“We forgot about Valentine’s Day!” Aunt Pat shouted.
We played two more rounds before calling it quits. Some of them had started to complain about it being cold, so while they all headed inside, I stayed behind to put the fire out and Leila hung back to help me clean up.
“Tonight was fun,” Leila said as we made our way inside.
“Yeah, it was.”
“Your aunt is hilarious too,” she grinned. “She’s really the life of the party.”
“Facts. Aunt Pat is always a good time.”
“Are you ready for tomorrow?”
“Yeah. I’ve been starving myself so I can eat all of the food that I know y’all are about to hook up. I have been thinking about that turkey since your dad mentioned deep frying it.”
I laughed. “He’ll be up before the kids fooling with that turkey.”
“Oh, I doubt he beats Ava up.” She giggled. “That girl has an internal alarm that goes off at four in the morning, and she fully expects us all to get up at that same time to open presents.”
“Are you staying with me tonight?”
“Is that even really a question?” she smiled. “I couldn’t imagine waking up any other way on Christmas morning.”
“Then let’s pray that spirit off of baby girl tonight,” I teased. “I’m going to need at least until six for the plans I have for you tonight.”
Her smile stretched wider.
“Father, I’ve seen what you’ve done for others,” she joked and we shared a laugh before heading inside.
Chapter Fifteen
Christmas day had been in full swing since I opened my eyes this morning. Ava wasn’t up at four, but by six she was beating Kiyan’s bedroom door off the hinges ready for me to come down so she could get started on opening gifts.
When we got downstairs my mouth hit the floor. There were so many more gifts than when we went to bed the night before, spread throughout the den. They had everything separated for the kids, and the mountain in front of Ava had my heart filled. I got her a good bit of stuff when we went out to shop for the two of us, but nothing compared to what she had in front of her now.
“Hope you don’t mind that I added onto what you already had for her. I just wanted her to have the day she deserved.” Kiyan voiced before his arms slipped around my body and he kissed the side of my neck. “Both of you.”
“No, it’s fine,” I confessed, fighting to hold back tears. Aldrick was very well off, but he never went to this extent for her. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, love. I got you.”
When he released me, I went over to join my baby. She was running amuck, trying to open two and three presents at a time. I had to slow her down by sitting her between my legs andhelping her open one thing after the other. She’d get one gift open then immediately run it over to Kiyan so that he could see it too.
“Ava Bug,” Mr. Keith called out to my baby with the new nickname he’d given her.
“Papa!” she exclaimed, tossing her arms in the air.
“That’s right. Papa has a special gift for you in the garage when you’re done opening these.”
That was all she needed to hear. She wasted no time tossing the doll in her hands down and darting toward the closet where her coat and boots were. We all laughed seeing her excitedly putting her things on then hurrying toward him.
I climbed to my feet as well because I was also anxious to know what was waiting for her in the garage.
“Bike!” She screamed as she ran toward the pink bicycle with pink and white streamers hanging from the handlebars. There was a helmet on the seat along with knee and elbow pads in the basket on the front. I was relieved to see that it also had training wheels because my baby didn’t know how to ride a bike.
“She kept showing me pictures and videos of kids on bikes, so I figured she wanted one of her own.”
“It’s perfect,” I sniffled, no longer able to hold back my tears. “Thank you so much, Mr. Keith.”
