Page 91 of Somewhere We Belong

“It’s eight thirty, I've waited long enough,” Sol whined, and I almost laughed out loud.

“Well, you can only open Santa’s gifts and we have to wait for everyone else,” Nova said, getting off the bed.

“I’m going to wake up Colt and Atlas,” Sol said, jumping off the bed.

“Sol, let them sleep,” Nova scolded as she left the room.

“Coast is clear,” Theo said, speaking on my side.

“Damn, Theo, you almost got us caught,” I chuckled.

He wasn’t chuckling. “I’m wondering how much longer we are going to do this for?”

“What do you mean?” I took his hand as he helped me up.

“I don’t like lying to her.” He shrugged. “It feels wrong.”

“I never thought of it as lying to her,” I said, feeling a little guilty. “I see it as protecting her.”

Theo nodded, but he still looked uncomfortable. “I want to do right by that little girl.”

“I know, Babe,” I said, hugging him. “Maybe after Christmas we can talk about it and see how Nova feels about it.”

“Yeah, I'd like that,” he said, as we walked out to the living room.

Sol was bouncing up and down, talking to Nova about something. They looked over to me, smiling.

“Merry Christmas, Atty!” Sol ran to me, and I picked her up.

“Merry Christmas, Sunny,” I said, kissing her cheek.

I set her down to run back to Nova who blushed when we locked eyes.

“Alright, you can open Santa’s gift and that's it, we are going to wait for everyone else to wake up, ok?” Nova looked at Sol sternly.

“Hey, opening up Santa’s gift without me?” Colt walked in disheveled looking so damn gorgeous.

“Colty!!” Sol yelled, running to him and he caught her. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Sundae,” he said, giving her a big hug and carrying her back to the tree where we all sat on the floor.

He sat down with her, and she rushed to get her two presents from Santa. We tried to contribute to her Santa presents, but Nova said no. That just meant we put that money towards her gifts from us, with which we might have gone a little overboard. I never knew buying for a kid was so much fun.

Sol ripped the paper off her gifts like a feral little kitten, and I smiled when I saw what it was.

“Oh my god,” she squealed as Nova shushed her.

It was a Gabby doll house she had been talking about incessantly and the second gift was the little figurines. The guys and I had it built for her in less than thirty minutes when the rest of the Malones started to appear.

Iris and Jude, along with Webber, had stayed the night and I was grateful we had the game room that Jude and Webber stayed in. The living room was a mess as we all opened our presents with Sol getting the most, because everyone brought her something. Nova looked extremely happy as Sol opened one of her last gifts, which was a lavender cowboy hat and a leather vest.

“Guys.” Nova looked over at us and I pretended to be preoccupied with picking up wrapping paper. “That better not be what I think it is.”

“I’m gonna be a barrel racer momma!” Sol showed off her vest and hat looking adorable with it over her Christmas pjs.

“Oh, you are going to be the coolest barrel racer this side of Colorado has ever seen,” Webber said, giving her a high five.

“Damn straight,” she replied immediately, and I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped.

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