Page 23 of Liberating Water

Lailah

Mr. Lacy senttwo cars to get all of us and our luggage since there was no way we would all fit in one with Ben and Grace joining us. Isabelle didn’t show her face as we all left, which I was thankful for. No need to make things worse. The driver took us back into Old Town where Mr. Lacy’s apartment was, which made me even more excited. The streets were filled with pop-up markets for presents and Christmas trees. Overnight, this place had turned festive. It wasn’t as gaudy as I was used to back in the States; they used more natural decorations and ribbons versus glitter and lights.

Reaching our destination, the drivers helped us carry our things up the five flights of stairs to the top floor. A set of dark stained wooden French doors greeted us. Grace promptly pulled out her key and unlocked the door, flinging them both open as she bounced into the place.

“Père, we’re here!” Grace called out.

The difference between this place and Isabelle’s couldn’t have been more different. Here the furniture was overstuffed, covered in dark leather, and very welcoming. It had a rich, warm feeling to it that just made you want to light a fire and read a book. Just another sign to show how different the two of them were.

Mr. Lacy walked out from a room dressed in pressed slacks and an emerald-green sweater, looking far more relaxed than I had seen him.

“I feel so honored to have you all here for Christmas Eve, a wonderful surprise indeed,” Mr. Lacy said with the biggest smile on his face.

Grace ran up to him, threw her arms around his waist, and hugged him tight. Mr. Lacy returned the hug and kissed the top of her head. “Well, my Gracy-goose, are you ready to show these guys how we do Christmas Eve?”

Pulling back just enough so she could look up at him, she nodded furiously. “Yup, but Hudson gets a special prize because Mère wasn’t going to let us come. If he hadn’t stood up to her, then we wouldn’t have been able to have a Christmas here at all.”

Chadwick’s eyes narrowed, and his smile dimmed a little as he looked at Hudson. “I’m sorry you had to do that, son. You should have called me. I would have handled it.”

“It was something I needed to do. It was time to stand up to her, to protect my family and do what’s right, even if it’s hard,” Hudson said as he took my hand.

The pride I felt for Hudson was overflowing, and I made sure that he could feel it too. What he had done might not seem big to others, but it was another step in the direction of not hiding his feelings anymore.

Chadwick watched Hudson for a moment before he nodded his head. “I can understand that. Well done, son.” Letting go of Grace, he clapped his hands before rubbing them together. “It’s time to find ourselves a Christmas tree!”

Already being in the heart of Old Town, all we had to do was walk out the front door of the building to find what we were looking for. Hudson took my left hand while Parker took my right, making me smile. As we wandered, inspecting tree after tree, I couldn’t help having this feeling that this was the first time that I had ever felt completely content.

It was clear to see that this tree was important by the way Ben and Grace argued over each selection. Just when I didn’t think we would find one, Ben gave a shout, causing Grace to race over to where he was. This tree was about six feet tall, and it was so full you couldn’t even see the trunk through the branches. I don’t think I’d seen a more picture-perfect tree in all my life.

“Que c’est beau! It’s perfect!” Grace said, smiling and clapping her hands.

Chadwick looked at the tree, then at us. “This is the moment that I always wished I’d had more help to bring home whatever they pick out. It seems to get bigger and bigger each year.”

The guys laughed along with him, and the vendor tied up the tree so that it was easier to carry. It took four of them to lug the tree back to the apartment, but the real adventure was getting it up all the flights of stairs with the narrow twists and turns. Once back home, Grace grabbed my hand, and we raced off deep into the back of the apartment to a large closet.

“We keep all the decorations and everything else for Christmas here,” Grace explained as she handed me boxes.

Unable to carry more, I headed off to the living room, where I assumed the tree would be set up. Placing the boxes down, I watched as Chadwick directed and Hudson and Ben tried to get the tree to stand up straight while Micah and Parker were tightening the stand underneath. I covered my mouth with my hands, trying to keep in the laughter.

“He said to stop tightening on your side, dipshit,” Micah snapped as the tree tilted to the left.

Parker’s head popped out front under the tree. “No, he didn’t. If you actually listened to someone for once, Mr. Know-It-All, you would have heard him say it was you who needed to stop.”

“Boys, if we could stay on the task at hand,” Chadwick interjected unsuccessfully.

“Oh you wanna go, asshat?!” Micah growled, rolling out from under the tree. “You wanna say that to my face this time?”

Just as I was about to step in, Jay walked up and grabbed them both by their ears and tossed them onto opposite sides of the large sectional couch. Both of them looked shocked at the action, eyes wide, Parker’s jaw hanging open.

“We are guests in this house—act like it,” Jay stated.

Without even raising his voice, Jay had managed to make both of them look chagrined and mumble out an apology. Satisfied, Jay dropped down to the floor and within moments had the tree secure and standing straight.

“What magic have you performed on our silent ninja?” Brayden asked into my ear as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

I jumped slightly but relaxed into his hold. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“There was a time not so long ago that Jay would have just walked away and left them to fight amongst themselves. He kept himself detached from all of us, knowing that his father disapproved. Ever so slowly, he is proving again and again that he will fight for us to be a team—hence why he wouldn’t let them fight like that,” Brayden said with his head resting on my shoulder. “You, my Angel, are the miracle we needed to make this whole thing work.”