As soon as Julianne and her family came in the house, their ten-year-old, Tommy, called out “Happy birthday to Noelle,” and everyone else replied with “And to Noelle a good night!”
Aiden, present in hand, sat down on the couch next to Noelle. He might be an official teenager now and had been growing like crazy lately, but he still never lost the way he sat down with a bounce anytime he took a seat on the couch. He handed the gift to Noelle and said, “I made you a birthday present.”
“You have a present for me? Aww! And you made it?”
Aiden’s smile was wide as his aunt Noelle opened the package. It was a ten-inch square piece of art that was maybe two inches thick and made of resin. He had poured the resin in layers, carving parts of the intricate lines of a snowflake into each layer with a little tool before adding the next layer. Each of the layers was a slightly different shade of blue or silver, and the end result was a beautiful masterpiece. The artist that her little boy had turned into never ceased to amaze her.
Noelle was pretty amazed, too, and so touched. It warmed her momma heart to watch their interaction. Nick came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her. She reached up to place her arm on his and leaned her head into his arm.
Then her eyes caught her daughter in the kitchen as she went up to Connor. Connor had been cutting Brussels sprouts but stopped when she neared and came around the counter to talk to her. “Did you win?”
“Still undefeated!” Holly said with a grin on her face that hadn’t left since the game yesterday.
Connor put out his palms and she slapped them with hers, then put out her palms and he did the same, and then they bumped fists. “Right on! Did you score?”
Holly folded her arms, looking pretty satisfied. “Twice.”
“We’ve got some pretty great kids, don’t we?” Nick said, his breath warming her ear.
“We do,” Rachel said. “And a pretty great life.”
Nick had been able to continue working four days a week at home, only going into the office one day a week, for their entire marriage. It had allowed her to do really well at her job, knowing that he was able to take care of things on the home front as needed.
Plus, she had passed the five-year mark of being cancer-free over a year ago. Which meant that she no longer had to have that deep down, constant worry that it could come back. She hadn’t realized how big a part of her had been worrying without her even realizing she was doing it until that threat was gone and she experienced the freedom of living without it.
She looked around at everything. At this big, beautiful family. At Aiden and Holly. At her husband, Nick. All of them together, celebrating Christmas. All of this wasn’t anything she was sure she wouldeverget. It made having it all the sweeter, and she would never stop being grateful for every single bit of her incredible life.
She turned so she was facing Nick and wrapped her arms around him. She gave him a kiss on the lips, then said, “Thank you for being part of what makes my life so great.”
Nick grinned, not entirely following her train of thought, but clearly enjoying it.
Katie
Katie and Connor had been trying to get pregnant from pretty close to the day they got married five years ago. In the beginning, it was fine that each month they found out that they weren’t. The extra time they had with just the two of them gave them a chance to really bond as a couple and to figure out who they were separately, who they were together, and how to best support each other.
And it gave her time to figure out life being married to a hockey player who had 82 games a year, all while her company was growing at a rate fast enough that she was constantly having to figure it out anew.
But as the years went on, it became a lot harder. They both just reallyreallywanted children. As much as she loved holding each of her new nieces and nephews, the emotions she experienced as she did were so much more complex and difficult when they wanted so badly to have their own.
And now they were. The fertility treatments they’d been doing for what felt like an eternity had finally worked. Not only had they worked, but they were going to be having twins. She was now thirteen weeks along, and things looked fantastic and the babies were so healthy. After their last doctor’s visit, she and Connor decided that they were ready to share the news with everyone.
And because it was Christmas Eve and she was going to be showing the annual Allred Family Christmas Video that she made every year, they decided that they would make the announcement part of the video. She’d made a lot of these videos over the years, but none of them had been as fun— or made her tear up as much— as this one.
Since she filmed events for a living, she made sure to have the camera rolling at all the important parts of their lives. The video tonight had clips of them with their eyes glued to the pregnancy test that Katie held, waiting for the results, and the jumping up and down, cries of joy, and hugging when it revealed that the test was positive. The doctor’s visit where they confirmed it. The looks of surprise, joy, and lots of shock during the ultrasound when they found out that two little babies were growing inside her.
Her stomach was getting all fluttery just thinking about pushing play on that video tonight and watching everyone’s reactions to the news.
It had been a long, hard journey to get to this point. But after facing all the emotional, physical, and mental struggles of infertility together, she and Connor were so much stronger as a couple than they ever could’ve been without. Katie was sure they could face absolutely anything together, side by side. Connor could be traded to another team across the country, or even Canada, the day before she gave birth to her twins, and they could handle it.
She looked over at him from where they were cutting up vegetables next to each other in her parents’ kitchen. After making sure no one was close enough to hear, she said, “Please don’t get traded to another team the day before I give birth.”
He chuckled. “I won’t.”
She knew he wouldn’t. Her due date was in the off-season, so if he did get traded, it wouldn’t be rushed like it was when he was traded to the Glaciers. At least she expected the births to happen in the off-season. But the Glaciers could go to the playoffs, and she could have the twins early. Twins usually came early.
“But even if you did, we could handle it, right?”
He gave her a kiss. “Together, we can handle anything.”
