Some of them are practical, like the new set of kitchen bowls Miya bought Cleo. In turn, Cleo bought her several puzzles. The guys all sat back and watched as if they knew what their wives bought the other people in the room.
My heart warms at the familiarity of it.
Our Christmases were never bountiful, but they were always filled with love and happiness. That’s what I’m feeling now.
It makes me miss my mom.
Nikita holds Emily the whole time, helping her open gifts. Callum keeps shooting me looks like he wants to save our daughter, but Nikita needs this.
Emily gives her something to focus on so the rest of the room doesn’t make her feel unwelcome.
I’m happy our daughter can do this for her.
“Nikita.” I hand over a gift.
She looks surprised, but takes it from me. She unwraps the box and blinks a couple of times before pulling out the bath salts and candle.
“It’s a happiness blend of bath salts. All natural ingredients and dried herbs. Then the candle also promotes happiness. Once it melts down some, you will find strawberry quartz, red coral, and yellow agate stones for you to keep.”
She tears up a little bit. “Thank you. This means a lot.”
I nod once before handing the next gift to Kai.
“I made this for you, especially,” I tell him. “It may not be perfect, but I’m getting better.”
He pulls the jar out of the bag before opening and smelling it.
“Is this whiskey?” He quirks an eyebrow at me.
“Plum whiskey. Those are plums in the jar.”
He takes a sip, licking his lips immediately afterward.
“It’s delicious.” He bows his head slightly, a sign of respect. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Several gifts later, and the living room looks like a disaster. Emily is now crawling around in the wrapping paper, happier to play with it and the empty bags than any of the toys given to her.
I start cleaning up as Cleo goes to check on dinner.
“You did good,” Callum whispers to me as he bends to pick up more paper.
“What do you mean?” I ask him.
“Nikita. Kai is unsure of her intentions, but giving her that gift touched her. If she was here for nefarious reasons, I’m not sure she would follow through with it now. Look at her.”
I glance over and find Nikita watching Emily play with a warm smile on her face. I don’t miss the fact that Declan still has not left her side.
“Everyone deserves kindness, Cal. Maybe she is working for her father or maybe not, but that still doesn’t mean that it will hurt us to show a small bit of kindness.”
“I know. Sometimes I get caught up in what we need to be to run our businesses, and I forget that we are all just human. That’s why I have you. You balance me out.”
Leaning in, I press a quick kiss to his lips.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,a stór.”
