Skye looks down under the tree. It’s empty. “Yes.” she nods, then grabs a box of crayons from the table. “Here.”
Sasha gasps, looking at me pointedly. Skye is mighty obsessed with drawing.
“Are you sure?” Hayden holds the crayons in front of him.
“Yes. Now we do color together.” She picks up a coloring book and plops down on the floor. When Hayden doesn’t follow suit immediately, she looks up at him, annoyed. “Come, Hay-hen. We color.”
“Poppet, Hayden might be tired from traveling,” Sasha tries to interrupt.
“It’s okay,” Hayden says, sitting down on my living room floor next to my niece. “I’d love to color with you, Skye. What have we here? Is that a dinosaur?”
Skye giggles. “No, silly! A bird!”
“Ha!” Hayden looks at her seriously. “Wanna know a secret?” Skye nods, already enthralled by him. “Birds are actually the closest thing we have to dinosaurs,” he whispers.
Skye’s mouth opens. “Really?”
“Mhhmmm. Stick with me, Skye. Uncle Hayden will teach you all the cool stuff.” My ovaries melt at him calling himself her uncle, and if I wasn’t pregnant with his baby already I’d be dragging him into the bedroom to rectify the issue.
She squeals excitedly and slides closer to him until she’s sitting on his knees. Together they start whispering and coloring in Skye’s new coloring book.
“I guess I’ve been replaced…” I mutter as Sasha and I make our way to the kitchen to check on the turkey in the oven.
“You? Look at poor Connor! I’ve never seen him this jealous.”
I look behind me, spotting Connor watching Hayden and Skye intently. My eyes follow his gaze and land on the pair. It’s inevitable, really. The warmth in my chest as I watch them play. The feeling like this could be us someday. And even though it’s much sooner than I expected, I’m not scared anymore.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I whisper in his ear as we watchElfafter finishing dinner.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, Sugar,” he whispers back.
It feels so good. So natural. Like we could really do this. Like this could be something that could happen every year. Like we could sit like this every night after dinner, our baby cuddled up into his side, just like Skye is at the moment.
My chest expands, and a tear slides down my cheek. I wipe it away before anyone notices. I’m so damn happy. And for the first time in a really long time, I’m hopeful. And excited about the future.
That night, I ask Hayden to stay.
“Are you sure, Natasha? Your family is here and I—”
“They’re leaving tomorrow,” I interrupt him. “I want you here. I want to feel your arms around me when I go to sleep tonight. It’s my Christmas wish.”
A corner of his mouth turns up. “How could I deny you a wish?”
“That would be so heartless.”
He nods. “And as heartless as I am in a business meeting… When it comes to you, Natasha, my heart feels full.”
“Does that mean—”
“I’ll stay.”
I can’t help the grin that spreads across my face.
“I’m glad.” Taking his hand, I guide him to my bedroom. “I may have a present for you.” I want to tell him so much that I’m pregnant. But I want to do it on our terms. Just me and him. I don’t want him to feel pressured to react one way or another. That’s why I’ve decided to wait until my sister and her family leave tomorrow.
“If it’s a box of crayons, I’ll hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I already got some pretty awesome ones.”
“It’ll be hard to top that, for sure,” I agree solemnly, sitting him down on my bed. “I’ll just have to try my hardest.”