Thirty-Two | Sam
Thirty-Two
Sam
I sat at the dinner table, grinning like a fool as Kennedy told us about the arts and crafts projects she did with my parents for Christmas. It felt surreal that not only were Avery and Kennedy staying in Sugarplum Falls but that Avery had agreed to marry me.
I felt bad for not having an actual ring, but she didn’t seem to care. Her smile had been just as big as mine, and she refused to let go of my hand when she didn’t have to. It was like she needed to touch me any way she could, and the feeling was mutual.
After dinner, we all sat down in the living room to open one present before bed. This was a tradition that my family had always done when I was growing up, and I made sure to ask Avery about it before suggesting it to Kennedy.
Not only was I about to have a wife, but I was also getting the most incredible daughter. I couldn’t wait to start the process of officially adopting Kennedy, even though Avery and I agreed that it didn’t matter how long it took because she was already mine. Plus, we had all the time in the world now that they weren’t leaving.
“Which one should we have Sam open?” Avery asked Kennedy as they sat on the floor in front of the Christmas tree.
“This one!” Kennedy said, pointing to a small box sitting on top of a stack of larger ones that were for Kennedy.
“Are you sure?” Avery tilted her head and smiled.
“Yes!” Kennedy gently grabbed it from her mom and handed it to me.
“Here you go!”
“Thank you, Kennedy.” I held the present to my chest while she giggled.
“Do you think you can help me pick one for your mom?” I asked, leaning around Avery to grab a few from the stack I had wrapped and put under the tree this morning.
“Sure!”
Kennedy looked through the different-sized boxes and then handed her mom a medium-sized one.
“Alright. Now that we all have one present, let’s open them.”
Kennedy immediately ripped the wrapping paper off of hers, squealing when she found a baby doll she had seen on TV.
“It’s the baby!” she shrieked, grinning ear to ear as she cuddled it to her chest while checking out all of the accessories that went with it. Thankfully, Avery had already unpacked everything and put the batteries in. She leaned over and gently flipped the switch to turn it on so Kennedy could hear it cry.
“I love it so much! Thank you, Momma!”
“You’re welcome, sweet girl. But it’s from me and Sam.”
“Thank you, Sam!”
Kennedy got up and wrapped her arms around my neck, squeezing tightly as she hugged me.
“You’re welcome.”
I hadn’t helped Avery with that gift for Kennedy, but I knew that our lives were already starting to change, and she was taking the first step by including me in everything that involved her daughter. If that wasn’t one of the greatest gifts of all, I didn’t know what was.
“You next,” I said, nodding to Avery, who was still holding her gift.
“How about we open them at the same time?” she suggested, smiling at me.
“Deal.”
We both unwrapped our gifts, and I loved the small gasp that escaped her lips when she found the delicate gold heart necklace I had picked for her. I hadn’t seen her wear much jewelry, but I had noticed the way she admired it when we went shopping.
“Oh my gosh, Sam! This is beautiful. Thank you so much!”
“You’re welcome.”
I opened the lid of the small box Kennedy had picked for me and slowly opened it. Inside was a clay ornament in the shape of Kennedy’s hand. In the middle, she’d written my name in red paint with a heart underneath it.
“Kennedy, did you make this for me?” I asked, my throat tight with emotion. I held it up for her to see, making sure I didn’t accidentally break it.
She nodded and grinned while setting her baby down to give it a bottle.
“Thank you so much. It’s so beautiful.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied as she picked the baby up and started to burp it. It seemed a bit fast for it to have finished eating, but what did I know about babies?
“Alright, my love. We’ve opened one gift for tonight, but now it’s time to get to bed. Santa can’t come if we’re up playing all night,” Avery said to Kennedy as she stood up and collected the few pieces of trash from our gifts.
“Okay, Momma. Can Sam sit with us while you read tonight?”
“Of course, he’s more than welcome to if he’d like to,” Avery said, giving me a nervous look.
“I would love to.”
I wrapped my arms around Avery’s waist while we waited for Kennedy to get up. This was just the beginning of the most wonderful life I could have ever imagined.