Page 8 of A Very Montgomery Christmas

Aaron

Iknocked on my parents’ door, Madison leaning into me, a smile on both of our faces.

“You know, you could just go in,” Madison said, and I shook my head. “No, because it’s the holidays, and my mom’s going to want to open the door and greet us.”

“That makes sense,” my wife said, and I just held back a grin.My wife.I still couldn’t quite believe that I could say that.

I had always known I’d wanted to get married and start a family. But actually having a wife? Finding someone that I genuinely loved beyond all measure and knew I would spend the rest of my life with? I still couldn’t grasp that that was my life sometimes.

The door opened, and my mother stood there, clapping her hands. She had on her Christmas best, the pearls around her neck shining under the light, and a wide smile on her face. The pearls had been a gift from Dad for their twenty-fifth anniversary, and she only broke them out for special occasions. “You’re here. You’re here.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked. “I’m not late, am I?” I leaned in, kissed my mother on the cheek, and moved back so Madison could hug her. I was still holding two casserole dishes, as well as presents on one arm, and Madison had two sets of gifts in her arms, but we were good at juggling.

“Come in, and you’re not late. You’re always on time. Bristol and Marcus are here, as are Zia and Meredith, and Julia, Ronin, and Kincaid are here as well.”

I blinked, trying to put names to faces even though Bristol was my sister, and the rest were practically family, even if they weren’t Montgomerys.

“Wait, so there are only two sets of siblings here?”

My mother waved off my words as she took the casserole from my hands. She immediately handed them over to my dad, who rolled his eyes and smiled.

Dad leaned forward. “Arden, Liam, Lake, and Jasper will be here any minute. They had a slow start because they had a couple more presents to open. And the new parents will be here soon. They had an even later start. But things tend to get that way when you have a new bundle of joy demanding all of your time.”

I looked at Madison, who blushed and shook her head.

Okay, soon then.

“But you know you would think with three of them that they’d be able to handle the timing better,” I joked, and my mom narrowed her eyes at me.

“Be nice, or I’m going to have to slap you upside the head. And don’t think I won’t. Because I will, young man.”

My dad just laughed. “You know she will.”

“Yes, but I didn’t think she’d be so blatant about it,” I laughed.

“Of course I will, Aaron. Be kind. You never know when it will be your turn to be the new parents that are never sleeping.”

“You never know,” I agreed causally. I handed Mom one set of presents and then took the rest from Madison to empty her hands. “Okay, I think we got everything that we needed for everyone.”

Mom looked at us, her eyes wide. “I thought we said we were only doing presents for the family. As in, Secret Santa.”

I rolled my eyes. “You know that this is the first year that we have grandkids and nieces and nephews in the family. Of course we’re going to splurge.”

Madison laughed. “And, we got something for everyone, but it’s the same thing, so I hope that’s okay.”

My mom’s eyes filled with tears, and I knew today was going to be a long day of happiness and crying. But I didn’t mind. It was what we wanted.

“Oh, that’s so sweet. So this is all for us?”

“Yes, at least for each household, and we do not expect presents from everyone. We just saw something and knew it would fit perfectly even though it was going against the rules.”

“My little rule-breaker.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not that bad, Mom.”

“You are, but it’s why I love you—at least one of the many reasons.”

We set the presents in front of the tree, and Madison knelt to start putting things in the correct order. I helped her down, making sure she was okay, and she just rolled her eyes at me.

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