Two days went by and it was Christmas. I had stayed up till late the night before wrapping all the presents and piling them under the tree. I hoped my gifts were better than the food I was picking out for him at the grocery store. Everything I thought he would want to eat was wrong. There is no sugar or sweets in this kid’s diet. I would pick something out and place in the cart and he would look at me like I was crazy, then he would remind me that his mom knew everything and he never had to go to the grocery store.

“My mom doesn’t buy that. My mom wouldn’t let me eat that. That’s not how my mom cooks it.”

I gave up and just started to grab Sebastian’s and my stuff.

“My dad never ate that before. My mom used to cook that for my dad. Oh, that was my dad and mom’s favorite food. Dad used to love the way my mom would make that.” It was a shit show.

“Dad! Wake up! It’s Christmas,” Christian yelled from the living room. It couldn’t have been later than six in the morning, I felt like I had just gone to bed.

“Oh man…how is he up right now?” I groaned.

“Welcome to the world of kids and Christmas. They wake up ass early.” He yawned. “They also do this on birthdays.”

“Dad! Come on!”

“I’m coming, bud!” he yelled. “Hey…” he whispered, nuzzling my neck. “Merry Christmas, Ysa.”

I peeked my eyes open. “Merry Christmas,” I repeated.

“Dad!”

“Let’s go before he starts foaming at the mouth.”

We brushed our teeth and changed into some casual clothes. Christian had all the presents split up by name and I couldn’t help but notice there were quite a few presents with my name on them. I looked up at Sebastian and he winked at me. Christian said the gifts needed to be opened by age so he got to go first, me second, and Sebastian last.

He opened everything with the same enthusiasm as the first. It didn’t take him long to finish.

“Thanks, Dad, can we hook up my new PS3? Mom got me all these games! Let’s go play them.”

“Yes, but Ysabelle picked out a lot of these things, including that PS3.”

“Oh.” He walked over to me, and it was the first time I saw that he was hesitant and shy, a big difference from the kid who was just bouncing off walls.

“Thank you, you can play the game first if you want.”

I chuckled. “Nah, that’s all you. I’m glad you liked everything.”

“I loved everything. Ummm…can I give you a hug?”

“Of course.”

We both leaned into each other at the same time. I looked over at Sebastian and he mouthed, “I love you.”

“Okay, now it’s your turn,” Christian reminded, pulling away from me and going to play with his new toys, not paying us any mind.

I nodded, trying to hold in all the happiness I felt. I opened a few presents from Brooke and Devon; Sebastian said that they had mailed them over and he had hid them in his suitcase. There was a card with just my name on it with one of Brooke’s gifts. I recognized the handwriting immediately and decided to open it later. We had also decided that we would open our gifts in private, and Sebastian wanted us to wait till New Years Eve. I was confused but went along with it.

“Dad, don’t forget to open all Mom’s gifts. You know she always buys the best presents,” he said, looking right at me.

We spent the rest of the day lounging around and helping Christian set up all his new toys. They had played PS3 for hours at a time as I watched and read. It was nice. The more time I spent with Christian, the more I learned about him. He was shy and reserved if it was just the two of us, but the minute Sebastian came back in the room, he’d light up. I could tell that his dad was his hero. He admired him. It was endearing to watch. It was also overwhelming; he would throw comments here and there about Julia. The woman could do no wrong. She seemed like the perfect mom and wife when they were together. There was no way I could ever measure up to that.

Why would he leave her for me?  

The days went by quickly and we spent most of them on the slopes or inside watching movies. I found it interesting that most “kid movies” had such adult and somewhat vulgar humor in them.

It was New Years Eve, and I was laying on the couch reading while they were upstairs playing PS3. I looked up to find Sebastian coming down the stairs and he came right over to me. He grabbed my legs and I winced.

“I’m so sore. I don’t think I can ski anymore.”

“Well then, we definitely need to try out that hot tub outside. Christian won’t make it till midnight, he’ll be passed out within the hour. We can celebrate in private with the champagne bottle I stored in the freezer.”

“That sounds perfect.”

He sat down, placing my legs on his lap and massaged them. “I know we haven’t been able to get much alone time in since we’ve been here.”

“It’s okay, I know you wanted to spend time with him. I understand.”

“I’ll make it up to you later, I promise.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

It was eleven by the time we made it into the hot tub. I went in first and he followed shortly after, setting up the champagne on ice and placing the strawberries on the table next to the hot tub.

I moaned. “This feels amazing. We’re sitting in a hot tub while it snows all around us. It’s like a Christmas card.”

“Why are you so far away?”

I smiled. “Because I’m trying to relax and if I sit near you…I won’t be relaxing.”

We sat there for a few minutes just enjoying the view.

“Are you ready for your gifts?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“Of course, you’re lucky I’ve made it this long.”

He handed me two wrapped presents and told me which one to open first. I wiped my hands on the towel that he just used to wipe his own and scooted up to open my first gift.

It was a key.

“This isn’t something cheesy like this is the key to your heart,” I teased, half-serious.

He shook his head no, grinning. “No…open the other one.”

I opened the next present and it was a document; no, it was a contract with both of our names on it.

“Oh my God.”

“Calm down. Nothing is set in stone.”

When his parents were in town, they wanted to go look at houses one day and we went along with them. There was this house that wasn’t far from the bar and I had told him that the pool reminded me of the one in Miami. It was oceanfront property with an infinity pool, four bedrooms, a study, two living rooms and a kitchen that would make my chef jealous.

“If you want it. It’s ours.”

My mouth hung open, I had no idea how to respond.

“Just think about it,” he stated, reading my mind. All I could do was nod.

I reached over the ledge to grab his present and handed it to him, still shaken from the unexpected surprise. He quickly opened it. It was a framed picture of the morning after we were intimate in St. Barts; I was a VIP and he was still married. I remembered thinking that I wanted a memory of our night together. I had never taken a picture with any man before and I wanted his. Ours. We were still in bed and I had grabbed my phone and taken a picture of us just as we were.

“That’s the only thing I kept from our time together.”

We locked eyes. 

“It used to make me really sad when I looked at it. I kept it hidden under my mattress. When you found me on the island, we moved forward that day. That night I pulled it out for the first time since I put it there when I moved. I kept that photo because it was the first time I had ever made love and that’s why it made me sad to look at it. When I looked at it that night, it made me smile…I thought maybe I hadn’t imagined it all and we really did share something.”

His eyes were wide with shock and grief.

“I want you to have it,” I added, trying to hold back the tears.

I had never felt more vulnerable and exposed than I did in that moment.

“I believe everything you say about you loving me since day one. The look on your face now is the same look you gave me then, I just didn’t realize it. I wracked my brain for weeks trying to think about what to get you for Christmas. You have everything. So I figured I’d give you the truth.” I paused; his intense stare was agonizing. “Sebastian, please say something.”

He looked back down at the picture, like he was envisioning everything I had just shared. When his piercing stare caught mine again, there was more emotion than I had ever seen before and he looked deep into my eyes.

“Marry me.”

It wasn’t a question. My eyes widened and my hand went to my mouth, shocked.