Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
CHRISTIAN
It’s been two days since I got home, and I don’t feel like we have stopped.
It’s seven Christmas morning, and we have all been busy trying to ensure this will be the best Christmas our girl has ever had.
“I can’t believe she’s still asleep.”
I turn to see Jason walking from his room. I smile, looking through Jasmine’s open door, where she is asleep in bed.
“I was sure she would sneak into someone's room during the night,” I chuckle. We are waiting for Maximus and Sean to join us as planned before waking her up. This will be our first Christmas all together in one house.
Before she moved in, we only spent Boxing Day with Jasmine and always at her place. The four of us went around for breakfast with presents for our girl, spoiling her as much as we could get away with. It wasn’t easy as she didn’t like us spending a lot of money on her, but she has slowly come around and accepted we want to spend money on her; it makes us happy to give her anything she may need or want. We tried every year to get her to come to ours for Christmas, but she always had an excuse not to.
Jasmine finally admitted a few months ago that she hasn’t celebrated Christmas since her dad left. Even when our father was still married to her mother, Jasmine would say she was spending Christmas with them or with friends, and we failed to pick up on the lies; like so many she told us, to hide how alone she really was. So this year, we are making it up to her and giving her the Christmas she deserves, including making her sleep alone in her own room. We wanted to ensure we could get everything ready without her seeing anything.
“Do you think we will need to wake the twins up?” Jason asks, smirking.
“No, we’ve been up for a while,” Sean announces as he appears, walking up the stairs behind us.
“Where have you been?” Jason asks. The twins hate getting up early; even when they know it’s essential, they will still drag their feet and try to stay in bed as long as possible. It’s always been the same. Usually, we don’t see them before midday at Christmas.
“You know I said it felt like something was missing last night when putting the gifts under the tree?” Sean asks as we both nod. “Turns out all of Jasmine’s were there, but I forgot my gifts to you three. I spent the last hour wrapping them and putting them with the others,” he grins as Jason and I try not to laugh out loud.
“So, where’s Maximus?” I ask, looking around. “Did he forget to put something out as well?”
Sean shrugs as he looks around.
“I saw him grabbing a coffee about six, mumbling something about retrieving his present for Jasmine, and heading out the door.”
Jason and I frown at each other before looking back to Sean.
“Did he say how long he would be? I’m not waiting around for him all morning,” I argue as we hear footsteps on the stairs behind us.
“I’m here. Keep your hair on, old man.” Maximus walks into view with a bundle in his arms.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Sean groans as Maximus grins at us.
“What the fuck have you done?” Jason growls through gritted teeth.
“Did you not think you should have spoken to us about this?” I ask, trying to keep my cool. Maximus looks at me with a deep frown on his face.
“I don’t need your permission to buy my fiancée a gift, Christian. If I want to get Shorty a puppy, I fucking will.” We glare at each other for a moment, but before I can respond, Jason steps between us.
“Look, we can discuss this later,” he states, looking between us. “We did all say we may get a dog in the future, as Jazzy wants one,” he adds. Maximus and I continue to stare at each other before I let out a deep breath and rub my face.
“You’re right. Let’s concentrate on the main thing: giving our girl the Christmas she deserves.” We all share a nod in silent agreement. But I don’t miss how Maximus looks at me, and I know there will be words between us at some point. We’ve been butting heads a bit more recently, and I worry that it's something that’s only going to get worse. Someday soon, we need to have it out, and I need to find out what the hell has gotten into him and why he is fighting me so much. But like Jason said, now is not the time, and we need to focus on Jasmine.
The four of us all head to her room and quietly walk in. Maximus, leads the way, we all stand at the bottom of the bed and watch our girl sleeping for a moment.
“Should we let her sleep longer?” Sean whispers.
“Nah, she would never forgive us,” Jason grins.
“I know how to wake her,” Maximus declares, putting the puppy on the bed. It looks at us all for a moment before Jasmine groans in her sleep. It quickly turns and rushes to her before pawing at her hand, nestling up to it.
Jasmine groans as she starts to wake up. But as soon as one eye opens, she jumps into the sitting position and stares at the puppy, who looks up at her with its tongue hanging out.
“Oh my god! Where did you come from?” she squeals, picking up the puppy and hugging it.
“Merry Christmas, Shorty!”
Jasmine looks up at us as we all call Merry Christmas as well.
“You gave me a puppy?” she asks, tears in her eyes.
“That was all Maximus,” I smile as it licks her face.
“Oh my god! Thank you, Daddy Max,” she cries, jumping from the bed, nearly tripping over her blankets in her haste before throwing an arm around Maximus, hugging him and the puppy.
I hate to admit it, but she looks so happy. The puppy does, too, as it looks up at her with the biggest eyes, desperate for her attention.
“You’re very welcome, Shorty. Merry Christmas.” When he looks into her eyes, I can see how much he loves her and wants to make her happy, just like the rest of us.
“Merry Christmas, Daddy,” she whispers before looking at the rest of us. Stepping away from Maximus, she walks to Sean and gives him a one-arm hug and kiss, wishing him a Merry Christmas before moving to Jason and eventually me.
“Happy Christmas, Sweetheart,” I whisper in her ear before kissing her.
“Merry Christmas, Daddy.” Stepping back from me with a smile, she looks around at us all before bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Can we go downstairs?”
“Sure thing, Jazzy,” Jason laughs as she squeals and rushes for the door, still holding the puppy in her arms.
The four of us laugh as we follow her. Sean quickly catches up so we can all enter the large lounge, which we have decorated with a tree and various decorations.
“You okay?”
I turn to Jason, who gives me the look he gets when he knows I’m stewing on the inside.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I ask, frowning.
“The whole dog thing. Is it going to be an issue later down the line?”
We look down the stairs together, where Jasmine is excitedly playing with the dog as she shows him to Mrs Brown, who has joined them. It sounds like Maximus has asked her to take the puppy while Jasmine opens her presents.
“I would have preferred for him to have checked with us, but it's done now. She is happy, and that’s all that matters.”
I can feel Jason watching me as I start to descend the stairs. I didn’t lie; all that matters to me is her happiness, and I know there will be times when my brothers make her happier than me. It’s something we have all had to come to terms with quickly. Otherwise, this relationship would never work.
“Come on, you two! Hurry up already!” Jasmine exclaims happily, which only lightens my mood further. This is a side of her I love to watch. I don’t think she has ever had the chance to enjoy being her true self before. She is so full of energy and enthusiasm she’s unable to stand still, so she bounces from one foot to the other with a massive smile and her eyes sparkling with excitement.
As we head to the room and watch her bouncing around excitedly, waiting to go inside, I wonder what age her Christmases stopped being about the excitement and magic and just became about surviving her abusive drug addict of a mother.
“You ready, Princess?” Sean asks with his hand on the door handle, looking at us all to check we are ready to enter.
“YES! Hurry up already!” she laughs.
“Okay. Three. Two. One,” Sean throws open the door, and Jasmine freezes.
Inside is the biggest tree we could find, and it's all lit up, with lights and ornaments she hand-picked or made with Mrs Brown. A big pile of presents is underneath the tree, much bigger than we usually have under there, not that we bother with a tree when it was just the four of us.
“Shorty? Are you okay?” Maximus asks as we all notice how silent and still Jasmine has become. He reaches and places a hand on her shoulder.
“Sweetheart, if it’s too much, just say,” I whisper as she continues to stare at the room.
“I …” Jasmine’s voice breaks a little as a tear escapes and slides down her cheek. Looking at my brothers, I find them all looking exactly how I feel—terrified that we have overwhelmed her. That this is all still too much after everything she has been through.
“Jazzy? We can come back or do things differently,” Jason starts, but Jasmine finally seems to snap out of it when she turns around and throws herself at him.
“It's perfect,” she sobs as she takes a step back before throwing herself at me as she starts to cry.
“Sweetheart?” I hold her as she sobs into my chest.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers before stepping out of my arms and turning to Sean to hug him before finally holding Maximus.
“What are you apologising for?” he asks, running a hand over her head, looking around at us all worried.
“For being an emotional mess,” she giggles, stepping back and wiping her face. A big smile reappears as she looks at all four of us. “Did you do all of this for me?”
“Of course we did, Princess. We told you we wanted to give you the Christmas you deserved,” Sean answers, putting an arm around her shoulder.
“Thank you, all of you.” Jasmine makes a point of looking at each of us individually, showing us how much we mean to her.
“You’re more than welcome, Angel. Now come on, let’s see what Santa has brought you,” Jason announces as Jasmine squeals excitedly, grabs his hand and pulls him into the room.
Walking in behind the twins, who are laughing happily, I take a moment to watch them all as they shower each other in love and know that no matter what, I will always strive to give them everything they need and want because nothing else matters more than our family.
No matter what comes our way, I will always protect them to the best of my ability, even with my life, if that’s what it takes.