Falling Forward ✔

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Bastien

I deposit the last present in front of Sacha, grimacing as I do. Text was Sharpied onto the wrapping in delicate font 'from: Jesse'. His douche of an ex made sure Sacha didn't forget him on Christmas.

"Now we open!" Mama claps her hands. "Noelle, you start."

And so we go around the room and open our gifts. With a family as large as ours, we kind of have a system so that presents don't take all goddamn day. Packages from the same person get revealed at the same time, pictures taken for posterity.

I pull Reece back into my lap, ignoring Claude's teasing look and bemoaning Sacha's pained expression. Mama doesn't have social media except to connect with her children. None of the pictures will end up with any hashtags or Insta feeds. Still, I shield Reece with my body through most of them.

Mia crocheted everyone a toque from the soft yarn Henry gave me. Leo crafted hot cocoa bombs. Jack gifts us with a code to access him personally for tax returns and finance questions free of charge. Sacha gives a device to enable escape from their vehicle in case of emergency (of course he did, fun-sucker). Claude graces everyone with tailored essential-oil personal lubricant.

"For those intimate times," she winks at me.

"Oh!" Mama admires the bottle of rose hip and spearmint lube, glances to Papa. "This will be fun, no? I know you like the tingling around your – "

"Okay!" I bark. It takes a lot to embarrass me, but my parents talking about sex is definitely up there. "Next gift!"

"What's this tube thing?" Leo hefts the wrapped package. "So help me if it's a dildo –"

"It's from Reece, not me." Claude scoffs.

"Oh thank God," Sacha laughs.

Mia leers sideways at him. "Bro, you need a good dicking in your life."

"What part of this," Sacha gestures to his massive frame and MMA-formed musculature, "says 'bottom' to you?"

"There exist such things as 'switch'," Claude supplies helpfully. "Did you know that the prostate –"

"Just open the damn gift!" I snap, neck heating. Hugging Reece closely, I take a deep lungful of her delicious eucalyptus scent and whisper, "Sorry about them."

"Don't be," she murmurs back. "I've never seen you blush so much. It's hilarious."

"Har-har," I deadpan and nip her earlobe. At her shudder, my hand slips involuntarily under her shirt, thumbs the scar across her belly where nobody can see. "I'm glad you're here."

Reece's big brown eyes grow soft. "I'm glad you invited me."

"PUTAIN." Mama exclaims, the first to unwrap and unroll Reece's gift. "C'est incroyable,"

One by one, my siblings unfurl a gorgeous print of original art. Each pictures the Cincinnati skyline over the river, lights glittering off the surface of the water. It's a more sophisticated version of the doodle she did for the draw-off, rendered with dynamic color and breathtaking presentation.

"I wanted to give you guys something from where I'm from," Reece offers shyly, wringing her hands and coiling further against my chest. "I know it's not much."

"This is going up in the living room," Noelle looks at Jack. "You'll frame it, right?"

"Of course," he kisses her forehead while Oscar and Gabriel use his chest as a stunt track for their toy cars.

Mama nods eagerly. "Ce sera parfait sur le balcon." This will be perfect on the balcony.

"Omigosh," Mia gushes, looks eagerly to Leo. "We can put one in the bakery and – "