The men are hanging lights on the tree while we women put up little figurines on different tables and areas of the room. Mama is setting up the manger. There seems to be hundreds of ornaments. Some of them have special meanings and have been collected throughout the years. Two hours later, we all stand back as Papa flips the switch to turn on the lights. The tradition in the Steffan house is to give one special gift to each other on the eve of the birth of Christ. The rest of the gifts are opened on Christmas morning.
Ysabel hands out the gifts. As we are all seated with our ones, Aiden asks, “Hey, where is mine?”
I’ve already told all the ladies what his special gift will be. The men, on the other hand, and with the exception of Johnny, don’t have a clue. Papa scolds Ysabel for forgetting her brother.
“Papa, I have my husband’s gift,” I say. “If everyone does not mind, could I be the first to give him his?” They all nod. I ask Aiden to join me in front of the manger. He has a confused look on his face, but does what I ask of him. The women are smiling, knowing full well the gift I am about to give him is the best any husband could ask for. Mama holds Papa’s hand and kisses his cheek.
As we stand there, I take both of his hands in mine. “Aiden, the love I have for you is a forever kind of love. We have been through so much to be able to stand here in front of our family, spending our first of many Christmases to come. In the past, you talked about getting married and having children of our own. You said that you couldn’t wait to see what they looked like, whether it be more like you or me. So, it is only fitting that on this night, the night that Jesus was born, I give you the gift of love. The gift that we created together.”
His eyes light up, shining with tears. As one glides down his face, he places a hand on my belly. “We are having a baby? I’m going to be a father?”
With tears of joy stealing my voice, I simply nod yes.
He picks me up and swings me around, setting me down to kiss me passionately. This time I don’t object to showing the man of my dreams the love I feel for him in front of his family. Releasing me, he turns and faces everyone. He shouts it loudly. “I’m going to have a baby!” The room erupts in cheers, laughter, and clapping of hands. Papa and Mama come to stand by us. Papa is the first to offer congratulations. “My firstborn is going to be a papa.” He turns to Mama. “I’m going to be a nonno.” As we all laugh, she tells him. “Si, I’m going to be a nonna!”
They embrace each other, then the two of us. Everyone takes turns giving us their congratulations. The smile on Aiden’s face is from ear to ear. He keeps touching my belly. Suddenly, he asks, “When did you go see the doctor? When did you find out?”
I explain what happened earlier in the kitchen and how we had to get Dr. Verdi to come here without being seen. “There was never a spider in the kitchen.”
He starts to laugh. Looking between all of us, he asks if the rest of the women were in on it. Mama says that I wanted to be able to tell him tonight, so we had to work quickly in order for it to happen. Johnny informs him that it’s why he had to get him out to the barn, so he wouldn’t see the doctor arrive.
“Johnny knew?”
“He only found out by accident. We were talking about Dr. Verdi coming here and we didn’t see him standing at the door. I swore him to secrecy and asked him to help us by taking you away from the house. But he didn’t know the results till now.”
“Well, now it is my turn to give you your present. It doesn’t come close to the gift you have given me, but I am pretty sure that you will love it.” He hands me a scroll with a ribbon around it. I slide the ribbon off and unroll the rather thick piece of paper.
Upon reading it, I look between him and back to the certificate. Then I start to jump and scream.
“Baby, don’t jump. You don’t want to hurt the baby.”
I run over to Papa and Mama and hug them both tightly. Shannon and Brandy both ask at the same time, “What is it?”
Holding the paper above my head and waving it around, I say, “He bought Italia for me. I own her now.”
Ysabel says, “What is it about you and that horse? She adores you. She has never acted like that with anybody before.”
Mama snaps her fingers. “That’s it. She sensed that you are carrying a baby. That’s why she is so drawn to you. Italia knew before any of us did.”
I walk over to the window, pressing the side of my face to it. The glass is cold, but I don’t care. There are a dozen things I am feeling at the moment, but cold is not one of them. I look up at the night sky. Of the million stars shining tonight, I notice one in particular; it’s sparkling extra bright. It’s you, right Mom? You are here with me, shining for me tonight. If I’m half as good a mother as you were, then I’ll be just fine. I’m going to make you, Daddy, and Erik proud of me. Bringing both my hands to cover my belly, I promise, I’m going to make sure this baby knows how much she or he is loved. I’m going to tell them stories about you all.
Aiden walks up behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders and his chin on the top of my head. “Are you happy, baby?”
“I have never been happier than I am right now.”
“Come on, Johnny is about to give Shannon her gift. He wants us all to be present for it.”
We take a seat on the couch. I whisper in his ear, “Your brother looks white as a ghost.”
“Yeah, he seems nervous, all right.”
Johnny stands in front of Shannon. She also begins to stand, but he tells her to stay seated. “Shannon, the day I went to New York last year, I was only planning to be there for a short time. You changed all of that. I thought I had my life planned out already. I was content to just run the family business. There was no room for anything else in my life. Then I saw you. My heart left my chest.” With a wave of his hand, he makes a motion that shows his heart leaving. “Your beauty caught my attention, but it was your strength, your kind heart, the willingness to always put other people first that made me fall in love with you. I want to share the rest of my life with you, if you’ll have me.”
He gets down on one knee and pulls out a small box from his pocket. She gasps and covers her mouth with her hands.
“Will you do me the honor of taking my name and becoming my wife?”
Still with her hands covering her mouth, she starts crying and nodding her head.
“Is that a yes?”
As she takes her hands off her mouth, still crying, there is only one word that escapes from her lips. “Yes.” She jumps up and flings her arms around him.
We all start clapping and cheering. Gianni whistles. Taking a step back, Johnny slides the ring on her finger. Through tears she gazes down at it. “It’s the most beautiful ring I have ever laid eyes on.” She holds her hand up so we can all look at it.
Everyone hugs them and gives them congratulations. I wait until the very end to give her a hug. We stare at each other for a minute. I pull her to me and we squeeze tightly. “I’m so happy for you, Shannon. You deserve to be happy.”
“Thank you, Lexie. I am happy, so very happy.”
“I love you all the way around the world and back again, Shannon.”
“Ditto, Lexie. Always have, always will.”
After we finish with the gifts, Papa raises his glass and announces that he wants to make a toast. “I will try to keep this short and sweet.”
“Really, Poppy?” We all start to laugh at Ysabel’s words. Every one of us knows that his speeches are never short. With both of his hands, he motions us to takes our seats. “I did say I will try, okay?”
Mama tells us all to be quiet. “Listen to your father.”
He stands in front of the tree. “This year has brought us so many gifts. The gift of love. The gift of knowledge, of loyalty, of new beginnings, and new family members. I want us all to raise our glasses to family and new friends. Mostly to love, and all that it entails.”
As one, we all say, “Salut.”
Afterward, I tell Aiden that I am tired, it’s been a long day, and I need to go to bed. “I’m sure that Mr. and Mrs. Castro are tired from the flight today. They haven’t even had a chance to unpack or go upstairs to freshen up.”
Everyone agrees that it has been a very long day—a great one, but long nonetheless. Brandy shows her parents, sisters, and brother to the guest room they will be staying in. Before they go up, Mrs. Castro thanks us once again for inviting them. “Goodnight, Mrs. Steffan, and we are very happy of the news of the baby.”
***
I am sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing my feet, while Aiden brushes his teeth. As I am about to lie back, there is a knock on the door of our room. Brandy is standing there. She hugs me. “I just wanted to say again, thank you for bringing my family here to spend the holidays with me. You don’t know how much it means to me.”
“You do so much for me and Aiden, we just wanted to show you how much we appreciate you. Goodnight, Brandy.”
“Who was that?”
“It was Brandy, she just wanted to thank us again.”
“I hope the girls are all okay with sharing one room.”
“Yeah, I’m sure they will be fine. The bed is big enough, anyway. It’s a good thing there are seven bedrooms in this house.”
I slip on one of Aiden’s shirts and we get in bed. “It’s already almost three in the morning.”
“Turn around, baby, you need your rest. Let me hold you.”
I fluff my pillow, settle in his arms, and feel myself dozing off.
Stop saying that! No, I don’t want to die. I’m having a baby, I can’t lose my baby and husband. I scream, Why do you want me to die?
I’m awakened by someone calling my name. Sitting up in bed, I look around the room. There is a cold chill in the air. Something makes me look down at my hand. There are puncture marks on the top, as if someone has been poking me with needles. Suddenly a few strands of hair are pushed behind my ear. Startled, I jump out of bed. I look over at Aiden, but he hasn’t moved. Am I going crazy? I’m hearing people’s voices—more importantly I’m hearing Erik’s, Mom’s, and Dad’s voices.
Shannon is right; I need to tell Aiden about these dreams. Oh God, he’s going to get angry that I didn’t tell him sooner. The shooting pain hits me hard. I go to the medicine cabinet and grab the bottle of painkillers. Just as I am about to take them, I remember that I can’t since I am pregnant and they might hurt the baby. I sit on the toilet and hold my head.
“Please, please take the headaches away, God.” Wetting a small towel and placing it over my forehead, I stay still for a few more minutes. Slowly and quietly, I slip back into bed. I lie there, silently praying for God to take the pain away.
***
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Opening my eyes, I see Aiden standing over me with a breakfast tray. I sit up and prop myself against the pillows.
“Did you bring coffee?”
“I thought that a warm cup of tea would be better.” I wrinkle my nose and tilt my head to the side, but he smiles. “I know that you would prefer coffee, but isn’t caffeine bad for the baby?”
“Yes, you’re right. What kind of tea is that?”
“Wait, did you just say that I am right again? Wow, that’s two days in a row. That has to be a world record or something. Maybe I should get you to say it again so I can record it.”
“Very funny, ha-ha. Now what kind is it?”
“It’s chamomile tea. My mom said it would be good for you and the baby.”
I bring the cup up to my nose to take a whiff of it. “Hmmm, it smells pretty good.” I take a little sip and find that it actually tastes really good too. On the tray there are pancakes, toast, and a bowl of fresh fruit. After finishing all the fruit and toast, I only eat half of the pancakes. I ask him for more tea, please. He goes downstairs and is back before I can even get out of bed.
“Damn, did you run?”
“Don’t get smart with me, young lady. I’ve got two of you to take care of now.” He brings his hand down to my stomach and rubs it. We stare at each other in surprise, because the rubbing of my stomach causes the baby to move. At least that’s what we think for a minute, then I realize it was just from me being hungry. “Aiden, it was just my stomach, because I am starving.”
With a grin, he lowers his head and kisses my stomach. “Daddy will always protect you. No one or nothing will ever hurt you.”
Smiling, I place a hand over his head as he talks to the baby. Lying against my belly, he starts to hum a song. In an instant I recognize it. “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles. I start to sing the words as he continues to hum. Straightening up, he leans his forehead against mine. Without skipping a word or beat, we finish the whole song. Every time, just when I think I couldn’t possibly love this man any more, he surprises me and gives me one more reason to love him.
“I wonder if this baby knows how lucky he is to have a father like you.”
“How do you know it’s a boy? It could be a daughter.”
“Oh God, heaven help her if it is a girl.”
“What? I will treat her like a princess!”
“Oh, of that I have no doubt. It’s just that when she starts to date, you’ll be one of those overprotective fathers.”
“Now Alexis, I promise I will never follow them or stalk them in any way.”
“Really?”
“That’s what Anthony will do for me.”
I throw the pillow at him. “You are not ever going to do any such thing to our daughter!”
Laughing, he moves the tray out of the way and wraps his arms around me. “How did I end up with such a gorgeous and crazy wife like you?”
“Guess you just got lucky.”
“Well, get up. It’s Christmas day and we have a lot to celebrate.”
Giving him the best pouty face I can, I ask, “Can’t I just stay in bed for a while longer?”
Standing up, he holds his hand out for me to take. “Don’t you want to go feed Italia?”
In a second, I leap out of bed. “Let me get changed real quick.” Running into the closet, I pull out a pair of jeans and a sweater. I slip on a hoodie over that, grab my snow boots, and in a matter of minutes I am ready to go to the barn.
“I don’t believe I have ever seen you get dressed so fast before.”
I put my hair up in a ponytail. Opening the bedroom door, I look back at him. “Are you coming?”
As we make our way through the kitchen, I wish everybody a Merry Christmas. Shannon and I joke that if you ever want to find this family, the first place you should look is in the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I get two carrots. I smile at everyone and head out toward the barn with Aiden on my heels.
“Would you not walk so fast? Remember, it’s not just you anymore.”
His words cause me to halt. I turn around. “I would never do anything to put our child in danger. He will always come first, always.”
I wait for him to reach me and slide my hand into his. Together, at a slower pace, we make our way to the barn. As soon as I open the door and she sees me, Italia starts shaking her head and prancing, one hoof at a time. When I bring my hand up to her head, she settles down.
“Be careful, Alexis. I don’t want her to hurt you by accident.”
“She’ll never hurt me.” I turn my attention back to her. “Hey, girl. Look what I brought you. Merry Christmas, Italia. You are mine now, and I am going to love you forever.” I get the brush and open the gate to her pen, go in and start to brush her thoroughly from front to back. After a while I lead her out to the pasture. To Aiden’s surprise, I don’t even say anything to get her to walk right alongside of me. He keeps saying over and over how he has never seen her act this way with anyone before. We walk her for a good hour, then put her back in her pen before heading back into the house for lunch.