Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
He’s peels off my socks and set his thumbs to the arch of my right foot. “I would like you to wait to begin decorating them until I get home.”
It’s not actually a command. At some point during the day we shifted from him “punishing” me and out of the scene completely. I had visions of him walking into find our home transformed as if by magic, but now that I have a little food in me and my feet are being rubbed, I can admit that doing things this way was better. Hades managed to include the entire household, even if he hasn’t quite admitted that we have a household.
All throughout the day, the halls of this house were filled with laughter and jokes—and occasionally curses. It felt good and right. More, it’s a testament of just how far we’ve come.
“I won’t. I promise.”
We spend the next week in a state of bliss. Hades wraps up the work that he needed to get done before the end of the year. Each evening, we spend a little more time transforming our house into a winter wonderland. I introduce him to some of my favorite holiday traditions, and he takes to them with a quiet joy that warms my heart.
By the time the holiday rolls around, I’ve never been happier. No one is arriving for a few hours yet, so we spend a lazy morning lounging around and watching the snow fall. At least until Hades disappears for a few minutes and comes back with a small present in his hands.
I immediately straighten, horrified. “You said no presents. I took you at your word, and you said no presents.”
“This isn’t for you, a little siren.” He sinks down on the couch next to me. “I noticed that when our trees arrived, there was something extra with them.”
“My mother sent along my childhood ornaments. I told you that.” I’m still staring at the box as if he’s holding a snake. We are very careful to be honest with each other at all times, and this feels like I just walked into a trap. It’s probably not as big a deal as I’m feeling like it is, but there’s nothing quite as awful as your loved one getting you a gift and you haven’t gotten them anything in return.
“Yes.” He lifts one hand and catches my chin in a gentle grip. “I like that tradition. Both for the experience of you picking an ornament every year, and the knowledge that when you start your own household, she was able to send all that history to you for your first holiday away.”
Slowly, my brain starts to catch up with my emotions and I’m able to read between the lines of what he saying. I look at the box again. “That’s not for me.”
“I thought it would be nice to start that tradition with our children. I know this technically isn’t there first holiday, being as how they’re not in the world with us yet, but it still feels right.”
“Oh, Hades.” It does feel right. So many things have ended this year, but so many things have begun as well. He releases me and I reach out to lift the lid off the box. Inside, nestled in plenty of crinkle paper to keep them safe, are two ornaments. They are nearly identical perfect black starbursts, one lined with silver and one lined with gold. “They’re beautiful.”
“Shall we put them on the tree now?”
“Absolutely.” As I rise and follow Hades to the tree, I feel a little silly for jumping the gun and making assumptions about the gift. Of course he wouldn’t walk back on the promises we made to each other. He never has before. He certainly wouldn’t start now. We hang the delicate ornaments and step back to survey our work. The twins choose that moment to start doing cartwheels in my stomach. I wince and press my hand there. “I think they like the present.”
Hades sinks to his knees next to me, and frames my stomach with his hands. “Calm down, little ones. We’re excited to meet you too, but you’re hurting your mother.”
I manage a chuckle. “You keep trying to talk sense into them, but I don’t think they’re listening. There’s just simply not enough room.” We have a little less than three months left. It seems like no time at all and yet an eternity. But then, my chances of making it to full-term with twins are significantly worse that I’d like. I push the thought away. There’s no room for worries today.
I cover Hades’s hands with mine. He raises his gaze to me and smiles, all of the stress and worry from last year seeming to fall away. “I’m still having a hard time believing this is real. I keep expecting to wake up one morning and find that it’s all been a dream. I don’t deserve you, and I don’t deserve this happiness.”