Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Christmas day had been in full swing since I opened my eyes this morning. Ava wasn’t up at four, but by six she was beating Kiyan’s bedroom door off the hinges ready for me to come down so she could get started on opening gifts.
When we got downstairs my mouth hit the floor.
There were so many more gifts than when we went to bed the night before, spread throughout the den.
They had everything separated for the kids, and the mountain in front of Ava had my heart filled.
I got her a good bit of stuff when we went out to shop for the two of us, but nothing compared to what she had in front of her now.
“Hope you don’t mind that I added onto what you already had for her. I just wanted her to have the day she deserved.” Kiyan voiced before his arms slipped around my body and he kissed the side of my neck. “Both of you.”
“No, it’s fine,” I confessed, fighting to hold back tears. Aldrick was very well off, but he never went to this extent for her. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, love. I got you.”
When he released me, I went over to join my baby.
She was running amuck, trying to open two and three presents at a time.
I had to slow her down by sitting her between my legs and helping her open one thing after the other.
She’d get one gift open then immediately run it over to Kiyan so that he could see it too.
“Ava Bug,” Mr. Keith called out to my baby with the new nickname he’d given her.
“Papa!” she exclaimed, tossing her arms in the air.
“That’s right. Papa has a special gift for you in the garage when you’re done opening these.”
That was all she needed to hear. She wasted no time tossing the doll in her hands down and darting toward the closet where her coat and boots were. We all laughed seeing her excitedly putting her things on then hurrying toward him.
I climbed to my feet as well because I was also anxious to know what was waiting for her in the garage.
“Bike!” She screamed as she ran toward the pink bicycle with pink and white streamers hanging from the handlebars.
There was a helmet on the seat along with knee and elbow pads in the basket on the front.
I was relieved to see that it also had training wheels because my baby didn’t know how to ride a bike.
“She kept showing me pictures and videos of kids on bikes, so I figured she wanted one of her own.”
“It’s perfect,” I sniffled, no longer able to hold back my tears. “Thank you so much, Mr. Keith.”
“Anything to make my Ava Bug smile,” he nodded, still watching her as she sat on her new bike. She wasn’t going out to ride it just yet because she had plenty more gifts to open, but that didn’t stop her from putting the helmet and pads on with Kiyan.
When we got back inside, she finished opening presents, which I thought was impossible for a second because the gifts were never ending. There were toys and wrapping paper all over by the time the kids were done, so I got a garbage bag and began collecting it all.
“Leila, put that bag down and have a seat,” Kiyan’s mother fussed. “My Lord, you don’t know how to relax do you?”
I chuckled. “I just wanted to clear some space. There are more gifts to open.”
“Then sit and open them,” she replied. “They’re all yours.”
My eyes stretched wide. There were at least fifteen more gifts under the tree, and I figured there was no way they were mine. I hadn’t gone through them, but I was sure I’d wrapped a lot of them and placed the ones that were closest to the tree, so they couldn’t be mine.
Right?
I walked over to get one and sure enough, my name was on the label as the recipient. I took a seat on the nearby ottoman and opened it to find a beautiful silk robe with matching bedroom shoes.
“Every girl needs a good robe and some house shoes,” Miranda said with a smile. “Merry Christmas.”
“Aw.” I playfully pouted as I got up to go hug her. “Thank you, girl.”
“Mine next,” Mel said anxiously. “It’s the smaller one.”
I grabbed the box she was pointing to and tore the wrapping paper from it.
“Melonie.” I gasped seeing the beautiful diamond earrings.
“What’s a pretty girl with no diamonds?” she grinned.
I did the same as I did with Miranda, going over to give her a tight hug.
I went through the rest of the gifts from Kiyan’s parents, his aunt and uncle, and his sister. I wasn’t expecting any of this, but I was very grateful because they all put a lot of thought into what they got me.
“And you know we had to save the best for last.” Kiyan approached with an envelope that had the design of a Christmas present on it and a small box.
“It better be the best in a freaking envelope,” Mel fussed and rolled her eyes. “What?” she looked at her mom who’d elbowed her. “He has money, so he better not have been cheap.”
“Just hush your mouth, Melonie,” Ms. Pat scolded.
I took the gifts from Kiyan before he had a seat next to me.
I put the box in my lap and opened the envelope first. There was a printout of a map with a heart around the symbol for the Eiffel Tower, and on a small but thick card there was a message: Paris is supposed to be the city of love—whenever you’re ready to find out, let me know.
Along with the map and card was a mock plane ticket and passport sleeve.
My eyes misted over for the millionth time, and it was barely ten in the morning.
“Kiyan,” I whispered.
“Open the other one, babe,” he encouraged.
Nodding, I sat the envelope and its contents next to me then untied the ribbon on the small box. When I removed the lid there was a single key.
“This isn’t about pressure. It’s peace,” he started. “I don’t want you wondering where you stand or where you’re supposed to go from here. This is your home as long as you want it to be.”
The flood gates had opened, and my tears were now freely flowing as I put the box down and wrapped my arms around Kiyan’s neck to hug him tightly.
I left my home of ten plus years one night, not knowing what I was walking me and my daughter into, but we walked right into an overflow of unconditional love and family.
It didn’t feel weird, it didn’t feel off, it was just right. It was just what we both needed.
“Okay, okay,” I sniffled, “I’m a mess.” I laughed as I wiped some of my tears. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing wrong with crying as long as they’re tears of joy,” Mrs. Latrina commented.
“I got you something too.” I got up to go get the gift wrapped box for him.
I didn’t have a lot of money, and I didn’t feel right getting him a gift with the money he’d given me, but I did put a lot of thought and love into what I had for him.
I even had to unwrap it to update it once. “It’s not a lot…”
“It’s plenty,” he cut in. “I don’t even have to see it to know that.”
We both smiled at each other before he started to remove the gift wrap revealing the book I had made for him. On the front was a picture we’d taken at the Christmas party and the title Holiday Specials: Good for one (or more) moments with me above it.
I noticed that his smile was still in place, so it made me feel a little less anxious as he started to flip through the pages of coupons I made for him.
A few of the coupons were things like free lunch at the university, breakfast in bed, and tickets to a Titans game, but also date nights, and that thing you wouldn’t let me do the first night.
Some of them would come a little later, but they were things that I wanted to do with him eventually.
“I’ll just punch a hole in the ones that you’ve redeemed as we go,” I smiled.
“There was a hole in the first page already,” he said as he flipped back to the page then he read, “my heart.”
“Because you have it already.”
Like he did before, he sat the book to the side and pulled me into an extremely tight hug, kissing my neck and face while doing so.
What I fully expected to be one of the worst times and holidays of my life ended up being the best I’d ever had, and I planned to thank God and Kiyan for that for the rest of my life.