Chapter 16
“Doesn’t it feel like we just put all these decorations away?” Chuck complained as we pulled the tubs out of storage. One of the smartest moves we made was turning the overhead area of our shop into a storage area.
“Yes, and why does it feel like we’ve accumulated more?” I don’t remember putting this much shit up here in January.
“Because we have. Between the boys and the Momma/Grandma QVC addictions, they keep ordering and I keep storing.” Chuck handed me another tub. “I have no clue what’s in any of these, and to be honest, I’m afraid to look.”
Yeah, I was of the same mind.
“At least it’ll all be down for Samian and Sasha to help with this weekend.
” Samian’s classes were over, so Trey and I were headed down tomorrow to move them up.
Samian felt there was no reason to stay for another month until the ceremony with nothing to do all day.
Instead, we were all gonna drive down together for that and crash at Chuck’s house in the valley.
“The Christmas trees the boys wanted that can be planted in the spring will be delivered tomorrow as well. The nursery in town gave us a great price after all the landscaping business we sent their way. Tae already ordered a stocking for Sasha to match his and Trey’s.
I don’t know who’s more excited for this, Sasha or Tae and Trey. ”
“No kidding. Trey has filled his online cart with a ton of presents for Tae and Sasha. From what Samian said, Sasha’s only got a suitcase and the things we bought him when they were here last.” Another grateful boy was added to the family.
Sasha just wanted to be loved and appreciated for who he was. He’d get that tenfold with this family.
“Tae’s excited to paint a princess mural in Sasha’s new playroom,” Chuck said. “It’s gonna be amazing.”
“I don’t doubt that. My brother is extremely talented.
” We’d started Samian and Sasha’s cabin shortly after Halloween, given the short window we had to pour concrete in before the cold weather hit.
There was still a long way to go, but they were fine crashing at Chuck’s until it was ready.
Neither of them had much, so storing their belongings wasn’t a problem. “How many trees are being delivered?”
“Five, and the driver is bringing a dolly to help me get them into each cabin.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, but with three boys, one tree would’ve been hellish.”
“Ha-ha, true. It’s good for each to have their own so we can have a special Christmas with our boys before the whole family one.”
“Exactly, and once I said they’re live and we’re planting them in the spring, Momma and Grandma both asked for one.”
“I like that the boys opted for that. I know we’ve done our best not to remove any trees while building, but we did have to take a few down. This is giving back to nature what we took from it.” And that felt pretty damn good. “How are the greenhouse plans coming?”
“Not too bad. I should have something for you to look at next week. I know this weekend we’ll be busy following the orders our boys will be barking. And I thought we hung a lot of lights for Halloween.” Chuck rolled his eyes. “I have a feeling Christmas will surpass that.”
“Speaking of the boys, shouldn’t they be back soon?” They’d gone into town with Momma and Grandma to stock up all the fridges and most likely to pick up more Christmas decorations.
Boys who worked and had their own checking accounts could be dangerous.
About the time we finished pulling down all the totes, Trey’s SUV was coming up the gravel drive. “Do you need help unloading?” I asked, headed toward them.
“Nope, and no peeking, Daddy,” my bossy boy said.
“Take it all inside my cabin,” Momma told them. “We can wrap the gifts in there.” The four of them disappeared inside, leaving Chuck and me outside blinking.
“Wow,” Chuck said. “Should we head into town and do some recon?”
“Good call. There’s no way the shopkeepers didn’t pay attention to them.” Time to go spy on what they wanted but didn’t buy for themselves. Nosy people were sometimes handy.
We loaded up in my truck and headed down the road. Wasn’t long after the texts started. “Guess the boys are looking for us.” Chuck laughed. “Told Tae we are off to do a bit of shopping ourselves.”
“I’m thinking that’s why mine’s blowing up now. I’ll respond when we park.” Sure enough, the first store we went into, the one with the most toys, the attendant Cole pointed out all the items the boys went crazy over but didn’t buy.
“It’ll be nice having Samian around before year end,” Chuck said. “I bet he’ll be hella better at gathering all the tax documents and filing them for us. Beats the hell out of burying myself in the office for days on end doing them myself.”
Not being a numbers guy, the thought of doing that made me cringe. “Hell, I’m gonna have him do mine and Trey’s taxes too.” That’s one job I’ll gladly hand over.
“Do you remember seeing any grocery bags?” Chuck asked.
“No, but we weren’t allowed to peek. Think they forgot the food?”
“I’m about to find out.” Chuck texted Tae and held his phone out to me when he got a response.
“Oops, Daddy,” I repeated. “Looks like that’s our next stop.
” Two shopping carts and three hundred dollars later, we got everything on the grocery list and headed back to the cabins.
After the groceries were sorted into their respective cabins and dinner was done, Trey and I called it a night since we had to be up early the next morning.
With my boy heavily caffeinated, we headed down the hill to Tempe. When we pulled up in front of Samian’s dorm building, both he and Sasha were waiting outside by a stack of boxes.
“No box truck?” Samian asked.
“Nah, the pictures you sent didn’t warrant it. Let’s get loaded up and head back. Heard it might snow tonight,” I said, and Sasha’s eyes lit up.
“Really? I’ve never seen snow in person.”
“It snows all winter long,” Trey said. “Sometimes only a small amount that melts fast, but there have been big storms too, we were told.”
Between the four of us, we were loaded up and on the road in no time, and when we pulled up at the cabins the whole family was outside waiting.
“We’ve got lunch ready, boys,” Momma said.
“You heard the lady, go ahead and eat. I’ll get the boxes unloaded,” Chuck said.
“Samian and I will help, he knows what goes where,” I replied. Samian, being the smart guy, had marked each box as to where it went. Either in their room or in storage. A few minutes later, we joined our boys for lunch.
“Your tree is naked,” Sasha pointed out.
“Yup, they all are,” Tae said. “We’re decorating them after lunch, together.”
“Tae told me which box of decorations went to which house. It appears he and Trey did all the decoration shopping together and loaded the tubs accordingly,” Chuck notified us. “We moved them to each cabin already, and I started hanging up the outside lights.”
“Excellent. Samian can be the inside ladder guy while we do the outside.” I winked at my brother. “Enjoy.”
As soon as lunch was cleaned up, we got to work. “Trial by fire for Samian?” Chuck laughed.
“You know it. Part of the crew, part of the team. He’ll get the full Daddy effect wrangling three Littles on a Christmas decorating binge.”
It didn’t take long before he came out asking for our help. “Please, Grandma and Momma gave them hot chocolate and now there’s no decorating happening.”
We hopped off our ladders and went inside to complete chaos. The boys were decorating each other, not the tree, dancing around and singing. Chuck let out an ear-buckling whistle and they stopped.
“What did Samian tell you boys to do?”
“Hand him more lights,” Trey replied. Sasha was on the verge of tears.
“Why aren’t you listening to Uncle Samian?” I asked.
“Sorry,” came in stereo from all three.
“We wanted to dance,” Sasha admitted. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault.”
“No,” Chuck corrected, “it’s not. Tae and Trey know the rules, and as your friend, they should’ve told you them.
You listen to the Daddy that is in charge when the other Daddies are busy.
Now you have two options. One, you continue to decorate and listen to Uncle Samian, or you take a nap. What will it be?”
“Tree, please,” Tae replied. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“Sorry, Uncle Samian,” Trey said, and Sasha nodded, trying to hide behind him.
“Sweetheart, come here,” Samian said, and Sasha ran over.
“You’re not in big trouble, but you need to listen.
Please, don’t cry.” Samian would have his hands full teaching his boy what it’s like to be loved.
I’m guessing he spent a lot of time in trouble for things he shouldn’t have been in trouble for. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Daddy, and I promise to listen.”
Momma and Grandma were sitting back, sipping wine and watching us like the next greatest reality show.
“Trey and Tae, you listen to Samian, got it?”
“Yes, Daddy,” Trey said, while Tae nodded.
By the end of the night, the trees were done, the lights were up outside, and we had three sleepy boys we practically carried to bed.
“Hurry, Daddy, I want to see Sasha’s face when he opens the new doll house you made for him.”
“Made, but Tae painted,” I corrected. We opened our presents to each other last night, but he knew he had more waiting at Chuck’s with the family. “Don’t you want to get dressed first?”
“Nope. Tae, Sasha, and me said we are staying in our jammy-jams today. Look, mine have feet on them and tiny Santas saying ho-ho-ho.”
“You are too adorable for words, Angel. Alright, slide into your snow boots and grab your coat.” Thankfully, all the presents and food were there, so we didn’t have to carry anything over.
“Merry Christmas!” the family hollered as we stepped inside.
“Merry Christmas!” Trey and I replied. He ran right over to his friends and hugged them.
“I love your jammies, you both look so cute,” Trey said to Tae and Sasha.
They were both wearing footy pjs like Trey’s, but Tae’s had candy canes and reindeer on them and Sasha’s had princess crowns on them.
He was sitting on Samian’s lap sucking on a binky, so I wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be awake.
I nodded toward Sasha when I spoke to Samian. “We’re not that late, are we?”
“No, but this one was so excited he decided to stay awake and keep his Daddy up all night.” Sasha snuggled in tighter to Samian but didn’t say anything.
“Do you want to take a nap while we open all the prezzies?” Samian knew that would get him; he’d always been a quick learner.
Sasha hopped off his lap and ran over to the tree, plopping down in front of it. Tae and Trey immediately joined him.
“Guess that’s our cue,” Chuck said. “Who wants to play Santa this year?”
“You have the beard for it, so you can,” I teased, but he did look good with a beard, and I knew Tae loved it.
Chuck gave them their stockings to sort through while he handed out all of the presents. They were so busy playing with the silly toys they didn’t notice he was done. When Sasha finally looked up, his mouth opened and his binky fell out. Tae and Trey chuckled beside him.
“Who are all of these for?” Sasha asked.
“They’re for you, silly,” Tae teased him. “Open them up and see what Santa brought you.”
“Open the biggest one first,” Trey said, “Please.”
“Okay.” No one moved. The boys were clearly excited to give Sasha this gift.
“You’re supposed to tear through the paper and send it flying through the air.” Wasn’t sure if Tae was trying to be helpful or goading his Daddy into giving him a spanking later. But I caught the gleam in my brothers-in-law’s eyes.
“Oh my God, is this-is this?” Sasha finally tore through the rest of the wrapping and squealed. “A doll house. My very own doll house, and it’s in my favorite color. Who is this from?”
“All of us,” Tae said. “Uncle Oscar made it, and I painted it.”
“Look, there are even people in the windows,” Trey pointed out. This right here was some serious love. Tae and Trey put their gifts aside while their new friend opened his. They were just as excited, if not more, for Sasha’s first Christmas with the family as he was.
Sasha ran over and hugged me. “Thank you, Uncle Oscar, it’s the best gift ever.”
“You’re welcome, sweet boy.” Then he dove on Tae and tackled him to the ground, giggling.
“Boys, I see a massive stack of presents to unwrap, unless you want the Daddies to do it for you?” Chuck said the magic words because they all dug in. “Don’t forget to look at the tags first so you can thank everyone.”
“Daddy,” Trey said, “open your prezzies too.”
Hmm, what was my boy up to.
“I will if you will.” He picked up a gift, watching me the entire time he opened it.
I picked one up with a tag from him and did the same.
“Trey, when did you have time to do this?” He’d taken all his favorite pictures from our trip to Vegas and made a collage of them.
I’d forgotten we talked about personalizing our home more and adding pictures of us to it.
Another failure on my part, but my smart boy came through for me. “I absolutely love this, thank you.”
“There’s more.”
The next one brought tears to this Daddy’s eyes.
“Trey.” This was a shadow box he’d made with not only pictures from our wedding day, but he’d added leftover pieces of the make-up we used and some of the decorations we had to it.
A three-dimensional memory box. “You are the most thoughtful boy in the world. It’s beautiful, thank you. What did you get?”
“Um,” he looked around at the pile he’d amassed. “Toys for Sabrina, books, Legos, puzzles,” he rattled off more stuff but had me at Legos.
I foresaw many nights ahead of us cursing those tiny plastic bricks but having the time of our lives building the sets. Provided we could keep Sabrina’s paws off of them.
I passed around the picture collage and shadow box and glanced around the room. A room filled with so much love it was overflowing.
Lost boys found lost boys, only now none of us were lost anymore.