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Laughing, I lay out the basic idea for what I want to do.
CHAPTER 33
Grayson
“When can you wake us up in the morning?” I raise an eyebrow at Luddy.
She pouts, and I tap her bottom lip with my finger, making her giggle. “Not until the sun is awake.”
“That’s right.”
“I don’t like that rule at all. I just get too excited.”
“I know, baby. But if you want Mama and Daddy to be excited to see what Santa brought you, we need our sleep.”
“Yeah, ’cause you get crabby when you don’t get enough rest.”
I bark out a laugh. “So do you, missy.”
Luddy grins at me, her eyes glittering with Christmas Eve excitement. “I’m ready for my story now.”
Reaching over to her nightstand, I grab ’Twas the Night Before Christmas. We’ve read it every Christmas Eve since Luddy was a baby. It’s one of the few she prefers me to read to her these days.
She barely makes it to the end of the book before she’s out like a light. Her blond eyelashes fan across her round cheeks, and I sit on the side of her bed for a long moment, staring at her.
There have been so many changes in the last four months since Kylie got here, and London has accepted them without a word of complaint. I couldn’t be prouder of the way she’s handled everything.
I make a point to spend one-on-one time with her, even if it’s just sitting at her little table in her room to color. It’s not only to ensure she still feels like a priority to me, but also because it won’t be long until she’s in school and I won’t get to spend my days with her anymore.
Before those thoughts can make me cry, I press a kiss to her forehead and stand. I leave her mini Christmas tree on, the yellow lights casting a gentle glow across her pink bedroom, and walk to my room.
Kylie has a folding table set up with an array of wrapping accessories spread across the surface. She comes in a minute later with a beer bottle in one hand and a can of sparkling water in the other.
She holds out the beer, and I take it with a grateful kiss to her plump lips. “You ready to wrap, Mrs. Claus?”
“Only if you are, Santa.” She flicks the white puffball on my Santa hat, making me laugh.
I take a long swig of my beer and then set it down to grab Luddy’s gifts from the attic. It’s the only place I don’t have to worry she’ll find them. She’s too curious for her own good sometimes.
Kylie and I set up two stations on the table to wrap all of Luddy’s gifts. A Hallmark Christmas movie is playing in the background while we work. They’re one of my guilty pleasures and something Kylie and I have been watching since we were teens. There have been many times over the years where we’d watch one together over a video call. Last December, we did it multiple times because Chris was traveling so much.
A part of me has wondered if I should’ve said something back then. I never asked specific questions about her marriage. It felt taboo to pry into a subject I didn’t really want details about. But what if I’d asked her back then if she wanted to come home?
The answer comes barreling into me. She wouldn’t have gotten pregnant with Peanut if she’d divorced that loser earlier.
I need to get my mind off the things I can’t change. “I was terrified Luddy would come barging in here last year because she was in her big girl bed by then and could come and go as she pleased. It took me hours to finish wrapping them all too. I thought they needed to be perfect so she wouldn’t think I wrapped them.”
“And she probably would’ve noticed if they were your normal sloppy wrapping job.”
Mildly offended, I snipe back, “I am not sloppy. I just tend to miscalculate how much paper is necessary. I’ve gotten better.”
Kylie giggles at me as she concedes, “Fine, you’ve gotten better, but not by much.”
I harrumph, not in the least bit appeased. I finish folding the wrapping paper on the end of the box…and have to get creative with my technique to keep the excess from bulging.
One glance at Kylie watching me struggle is all it takes for me to burst out laughing, which makes her break too.
When we’re finally done, we sneak them into the living room to tuck under the tree. While Kylie is in the kitchen, I quickly fill her stocking before she can see what I got her. London and I already wrapped her big presents, but I had to be sneaky with the locket I got her. One side has a picture of Luddy, and the other has an ultrasound of Peanut.
