“Morning, sleepyhead,” he said as Ashlyn shifted carefully, still recovering from her injuries, and blinked open her eyes.
It took a moment for the sleep to clear from them, and when it did, she smiled up at him. “Merry Christmas.”
“It is,” he agreed. Sleeping in this huge king-size bed with the woman he was in love with pressed up against him, despite ample space for her to spread out if she chose to, was the most perfect way to wake up on Christmas morning.
“What time is it?” Ashlyn asked through a yawn.
“Seven thirty. Kids won't be up for a while if you want to go back to sleep.”
“Actually, I'm kind of hungry.”
Since it was the first time Ashlyn had actually had an appetite since she was assaulted, he was going to cook her the biggest Christmas breakfast ever. “Think we should make enough for the sleeping beauties to eat when they wake up?” he teased as he rounded the bed to help her sit up.
Ashlyn giggled, then winced, and he knew she was still in a lot of pain. A fact that made him want to simultaneously break something and get down on his knees and thank her for taking that beating to save his daughter.
“I guess since it’s Christmas, we’d better,” she answered as he draped her fluffy pink robe around her shoulders and helped her slip her arms into it before tying the belt around her waist.
Her cast-free hand slipped easily into his as they made their way through the gorgeous penthouse to the kitchen, where they both froze.
The room was a mess.
Ingredients were scattered across both the table and every available bit of countertop, the stove had three frying pans on it, the microwave was running, and two sheepish faces looked back at them from amidst the mess.
“Umm … is this okay? We’re cooking breakfast,” Lindsay said.
“Trying to anyway,” Kevin muttered.
“What are you two doing up this early on a non-school day?” he asked, surprised to see them making such an effort, well, Lindsay anyway. “Thought you guys wouldn't get your heads off those pillows of yours until at least nine.”
“I woke Kevin up at six so we could cook, only it’s taking a little longer than we anticipated,” Lindsay explained.
“You guys are living here, at least for now. You're welcome to use the kitchen to cook yourselves breakfast or anything else you want whenever you want,” Ashlyn assured them as he guided her to the table and pulled out a chair for her.
“Oh, breakfast isn’t for us. It’s for you,” Lindsay told her.
“For me?”
“We wanted to surprise you,” Kevin piped up.
“We thought we’d bring you guys breakfast in bed and then bring you our secret Santa gifts before we all went and sat around the tree and opened the rest of the presents,” Lindsay added.
There was earnest sincerity in her tone, and Grant knew his daughter was trying her hardest to right her wrongs. It wouldtake time, trust would have to be built, but Lindsay was trying. She had already attended two therapy appointments, and they’d had one with him and her, one with him and both kids, and one with Ashlyn joining the three of them.
Progress might be slow, but he didn't care. He wanted to build a solid foundation for their new family. One day, he hoped he and Ashlyn might add more children to the mix, and he wanted to ensure that when that happened, both Kevin and Lindsay were in a good place.
“We’re not in bed, but we can do our secret Santa gifts, then eat here at the table,” Ashlyn said, and Lindsay gave her a shy smile.
“Can we get our gifts now?” Lindsay asked.
“Don’t see why not,” he replied.
While the kids rushed off to their rooms, Grant grabbed the two small boxes sitting on the mantle behind them. They were supposed to exchange these secret Santa gifts last night, but Ashlyn had fallen asleep before they’d gotten around to it.
“I got Lindsay,” she whispered.
“I got Kevin,” he whispered back.
“I thought this would go badly when I picked her name, but now … now I think it might help,” Ashlyn added.
