The air freezes my skin instantly, but the festive decorations of my neighbors make it worth it. My block usually has the best decorations for any holiday, and Christmas is no exception.
When I first moved in, they actually won an award with the HOA.
“I’ll make it quick since it’s cold as hell out here,” Russell begins. “I just wanted a moment alone to talk about…everything.” I immediately know he’s talking about the fight, but also about me lying to him.
It wasn’t my finest moment by far, but I don’t regret a single moment. It brought us to this moment. Becca, Damian, and I are all together now, we’re happy. We are going to welcome a new child into the world.
My life is perfect. It’s all I’ve ever wanted since we started our fling five years ago.
“I’m hurt by all of this, I’m not going to lie. But seeing you all together, I don’t know.” Russell shoves his hands in his pants pockets and shrugs. “All I want is for Becca to be happy. It’s all I ever wanted. And I see now that you can provide that for her and so much more.”
Smiling, I agree with him.
“As long as you hold up to that, I accept it. I hate that you lied to me about it, but judging how I reacted, I see why you did it. Just promise there won’t be any more secrets. We’re family.”
“Of course,” I confirm. “I never meant to hurt you. But I also never meant to fall in love with her. It just happened. But now that everything is out, I promise I won’t lie to you ever again. Am I forgiven?”
He takes a deep breath and looks past me at the house across the street with the colorful lights. “Yeah. I forgive you. It just might take some time to get used to.”
I fully understand. I can’t imagine experiencing all the emotions at seeing his best friend and only child fall in love. But this is the first step in the right direction for us. Now, I can rest easy knowing that he doesn’t want to kill me.
Feeling a lot better, we head inside just in time to watch Damian tear into the Christmas presents Camilla, Russell, and Marjorie had brought for him.
We all pile onto the couch as he sits in the center of the living room, surrounded by presents and torn, green, and red wrapping paper.
“Mom, Dad. Look at this!” Damian yells out to us as he holds up a black, felt-top hat with a red ribbon wrapped where the top and the base meet. “It’s a real magician’s hat. Thank you, Grammy.”
Marjorie laughs, telling him it’s no problem at all. The rest of the evening is filled with love and laughter, something that even when my family was still in my life, I never had before. The holidays were always so lonely for me, unless Cameron showed up, plastered and looking for a place to sleep.
Becca and her family truly opened my eyes to what unconditional love can feel like, and I’m never going to look back at how my life used to be.
There’s only room for the future.
A future with my new family.
