25. Claire
25
CLAIRE
C hristmas morning dawned gray and snowy. It was perfect, though, because staying in was all we wanted to do.
It would be our first family holiday together. The first of many.
As I lay in Derek’s bed, I smiled and stared up at the ceiling as I envisioned Naomi’s reaction that I’d be here for good.
“Daddy! Naomi?” Her voice came from down the hall.
“It’s Christmas morning!”
I got up, swinging my legs over the bed. When I reached over to wake up Derek, I found him rolling off the mattress.
“Couldn’t sleep in?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “I can’t wait to tell her.”
We’d agreed to share this news that we were dating after she opened presents. It seemed like a done deal, that she’d be happy and accept my entering their family, but I wouldn’t relax until I had her official blessing.
I never wanted to replace her mother. But I really, really wanted her to welcome me in as her daddy’s girlfriend.
“Come on. Come on!” She knocked on the door.
Derek opened it, and she hugged him. “It’s Christmas!” Then she ran to me and jumped up into my arms.
I smiled, catching her and spinning her. “Merry Christmas, Naomi!”
“Merry Christmas, Claire!” She wiggled to be let down just to take my hand and lead me out of the room and toward the tree.
She gasped at the gifts, seeming to need a moment to just admire the wrapped presents waiting to be opened.
“Here. I want you to go first!” She tugged my hand as she pulled me toward the tree. “Here, here!”
I laughed as I sat with her. Derek lowered next to me.
“I wonder what it is,” I said, glancing at him.
“Me too.” He leaned in to kiss me. Just that quick press warmed my soul, but as I realized we were sitting where we’d just made love a couple of nights ago, I felt my cheeks heat up with a blush.
He watched me rip the paper, and Naomi giggled as she sat in his lap, hanging on to him.
It was a pair of reading glasses, a pair from the pharmacy that we’d never gotten to on that holiday market day. With them was a jar of the apple jelly. Then there was a certificate.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“We made them in school. Read it!”
I made a big show of putting my new reading glasses on. Then I paused, blinking in shock. “Oh. Wow .”
Derek laughed. “Does it help?”
“Oh, my God!” I laughed as I looked at the paper. “It’s all so much clearer!”
“Let me see,” Naomi cheered.
I looked at them and grinned.
“See. You look smart,” she vowed.
“You look the same as ever,” Derek said, gripping my chin to pull me in for a kiss.
“Hey!” She protested with a giggle. “That’s my gift.”
I lowered to read her certificate—a document crafted as a coupon of love.
“Aww.” I wrangled her off Derek’s lap so I could hug her and let her sit in mine. “Love you, too, Naomi.”
She squeezed her little arms tighter around me. “This is the best Christmas to date.”
“Mine too,” I said, smiling at Derek over her head.
He winked.
Even though I knew he was nervous and excited to tell her that we’d be together, he didn’t show a sign of it at all. We made our way through the gifts—all of them. Including a few things I got for her. Several for him. And they showed how well they were getting to know me, too, getting me a few thoughtful things I’d treasure forever.
Wrapping paper lay all over the floor. Boxes and bags were tipped over and waiting to be recycled. It didn’t matter how many times I glanced over as Derek and I cleaned up, shoving the debris in bags. Every chance I stole to look at her, she was hugging that white German Shepherd stuffed animal that I got her.
“She’ll never let it go,” I predicted.
He only smiled, like he knew something I didn’t.
“Should we tell her now?” I whispered.
Derek nodded and opened his mouth. Right when someone knocked on the door and entered.
“Merry Christmas,” Nicky boomed in a jovial, Santa-like voice.
“Dammit,” Derek muttered. “I didn’t realize how late it was already.”
Stacy entered after Nicky, bringing more gifts. “Merry Christmas!” She cheered.
“I wanted to tell her,” Derek said.
I took his hand, smiling. “Why not tell them all?” I asked.
He raised his brows. “Really?”
I shrugged. “Why not?”
I almost felt nervous about how Stacy would react, given her slightly cool treatment so far, but I knew it would all turn out fine. It had to.
We commenced a retake on opening gifts, and again, despite how briefly I’d been in their lives, Nicky and Stacy got me little gifts. I was pleased that they seemed to enjoy mine, too.
Finally, when most of the wrapping paper was collected and the brunch items had baked in the oven, we got dressed and joined Stacy and Nicky at the dining room table to eat. Coffee was brewed. Conversations flowed, and not once did anyone comment on an ornament seeming out of place on the tree.
“So, um.” Stacy rubbed her jaw, seeming uneasy. “Does she know ?” she said quietly, nodding her head to Naomi who was still enamored with the dog stuffie I gave her.
I opened my eyes wide in shock. Whipping my head around until I saw Derek, I let him see the surprise on my face. “She knows?”
He shook his head.
“Wait, she knows?” Stacy asked, just as confused.
Derek sighed and shook his head.
“Are you confused, too, Uncle Nicky?”
He laughed, glancing at Derek. “Um, halfway confused.”
“What are you not telling us?” Naomi asked.
“Um. Well, I, uh…” I laughed once, wondering what I was missing. “I wanted to tell you that my job is changing. I’m not going back to my office in Denver in the new year.”
She gasped. “Are you staying here?”
“Would it be okay with you if Claire stays here?” Derek asked her.
“Well, duh!”
“As your daddy’s girlfriend?” I added.
“Yay!” She ran over to hug me.
“Wow.” Stacy smiled. “That’s, um, serious.”
I nodded.
“Sure is,” Derek told her.
“You’ll really stay?” Naomi asked.
“As long as I can,” I promised.
“You can change your jobs like that?” Stacy asked.
“It seems that my dad and sister were waiting for me to admit I wanted a change in that department.” My cheeks would be aching for days with how much I was smiling.
Nicky congratulated me too, but then he held up his hand. “What about the other big news?” He looked from Stacy to Derek.
“Yeah.” I stood with Naomi. “What are you all up to?”
“How about we go for a little walk?” Derek suggested.
Now that I was moving in, I had lots of my own winterwear to rely on. Once I tugged my boots on and joined the others, I realized I would finally be getting a chance to see more of this Scott family’s land.
It didn’t matter anymore. I wouldn’t look at it as a realtor, as a busy careerwoman eager to parcel it up and sell it to the highest-paying developer.
Those kinds of things wouldn’t faze me anymore. From here on out, I could shift my perspectives to considering where a family would feel most at home.
Like them. Here.
I watched as Derek and Stacy led the way. Nicky engaged in an ongoing and mobile snowball fight with Naomi. And I followed in the back, reveling in the fact that I could feel like I was a part of it all.
Our boots crunched through the snow as we walked out into the vast landscape.
I wasn’t sure what Derek—and maybe Stacy and Nicky—were keeping a secret, but it seemed like they were heading to what looked like an old barn that wasn’t used any longer.
“I want to put up a woodshop over there,” Derek said when he came to my side and draped his arm around my shoulders. He pointed near the huge house we’d just walked out of.
“Ooh. Nice.”
“Then I wanted a pool over there!” Naomi said, stretching her hands out wide to indicate a big space.
“That’s a big pool!” Stacy joked. “Maybe start with a hot tub.”
“Oh, that’d feel so good right with all this cold snow,” I said in agreement.
“And a chicken coop over there,” Nicky said, joining the daydreaming.
“Chicken coop?” Derek and Naomi said in unison.
“Who’s going to clean that up?” Derek teased.
“What’s going on in the barn?” I asked when it was obvious that was where we were headed.
“Not sure yet,” Derek asked.
Stacy grinned. “Our grandpa used to store things in it, but lots of that was sold off years ago.”
What are you two hiding?
At last, Derek opened the big doors. The first sound of a puppy bark reached my ears.
“One more Christmas gift,” he said, winking at me.
I gasped as Naomi ran forward to the cage with all four beagle puppies.
“You got them all?” I asked, laughing as I dropped to my knees to hold one.
“Well, I couldn’t take just three,” he said.
Hugging one close, I stood to kiss him.
“You sure about moving in still?” Stacy teased.
“Oh, my God. Yes!” I said.
We’d have our hands full, but I couldn’t wait. For a half hour, we stayed out in the barn and we all cuddled the puppies. Stacy and Nicky were instrumental in getting the puppies from the shelter. This morning, when they brought them over and hid them in the barn for us to find, Stacy was asking if Naomi had been told about the surprise yet. It was my fault to misinterpret that as her asking if she knew that Derek and I were dating.
“We can all have veto power in deciding the names,” Naomi said as we walked the puppies back to the house.
“Just so they are easy to use in disciplining them. No.” Derek darted to stop two of them from climbing under the Christmas tree and drinking the water.
“Hey, wait.” I darted after another, laughing as it pulled the used wrapping paper out of a bag.
“Well, it’s official now,” Naomi declared, letting the fourth and tamest puppy snuggle on her lap. She petted its head as she hugged the stuffed animal I gave her in her arms.
“What?” Nicky asked as he brought one of the puppies with him to sit next to her. “You’re going to have to build a huge dog house out there too?”
She gasped. “They’ll sleep in my bed with me.”
“All of them?” I asked as I sat on the floor and cuddled the one that was almost all black.
“You’d never sleep,” Derek said with the last puppy cradled in his arms.
“I have a feeling none of you are going to be sleeping anytime soon with these puppies here,” Stacy teased.
“No.” Naomi shook her head, looking at Derek. “You’re going to have to marry Claire now.”
He grinned back at me and winked. “Well… we’ll get to that step once the snow melts so we can have a wedding out here.”
Talk about going fast…
My heart nearly burst with joy.
“I’m in.”
Stacy squealed. “Did you just propose?”
Derek chuckled. “I guess so.”
She squealed again. “And you said yes?”
“That’s what it looks like,” Naomi teased with the biggest smile I’d ever seen on her adorable little face.