The Billionaire's Nanny

A merry Christmas

Christmas had never been anything special for me. I had spent my last two Christmas' before this working an all-day shift at work, wiping vomit off tables and getting yelled at by unhappy customers taking their anger and frustrations on me. Afterward, C and I would spend the morning drinking on a rooftop and dancing to Fuck Christmas by Eric Idle. It was not exactly like I was the grinch or that I forbade the holiday spirit, there really was just nothing to celebrate or be happy for. After spending most of my childhood holidays hoping I would escape some beating or screaming from the matron on duty at the foster care that day who would rather be drinking her guts out on her day off, it was not exactly my favorite time of the year, so I said a big fuck you to it every year.

This year though, it was a whole different story. Like I had stepped into this perfect, in your dreams life belonging to someone else. And for the first time in my life, the reality was the more preferable option. This was my life, my family, my home.

I had realized after being married to Lucas for almost two months, that home did not always have to mean just a place where you felt comfortable and happy to live, home could be that one person who truly go you even without words. And I had both, I had a home and I had my home.

My husband.

As if on cue, I felt the heat of Lucas' body as he pressed himself against me from behind. I giggled, letting him wrap the thick fur of his full-length coat around me. It was a special oversized coat that still fit even with Lucas' large frame and my rather small form inside it.

"I have a coat on," I said through laughter, even though I did not nearly mind being this close to him. It was his favorite thing to do since we arrived, and I was not about to fight him on that.

My favorite thing was still the same after returning to this house after months. Look into the fields from the comfort of our bedroom balcony. And even though most of the green that was evident when we had first come here for vacation was now covered in frosty snow, it was still a lovely sight to behold.

"It's chilly out here," he pressed a kiss on top of my head, before resting his chin on the spot, "It won't make for a great Christmas Eve if you catch a cold."

I tilted my head, brushing my nose against his, "You'll take care of me if I do,"

His low chuckle was a vibration on my back, "You know I will." And then he kissed me. A soft, yet smoldering kiss that restored the heat back in my blood.

"We should go downstairs," Lucas finally said when he pulled back, "Mom will come up here to get you herself if we don't get there in time."

Martha had insisted that we spend our first Christmas as a couple here in Milan and while everyone knew it was mostly because she felt like she had missed out on something when we came without her earlier, Lucas agreed that it would make a lovely holiday especially at this time of the year. He was not wrong.

I chuckled, painfully tearing myself away from his warmth, "Lead the way."

The tree came into my line of sight first. It was large and very real—a contrast to the plastic ones I had had all through my childhood— and had a little more than a hundred ornaments all around it. Robin, Lucas, and the kids had been working on making it the best tree ever since we arrived here and I did not need to look twice to know they had made good on that thought.

Around it, Elmo, Zoey, and the twins gathered, planting more and more festive ornaments, while Lucas and Robin decided they would finish the last two steps sometime before morning. Zoey, who had started to say her words more clearly, knocked over various presents wrapped under the tree as she made a protest, trying to place her own orb on the tree too.