Marriage Mistake

Chapter 43- Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve. Tonight Brad is supposed to me coming over to bring the kids gifts and to watch the Grinch with us since that's we do every year. Last year he didn't watch it with us though. I don't even remember the reason why. I get off the phone with my mom and go to the kitchen to take the cookies out of the oven. It's 9 in the morning and for some reason I got this feeling that I wanted to bake. I've made cookies and a cheesecake. I think I might be nervous. Today Chris's parents invited us all to go over to their house for dinner with all his family. I've met his parents and their really nice but I haven't seen the rest of his family. Ever. Except for cousin Loren. She's really nice. Same age as me. We were in the same math class in high school. Chris is getting all the kids ready as we speak. He decided to take on the task himself and I can't wait to see how it went.

After 10 minutes of waiting they all come downstairs. No one lost an arm so he did good. Takes a lot of patience to get them all dressed. I pack the diaper bags and we get all the kids into the van. It's an hour drive to get there so we're leaving now. Plus we want them to meet Levi before everyone gets there.

* * * *

His parent's love Levi. They took him outside to the swing set they have back there. Obviously the girls went back there too. Chris and I are sat on the patio with the babies watching them. Their having a blast. His parents told me how they always wanted Chris to have a son. They believe he'll make the most perfect father to any child he has.

 A couple people have showed up. But his mom said about 30 are coming which is a lot when you have a small family like mine.

When everyone's here and their all sitting down to eat, the twins both begin to cry. Everyone glances at us before going back to their food.

"I can come help." Chris says, about to stand up.

"No. Stay. I can do it." I smile.

I take Briella from his arms and go into the house. I place them on a blanket on the floor while I make them some pureed potatoes and squash. Doesn't sound that good but they love it. When it's heated up I sit them on the couch and begin to feed them. As I begin to feed them, the front door opens and closes. I glance around the corner and see a woman around my age taking her shoes off. Alana, Chris's ex.

"Oh Meghan." She smiles, coming around the corner. 

"Hi Alana." I smile fakely at her. 

"Where's everyone?" She asks, flashing her white teeth at me.

"Outback." I tell her. She nods before walking straight.

They dated for 4 months after high school but Chris realized she was a freak and broke up with her. I don't know why his parents would've invited her here though. When the babies are fed and changed I bring them back outside. Everyone's done eating now but I don't care. I'm not that hungry. I walk over to Brad who's talking to his mom and Alana. He takes Kyson from me so it's one less thing I have to carry. He smiles at me while Briella kicks her feet in my arms. As I sit down Levi calls out to Chris and I. We both look at him as he does a flip on the trampoline Chris' mom has in her backyard for all her grandchildren. She's such a devoted grandmother. 

"Good job!" I smile, clapping my hands. 
"That was awesome bud." Chris smiles at me. "He's growing up." He chuckles. That's a little joke between the 2 of us. We've been hitting a lot of milestones with Levi lately that would seem ordinary to any parent. He asked Chris to read him a book to bed last night and he held my hand willingly as we walked through the park the other day. 

"I didn't know you two had kids together." Alana says, looking between Chris and I.
"We-" I begin but Chris cuts me off.

"Levi is mine." He smiles slightly.
"Oh." She smiles, touching Kyson's hand. "I'm guessing this little guy is Brad's." She says, looking up at me and I nod." 
We sit in silence for a moment before the silence is broken by Levi.

"I need pee!" Levi says, coming towards me.

"I got her." Alana says, taking Briella from my arms. I hesitate for a moment but realize she isn't evil. She's just offering her help to me. 
I grab Levi's hand and we go inside to the bathroom.
When I'm done washing his hands, Chris's mom stands in the doorway, a serious look on her face.

"Go back outside. I'll be there in a minute." I say, nudging Levi out the door.

"I don't know what game your trying to play with my son but I don't think he needs the burden of taking care of your kids." She says, folding her arms across her chest.

"Sorry?" I question.
"The only reason he's with you is because he feels like you need help." She says, shifting in the doorway. "I appreciate your help with Levi and all but I think this is something Chris has to do on his own." 

"On his own?" 
"Yes. I do." She nods. 

"And how do you expect him to get Levi to stop crying in the middle of the night when he wants his mom and I'm the only one that can get him to stop? He doesn't know that Levi only likes toast in the mornings or that before he goes to bed he like lotion from the cooled in the fridge rubbed on his back because it makes him feel cool." 

I can tell she doesn't have anything to say after that and to be honest I don't want her to say anything. I push past her and begin to walk down the hall, fighting back anger. I'm about to turn the corner when I feel someones hand on my arm. I turn and see Chris stood there. He heard the whole thing by the sorry look on his face. I pull my arm out of his grasp and take Kyson from him.

"We're just gonna go." I say, picking the diaper bag up off the floor.

"I think we should."
"I mean just us." I say, taking Briella from Alana who just walked up to us. I don't know how I'm gonna get them into car seats but I'll figure it out. 

"No, Meghan-" Chris starts, walking behind me.

"It was a bad idea to come here Chris. Just... Enjoy your time." I smile faintly, turning back around.

I know I shouldn't take it out on him when his mother is the one who said those things but he didn't even stick up for me. He just stood there and listened. And that isn't okay with me.

* * * *
I get home around 5 and I bring all the kids into the house. I turn on the decorations outside and close the front door. When the house is cleaned up and everyone has their Christmas pj's on, we all pile on the couch to watch the Grinch. Even the babies have Christmas pj's. Chris isn't back yet and Brad still hasn't come so we start without them. Guess men just can't keep their word.

We begin the movie and just as it starts there's a knock on the door. I get up and go answer it. It's Chris. And Brad in a Santa costume with a sac flung over his shoulder.

"Look who I found." Chris says, pointing to Brad. I move out of the way so they can come in, trying to hold my smile back. Brad goes into the living room and all of them yell out Santa. They sound so happy. Chris pulls me to one side and I know he's gonna apologize.

"I don't think I'll be going back to my parents house for while." He says, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"Why?"I ask, looking up at him.

"I may have said somethings. And knocked a glass of the table by an accident." He chuckles. I laugh and go into the living room. Brad is giving the kids their presents and they're opening them already. He really came through this time.
* * * *
When the movie is over and the kids are in bed, I walk downstairs and join Chris on the couch with my pj's on.

"Well that's another Christmas Eve done." I say, laying the babies bottles on the counter. I walk into the living room and sit down next to Chris. He pulls a blanket over the 2 of us and hands me my mug of hot chocolate. I take a sip and then lay it on the coffee table. I look up at Chris and kiss him hard, wrapping my arms around his neck. I've been wanting to do that all day. He pulls me into his lap and I straddle him, his arms pulling me closer to him. 

You can probably guess what happened next.