Christmas morning.
Of course, Gage was already awake. He had a shift tonight at seven, but I’m glad I get to spend this morning with him. It’s been a year and a half since I met Gage and a year I finally decided to become his. Nothing was as hard as those first six months of being together. After that, when I finally told him I loved him, everything seemed to click into place. Even though I admitted it to him, he knew I wasn’t a hundred percent in love with myself yet. Accepted who I was and who I wanted to be. It’s taken time, but I’ve learned to forgive others and learned how to forgive myself.
Every Sunday after I moved in we went to church. Whether it was with his family or just his mother, it took me a long time to understand that God never forgot about me. I just wasn’t listening. I’ve taken to church easily now. I didn’t feel that heavy, hard weight on my back anymore. As if I was being judged by everyone here. They actually loved seeing me and see me become this happier version of me. Like I updated and the heavy weight of my past wasn’t pulling me down anymore.
My mother was completely off the grid now. I haven’t seen or talked to her since that day back in October. I was sad for her, but I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it. I forgave her and even though some of those scars didn’t go away, I didn’t mind. Not anymore.
The pastor at our church quoted, “God only places the heaviest burdens on those who can carry its weight.”
I don’t know who said it, but it rang something inside of me. Everything I went through, was to get me to this point in my life. I would have never met Gage if I had a normal childhood. Hell, I’d have still been living in California. Or never even been born. Who knows?
All I do know is that I’ve never felt so grounded before. I had Gage and God to thank for that.
Being a fireman’s girlfriend was hard at times, but the times in between, those are the moments I cherish the most.
Sad thing about this Christmas, was that Lily, Gage’s little half-sister, was gone. Gage tried to get it out of his father, but that was a no go. I don’t know what happened but Jake hasn’t been the same since. He works and works and has had a few close calls if it hadn’t been for Gage and Stephen there to make sure he didn’t fall off the deep end completely.
He and I made our peace with each other and I really hope Lily comes back to save him. He so desperately needed it. Maybe as badly as I had.
I stretched and looked at the clock. Six a.m. I really hated getting up so damn early. My phone buzzed and I reached over, picking it up to see a morning text from Gage.
Gage
Morning, beautiful. It’s a beautiful white Christmas this year. Get on out here.
I need to get dressed. And white Christmas? Yeah right.
Gage
You never know. You still wearing my socks?
Yes.
Gage
That’s all you need.
I sent him a rolly eye face in return.
Gage
Damn, I’ll never get tired of that sassy mouth, firecracker.
You are crazy.
Gage
Crazy in love.
Me, too.
I got out of bed, and reached for the silk robe he bought me for my twenty-sixth birthday. I reached up and rubbed the heart-to-heart pendant he gave me last year, knowing that our love was just like that. Never ending.
That’s when I heard it.
A small yip coming from the other room.
“Shh….you’re a surprise! Keep quiet, boy.”
What in the world? I tied the sash and walked out towards the living room. Another yip sounded and then all was quiet.
“Gage? What’s wrong? What’s that nose?”
I walked where there were presents surrounding the tree. This year, the party was here and I knew the family would probably start arriving shortly after seven.
“Taylor, I love you so much baby.”
“I love you, too, Gage. More than anything.”
YIP! YIP!
“Gage! What is that?” I pointed to the small box next to his feet that jerked at his side.
“Your Christmas present.”
My Christmas present?
I walked closer and the box moved.
“Holy crap! What is that?”
“Open it, baby. He’s excited to meet you.”
“He?”
I walked to him and knelt down, but Gage was having none of that. He took me in the vee of his legs, his neck burying itself in my neck as he snuggled in and sucked a passionate kiss on the flesh there.
“Merry Christmas, firecracker.”
I opened the lid and out popped a puppy. A brown puppy.
“What is it?”
“Your very own Scooby, Taylor.”
I looked over to Gage, and I knew I had tears burning in my gaze.
“You bought me a Scooby? An actual Great Dane?”
“Yeah, baby. That okay?”
“IT’S MORE THAN OKAY!”
I threw my arms around him, and the puppy yipped all around us in youthful excitement.
“Calm down, boy.”
“Merry Christmas, Gage.”
“That’s not all. Look at his collar, Tay.”
I turned back around and held out my arms for the precious little puppy. He jumped into my arms, kissing and licking at my face before I was able to turn his collar around, noticing more than just a tag on the collar.
My eyes widened with wondrous surprise.
“Marry me, Taylor Rae. My beautiful, sweet, sassy, sexy woman. I want to love you through every day we have on this earth. And when our days are over, and I go, just know this. I’ll wait for you. There’s no heaven without you, Tay. So you better marry me, woman. Because I’m not going anywhere and I’ll never let you go. I love you. Heart, body and soul. You’ve come such a long way and we have a long road ahead of us. My love for you will never fail. Never cease. It will always be kind and patient. Our love is timeless, Taylor.”
“You had me at marry.”
I threw myself at him, connecting our lips together in a kiss that I knew would light him up. And it wasn’t but a second later when I felt the hard evidence pressing deeply on my core. I only had a pair of panties and a camisole on underneath the robe and even with our new puppy trying o get in between us, I spread my legs open and straddled his hips. His hands came up, gripping my ass as he crushed me to him.
I finally felt my life coming full circle to start anew. And I’ve never felt so blessed.