Page 53 of Forever Ink

“Down, baby bear. Don’t need to give them an eyeful at breakfast,” he said, eyeing the slight bulge in my track pants. I rolled my eyes and pouted a little bit, earning a rough chuckle from Simon. “You are working on getting your arse spanked, little one.”

“We wouldn’t want that now, would we?” I darted past Simon, kissing him quickly and bolting into the sitting room where everyone had gathered around the tree. Alice was sitting in front of a small trove of presents, her grey-blue eyes dancing. “Look, Rhee! Santa came.”

“From the sounds coming from upstairs, he wasn’t the only one,” Mouse muttered. I stuck my tongue out at him and dropped down onto the sofa studiously not looking at Simon.

“Can we open our presents now?” Alice asked, impatiently bouncing where she sat.

Magnus came out holding a tray of mugs. He handed Simon a steaming mug and Daddy groaned as he took a sip. The groan sounded so similar to the sounds I had pulled from him earlier that I squirmed and fought a blush as Magnus winked at me when he handed me a steaming mug of hot chocolate. I had a feeling I was going to be the butt of a lot of good-natured ribbing, but I couldn’t regret my early morning with Simon. I glanced over at Daddy again and he held up his hand, his ring flashing in the morning light. The sight of it made my heart flutter. It sounded sappy even to me, but that was what it felt like.

I’d asked him to marry me, and he’d said yes.

I knew that in the years to come this would be the Christmas I remembered. I was sure we would have many amazing Christmases and holidays together, but this was the Christmas Simon had agreed to marry me.

“Gifts now?” Alice asked impatiently. I caught Callum grinning into his coffee.

“Yes, petal. Grab the gifts you picked for the lads then you can open yours,” Callum answered.

Alice was off the sofa and already pulling presents out before Callum had finished speaking. Alice was back quickly, dumping a present into my lap with a shy smile. “I picked them myself. I mean, Dad paid, cause I have no money.”

“Because,” Callum corrected softly.

“That too,” Alice acknowledged before running off to deliver more gifts.

I watched the others open their gifts, then looked back to the one sitting in my lap, I carefully unwrapped the gift which Alice had wrapped in dancing teddy bear paper. A colouring book filled with dancing unicorns, and a set of sparkly vibrant pencils.

Alice looked up from where she sat amidst a pile of unwrapped presents. “I picked them. You said you loved them when we coloured together.”

I blinked back the tears that threatened and beckoned Alice forward. “Is it okay if I give you a hug?” I asked. Alice smiled and reached out to wrap her slim arms around my neck. “Thank you. I love them. We’ll have to have a colouring day soon.”

Alice nodded and gave me another quick hug before dancing back to her new toys.

By the time everyone had shared gifts and eaten a hearty breakfast, I could see Mouse was bursting to ask me.

“Out with it.”

Mouse rolled his eyes. “Well, did you do it?”

“Do what, open my presents? Yes, and I love my new slippers by the way.” Yeah, I was stirring Mouse a little bit, but it wasn’t like he didn’t deserve to get teased every now and then.

Mouse held up a finger. “One, I’m glad you liked them, it was a toss-up between the pink unicorns or the teddy bears and duh, no brainer. And two, you know what I’m f—” Mouse stopped as Alice tipped her head and looked at us. “You know what I mean.”

I tapped my lip, Smirking. “Simon, did you show Mouse what I gave you this morning?”

“Are we talking about the love bite or the engagement ring?” Simon answered, walking over to drop onto the sofa next to me.

“Wait, what?” Callum spun around to look in our direction.

Mouse spluttered, shaking his head hard enough that his hair tumbled down from the loose bun he’d had it in. “Okay eww, I don’t want to see your damn love bite. But thank fuck you did it. I was worried you were going to bottle it.”

“Nope. I did it, and he said yes.” I bumped my shoulder against Simon’s, and smiled at all the surprised looks we were getting, “You want to tell them, or do I?”

Simons answering smile was full of warmth. “Why don’t you do the honours.”

Looking at the gathered faces, I felt that warm bubble of acceptance and affection I had been craving for so many years. “So,” I started smiling as I thought of the events earlier in the morning. “Um, I might have asked Simon to marry me.”

The silence was broken by Alice yelling and leaping into my lap. “For real? Does this mean I get to be a flower girl? Or whatever, I don’t mind.”

“Yes,” I answered, feeling just as excited as Alice.

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