“No presents until after breakfast,” Lilly said from the hallway.
“Can we at least show Aunt C?”Hope asked as she bounced down the hall toward the staircase.
“Yes, you may look, but you may not touch,” Lilly said with a sad smile as she took Hope’s hand to slow her descent.They were breaking the bedrest rule, but Celyn would insist she lay on the couch once they were downstairs.Celyn picked up Joy and carried her down the stairs, careful to close the gates they had set up at the top and bottom of the staircase to keep the girls from going up and down by themselves.The last thing they needed was a little girl to roll down the stairs.
Once they were on the first floor, Celyn set Joy down and the little girl raced toward the living room.
“I’ll be right in,” she said to Lilly before heading to the small bathroom one of the previous owners had built under the stairs.
Lilly was waiting outside the bathroom when she emerged, looking shocked.“How did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Buy all those gifts, wrap them, and hide them without telling me,” Lilly whispered.
“What are you talking about?”Celyn frowned at her sister-in-law, stepping into the large entryway from the main hall to the living room where they’d put up the eight foot artificial tree the day after Thanksgiving.
Stepping into the room, she froze, stopping so fast that Lilly walked into her back.Celyn had to take several steps in order to keep on her feet.Once she was balanced again, she looked at the Christmas tree.It still stood in the corner, but did not look at all like it had just hours before when she’d scattered the few presents she’d managed to buy under it.Those presents were hidden under many, many others.So many others that they did not all fit under the tree but spread out for several feet around the base of the tree.
“What the hell?”she whispered as she turned to look at Lilly in shock.“Who did this?”
“You mean you didn’t?”Lilly asked as she moved to sit in her favorite chair.
Celyn shook her head slowly, her eyes growing wide.“Not me.”
Had Enrico really been an elf?Was he responsible for all this?If so, then where was he now?
Celyn walked closer to the tree, stunned by the generous display.She jumped when the doorbell bonged.
The girls squealed as they raced from the living room to the front door, just like they did every time company arrived.A moment later, Hope ran back and grabbed her hand.
“Come on, Aunt C, you gotta answer the door.”
Celyn allowed her niece to pull her toward the front door.Not answering the door without an adult was another rule the girls had.They were so bad about it that Celyn had added a deadbolt high up on the door to keep them safe.
“Okay, but you both need to take deep breaths and settle down,” Celyn said.
“Okay,” Hope said then took Joy’s hand and looked at her sister.“Breathe, Joy.”
The two girls took two deep breaths and huffed them out before turning and looking at her expectantly even as they bounced on their toes.Celyn knew that was as settled as they were going to get until later.This would definitely be a day where after lunch naps were taken all around.
Unlocking the door, she pulled it open and froze when she saw who was standing on the front porch.
“Daddy!”Hope squealed before racing past her into the arms of the first man.Joy followed closely.
“Cedar?”Lilly appeared a few moments later and joined her daughters in his arms.“How are you here?”
Cedar glanced at the man beside him before answering his wife.“A little Christmas magic.I’m home from deployment and will be on recruiter duty here in town for the next three years.”
While Celyn was overjoyed to see her brother home safe, her gaze moved to the second man standing to the side.
His full beard was now only a few days of scruff that highlighted high cheekbones and a sharp jawline.His long, curly hair was also gone, but she would never mistake those bright twinkling eyes for anyone except the man she’d fallen in love with nearly a month before.
Celyn took three steps toward him then hesitated.When he opened his arms in welcome, she rushed the last few feet that separated them, throwing herself into his arms.
“Enrico,” she breathed.She buried her face in his chest as she wrapped her arms around him to hug him tight.
“Hello, love,” he whispered as he returned her tight embrace.“I’ve missed you, little elf.”
