A Crown Of Fire And Wrath (The Shadow Walkers Saga #5) - Sloane Murphy Page 0,73
back to the kitchen, I find both of them with Nonnie, a mug of hot chocolate each, while Astrid talks a million miles a minute explaining what Santa brought her already. Oh the joy of kids at Christmas.
My heart pangs, a brief memory of Christmas with a child of my own hits me and disappears almost as quick. I shake it off and bring myself back to the here and now, to celebrate with the family I have now.
“I see you found the tree,” I say as I reach them.
“We did! Santa must have come here for us too, because I saw my name!” Astrid exclaims excitedly.
“You did, huh? Wow, you must be really grown up to know your name!” I say, crouching down to her level.
“I turned five.”
“Five? Wow, that’s really grown up. I guess if you’re really grown up, that means you can wait until after dinner for your presents,” I tease.
“No, silly!” she says, pushing me with her tiny hands. “Presents are for before dinner!”
My heart clenches at the giant smile on her tiny little face. She’s so freaking adorable it almost hurts.
“Okay, well if you say so. You better check with your mom that it’s okay.”
“Mom! Please! Is it okay for presents before dinner? Even though I’m a grown up? Please.”
“Well, since you said please, I don’t see why not,” Olivia says, laughing softly, before looking up at me. “Are the others joining us?”
“They thought we might want to do presents alone, but they’ll be by for dinner.”
“Oh, no, don’t hide them away on our account. Astrid has been looking forward to seeing the big wolf and the angel.” She winks at me and I can’t help but laugh.
“If you’re sure.”
“Yes please! I want to play with the wolf!” Astrid squeals as she spins on the spot, so I pull my phone from my pocket and text them all, because I genuinely have no idea where they’ve all disappeared to.
“Okay, well I’m sure they’ll be here soon. How about you finish telling Nonnie and I what Santa already brought you?” I say as I sit at the table, and Nonnie hands me my own hot chocolate before sitting down with us to listen to the sweet girl’s tales.
It doesn’t take long for the guys to find us, and to finish our hot chocolate. While they keep Astrid and Olivia busy, as Astrid regales them with her stories too, I grab a box from the tree and head over to Nonnie who is back cooking away.
“Nonnie,” I whisper. She looks up from her pan and smiles at me, until she sees the box in my outstretched hand. “Merry Christmas!”
“Oh, Remy. I told you no gifts!”
“I know you did, so I didn’t give it to you yesterday, but there was no way I wasn’t getting you something.” I smile at her, and she almost looks like she’s going to cry.
“Silly girl. I will open it later,” she says, dabbing at her eyes.
“Okay, Nonnie. I just want to say thank you, for everything.” I give her a quick hug before she waves me off and I head back to the others, where Astrid somehow has my guys in Santa hats and they’re handing out presents. I sit back down in my chair and watch as they melt around that little girl, and almost get wistful. It’s not like we can have children, at least, most of us, and it doesn’t seem fair to just have a child with one of them. Plus, other than the exception as a human, I never really saw myself as a mother. But watching them with her warms a part of my heart I didn’t think would ever see light again.
“Remy! Here’s one for you from me.” Astrid skips over to me and hands me a gift bag.
“Wow, thank you, honey!” I smile down at her while she stands there, beaming up at me. I open the box, and my smile grows. “I freaking love it! Thank you so much!”
I pull the black cat plush toy from the bag and hug it tight.
“Since Sushi lives with us now, I wanted to make sure you didn’t get lonely. Mom said we couldn’t get you a different cat, but this one would be okay. I call him Sushi Two.”
“I love him, he’s perfect. Just like you.” I pull her in for a hug and she wraps her little arms around my neck and squeezes.
“More presents anyone?” Creek asks, and Astrid squirms in my arms.