The twinkling lights on the front of my house are so pretty and can be seen from a distance as I pull back into the driveway. I turn off the engine, grab the big white box and head back into the house.

“Megan!” Kate yells.

“Hi, Kate.” I pause. “Where is Mark?”

“Upstairs with Lucy.”

I walk up the stairs, hugging the box close to my chest. I find Mark sitting on my bed with Lucy lying next to him. He’s singing to her. I stand there watching before tapping on the door.

“Can I come in?” I ask.

“It’s your house, silly. Get your fine arse over here.” I walk over to him, placing the box onto the bed.

“For you.”

Mark takes the lid off the box. “Woof woof.”

“A puppy.”

“Just for you,” I say.

“You’re so cute,” he says, lifting out the black ball of fluff.

“She is a six-week-old girl with no name and all yours, baby.”

“I love you, Megan.” He kisses me. “Now, we need to think of a name for you,” he says as he playfully pets the puppy.

“That’s your task for today.”

Mark takes the puppy downstairs to show everyone.  I hear a lot of coos and awes as he passes her around. Everyone must love her like I do.  I change into my real Christmas outfit, a black dress with a bit of sparkle on the top half and a fluty bottom that comes down to my knees. I add the bracelet Mark gave me. I shake out my hair and quickly re-apply my lip-gloss and mascara. Perfect.  I change Lucy into a red dress with white frilly lace at the bottom.

“Now, who looks pretty?” I ask, looking at my daughter in pure amazement. I still can’t believe that she is mine. I made her. She is a part of John and me. I’m still scared John will try to hurt her in years to come. I would do anything to protect her.

“Megan,” Kate says, running through the door. “You look very pretty.”

“Thank you, Kate.”

“Are you coming downstairs?” she asks.

“Of course, I am. I need to finish the rest of the cooking.”

Kate runs off ahead of me, holding Dolly close to her chest. I pick up Lucy and begin walking down the stairs. Turning into the lounge, I decide to leave Lucy in there because it will be safer than having her in the kitchen with me. There are plenty of people around to keep an eye on her also.

“Look at Dolly’s pram,” Kate says, pushing a traditional classic-style pram with a black storage basket underneath.  It has a black base with a pink cover and hood and comes with a matching changing bag.

“It’s stunning,” I say as I place Lucy down onto the floor and watch her crawl into the room.

“I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Wow!” Mark say. I turn back around to face him.

“What?”

“You look stunning.”

“Thank you,” I say blushing. “I’ll be right back.”

I walk out of the front door and to the car. Opening the boot of the car, I pull out another big box and return inside the house.

 "For you, Mark," I say, passing him the box.

"What’s this?" he questions. "You have already spoilt me."

"What do you think it is?"

"I have no idea," he says, opening the box. "Things for puppy?" he asks, smiling like a little kid in a candy shop.

I giggle to myself, thinking about Jenny’s reaction when I told her I was contemplating buying Mark a puppy.

“You’re crazy, Megan. What if he doesn’t like it? What if you split? Who gets the dog?” Jenny asked me, waving her hands around.

“Calm down, Jenny. Mark loves dogs; he even bought Annabella one. I think it’s the perfect gift. He has so much money, and whatever I buy he could buy himself. If we split, we split. The dog is Mark’s. Come with me. I’m off to see some dogs now.” I tilted my head and smiled sweetly.

“Okay, fine,” she said.

The place was only five minutes away from my house. We walked up the path to a large house that no one would think there were dogs around. It was all posh, at least three stories high with an attic. It looked like one of those houses that could be seen on an American program. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

“Hi, you must be Megan. Come on in,” this tall, blonde lady said.

We followed her inside and through a hallway into a large room. “Here they are. These are four-week-old Yorkshire Terriers.”

I knelt down beside the playpen, looking at them.

“Do it,” Jenny whispered into my ear.

The lady stood there and told me all about them, even introducing me to their parents. I couldn’t keep my eyes off them, but the black girl really caught my eye. The rest of them were all black and white. 

It’s the black girl that I chose for Mark.  Seeing her with him now makes me happy. "Yes, I can’t just give you a puppy with no dishes and stuff. Her food is in the bottom cupboard near the fridge."

“Check you out,” he says, pulling out dishes and a mat for them to sit on. I did spoil the little pup with some toys, yes, but I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. I just hope Mark does, too.

“What’s this?” he says, pulling out a small box. I stand there smiling. “A collar for her? It’s perfect.” I found a ruby red one that I thought would work well with her fur, and ruby was also his grandad’s birthstone.

Mark continues looking through the box, finding a lead blanket and even more toys, her medical records and insurance code, everything the puppy would ever need.

“Her bed is in the boot of my car. I couldn’t carry it with everything else,” I sate.

“I’ll go and get it,” he replies, walking towards me. “Thank you.” He places his lips on mine.

“Does she have a name?” I ask.

“No, not yet,” he says, walking out the door after taking the car keys from my hand.

“I think she should be called Ella,” Kate says.

“No, Max,” Warren adds.

“It’s a girl, Warren,” Jenny points out. “I think she should be called Bella.”

“Max can be short for Maxine,” Warren says, picking up Lucy from the floor and lifting her above his head and making her laugh. “Airplane Lucy coming in for landing,” he says as he takes her down to the floor, making plane noises as he goes.

“Well, I think Elle,” Connor adds.

“Ella, Elle, Bella or Max?” Jenny asks Mark as he walks back into the room.

“None of them. I think I know what her name is,” he says.

“Tell me,” Kate says, jumping up and down.

“Daisy.”

“It’s perfect,” I add.

As Mark gives out a big smile, I think I can happily say that he does love this gift. He sets down the small dog bed onto the floor near the Christmas tree and pulls out a few toys from the box and places them onto the floor near the bed.

“I can help,” Kate says.

“Let’s go and set up her food in the kitchen,” he says. “Is that okay?” he asks me.

“Yes, go,” I say.

“What type of puppy is Daisy?” Kate asks.

“A Yorkshire Terrier,” Mark says, placing his hand onto the back of her head and guiding her out of the room first.

Reaching under the tree, I pull out a box and pass it to Jenny.

“What’s this?”

“If I tell you, it takes away the surprise.”

Jenny opens the box slowly while Warren sits on the floor, playing with Lucy. I love how he is with her. It helps me know that he will be okay when Jenny has her baby.

“OMG! I love it!” she squeals, pulling out a camera from the box.

“I knew you would.”

Jenny runs up to me and gives me a massive hug. “Thank you, I mean it. You knew how much I wanted one.”

“I know. Let’s go and sort out these bags, then we can get the rest of the pans on,” I say.

“Oh, yes, I can’t wait to see them all done,” she says, wiggling around. “Going to have to pee first.”

“Warren and Connor, you need to pop something else on over your shirts. We are off outside, and I don’t want you getting cold.” I head into the hallway, grapping Mark and Kate’s jackets.

“Pop these on, you two,” I say, setting them onto the kitchen bar.  

I leave the bags on the side and place mine on and then grab Lucy’s jacket. I turn to see Warren holding her.

“Let’s get your jacket on,” I state.

“Can I do it?” Warren asks. “I want to get some experience before the baby comes. I have never done anything like this. Will you show me?” I nod.

“Thank you, Megan.”