That's Christmas To Me

22. This Christmas

One year later.

"Connor! Baby get in here!" I yelled. He raced into the living room.

"Zoooooom." He said as he brought his paper airplane in. Andy walked in with him.

Claudia chuckled. I was holding four month old Jade. Her baby.

Andy sat down next to me. Jade was playing with my hair.

"Where's Adam?" Claudia asked.

"Pooping!" Connor yelled.

"Oh lovely." Claudia said. "Adam hurry up!"

I chuckled. Andy laid back next to me, holding jades little hand with his finger.

"Hey cutie pie." Andy whispered.

"I'm here too." Connor said.

"Come here." Andy said to Connor. Connor ran over and collapsed in Andy's arms.

"Adam!" Claudia screamed. Jade started to fuss. I chuckled and handed her over to her mom. Connor was giggling as Andy tickled him.

The doorbell rang. Jacob and Sarah were here. Andy went to answer the door.

"Jacob?" Connor asked excitedly. I nodded.

Connor ran to the door. Jacob immediately picked him up and brought him over to me. Sarah hugged Andy.

I stood up and hugged Jacob.

"Hi bud." I said. Connor was giggling.

"Hi. You look very nice Mrs. Barber." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks."

"Claudia. Always looking beautiful." Jacob said. Claudia smiled.

"God he's a charmer." Claudia said. Andy chuckled.

"Gets it from me." Andy said as he kissed my cheek. Adam came into the living room.

"Ayeee! Barber jr how's it going?" Adam said. He pulled Jacob in.

"Adam. Hi." Jacob said and laughed.

"Took you long enough to shit." Claudia said.

Adam smiled. "Yeah yeah."

Sarah saw me and smiled. I pulled her in.

"How are you pretty girl?" I asked.

"Really good." She said. Jacob was already hugging Connor while he sat in his lap.

Andy pulled me to sit down, along with Sarah next to him. Jacob wrapped an arm around sarah.

Andy kissed my temple as Connor ran over to me.

"Okay. Hi crazy boy. Go see dad."

Adam immediately picked him up. He looked at his baby sister and smiled.

This past year has been wild.

I ended up marrying Andy a lot quicker than I had expected. I married him two months after he asked me, and he bought us a new house. We live in Connecticut, and Connor goes to school four days a week in Massachusetts where he stays with his dad, and spends three days with us.

I was okay with it. I missed him a lot, but if I ever wanted to visit him, Adam and Claudia let me. So we spent a lot of time together.

Connor was such a trooper. He met Jacob and fell in love with him. He loved having a big brother.

And he had a little sister too.

Andy rubbed my back. We had decided to spend Christmas altogether. Especially since my parents passed away.

This was my first Christmas without them. I was a extremely sad, but I stayed strong. Everyone was over at our house, in our home.

I was gonna be okay.

My dad passed away from a heart attack in March, and my mom soon after in April. She died suddenly, and I know it was heartbreak. She loved my dad.

Andy knew these next few days were gonna be hard. So did Adam and Claudia. But Christmas is about family. And I have a great one around me.

I moved to get up. "Alright I have hot chocolate and cookies and you all better be ready to watch elf!" I said.

•••

Andy sat with me in bed. Everyone was in a bedroom, sleeping.

He was reading while I wrote. I needed to get a chapter in on my latest book.

It also kept my mind off things.

"Rory."

"Mhm."

"You doing okay?" He asked. I slowly stopped typing.

"Mhm." I said. He shut my laptop and his book, setting them both on his nightstand.

"Mmmmmm." I said. I took off my reading glasses and sighed.

Andy moved to lay on top of me. Stress reliever.

"Hi." I said as he got comfortable.

"Hey. I'm proud of you." He whispered.

"Dooooont." I said, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Let it out."

"You're starting it. You know what makes me cry." I said.

"Well I could start talking about how you're such a good mom, you've been doing so much, you need to stop bottling things up, I'm so in love with you and I always have been-"

I stopped listening and started crying. He knew how to get it out of me.

I sat up, sitting him up with me. He pulled me into a hug. I ended up on his lap as I cried into his chest.

"Aurora. It's okay to be sad during this." He whispered.

"I'm not sad I just- I don't know. I feel like I didn't do enough with them."

"Really? You spent the last three months of their lives helping them nonstop. You went over at least three times a week. You did more than enough with them."

I sniffled lightly. Andy laid back on the bed, bringing me with him. He sat up and wiped my tears.

"You know that they're watching over you. Both of them. They're amazing people." He said, tears in his eyes too.

I smiled sadly. "Noooo."

He sighed and rested his forehead on mine. "I'm sorry. Your parents were more loving to me than my own parents were. I miss them too."

I sighed and smiled. "I love you."

"I love you more."