"Mommy see!! Mommy see me!!" The excited cry drew their attention apart to find their daughter waving a new toy in their face. Michael’s grandfather regarded the both of them with a knowing smile.
“Are there gonna be more tiny feet running around these walls in nine months’ time?” The older man inquired, and Trinity decided to ignore him. She was embarrassed.
"I can see, it looks pretty," Trinity agreed as she glared at Michael from the corner of her eyes, she had clearly said no more toys as she got to her feet to go to Miranda who was struggling with the toy in her hand.
She received a smirk for her troubles before he turned to look at his grandfather "Those tiny feet will come soon enough from all the work I’ve been putting in.”
“Michael!” Trinity said as she shoved her elbow in his side before leaving his side and going to stand near the tree to clear up the wrapping paper.
“Where are my gifts Opa?”
What do you get a man who has everything he’ll ever need? I showed up remember?"
Michael scoffed.
"Miranda has you wrapped around her little finger and you wouldn't have missed this for anything," he replied confidently. They had never spent a Christmas apart in twenty-four years.
"Like a barber around a cane," the old man admitted ruefully while he smiled at the little girl in question before returning to his grandson's side.
"I'm happy for you," the older man continued, after a moment of companionable silence, the sound of Miranda and Trinity's voice in the background.
"Thanks, I'm happy too," he replied easily as he thought that the words were too simple to convey the enormity of his emotions.
He smirked to himself as he realized the only word that remotely suited the situation was 'over the moon'.
Michael Senior noted the sappy expression and felt some old worry roll off his back.
It seemed a lifetime ago when he was chasing him around to get married even going as far as to get dates for him and dangling sole ownership of the companies as an incentive.
It seemed like several lifetimes ago when he had brought the quiet boy with a nightmares and eyes that saw too much home to him.... It was a long road from there to here but he couldn't help but feel satisfied... Content and blessed. The season inspired that last feeling, but he was not about to question it.
He smiled himself as he focused on the interaction of mother and daughter. "I can see that, I'll have to admit that on the wedding day I didn't see this happening but here we are," he trailed away.
Michael looked up to where Trinity squatted by the tree, fixing reindeer nose and horns on Miranda. We've indeed come a long way.
“Trinity is the best. She’s so different from…”
The older man smiled at that, it was oddly fitting to have his thoughts spoken out loud. "I can't help but be proud of you son."
"Thank you, old man." His smile warm and sincere as their eyes met.
"None of that, I'll have to fight you to show my prowess," he bristled playfully.
"I'm shaking in my shoes,” Michael replied before he left his grandfather smiling figure and headed towards his family.
All mine, the truth still stunned him. He smiled at his girls and got huge smiles from both of them in return.
It soothed and filled a hole in him with the purest and warmest of loves.
He took the small black box with Trinity’s name on it and walked towards her.
Trinity laughed as Miranda ran to her grandfather and insisted on head-butting him with her plastic horns. The older man groaned comically every time the plastic poked him before he dropped his glass of egg nog on a side table and scooped her up to throw her in the air.
Miranda screamed in unabashed glee, a sound that would have been downright scary if it wasn't so joy filled.
She laughed as she enjoyed the interaction between the two of them, so different from the polite conversation on her wedding day.
"He loves her," Michael said softly beside her ears, the hoarse baritone raking over her senses. Behave she shouted on herself but the fluttering in her belly continued. Her hand went to sooth the subtle ache but nudged against the manila envelope she had hidden under her shirt, she jolted for a new reason altogether.
"She loves him right back," she replied, her distracted mind struggling to stay on the issue of discussion.
He thrust a small box into her hand and she assumed that it was jewelry.
"I want you to open this," he said.
Her hands trembled as she pried the box open. Her breath rushed out in a startled gasp. "Michael?" Her voice was low and incredibly breathy.
A ring. The large diamond caught the flickering Christmas lights and threw an arc of sparkling spots into the air. It was beautiful and she was appropriately blinded... by her tears.
It's beautiful but I already have a ring," she indicated the one on her finger.
He caught her hand, got to his knees and worked the old ring off her finger as she looked on in confusion.
"Will you marry me, Trinity? Make me the happiest man in earth and marry me," he asked, looking up at her.
"But we are already married," she said again now very confused.
"What I mean is will you really marry me, without the business deal, with your whole heart, with love?" He asked earnestly, his eyes on her, conveying the intensity of his emotions.
"It's not a business deal this time and we have nothing to gain except a lifetime of love and a future with each other; marry me Trinity.” His words sounded so sincere and filled with emotion.
She felt the emotion as well, to the very bottom of her soul, she sank into that ocean of emotions, without thinking to stop. Without thinking to stall her fall, without thinking at all.
She allowed her mind to sleep in it and found it vast, found it endless. What she found shook her to the very core, cleared her last doubts and break her remaining walls. This was eternity.
"So will you?" He sounded a little unsure and she smiled to reassure him.
"Yes..." Eyes riveted on his, all her soul in them. "Yes, I will marry you! I will always marry you!"
"Oh thank God," he exhaled as giggles erupted from in front of them.
"Silly daddy," Miranda called as his grandfather chuckled at him. He ignored them sweeping his wife into a kiss.
The passion exploded between them driving a soft moan from her, it was a small exhale but it was easily masked by the Christmas carols in the background, but it reminded him of their setting.
He shifted back, away from her, but his hand remained at her side as they turned to smile at their audience of two.
Trinity fidgeted, it was now or never as her hand strayed to the manila envelope and brought it out of from under her shirt and handed it to him.
Michael regarded it with a quizzical expression before he looked up at her. She pursed her lips and shook her head to indicate that she was not going to give him a hint about what was inside.
He tore the envelope open and fished out the papers. When he glanced at the heading, he looked at her quickly before returning to the paper in his hand. It was an application to legally adopt Miranda.
His expression blanked, his face became unreadable the further down the paper he went until he finished and folded the paper carefully returned it to the manila envelope and put it in his pocket.
By then she was sweating bullets, wondering if she had misinterpreted things and gone too far.
"I'm sorry." She stated "I thought you wanted…"
"I do." he replied still pale.
"You don't look too happy."
"I am, I am very happy."
"You are?"
"Yes, I have a daughter, I think it just hit me that I have a daughter and she's growing up so fast and so beautiful." She took one moment to understand and she couldn't help her smile, by the growl he gave her, it was clear he was not amused.
"Calm down she's not ready for college yet." Michael blanched at her words and she couldn't help but
laugh out loud.
"She's not going to college."
"Of course, she is silly," she teased.
"There are boys in college."
"I would hope so."
"She's not allowed to meet them."
"Okay then, whatever you say."
"She won't date until she's thirty."
"Good luck."
"Are you listening to me?"
"Yes, and enjoying your nervous breakdown, she's not even seven years old yet."
Her words must have called him because he took a long breath and watched as the little girl tear into another box with his grandfather urging her on.
"Do you think I'll make a good father?"
This time she turned to him, eyes earnest. "The very best."
Epilogue
MIRANDA
S omething woke her up — it might have been the anticipation of what the next day would bring or the tinkling sound the pristine snow made right outside her window.
One moment she was lost in sleep, dreaming of all the things she could do, and the very next moment she was awake knowing she could finally do all of them.
She was fifteen years old now, and perfectly happy with her life, none of that crummy teenager angst for her, thank you very much.
But she had sarcasm, something her mother told her all the time when she was giving her a lesson. Yes, she was homeschooled and loved every minute of it.
Her life was so beautiful she wanted to shout as she lay in bed.
Maybe now that she was all grown up and mature her father would allow her to go to Paris — her dad tended to be overprotective like that, much worse than her mom. And that was saying something.
She had gone to see him in the office once when she was younger and the two of them never let her forget it. Never mind the fact that she was only five years old, or that she was supposed to be in school. She had snuck out without telling anyone — even the cops were searching for her.
Totally not her fault, and that was ages ago, but they would never let her live that down, and they told the story every chance they got.
Wait, Christmas… Today was Christmas!!!
She could do whatever she wanted!
"Merry Christmas!" Miranda screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping for at least a reaction, but the house stayed quiet around her.
Oh no, it could only mean that everyone was fast asleep.
Didn't they know it was Christmas?!
Miranda scrambled out of bed and yelped when her feet touched the cold floor. She quickly rolled on her stockings and raced out of her room.
The twins’ room was directly across from hers, so she went there first. She wasn't exactly subtle — there was no need for that — the two logs in bed barely stirred at the slam of the door, not even moving even though she was clapping her hands loudly in their faces.
She made a quick decision and jumped into bed, on top of the both. The shrieks that greeted her action was completely satisfying.
"Whaaaat!" the two of them shrieked, jolting awake.
"Wake up, it’s Christmas!" she shouted at her thirteen year old sisters with their mop of strangled hair as they glared at her from sleepy eyes.
Impressive...not.
"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!” the twins chorused as they jumped out of bed and headed straight for the kitchen.
Of course, they would be hungry — both of the twins thought about nothing except food and maybe how to torture their little brother.
Speaking of her little brother, Miranda walked to his room, opened the door and automatically awed at the image.
His bed was wide, but all his toys took the bulk of the space while he just perched on the edge wrapped like a sausage with his brown curls tangled all over the bed.
He looked so adorable and for one second peaceful. It was a lie. The twins gave him hell, but he gave as good as he got right back, sometimes even worse.
“Wake up, Dylan, it's Christmas," she called cheerily at her ten year old sibling.
"Go away," the sausage bundle said and snuggled his blanket closer.
Miranda scooped him off the bed and shook him awake until he was staring at her, knuckling his bleary eyes.
"It's Christmas, Dee Dee," she teased.
"Sleeping!" he replied.
"You want the twins to get your presents?"
That woke him right up.
"No!" he exclaimed as he disentangled himself from the blanket and her hold. He snatched up his favorite action figure from the pile on the bed and raced out of the room in hot pursuit of the twins.
Miranda smiled and headed for the nursery. This time she was quiet as she tiptoed to the bassinet. Miranda glanced at the empty bassinet and knew her parents must have had baby Kayla with them.
She turned out of the room and headed for theirs, hesitating at the door.
She knocked loudly before shouting, "I'm coming in!”
She remembered the last time she had barged in — the image in her head burned into her retina, scarring her for life. She would never go in before knocking and announcing herself.
The laughter that erupted as she opened the door told her that it was a close save this time too.
"Seriously? I hope you know the baby can see you!"
Her mother laughed out loud at that while her dad smirked. Yes, her dad smirked a lot and Dylan was copying it really fast.
"Morning, darling," her mom called.
"Morning, Mommy."
"Morning, baby girl," her dad greeted.
"Morning, Daddy. Where is the baby so I can leave you guys to — by the way it's Christmas," she interjected perfectly flippant.
"We have to get up now don't we?" her father asked.
"Like you didn't know," Miranda challenged as she rolled her eyes.
"Plausible deniability," her dad replied.
Her mother gestured to the spare bassinet beside her bed, and Miranda scooped the cooing baby in her hand and backed out of the room rapidly. She couldn't exactly turn her back on them safely, and they could possibly start something with her right there — it was not the first time either.
Her parents got out of bed and followed her out of the room.
Their house was huge, but she needed only to follow the volume of her siblings to reach the parlor. As usual, the twins were ganging up on Dylan, who was firing right back and effectively too.
"Is not," Alyssa called viciously.
"Is too," Dylan jeered smugly.
"It's a lie," she insisted.
"Ask Mommy," he replied easily.
"Mommy, you got me more than ballet shoes, right?" Alyssa asked with a hint of tears in her eyes.
"Okay, everybody calm down. It's Christmas, and the next person to be mean is not getting any presents," her mother threatened and Miranda herself smirked.
“You all get one present before breakfast, just one.”
Miranda laid the baby on the couch beside her parents and took one box with her name on it — there was still a huge pile around the tree. All around her, her siblings tore wrappings with glee.
She caught sight of the flight tickets and started shrieking in delight.
TRINITY
T rinity looked down at her family with so much love shining in her eyes. She was grateful for the family and the love between them despite the bickering. Such a far cry from her life ten years ago…
"I can't believe it's been a decade," she told her husband.
"You know what? Me neither." He squeezed her hand.
"I have everything I ever wanted right here and it's so beautiful. My family like this is everything I'll ever need." Trinity looked him in the eye with her heartfelt confession.
Michael looked at her, his eyes shining with love. "You're beautiful, and you gave me everything I'll ever need."
The two of them leaned closer and kissed, gaining vocal disgust from their children.
Beside them on the couch, the baby cooed.
Before You Go…
I hope that you enjoyed Michael and Trinity’s story and will leave a review or rating on Amazon or Goodreads. I can’t thank you enough for taking time out of your busy life to read my story.
I want to show you my appreciation by doing a Christmas giveaway. I have one $25 Amazon gift card up for grabs. All you have to do to win is:
Screenshot the email you received from Amazon after purchasing this book or if you have kindle unlimited screenshot this page.
Like my Facebook author page: @NiomieRoland
Post your screenshot on my Facebook author page.
Or
Follow me on Instagram at Niomie Roland and DM me your screenshot for a chance to win.
One winner will be chosen at random and they will be announced on December 21st, 2019 on my Facebook page.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from my family to yours!
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Christmas Ever After Page 11