Chapter Nine
Little girl squeals woke her just seconds before two small bodies used the small step to climb onto the bed.
After her first morning, she moved the step to the end of the bed where her feet were to avoid having them crawl over her face.
Knowing what was coming, Celyn rolled to her side and pushed herself so her back was against the back of the daybed frame.
“Aunt C, you were right! Santa came! Santa came!” four-year-old Hope shouted, her excitement tangible as she stood up on the bed and began to bounce. She bounced around her sister who crawled up to sit beside Celyn’s head.
“Santa, Santa,” two-year-old Joy chanted as she patted Celyn’s cheek.
“Santa came? Really?” Celyn sat up and began to tickle and snuggle with her nieces before they all crawled out of bed. “Well, let’s go see what he brought us.”
“No presents until after breakfast,” Lilly said from the hallway.
“Can we at least show Aunt C?” Hope asked as she bounced down the hall toward the staircase.
“Yes, you may look, but you may not touch,” Lilly said with a sad smile as she took Hope’s hand to slow her descent.
They were breaking the bedrest rule, but Celyn would insist she lay on the couch once they were downstairs.
Celyn picked up Joy and carried her down the stairs, careful to close the gates they had set up at the top and bottom of the staircase to keep the girls from going up and down by themselves.
The last thing they needed was a little girl to roll down the stairs.
Once they were on the first floor, Celyn set Joy down and the little girl raced toward the living room.
“I’ll be right in,” she said to Lilly before heading to the small bathroom one of the previous owners had built under the stairs.
Lilly was waiting outside the bathroom when she emerged, looking shocked. “How did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Buy all those gifts, wrap them, and hide them without telling me,” Lilly whispered.
“What are you talking about?” Celyn frowned at her sister-in-law, stepping into the large entryway from the main hall to the living room where they’d put up the eight foot artificial tree the day after Thanksgiving.
Stepping into the room, she froze, stopping so fast that Lilly walked into her back.
Celyn had to take several steps in order to keep on her feet.
Once she was balanced again, she looked at the Christmas tree.
It still stood in the corner, but did not look at all like it had just hours before when she’d scattered the few presents she’d managed to buy under it.
Those presents were hidden under many, many others.
So many others that they did not all fit under the tree but spread out for several feet around the base of the tree.
“What the hell?” she whispered as she turned to look at Lilly in shock. “Who did this?”
“You mean you didn’t?” Lilly asked as she moved to sit in her favorite chair.
Celyn shook her head slowly, her eyes growing wide. “Not me.”
Had Enrico really been an elf? Was he responsible for all this? If so, then where was he now?
Celyn walked closer to the tree, stunned by the generous display. She jumped when the doorbell bonged.
The girls squealed as they raced from the living room to the front door, just like they did every time company arrived. A moment later, Hope ran back and grabbed her hand.
“Come on, Aunt C, you gotta answer the door.”
Celyn allowed her niece to pull her toward the front door. Not answering the door without an adult was another rule the girls had. They were so bad about it that Celyn had added a deadbolt high up on the door to keep them safe.
“Okay, but you both need to take deep breaths and settle down,” Celyn said.
“Okay,” Hope said then took Joy’s hand and looked at her sister. “Breathe, Joy.”
The two girls took two deep breaths and huffed them out before turning and looking at her expectantly even as they bounced on their toes. Celyn knew that was as settled as they were going to get until later. This would definitely be a day where after lunch naps were taken all around.
Unlocking the door, she pulled it open and froze when she saw who was standing on the front porch.
“Daddy!” Hope squealed before racing past her into the arms of the first man. Joy followed closely.
“Cedar?” Lilly appeared a few moments later and joined her daughters in his arms. “How are you here?”
Cedar glanced at the man beside him before answering his wife. “A little Christmas magic. I’m home from deployment and will be on recruiter duty here in town for the next three years.”
While Celyn was overjoyed to see her brother home safe, her gaze moved to the second man standing to the side.
His full beard was now only a few days of scruff that highlighted high cheekbones and a sharp jawline. His long, curly hair was also gone, but she would never mistake those bright twinkling eyes for anyone except the man she’d fallen in love with nearly a month before.
Celyn took three steps toward him then hesitated. When he opened his arms in welcome, she rushed the last few feet that separated them, throwing herself into his arms.
“Enrico,” she breathed. She buried her face in his chest as she wrapped her arms around him to hug him tight.
“Hello, love,” he whispered as he returned her tight embrace. “I’ve missed you, little elf.”
Taking a deep breath, she smiled as the scent of apple pie and cinnamon filled her lungs. Pulling her head back, she looked up at him. “I missed you, too.”
“Come inside, you two. It’s cold out there,” Lilly said from the doorway.
“Is it?” she said with a grin. A second later, she gasped when Enrico lifted her and carried her into the house.
One they were all inside with the door closed, Enrico put her down and she stepped into Cedar’s embrace. “Hello, brother,” she sighed as he hugged her nearly as tight as Enrico had.
“Hello, sister. Thank you for taking care of my family,” he said, brushing a kiss on her cheek.
After a breakfast of donuts, orange juice, and bacon, all of which had magically appeared in the kitchen, the family moved to the living room to open the ocean of gifts. The girls opened theirs then helped the adults open theirs as happy holiday adrenaline and sugar raced through their systems.
Finally, there was only one box left. Hope delivered it to Celyn. “Here, Aunt C. This is for you,” she said.
Celyn looked from the box, wrapped in shiny red paper and silver ribbons to Enrico.
Though he tried to look innocent, his eyes sparkled with mischief.
With the girls helping tear off the paper, she had the white box unwrapped in just a few seconds.
The girls stepped back as she worked the top off the box, all at once wary of what she might find inside.
The last thing she expected to find was a stack of paperwork.
There was an envelope with her name on the front which she set aside as she continued exploring the rest of the pile.
The top sheet contained a cashier’s check for more money than she’d ever hoped to earn in a lifetime.
The second page was the deed to the house next door.
The rest of the pages were all the paperwork required for the sale of a house.
Setting everything back into the box, she turned her attention to the envelope.
Opening it, she found a letter from Saint Nicholas himself, sending her best wishes for a wonderful life with Enrico Leonardo Francisco, who had been appointed Head Elf in Charge of USOFIALTSC, the United States Office for Investigating Adult Letters to Santa Claus.
“What does this mean?” She looked from Enrico to the letter and back again.
“This means I’ll be working remotely eleven months of the year,” he said. “I’ll still need to go to the workshop during the busy season, but you can go with me, if you want. Mrs. Claus said she’d can’t wait to meet you and learn your recipe for Elf Kisses.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he answered with a grin. “But only if you answer a question correctly.”
“Oh? And what would that be?”
Enrico moved to kneel on the floor in front of her as he took her right hand in his. “Celyn Berry, I know we’ve only had one night together, but you are the only woman for me. Will you marry me and be my wife and little elf for the rest of our lives?”
Celyn hesitated for two seconds before nodding and throwing herself into his arms. It was another few seconds as their parents explained what was happening before Hope and Joy squealed in happiness and began to dance around them as they kissed.
“Oh, and will you be my date for New Year’s Eve? They always have a big party at the workshop to celebrate the new year before we start planning for next year.”
“I’d love to,” Celyn answered with a grin as she hugged him tight once more.
The End
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