Chapter Thirty-Seven
Lucy
“Here, open this one,” Jason said.
Jenna was ripping and tearing her presents open like they were the last ones she would ever receive. She’d run over to my house, knocking the door down at five this morning, yelling that Santa had come and that I was late. I stumbled down my stairs, eager to get over there and celebrate with them, so all I did was wrap a robe around my body and throw my hair up in a bun.
Jenna had taken my hand and dragged me through the snow, our boots getting covered in the powdery goodness while we stomped through her house. The scent of percolating coffee wafted through the air while Jason cooked us all cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and I couldn’t help but take in the beauty of it all. The Christmas tree was stuffed with more presents than I’d remembered leaving underneath it last night. I looked back over my shoulder at a smirking, tired-eyed Jason.
“Merry Christmas, Lucy,” he said.
“You didn’t.”
“I did,” he said.
“You didn’t have to get me presents.”
“Well, I could say the same for you. You snuck them under there for me when you left,” he said.
“And I thought I did a pretty good job of it, too.”
“The best.” He bent down to kiss the top of my head.
The coffee was warm between my fingers, and it stopped my shivering body from shaking. The wind swirled the snow around and threw it up against the house, but inside, Jason was stoking a roaring fire while Jenna was divvying up the presents. Just like she had done with her Halloween candy, there were three piles, one for myself, one for Jason, and one for her.
“Disney princesses!” she squealed.
“Merry Christmas, princess,” Jason said, smiling.
“And a TV to watch them on! Daddy, can the TV go in my room?” Jenna asked.
“That’s exactly where it’s going,” I said.
“This one says it’s from you, Miss Lucy.”
“Then open it up and see what it is,” I said.
She unwrapped the present, tossing the paper behind her as the box slowly came into view. I had one when I was growing up: an American Girl doll I loved dressing up. I had one made just for her, a doll with the same beautiful hair and eyes she possessed as well as the same rosy tint to her cheeks she always seemed to have. I felt Jason’s stare on me while Jenna slowly pulled the doll from the box, and the look of awe in her eyes brought tears to mine.
“Daddy,” she said, whispering. “She looks like me.”
“It’s beautiful,” Jason said, his eyes still on the side of my face.
“Why don’t you open up the green present wrapped up beside it?” I asked.
I felt Jason reach over and take my hand, curling his fingers around my skin while I watched Jenna tear into the present. The thing I loved about my doll growing up was that she not only came with books, but she came with outfits that I could match. My doll and I had matching dresses growing up, and I could remember playing dress-up alongside her and prancing around the house for hours.
That doll screamed Jenna, and I couldn’t resist getting it for her.
“Daddy, look!”
She held up a yellow and green dress in her size before she found the smaller one that matched. She twirled around in the den, an enormous smile gracing her cheeks, and all I could do was watch her as happiness poured into my open chest. This girl had sat herself down in the pit of my sternum and carved out a place in my heart she would always possess, and I watched as she plopped back down and quickly dressed her new doll up in the clothes I had purchased for her.
“I’m gonna go get changed,” Jenna said.
I looked over at Jason and smiled as his eyes came into view. He kissed my nose before he captured my lips with his coffee-flavored ones, and everything about my life that I had long felt was chaotic and out of place slowly fell into the pattern it was supposed to be in. He brought his hand up to cup my cheek, and my heart fluttered in my chest at his touch. The scent of coffee and cinnamon permeated the room while it started to snow again outside, but as soon as Jenna came racing into the room, he pulled back and flung his arm behind the couch.
Now, Jenna was looking at a present Jason had stored out of sight, one that wasn’t underneath the tree. She looked at the small package in awe before she plucked it from his fingertips.
“Here, open this one,” he said.
Jenna climbed up onto the couch and sat beside him before she took the small package and twirled it in her fingers. The girl that was once ripping presents open was now taking her time, delicately unfolding the sides so as to not disturb the wrapping. I furrowed my brows slightly, curious to the present I hadn’t seen last night, but my eyes watered the moment Jenna pulled the locket from the velvet box that appeared.
“Jason,” I said, whispering.
He took the small necklace and hooked it around her neck, the white gold shining with the Christmas morning sun. Jenna looked at the picture, seeing a face she didn’t recognize, but I didn’t need to recognize the face to know who it was.
Holy hell, Jenna looked just like her mother.
“This is your mother,” Jason said, fingering the locket. “And this locket was hers when she was a little girl. She got it when she was around your age, and it had a picture of her mother inside it.”
“This is Mommy?” she asked.
“It is. I know it looks a bit different than the photos I show you, but that’s because she’s younger in this photo. This was your mother when she was eighteen years old. When I met her. And now, this locket that was hers is now yours.”
Jenna threw her arms around her father’s neck, and it took all my strength to hold back tears. The entire scene was absolutely beautiful, and I was thankful to be a part of it. As soon as Jenna released her father, she threw her arms around me.
“Merry Christmas, Miss Lucy,” she said.
“Merry Christmas, Jenna,” I said breathlessly.
“Can I go play with my toys?” she asked.
“Of course, you can, princess,” Jason said.
I watched Jenna take her toys and her doll and run down the hallway, and it felt as if I was watching my own daughter on Christmas morning. Jenna and Jason had become my family, a family I never thought I would have after I had lost David. They were my second chance, the two people who had saved me from myself when I hadn’t even known I was dying inside.
I guess that was why the sentiment that came afterward slipped so easily from my lips.
“What if I moved in?” I asked.
“What?” Jason asked.
“Just, hypothetically speaking, do you think Jenna would be okay with that?”
I turned my head and looked at Jason, whose eyes were alight with happiness. They twinkled and danced while he slipped his arm around my waist, and the presents we still had yet to open between ourselves faded into the background as we began to talk.
“I think she would. She adores you, and so do I. Would you like to know what I think?” he asked.
“What do you think? You know, hypothetically?”
“I think sometime after the New Year would be a good idea. You know, give Jenna some time to process everything and make sure the transition goes smoothly with her,” he said.
“Hypothetically speaking, that is,” I said.
“Nothing hypothetical about it,” he said, smiling.
I pressed my forehead against his and thought about what it would be like to live with them. To feel Jason’s body pressed against mine every night and be able to splash water around with Jenna every evening as she got ready for bed. I could take her to school and Jason could pick her up, and we could go on weekend family trips.
“I could take her camping,” I said with a whisper.
“I think she would like that,” Jason whispered back. “Move in with us.”
“Oh, how I want to,” I said.
“Then, do it. January first. The start of a brand-new year and a brand-new journey.”
He seemed certain, but I was still nervous. “You really think Jenna will be all right with it?”
“I think she would love it,” he said. “Just like I love you.”
“Oh, Jason.”
I went to go kiss him, but he slowly pulled away. My eyes fluttered open as my body tumbled into his lap, but as soon as the confusion clouded over my face, his finger pointed above his head. I flickered my gaze up, my body lying on top of his, and I saw where he had hung mistletoe over the edge of the couch from one of the main beams in his house.
“Mistletoe,” he said.
“You’re such a cornball,” I said, giggling.
“But you love it.”
He was lucky I did. “Oh, god, do I ever.”
I pressed my lips against his, and his arms immediately cloaked my back. His legs parted, allowing my body to fall into his where I could feel his cock slowly springing to life. The scent of cinnamon was getting stronger, causing Jason to break the kiss, and I whimpered at the loss of him as he sat us both back up.
“We don’t want burnt cinnamon rolls, do we?” he asked.
“I guess not,” I said. At the point we left off, I wasn’t sure I truly cared. There was always frozen chocolate chip waffles.
But then, just as he got up to take the cinnamon rolls out of the oven, a shrieking cry came from down the hallway.
A shrieking cry that sounded a hell of a lot like Jenna.