“I had envisioned the morning after a bit differently, or at least the night before,” Chrissy murmurs.
“Don’t worry, dear. We’ll get there.” Reggie nips Chrissy’s earlobe before getting up. “If I stay in bed any longer I may end up doing something that might hurt you. I’m trying to keep my hands to myself.” She rounds the bed and sinks down next to Chrissy while pushing one hand through her brunette hair, mussing it adorably. “You’re quite irresistible, particularly looking like that in my bed.”
Her words, although delivered with no small amount of frustration, reassure Chrissy. She squeezes the pillow she’s been holding all night, wondering whether she might be able to spoon Reggie tonight. She hadn’t felt Reggie move during the night, so she doubts she’ll get an elbow to her ribs.
Lifting herself up, Chrissy swings her feet off the bed and sits. Reggie rises, too. Although sore, Chrissy does not feel any sharp pains. It’s a good start to the day. Reggie helps her stand, and they remain in a loose embrace.
Sighing, Chrissy inhales the scent of Reggie’s hair—lavender. “You smell good.”
A soft kiss on her collarbone is Reggie’s response. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve dreamt about having you closer, wanted this so much.”
“I'm not going anywhere,” Chrissy says. Reggie raises her head, and when their eyes connect, she nods.
With a small parting kiss, Chrissy makes her way to the bathroom while Reggie leaves to make breakfast. Chrissy brushes her teeth with care, not wanting to jostle her ribs. She finishes her ablutions as efficiently as she can while cutting herself some slack. She knows her injuries are temporary, and it could be much worse.
Walking back in the bedroom, she hears a knock on the door. Ben’s awake. Smiling brightly, she beckons him to enter. His yellow and blue-striped pajamas are getting too small. The pants end mid-calf, while his button-down top barely reaches his hips. I’ll have to get him new ones soon. I don’t even know what size he is anymore. He shuffles toward the bed, a grin on his face.
“Merry Christmas, Ben.” She extends her arms. They hug, Ben hesitant and gentle.
“Merry Christmas, Mom. Let me help you back into bed.”
“Did you sleep well?” Chrissy stifles a groan as she slides under the covers. Her entire left side aches, a dull throbbing with every breath.
Ben fluffs up the pillows and helps her lean against them. “Yeah. The bed's really comfortable.”
“I know, right. This bed is incredible. Reggie’s making breakfast. Do you want to help her?”
“She said she didn’t need any help. I was gonna get the presents so we can open them after we eat.” Ben talks through a yawn, stretching his arms over his head, and arching his back.
“Right. Can you hand me my purse?” Once she receives it, she retrieves Reggie’s gift and places the small jewelry box under the covers, near her hip. She had the store wrap the black box with festive gold and green paper. “Okay. Go get the rest of the presents, please.” She runs a hand through her hair while a thousand butterflies flutter in her stomach. It’s silly. Even if Reggie doesn’t like the gift, she’ll still accept it gracefully. Reggie will understand the emotions attached to it.
Mouthwatering smells make Chrissy’s nose twitch, and Reggie enters with a large tray laden with plates, cutlery, juice, bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit. “I didn’t want to make too much since you’ll be eating a feast later on.”
“This is what, a snack?” Chrissy jokes.
“Mmhmm. Yes. Like your kisses,” Reggie whispers into Chrissy ear as she hands her a filled plate. Reggie’s eyes sparkle. “A tasty snack. A hint of what’s to come.”
A trickle of perspiration rolls between Chrissy's shoulder blades, and she swallows, trying to add moisture to her suddenly dry mouth. Did it get hot in here? Chrissy pulls at the front of her shirt, her skin sensitive to the cotton against it.
“Um,” Chrissy says, dazed.
Reggie is too sexy for her own good. How am I supposed to function when she’s whispering such provocative words, gazing at me like she’s ravenous, touching me so lovingly? Shaking her head, Chrissy hears Ben talking and realizes he’s returned to the room with the presents. Reggie’s hand on her knee reassures her, and when she lifts her eyes, Reggie greets them with an affectionate look.
“Aren’t you hungry?” Ben asks.
His voice sounds concerned, but his eyes let her know that if she doesn’t start eating soon, he’s going to swipe what’s on her plate. She shovels some eggs into her mouth. How does she make scrambled eggs taste so light and creamy? And is that kick at the end chili flakes?
“Reggie, this is heavenly,” Chrissy mutters around her next forkful. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Reggie replies with one of those special smiles that makes the day infinitely better.
They spend the next several minutes eating quietly. Once they finish, Reggie piles the used dishware on the tray and places it on the bureau.
“Time for presents?” Ben asks, excitement plain in his voice.
“Yup.” Chrissy hopes Ben will always feel this exuberant about the holidays. It wasn’t until he came along she even began to care about Christmas. “But Christmas pictures first.” She turns to Reggie. “Every year we take individual and group pictures.” She looks at Ben. “At least this year we’ll have more than two in the group.”
Noticing Reggie’s dumbfounded look, Chrissy says, “Unless you don’t want to be in the pictures. You don’t have to, of course. It’s not like you even expected us to be here or to be sharing the holidays with us. We’ve never had anyone else in them, so…”
“No, no,” Reggie interjects, stopping Chrissy’s nervous rambling. “I want to be in them.” She smiles brightly, and Chrissy sighs with relief.
Ben takes Chrissy’s cell phone and points it at her. “Ready?”
“Oh, wait.” Chrissy grimaces, knowing how horrible she looks. “Maybe we should take them after I take a shower. Or maybe I should wear a hat or something.” Reggie’s soft fingers comb through her hair, calming her.
“Let me tie it back, okay?” Reggie says. Chrissy nods. Reggie sits back down a moment later with a brush and hair tie. It only takes her a minute to finish, and Chrissy feels much better. She can’t help the tightness of her eyes or the evidence of pain on her face, but her grin is real when Ben takes the picture. He takes Reggie’s photo next, and her smile is breathtaking. Reggie takes the phone from Ben to take his picture, and his goofy smirk exudes happiness.
“Now, how are we going to take the group picture?” Chrissy asks.
“First let me take a picture of you two,” Reggie says.
Chrissy looks at her. “You’re not getting out of the group photo.”
Chuckling, Reggie holds her hands up. “I’m not trying to.” She takes their picture, Ben sitting next to Chrissy on the bed, before approaching them. “Let’s see if we can all fit in the photo.” She sits on Chrissy’s other side, an arm around Chrissy’s shoulders, and holds her hand out in front of them with the camera. It’s a tight fit, but she takes the picture of them, their smiles filling up the screen.
“Cathy and David mentioned coming by later. Maybe they can take our picture, too.”
“Are you insinuating that I am not a good picture-taker?” Reggie teases, a mock-scowl on her face.
“Insinuating is much too subtle for me,” Chrissy says. After a moment, Reggie’s scowl dissolves into a grin.
“Now is it time for presents?” Ben asks.
“Yes, absolutely.” Chrissy fingers Reggie’s gift under the covers.
“I’ll be right back.” Reggie leaves the room, the tray filled with dirty dishes in her hands.
Humming a Christmas tune, Chrissy grins at her son as he plunks the bag of presents on the bed. They had made a stocking for Reggie, Chrissy’s barely-used sewing skills put to work last weekend to add Reggie’s name on it. It’s silly. She and Ben always filled stockings for each
other with little things like candy and pens, socks and puzzles. They went shopping to fill Reggie’s stocking, finding various items they hope she’ll enjoy. Ben removes all three stockings from the bag and lays them out on the bed. He makes a big production of pulling out the wrapped gifts. Several are for him, including a large box containing a videogame system, something he’s talked about for months.
Ben pulls out two thin presents and places one before Chrissy and the other next to Reggie’s stocking. “Those are from me,” he says unnecessarily.
“Thanks,” Chrissy says. “I can’t wait to open it.” Ben’s made her presents since kindergarten. Always thoughtful, for the last few years Ben has even created them without the guidance of schoolteachers. She knows he’ll eventually begin buying them, but for now she treasures these gifts and the time he spends on them.
As Reggie enters, her hands full of presents, Chrissy admires her. The plum-colored button-down shirt and loose pajama pants complement her coffee-colored eyes and olive complexion. Reggie sets down a large box in front of Chrissy and a smaller one in front of Ben.
“It’s funny. I didn’t even think to bring these to work on Friday. I assumed I’d see you both this weekend.” Reggie frowns. “I’d imagined under better circumstances.”
“Well, yeah, Friday sucked, but it’s all working out.” Chrissy wants to pat Reggie’s knee or rub her arm, but to do so Chrissy would have to bend. Right now, she doesn’t want to show any discomfort. She doesn’t want them to know how her ribs are aching and the wounds glued together are itching. She prefers for them to enjoy exchanging gifts without the constant reminder of why they’re sitting on Reggie’s bed on Christmas morning. Who knows? Next year at this time we may all be sitting here like this. She hopes. Seeing Ben eying the gifts, Chrissy shakes her finger. “Stockings first.”
“Right.” Ben’s natural impatience melts away to happiness, and he pulls his stocking toward him.
“I know it’s hokey, but it’s made with love,” Chrissy says as she indicates Reggie’s stocking. “We have a tradition for Christmas stockings where we put small things in there.” After a moment’s hesitation she waves her hand over the stockings. “I guess we assumed we’d see you, too.”
Reggie’s wondrous smile flows over Chrissy, and she’s glad they made the effort. Ben’s exclamations as he finishes emptying his stocking are music to Chrissy’s ears. She laughs at his enthusiasm and empties her own stocking. Inside are chocolate bars and mechanical pencils, mints and Sudoku, cherry lip balm and makeup wipes, and in the toe of the stocking, a jewelry box.
Flitting her eyes toward Ben, she notices he’s watching her closely, and her eyebrows shoot up. Lifting the lid, Chrissy’s eyes widen. Inside is a breathtaking glass ring, a unique mixture of gold, brown, blue, green, yellow, and red, swirling, weaving, and combining to form a dazzling design.
“It’s Italian. What’s it called, Reggie?”
“Murano. Ben has good taste.” Reggie shares a smile with him.
“Reggie helped me pick it out. I wanted to give you something special this year.” Ben’s ears redden adorably.
“I love it, Ben. Thank you.” She dons it, appreciating how it looks on her right ring finger. It’s beautiful, and she loves how Ben and Reggie picked it out together. She’s tempted to ask when they went shopping, but she lets that go. She trusts Reggie with Ben.
She checks to see whether Reggie has finished discovering what’s in her stocking. They had so much fun finding things for her, walking through Faneuil Hall and checking out all the stalls. They filled it with little items like a scales of justice pencil sharpener and crosswords, red fuzzy socks and a Star Wars Death Star tea infuser, and homemade peppermint soap and a booklet of passes for movie nights, foot rubs, kisses, errands, and date nights. They stuffed the stocking, and Chrissy realizes they may have overdone it. Reggie’s eyes tear and her face reddens. She squeezes the stress ball they gave her.
“Reggie?” Chrissy’s heart tightens with the thought they’ve made her unhappy. But when those bright eyes look up at her, she’s rendered speechless. The adoration is so prevalent they quiet Chrissy’s fears. “We had a great time filling it.”
“Yeah, we made some of the stuff,” Ben adds. “Like the soap and the passes and the snow globe. That was cool. Oh! And the instant mocha mix. We know you love that stuff, even if you try to eat healthy.”
A burst of laughter erupts from Reggie. “I love it. All of it. I’ve never felt so loved. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. But next year you’ll have to help me with Ben’s stocking.” Chrissy smirks at her.
“That works for me! Now to the presents.” Ben grabs the gift Reggie placed before him and rips off the beautiful navy and silver wrapping paper. The silver bow finds its way onto his shirt. He opens the gift box and breathes out. “Whoa.”
“What is it?” Chrissy asks, barely refraining from leaning forward. She watches as he lifts out a handsome leather-bound journal. Her eyes widen. It’s gorgeous. Obviously handmade, a strap wraps it closed around the middle of a chestnut-colored leather jacket. “BDK” is embossed on the bottom right of the cover. Now she understands why Reggie had asked about his name months ago. “Open it,” Chrissy prompts Ben.
As soon as he does, she can see the paper is also handmade. A wooden pen with black and chrome accents hangs in its designated spot to the right of the paper. On the first page, Reggie’s flowing penmanship can be seen. “Ben, in here you can write, draw, imagine, dare. Let yourself loose. Love, Reggie.”
Ben smiles at Reggie. “Thanks. This is awesome. How did you know?”
“I’ve seen you take out a notebook at the firm, jotting down your thoughts before returning it to your backpack. At first, I thought you were doing homework, but I noticed you’d do it while playing a game on your phone or while reading one of those fantasy books you adore.” Reggie shrugs. “You deserve a proper journal where you can get your thoughts down. And the paper is refillable, so don’t hold back. When you get close to the end, let me know. And the same goes for the pen ink.”
Ben’s fingers run over the front of the journal, and Chrissy knows he will carry it everywhere. He’s always had an active imagination, often acting out elaborate scenes where he’s a knight, a prince, a hero. Over the last few years he’s taken to writing down his stories, and his teachers have encouraged him to keep at it. A perfect gift.
“Christina, open yours next.” Reggie’s fingers brush the top of Chrissy’s hand. Reggie lifts the large box, placing it carefully on Chrissy’s lap. “Do you need help?”
Shaking her head, Chrissy admires the elegant red and gold wrapping paper. She sticks the bow on her head and slices through the tape at one corner with her thumbnail. She doesn’t want to rip it.
“Mom, open it,” Ben whines.
Even though Chrissy is curious, she takes her time removing the wrapping paper from the large box. Her breath catches as she spreads out a long, ebony trench-style suede coat with ebony-colored wool shearling cuffs and collar. It is soft and heavy and expensive. Chrissy runs her fingers over the coat, loving how it feels. Imprinted on the inside is “Pierotucci in Florence, Italy.” She spots fur-lined, black leather gloves, a black woolen scarf, and a matching beanie hat in the box. Tears fill her eyes. She has never received anything so beautiful before. It’s too much.
Reggie’s hands cup her face, long fingers wiping away her tears. “Christina, if I could, I’d give you the world. You deserve it. I’ve never known anyone as selfless and loving.”
Taking a few moments to gather herself, Chrissy sniffs and grins when Ben laughs. “Thank you, Reggie. These are gorgeous. Will you help me try the coat on?”
Smiling as Ben and Reggie move to support her, she rises, only groaning a little at the shooting pain. Perhaps after they finish with presents she’ll take a pain pill. She doesn’t like to rely on medicine, but her body needs to heal. After she cleans up in the bathroom, she can nap, too.
Chri
ssy holds out her arms as Reggie slides the coat over them. She makes her way to the full-length mirror to see how she looks.
“You look exquisite. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect. It will keep you warm during the winter months.” She stands at Chrissy’s side, one hand running down her arm.
“Thank you, Reggie. This coat is so warm and comfortable. I love it.” Chrissy turns to Reggie and lifts a hand to brush her fingers down Reggie’s cheek. “I love you. Not because of the gifts or you taking care of me while I’m healing or anything like that,” Chrissy rambles, afraid of giving Reggie the wrong idea.
Reggie’s hand captures Chrissy’s and brings it to her lips to kiss. “We both know these feelings have been developing for a long time. I know what you mean, and you know I love you.”
“Whoa,” Ben says, capturing their attention. He flushes. “I…um…I didn’t know you two had told each other. But that’s good. Really good.” His eyes bounce between Chrissy and Reggie. Reggie looks relieved at his acceptance of her.
“Yes, it’s really good,” Reggie says in a quiet voice.
“Then we’re all in agreement,” Chrissy says, clapping her hands and gritting her teeth when her ribs twinge. She views herself in the mirror for a few more moments. “Can you help me take this off?” She’s roasting. As soon as it’s removed, she moves back to the bed and carefully slides in. “Reggie, this is for you.” She reaches under the covers to retrieve the jewelry box. Her fingers worry the blanket lying over her waist while she watches Reggie. She wants to know, really know, whether Reggie likes the gift. She spent weeks agonizing over what to give her.
With a big exhalation, Reggie opens the jewelry box and stares. Chrissy has no idea whether she likes it. Oh, my God. I made a mistake. What a stupid idea. I’m an idiot. How corny and unsophisticated.
“Christina,” Reggie says, her voice strangled. Reggie’s trembling, tears streaming over her cheeks. “This is…this is incredible…”
Chrissy doesn’t know what to do to calm Reggie. She’s still adjusting to seeing behind the veil, to witnessing how passionate Reggie is, how she feels so much. “You like it?”
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