It Goes On - Book l

The Journal

Simon's Point of View:

I awoke the next morning to the bed moving beneath me. Someone was jumping on it – fumbling around like a little racoon in the middle of the night. "Aunt Kiera, Uncle Simon!" A voice sounded out, and I knew it wasn't Baler and definitely wasn't one of the twins, but it didn't take me long to realize that it was Fernando when I recognized his accent. "Wake up! Wake up!"

"Where's the fire, lad?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes before sitting up. I didn't think that Fernando would grow this comfortable around Kiera and I after seeing us for the first time in over a year, sure that he wouldn't have recognized us due to his young age.

But after dinner and festivities last night, he grew comfortable around us as the night went on, and I couldn't help but treat him like my own son. "Santa came last night!" He shouted, jumping on his knees on the bed, waking Kiera from her deep sleep before she turned over to smile at him. "Get up! Get up!"

"It's only seven a.m., honey. Nobody is awake yet," Kiera whispered, reaching up to wipe the piece of Fernando's hair that stuck to his forehead out of his eyes. "We have to wait until everyone is awake to open presents. Wouldn't you want to open your gifts on a full belly of breakfast?"

"No! I want to open presents from Santa! Dad told me that we got to open them when we woke up!" He whined.

"I know you're excited, but won't you go and wake up your dad and ask him, okay?"

"But he told me to ask you."

"Of course he did." I murmured under my breath, and I reached over to grab my t-shirt and slide it over my torso, running a free hand through my messy hair.

"Well, go and tell him that we'll get up in a bit to open presents, okay? I'm still tired from being up late."

"I'm not. I stayed up late, too."

"I know, but Aunt Kiera has a baby in her belly, and it makes me a little more tired every day."

"But you already have two. I thought you can't have more than two."

Kiera giggled, "It doesn't work like that, sweetheart."

"So, how do you make one?"

"Okay," I chimed in. "I think this isn't a conversation we should be having on Christmas," I chuckled. "We'll get up in a little bit, yeah? You're not the only one with presents from Santa."

Fernando huffed, "Okay."

He frowned when he threw his legs over the bed, his steps heavy as he walked back through the same door he came through, shutting the door behind him, and I couldn't help but chuckle, eager to experience the same thing with my own children when their time came around. I turned my body to face Kiera, grinning down at her as I admired her morning glow. She blushed when she broke her eye contact with me, but that didn't stop me from caging her lips with mine. "Merry Christmas, love."

"Merry Christmas, Simon."

My hand crept down to rest on her growing belly, rubbing my palm against it gently, growing excited of the reality that I was about to have another child to add to our family. "How's the little one in there?"

"Not big enough to keep me up at night, if that's what you're asking." She giggled.

"I set out your vitamins on the counter in the bathroom. You forgot to take them out of the bag when you came back from the store."

"Oh, thank you, Simon," She hummed, nuzzling her face against my neck. She smelled divine – a warm cashmere scent that drew me in like a moth to the flame. "I knew I was forgetting something."