Page 52 of Everything I Promise

Oliver stops running to come back and hug both of us. “Thanks! This is the best Christmas ever!” he shouts as he runs off to catch more snowflakes on his tongue.

I reach out to hold Colton’s hand as we walk. Looking up at him I say, “Thank you.”

“For what, sweetheart?” he asks.

“Loving us. Being you. Caring about Oliver. And me,” I say, smiling. Kissing Colton on Christmas Eve, under the moonlight, in my small hometown, while my son runs in the snow around us, this is what romance books are about. I can’t even believe how lucky I am that this is my life now.

Oliver and Colton are in Oliver’s bed reading a Christmas story while I get a moment to relax. Once Oliver is asleep the realwork begins. But right now, in this moment, I get to soak in the quiet. Colton has done an amazing job with the apartment, and he isn’t even done. When I bought this place I never envisioned I’d be here at Christmas.

“He's finally asleep. After all those cookies I wasn’t sure it was going to happen for us.” Colton sits on the couch next to me, pulling me on top of him.

“Thank goodness for small favors then, huh?” I lean down to kiss him. His hands grip my hips and a moan comes from Colton. “Ok as much as I love where this is going, we need to play Santa and we need to do it quickly,” I say as I kiss him one more time.

“Right. I’m going to start by eating some cookies.” He winks and I swat at his chest. That man might love mom’s cookies more than her own girls.

“Okay, while you do that, I’m going to grab all these presents and start putting them together, and then I’m going to finish wrapping some stuff, and then arrange it all. And then -”

“Hey. Relax. Sit and eat a cookie with me. I will put stuff together after we eat cookies while you wrap. Thenwecan arrange together and get back to whatyoustarted.” He pulls me back down to the couch and places a cookie in my hand, and a kiss to my lips.

“I. But.” I sigh. “Okay, cookies.”

“Good decision. You aren’t doing this alone anymore, sweetheart. I’m here for you. Here to read stories, and put toys together, and eat cookies, then I’ll move on to taking care of you,” he says, winking at me.

I don’t respond. I just eat my cookie and watch his every move. I’m ready for everything he is offering.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Colton

I wake up feeling on top of the world. I have Lacey in my arms and Oliver ran in to snuggle with us while he tries to convince us to get up at dawn. Luckily, she convinces him to enjoy a Christmas movie in bed with us so we should be able to sleep a little longer. Maybe. At least until the sun rises.

We watched Oliver open his presents this morning and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such joy watching someone else open gifts. But now, Lacey has told me she wants to wait to give gifts to each other until later at her mom’s house. I’m a little nervous to give her the gift I got her in front of everyone.

But the current situation is stressing me out. I had a whole plan to give Lacey keys and ask her to move in with me. But now that there will be an audience I’m a little nervous. I can’t fault Lacey for wanting to wait, she wants to just enjoy the morningwith Oliver and watch him open presents. I know how stressful holidays have been for her, so I didn’t want to argue on this. I want her to have a peaceful morning if that’s what she is looking for.

But now I’m torn. Do I not give my present to her until we get home and let her think that I didn’t get her anything? Or do I give it to her and risk rejection in front of everyone? What if she isn’t planning on coming back here tonight? I have so many worries now.

“Hey, you alright? You look like you might pass out.” Oh, if only she knew.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Ready to head over to your Mom’s?” I lie for the first time to Lacey.

“In a few minutes, Oliver is just trying to decide between his toys. I told him he could only bring one since you know Mom is going to spoil the hell out of him today.”

“Okay. I’m going to go load up the truck and we can head over when he’s ready.” That means I only have the time it takes me to load this truck to figure out a new plan.

By the time I get done, I have a plan in mind. I go into my office and grab the blueprints to my home, and the blueprints Oliver drew up of his dream home a couple days ago when he had to hang with me while I was working. This is actually a brilliant plan, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of this in the first place. I quickly try to find a box and some wrapping paper which is pretty easy since my room has become the North Pole in the preparations for last night. I kind of suck at wrapping but maybe she’ll think it adds character to the gift? A little personal touch from me.

“Hey, Colton, Mommy says I need my shoes. But I want to wear my slippers.” Oliver pouts.

I jump and try to hide what I am doing when I hear the door.

“Whatcha doing?” He asks when he notices I’m clearly hiding something.

“Wrapping your Mommy’s present. Want to help? I still need a bow.” I offer him the bag. While he is digging through I remember his question. “I think you need to wear shoes tonight, buddy. You could probably ask mom to bring your slippers to wear at Grammy’s house, but you definitely need boots to get there.”

“Oh! I love this one!” Oliver exclaims handing me a hot pink bow for the gift. I peel off the back and hand it to him to place on top. “You’re not very good at wrapping presents,” he says as he crinkles his nose at my attempt.

“That I am not, buddy. But a gift is always about the thought right?”

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