“You too, Mom.” Hanging up, I turn around and my eyes widen when I see all the presents laid out, when there’s another knock at the door. “I’ll get it.” Shuffling over, I open it and once again, I come face-to-face with a pile of presents. “Dad, what the puck?”
“Phil, thanks for your help,” Dad says to our present-laden doorman, ignoring me. He ushers Phil in and helps him unload the presents.
“Merry Christmas, Chelsea and Kallen,” Phil says with a nod before exiting our apartment.
“Dad, this is too much.”
“Never. Grandpa is going to spoil Bug and it all starts with her first Christmas.”
“You do realize that right now, she’s the size of a plum?”Ohh plum, I could go for a plum right nowI think to myself as I stare at Dad, who is placing a hockey puck under the tree. “Daaaaaad, she won’t need that ‘til she’s—”
“Born,” Kallen interrupts. “Need to start on the next generation of Jones hockey players.”
“Puck me.” I rub my stomach. “Bug, I’m so sorry that your family is crazy.”
“Grandpa heard that, Pumpkin,” Dad says as he walks into the kitchen and over to the coffee maker. He sets about making coffee for everyone, and a tea for me, while Kal starts arranging a fruit platter. Walking over to him, I pinch a strawberry off the plate and take a bite. Closing my eyes, I moan as the sweet juices explode and dance on my tongue.
Opening my eyes, I see Kal staring at me, a heated look is reflecting back at me, and suddenly I’m no longer thinking about plums. I’m thinking about my husband and all the sexy things I want to do to him on the kitchen island. He and I screw on this counter more than we eat at it, which is probably a good thing for sanitary purposes.
Thankfully, there’s a knock at the door and it bursts the connection because we cannot do that on the counter right now, not with Dad currently arguing with the coffee maker. “I’ll get it,” I say again.
This time, when I open the door, it's Mom, with no presents. “What, no presents?” I tease. “The last two people to arrive were laden with presents.”
“Sorry to disappoint, sweetheart, but I can offer you and Bug a hug?”
“Bug and I would love that.” Mom envelops me in a hug and I embrace her back just as tightly. “Merry Christmas, Mom.”
“Merry Christmas, baby girl.” She pulls back and stares at me, she’s smiling brightly and I find myself grinning back at her. Linking my arm with Mom’s, we walk into the apartment and her eyes widen when she sees all the gifts. “I’d like to state, I had no part in this present explosion.”
“No, but you did go crazy on Baby Barn ordering clothes,” Dad informs us, trying to show that Mom is just as baby crazy as he is.
“I’m a nanny, it's my prerogative to spoil my grandbaby with clothes.”
“And it's my prerogative to spoil my grandbaby with anything I want,” Dad throws back at her.
“We’ve created grandmonsters,” Kal whispers as he wraps his arms around me from behind, resting his hands on my tiny baby belly.
Our first Christmas as a married couple started off rocky, thanks to a rivalry on the ice that threatened to derail Christmas with an arrest. But now, the air is clear, paving the way for a bright future, on and off the ice. The rivalry between Kal and Stefan is finally over, something Bug and I are extremely happy for.
As I stand here in my husband’s arms and watch my parents bicker about the arrival of their grandbaby, I realize that it’s a pucking good Christmas and next year is going to be so pucking great.
The Pucking End!
Want to read the story of how Kallen and Chelsea fell in love? Grab I Pucking Hate That I Love You now.
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