Things could not have happened at a worse time.

My mother found out about the performance. "Why didn't you tell me?" She snapped as I stepped through the door after school.  I instantly knew what she was talking about.  "Tell you what?" I asked, trying to play dumb.

"About the concert?"

"What concert, Paigey?" Grandma asked, her and Grandpa entering the kitchen after another one of their walks.

"Nothing," I said quickly, waving my hands dismissively in the air, "Don't worry about it."

However, of course Mom had to continue with, "Paige has a concert coming up at her school.  A holiday concert."

"That sounds fun," Grandpa responded.

"And she didn't bother to tell any of us!" Mom exclaimed.  I could tell she was hurt, but I could not find any words to comfort her.  Nana and Papa entered, hearing the commotion, and Nana wrapped her arm around Mom.  "What's wrong, honey?" Papa asked her.

"Nothing!" I said louder.  Why did they have to be here as well?  If everyone could just leave I could explain the whole situation to my mother.  "Paige has a holiday concert," Mom said bitterly, avoiding eye contact with me, "And she didn't tell any of us."

"Oh, why not Paige?" Nana asked in her overly-sweet way.

"Was it because of the fight we had?" Grandma asked bluntly.

I shook my head and sighed, cheeks burning with the thought of the fight.  Everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to explain myself.  There was no way I could wrangle myself out of this situation!  Finally, I said, "Look, I knew about the concert since the day Mom announced that the grandparents are coming over for Christmas."

Mom raised her eyebrows disapprovingly.

"I decided to keep it a secret," I said, "Because of religion."

"What does religion have to do with anything?" Papa asked.

"Religion is everything in this situation!" I burst out, "We are playing a Christmas song and a Hannukah song, and I know how much you guys hate the other religion, so I just didn't tell you because I didn't want to start a fight in the middle of my school auditorium!"

The room became dead silent.  It was like the fight, but this time I didn't run to my room to cry.  I waited for someone else to say something.  Finally, Mom said, "Paige, you seem to be under a lot of stress right now."  She didn't sound mad or upset, she sounded sympathetic.  I looked at both sets of grandparents and they were looking the same way at me.  "Honey, the way you said things-" Nana said suddenly, "That was a wake-up call from me.  I never knew how much stress we put you under by forcing all this religion stuff on you."

Wait, what?

"I guess," Grandma added, "That we were trying to show you our traditions so we can pass them on generation to generation."

"But by doing so we were selfishly not recognizing your feelings about all of this." Papa said, "I'm sorry, Paige."

And all of a sudden, each in turn, my grandparents hugged me.  It felt genuine, like there were no strings attached.  It felt normal.  "I'm sorry I didn't mention the concert," I said finally, after everyone finished hugging me, "And I'm sorry about how I lost my temper,"

"That's okay, my darling." Mom answered, smiling as if she were at peace.

"Is it too late to buy tickets?" Grandpa asked.

"Not at all," I replied.

Things were finally going well in my household.  Maybe my grandparents could learn to set their differences aside and finally get along.  However, it was not a happy ending yet.  I had one more thing I needed to fix.

And that was Elaine.