I grinned at my biggest brother. He was still dark haired, no signs of grey. His hair was thick and slightly curly, and his dark brown eyes had never changed. I remembered being a little girl who had fallen over, only to be picked up by Max with those eyes looking down sympathetically at me.
He’d been great with us when we were younger, even with Seph, for whom there was an argument that he should’ve been left to the wolves. He’d be a great dad someday, hopefully soon.
It was a thought that made me leave Vic and give him an enormous hug, even though I had only seen him the day before. I knew he and Victoria had been trying to get pregnant for some months and nothing was happening. He hadn’t said anything about it, but Claire had known, telling me and Ava that it was massively upsetting Max especially, while Vic was a little more of the side that it just needed time. They’d been checked to see if there was an issue, and nothing was preventing a pregnancy.
“What’s this for?” Max sounded suspicious. “You never hug people. Unless it’s Owen.”
“I’m happy you’re finally getting married.” I couldn’t disclose the truth. “Just need to make sure Vic doesn’t see sense at the last moment.”
His laugh rumbled through me before he stepped away, taking Victoria in his arms. “I’ll keep on fu…”
Then there was a well-directed elbow from Vic and Max just started laughing.
Laughter that was punctuated by the sound of a timer and Seph yelling something about sausages.
We were definitely home for Christmas.
4
An emerald and diamond eternity ring – from Killian to Claire
Victoria
“What do you have to get?”
My chauffeur wasn’t entirely happy having to drive me into Oxford for more Christmas shopping, even though I knew damn well he hadn’t bought pretty much anything yet himself.
“I need to pick up Max’s present. They couldn’t get it in the London store in time.” I did question Seph’s driving. It was reminiscent of an eighty-year-old who was driving his mother, such was the speed.
“Christmas present?”
“Actually, no. It’s a gift for on our wedding day.”
Seph glanced at me, his hands firmly in the ten and two position on the steering wheel. “What?”
“It’s tradition for the bride and groom to give each other gifts on their wedding day.” We were actually keeping more traditions than we’d planned, fuck knew how, because we’d originally intended to get married on a beach somewhere with some random witnesses.
“I get why Max has to give you a present. You need some form of compensation for putting up with his grumpy arse, but he gets you. That should be enough gifts to last till your sixtieth wedding anniversary. At least.” Seph sounded extremely indignant.
I wasn’t sure if that was because he genuinely believed that, or he was just cheesed off that we were hitting a shopping centre a couple of days before Christmas Eve.
“That’s sweet. This gives you a chance to at least get a couple of presents.” I watched him pull a face. “Seph, why don’t you like getting presents for your family?”
He shrugged. “I never know what to get. When I think of something it always seems it’s not enough.”
“No one’s bothered about how much you spend, Seph. It’s just a token.” It was like him to fret, but usually he got over it quickly. This seemed like a long-running hang-up.
He actually lifted a hand off the steering wheel and pushed his fingers through his hair, making it stick up.
“I know. I just worry about getting the wrong token, or someone hating it. I don’t want to be that present giver whose gifts are always disposed of.” He turned into the car park, going ridiculously slowly into the multi-storey.
I sighed and managed to stop myself from laughing. Seph would overthink. Then he’d pretend he hadn’t over thought something and go back to being effervescent and cheery. “Joseph, you’re giving this too much thought.”
He made a noise that was somewhere between a grunt and a groan. I’d heard exactly the same sound from Max many a time when he’d been undecided and frustrated with his indecision.
“What’s a token gift? What’s the definition of it?” He pulled carefully into a parking space, reversing with ease.
I was a little in awe as reverse parking was not something I’d ever managed to master.
