Generations: The Long Game

First Annual Knight Christmas Part 1

Christmas Eve

First Annual Knight Christmas Part 1
Marjorie has spent most of the last few days trying to tie up all the loose ends for their first Christmas all together. She wanted it to be perfect. She wanted it to be better than perfect.

"Reece, are you sure you have your menu set and ready?" This was about the tenth time she asked him, and he was trying to be patient.

"Gorgeous, why don't you let me worry about the kitchen, and you can worry about all the rest." He pulled her in and place his hand on the bump. "What do you think little one? Should mommy let daddy handle the kitchen?"

She knew he was trying to distract her, but she loved when he talked to the bump. His love and the love he gave their children warmed her. She would never forget that feeling, and never stop craving it.

"Okay, my love, but you better be on point tomorrow." She winked at him and walked away. She was still worried that something wouldn't go right.

Getting Emery down proved harder than they thought. He had been too young to really remember the year before, but Reece had hyped him up this year. He took him to every Santa Grotto he could get them to. Including a weekend trip to London. He set up all the trains he bought him the year before, and Marjorie even helped turn the lounge into a Christmas wonderland.

All the excitement Reece had last year was nothing compared to this, and he poured all of that into Emery. If Marjorie was honest by two in the morning, she was tempted to leave Reece with the mess he had made and trot off to bed, but she knew that would mean neither of them would sleep. So instead, she took Emery from him and sent him to bed hoping that separating them would dull the excitement. She hated to squash their fun, but if they didn't sleep, she wouldn't have to worry about what would go wrong tomorrow. Nothing would go right.

Fifteen minutes later she padded off to bed wondering why she hadn't thought of that earlier. Emery was finally down, and she hoped that Reece was at least mellow enough to go to sleep. As she turned to enter their room, she found him pacing. Between her anxiety and Reece and Emery's excitement she was exhausted. "My love, come to bed. We need to sleep. It won't be long, and everyone will be here."

He laid on the bed next to her and pulled her into a snuggle. The calm started to set in the moment their bodies touched, and it wasn't long before they were both fast asleep.

Christmas Day

Marjorie woke with a start. She slept through the 7:00am alarm she had set, and it was now half past eight. Their guest would arrive in an hour and a half. She reached for Reece but found an empty bed. Why hadn't he woken her? She quickly showered and dressed for the day. She had so much to do and now half the time to do it in.

When she descended the stairs, a broad smile crossed her face. "Reece, what do you think you're doing?" She chuckled. He had gotten up and was more than halfway through her to do list for the morning.

"You looked so peaceful when your alarm went off, I silenced it and came down myself. I can finish most of the list if you want to just go sort the presents out in the lounge, so we have no confusion this morning. When I put them in there this morning, I didn't see any tags."

"Since we are all together this year, I did something a bit different. Each person has their own wrap. That way they know all the presents in that wrap are theirs, and even the children who can't read yet will be able to tell which ones are theirs."

He had to admit that was kind of ingenious. Lynn, Lucy, and Jamey would obviously have been fine with tags, but most of the children couldn't read yet.

On her way pass him she stopped and gave him a small peck on the lips. As she started to walk away, he pulled her back. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" He pulled her in a gave her a proper kiss. "Happy Christmas, gorgeous."

The next hour flew by, and their first guests were arriving as Reece retreated to the kitchen to start their brunch. One by one the families arrived and settled in at the table chatting amongst themselves.

Vivian headed to the kitchen to check on Reece when Bon stopped her and gave her a look that wasn't lost on Mia. Mia raised an eyebrow at them which earned her a glare from the couple. Siobhan mouthed "mind your own business." They had become friends over the years, but Siobhan still wouldn't let her push boundaries she wasn't meant to.

As Viv walked in, Reece looked up with a smile "Happy Christmas, Viv"

"You need any help?" She knew he always had everything under control, but she couldn't see him spending the day alone in here on Christmas.

"Actually, if you don't mind can you slice the strawberries for me?" She got straight to work but kept an eye on him.

"How have you been?" They had gone out at the beginning of last week and he was struggling, but she knew he was still doing therapy. She was hopeful that this next month and a half wouldn't be as torturous. They had signed documents at the hospital for her to be able to see all results. It had been his idea. He assumed as a trusted friend she wouldn't sugarcoat anything for them if she saw something worrisome. She even knew what the baby's gender was, but swore she wouldn't tell anyone including them. They still didn't want to know.

"I am well, Viv. No anxiety today at all." She looked up. She had learned over the years that he had a slight tell when he lied, but it wasn't there. She was grateful that he really was doing well.

"I have something to tell you, Reece." His face changed. He started to panic.

"What .. wait ... is it Marjorie? Has some test result come back?"

"No, Reece, it is nothing like that. It's well ..." She trailed off when Bon entered the kitchen.

"She is trying to tell you that it worked. It worked, Reece. Well at least the early detection test says it did."

A smile crossed his face, and he congratulated them. They didn't want anyone else to know, but said he could tell Marjorie once everyone had gone. The three all agreed she would be too loud for any level of discretion.

The group sat around the table eating the amazing food. They filled each other in on their lives, and it was obvious to all of them that these get togethers were actually becoming necessary.

As they all moved to the lounge to open presents, Marjorie looked around. Their life was filled with so much love, and she was so glad their children would always have these people.