LAILAH
THIRTEEN
Mr. Lacy sent two cars to get all of us and our luggage since there was no way we would all fit in one with Ben and Grace joining us.
Isabelle didn’t show her face as we all left, which I was thankful for.
No need to make things worse. The driver took us back into Old Town where Mr. Lacy’s apartment was, which made me even more excited.
The streets were filled with pop-up markets for presents and Christmas trees.
Overnight, this place had turned festive.
It wasn’t as gaudy as I was used to back in the States; they used more natural decorations and ribbons versus glitter and lights.
Reaching our destination, the drivers helped us carry our things up the five flights of stairs to the top floor. A set of dark stained wooden French doors greeted us. Grace promptly pulled out her key and unlocked the door, flinging them both open as she bounced into the place.
“Père, we’re here,” Grace called out.
The difference between this place and Isabelle’s couldn’t have been more extreme.
Here the furniture was overstuffed, covered in dark leather, and very welcoming.
It had a rich, warm feeling to it that just made you want to light a fire and read a book.
Just another sign to show how different the two of them were.
Mr. Lacy walked out from a room dressed in pressed slacks and an emerald-green sweater, looking far more relaxed than I had seen him.
“I feel so honored to have you all here for Christmas Eve, a wonderful surprise indeed,” Mr. Lacy said with the biggest smile on his face.
Grace ran up to him, threw her arms around his waist, and hugged him tight. Mr. Lacy returned the hug and kissed the top of her head. “Well, my Gracy-goose, are you ready to show these guys how we do Christmas Eve?”
Pulling back just enough so she could look up at him, she nodded furiously. “Yup, but Hudson gets a special prize because Mère wasn’t going to let us come. If he hadn’t stood up to her, then we wouldn’t have been able to have a Christmas here at all.”
Chadwick’s eyes narrowed, and his smile dimmed a little as he looked at Hudson. “I’m sorry you had to do that, son. You should have called me. I would have handled it.”
“It was something I needed to do. It was time to stand up to her, to protect my family and do what’s right, even if it’s hard,” Hudson said as he took my hand.
The pride I felt for Hudson was overflowing, and I made sure that he could feel it too. What he had done might not seem big to others, but it was another step in the direction of not hiding his feelings anymore.
Chadwick watched Hudson for a moment before he nodded his head. “I can understand that. Well done, son.” Letting go of Grace, he clapped his hands before rubbing them together. “It’s time to find ourselves a Christmas tree.”
Already being in the heart of Old Town, all we had to do was walk out the front door of the building to find what we were looking for.
Hudson took my left hand while Parker took my right, making me smile.
As we wandered, inspecting tree after tree, I couldn’t help having this feeling that this was the first time that I had ever felt completely content.
It was clear to see that this tree was important by the way Ben and Grace argued over each selection.
Just when I didn’t think we would find one, Ben gave a shout, causing Grace to race over to where he was.
This tree was about six feet tall, and it was so full you couldn’t even see the trunk through the branches.
I don’t think I’d seen a more picture-perfect tree in all my life.
“Que c’est beau. It’s perfect,” Grace said, smiling and clapping her hands.
Chadwick looked at the tree, then at us. “This is the moment that I always wished I’d had more help to bring home whatever they pick out. It seems to get bigger and bigger each year.”
The guys laughed along with him, and the vendor tied up the tree so that it was easier to carry.
It took four of them to lug the tree back to the apartment, but the real adventure was getting it up all the flights of stairs with the narrow twists and turns.
Once back home, Grace grabbed my hand, and we raced off deep into the back of the apartment to a large closet.
“We keep all the decorations and everything else for Christmas here,” Grace explained as she handed me boxes.
Unable to carry more, I headed off to the living room, where I assumed the tree would be set up.
Placing the boxes down, I watched as Chadwick directed and Hudson and Ben tried to get the tree to stand up straight while Micah and Parker were tightening the stand underneath.
I covered my mouth with my hands, trying to keep in the laughter.
“He said to stop tightening on your side, dipshit,” Micah snapped as the tree tilted to the left.
Parker’s head popped out front under the tree. “No, he didn’t. If you actually listened to someone for once, Mr. Know-It-All, you would have heard him say it was you who needed to stop.”
“Boys, if we could stay on the task at hand,” Chadwick interjected unsuccessfully.
“Oh you wanna go, asshat?” Micah growled, rolling out from under the tree. “You wanna say that to my face this time?”
Just as I was about to step in, Jay walked up and grabbed them both by their ears and tossed them onto opposite sides of the large sectional couch. Both of them looked shocked at the action, eyes wide, Parker’s jaw hanging open.
“We are guests in this house—act like it,” Jay stated.
Without even raising his voice, Jay had managed to make both of them look chagrined and mumble out an apology. Satisfied, Jay dropped down to the floor and within moments had the tree secure and standing straight.
“What magic have you performed on our silent ninja?” Brayden asked into my ear as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
I jumped slightly but relaxed into his hold. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“There was a time not so long ago that Jay would have just walked away and left them to fight amongst themselves. He kept himself detached from all of us, knowing that his father disapproved. Ever so slowly, he is proving again and again that he will fight for us to be a team—hence why he wouldn’t let them fight like that,” Brayden said with his head resting on my shoulder.
“You, my Angel, are the miracle we needed to make this whole thing work.”
I let Brayden’s love for me and the other people around us flow through me. Never in my life did I think I would have a boyfriend like Brayden, let alone someone who, for lack of a better word, was my husband. Wait—I had two husbands now that Hudson and I had Bonded.
“About time you guys finished with that, we have some serious decorating to do here. Ben, will you grab pens for everyone to write with?” Grace directed as she brought in more boxes.
“I always make sure that we make some of our decorations each year; it means more that way. Anyone can put things on a tree and make it look nice, but that takes away from the spirit of Christmas, non?”
The more I got to see Grace away from her mother, the more I liked her.
She reminded me of a milder version of Cami, in some ways, with her drive to make things fun.
Ben, on the other hand, was just as quiet, but he didn’t hunch his shoulders like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, like he did at his mom’s.
Coming back with pens, he handed one to all of us and then Grace followed, passing out strips of green and red paper.
“Now, we are going to write our wishes for the new year on these. I’m giving everyone three, so if you have more wishes you can put them down. I know that personally I’m going to want more than one,” Grace explained as she sat on the floor, legs crossed.
I had to agree that there was a lot that had changed in this year alone, and I didn’t know what would happen in the next.
Part of me was worried to even try and think about it, but I’d promised myself that I wasn’t going to let the Dark Lord take away more from me than he already had.
Walking over to the couch, I snuggled into the corner and grabbed a pillow to write on.
I hunched over my work, not letting any of them see what I was writing.
A girl had to keep some secrets. Just as I finished, I felt someone lean over the back of the couch, casting a shadow on my slips of paper.
“What are you wishing for, Trouble?” Parker asked from right beside my ear.
Quickly, I flipped the slips over so he couldn’t see. “Nope, I’m betting the same rules apply to all wishes. You don’t tell anyone what it is that you’re wishing for or it doesn’t come true.”
“That’s no fun,” he whined, trying to give me puppy dog eyes. “How are we supposed to make sure your dreams come true if we don’t know them?”
“Nice try, but I’m not going to tell you. Back me up here, Grace,” I said, looking up to find her grinning at us both.
“I have to agree with Lailah. You can’t tell people what you wish for.” Grace smirked.
Leaning back into the couch, I looked up at him. “Nice try, but not quite good enough.”
As Parker pouted at me, I gave him a peck on the lips but scooted out of the way when he tried to come back for more. I was not going to make out with one of my boyfriends in front of another’s parent and siblings.
“Now what do we do?” I asked even though I had a guess.
Grace stood up and took the slips from me and everyone else. “I’ll staple them together. That way no one will be able to peek.”
“Lailah, would you help me in the kitchen while Grace directs the boys on the decoration process?” Chadwick asked with a soft smile.
“Of course, I would be happy to,” I said, following him.
The kitchen was just off the living room with a door that led right into the formal dining room.
It was far more simple than the one I’d glimpsed at Isabelle’s, and there was no hired help to do the cooking, it seemed.
Chadwick pulled down a large wooden board, setting it on the counter, then started taking things out of the fridge.
“If you wouldn’t mind arranging all these things on the board while I cut up the cheese, that would be helpful,” he asked, nodding to the array of items.
We worked in silence as I tried to organize foods I didn’t recognize while he chopped cheese and some meat as well.
“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” Chadwick ventured.
I paused, scooping out the mini pickles to look up at him. The concern written all over his face made it hard to deny him what I knew he wanted to ask. “I don’t mind, as long as you are alright if I don’t answer it.”
“That’s fair,” Chadwick agreed, resuming his task.
“I know that Hudson sees Isabelle as the closest thing he has to a mother, but I know she doesn’t view him as a son.
It was one of the major reasons we got divorced.
At first, we tried to work it out for Ben and Grace since they were still at home with us, but I could tell it wasn’t healthy.
” Chadwick seemed to pause and switch gears on what he was going to say.
“Did you know that this is the first time in ten years that Hudson has been home for Christmas? When he was at boarding school he never came home, even on breaks.”
Shocked, I snapped my gaze up to meet his. “Ten years? He told me it had been a while, but I just figured it was since he’d been at school.”
“He was sent to the Elementi schools as soon as his powers presented. Isabelle didn’t think it was safe to have him around Ben and Grace.
I should have fought harder against her request, but I didn’t know the first thing about dealing with any of that.
I’ve always been a scientist, and it was my cousin that held the water element before Hudson, and I never interacted with him.
In trying to do what was best for my son, I also sent him away and made him feel unwanted.
We have always stayed in contact, and he kept saying that he would visit since I moved out, but he never did until now.
” Setting down his knife, he turned to me and grasped my hands.
“I have seen the change that has come over him, and I know it’s because of you.
Thank you, Lailah. Thank you for giving me another chance with my son. ”
He leaned forward and placed a kiss on my cheek, making me blush at his heartfelt words.
“Um…” I started and cleared my throat. “You said you wanted to ask me something?”
“Right,” he said, combing a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. “Are Grace and Ben safe with their mother? I don’t want what happened to Hudson to happen with them.”
I thought about that question for a moment and wondered if answering it was even my place.
Yes, I was now part of this family for better or worse, but they didn’t know me and I didn’t know them—not really.
“I won’t give you an answer to that question, but I do have a suggestion to help prevent something like that from happening, if you care to hear it. ”
“By all means.” Chadwick gestured for me to continue.
“Find out what those two really want to do. Where do they want to go to college? What job truly interests them? Not what would be best for the family image, but what gets them excited about learning? They are extremely smart, kind, and they might even have talents that you don’t even know about that they would like to pursue.
I think if you let them know they are heard and their opinion matters, it will change everything,” I answered with a shrug of my shoulders. “What could it hurt?”
“Indeed, what could it hurt...”