Gracie's Christmas Wish

Chapter Twenty

The weeks passed. Paul graduated and moved into his apartment in Winter Park. He started his intensive program at Full Sail and was doing very well in school. Aiden searched for and found an enthusiastic younger guy to be his right hand man and do all his traveling for him. Aiden based himself out of his Florida office and only occasionally traveled out of town now. He used Skype and other meeting apps so he wouldn't have to leave so often. Charlotte loved having Aiden home more and to be honest, Aiden had never been so happy. He loved watching Charlotte's body change as she got bigger. She felt as big as a bus, but he thought she'd never looked sexier. That made her feel better.

They nervously went through Charlotte's pregnancy and all the tests, which thankfully came back fine so far. No signs of anything wrong with the baby. Mrs. Harrison happily converted Charlotte's old room next door to their room into a nursery for the baby. Aiden and Charlotte happily went to child birth classes together and had a good laugh because they were not the oldest couple in the room. There was couple where the husband was about 5 years older and his wife was in her early 20's. That made Charlotte feel a little bit better.

December finally rolled around and Paul came home from Full Sail. He loved it there and spent a lot of time hanging out with his mom and keeping her company because she didn't move around a lot. Gracie was so excited to have Paul home, whom she idolized, and because the baby would be here any day. She happily ran to get things for Charlotte if she needed them and would love to talk to the baby. Gracie made a point of reading to Charlotte's belly every night, which was great practice for her. She promised to read a story to the baby every day too. Charlotte told her what a great big sister she was going to be. She said she hoped she'd be as good as her big brothers and sister are to her. Charlotte was so glad.

Charlotte woke up in the middle of the night and walked around the room for a few minutes. Her back hurt. Aiden heard her get up and walked with her. She felt a little twinge and then water squirted down her leg.

"Oh my." Charlotte said.

"What is it?" Aiden sounded worried.

"I think my water just broke."

"I'll get you to the hospital." Aiden said excitedly. Aiden quickly got dressed and ran down the hall to Cecily's room. He knocked and then burst in waking her up. "Sorry mom. Charlotte thinks her water broke so I'm taking her to the hospital. I'll call you as soon as we know more."

"OK." Cecily said, sitting up in bed, excited for them.

Aiden carefully walked Charlotte to the waiting limo and the driver drove them to the hospital. Aiden checked her in and helped her into bed in her suite. He held her hand through every contraction and while she got her epidural.

After about 90 minutes, the doctor came in and said she was ready to push. Aiden smiled at Charlotte and told her "I love you honey."

Aiden held her hand more as she pushed and he encouraged her. The baby came out in a few sets of pushes.

"It's a boy!" The doctor said and put the baby on Charlotte's chest. Charlotte held him and kissed him and Aiden kissed him too and then kissed Charlotte. The nurse reminded Charlotte to try to nurse the baby right away to establish the bond and so she did. The baby latched on well and after a couple of minutes, the nurses took the baby so that he could get cleaned up.

"Merry Christmas Mrs. Ross." The nurse said as she handed the baby back to her wrapped in a Christmas blanket. "Here's your present, born at 4:15 a.m. on Christmas Eve morning."

"Is it really Christmas Eve?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes honey." Aiden said. "The one year anniversary of the day we met."

"Strange how things work out alright in the end." Charlotte said happily.

"Yes. And I wouldn't change a thing!" Aiden said. Aiden held Charlotte and she finally went to sleep. Aiden held the baby for a while before putting him back in his bassinette. He curled up next to Charlotte in her big bed.

Later that morning, they woke up and Charlotte nursed the baby again. The family came to see them later that morning. The kids were super excited, especially Gracie, to meet their baby brother.

"Hello baby! I'm Gracie. I'm your big sister and I love you so very much. I'm going to read you a story!" Gracie crawled in bed with Charlotte and the baby and read her the same Christmas story book that Charlotte had first read her last year. This time she was able to read it all perfectly herself. Charlotte had tears in her eyes as she read it. The baby cooed at Gracie who said "I think he knew my voice!"

"I think he did too sweetie!"

"You know, you need a name for him." Paul said. "We can't keep calling him baby."

"I'm sure they'll come up with something good." Cecily told him. "Sometimes you can't rush things."

"Actually, we were waiting for the family to come so we could tell you." Aiden said.

"This is Christopher Aiden Wilson."

"A Christopher for Christmas." Cecily said. "I like it."

"We thought so too mom!" Aiden said.

"Welcome to the family Christopher." Gracie said and gave her little brother a kiss on the forehead.

"Gracie?" Charlotte asked for her to come over. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything mommy."

"You got your prayers answered. You have a mommy, and you have a healthy baby brother. Please don't pray for any more brothers and sisters." Everyone laughed.

"What should I pray for then?" Gracie asked her mom.

"That all of us are happy, healthy and live happily ever after."

"I can do that." Gracie said proudly, and that night and for every other night after that for the rest of her life, she prayed for her family; and they lived happily ever after.

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