Delivering His Gifts (Mountain Men of Liberty #10)- K.C. Crowne Page 0,88
hats on the twins, but they were having none of it - fussing until we took them off. But she wore an adorable little elf hat and the pointed shoes and everything.
Elli was in a little red outfit to match hers, while MJ was in green. Skyler kept saying, “Aren’t they the cutest little elves you ever saw?” I’d say, “All three of you are.” Because it was true. I had the three cutest kids, and my heart was so full.
The Harvey brothers and their families stopped by to drop off gifts for us and to meet the babies. At one point, there were eight babies all under the age of one under the roof, Sam and Penelope’s quadruplets and Graham and Emmy’s little one too.
I’d always wanted a big family and having such a full home was nice. They eventually went their way, however, and it was nice to be surrounded by my own little family.
Grizzly sat on the floor at my feet, while Zeus continued following Skyler around wherever she went. Griz was curious about the babies, while Zeus wanted nothing to do with them. Even when Skyler walked up to one of them, he stayed back. He didn’t bark, however, because he was finally trained not to. I knew to keep an eye on them around the little ones, however, and because of this, they were not allowed in the nursery or the master bedroom, just to be safe. Same with the cats, who seemed mostly indifferent toward them. Only the youngest one, Cinder, seemed slightly curious, but as soon as one of the babies cried, Cinder was gone. She would take off and hide, afraid of the loud noises they made.
Mason had helped Skyler bake some cookies for Santa, which were sitting out near the fireplace. Our stockings were hung, one for each of us. Even the pets had stockings, so they were hung all over the room, wherever Skyler had felt them appropriate. Some were up high, others down low. She was a little interior designer with strong opinions, and we let her decorate the way she liked - even if it was a bit Avant Garde.
The tree was sparkling and mostly traditional with blue lights that flickered on and off to Christmas music. Presents were piled under the tree. I hadn’t had much time to shop, what with dealing with the twins and everything, but Mason and his brothers had really stepped up. The space beneath our tree was filled with presents.
“Can I open a present tonight, pretty please?” Skyler begged as we settled in for the evening.
I glanced at Mason since he bought most of the gifts. “Okay, just one,” he said. “And I know which one it’ll be too.”
He went over to the tree and sat on the floor. Skyler sat down beside him, wiggling in place from the excitement. “Which one?”
“Here you go,” he said.
Skyler ripped through the paper, her eyes wild and hungry. She pulled open the box and squealed. “I love it! I love it! Look at this, Mommy!” She pulled out a pair of Frozen pajamas with Elsa on the front. “Can I sleep in them tonight? Pretty please?”
“Of course honey,” I said. “They’re yours. You can wear them whenever you’d like.”
“Yay! But now I feel bad because Elianna doesn’t have Elsa pajamas.”
Mason pulled two packages from under the tree. “Oh, they have pajamas of their own. They get presents for Christmas Eve too, just like your mom.”
“I’m getting something too?”
“Of course. It was always a tradition in our family,” Mason said, standing up with the three packages. “Everyone gets new pajamas for Christmas Eve that they’d wear that night.”
“I didn’t know that. I didn’t get you any pajamas,” I said.
Mason winked. “I know you didn’t know about it. I wanted to surprise you. I bought my own.” He plopped down on the couch next to me with a grin.
“I never really had any family traditions growing up,” I said softly.
“Well you have one now,” Mason said. “And we’ll have many, many years together to create our own.”
My heart really couldn’t get much fuller than that.
Epilogue
Danielle
ONE YEAR LATER
Who knew that Christmas would be my favorite time of year? Growing up, I had always dreaded the holiday. My parents would get drunk and the kids at school would flash their expensive new toys in my face. I was lucky to get one present, and it was usually something I needed like school supplies or clothes from the Goodwill.