready to open presents now?” her husband 
whined as he re-entered the room from the kitchen.

	“Yes,” the woman smiled as she left the window to sit on 
the couch in front of the tree.

	“You know,” her husband said as he joined her, “I always 
figured you be up at the crack of dawn wanting to tear into presents. 
You are such a kid at heart; I’m a little surprised you managed to 
wait calmly until noon.”

	Melinda threw her husband a look.  It was a little eerie how 
well he knew her, and it hadn’t even been a year of wedded bliss yet.  
“I am older and wiser now.  It is important to act my age,” she 
answered with a slight lift of her head, pushing her blonde hair 
out of her face.

	“Okay that,” her husband conceded, “and I’m betting someone 
overheard that her big gift wouldn’t get here until after eleven and 
she was bound and determined to wait for it and open it first.”

	Melinda opened her mouth and then shut it.

	“Now, now, Melinda.  You wouldn’t have been listening to 
phone conversations trying to figure out what you were getting for 
Christmas, would you?”

	“Not hiding the present in the house was grossly unfair,” 
was all Melinda would admit.

	“Well, the big present is here.  I’ll go get it.  Wait 
here,” her husband said as he stood to go back into the kitchen.

	Melinda smiled to herself.  She was going to sit right 
there and wait.  At least she was until she saw something white 
flash by out of the corner of her eye.  Before she knew it, she 
was back in front of the window, watching an intense snowball 
fight.  She hadn’t even really processed that she’d left her seat 
on the couch until she heard her husband’s laughter.

	“You still wander off at the drop of the hat.  I think I 
got the gift just in time.”

	Melinda turned to see her husband sitting on the couch 
with a big box with bows and holes.  “Okay, Steve.  Why does the 
box have holes?”

	“Wait, I have a speech,” Steve objected as Melinda returned 
to the couch and reached for the box.  “And you can’t have the gift 
until the speech is finished.”

	“A speech?  Really?  This isn’t going be to another attempt 
at the perfect proposal is it?  Because we are already married and 
the confusion and chaos of your last proposal was perfect.”

	Her husband just ignored her as he began his speech in 
earnest.  “As I said earlier, I think this is good timing for this 
gift.  Pretty soon after we met you told me about Buttons. You 
shared how he protected you and loved you when you were little. I 
think you even said he was the first male to love you unconditionally 
– and the only male to allow you to pull him into all kinds of 
mischief.  Well, the only male until me.”

	Melinda smiled at that.  Steve had allowed her to drag him 
into a number of crazy things.  It still amazed her that he hadn’t 
run screaming in the other direction after their first date.

	But her husband was still talking even as she was thinking.  
“You even took me to meet Buttons after we had gotten serious-“

	“And I’m still grateful that you stayed with the crazy 
lady who dragged you to a pet cemetery to meet her dead dog.”

	“No, no,” Steve interrupted her.  “Buttons was an important 
part of your life, even more so than your parents – and having met 
them I can see why. Did you mother really leave our wedding reception 
early for a garden club meeting?”  Steve marveled as an aside.  
Pausing only long enough to let Melinda nod, he continued, “I 
appreciated having the opportunity to thank him for protecting you.  
Well, because I don’t know what I would have done without you in my 
life.”

	Melinda smiled at this.  Her husband really was the sweetest 
person on earth.

	Steve had opened his mouth to speak again, when Melinda 
noticed that the box was… “Steve, why is the box moving?  What is 
in there?!”

	“Well, I was just thinking about how you said you had 
thought Buttons would be around to protect your own daughter, and 
well, since we are starting our own family, I thought-“

	This time it wasn’t his wife that cut him off, but the 
box.  A soft “Arf!” was heard in the quiet room.

	“Steve…the box just barked.  You got me a moving, barking 
box.  I guess that rules out jewelry, huh?”

	Shaking his head that his pretty speech was once again 
ruined, Steve handed his wife the box.  “Merry Christmas, Melinda.”

	Taking the box and sitting on the coffee table in front of 
her, Melinda lifted the lid and looked inside.  She was met with the 
sparking eyes of a brown ball of fur and an excited wagging tall.  
The mix of brown, black, and white on the little animal reminded 
Melinda of an old friend long gone.

	As she lifted the puppy out of the box and held it in the 
air, her husband said, “She’s a little bit of a mutt, but she’s 
pretty loyal.  And cute too.”

	In awe of the playful puppy in her arms and how much she 
made her think of Buttons, Melinda uttered one word.  “Bows.”

	“Excuse me?” Steve asked after a few moments of silence.

	“That’s her name.  She could have been Button’s child and 
I have a feeling she’ll do a good job of looking after our children.  
So her name is Bows,” Melinda was quite for a moment.  “Thank you, 
Steven,” she added quietly.

	As she lowered the excited puppy closer to her face, Bows 
barked and swatted her nose.  The twenty seven year old laughed 
and uttered a phrase she hadn’t said in over seventeen years.  
“Silly puppy.”

- to be continued -