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He went to his room and brought out a small box wrapped in Christmas paper. She held it in her hand debating whether she should open it now or wait until tonight. She tore at the paper and saw that underneath it was a jewelry box. She opened it to reveal emerald stud earrings.
“I saw these in town and thought they would match your eyes.”
She hugged him and realized that he must have spent a lot of money on them.
“Do you want to open your gift now or tonight?”
“Now, please,” he said as he held out his hand.
She dug through the bags and found the one with his name on it. It was a small bag with weight to it. He pushed the tissue paper aside and pulled out a watch box. In it was a diver’s watch that she heard him talking about at the engagement party. He slipped it on his wrist and clicked the band.
“Ava, this is expensive. You didn’t have to spend that kind of money on me.”
“You’re my brother, and I love you. I can spend money on you if I want to.”
They hugged, and he kissed her cheek telling her how great the watch was. He helped her carry all the gifts up to the house. There were so many that they had to make a couple of trips. The floor surrounding the tree was disappearing as she added to the gifts her father and Felice had already piled there. Who knew how much stuff Michael, Alicia, Walter and Brooke would bring.
That evening her father and Felice invited over twenty people to join the family and celebrate Christmas Eve with them. There was plenty of food, and everyone congratulated David and Ava for graduating from law school. Several of the people were attorneys and threw questions at them about the law. Ava began to tire of them asking her questions and escaped to the library for some respite. If it hadn’t been such a wintery evening, she would have gone outside on the porch.
She sat resting on one of the large leather couches. Eventually, David joined her trying to escape the barrage of questions. They hid there for awhile until she heard Brooke calling her. She peeked her head out the glass doors and spotted her sister coming towards her.
“Brooke, what’s the matter, are you alright?”
“Yes, fine. Everyone is starting to leave. Do you want to say goodbye?”
She gave David her hand to get him off the couch, too, and they all said goodbye.
“Can you two take the kids upstairs to change into their pajamas before we open some gifts? I’m exhausted, and so is Alicia. Jackson has been fussy all day.”
“Sure. Come on, David, let’s take our niece and nephews upstairs.”
He wrinkled his nose at that.
“Stop that. Brooke and Alicia are exhausted. I’m sure you would be if you were almost seven months pregnant.”
“Glad I’ll never have to find that out,” he mumbled as he took Mikey’s hand.
They got the children changed, teeth brushed and faces washed. It was some feat since they were all excited about Santa coming. William clung to her as she carried him downstairs and when Walter reached out to take him he pulled away.
“Nooo, want Aunt Ava,” he whined as he wrapped his arms around her neck.
“We are sending him home with you, Ava, since he loves you so much,” Walter said.
“I’ll take him.”
They sat the children down on the floor in front of the tree and let them open several gifts. Then the adults opened several gifts, and the rest were left for the next day. There would be plenty more when Santa came.
Ava woke David early. He was bleary eyed and not happy to get up this early on a day off. She kept shaking him until he sat up in bed and told him to get dressed. He pulled on some sweatpants and a sweater so they could make their way up to the main house. Her father wanted the whole family to be there when everyone opened gifts.
There were even more gifts than the night before and the children were in a frenzy playing with toys already opened. They were handed new presents of more toys. Two hours later when all the gifts were opened, William and Elizabeth were asleep in a pile of paper. Jackson was quietly sleeping in the bassinet near the kitchen. Ava sat on the stairs watching them sleep while the other adults and Mikey had hot cocoa and tea in the kitchen. David had already gone back to the pool house to take a nap.
She couldn’t take her eyes off her niece and nephew as they slept. They looked like two little angels. It made her sad that she wouldn’t have this experience with her own children. She felt the tears starting to well up and waved her hands in front of her face to dry them.
She enjoyed the rest of the week with her family. The town had a Christmas parade and festivities at night throughout the week. David took her to lunch, and they watched movies just like in September. He wore the watch he gave her all the time, never taking it off even when he showered.
On December twenty-eighth, her last day in town, her father took the whole family to dinner. For the first time since the engagement party, she had a glass of wine. She needed it after spending almost a full week with her family. She would be glad to go back to New York to her quiet apartment.
