Chapter 42
Elias awoke to soft kisses being peppered across his face and neck. The weight on his waist was unmistakable. He placed his hands on Eri’s thighs as he opened his eyes.
“Well, isn’t this a great way to wake up?” he said.
“I thought of a better one, but if I did that, then the food would get cold,” she responded with a smirk. She moved off him and headed towards the door. “So hurry,” she threw over her shoulder.
Elias glanced at the clock on the nightstand and found it was five minutes after eight.
He shook his head as he got up and headed into the bathroom.
He wasn’t surprised she’d woken him up early.
She’d been far too excited about Christmas.
He relieved his bladder, washed his face, brushed his teeth, and then headed into the kitchen.
Eri sat at the table waiting for him. He kissed her before sitting beside her.
“Merry Christmas,” she said.
“Buon Natale,” he replied.
“After we eat, we can open gifts, then watch a couple of Christmas movies before we go to Avian and Marco’s,” Eri suggested. They’d been watching Christmas movies since yesterday.
“That’s fine, baby. Did you hear from your dad?”
“I got a text from him when I woke up. He won’t be able to get a flight home until tonight. That’s when they’re expecting the snow to have stopped and the planes can get off the ground. So we’ll have to go see him tomorrow.”
Elias nodded. He was fine with that. Originally, Tony was set to celebrate Christmas with the rest of them at his cousin’s house. But he’d been out of town for work the day before Christmas Eve, and a snowstorm had blown through the area, grounding the planes.
When they finished breakfast, Elias sent her into the living room while he washed the dishes.
Once he finished, he joined her, and Eri pulled him over to the tree they’d put up and decorated two weeks ago.
They sat in front of it, and she pulled a wrapped gift from under it, handing it to him.
Elias removed the wrapping paper and smiled at the picture on the box.
“I thought it would be perfect for your shop,” Eri said.
“It is. I can put it in the main area. It’ll fill the space better than playing music from my phone. Thank you, Amate.” He leaned over and kissed her before putting the motorcycle-shaped Bluetooth speaker aside. He grabbed one of her gifts and handed it to her.
She opened it eagerly and released an excited squeal as she pulled the plush blanket from the box. Elias couldn’t help but chuckle.
“It’s so soft, and it has The PowerPuff Girls on it!” she exclaimed, bringing the top of the blanket to her chest and doing a little happy shimmy.
“I thought you’d like it.”
“I do, baby. Thank you.” She kissed him, set the box aside, and handed him a smaller one.
Elias opened it and found a platinum Cuban chain necklace. The clasp on his other one had broken, and he hadn’t taken it to get fixed yet. She’d gotten him another one. Platinum as opposed to the silver that his other one was. He kissed her in thanks before giving her last gift to her.
Eri opened it, pulling out the bracelet with four different colored gems from it. She stared at it for a moment, and her eyes filled with tears.
“Amate, why are you crying?” Elias asked, stroking her cheek.
“I…I’m just happy. It’s the perfect gift,” she responded, turning her head to kiss his palm.
He was sure she’d like it, but he hadn’t expected her to cry.
He wanted to get her something sentimental, something that would make her happy and that she could keep close to her heart.
It was easy to decide what he wanted to get her.
The bracelet housed the birthstones of her, Tony, her mother, and her little brother.
Elias brushed a single tear from her cheek.
“Will you put it on for me?” she asked.
“Of course, baby.”
He took the bracelet from her and secured it on her wrist before placing a kiss on it. He cupped her face, kissing her slowly.
“Ti amo, Amate,” he spoke against her lips.
“I love you, baby,” she responded.
“Grab your blanket, and we’ll watch those movies.”
Elias gathered the wrapping paper and boxes, threw them away, and took his gifts into her bedroom. When he returned, he joined her on the couch, and she moved into his side, draped her blanket over them, and started the movie.
Elias raised his brow at Eri as she stole another bite of his cake. The same cake she’d told him she didn’t want any of, but he’d known better. Which was why he’d cut a larger slice than he normally would have.
“For someone who didn’t want any, you sure are devouring my piece,” he teased.
“There’s something about food being yours that always makes it taste better.”
“I think you’re just looking for an excuse to eat what’s mine.”
“And if she is, you’d better let her,” his mother said from where she’d been sitting talking to his aunt.
“She’s stealing my food, and I’m getting scolded. Geez, Mamma. I love how you play favorites,” Elias quipped.
His mother shrugged. “Get used to it.”
Those in the room paying attention to their conversation laughed, and Marco patted him on the back.
“I find it easier to accept it than to try to debate or change it. Trust me, it won’t help,” his cousin said.
“You’re being dramatic. You know that, Figlio?” his Zia Lorna asked.
“I was your son for my entire life. You have a daughter for a couple of years, and I’m treated like a stepchild, but I’m the dramatic one. Okay, Mamma,” Marco responded.
“Besides, I wonder where he gets his dramatics from,” his uncle said, causing his aunt to side-eye him.
He and Eri finished his cake, and he took the paper plate into the kitchen and threw it away. When he returned to the living room, Avian was setting up a game of Scattegories. They split into teams and started the first of several games of the day.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Eri walked through the front door of her family home the following afternoon. Her dad’s flight had landed late the night before. Her nose led her to the kitchen, Elias behind her, where she found her dad placing serving dishes in the middle of the table. He looked up when they entered.
“Hi, Dad,” she greeted.
“Hey, Bean,” he responded, rounding the table and pulling her into a hug. “You two are right on time.”
“Hey, Tony,” Elias greeted.
“Elias, good to see you again. I’m sure this one has been keeping you on your toes, so I apologize,” her dad joked, and Eri rolled her eyes.
“It wasn’t funny when you told him that at my graduation or Thanksgiving; it isn’t funny now. Are you going to do it every time you see one another?” she asked.
“Of course I am because you, my dear, are a handful, and him dealing with you is a load off my plate.”
Elias chuckled. “I don’t mind. I’m good at handling her.”
Eri looked over her shoulder to find him smirking, and she stuck her tongue out at him.
“You can put those in the living room by the miniature tree,” her dad informed Elias, nodding towards the gifts he held. “We can open them after we eat.”
Her boyfriend exited the kitchen, and Eri went to the cabinet to pull out plates and then silverware while her dad pulled out glasses. She set everything around the table and went to the refrigerator to grab the gallon of sweet tea as Elias returned.
As they ate, her boyfriend and dad discussed different topics, and Eri listened as she enjoyed her food.
The conversation between the two men was easy, and she enjoyed that they seemed to like one another.
Her dad was the only family she had outside her maternal grandmother and a few cousins, whom she only saw every couple of years, and she loved Elias.
She wanted the two most important men in her life to get along.
Once they finished eating, Eri volunteered to tidy the kitchen, sending her boyfriend and dad into the living room.
She put away the leftovers and did the dishes before joining them half an hour later.
They were discussing a football team, and she went to the little tree, sitting on an accent table.
“Let’s exchange gifts,” she said.
“As impatient as you were when you were a kid on Christmas Day,” her dad replied. “Did she wake you up at the crack of dawn yesterday?” he directed at Elias.
“Pretty close to it,” Elias responded.
“It was not,” Eri countered.
They exchanged gifts. She’d gotten her father a recipe book centered on paninis since he used his press religiously, and a new white noise machine, because just like the press she’d replaced for his birthday, he’d had that machine for a while.
He’d knocked it off his nightstand once, and from then on, the sound would cut in and out.
Elias gave him the gift he’d gotten for him. A set of wooden coasters with the logo and name of her dad’s favorite football team. Then the two opened their gifts from him.
He’d gotten Eri a pair of earrings and a candle subscription she was eager to start, and Elias a pair of magnetic earbuds.
“You can secure them in your helmet while you ride. There should also be an apology letter in there too, since Bean being spoiled is my fault.”
Eri sucked her teeth as both men laughed, and they thanked each other for the gifts.
“If the two of you are finished bonding over picking on me, let’s watch a Christmas movie,” Eri proposed.
“Amate, we’ve watched Christmas movies all day for the past two days. There can’t be any more left that we haven’t seen.”
“There are,” she replied, going to look through her dad’s small collection of VHS tapes. “We’re watching A Year Without a Santa Claus and Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.” She pulled both tapes out.
“We watch them every year,” her dad said.
Eri popped in the first movie and went back to the couch, taking her seat beside Elias, while her dad got comfortable in his recliner.
“Romi’s finished moving into her new place, and she invited us to a New Year’s house warming,” Eri informed Elias as they lay in bed later that night, watching a non-Christmas movie which she was sure her boyfriend was thankful for.
“That’s cool. Does she need us to bring anything?”
“I asked, but she said she’ll let me know tomorrow. I do want to get her a housewarming gift. I think I’ll see if Avi wants to go with me tomorrow to shop for one since you have to work.”
“You have two new jobs you’re starting, right?” Elias asked, running a hand along her arm.
“Yeah. I’m waiting for one client to approve the color scheme I sent them before Christmas. I knew it would be a few days, if not a week, before I heard from them because of the holiday, and I’m waiting on Koa to approve the new design for a limited drop she wants to do for Valentine’s Day.”
“She’s keeping you busy. This is what? The third one you’ve done for her?” Elias asked.
“Yeah, but I’ll be looking at three to four a year with her, and it’s pretty easy since I’m only creating one new design for each drop. At least for now. Thanks to her putting my info in her video description and on her website, I’ve gotten a lot more inquiries from other creators and streamers.”
“She might have tagged your information, but your designs spoke to them. You’ll have a large client base before you know it.” He kissed her forehead before focusing his attention back on the television, and Eri snuggled closer into his side.
It was barely ten minutes later when she felt drowsy, and she shifted to lie on top of him. Elias wrapped his arms around her, and she was soon drifting off to sleep.