When we finished, we all piled up in the living room and traded a few small gifts, but mostly watched as Grace tore through her presents at her own pace, which was either at breakneck speed or glacially slow. Some gifts, like the glitter cowgirl boots from Bee and Nolan, required a full unboxing and fashion show while others, like the baby doll from her parents, were immediately discarded.
Isaac and I sat on the floor together, me leaning against his chest. We didn’t have gifts to share or trade, but it didn’t matter. There was not a thing in this world I could imagine wanting.
“I’ll be right back,” Isaac whispered before kissing my shoulder. He stood and took his phone from his pocket, answering it as he disappeared into the kitchen.
Bee gave me an is-everything-okay look and I nodded with just a smidge of uncertainty.
Teddy sat in the armchair near the tree as Steph perched on the armrest beside him in her fur-trimmed silk pajamas and matching robe. “Merry Christmas,” she told him as she handed him a small gift box.
“You said no gifts,” Teddy said, completely betrayed.
Steph laughed to herself. “It was a trick, you adorable moron.”
Teddy grunted as he futzed with the box, and I stood up to go find Isaac. It didn’t matter who he was talking to, but I wanted to know who exactly Isaac Kelly answered the phone for on Christmas.
He stood in the kitchen, staring out the window overlooking the snow-covered garden, with the phone held to his ear. “You’ll love her,” he said. “You both will.” He nodded. “I’ll call you later. Merry Christmas, Mom. Merry Christmas, Nanny.”
“You sure she’ll love me?” I asked from where I stood in the doorway.
He sauntered toward me and crowded me against the doorframe. “Carina Kelly and Nanny are going to love you because I love you,” he said, hooking a finger under my chin and tilting it up toward him.
“The house is all decorated,” I said. “When did that happen?”
“I called in some favors at the Hope Channel.”
“Oh yeah? It looks like Clayton came through with the twenty-foot tree.”
He smirked. “Apparently, he cut it down from his parents’ backyard. He said, and I quote, ‘My mom is pissed.’”
I wound my arms around his waist, wishing we could melt into each other. “Thank you.”
He pressed a kiss into my forehead. “For what, sunshine?”
“For taking care of the decorations and the tree and for rescuing me even when I didn’t think I needed it.”
“I want to take care of you, Sunny, and I’m going to spend every day proving it to you. I want to be your cloud when everyone else wants too much of your sunshine. I want to help when you don’t know how to ask for it. I want to be closer than your shadow when you need me. I want to keep you as safe as you make me feel. Will you let me do that for you?”
A shaky breath stuttered out of my chest. Sometimes when you were the happiest person in the room, no one bothered to check in and see what might be brewing under the surface. No one thought to anticipate what you might need when you didn’t appear to need anything at all. But Isaac saw beyond that. He saw beyond the brightness on the outside and into the murkier insides, and he loved them both equally. Because I was the sunshine and I was the storm, and I was both of those things at once.
“Yes,” I told him, and it felt more binding than any proposal or legal document ever could be.
He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed each of my knuckles. “Good.”
“I need a face phone,” Teddy said breathlessly as he pushed past us.
“You need what?” I asked, as Isaac stepped back, but only by a bit.
Teddy flapped as he took a glass from the cabinet and then proceeded to chug two glasses of tap water.
“We have very expensive bottled water in the refrigerator,” I told him.
“That’s Mr.Tumnus’s water,” Isaac said.
I laughed. A lot really had changed in the last few weeks. “He can share.”
Teddy shook his head. “Tap water is good for the immune system.” He flapped around again. “I need you to call my son on the, uh, camera phone.”
“FaceTime?” I asked.
