But I was getting ahead of myself. All that was still months or maybe even a year down the line. For now, I had to get through cooking all day with Laurie without messing up her food. I also had to meet her parents and survive our first Christmas together.
Shannon was spending Christmas with her boyfriend’s family, but she would be coming in a couple of days to celebrate with us. It had been a massive relief when she’d declined my invitation to come over for dinner.
I’d told her about my relationship with Laurie, and she was genuinely happy for me, but that didn’t mean I wanted her around when I met Laurie’s parents. Nevertheless, I’d issued the invitation and she had decided to miss the holiday.
Allie was okay with it. She understood and was looking forward to seeing her mother when she came. I’d expected her to be much more upset about it than she had been, but it only proved again that she was so much more grown up now than she had been even a year ago.
Her thought processes and even her manner of speaking were maturing. It made me miss my little baby girl, but it also made me excited to see what she and Katie would be like in a year from now. Two years and even three.
It also made me think about babies. I planned on broaching the subject with Laurie soon. I’d always wanted a big family. Having a few more kids would be a dream come true for me, and from what I’d been able to gather, Laurie wanted it too.
With Laurie and Katie in our lives, our family was complete. That was still true. More kids would be great, but I didn’t need anything more than I had.
If she even agreed to having many, many babies with me. Laurie had had more than enough change and upheaval in her life recently. It was much more of a long-term discussion to be had.
When I thought about my future, I definitely saw Laurie and Katie in it, so long-term stuff didn’t bother or intimidate me. A knock at the door pulled me out of my thoughts.
I smiled around the sip of coffee I’d just taken and pushed off the counter in the kitchen to open the door. Allie was one step ahead of me, running so fast I’d have sworn there was someone chasing her.
She threw the door open and pulled Katie into a jumping hug. “You should see how many presents there are. Come, come, come! We waited for you before we started opening them.”
Katie looked up at Laurie and waited for her to nod before she took off after her friend. Laurie grinned and placed her hands on my chest, tilting her head back. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.” I bent my head to give her a sweet but lingering kiss. “Can I take that for you?”
There were grocery bags at her feet and another bag with presents wrapped in familiar paper. She nodded and handed over the groceries but not the presents.
“I’ll just go put these under the tree. Santa dropped them at the wrong house.” She winked before walking around me, glancing back over her shoulder. “They’re over the moon with excitement. I don’t think we should make them wait much longer.”
“I’m on it. Let me just get all of that packed into the fridge, and I’ll be right there.” I brushed another kiss to her temple before rushing to unpack the groceries.
When I walked back into the living room, Laurie was sitting on her knees on the floor next to the Christmas tree with the girls at either side of her. Allie’s eyes were wide and bright with excitement when she looked up at me.
“Look, Daddy! It’s more presents for us. Santa left them at Katie’s house.” She pointed at two identical packages. “Those have ‘From Santa’ tags on them with our names.”
Laurie shrugged when I gave her a puzzled look. “I don’t know what’s inside. Santa left specific instructions that I wasn’t allowed to peek because these are for two very special little girls. What could they be?”
I frowned. I knew for a fact Laurie had gotten Allie some kind of jewelry-making kit for Christmas. We’d wrapped it together and it was already waiting under the tree.
Curiosity drew me closer and I narrowed my eyes at Laurie as I walked past her to sit down in a wingback chair next to the fireplace, but she lifted her shoulders again. There was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes that made me wonder what the heck she had done.
“Can we open them, Daddy?” Allie pleaded, giving me her best puppy-dog eyes.
I nodded. “Go ahead, girls. Let’s see what Santa’s up to.”
The words had hardly left my mouth before they were tearing the paper off the packages. Shock radiated through me when I watched them both open the same doll Laurie and I had fought over on Black Friday.
How did she pull that off? I had searched high and low for another one to replace the one she’d let me have and I’d later given back to her. Also, how did she know I didn’t really have another one for Allie?
I couldn’t ask her any of those questions in front of the girls, but I did arch a brow at her and incline my head. She simply smiled.
The girls were ecstatic, both of them flinging their arms around her at the same time. They collapsed in a heap of giggles and hugs before eventually surfacing for air.
Laurie nodded at the stockings. “Those look like they’re about to tear. Want to unpack them before you go play with the dolls?”
“Yes!” Allie jumped up and zoomed across to where they were hung, unhooking both hers and Katie’s before going back to sit next to her.
While they were unpacking those, Laurie reached for a thinner, wider package about the size of a piece of paper before standing up. “I have another gift for you too.”
She walked over to me and slid it into my hand. I took it but wrapped my other arm around her waist and pulled her down on my lap. “What might that be?”
“Open it,” she said, a hint of excitement in her voice.
I peered at the package first before slowly peeling the tape off the paper. Laurie was practically humming now, impatiently waiting while I lifted the wrapping off one side of what turned out to be a sheaf of paper.
“It’s the first twenty pages of my new manuscript,” she said quickly when I looked up at her. “I just finished it last night and I wanted you to be the first to read it.”
“You’ve started writing again?” A wide grin split my face in two before I tugged her down for a deep, long kiss. When I let her go, I murmured against her lips. “I’m so proud of you, baby. I can’t wait to read it.”
“And I can’t wait to hear what you think about it. You can start while I do the prep for dinner.” She was about to get off my lap when I caught her wrist and shook my head.
“Not so fast. I have a little something for you, too.”
She gave me a pointed look. “I think you’ve given me more than enough over the last couple of months.”
“Maybe, but it will never be enough.” It was a little awkward to get to the tiny package from under the tree without getting up or lifting her off my lap, but I managed. Presenting it to her in the palm of my hand, I looked up into those soft green eyes. “Open it.”
She moved even slower than I had, but when she eventually lifted the lid off the box containing the diamond earrings I’d gotten her, she gasped. “Jacob! That is way, way too much.”
“Nope, it’s not. It’s only the shiny part of the present, though. The real gift is underneath. Lift up the tab.”