I sit up, and the sheet falls to my lap. Shane leans in to kiss me, cupping one of my breasts. “I’ll bring Ava to you first because she’s going to want to nurse.”
When Shane deposits Ava in my arms, he leans down to kiss me. “When we get home, I’m going to take my time. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me.” He winks. “Very slow. Every inch. Until you melt into a puddle.”
Luke tugs on Shane’s hand. “Come on, Daddy! We have to go downstairs to see if Santa came last night.”
I smile as he picks up Luke, and the two of them head out the door.
Chapter 5
Christmas morning is a bit of a madhouse. When we walk into the great room, we find Jake and Annie and their bunch had beat us downstairs. The grandparents are already here, as are Elly and George. The others haven’t stirred from their rooms yet.
Luke gets one look at the small mound of presents beneath the Christmas tree and races over to the tree. “He came! He came!”
Aiden hands Luke a wrapped gift. “This one is for you.”
“Can I open it, Mama?” he asks me.
“Not yet. Let’s wait for everyone to come downstairs.”
“Can I go get them?” he asks.
I laugh. “No, you can’t. They’ll be along shortly, don’t worry.”
While the boys are waiting for everyone to come downstairs, they check out the goodies that Elly left out for Santa and his reindeer. Miraculously, the cookies are gone, except for a few crumbs, and the glass of milk is empty. The carrots are nowhere to be seen.
“Santa ate the cookies!” Luke cries. “And he drank the milk.”
“He sure did,” Aiden says, winking at me once more.
Fortunately, within twenty minutes or so everyone is gathered downstairs. The adults all find seats on the sofas and upholstered armchairs, while the kids sit around the tree, all except for Hazel and Henry, who are too young.
As Aiden is the only grandchild who can read, he hands out the gifts to all of the kids. There are two presents for each child.
“These are for you, Luke,” Aiden says as he hands two gifts to Luke. “And these are for Mia.” Aiden sets two packages in front of her.
Mia, who’s a little over one, picks up one of her gifts and starts chewing on the paper.
“Here, let me help you with that,” Sophie says as she joins her daughter on the floor and rescues the present. “Presents are for opening, not eating, sweetie.”
“These are for Hazel,” Aiden says as he hands the gifts to Molly. “And these two are for Henry.”
Aiden passes out gifts to Emerly and Everly as well as to Ava, who is sitting on Shane’s lap.
Once all the gifts have been distributed, the kids tear into them. The youngest ones need a little bit of help.
After he opens his gifts—a toy firetruck and a set of building blocks—Luke comes to sit on my lap. “He found us, Mama,” he says as he leans back against me. “Just like you said he would.”
“Of course, he did.” I give him a hug and kiss the top of his head.
The adults are having as much fun watching the kids open their presents as the kids are. Santa—otherwise known as Bridget and Calum and my mom—agreed to a strict limit when it came to the gifts, both in terms of numbers and dollar value. Two gifts for each child—no more. And a firm ceiling on the dollar amount.
The shrieks of excitement are proof that Santa did a good job selecting the gifts.
While the kids sit on the floor around the tree and play their presents, the adults watch from the sidelines, taking turns holding little Henry.
When Luke hops down to play with his firetruck, I get a chance to hold Henry. I cuddle him close and gaze down into his dark blue eyes and wonder if they’ll eventually turn brown like both his parents’ eyes. He gazes up at me, almost mesmerized as he stares at my face.
“Hello, Henry. I’m your Auntie Beth. Welcome to the family.”
