Breakfast is loud and chaotic. Everyone talking at once in a mixture of Russian and English. Yelena keeps piling food on my plate despite my protests. Dimitri teases Konstantin relentlessly about the proposal. Anya asks me about my degree. Natasha shows me a dance she learned for her school's Christmas show.
It's perfect. Overwhelming. Everything I've been missing since my parents died.
After breakfast, we migrate back to the living room for presents. Natasha can barely contain herself.
"Can we open them now? Please? Uncle Kostya is here and Jemma is here and everyone is here and it's Christmas!"
"Yes, yes!" Yelena claps her hands. "Open! But slowly! We must appreciate each gift!"
Natasha immediately ignores this instruction and tears into her first present with enthusiasm.
I didn't expect presents. But there's a small pile with my name on them anyway.
From Yelena: a beautiful cashmere scarf in deep blue and matching gloves. "For Vancouver winters! Must keep warm!"
From Dimitri and Anya: a gift card to a bookstore with a note that says "Anya mentioned you like dark romance. Enjoy."
From Natasha: a drawing of me and Konstantin holding hands in front of a Christmas tree, all stick figures and hearts. "So you don't forget us!"
I'm crying before I even realize it.
"Devochka!" Yelena is immediately at my side. "Why you cry?"
"It's just… I haven't had family in so long. And you all got me presents even though I wasn't supposed to be here and—" I wipe my eyes. "Thank you. All of you."
Yelena pulls me into another hug. "You ARE supposed to be here. You are family now. My son loves you. We love you. This is where you belong."
Konstantin's arm comes around my waist, solid and reassuring.
Then he hands me another small box.
"You already gave me the ring," I protest.
"That was for getting engaged. This is for Christmas."
I open it carefully. Inside is a key.
"Is this...?"
"To the penthouse. Your home now." He leans in close. "Your things are already being moved. Andrei handled it yesterday."
"You moved my stuff without asking?"
"You were going to say yes. I was prepared."
The morning continues with more present opening. Natasha gets approximately a thousand gifts and is delirious with joy. Konstantin gives his mother a first-class ticket to visit her youngest sister in Moscow, and she cries for ten minutes straight.
Eventually, Natasha drags me outside to build a snowman.
"Come on, Jemma! The snow is perfect!"
I look at Konstantin. He nods. "Go. Have fun. I'll help clean up."
So I bundle up in my new scarf and gloves and spend the next hour building snowmen with a seven-year-old who has very specific opinions about snowman architecture.
"No, no! The head has to be ROUND! And we need three buttons! And a carrot nose!"
"I'm doing my best here!"
