Page 1 of Iona's Christmas

Prologue.

Iona.

Isat on mine and Warden’s bed as I stared at a battered old shoe box. Whether I’d gone, that box had come with me. But I’d not looked in it for years. Quite simply, I had not been able to. I took a shuddering, deep breath and lifted the lid. The smell of lavender hit me, and I smiled as I reach down and touched the sprigs tied with a faded purple ribbon.

They were over fifteen years old, yet their scent remained. Probably because they’d been locked in this box for so long. I removed them carefully and closed my eyes at the item underneath them. It was a tiny gold ring, one that I’d cherished, and it happened to be a set of three.

“Babe?” Warden asked softly.

I lifted my face and offered him a trembling smile. Warden frowned and, reached out with a finger and wiped a tear from my cheek. Wow, I’d not even known I was crying.

“Sorry,” I replied, wiping the tears away.

Warden sat down on the bed and looked down at the box in my hands.

“You kept it?” he asked in wonderment as he touched the ring.

“Of course. I may have hated you, but I still loved you,” I sniffed.

Warden smiled warmly and cupped my face, offering me a kiss. I leaned into it, needing his heat and love. Warden broke it off and put his hand inside his tee.

“Huh,” I muttered as he pulled out a thick gold chain with a ring on it. It was one of the missing two. “You kept it.”

“Of course. I may have hated you, but I still loved you,” Warden teased, and his lips curved into a smile. I smacked his abs for being annoying.

Warden had bought me, Rosalea, and himself a ring with his first wage packet. He’d been sixteen and so proud of himself. I’d been ten at the time and so had Rosalea. Warden had sworn that we’d never be apart. How I’d let him down.

“What else is in there?” Warden asked.

I showed him the sprig of lavender, and his eyes crinkled. Warden bought me it when my mother had disappeared on another of her trips and left me alone as usual. Remembrance shone on Warden’s face as he touched it gently with a finger.

I reached into the box and pulled out a stack of pictures. They were of Warden, Rosalea and me when we were younger. Before everything went to shit. Before Berserker and Pearl split up. My favourite was a picture of Berserker, and he was bending his knees with his arms wrapped around us. Warden stood in the middle with Rosalea and me either side of him.

“I wondered where that’d gone,” Warden whispered, taking it from me.

“I did not steal it. It was mine,” I said, and Warden smiled.

“Didn’t we all get a copy?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I replied as I noticed a picture of him, Oracle and Undertaker. “Look at your clothes,” I teased.

“The clothes weren’t bad, the hair style, however, Jesus,” Warden complained as he grinned.

I finally found the Christmas pictures I’d been looking for. I’d spent quite a few Christmases with Warden’s family. My own parents had been severely lacking in the parent department.

Slowly, I looked at them and handed them over to Warden. That bittersweet pain was in his eyes, as well as mine. Good memories with Berserker, which Pearl had stamped and shit all over. Rosalea and I had lost everything because of Pearl’s bitterness and hate. Now, we were struggling to claim it back.

“I want a happy Christmas,” I whispered.

Warden shifted his ass and wrapped me in his arms, and dropped a kiss on my head.

“Plan it, Iona, I know I said before to do so, but I miss that as well. Make this a Christmas to remember,” Warden muttered.

“I will do,” I promised.

Chapter One.

Iona

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