Page 3 of Pack Plus More

His mother stood next to him with wide eyes, unsure what to make of the interaction.

“Why thank you,” I grinned at him. “What’s your name?”

“Georgie,” he said.

“Well Georgie, if Santa does indeed get you a jersey for Christmas, I'll happily sign it for you.”

“Really?” he asked, eyes wide.

I nodded. “Of course. I'll give your mom my information so we can work something out. How does that sound? Do you play?”

“He’s just started lessons,” his mum said.

“That’s awesome, little man!”

I stood up and quickly pulled out my phone, turning to the mum. “I can give you the email address so he can practice with the team. They often let kids join in our practices.”

“Oh, that would be lovely,” the mum smiled, pulling out her phone.

“Derick on the management team will be happy to help. Just tell him Jer gave you his details.” I said. “I’m sorry I can’t hang about much longer—I’m actually here to grab my girls their first set of skates!” I beamed.

“Don’t apologize!” The mom laughed, “Thank you for stopping. He’s a huge fan of yours,” she said, pulling her son in for a little side hug.

We said our goodbyes and I turned to the counter, but Nate was already there, holding the two little boxes of ice skates.

“They’re going to be so cute!” he declared as we made our way out of the store. “Do you think we have time to pick up more Christmas candy?” he asked.

“For who? We have enough to feed an army!”

“Daisy saw these chocolate-covered almonds online and she didn’t admit it, but she clearly wanted them.”

“Let’s do it.”

Daisy

Christmas Eve.

Both the girls were down for a nap, so I decided to take the opportunity to wrap the final few gifts I hadn’t been able to the night before while they had been out with their dad’s eating ice cream.

“Can I come in?” a deep voice called from the doorway.

“Not yet!” I shouted, quickly shoving one or two of the items under a blanket and out of sight. I had placed a paper sign on the doorway telling everyone to keep out because I was wrapping gifts.

If I hadn't, the guys would have wandered right in. We didn't really have a concept of personal space in our house, and I liked it that way.

If I wanted to be left alone, then I would get that, no questions asked. I simply didn’t enjoy being on my own too much. The joy of being in a pack meant that I always had someone around.

Something that had come as a real surprise to me was just how much I loved pack life and being a mother. After the girls were born, my entire life view had changed. The fact that I hadfound myself in a pack that adored me more than anything and let me spend my days with my babies was a miracle, and I thanked the universe every day for the severe morning sickness that had led to me knocking on Jeremy’s door, begging for some of the food he was cooking.

Once their gifts were hidden, I turned to the door. “It’s safe!” I called, and Devon entered the room.

“Surely you haven't got more gifts to wrap?” he said. “The girls have a small mountain at this point.”

I laughed, nodding. “They do have a lot, don't they? But none of these are for the girls. These are your gifts, which is why I put the sign up,” I said.

“Oh yeah?” Devon looked at the door, then to me. “It's only just occurred to me that the girls wouldn't have been able to read that sign, anyway. I just wanted to see if you wanted a pizza?”

“The pizza place delivers on Christmas Eve?”

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