37. Rico
Chapter thirty-seven
Rico
C hristmas morning comes around and I wake to the sound of excited whispering down the hall. I pull Hannah against me.
"Feliz navidad, mi amor." I whisper, kissing her hair. "Your brood is awake already."
"Ugh. It's too early." I don't blame her. We kept her up pretty late with our Christmas Eve sexscapades.
I roll out from under her. "I'll make us a pot of coffee and get the kids set up with their stockings. Is that alright?"
She smiles and opens one eye at me. "I knew there was a reason I loved you." Her eyes go wide as she realizes her confession.
I kneel on the bed and kiss her quickly. "I love you, too, Hannah. Get dressed, get the others up and I'll meet you downstairs."
The kids excitedly break into their stockings while the adults sip coffee. I can't help but watch the scene in front of me - three happy, excited kids, a blanket of snow in the background, and so many adults with smiles on their faces, joyful and content to give three great kids a wonderful Christmas. It's so far removed from the Christmases of my childhood, it's hard to recognize.
Maria makes chocolate pancakes for the kids and French toast for the adults. She loves these kids and this family as it if were her own. And as a childless widow, we may as well be.
She gives me a quick kiss to my cheek and I take the opportunity to slide a present into her hands.
"Rico..." she begins to admonish.
I shake away her concern. "Maria, you're my best girl, and I'll be personally offended if you don't wear them every day." I say deadpan.
We each always get her a present, but she gets flustered if we do too much at once, so I decided to slide her mine now. A pair of diamond earrings.
I know we'll never replace her late husband, but sometimes we do things we think he would have wanted.
She blushes before kissing me on the cheek again and running away to the safety of her kitchen.
We watch as the kids open small presents, and pass small presents out to the adults - things Hannah let them pick out. A mug here, funny socks there, a day planner and fancy pens for Lauren, but really, what do you get someone who literally has it all. I had the material stuff before. Now I have what really matters in life. Love. And a family to love. And a family to love me. I literally could want for nothing more. I watch Santiago and Matty and the looks on their faces say they're thinking along the same lines as me - treasuring the unconventional family we've found and love.
I am a little anxious about how Hannah's going to handle the big presents, though. Lauren shoots me a look like ' it's time '.
I stand. "So, we got each of the kids one big present, but you have to decide - inside or outside first?"
"What?" Hannah asks, clearly taken off guard. But she looks at the kids.
"Inside or outside?"
"Outside!" They unanimously shout. I chuckle. Clearly, they're dying to play in the show. Wrestling on some snow clothes, we're finally ready to march down to the barn as a group.
We trudge through almost twelve inches of snow, the kids and Matty throwing snowballs at each other and shouting. But when we get to the barn door, I turn and pause.
"Aiden, your present is still inside, but Viv and Jack's presents are in the barn. Are you ready?"
Three sets of eager, bright eyes shine up at me, and suddenly I know there's absolutely nothing I would deny these kids. Fuck, they're going to be spoiled rotten.
I shake my own head before I open the barn doors and let our ragtag group in.
A high-pitched squeal follows and it's Jack. Looking into the first open stall is a small blue four-wheeler, a helmet and gloves. He runs over to it and hops on without waiting for us and begins to play-ride it, making vroom vroom noises.
Hannah inches closer. "This is the kind of thing you discuss with mom first." I smile but give her a kiss on the temple.
"He's got a helmet, and it only goes like 2 miles an hour. We made sure it was safe first, mi amor."
I take a moment to back away and inch towards Aiden. "We can get you one, too, of course, but I didn't know if you'd want a four-wheeler or a dirt bike."
Aiden looks at me with wide eyes, glancing between his mother and me. He gives a small, conspiratory nod before a second scream breaks out.
Viv .
Her scream is followed by a choked sob. Hannah has her hand over her mouth and tears streaming down her face as she stares into the second stall.
"Mom?" Aiden asks, concerned.
We round the stall door to see Vivian, her face buried in the neck of a dapple grey pony with a red ribbon around his neck.
Hannah looks up at me and Lauren with watery eyes.
"You guys didn't..." she whispers out, her hands shaking. Lauren reaches forward and touches her arm.
"I hope that's okay? He's completely kid-proof and trained. Completely safe. And we'll teach her everything she needs to know to be safe riding..."
Hannah wraps her arms around Lauren and holds her tight. "You just gave my little girl the best Christmas she'll ever have."
Lauren hugs her back. "The boys can have one, too, of course, but I wanted to make this one special for her."
Hannah can't seem to slow the tears, but they're happy ones so I'm not too concerned. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and place a kiss at her temple. Vivian spends an entire twenty minutes talking to her new pony.
Before long, the cold starts to get to us and the promise of hot chocolate leads us back to the house.
I can tell Aiden's anxious about his present, so I get straight to it after we've shed our wet winter clothes and let Maria start simmering some milk for authentic hot chocolate.
"Aid, those four big presents behind the couch are yours."
Hesitantly, he reaches for them, opening the smallest one first. He opens a box containing an electric screwdriver .
He says thank you, and tries his damnedest to be polite, but I can tell he doesn't understand. He opens the second box to find the bits and pieces of a bookshelf.
"You know the red room?" I ask him, referencing the oddly shaped room between the mudroom and our wing of bedrooms that had been an original log cabin, now turned into a storage room of sorts. He nods.
"Last week Diego and Lauren cleared it out, and the boxes behind you are Ikea bookshelves. I figured we could build you a library for your manga and then go shopping to fill the shelves."
I have a moment of self-doubt when his hands shake, he drops the screwdriver and bolts out the door. Diego, Lauren, Santiago, and Matty watch him leave with pity on their faces. At this moment I curse myself, thinking I've fucked up. I thought it would be a nice gesture, but maybe he thinks I overstepped a boundary or am trying to replace his dad. I should have just gotten him a fucking dirt bike.
I hang my head.
Fuck!
Hannah comes to stand next to me. She laces her fingers between mine and gives them a squeeze. "Just give him a moment. He's feeling overwhelmed by his emotions. He'll come around."
I wish I could take back the entire fucking idea. God, I'm shit at this. I stand to busy myself cleaning up wrapping paper and ignore the tension in the room when Aiden stomps back in. I turn just in time to catch his small body with mine. He buries his face in my chest, wraps his arms around me and fists the back of my shirt as if it's the only thing keeping him tethered to the Earth.
I can't help but wrap my arms around him as well, leaning my cheek on the top of his head.
I have a deep need to fill the silence. "I got Ikea bookcases because I know literally nothing about bookcases, but if you find ones you like more we can always upgrade? I don't know how many manga you have but I figured we could start with three bookshelves and grow from there? You didn't have an extra room at your mom's house to build you a library, so I thought..."
Aiden looks up at me with deeply feeling brown eyes. "Thank you...I... I wish you'd been my Dad...and I don't know if that's okay..." he whispers so only I can hear it, and my heart cracks as it grows two sizes larger. I squeeze him tighter.
"I think it's perfectly fine to feel however you feel. And, if I'm honest, I wish I'd been your dad, too. But then you might have gotten my ugly mug and that wouldn't have been good." I tease, trying to lighten the mood.
Aiden understands it for what it is, steps back and wipes the tears from his cheeks.
"Thank you," he says again.
I simply nod, my throat choked with emotion.
Lauren and Diego swoop in, moving the bookshelf boxes to the red room, with the kids trailing behind, to give me and Hannah a moment of emotional reprieve. I'm reeling from the idea of my having been their dad the entire time. Their lives would have looked different - security detail, bodyguards, private school, but they would have been happier. I could have protected and loved them from day one. I can't imagine how that would have affected them.
Hannah finds her way into my arms and I hold her. Matty and Santiago flank us, rubbing her back or her arm, knowing she needs the physical connection, the physical reassurance after an emotional day.
"I can't thank you enough." She whimpers against my chest.
"Stop it." I bark gently.
"We've done nothing but love those kids and given them what they deserve. You're going to have to keep us in check, though, because I'm pretty sure there's nothing we wouldn't give those kids. Don't want them getting spoiled..." I tease. She swats my chest lightly, so I feel a little better, knowing she's coming back around to playful.
She looks up at me through wet lashes. "I still can't thank you enough. For the gifts. For loving them." She fights against another sob.
"I can think of a way..." Matty teases, moving closer.
"I did pack the butt plug," she sasses back. And is rewarded with two vocal and one silent groan.