Chapter 29
On Christmas morning, Slade woke first, but Sheri was still sound asleep. He considered making her breakfast in bed. He had told her if he woke first, he was waking her to open their Christmas presents, but there was no way he was going to when he was enjoying being with her like this, cuddling, their first Christmas together. This was too special. He closed his eyes, enjoying the sweet scent that was all Sheri, and it wasn’t until much later that he felt her stir.
She opened her eyes and smiled and kissed him. “You finally woke.”
He chuckled. “ You finally woke.” He kissed her back.
“Me? I woke an hour ago.”
He laughed and checked the clock. “I woke before that, but you were snuggling against me, sound asleep. It was too nice, and I didn’t want to ruin the moment.”
“Then you fell asleep.”
“I did.”
“What happened to us waking each other up first thing on Christmas morning?”
“I know, right? I’m sure it had all to do with having to get up and make the cookies, casserole, and wrap presents late last night. Oh, shoot, we have to hurry and unwrap the presents in our stockings or we’ll be late for Christmas lunch,” he said. “Or we’ll have to open our stocking presents later.”
“No way.”
He laughed.
They hurried out of bed, threw on their Christmas pajamas, raced each other to the Christmas tree to turn on the lights and the mantel lights, and laughed. “Oh, let me start some coffee,” Sheri said.
“I’ll do it. You pick out the presents you want us to open first.”
“We’ll just do all the Christmas stocking presents, but we might have to tear through them as fast as we can so we can arrive on time at my parents’ home.”
“Yeah. We can do that.” He started the coffee and then joined her in front of the lighted Christmas tree.
She handed him his Christmas stocking and dumped the presents out of hers onto the couch. “So what do we have here?” She started ripping open packages.
He opened a package of red and green boxer briefs featuring a Santa Claus that said Delivering all night and he laughed. “This is just too funny. For you, that’s a promise.”
“I’ll hold you to it.”
“I love a challenge.” Then he unwrapped a pair of chili pepper socks that had Hot Stuff printed on the soles that were just as cute, and another pair that said Superman .
“You are both of those things, and I just wanted you to know it.”
“I love them. I love you.” He opened his last present, and it was an apron that said An apron is a cape turned backward .
“Because you truly are my superhero and because you need some place for the green icing to go when you decorate cookies in the future.”
He chuckled. “I got a kick out of your dad saying he’d never decorated a cookie before, and his cookie still turned out great.”
“I should warn you that he will be in a competition with you from now on.”
Slade gave her one of his darling, dimpled smiles. “I’m up for it. I’ll have to start practicing.”
“Yes, you have all year to do it.” She opened his first gift to her, and she found a blue body loofah-sponge back scrubber.
“But I get to use it on you,” he said.
She smiled. “And I get to use it on you likewise.”
“I look forward to. Tonight.”
“You’ve got it.” She opened her next present and pulled out a retro black-and-white-striped vintage apron with ruffles and a big black bow. It was absolutely adorable. She laughed. “That’s to protect me while you’re icing your cookies, right?”
“Absolutely.”
She opened her next package, and it was a pair of cute wolf socks in aqua with little Arctic wolf heads. “Ooh, these look nice and cozy warm.”
“They should be. They called them cabin socks and I figured you could wear them on our honeymoon at the ski lodge even.”
“They’re the cutest.” Then she opened her last gift, a solar phone charger for two.
“I figured if we had electric issues, we could both use it.”
“It’s perfect.”
They dressed in their wolf sweaters and blue jeans, boots, and parkas, grabbed the casserole, dessert, and presents for their families and some presents for each other and then drove to Georgia’s and Fred’s home. Except for Dulcie, everyone else had already arrived: Henry, Lolita, and Hans, Elizabeth and David, Amelia, Gavin, and the twins.
Everyone wished everyone a Merry Christmas, and hugs and kisses were shared all around. They took pictures of the whole family, then individual families, and the twins dressed in Santa elf sleepers. They were adorable.
Then everyone sat around the Christmas tree and began to open gifts. Slade laughed when he got a beginner’s guide to cookie decorating from Fred. But he laughed even harder when Georgia got Fred one too.
“When Fred picked up that guidebook for you, I went back and got one for him,” Georgia said.
Amelia and Gavin gave Sheri and Slade sky-blue silk pillowcases. They were so soft.
Hans got Sheri and Slade a blanket split in two but attached at the bottom. “So you don’t have to worry about someone tugging the blanket away from you.”
Everyone loved it. Then the couples found that Hans had given one to each of them. They loved them. Slade loved the aqua waffle maker for two that she had gotten them, and she gave her gift from the Christmas Eve party to Elizabeth, who was thrilled.
He was glad that Sheri loved her red cashmere sweater, just as much as he loved the fleece sherpa sweater she’d given him. Her parents had given them both UGG slippers. And Slade gave Sheri a portable firepit they could use to make s’mores and roast marshmallows and hot dogs with guests or just the two of them inside their home anytime they wanted to.
“I’ll be over to make s’mores on it,” Hans said.
“You and everyone else is welcome to,” Sheri said. “This will be fun to use.”
Sheri had gotten Slade a portable, outdoor wood-fired pizza oven. “Now this is going to come in handy,” Slade said.
“Hey, we’re all going to love dropping by for pizza,” David said, Gavin agreeing.
Then Slade opened his last present from Sheri and smiled. “Great. Lots of cool accessories to go with the drone.”
“I’m going to get a drone license and take some shots of the wedding when you have it,” Hans said.
“Oh, that would be perfect,” Sheri said. “That was the gift that I had to fight over.”
Then everyone had to hear the story.
“Well, at least he was man enough to apologize at the end,” Georgia said.
Once they finished opening their gifts, everyone got ready to eat. The ham and turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, cranberry, green bean casserole, and loaves of bread were set out on the table. Hans poured glasses of wine while Amelia and Elizabeth got glasses of milk.
A dessert table had been set up and Sheri put her pfeffernusse cookies on there. More desserts were already there, from a pecan pie to chocolate cupcakes.
Just then, the doorbell rang, and Sheri went to answer it. Slade saw it was Dulcie and everyone was thrilled she could make it for Christmas lunch. She was carrying a box of homemade fudge.
“Oh, yum, this looks great,” Sheri said, and led Dulcie into the dining room. Everyone had already met her at the pizza party. They all greeted her and then they sat down to eat.
“So what did you get stuck working on last night?” Slade asked, knowing that she might not be able to say.
“Remember the delivery van that went missing in the case you were investigating, Sheri?” Dulcie asked.
“You found it?”
“Yes, it was found on a farm road. But we also located a video that showed the delivery van had been at Fitz’s house. The video was from the house across the street. He’d even opened the van, looked inside, and locked it back up. It proves he knew it was full of packages.”
Sheri sighed. “Good, so some more to charge him with.”
“Exactly.”
“And we have video and eyewitness testimony stating he wasn’t a deliveryman but had been wearing a delivery uniform. Oh, but wait, the best news of all?”
Everyone was passing around dishes of ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry, and the rest of the side dishes, but Slade swore everyone stopped what they were doing to hear what Dulcie had to say.
“Otis flipped on the other two.”
“Yes!” Sheri shouted with glee.
Dulcie laughed. “Yeah. Danbury was charged with attempted murder, so he didn’t have any leeway. Fitz was the head honcho, the man who planned the whole thing. So I talked to Otis, told him we had all this evidence and that though he was as involved in all of it too, he had a chance to testify against his cohorts and get a reduced sentence.” She smiled and dished up some of Sheri’s green bean casserole. “He took the deal.”
“All right,” Sheri said. “I’m so glad, as long as he doesn’t change his mind at trial.”
Then her father got a call and Slade wondered what that was all about. Fred built homes and all his family was right here, so Slade couldn’t imagine he would be getting any calls from anyone on Christmas Day.
Fred smiled. “Thanks, Cameron. Yes, let them know where we live. Merry Christmas to you and your family too.” Then he ended the call. “Well, apparently we’re about to get some guests who are dropping off a package in about an hour.”
“Oh?” Hans asked.
“Yeah.” Fred didn’t say anything more and began to enjoy his turkey leg.
“Dad,” Sheri said. “You’re not going to leave us hanging, are you?”
Fred laughed. “In the spirit of Christmas, yes. It’s a surprise.”
They were finishing up dinner when the doorbell rang, and Fred went to get it. “Come in,” he said.
To Slade and everyone else’s surprise, Gerard, his wife, Betty, his daughter, Jessica, Tex Lincoln, and his wife, Nancy, and his cardiac-alert service dog, Benny, and their dog, Jet, arrived with an extra-extra-large gift basket filled with cheeses, crackers, chocolates, teas, coffees, wine, just a little of everything.
“This is a small token of our appreciation for bringing us all together,” Betty said, “and for saving Tex’s life twice, once in the Boundary Waters and then at his home in Minneapolis, and Nancy’s life too. Not to mention bringing Tex a cardiac-alert dog who is so loved by all of us, Jet also. And helping to put Gerard’s brother away, but also making sure Gerard remained safe. This is the first Christmas we’ve spent together with Tex and Nancy in a decade, with the added special delight of having Jessica with us too, and Sheri and Slade made that all possible.”
“Come in and have some drinks and dessert with us,” Fred offered.
“Thank you. Is it all right that Benny and Jet come in too? We don’t want to impose,” Tex said.
“Yeah, Benny needs to be with you at all times. Jet was just as much of a lifesaver when he alerted us you were in trouble in the Boundary Waters, so he is welcome as well. And thank you for the lovely gift.” Slade wrapped his arm around Sheri’s shoulder and leaned down and kissed her. Sheri was the best gift he could have asked for, but through her diligence, and his own, they had aided the two families more than they realized and he was glad for that.
Sheri thanked them also and gave Slade a heartfelt hug, smiling up at him, just as glad things had worked out so well for the family.
Then they all sat down in the living room to have some Christmas cheer and talk about everything under the sun—except the thing they really couldn’t discuss, the upcoming trial of Gerard’s brother and the other men. But for Christmas Day, that was a good thing.
And when they finally had enjoyed their drinks and desserts, the two families left so that Slade and Sheri and their families could enjoy playing games until it was time to return home.
Since they were leaving the next day for Silver Town, Sheri and Slade left their gift basket with Elizabeth to take to the office and share with the rest of the pack. They were ready to enjoy all that Silver Town had to offer and a mated honeymoon without any issues.
They returned home to pack for their big trip to Silver Town tomorrow, but one thing led to another and they were back in bed enjoying each other like wolves who were very much in love, the perfect way to end their Christmas Day.