The First Noelle #3
THE COLIC gods had apparently smiled at them—or Allegra had figured out what to eat and what not to eat—because the next four days were a rather blissful period of the baby sleeping for four hours at a stretch, then waking up to be fed and sleeping for four hours again.
Allegra started sleeping with the baby in the bassinet in her room full-time, because it was just as easy to wake up, nurse her, and go back to sleep that way, and they all got some much-needed rest.
It sure did make prepping for Christmas easier. There was fudge-making and cookie-baking and preparing for a simple meal of fried chicken and mashed potatoes on Christmas Eve. Roxy brought two salads, Nonna and Pop Pop brought a side, and everybody had cookies and sweets on hand for dessert.
The children got to open their presents from Isaac’s family, and Roxy and Isaac exchanged gifts.
Roxy gave him a gift certificate to his favorite yarn store.
Isaac had been working on a lace-weight sweater for her on and off all year.
There were other gifts—Allegra and Luca and Brian got into the act, and for a frantic, joyous time, the living room was full of ripped paper and happy exclamations and gratitude.
Then Roxy said, “Hey, guys, what about you? When are you opening your gifts to each other?”
“Tomorrow morning,” Isaac said promptly, giving Luca a sideways look.
He’d made Luca the requested watch cap—but he’d done some of the best colorwork of his life.
The hat featured a delicate herd of reindeer on a snowy field of midnight blue.
The pattern hadn’t been easy, and Isaac had used scraps of the brown alpaca to emboss the deer in duplicate stitch across the background, but it had come out almost ethereally beautiful.
Like Isaac thought of his strong, kind, amazing lover. Perfect, and perfectly sweet.
Isaac wanted Luca to open it when they were alone together, because he knew—trusted—that Luca would know what an act of faith that hat was. Isaac was hopeful, so hopeful, that Luca would understand that every stitch was an act of love.
“Well, yeah,” Luca said. “We got gifts for each other for tomorrow, but I got one I wanted to give Isaac tonight. When we’re surrounded by family.”
Isaac froze. Not in horror, but in hope. Really?
“Really?” he asked. “You’re going to do this now?”
“Yeah,” Luca said, going to the tree and coming back with a small box. Suddenly the once-chaotic living room grew absolutely still. Even the cat stopped battling paper in the pile, and little Noelle gave a hiccup in the middle of a fuss and was abruptly silent in Allegra’s arms.
“Isaac?” Roxy asked, her eyes wide.
He held a finger to his lips. “Don’t jinx it,” he whispered.
He was sitting in his usual chair, the one where he sat to knit, holding Patricia on his lap as she played with the doll Isaac and Allegra had picked especially for her.
Roxy held her arms out for her daughter, and Isaac silently nudged the little girl until she ran across the room to where Roxy was sitting on a kitchen chair.
And then Luca was simply there, like he’d appeared in Isaac’s life, except he was on one knee, holding the box out for Isaac to take.
“Really?” Isaac asked, wondering if astronauts could see his glow from space.
“Yeah,” Luca said. “I… did you think that conversation disappeared into the ether?”
“No,” Isaac told him truthfully as he began to rip little pieces of paper off the box. “I… but… you got them in four days?”
“Naw. I’ve had them since October,” Luca said, ignoring Isaac’s little gasp of shock. “I wasn’t sure you were ready. But, you know. We talked, and I knew.”
“Oh, you guys,” Allegra breathed. “Stop telling each other secret stuff and let Isaac open that box!”
Isaac smiled up at her and got to the diminutive black velvet package of dynamite in the center.
Too excited to build suspense, he popped open the lid, and there they were.
Two rings in stressed multicolored gold.
Isaac lifted one out, and it had a heart with Isaac’s name on the inside, and Luca lifted the other out, showing Isaac a heart with Luca’s name.
Luca held his ring for Isaac to slide on. “Yeah?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Isaac whispered, and it wasn’t until a hot tear splashed on the back of his hand that he realized he was crying.
His finger slid right in, a perfect fit, and he wondered if Luca had seen the other ring, plain gold, that he kept back with his cufflinks, because he hadn’t wanted to wear it anymore.
Like a memory in a cupboard, brought out sometimes when it was needed, but collecting dust in the meantime.
Not this ring, Isaac thought, staring at it as it rested on his finger. This ring wasn’t a memory in the cupboard. This ring was a living, breathing person who was now the other half of Isaac’s heart.
“Good tears?” Luca asked, his voice thick.
“Good tears,” Isaac confirmed, wiping his face with the back of his hand. “Kiss me now, when everybody can see, and it’ll be official.”
Luca leaned forward, eyes closed, the perfect prince.
And the cat leapt on top of his head, bounded off, and landed in the middle of the giant pile of paper again.
In the midst of shrieks of laughter, Luca finished the kiss, and Isaac fell into it.
This—this—was what happy ever after must feel like.
He couldn’t imagine anything more.