Bonus Chapter
NOAH
“Wake up. It’s time for another present.”
I grin to myself, hearing my husband, Chance, but not opening my eyes. “I thought we did that last night.”
“Gross.” My eyes fly open now when I hear my daughter LeAnn’s voice and see her standing there with her new baby in her arms, her four-year-old daughter, and her husband.
Chance is of course laughing his ass off before I shove him off me. He lands on the mattress next to me. “You have a dirty mind.”
He knew exactly what he was doing, and I glare at him, telling him without saying it out loud that he’ll be punished later. His grin is wicked, telling me he can’t wait. “It’s not Christmas anymore,” I grumble.
“It’s the twenty-sixth of December,” Chance says, hopping up off the bed, and I see now that he’s fully dressed and even has his coat on. I look back over at the rest of the family, who are all in their coats too.
It’s been really nice having them stay here for the holidays, but they’re heading back home later tonight.
They weren’t supposed to leave this early though.
I sit up, and Chance hands me a T-shirt that I pull on over my head.
I’m not wearing anything else though, so I don’t move out from under the covers.
“What’s going on? Do you have to leave early?” I know I sound disappointed, and I feel a little bad about it. I don’t want to guilt them into staying if they need to go, but I miss the hell out of them.
“It’s a present, Dad. Get dressed so we can go, and no, Chance talked us into staying another day.”
I look over at my husband, who’s beaming happily. “Thank you for that.”
He just nods at me in acceptance. “Okay, you all go out of here and let Grandpa get dressed,” he says to our oldest granddaughter, shuffling the whole family out of the room.
I stand up after the door closes behind them and look over at Chance, who’s looking at me far too hungrily when people are waiting on us. “No,” I say, and he just laughs, handing me a pair of underwear and jeans.
“Later.”
“Definitely later,” I agree, tugging the rest of my clothes on and then going into our bathroom to brush my teeth. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going? We need to feed the animals,” I say, a little worried that I slept in and my babies are hungry.
We’ve added a lot of animals and even built another barn since we got married, and I usually wake up to feed them far earlier than this.
“Took care of it. Don’t worry.”
I spit into the sink and rinse my mouth before wiping it with a towel. “So where are we going?”
“Let me surprise you for once,” he says, kissing me softly, but it quickly turns heated. I’m about to say fuck it and pick him up to bring him back to bed before I hear a little knock on the door.
“Stop kissing, Grandpas! It’s time to go.”
I chuckle, and then Chance leads us out to our cars, driving us to the outskirts of town. I don’t know where the hell we’re going until I see a sign—Always and Forever Animal Shelter.
“Animal Shelter? Are we getting another donkey?” I ask with a grin.
“I was thinking maybe a puppy, but who knows?”
My eyes light up. I’ve wanted an inside dog for a while now, and this is my present? “Really?”
He shrugs. “It’s time.”
I agree. When we park, I feel like a little kid as we meet with the shelter’s head volunteer, and she leads us through all the individual dog houses that seem more like their own little cabins. They have beds and chairs, a spot for them to live their little lives as they wait for a home.
“This one, Grandpa!” My granddaughter giggles as a small terrier jumps up and down at her ankles.
“He’s pretty cute,” I say, leaning down to pet the dog, whose name is posted on the outside of the doghouse. Pete.
“I love him,” she says, letting the dog lick her face.
I pick Pete up and ask if we can hang out with him for a bit as we visit the other dogs.
The woman says it’s fine, and by the end of our visit, we’re adopting Pete, but we also may have grabbed Sally, an older gray cat, and a beautiful mini Australian shepherd named Winter.
Chance is thrilled, and the rest of our day is spent getting our new family members settled into their new home.
My husband is even more excited than I am, I think.
“Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” I say with a smile, leaning in to kiss my husband.
“You think we can top this next year?” he asks, a playful glint in his eyes.
I toss my head back and laugh. “We’re going to need a bigger house.”
But every year with him does seem to get truly better and better. So I have no doubt.