We were distracted by a man’s cries and both of us stopped talking. Rick was begging Amy to come home for Christmas and he was really putting on a guilt trip.
Conner put his hands in his face and shook his head. “This is bullshit!”
I heard footsteps and saw Iz and Noah walking past the bedroom. With ninja speed, I grabbed the two kids and pulled them into the room with us, closing the door so I could explain my quick reaction. “Somebody came to see Aunt Amy and we don’t want him knowing we are all back here. Can you two be quiet for a couple more minutes?”
They both shook their heads and stood there with us, just listening.
The front door closed and a few seconds later, Conner’s door opened. Amy was standing there with tears in her eyes. It didn’t take a genius for me to get that they needed to talk, so I grabbed the kids and we vacated the room promptly.
I found Miranda sitting on our bed. The boys were starting to get fussy and I think she just needed a second to herself. I grabbed Jake and Jax and put them on the bed with me and Miranda. They were rolling around, making noises with their mouths. “Why didn’t she go?”
“She told him that she wasn’t going to drive home with him after he’d been drinkin’. Since I was sittin’ there, he stayed calm and agreed that it was best she stay until he sobered up. Amy gave him the number to the house phone and he seemed to calm down a bit once he knew where she was. Although, he has no idea that she’s back there with my brother.” Miranda got comfortable on her side, so she was facing me and the boys.
I kept sitting the twins up and laughing when they fell back on the pillows. They were getting a kick out of it happening too and made it a game. “You know, we’re going to have a great Christmas.”
She smiled and looked me in the eye. “As long as my brother doesn’t go to jail for killin’ someone.”
I started to laugh. “Yeah, that could be a real buzzkill.” I reached over and grabbed her hand. “As long as I get to see you in that little outfit and be the one to take it off, it will be the Best. Christmas. Ever.”
Chapter 9
Miranda
After finally coming to the realization that whatever was going on between my brother and my best friend was out of my hands, things got better that evening. Conner and Amy came out of his room and we sat by the fire and played cards. None of us brought up her situation and although they were sitting close to each other, they weren’t acting like they were together.
Colt and Van didn’t make it to our house until noon the next day. It was fine by us since we’d stayed up way too late playing cards and then got up two more times with the boys. We ended up letting them sleep in our bed with us, in order to be able to sleep longer.
When I woke up I found both of them cuddled up against their father. Sweat was in all three of their hair, but it never woke them. I snapped a quick picture, before climbing out of bed and heading to the bathroom.
Ty and the boys slept until ten and when they woke up, my quiet house seemed like it was already filled. Once Colt and Van arrived, the chaos began. We carried in all of the gifts and hid them from Noah and Bella. Colt and Van looked at Amy and Conner with curious eyes, but never asked a single question. I knew at some point the guys would go out to the barn to shoot pool and they could ask Conner anything they wanted out there.
Christian had started walking and Van and I spent the first hour trying to remove everything she could get her hands on. She liked to pick things up and taste them, even if it was an electrical cord, or a Christmas decoration. Poor Van couldn’t take her eyes away from her for even a second.
Van’s parents had volunteered to pick up my aunt and Lucy from the airport, since they finally were able to get a flight in. The roads were still a mess, but the main highways were clear enough for safe travel.
Ty’s mother had made a huge spread and we all bundled up and headed next door for an early Christmas Eve dinner. We had to pull Amy’s arm, but she finally agreed to tag along. Of course, my mother eyed her up and kept pulling me to the side asking me a million questions. Since I really knew little, it was easy to dodge my mother.
With the whole family at my in-laws for the evening, Ty and I were able to relax for a change. Christian was walking around finding all types of new things she could fit into her mouth, while the boys were being passed all around from family member to family member, and of course, Noah and Bella were occupied with each other. John had brought them gingerbread house kits and they were sitting at the table with John and their Pop pop trying to assemble them.
After we all ate so much that we could barely move us women helped clean up, while the guys were watching some kind of sports event in the family room. The twins were down for a nap and Colt was on Christian duty. If my boys were half as curious as that little girl, then this time next year was going to be interesting, to say the least.
Van and I tried to include Amy in everything we did. I think it was hard for her to feel comfortable when everyone there knew she was my boss and that she was married. They’d all met her at my baby shower and a few times since then, so she had to feel awkward. It didn’t make it any easier for the family when Conner snuck out to feed Scotch and Amy went with him. All eyes were on them as they walked out of the house, and even more so when Conner put his arm around her as they walked away.
Since it was getting dark and the weather was getting even colder, none of us could go to midnight mass at the church in town. It was too icy to take the chance, so we opted for a night of wine with some extremely spiked eggnog and enough of Ty’s crude jokes to occupy an Irish pub for a month.
John sat with all the kids and read The Night Before Christmas, before we took them all over to go to sleep. Van’s parents had gone home right at dark, before the roads got any worse and she and Colt were sleeping on our pull out sofa.
Once we all headed over to our house, we found Conner and Amy watching Christmas movies on the couch. We carried the sleeping kids to their beds and started playing Santa.
Conner jumped up and got Ty’s attention. “You know what we forgot?”
Ty got a smile on his face. “Baby, in ten minutes wake up Iz and Noah and tell them to look out the window in her room.”
I wasn’t sure what they were up to, but I agreed to it anyway. We watched the two men get bundled up and head outside. After waiting the ten minutes, we went into her room and had them look out the window. Behind Ty’s parent’s house was a bright flash and then this red box with something sitting inside of it went flying off the roof. Noah and Bella looked at each other with wide eyes.
I leaned down and tried my best not to laugh. “I think that was Santa.”
Noah smiled from ear to ear. “It was Santa. I just know it!”
“Mommy, can we go open our presents now?” Poor Bella thought it would be fine to open them since she’d seen Santa leaving.
“No, honey, you have to go back to sleep. Santa hasn’t come here yet because you were both awake.”
They jumped down from the window and climbed back into the bed. Colt and Van stood at the door, trying not to laugh as I tucked them back in and followed my cousins out of the room.
When the guys came back in, they were so excited. “So, did it look real?” Ty asked.
Colt started laughing. “Real enough for them to believe it.”
“That’s awesome.” Ty rubbed his hands together. “So Van, you ready to do adult pictures?”
She cocked her eyebrow. “It’s late. Why can’t we wait until the morning?”
I shook my head and watched my husband run back in our room and grab the bag full of red velvet. When he came out, he emptied the bag on her lap. She looked up at him. “I know you are joking right now.”
He shook his head. “Nope, this is my year to choose. Go get your ass changed. We have a photo to take.”
Van stood up and put her hands on her hips. Her little pregnant belly was showing and she covered it with her shirt quickly. “I am not putting that on.”
&n
bsp; Ty grabbed the outfit intended for Van and stretched it out. “It stretches to fit the largest of asses.”
She smacked him on the arm. “My ass isn’t fat!”
I sat down next to Colt and started eating from his bag of popcorn; just watching the two of them bicker. It had become very entertaining through the years.
“If it ain’t fat, then why don’t you put it on and prove it, fatty pants.” Ty smacked her ass as if to push her toward the bathroom.
She lifted her knee and got him right between the legs. “That’s for saying I’m fat.”
He was still leaned over, trying to breathe. “I didn’t say YOU were fat, I said your ass was.”
She pushed his disabled body to the couch and looked at me and Colt. “How can you two just sit there and not say anything?”
We both started to laugh and shrugged, making her roll her eyes, like she always did.
I stood up and looked at poor Ty, who was still holding his balls with a red face. “I think it would be fun. I say we just do it.”
She pointed at me. “You always take his side.” She pointed to Colt. “Babe, tell them this is a stupid idea.”
Colt reached over and grabbed his wife by the shoulders. “Darlin’, don’t get all mad at me, but I think it would be hilarious.”
She grabbed the little red outfit and pouted her way to the bathroom. “I hate you guys!”
Ty sat up; probably feeling like he’d won the battle. “No you don’t!” He smacked me on the ass. “Hurry up and get changed before she changes her mind and go get your brother. He needs to be in this shit too.”
Getting my brother to agree to the photo didn’t turn out to be easy. He handed Ty a fifty dollar bill and offered to be the photographer instead.
By the time I came out of the bedroom in my little number, Ty and Colt were standing there in their velvet briefs while Van had her hands crossed in front of her chest, hiding her belly. I ran up and pulled her hands away. “You look so cute.”
She covered herself back up with a pillow. “I can’t believe you knew about this and didn’t tell me.”
I pulled her up off the couch. “It will be fun. Will you lighten up? You’re the prettiest pregnant woman ever and Conner will make sure your belly doesn’t even show.”
Colt pulled her into his arms and she started to relax. Amy had draped a white sheet behind us and even laid out a couple wrapped presents and even a sack that was red. We tried to be quiet, but trying to pose while Ty made ridiculous comments was harder than it seemed. Conner finally got Van and Colt on one side, while Ty and I were on the opposite. We were both supposed to be looking in the sack, but my husband was looking at his own package the entire time, making comments to Van. “Good thing she didn’t kick hard enough. My jewels are still intact! My meat is still edible! My tube steak is fully functional! The frank is still above the beans!”
I had no idea how the picture was going to turn out, but the fact that we went through with it was enough to satisfy my husband for many holiday photos to come. Before we changed, Ty went up and hugged Van. “Thank you for being a good sport.”
She hugged him back. “I still hate you.”
He kissed her on the cheek. “You’re a terrible liar.”
I think once we all changed into our pajamas we were too tired for anything else. We all went to sleep, knowing that it was only a matter of time before one of the babies were going to wake up the whole house. For the second night in a row, the boys slept in bed with us.
When the sun started to come up, we had two screaming kids waking the whole house and they weren’t the babies. We found Bella and Noah jumping on top of Van and Colt on the sofabed, begging them to wake up.
Almost the entire room was filled with presents and all they wanted to do was start opening them. Making them wait while we made coffee and got changed was torture. They spent the time sorting out everything and choosing the order of what they were opening first.
The grandparents had their own presents to bring, so this was just round one of the mayhem. Once we were all situated, we gave the go-ahead.
Ten minutes later, the room was filled with wrapping paper and two very excited children. But, we still had one big surprise for our little girl. Ty cleared his throat and told everyone to put a coat on. Once he got boots on Bella and Noah, he opened the door to show Harvey walking Scotch up to the house. He’d put a red bow around his neck. Conner carried out all of the riding gear from our closet and set it in front of Bella. She ran up to her new pony and waited to be lifted on. Once she was on his back, she leaned forward and hugged her little pony. “Thank you, Mommy and Daddy. This is the best Christmas ever!”
Colt grabbed Noah by the hand and walked him around the house to where his giant plane sat ready to fly. Noah started jumping up and down and screaming in excitement. All of the men huddled over and watched as Colt took it for a spin, showing Noah how to steer it.
When it got too cold for everyone, the whole family went back inside. The rest of the day was filled with more presents, and even more trash. By three in the afternoon we were eating salad and stuffed shells and sitting inside a very full house, not wanting to be anywhere else.
All of our hard work had paid off and we had so much to be thankful for. I looked over at the couch where Colt and Ty were wearing their new jerseys and holding the boys that also had on theirs. Van was taking a picture of them and smiling the whole time. Conner was leaning against the kitchen counter talking to Amy, who sat on the other side. Rick had never come back to pick her up or even called and she didn’t seem too concerned about it. She knew she was welcome at our house.
Noah and Bella were playing with her Barbie’s and his trucks, while the grandparents kept the little ones in check. I still hadn’t opened my present from Ty, but just being here with everyone was all I wanted. It was perfect!
Later that night, after a lot of card games, and a bunch more liquor, I crawled into bed with my husband. Everyone in the house was conked out, except for us.
Ty handed me two boxes and leaned on his arm. “Merry Christmas beautiful.”
The first was a clothing box, and when I opened it, I wasn’t too shocked to find lingerie. I held it up and watched Ty giving me the look. The second gift was much smaller. It was a tiny box, with a little red bow on top. I smiled as I opened the package and pulled out a beautiful necklace with a diamond heart charm. “It’s beautiful, Ty, thank you so much.”
“Thank you for being my wife. I love you, Baby.”
I leaned over and kissed my awesome husband. “I love you too.”
As he pulled away he started to smile. “There’s mistletoe in my boxers.”
“Now you’re talkin’.”
Thanks for spending the holidays with the Mitchell’s. Hope you had fun!
Wrapping Up (Novella) Mitchell Family 4.5 (Wrapping Up Novella 4.5) Page 11