Page 72 of The Santa Rules
“Me too,” I say, snuggling into his chest. “Text me in the morning.” I bury my face between his pecs to hide the devious smile lighting up my face when I think about what I have planned for Sprinkle McPinkle Pants.
CHAPTER 23
HARDY
“Daddy! Sprinkle McPinkle Pants made poops everywhere!” Avery yells as she runs in and jumps on my bed.
Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I look over and notice it’s only six a.m. on a fucking Saturday. Why is my pride and joy waking me up at this ungodly hour on a weekend when I usually have to drag her out of bed at eight a.m. on a school day? I collapse back onto my pillow and close my eyes.
“Daddy, wake up. You need to see the poops!”
“I don’t want to see elf poop. It’s too early,” I grumble as I roll over.
“But you have to come look, Daddy! And I heard him make the poops too.”
I pop an eye open and am startled at how close her face is to mine. “What do you mean you heard it?”
“That’s what woke me up! I heard giggles and then the poop splashes and when I went in the potty he was sitting on the seat.”
“Wait, Sprinkle is a boy?”
“Daddy!” Avery scolds as she tugs me by the hand, pulling me out of the bed.
I reach over to the nightstand and grab my phone and notice a text from Bella.
If you’re reading this, it’s probably morning and you forgot to charge your phone and you’re just now seeing this text. Morning! I recorded a special sound effect as an alarm and hid my phone in the bathroom under the sink. There are several minutes of silence after, but you’ll want to make sure to turn the alarm off, so it doesn’t keep repeating. Isaac and I will be over later to pick you up
There’s a dopey grin on my face as I read her text, and I start to reply and then realize that she won’t see it since her phone is under Avery’s sink.
When I get to the bathroom, I’m genuinely surprised by the scene she’s created. It makes all the shit I’ve done with the elf look like amateur hour. Sprinkle is poised cross-legged on the seat of the toilet, his tiny elf ass propped slightly in the air as a Hershey’s kiss sits underneath him. Several other kisses are inside the bowl and there are several other unwrapped kisses on the floor. There’s also glitter everywhere. On the back of the toilet, the seat, in the bowl, and on the floor.
“He could have at least made it into the bowl. Now I have to clean elf poop,” I grumble as I squat by the sink and open the cupboard like I’m looking for cleaner. I grab the phone and turn off the alarm, tucking it back into place.
“I can help!” Avery says as she reaches down to pluck a piece of chocolate off the floor.
Since when does this kid offer to help? Maybe the elf isn’t so bad after all.
She picks up the rest of the poops and throws them in the trash can. “I have to tell you something, Daddy,” she says quietly once she’s done.
“Okay?” I swallow nervously, worried she’s going to tell me that she knows that the elf and Santa aren’t real.
“Sprinkle left a bowl of poop candies in the kitchen too and I ate them all.”
I sigh in relief. “Oh. Well, that’s not the best breakfast, but I’m glad you were honest with me,” I say, kissing her forehead as I stand.
“I wanted you to know. Miss Carlisle said it’s okay to make mistakes, but we should admit them. And if Sprinkle tells Santa, I want him to know I did the right thing.”
Something cracks in my chest at her admission. It’s one of those moments of extreme pride and love that make your heart feel like it’s going to burst out of your chest. They may not happen as often as we’d like, but when they do, they make all the shitty moments of parenting worth it. And this one is all because of Bella.
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When Bella shows up with Isaac a few hours later, I’m overwhelmed with love when I see her. I want to tell her about my moment with Avery. I want to throw her against a wall and worship her body. But more than anything, I want to make sure she knows how grateful I am that she’s in our life. That she helped me save Christmas. And that she brought me back to life. I never thought I would fall in love again after Lydie died, and while she can never be replaced, Bella has been the perfect addition to our world, bringing us exactly what we needed to heal and to love again.
“You couldn’t have set the alarm for anything later than six?” I tease as she leans in to hug me once the kids run into the kitchen. I slip the phone into her hand.
“Oh shoot! I totally forgot to change that.” She smiles sheepishly, and I can’t tell if she’s kidding or not.
“I’m going to punish you later for that,” I say, swatting her ass as I follow her toward the kitchen.
