“All right, last but not least,” I say and gesture to Garrett. He eyes the gift warily, which is fair. There have been times when we’ve fought enough that instead of a genuine gift, I’ve gone on to prank him. “I promise it’s real. No pranks.”
Garrett nods and rips open the package that’s on the floor by his feet; it’s a box with the name of the gift on the side. “Holy shit. How’d you know?”
“You complain more than you think,” I explain, and he looks over the new monitor for his gaming setup. His has been glitching, and sometimes half the screen just goes blank. His yells about it are frequent and aggressive.
“Thanks, man. Seriously,” Garrett says, reading what kind of monitor it is.
“All right!” I clap my hands and stand, reaching down to grab my wrapped presents for Birdie and Rora. Of course, there’s something for her parents, grandmother, and sister as well that I picked up. “I’m heading to the girls. You have a nice Christmas.”
Nora looks around with worry in her eyes, but she shines a smile at me and says, “Merry Christmas, Derek. I hope you have a really great day.”
I nod and say, “You too,” before I head out the door.
Time to finally see my girls.
Elizabeth’s arms are barely around me when Rora’s little ones latch onto my legs. “Derek!”
There was something sweet about her little voice yelling my name that got me every time.
“Hey! Derek’s here!” I hear Valerie cheer in the living room, and I move in, Rora on my leg and Elizabeth holding onto my side. The bag of gifts is in my other hand.
When I enter the living room, Hattie and her parents, along with Grandma Honey, are there, all still wrapped in their Christmas pajamas and sipping hot coffee.
“I got a dollhouse!” Rora says excitedly and bounces on her toes, now detached from my leg. I give her a surprised look, high-fiving her.
“Yes, a very large dollhouse,” Elizabeth says, and Valerie holds up her hands like “don’t you start.”
I smile at the exchange and set my bag down by the couch, scootching in next to Birdie and wrapping my arm around her. I take a breath and allow myself to feel that amazing sense of calm that I do when I get around her.
She admitted to the fact that being around me calms her, but what I didn’t reply with was that she does the exact same thing for me.
“Derek, coffee?” Valerie asks, already standing.
“I’d love some, if you have it.”
“I always have coffee!” Valerie sings as she whips into the kitchen. I smile at the sight, she and her daughter are very much alike.
“How was your Christmas Eve, son?” Roger asks, sitting back in his seat. I feel myself grow a little tenderhearted at the question, maybe because he used the word “son,” but I don’t want to dive into that now and end up bawling like a baby.
“Pretty low-key. Just watched some movies with my friends,” I say. “How was yours? I saw some serious gingerbread making happening.”
“I beat Aunt Hattie!” Aurora says loudly, to which Hattie gasps, eyeballing her niece in outrage. “You stuck your little hand through my roof!”
Then she grabs Rora and starts tickling her so much that Rora can barely get a breath, she’s laughing so hard. The rest of us sit there and smile at her actions. This will be a little girl who never knows what it’s like to wonder if people love her.
“Here you go, handsome.” Valerie sets the steaming mug on the side table by another, which I’m assuming is Birdie’s, and I take it, handing her one before taking a sip of my own.
“Thank you so much.”
“More presents!” Rora says loudly, nearly talking over my thank you, and I laugh at her, watching her aunt hand her something else that goes with the dollhouse.
It seems the room knew the assignment, and all of her gifts nearly complete the dollhouse setup, giving her furniture and a kitchen and fake food and clothes and all the things she needs.
“I have one more thing for you,” I say, standing and grabbing it out of the bag.
The bright red paper wrapping catches her eye, and she takes it happily, bouncing on her toes before tearing into the paper. She gasps and looks at the brown-haired doll before her. “I love her!”
I laugh and nod. “Good. There are some more things in here too,” I say and grab the smaller gifts, nearly all of them are clothes for the doll.
