Just a Soldier

Chapter 68 - Hanukkah

A/n: Just wanted to say up front that I am not Jewish, so I've been reading to try and make sure what I say about Hanukkah is as accurate as it can be. I'm sorry if there are any mistakes!

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Y/n's POV:

Waking up in New York, for our first full day here, is exciting. I've been looking forward to these couple of weeks for a while. There is something so special about spending the holidays with people you love. This is even more special, spending it with Scarlett and her family.

This morning, we had a calm start to the day. We were all still tired from travelling yesterday and know we've got 8 full days here before we fly home, to LA, for New Year. Though, if she had the energy, I'm sure Scarlett would have taken us to our first stop of our New York Christmas experience.

It's so sweet how excited she is to share everything with us. She has a long list of places that she wants to take us, and I know that Ava is going to love it. Well, I will too! Though I think I'm most excited to spend time with Scarlett's family again. It was lovely having Melanie staying in LA for a couple of weeks after I got hurt. But this is dedicated time with her, Karsten and Hunter.

After the bumpy start when we were last here, we had a great time with them all and this trip is going to give us even more time to bond more. Starting with the first night of Hanukkah tonight. I don't really know much about what happens for Hanukkah, but Scarlett has promised to teach us all about it. It's important for me to understand this more as it means so much to Scarlett.

After a small lunch, we pack up some things to stay over at Melanie's tonight. I make sure to put in Ava's snow suit as I know her and Hunter will be playing in the snow at some point this afternoon. I also grab the orchid that I had brought Melanie at the shop this morning. I didn't want to turn up empty handed. I had wanted to buy her something more to thank her for everything, but Scarlett had insisted that she wouldn't want anything.

When we're all ready, we jump in the car and Scarlett drives us over to her mum's. Ava is excited as always to be seeing some of her favourite people and is fidgeting in her seat the whole way over. Scarlett parks the car up on the drive and we get out to grab our things. Scarlett takes Ava from her seat and I grab our over night bags from the boot.

As I shut the boot, I hear the front door open. I look up to see a smiling Melanie and within an instance, Ava has let go of Scarlett's hand and is running towards the house. Melanie is quick to catch the 7 years old as she leaps into her arms. Holding her close. "Hi princess! How are you?" Melanie asks Ava. "I'm so excited!" Ava squeals in response, earning a laugh from Melanie. Scarlett and I join the two of them at the door as Ava jumps down, allowing Melanie to greet us. She quickly pulls Scarlett into a hug, and I see Scarlett instantly relax in her arms. She really misses seeing her mum so often. Maybe we should spend more time here in New York.

Once she's greeted her daughter Melanie then turns to me. I place our bags on the floor and wrap my arms around her. She's smaller than Scarlett and I find myself having to bend down to make the hug more comfortable for both of us. "Come on in out of the cold." She instructs us in a motherly tone, moving out of the way so we can properly enter the house.

She closes the door behind us, and we slip off our coats and place our shoes in the rack. "Leave your bags there. Hunter can take them up." Melanie instructs and guides us through to the living room. "Dad! I didn't expect to see you until Christmas eve!" Scarlett exclaims in an excited tone before shooting off in his direction to engulf him in a hug. "I didn't want to miss out on time with the three of you." He explains which causes Scarlett's smile to grow wide.

"Much better greeting than last time you were here, hey?" Hunter appears from nowhere beside me and places his hand on my shoulder. I instantly turn around and hug him. "Definitely. Was strange not being a bag of nerves before getting here." I reply, the both of us laughing.