Here's To Wishing I'd Never Met You!

Lucy's First Christmas

Chapter Fourteen... Lucy's First Christmas

I awoke early on Christmas morning to Lucy crying, wanting a bottle.

I jumped out of bed and walked into the kitchen of my parents' house to make up a bottle for her, and she greedily sucked it down. Then I walked into the loungeroom, to where Penelope's older two kids were snooping under the Christmas tree.

"Amarah! Drake!" I hissed, startling the two children.

"We're not doing anything, Aunty Paige," Amarah said innocently.

"Well, I'll call Santa and tell him that you don't deserve your presents if you two don't get back to bed now," I said smugly.

"But Lucy's out of bed," Drake sighed.

"Lucy needed her formula," I told them. "But you two... please? It's only like two in the morning."

"Mommy won't know," Amarah whispered.

"Oh, I'll wake your mommy and tell her..." I threatened.

I'd never seen two kids move so fast. Amarah and Drake were upstairs before I knew it, and I sat down on the lounge silently. Lucy was awake, and I heard footsteps. But they sounded too big to be either Amarah or Drake, or even Noah for that matter.

Mom came into the living room, and sat down next to me.

"I heard little footsteps run past my room, and knew that Amarah or Drake would be up," mom smiled. "Reminds me of Penny and Parker when you were too little to know to get up."

"Oddly, Penny's kids are like us, aren't they?" I chuckled.

"Just think, Lucy is only your first child," mom grinned.

"I love her, mom," I whispered. "I've never felt so much love for someone before."

"A mother's love," mom smiled.

"That's exactly what it is," I agreed. "She wakes me up. She eats a lot. She cries at the doctors and the midwife when she came around after I had her. She knows her family. And when I left her in New York, she was constantly upset. She slept in my arms. That's when she slept."

"Babies know their parents," mom smiled.

"Well, she'll never know her father, and sadly, that's not her fault or mine. It's his own fault. I want her to know her dad. Of course I do. But I don't even know where he is..."

"She will probably be better off without him, Paige. As much as I'm against that."

"He just left. I don't even know why, he never said anything."

"I want to encourage you to be with him, but I'm going to encourage you to not worry about him. He hurt you, and that hurt us. I just wish you'd told us everything."

"You know now, mom. But yeah... I regret not telling you sooner."

Lucy was still wide awake, so I handed her over to mom.

"She's a cuddly little girl, isn't she?" mom smiled proudly. "I always knew you'd make a good mother, and that your children would be beautiful. She reminds me of you, when you were a baby."

"I hope that's a good thing," I giggled.

"It's a great thing," mom grinned.

Mom handed Lucy back to me after a few minutes, and she was sound asleep. I slumped back to bed, only to be woken two hours later by an excited Amarah.

"Mommy said to wake up Aunty Paige!" Amarah squealed, jumping on my bed. "Get up! Get up!"

"Eugh, Amarah!" I groaned.

"Drake and Beatrice and Noah are all wakeys, and Lucy, too," she grinned. "And mommy. And daddy. And Uncle Parker. And Aunty Mel. And nanny and poppy!"

"And me, too," I sighed, sitting up.

"Lucy just woked up," Amarah chuckled, sitting down on the bed now.

"I'll be out with Lucy in a minute," I smiled.

I got Lucy, who was awake, out of bed and walked into the living room. Everyone was gathered around in there, smiling.

"It's Lucy's first ever Christmas," Penelope smiled.

"And Beatrice's first, too," I added.

"Yes, and this is a great year, because we have finally met our new family member, which Paigey tried to hide from us," Penelope continued. "So little Lucy, welcome to the Curtis family."

"Presents, mommy?" Amarah asked.

"Oh, let's open some presents!" Penelope said excitedly, walking over to a bunch all with Beatrice's name on them.

I handed Lucy to mom and helped distribute the presents. When I returned, I had a massive pile with my name, and an even bigger pile with Lucy's name on them.

I started with Lucy's.

The first one I took had a card attached. "To Lucy. Love your cousin Amarah." I opened it, and it was a beautiful pink teddy. Penelope was the best at picking gifts.

The next one was another teddy from Beatrice. It was yellow with a pink ribbon. And the one from Drake was a purple teddy. Penelope explained that she didn't know which teddy she liked more, so she got the three of them. The present from Penelope and Mark, her husband, was a playmat, a large array of clothes, and a bracelet.

My parents gave Lucy several clothes, teddies, and a beautiful blanket that had her name embroided on it with a picture of a rabbit, which was my favourite animal as a child. They also gave her a necklace with her name on it, which was more for when she was a bit older. Parker, Mel and Noah gave her a fancy diaper bag, which had some more new clothes in it. They also gave her a Barbie doll, which was one of those collectable ones you leave in the box.

She got so many things from me, from a massive teddy, to clothes, to a new set for her cot, and blankets, and an adorable beanie that was expensive but it was too cute to leave. It was hard for a first Christmas when your baby is only almost three weeks old. But I got her clothes that were mostly for when she was older.

I got a new laptop from my parents, a jewellery box, a beautiful necklace with my name on it that matched Lucy's, DVDs, clothes, a photo frame that I could put a picture of Lucy and I in, plus several other small gifts. Mom picked a gorgeous bracelet that was from Lucy. It was a Pandora, I realised after a minute. They aren't cheap... but Penelope picked out five charms for it, one from each of the members of their family. And Parker, Mel and Noah gave me a collection of books I wanted.

After everyone opened their presents, we chatted excitedly. Lucy laid on the floor on her new playmat, staring at Amarah who sat next to her for ages, just talking to her. Beatrice showed how well she moved around by crawling fast, almost knocking Noah over at one stage.

Penelope and I sat watching the kids as mom cooked lunch, and dad, Parker and Mark all went out to test out dad's new fishing rod. They returned at lunch with a fish, but that was all they caught.

Mel helped mom in the kitchen. She'd always sort of avoided Penelope and I, but we didn't know why.

We sat around and ate lunch together. Lucy slept through lunch, and Beatrice fell asleep just after lunch. Drake and Amarah had a fight over Barbie vs the toy bulldozer that Drake got off of Santa. I could see him destroying things with it.

"You have all the destructive toys to look forward to," Penelope grinned. "Even if she's a girl. Doesn't mean you won't have a boy one day that wants to ruin her things."

"Gee, thanks," I chuckled.

I had the best day with my family. It was the greatest day that I think I'd ever had with them. And Lucy was happy, smiling for the first time today. We had many photos, and Penelope took a great one that I would put in the frame I got for Christmas. I couldn't wait.

But I made a decision. My one week stay in Minnesota was going to be longer. I would stay for two, maybe three. For the first time, I was in no hurry to return to New York.

I found a new happiness, all thanks to my daughter.