Oh Snowy Night

“You make the perfect Santa, babe.” He lifts me, sitting me down onto the counter. I stare at him for a moment, thinking about how we came to be all those years ago. I always get a little nostalgic this time of year, plus the pregnancy hormones add to that a little.

“I miss it here.” I look around at our small cabin that we used to call home. Now we only use it for Christmas. It’s a tradition to stay here on Christmas Eve. We call it our Christmas house because that’s exactly what it is. It had taken Conn months to talk me into moving out of here but I knew he was right. We’d outgrown this place when we had our first child and then when the second came, I knew that it was time. I had to let it go but only after Conn promised that we would continue to celebrate Christmas here. Okay, I don’t know if you call building a house a mile down the road “letting it go” but still. We don’t technically stay here anymore, except on Christmas Eve. From time to time Conn and I sneak away down here for a date night without the little ones underfoot but that never lasts more than a few hours.

“Our house looks just like this.” I snort a laugh. I did stick to the rustic look when we built our new place but it isn’t that rustic. It has all of the modern amenities but isn’t overly fancy.

“We can come here anytime. Pretty sure I fucked you on that sofa two weeks ago.”

I place my hands on his chest. That he did and it was mind blowing. That’s nothing new for us though. From the moment we came into each other’s lives we’ve had an undeniable attraction to one another.

“You did.” I smile, tilting my head back to offer him a kiss. He takes it. Even though we’ve kissed thousands of times, I can never get enough of him.

“You want me to make you more cookies?” he offers. I do but I want him more than any other treat right now.

“I’m good.” I slide my hands up his chest, wrapping them around his neck. “They asleep?”

“They passed right out.”

“Liar.” He’s been putting our two little ones to bed for over an hour now. I bet they talked him into four extra books. He may look intimidating, but our children have him wrapped around their little fingers. He’s such a good dad. I knew he would be. I wanted my kids to have the childhood that I always dreamed of. With two parents who loved and adored them. I wanted them to know that they would always come first and that they would be loved. Conn and I may not have had that but our kids will.

“I call it stretching the truth. They passed right out.” He smirks. “After the fifth book or so.” I laugh against him, pulling him down for another kiss. I knew that’s what happened because Conn is such a sucker when it comes to our kids. It’s adorable.

“This place holds so many memories. We had all of our firsts here. Our first kiss, our first tree, our first child.” I look around at all the homemade decorations that are strewn everywhere. We’ve made it a tradition to make decorations out of whatever we could find, just like Conn did for me when we first met. That memory brings a smile to my face. Bear lies near the fireplace with Smittens on top of him as usual. They’ve been inseparable from the moment they met and that hasn’t changed any.

“I love you,” Conn says, staring down at me.

“I love you too.” He lifts me, carrying me over toward the sofa. He sits down with me in his lap and I wiggle on his hardness.

“You want your Christmas gift early?” I wiggle again, making him groan.

“You are my gift. The day you walked into my life was the best present that I could have ever asked for. Then you loved me and I didn’t think it could get better than that until you gave me a family.” Tears spring to my eyes at his words. “I Have Faith. What more could I ask for?”

“I knew the moment I lit my sweater up that you were a goner.” He smiles before he places a kiss on my lips.

“Enough of this sweet talk. Since you’re sitting on my lap, sweet girl, why don’t you tell me if you’ve been naughty or nice.”

I giggle against his lips. “Definitely naughty.”