It was Christmas morning and the kids were going to be waking up at any moment. I spent the early hours putting the scavenger hunt together and was nervous the whole thing could very well blow up in our faces. I wanted them to feel like their parents were a part of this holiday, even with them gone. Maybe it was a horrible idea, but, maybe they would realize that no matter what happened Beth and Will would always be in their hearts. Ugh! I’m starting to think like a chick. I shook my head and waited for Kate to come into the living room where we had the tree neatly done with all of Beth’s decorations. I had something special for her, and I wasn’t sure I could give it to her with an audience. She walked out of the kitchen holding my cup of coffee and smiling brightly at me. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, beautiful,” I said taking the mug from her and setting it down on the coffee table. “I have something for you.”
“What? You didn’t have to do that,” she asked when I handed her a small velvet box. “Adam? What is this?”
“I’ve had that for a long time. The only person I ever wanted to give it to was you.”
She opened the box and a gasp caught in her throat. “I bought that ring for you years ago with my signing bonus. I thought we would be together forever. I didn’t realize that it wasn’t our time back then. But, it is now. Kate, I never stopped loving you and even though we lost sight of that future all those years ago. I don’t want to give up on it again. I love you more than I need air to breathe. Please marry me?” By the time I was done with my speech, tears were pouring down her cheeks and she was nodding excitedly. She pushed into me and nearly took us both to the ground as she kissed me, hard. “So, is that a yes?”
“Yes,” she said, breathless and I smiled, kissing her roughly.
“Eew, old people kissing is just weird,” April said from behind us, but she had a smile on her face.
“Well, I guess you don’t want to be a bridesmaid then?” Kate asked showing off the ring.
“You guys are getting married?” she shrieked excitedly. “That means you’re not leaving?”
“April?” Kate asked softly. “We already told you honey. We’re not going anywhere.”
“I know, but I kinda didn’t believe it until now,” she said sheepishly. “I though one of you would get tired of us and we would only see you on weekends. I mean you lost your job because of us.”
“Is that what you think?” She walked over and hugged April. “No honey. I lost my job because an insufferable woman thought I was her slave and was going to keep me from you all. I didn’t want to be there. I wanted to be here with you.”
April’s smile was watery as she hugged Kate tight. I was so glad we had finally got through to her. Maybe now, the kids could get back to normal. It was obvious where they got the idea that one of us would leave, but I was glad that we were able to make her see we were in it for the long haul and nothing short of disaster would take us from them.
It wasn’t long before the other kids were up and presents were being unwrapped all over the place. Wrapping paper was everywhere and the kids were looking at all their presents with bright beaming smiles.
“Let’s have breakfast and then there is one more present for each of you.”
They all looked around in confusion, but I just smiled. The framed letters from their parents were pretty big, but they weren’t going to find them under the tree.
We all went and had a huge Christmas breakfast and the kids all talked excitedly about their new things. Peyton was still chattering about her new phone and April was sitting next to her, showing her all the cool things it did and talking happily about what apps she could buy. It was so… normal and I was loving every second of it. When the kids ran to get dressed, Kate walked over and sat next to me with a bag behind her back. I looked at her curiously and for the first time she looked nervous and unsure of herself.
“I wasn’t sure if I should give this to you, or how you would feel about it. I’m not sure exactly how it happened…” she stammered and I silenced her with a finger to her lips.
“Let me see,” I said and reached for the bag. Opening it, I reached in finding a small piece of fabric. Curious, I pulled it out and stopped unsure what I was really looking at. “What is this?”
“A onesie,” she said softly. “Keep looking.”
I reached back in the bag still a little dumbfounded and felt a stick in the bottom. Pulling it out, I looked at the little pink plus sign in the window and back up at Kate. She was looking at me warily, but I still hadn’t processed what she was trying to tell me.
“I took it this morning.” She sighed looking away, clearly disappointed in my slow reaction.
“This… what? We’re having a baby?” I asked as a smile spread across my face. I turned her chin, so she had to look at me and pulled her into my arms, kissing her hard. “It’s incredible, Kate. I’m gonna be a dad?”
“Yeah.” She smiled, relieved I’d finally shown emotion. “We’re having a baby,” she said almost reverently.
I unfolded the tiny little baby shirt and looked down at the writing on it. “World’s Greatest Dad” and nearly choked on my tears. I couldn’t believe how much my life had changed in the last two months. It was finally starting to turn around, and I owed it all to the woman I was holding in my arms.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
KATE
I was so glad the pregnancy test hadn’t scared him off. We left not long after my announcement, and the kids were on the way to their first clue. It took the boys all of ten seconds to realize they were looking for the swings at the nearby park.
When we got to the swings, April pulled the piece of paper from the bottom of one of them and read it out loud. “Go to the place where your imagination soars.”
Peyton perked up and looked at her sister. “The bookstore.”
“Yes. Let’s go,” April said excitedly and they all rushed to the car. We drove down to the little local book store down the street, it was obviously closed because it was Christmas, but there was a piece of paper taped to the door. Peyton grabbed it and read it before stopping mid-sentence. “The movie theater.”
I couldn’t believe how smart these kids were. They answered our clues within minutes and we were racing off to the next one. I started to get antsy. The final stop was after the movie theater, and I wasn’t sure how they would react to the final destination. We couldn’t give them the letters anywhere else though. Adam and I had thought long and hard about where the scavenger hunt should lead to but we kept coming back to the cemetery. I saw the look on April’s face as she read the clue silently first and then looked up at us with tears in her eyes. “What is this?”
“Don’t you think they would want to be a part of your first Christmas without them?” Adam asked putting his arm around her. She nodded and looked at the other kids.
“Let’s go see mom and dad,” she sighed. They all looked at us warily and we got in the car. Adam had taken some flowers to their grave site when he took the letters over there earlier that morning.
The mood was somber as we walked to the grave site. I hadn’t been there since the funeral and I found myself feeling guilty for not visiting my friends sooner. We walked over as a family and they each picked up the large frames. They were beautiful gold frames and each had two letters, one from their mother and one from their father written on the day they were born and pictures of them as babies being held by them. All the kids had tears streaming down their faces, but their eyes shone with gratitude as they hugged the frames close to their little bodies. “I think we did good, babe.”
“Yeah, I think everything is going to be okay.” I smiled and snuggled in close to him. Life would be difficult, but we were a family now and I had a feeling in the end, life would be a crazy wonderful journey for all of us.
THE END
Author Note
Thank you so much to all of you amazing readers for reading Christmas for the Byrds! I appreciate ev
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