“Good to know,” I say.
“There’s a present for you under the tree, Josh!” one of the little girls calls out. I have no idea who they all are, but I am pretty sure this one is Paul’s.
“For me?” I lay a hand on my chest.
She gets the present and brings it to me. I look up at Friday. “You got me a present?”
“It’s not much,” she says softly. “Just a little something.”
Then more kids run over and they’re all carrying presents. They all have my name on them, and they’re from Matt and family, Pete and family, Logan and family, Paul and family, and Sam and family.
I probably look like an idiot as I glance around the room, going from one Reed face to another. Paul has his arm around Friday. Matt has Sky in his lap. Logan and Emily are holding hands. Pete cups the back of Reagan’s neck. And Sam is snuggled on the couch with Peck.
“You guys really shouldn’t have done this,” I murmur.
But Paul hears me. “It’s just a few presents, dude. You don’t have to get all weepy. Should I get you some hair product and tampons? There are some extras in the bathroom.”
I laugh and duck my head. “Thank you,” I say. Then when the kids aren’t looking I mouth “fuck you very much” at Paul. He laughs.
I unwrap the gift from Paul and Friday. It’s a pair of pajamas, but I swear, they’re the best pajamas ever. I wad the wrapping paper into a ball and throw it at Logan’s head when he teases me about being too slow. When I’m done opening gifts, I have a small stack of wonderful items I will cherish for the rest of my life.
I haven’t had anyone care about me in a really long time. But this feels good. So good.
“So, you in for Monopoly?” Logan asks as he starts to set up the board.
“Why not?” I say. I got nowhere else to be.
Peck
My phone chimes in my pocket and I look down at it. I whisper to Sam, “D-do you care if my family comes over?”
“Of course not. The more the merrier.”
I text them back and settle against Sam on the couch. We only have a few weeks left until the baby will be here, and I’m getting a little anxious. “Are you tired?” Sam asks. “We can go home and have your family over there, if you’d prefer to.”
I shake my head. He’s about to play Monopoly with his brothers, which is apparently a Christmas tradition. I don’t want him to miss it.
“Do you miss football, Sam?” I ask.
He shakes his head and lays his ear on my belly. “I’d miss you more,” he says.
Sam retired from professional football, but I’m always worried that he’ll regret it. That he’ll be sad that he gave it up. His restaurant opens next week, and he has been busy setting things up there and hiring staff.
“Sam, get your ass over here!” Logan calls.
Sam flips him the bird and goes back to listening to my belly. “I can’t wait until he gets here,” he whispers against my skin, and it sends a chill up my spine.
I groan and adjust myself. “He’s not sitting on your bladder.”
Sam kisses me quickly and gets up. “I’m going to go kick some Reed ass at Monopoly.”
“Hey Sam,” I call to his retreating back.
He turns around.
“Will you get me a cupcake?” I ask.
He grins at me and shakes his head. He pads on socked feet to the kitchen and comes back with two different flavors. “Which one do you want?”
“Both.”
He laughs and puts them both in my hands.
Suddenly, Logan claps his hands together. “So, we sort of have an announcement to make,” he says. We all sit up, look up, or get up.
“Everything okay?” Paul asks, his brow furrowing.
Emily steps up next to Logan and he cups the back of her neck, pulling her against him. “So, I kind of knocked Emily up again.” He winces as he waits for their reactions.
“You’re pregnant?” Paul asks. He grabs Emily and squeezes her, swinging her around. She squeals and giggles.
Sam high-fives Pete. “Told you, dude,” he says. “Matt owes us ten bucks.”
“Fuck you,” Matt grunts out. “I don’t owe you shit. You totally cheated.”
“Wait,” Logan says. “You knew?”
Sam jerks a thumb toward Emily. “Her boobs were getting bigger.”
Pete nods. “And she’s been kind of moody.”
Matt tosses out, “And she can’t smell tuna anymore without puking.”
Paul shrugs. “And she’s been a little tired.”
Emily lifts both her middle fingers and jabs them at the boys’ faces, one by one.
“Oh, don’t be mad, Em,” Sam says. “We can’t help it if we notice your boobs.”
“I never noticed her boobs,” Matt grumbles.
“And that is why you’re a loser!” Pete sings out.
Finally, hugs make the rounds and the boys settle down for a game of Monopoly. My sisters get here, but they come and join the girls in the living room where we’re watching a sappy Christmas movie. Something about some shoes.
Star leans over toward me. “Who’s the new guy?” she asks.
“That’s Josh.”
Her brow arches. “Josh-with-the-gun Josh?” she asks. “Like, boom, between the eyes Josh?” She fakes a shot with her loaded finger. I grab her hands and pull them down.
“Would you stop it?” I hiss.
She lets her head wobble from side to side like she’s thinking. “He’s kind of cute in a don’t-touch-me-or-I’ll-bite-your-head-off sort of way.”
I turn her toward the TV. “Shhh!” I hiss again.
She settles back and puts her feet up on the coffee table.
It’s Christmas. She needs to behave herself.
Friday
My life turned into so much more than I ever expected it to be. I was alone for a really long time, and now I’m never alone. I look around at the women spread out on my couch. The babies are playing at our feet and the older kids are playing in Hayley’s room. We’re watching a movie about Christmas shoes. I keep hearing Peck hiss at her sisters for one reason or another. I get the feeling that Star is talking about Josh.
“He’s really nice,” I tell her. “You can talk to him. He won’t bite.”
“Oh, well, then I definitely don’t want to talk to him,” she says with a wink.
I laugh. PJ toddles over to me and holds up his hands. I pick him up and he puts his head on my shoulder.
“Someone is tired,” Peck says, her smile soft and wistful.
“Do you want me to put him to bed?” Paul calls from the table. He just bought Atlantic Avenue, though, and I don’t want to break his stride.
“I got it,” I tell him as I get up.
I go into the nursery and change PJ’s diaper and get him dressed in some warm socks. I rock him back and forth in the chair and we read a book. He pats the pages and finally settles, his eyes closing as I rock. Before he falls asleep, Jacob sneaks into the room and sits down at my feet.
“Is PJ going to sleep?” he whispers.
“Yes,” I tell him as I get up.
“You didn’t rock me when I was a baby,” he says.
My heart lurches. “No, you didn’t live with me when you were a baby. You lived with your adoptive mother and father.”
“Because they could keep me safe and fed.”
“And warm,” I add.
“And loved.”
“No one could love you more than me,” I tell him. Ever. A lack of love for him wasn’t a factor in my decision to put him up for adoption. It was just the opposite.
“My mom says you loved me first.”
I smile. “She’s right.”
He grins. “But she says she loves me more.”
“When she comes to pick you up, I’ll kick her in the kneecaps and tell her that’s not true.”
He heaves a sigh. “Okay, so she didn’t say that.”
I shoot him a glare. “I didn’t think
so.”
“Can I kiss PJ?” he asks.
I hold PJ down a little so Jacob can kiss his head. He scurries out of the room as quickly as he arrived.
Paul walks up behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders. He squeezes gently. “You okay?” he asks.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yep.”
I lean back against him, letting him take my weight.
He whispers in my ear, “I want to watch when you kick her in the kneecaps.” He chuckles as I swing and try to hit him.
“Why aren’t you playing Monopoly? Someone is going to steal all your houses.”
“Kelly just called. She’s coming to get Hayley in the morning, instead of tonight.”
Kelly is leaving Hayley with us more and more. It’s really odd and I can’t get a handle on it in my head. “Is she seeing someone?”
He shrugs. “If she is, she hasn’t told me.”
“I like having Hayley here all the time.”
He kisses my cheek. “I know you do.”
Hayley still climbs in bed with us every morning, telling us that the sun is shining. On the days when she’s with her mother, I actually miss having her little foot strike my forehead or jab into my side.
“I just heard Jacob tell Hayley that he can’t marry her because they’re brother and sister,” Paul tells me.
I snort out a laugh. “Thank God for small favors.” They’re not brother and sister at all, but I’m fine with them thinking they are. In fact, it warms my heart.
He spins me around in his arms so he can look into my face. “I thank God for small favors, and for large favors, and most of all, I thank Him for you.”
“You’re just glad you finally found out I don’t like women the same way you do.”
“I only like one woman.” He pinches my butt and I jerk, falling against him.
“That was sneaky.”
“Can you believe Emily is pregnant again?”
I smile. I have known for a while.
“Wait,” he says, extending his arms so he can look into my face. “You knew and you didn’t tell me?”
“What?” I cry. “I couldn’t mess up the betting pool!”
“I’ll make you pay for that.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun.”
“You want me to send everyone home?”
I shake my head. This is my family. “I want them to stay as long as they want. They make me happy.”
“You make me happy.”
“You better get back to Monopoly.”
He pats me on the ass and grins, and then he leaves the room.
I stare down at PJ and think about the path my life has taken. I can’t regret a single day of it, because it got me here.
I think of all the Christmases that came before this one, and hope for all the Christmases to come. My great big Reed family makes the absolute best Christmases, and I’m so glad to be a part of it.
I go back out into the living room and smile as I see the men talking smack with one another about houses and hotels. I hear Paul’s voice over all the others.
“Tomorrow,” he says, “I want all you guys at the tattoo shop by nine.”
“Nine?” Pete whines.
“What are we doing?” Matt asks, as he sells four of his hotels back to the bank.
“The new artists need to do some sample tats.”
“So, they’re going to use you guys as training skin?” Josh asks. “You’re braver than me, man.” He shakes his head.
“Oh, they’ll be using your skin, too,” Paul says. He gets up and pulls a design out a folder. I already know what it says, but Josh doesn’t. Paul had Logan draw it up especially for him. “This one is yours.”
Josh looks down at it and stares at it for a moment. “Do all of them say the same thing?”
Paul nods. “They say the same thing, but each design is different.”
“If worse comes to worst, we’ll cover it up later. But I think the new guys will do okay,” Matt says.
Josh stares down at it for a little longer. Then he smiles and shrugs. His eyes are shiny and bright, and I almost get the sense that he needed the Reeds as much as they needed him that one fateful day.
The tattoo reads, “Where I go, they go.”
More from Tammy Falkner
Tall, Tatted, and Tempting
Smart, Sexy and Secretive
Calmly, Carefully, Completely
Just Jelly Beans and Jealousy
Finally Finding Faith
Reagan’s Revenge and Ending Emily’s Engagement
Maybe Matt’s Miracle
Proving Paul’s Promise
Only One
Beautiful Bride
Zip, Zero, Zilch
Christmas with the Reeds
Good Girl Gone (Feb 2015)
Tammy Falkner, Christmas With the Reeds
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