Page 37 of Holiday Grief

The squealed words snapped him out of a deep sleep, and Adam blinked open heavy eyes to see Claire bouncing from foot to foot in the bedroom doorway.

Beside him, Jasmine also stirred. From the way she stiffened, he assumed she was wondering what his daughter’s reaction would be to seeing them in bed together. Even though they’d been sleeping together for the last few nights, they both knew it was different now that they’d had sex.

Claire, on the other hand, had no idea that things had changed between him and Jasmine last night, nor did she care.

All a little girl cared about on Christmas morning was the presents waiting by the tree.

“You knew he would, pumpkin,” he reminded her.

“I know, Daddy, but there's so many presents,” she said, still bouncing about like she’d already eaten a pound of sugar.

“Morning, green eyes, Merry Christmas.” Leaning over, he touched a kiss to Jasmine’s lips and loved the way she blushed. If she was embarrassed about them kissing in front of his daughter, she better get used to it. They were a couple, and they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. Besides, Claire didn't care, she was as excited about Jasmine joining their family as he was.

“Come on, Daddy. Come on, Jassy. Hurry, hurry, hurry,” Claire said as though she were about to burst.

“We’re coming, pumpkin.”

“Wouldn’t want to make you wait a second longer than you have to,” Jasmine added.

Thankful they’d thought to put pajamas on last night before they laid down to go to sleep, they pushed back the covers and climbed out of bed. Before they even reached the door, Claire had grabbed both their hands and was pulling them toward the stairs.

Together as a family, they took seats on the floor around the Christmas tree. Because Jasmine was still hurting, Adam piled up some pillows for her to sit on, and once he’d started a fire in the fireplace, and turned on the Christmas tree lights, he sat behind her, nestling her between his knees so she could lean against his chest.

“Now, Daddy?” Claire asked, her smile so wide he was surprised her cheeks weren't hurting.

“Now, pumpkin.”

With all the joy of an innocent child on this magical morning, Claire giggled and squealed her excitement as she opened each of the gifts sitting under the tree and the ones from her stocking. There were candies, barrettes for her hair, makeup to play with, a couple of new dresses and a new pair of sneakers, some doll she’d been raving about for months, a pair of roller skates, and a bunch of books since Claire loved to read.

By the time her stocking was empty, the only gifts left under the tree were the ones they’d be taking to his parents’ place for lunch and Jasmine’s for dinner, and the gifts he and Jasmine had to exchange with one another.

“Daddy, can we give Jassy her present now?” Claire asked, still bouncing about as excited to give gifts as she was to receive them.

“You bet. Why don’t you get it.” Some things were just from him, but Claire had been excited about this gift for Jasmine since her birthday. Adam was kind of surprised his daughter had actually managed to keep it a secret for the last three months.

“I can't wait to see what you guys got me,” Jasmine said. Her smile was wide and genuine, and there was a peace in her eyes that hadn't been there the entire time he’d known her. She might still have a long road ahead of her to recover from everything she’d been through, but knowing she was no longer traversing that road alone seemed to have made all the difference.

“Here, Jassy!” Claire was practically bursting with delight as she handed over the box.

“Ooh, penguins, I love penguins,” Jasmine exclaimed as she took the box a little awkwardly with one of her arms still in a cast.

“I know. I chose-ed it just for you. You should get penguins at your farm.” Claire clapped her hands in obvious joy at the idea.

“Maybe, that would be fun,” Jasmine agreed as she balanced the box on her lap and pulled on one end of the bow to undo it.

As he watched her lift the lid off, Adam found he was as excited as Claire. While he still had the canvas portrait for her, this gift was from both him and his daughter, and it had been inspired by the gift Jasmine gave Claire for her birthday. They’d planned this out together, a daddy and daughter team, and when it had been made and arrived, they had spent hours looking at it. Even though it had been tucked away in the back of his closet, Claire had asked several times to get it out and look at it.

“Oh,” Jasmine gasped as she looked inside the box. Tears filled her eyes as she looked up at him and Claire, but her smile was so bright it was like sunlight. “You guys, this is … I don’t even … it’s beautiful, it’s amazing, it’s the best gift I've ever been given.”

“It’s you, see.” Claire scrambled up and onto Jasmine’s lap, pointing out the blonde figure in the open music box. “And that’s me, and that’s daddy. Oh, and Fauna too.”

At the sound of her name, the dog lifted her head from where she was lounging by the fire and gave a wag of her tail.

“We’re at your farm. Look there’s Santa’s house, the reindeer, and the elves’ workshop, and we’re building a snowman,” Claire babbled.

“All of us together,” Jasmine said softly.

“Yeah, cos we’s a family,” Claire said like it was obvious.

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