Sunsets and storms ✓

Chapter 44

MATTHEW

I ran out of the front door as soon as I saw Megan pull onto the driveway. I don't care what I have to do but I'm never going to spend a full month away from her again. Fuck, I missed her so much. I don't even care that we stood outside in the cold as I hug her close to me, taking in her rose scent.

"God, I'm so glad you're here. I'm never letting you leave again."

"I'm not going anywhere for the next two weeks, babe."

I carry her bags upstairs and dump them a corner in my room. A huge grin appears on my face when she plops down on my bed and let's out a content sigh.

"I'm so tired from all the travelling today. I could fall asleep right this second."

Mom and David took the kids to a Christmas show so the house is quiet. I'm glad I don't have to share Megan right away. Louis has grown very fond of Megan and he would not leave her alone if he were here right now.

"We can take a nap if you want."

"Oh yes! I'd love to. And after that I'll tell you all about London and Owen."

"I want to hear all about it. I love you, baby." She gives me a quick peck before kicking off her boots and sliding under the blankets. She wiggles around to get comfortable but ends up taking of her jeans as well. I agree with her that jeans are terrible to take a nap in. I slide in bed behind her, pressing my body flush against hers and I wrap an arm around her waist. This right here, this is my happy place.

I wake up before Megan does. Her chest rising slowly on each breath and for a moment I just lay here listening to her soft breathing. I softly trail my fingers through the dark curls feathered out on the pillow and the soft touch wakes her up.

"That was a good nap."

"It's my calming effect."

"You're not wrong. I always sleep better when I'm with you."

"Everything is better when I'm with you. Now, tell me everything about your brother and London."

"Oh it was so amazing! The city was all lit up in Christmas lights and Owen and Ruby took me to all these pretty places. I took so many pictures, I'll show them to you later on my laptop. We talked a lot. About what our lives are now and all the stuff we missed out on, about our dads. Owen told me about the memories he has of our mother. It feels weird that he got to know her as a child but I didn't. I don't even know if it's something to be jealous of, this way at least I didn't know what I was missing."

"Just because you never knew her, doesn't mean you can't miss her. You can miss a mother without knowing who she is. I don't think either option is better, they are both sad."

"Yeah, that's true. It felt good to talk about it though, to share our disappointment in the women who gave us life and then disappeared."

"At least she did something right by bringing you onto this earth, otherwise I would just be lying here all by myself."

"My dad begs to differ though, he seems to have completely forgotten about ever having a child."

"He's not worth it, baby. He's a useless piece of shit if he doesn't appreciate you for all that you are."

"Let's talk about happier things, shall we? I can't wait to see all of your faces when you open my gifts."

It's Christmas Day morning which means the whole family gathered in the living room and there's a big pile of wrapped gifts in front of us. Lily and Louis are wearing matching pyjamas and they look beyond adorable. All of us are yawning except for Megan, the only one who is used to waking up at an ungodly hour. At seven, Louis decided he was done waiting and woke all of us up to unwrap gifts. Louis and Lily both got a bunch of toys and Louis is happily playing with them, not focussing on what else is going on.

Megan just opened the necklace with her zodiac sign and the travel cup I got for her which means it's time for me to open my gifts. The first is a new pair of earphones which I'm very happy with because my old ones died on me two days ago and I cannot live without them. The second one is bigger, a picture if I must take a guess.

I was close but it's not a picture, it's a poster of the stars with a date and coordinated underneath it.

"It's the constellations at the moment we first met three years ago."

"Wow, Megan- just wow. This is amazing. I love it. Thank you, baby."

Next up are mom and dad, they get an even bigger frame handed to them. Mom immediately gets tears in her eyes when she takes of the paper. David looks from mom to the frame with a big smile on his face.

"My babies al together. Thank you dear, this is the best Christmas gift I could get." She turns the frame and I can finally get a look at what's inside of it. It's a picture of the five of us taken only days after Lily was born. The five of us were sitting on the couch together, all huddled up and Megan secretly took some pictures. One of them is now framed and I'm a thousand percent positive it will end up on the living room wall as soon as David has a chance to grab his toolbox.