She chuckles lightly as she sips her coffee. “Oh, nothing. But I bet you two think you’re pulling one over on me, huh? I hear you tiptoeing back and forth from the den to her room every night.” She mockingly points back and forth between the den and the stairs leading up to Maddy’s room. Thankfully, she doesn’t say anything else about what else she hears. Thank God, she’s being light-hearted. I’d hate to have really pissed her off.
I don’t know what to say, so I take a large gulp of my coffee. Somehow, apologizing for sneaking into Maddy’s room to be with her is foolish. There’s no way on Earth that I would ever be sorry for that. She’s pregnant and hopefully we’ll be living together soon enough, after all.
Before I can think of something intelligible and worthwhile to say, Momma chimes in. “I guess it was pretty silly of me to think you two would stay away from each other.” She leans forward in her chair and props her chin up on her folded-together hands. “You don’t have to sneak in there tonight. It’s okay with me, really. Consider it one of your presents, okay?”
I sit there still wordless. Sex aside, there was no way I was not going to sleep next to her tonight. I’ve been alone for the last four years, and waking on Christmas to cold and alone is the last thing I want, especially when I know Maddy is just down the hall.
Momma walks past me and stops behind me. She places a hand on my shoulder and I look up at her. She smiles warmly down at me and I can see that ‘letting’ me stay with Maddy is not a huge concession on her part. “You two are having a baby and talking about moving in together. I should be mad at your sneaking around, but you’re only young once. Besides, it’s not like you’re going to get hermorepregnant than she already is.” At her last words, I nearly choke on my coffee.
Momma smiles and laughs at me as I wipe my spit-out coffee up from the table. “I’m so happy that you’re here with us, Reid. And I’m thrilled that you and Maddy are learning to make things work.”
I place my hand on top of hers and squeeze gently. “Thanks, Mrs. Crane. That means a lot to me, to both of us.”
She ruffles my hair like I’m a little boy and says, “Enough with that Mrs. Crane stuff. You either call me Lucy or Momma. Got it?” I nod my agreement and she smiles down at me one last time.
“Okay, then. I’m going to grab a shower and then head out to the fish market. The line is always a mile long there on Christmas Eve.” I stand from my chair and block her exit from the kitchen.
“Why don’t you let me take care of that? I’m not going to be much help later with the cooking and everything, so it’s the least I can do. Besides, the driveway needs to be shoveled and it’s still snowing out. You don’t have to go out in that. Just write down what you need me to get and I’ll take care of it.”
A huge grin appears on her face. “That’s very sweet of you, Reid.” She pulls a notepad and pen out of the junk drawer and jots down the list and directions. Handing me some money that I try to refuse, but she won’t let me, she just says, “Here you go.”
To say that the rest of the day passes by in a flash would be a huge understatement. Momma, Mel and Maddy busy themselves getting dinner ready and when we sit at the meticulously decorated table, I’m overwhelmed by Momma’s words. “I have never been as happy as I am tonight. Seeing the three of you…” She looks softly at Melanie, then Maddy and then me. “Seeing you all around my table, I just…I love this little family we’ve got here. I’m so looking forward to having to put another chair around it next year.” Her smile brightens when she looks at Maddy on that last line.
Melanie raises her glass and we all follow suit. Clinking them together, we share a toast and enjoy the meal. The entire evening plays out like a scene in a movie. We laugh and watch old Christmas movies. It feels like everything I’ve been missing out in my life is right here in front of me. And even though they’re not here, we called the rest of the gang and chatted for a while on the phone. It was so good to catch up with everyone.
Sometime around eleven o’clock, Momma and Mel excuse themselves through their yawns. They go to bed and leave Maddy and I alone. Rather than immediately retreating to her room, we stay down in the den and watch the fire dance and flare in the fireplace before us. There’s a calm air of peace surrounding us in this bubble. We know that when the week is up, we’ll have to deal with the struggles of not seeing each other every day. But right here and now, we bask in the comfort of each other’s embrace.
After the clock strikes midnight, I rouse Maddy from her sleep. She’s out cold even though she just nodded off a few minutes ago. Stretching her arms over her head, she rubs her eyes and smiles up at me.
I kiss her forehead and let my lips linger a second longer than is necessary. “Can I give you your gift now?” I can’t hide the excitement in my words.
She lazily crosses her legs underneath her and I walk over to the tree. Reaching behind all of the other presents, I pull out a small simply wrapped box. Anyone with half a brain can tell that it’s a jewelry box, so when I turn back to Maddy and she catches sight of the gift in my hand, her eyes widen in shock and she gasps.
I sink back down onto the couch next to her and place the box in her trembling hands. She doesn’t say anything; honestly, it looks like her brain has stopped functioning for a moment.
“Reid…I…I don’t know what to say.” She starts picking at the silver ribbon that sits atop the box and I realize she must be thinking that it’s an entirely different piece of jewelry.
Before I can say anything to calm her down, her breath hitches in her throat and she says, “Reid, I love you so much and there will never be anyone for me other than you.” Her sweet lips curl up at the corners and she puts the gift on the coffee table before taking my hands in hers. “I want to be with you, please believe me, but this is kind of out of nowhere, don’t you think?”
She’s so damn cute. I pull our hands up to my lips and kiss her knuckles.
“Let me start by saying, I love you.” I break the contact of our hands and pull her on my lap. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I look into her deep, emerald eyes, which are shining with what I hope are happy tears. “I won’t lie; I thought about proposing. I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone. There will always be just you, Maddy. There has never been anyone else, but you’re right. It is too soon. We still have a mountain of issues that we’ve just started working out.”
Maddy leans her head onto my shoulder and nuzzles into the crook of my neck. Pressing her lips there sweetly, she says, “I love you.”
“I love you too, babe. And I promise thatwhenI propose, there won’t be a doubt in either of our minds, or any other outside issue in our way.” I reach across to the table and hand her the gift again.
“So now that we’re both on the same page regarding that, will you please open my gift?”
She nods enthusiastically. She doesn’t tear the paper to shreds, though. Slowly, almost torturously, she peels the tape back slowly unveiling the black velvet box beneath. Snapping the top of the box back, she stares at the gift before her with an adorably confused look plastered to her beautiful face.
Pulling the necklace from the box – yes I put a necklace in a ring box just to throw her off a bit – she inspects the three charms that dangle at the center of the white gold chain.
“It’s beautiful, Reid. But what is it?” I take the necklace from her hands and separate the first charm from the rest.
“This one is yours.” I hold the flat circular disk on my fingertip. Moving to the next one, I say, “And this one is mine.” Dropping that one from my fingertip, I pull the third one to her attention. “This one. Well, this one is for the baby.”
She stares in wonder at the charms before her. Each plate is engraved with a simple, but bold capital letter – “M” for Maddy, “R” for Reid and “B” for baby. A small stone is set within the disc, right below the initial, for each birthstone – garnet for Maddy, sapphire for me, and peridot for the baby.
