Beautiful, Loved and Blessed

Christmas Night

***Forgive any typos💜

"Je pensais que nous aurions des pattes de crabe? (I thought we'd be eating crab legs)" Preston said.

"Moi aussi, mais Prince ne mange pas de crustaces, donc on est respectueux. Nous allons nous faufiler et en avoir a Rio. (Me too, but Prince doesn't eat shellfish, so we're being respectful. We'll sneak and have some in Rio)." I winked at him.

We were now having dinner, and even though the Christmas dinner was delicious, both Preston and I were craving those crab legs.

"I may not fully understand French, but I do know when I hear my name." Prince playfully squinted.

As he dabbed the corners of his mouth, I smirked. Before I could say anything, Preston spoke up.

"Mommy just told me that you don't eat shellfish; I was wanting some crab legs."

Prince slightly smiled at Preston's pout.

"Thank you for being honest. If I had known that crab legs meant so much to you, I would've allowed it." Prince smirked at me.

"It's okay, we'll have some in private." Preston stated.

Prince chuckled at his innocence.

"Ms. Jeanette, I like your earrings." Michelle smiled.

"Thank you." I proudly said.

We decided to keep our personal gifts to one another, strictly between us. So, looking at Prince with a slight sparkle in my eye, I could feel myself blush.

"They really bring out your eye color." Kirk stated.

"Thank you." I smiled.

I caught Prince's slight eye roll at Kirk's compliment.  Trying to give him a non-verbal gesture to calm down, Prince simply looked at Gerard as he stuffed some salad in his mouth.

"Excuse me Ms. Devareaux, you have an important call." Todd interrupted.

I had no idea as to who would be calling me during Christmas dinner.

"Umm, okay. Excuse me everyone." I kindly said, as I rose from my chair.

Todd quickly led me to the phone.

"Hello?"

"Baby Doll, this Frank.  Merry Christmas!"

I smiled.

"Merry Christmas Mr. Frank. How did you know where I was?" I questioned.

"You stay at the same hotel every year. For some reason they tried giving me the run around, but I found you." He laughed.

"That's because I'm staying in a different suite. Is everything okay, do you need anything?" I asked.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to know what time you'll be over to see me tomorrow?"

"Well, I'm going over Raj's very early in the morning, then I'll be over there to see you. Did Miss Odessa make it?"

"Yeah, she's here now. Listen, bring me some of those stuffed pastries when you come by." Frank insisted.

"How about I pick you up, and you can come over to Raj's with me?  Miss Odessa can come too; they'll have plenty of sweets."

"I don't know about that." Frank hesitated.

"Maybe Raj wouldn't be so hard on you if he saw how good you look when you clean up." I said.

"I don't want him to see me cleaned up, then his ass will only feel sorry for me when I'm back sleeping behind his store." Frank said.