CHRISTMAS EVE MORNING, Kenna awoke to pressure in her breasts... and not in a good way, especially since Gunnar wasn’t in bed with her. Gunnar?

“Our son will not settle, elskan.”

Kenna sat up and smiled. Gunnar held a screaming Styrr in his arms and he was rocking him gently. Gunnar had offered to get him so she could sleep, but it seemed Styrr was having none of it. She reached for him. “I’m engorged, love, so hand him to me. He’s obviously hungry.”

Gunnar laid him in Kenna’s arms, kissing her gently and then a little more thoroughly once she got Styrr comfortable.

She reached up and stroked his cheek. “How long have you been awake?”

“I made him a bottle at three and then he woke again thirty minutes ago, but he wouldn’t take a bottle.” He sat on the edge of the mattress and patted Styrr’s back.

Kenna stroked Styrr’s head. “I can’t figure out who’s more obsessed with my breasts, my wee lad. You or your da.”

Gunnar chuckled. “Me. Definitely.”

Kenna giggled. “My wee prince, you need to be good today. Aðfangadagur starts at six and you get to open your presents.”

“I’m sure we’ll help him open them. I’m convinced our son is a genius, but I believe opening packages might be out of the realm of his abilities just yet.”

“You may have a point.” Kenna laughed again. “I still think it’s weird to open all your presents on Christmas Eve.”

“You do?”

“Yes. We have always done it on Christmas morning.” Last year they’d done the same.

“Next year we can do both,” Gunnar said.

“Perfect.” Kenna and focused back on Styrr.

“Tomorrow is Jóladagur,” Gunnar said. “We’ll have lamb in the evening, but the afternoon will be making Laufabrauð.”

“Have you come up with a pattern?”

Kenna learned last year that Laufabrauð, leaf bread, was made of thin sheets of dough cut into delicate patterns and fried. Each family often had their own design, and she and Gunnar had been trying to come up with something unique, but ended up just frying round pieces of dough. This year, she hoped they could be a little more creative.

Gunnar rose from the bed with a nod and pulled open his nightstand drawer, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to her. “What do you think?”

He’d drawn a tree with three branches and room for more as their family grew. “Och, honey, it’s beautiful. Will we be able to recreate it?”

He grinned. “Easy.”

“I’ll leave that part to you. If I tried to do it, it would end up looking like a headless person.”

Gunnar laughed. “You can’t be that bad.”

“Challenge accepted,” she retorted, and moved Styrr to her other side.

“I’m going to take a quick shower and then we’ll have breakfast, sound good?”

Kenna nodded. “Perfect, love.”

Gunnar headed to the shower and Kenna finished up with Styrr.

* * *

Kenna settled Styrr in his bassinet then joined Jesska in the kitchen. A handsome, tall, dark-haired man was loading the dishwasher. “Kenna, this is my brother, Cameron. Cam, this is Kenna. Gunnar’s wife.”

Kenna shook his hand. “It’s lovely to meet you.”

“You too,” Cameron said.

“Cam, can you come help me please?” a deep voice called.

Cameron grinned. “Dad needs help doing something secret... which means, he might burn the house down. I better go. Excuse me.”

“Make sure he doesn’t flood anything either,” Jess ordered to his retreating back.

“Got it,” Cameron replied.

Kenna smiled, leaning against the counter. “How do you feel, Jess?”

Jesska rubbed her belly. “Sore.”

“You should really rest.”

“Ohmigod, Kenna, don’t you start too,” she accused. “Between Kaz and my mom, I might slap someone.”

Kenna gave her a gentle hug. “I’m sorry, Jess. I know it’s hard, but if you’re having pains, you should at least—”

“Jesska Marie,” her mother snapped as she walked into the room. “Get off your feet.”

“See,” she whispered, rolling her eyes.

“I was just taking her over to the sofa,” Kenna said.

“Thank you, Kenna,” Jesska’s mother said. “You’re a good friend.”

Kenna smiled and looped her arm with Jesska’s. “Does Kaspar know you’re up?”

“What the hell are you doing on your feet?” Kaspar growled, walking toward them, having come from his office.

Kenna grimaced. “That would be a ‘no.’”

“Ten more seconds and I would have been in the clear,” Jesska grumbled.

“I knew you were up to something when you tried to block me,” Kaspar accused (albeit in a quieter voice due to human ears) and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Do you want to go back to bed?”

“Oh, calm down, your Highness, I’m going,” Jesska breathed out.

Kenna gave Jesska a bolstering smile as Kaspar made sure she sat down. He took a seat next to her and linked his fingers with hers.

“Why are you staring at my brother?” Gunnar whispered, kissing the back of her neck.

Kenna jumped, spinning to face him. “You need to stop doing that.”

He chuckled, kissing her nose. “Sorry. Now, why are you staring at my brother?”

“Just watching him with Jess.” She wove her arms around his neck. “She’s so frustrated and I get it, but now I realize I may have put you through a little more hell than I should have. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you more.”

He pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “You’re forgiven. But may I remind you of this conversation when you’re pregnant with our next baby?”

Before she could respond, Styrr let out a bellow that started a domino effect with the other babies in the room.

“Shite,” Kenna whispered, and dropped her arms, rushing to pick up the baby. “Hey, little prince. What’s going on? I only fed you twenty minutes ago.” She held him close and rocked him. “Let’s check your nappy, then we’ll see if you need to eat more.”

Kenna changed his diaper and then found a quiet place to feed him. The other children were settled and then the nannies took over.

Christmas gifts were exchanged and Kenna got caught up in the excitement of the children. Luckily, the main house was big enough for the kids to play without doing too much damage. By midnight, Kenna was having a hard time keeping her eyes open, so Gunnar insisted they head home.”

“We’ll see you in the morning,” Payton said, hugging her. “We’ll do our best to keep Killian from waking you before dawn.”

“We might be up anyway if Styrr doesn’t sleep through the night.”

“Okay, well, if you’re up, don’t let him wake us,” Payton pleaded.

Kenna giggled. “No problem, sis.”

She hugged her family, Gunnar lifted Styrr gently, and they headed home.