32. Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Vic
T anner makes us breakfast and we spend the rest of the morning being a little lazy. We take a shower and go out to his family’s Christmas dinner. My parents had invited us to their Christmas dinner, but I’d declined. I would much rather be with Tanner’s warm, loud, boisterous family than my own.
The whole drive to his sister’s house, he bugs me, asking who my Secret Santa present is for. I ignore him. We park and bring in the presents. I’m greeted by Kynlee, Harper’s youngest daughter, who runs up to me.
“Auntie Vic!” she says, hugging me before Tanner.
My heart melts a little as I look over her head at her uncle.
“Excuse me,” he says, grinning. “I thought I was the favourite.”
Kynlee giggles as she hugs him next. “Did you bring me a present, Uncle Tanner?”
“Now you’re sounding like your Auntie Vic. The first thing she said when she got up this morning was that she wanted her present.”
“That’s not true! The first thing I asked was what time we had to be here.”
Kynlee grabs my hand, pulling me into the house. “What did Uncle Tanner get you, Auntie Vic?”
“He’s taking me on a trip in a few months.”
She looks up at me, confused. “That’s not a present. A present is something like the Frozen Lego set Mom and Dad got me.”
“Did I hear you’re going on a trip?” Harper asks as I enter the kitchen, carrying the pies and handing them over.
“Yes. In March. To Hawaii.”
“Tanner is taking you?” She sets the pies in the fridge. “My brother Tanner?”
“Yes, your brother Tanner,” he says, coming into the kitchen behind me.
“But you don’t even like to leave your house,” she says.
He shrugs. “I’m making some changes.”
I link my arm through his. “We’ve been leaving the house together,” I say. “Going out for a bunch of things. And I got him tickets to some hockey games coming up in the new year.”
“Huh.” Harper says. “I never would have expected it of you, Tanner. Seems like Vic is good for you in a lot of ways.”
“Hear that, Tanner?” I say, looking up at him. “I’m good for you.”
He laughs, leaning down to kiss the tip of my nose. “I already knew that.”
We go to the living room where the rest of his family is already sitting around, chatting, laughing. There are presents stacked under the tree so high the bottom branches are blocked from view.
I notice one member of the family isn’t here. Keith is conspicuously absent. Juliet and Cooper are both here, laughing with their cousins. I’m glad they get to take part in their family events, even if their father doesn’t want to.
When it’s time for presents, I hold my Secret Santa gift in my lap, waiting for my turn to give it away. Annette likes to give the gifts in order from youngest to oldest. So the little kids get their presents first, followed by the teenagers. For two of the boys, Jaxon and Carson, it’s their last year before they join the gift exchange. Then we’re on to the Secret Santa. When it’s Tanner’s turn, everyone looks around to see who is going to give him a present.
I hand him the gift I’d brought.
He tips his head back and laughs. “If you get your spouse, you can request a different name.”
I shrug. “I was glad I got you this year. Kind of took the pressure off of figuring out what to get someone I don’t know well.” I glance around the room. “I hope to know you all better by next Christmas, but this year, it was nice to have it a little easier.” I look back at Tanner. “Plus, I knew exactly what I was going to do as soon as I pulled your name.” I tap the box. “I knew what this present was going to be before your other present.”
“Open it, Uncle Tanner,” Cooper says from his spot next to his sister.
“Okay, okay.” He tears the paper and finds a shoe box inside. He gives me a curious look before lifting the lid. Just before he sees inside, I meet Juliet’s eye and wink at her. Tanner sets the box lid aside and he covers his mouth with his hand. He’s smiling, though.
“You made all these?” he asks. “When? How?”
“I can be sneaky. I might have spent some time at the office working on this instead of doing my job. And you’ve been working late a few times over the last couple months.”
He pulls out piece after piece of origami, three friendship bracelets, a few painted rocks, and a felt flower with a button centre. He holds that between his fingers and looks at Juliet.
“Do you remember making a bunch of these one summer?” he asks.
“Where do you think Auntie Vic got the idea?” she says. “She asked me about the origami, so I showed her a few things. Then she asked what other things we would do together.”
“I helped,” Rebecca says. “We did the painted rocks when I was Kynlee’s age.”
One of the other nieces, Blake, says, “I remember making the bracelets with you, Uncle Tanner.”
“I asked what kinds of things you would do with them,” I tell him, taking one of the bracelets out of the box and tying it around his wrist. “The girls all talked about the things you would make and how much they loved making things with you. I wanted to be part of that, but so many of them are all grown up now. So I thought I’d do a little bit of it on my own. And I made all of this.” I gesture to the items in the box.
He grins at me. “So I can’t throw it away.”
“That’s right.”
He cups my face. “Victoria Marcus. Has some of my craziness rubbed off on you?”
I wrinkle my nose. “Maybe just a little.”
“Good.” He kisses me in front of his whole family, and I don’t ever want him to stop.
The week after Christmas is quiet. We don’t have much scheduled at Blue Vista, and Tanner took the time off from Sterling. He deserves it, considering how much my father has asked him to work over the last few months.
The New Year’s Eve party is tonight, but Spencer and Lis opted not to go since she’s officially on maternity leave and getting tired earlier. Adalie and Nate also decided to stay home since he has his daughter, Dani, tonight. Derek and Ava went, because one of the owners should be there, and Tanner asked if we could stay home, saying he was tired as well.
So we ring in the new year and curl up in bed together, falling asleep only half an hour after midnight.
Then my phone rings, yanking me from sleep. My heart is racing as I snatch it up. The person calling has to have called twice in a row since I have do not disturb on. Tanner sits up blearily, reaching for his glasses as I check the screen, seeing Spencer’s name, and my heart rate speeds a little more.
“Spencer?” I say. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he says, and his voice is soft. “Absolutely nothing is wrong.”
I blink in confusion and look over at Tanner, who is watching me with concern.
“Then why are you calling me at…” I check the time, “2am?”
“Because we played rock, paper, scissors, and I won. I’m going to switch to video. Are you guys decent?”
My brain is struggling to catch up to what he’s saying, and Tanner says, “Decent enough.”
Then my phone buzzes and I accept the video call. There, on the screen, are Spencer and Lis, and a tiny bundle wrapped in a green blanket with a little blue hat.
“I wanted you to be the first to meet Westley Cole,” Spencer says.
“I wanted Daze to be first,” Lis says. “But Spencer won.”
My eyes immediately fill with tears at the absolute perfection of the image I’m seeing. My best friend, the love of his life, and the product of that love.
“Oh my god. Let me see his face.”
Spencer moves the phone so I can see the little nose and the tiny lips and the closed eyes as he sleeps in his mother’s arms.
“He’s perfect,” I say, wiping the tears away. “Isn’t he perfect, Tanner?”
Tanner nods seriously. “I have seen many perfect babies, and Westley is definitely one of them.”
“I need to come to the hospital. I need to meet him.” I’m already moving before Tanner grabs me to hold me still.
Spencer laughs. “You can wait until morning.”
“I didn’t even know you were in labour,” I say.
“No one did,” Lis says, and Spencer adjusts the phone again so I can see everyone. “I didn’t want to tell anyone until it was over.”
“When did it start?” I ask.
“Last night,” she says, then shakes her head. “No. It’s tomorrow now. The night before. I called the doctor in the morning.”
“You were in labour more than twenty-four hours?” I say, aghast.
Lis laughs. “That’s not uncommon. Especially for a first.”
“He’s a week early. I thought first babies usually come late.”
Lis shrugs, looking down at her little bundle. “He decided he didn’t want us to start the new year without him. He was born at 12 o’clock and thirty seconds.”
“But you’re okay? You’re both okay?”
“Mm-hm. Tired. Also kind of full of adrenaline. It’s coming down though. We should probably go so I can call Daze, then go to sleep.”
“I can come later?” I ask.
“Yes,” Spencer says. “But don’t bring anything. We’ll just have to bring it home after. We’ll have people over soon.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later. Congratulations.”
“Congratulations,” Tanner says.
We hang up with them and I lay back down. Tanner does as well, lying on his side facing me. He hasn’t taken his glasses off.
“How do you feel?” he asks.
“I’m so excited. Westley is more like my nephew than I think any kid Liam will ever have. He’s my very first nephew, Tanner.” I grin. “I am going to spoil that boy completely rotten. Adalie’s baby, too. And Derek and Ava’s if they decide to have any. I don’t think I’ll have as many as you, but still.”
He strokes my hair away from my face. “That’s all?”
I search his eyes and realize he’s still concerned. “Were you worried I’d see the baby and want one?”
He shrugs. “Maybe a little. I’ve been around babies for twenty-six years. I was ten when Skylar was born and have had baby after baby come into my family. I know you don’t want kids, but people change their minds.”
“What about you? You were so certain you wouldn’t change your mind, you got a vasectomy.”
“That’s true. I don’t know. It’s not really that I worried you’d change your mind. I guess everything has just gone so well between us, my mind was trying to find reasons it might go wrong.”
I push on his shoulder, shoving him onto his back. I prop my chin on my hand over his chest and tangle my legs with his. “Isn’t it my job to be the worrier? Nothing is going to go wrong. Now, Mr. Uncle Expert. What kinds of things should I do to spoil these kids?”