Page 77 of Three Stepbrothers Save Christmas

“Papa Bear it is then,” he smiles before kissing her. Verity smiles at him before turning to me.

“But you don’t have a nickname. I don’t want you to think I care less for you than the others.”

Placing my arm over her bare stomach, I kiss her soft lips and give what I hope is a reassuring smile.

“I know you don’t care any less for me. They may be your Daddy and Papa Bear, but I get the fun job of being your partner in crime. How does that sound?”

She nods before turning so she can hug me properly.

“I like that a lot.”

“Good,” I reply, squeezing her before she rolls on her back so she can see us all again.

“Is there anything you want to do between now and Christmas, Sweetheart?”

For a moment, Verity looks conflicted, like she isn’t sure how to answer, but Ryan comes to her rescue.

“What are your favourite memories of Christmas? Ones you wish you could do again.” for a moment, I can see her thinking about it, and I’m worried she can’t remember a good Christmas. We have no idea how many Henry’s missed, and she has been on her own. But then a small smile appears on her face, and I feel a little more at ease.

“I used to love decorating the house in all my mum's Christmas decorations. I haven’t got to do that in years. They are probably in the back of the loft by now, behind all of Linda's things.” She smiles up at the ceiling as she remembers her childhood Christmases.

“We used to decorate the house, bake cookies and drink hot chocolate whilst watching Christmas films. We played the music loud and danced around the house whilst decorating. My Auntie usually joined in, too.”

“It sounds like you used to have a lot of fun,” Ryan says, smiling at her as he takes her hand. I watch as sleep starts to take over, and her eyes drift closed as she smiles.

“I always had the best Christmases with Mum.” She leans more into Ryan as she drifts off to sleep.

“I think we can make sure you have that again,” he whispers into her hair before the three of us share a look. Travis looks down at the now-sleeping Verity and smiles.

“And I know just how to make sure of It.”

40

Verity

I wake up in Ethan’s bed alone. I look around the room and see no sign of the guys, not even a sock on the floor. It’s as if they were never here.

For a fleeting moment, my heart breaks as I envision them leaving in the night. But deep down, I know they would never do that, so I force myself to focus on the fact that they may already have gotten up and didn’t want to wake me. That’s a more rational reason.

As I climb out of bed, I look at the clock on Ethan's wall. I’m shocked to see it’s five past seven; I can’t remember the last time I slept this late. I look to the shower as I know I should rush to it and get washed and dressed as soon as possible. It’s what I’ve always done. But then I remember I don’t have to. Just because my father wanted me to be an early riser doesn’t mean I have to be. I wanted him to be a present father, and look how that turned out.

I spot my dressing gown on the bottom of the bed and realise one of the guys must have put it there for me. I hardly ever use it as I was taught to wake up, stretch, shower and dress. The guys told me I could do whatever I wanted, and they would still love me. Feeling brave, I grab the dressing gown and wrap it around me before opening the door, walk out of the room, and rush towards the stairs. I’m not even halfway down when I hear the hushed voices of the guys below coming from the dining room.

I throw open the door and stop in my tracks. There are my three guys, all surrounded by boxes. When I look closer, I realise they all contain Christmas decorations; many still have my mum's handwriting on the boxes.

“Surprise!” Travis and Ryan shout together as Ethan spins around to face me. I’m frozen with shock as I take in the view around me. I never thought I would see these boxes again. There are decorations on the table I haven’t seen since I was eight years old. Tears fill my eyes as I try and take it all in. Travis comes to stand beside me as the others smile.

“What did you do?” I whisper, looking from the decorations to him.

“We wanted to surprise you. So, we woke up early and got all the decorations we could find. The tree is old and needs replacing, but everything else seems okay,” he announces, putting an arm over my shoulder.

“I can’t believe you did this!” I exclaim, lifting my hand to my mouth as my eyes well up further. “It must have taken ages to find them all up there!”

“It wasn’t easy, but you are worth it.” Ethan steps forward and presses a kiss to my lips. “We have the full day planned,” he announces, stepping back to reveal Ryan beside him.

“You and Travis are going to get a new tree whilst Ethan and I run an errand. By the time you are back, we will be too, and we can spend the rest of the day decorating.”

“While we get the tree, we will also get some logs for the fire which I checked out this morning and is good to go. So, we can have the fire lit tonight and drink hot chocolate whilst watching Christmas movies.” Travis kisses my head as I look around at the three of them. They listened to everything I said last night and are making sure I experience it all again.

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