SEBASTIO STOOD AT the main front door and felt his chest swell so much with love that it almost hurt. Edie and their fifteen-month-old daughter, Rose—named after his grandmother—were putting the final touches to a somewhat squat-looking snowman near the bottom of the steps, and he observed them for a moment while they were unaware of his presence.
Edie wore no hat and her hair was piled messily on top of her head in a topknot, tendrils of dark auburn falling around her face. She’d finally let it grow again...
Rose took after both of them. She had dark hair and blue eyes. Lighter than her mother’s. Sebastio had never felt so terrified as he had the morning her slippery little form had rushed out of Edie’s body and into their lives, but in an instant the terror had been replaced with a welling of love so intense he’d almost combusted.
Every day the intensity of that emotion felled him. But what terrified him even more was the prospect that he wouldn’t have known this if Edie hadn’t come into his world and brought him back to life.
Behind him the house was decorated to the gills in preparation for Christmas in two days. Edie’s parents were due to arrive at any minute.
The scent of the massive Christmas tree in the hall tickled Sebastio’s nostrils and he had to smile at the thought of how comprehensively his life had changed. For the better.
He was back in the rugby arena too, working as a pundit for the big European tournaments, and it fed his soul to be part of that world again.
And Edie...
Pride filled him. Edie had started her own business as a creative consultant for event decorating. Jimmy was her business partner and Sebastio had become a frequent visitor to various houses and marquees, carrying Rose against his chest in a harness.
Rose spotted Sebastio in the doorway now and shrieked, clapping her hands. ‘Dada! Dada!’
Edie turned and looked up at him, smiling in that secret way she had that sent his body into meltdown. She’d been smiling at him more enigmatically for the past couple of days, actually, and it was begining to seriously unnerve him—as if she knew something he didn’t.
He vowed to get it out of her later. But for now he pulled on his boots and a coat and went to join his wife and daughter. He counted his many blessings—not least of which was the chocolate Labrador that bounded around the corner and slammed into the snowman, showering them all with snow and causing Rose to squeal with delight...
And much later he did manage to get out of Edie the reason why she’d been smiling at him as if she had a secret.
Because she did...
The secret that they were to continue a happy tradition.
Edie had conceived another Christmas baby...
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