Little Marks

28 - Epilogue

"Merry Christmas!" Cameron's cheery voice wakes me up from my deep slumber. Every year at Christmas, he wakes up at five in the morning, cooks breakfast, and then wakes me up at six. Then we eat breakfast before opening our presents. Normally, we host the annual Christmas party too, for our families and friends. Everyone's going to be there except Lianna and Sasha, who were visiting Sasha's family in Paris with their adopted daughter, Lilliana.

"Good morning, baby." I smile at his enthusiasm. He always gets super excited on Christmas, and when I ask he says it's to make up for how bad our first Christmas was, eleven years ago.

Cameron kissed me quickly before picking me up and carrying me to our kitchen. Every year, Cameron makes Nutella pancakes, carrying on the tradition that my family had. He set me down on the counter, standing between my legs. We ate like that, little laughs falling from our lips. After we ate, we changed into our special Christmas pajamas. I noticed that mine were a tiny bit loose, meaning I had lost weight since last year's Christmas. Well, that won't last long, I thought to myself.

Sitting on the floor of our living room across from Cameron, we started opening presents. We had a rule, one small present, one big present. No more than two presents on Christmas morning.

Cameron insisted on giving his presents first, which I was totally fine with. I opened the small gift first, which as usual, was a charm for my bracelet. This year, he got me a charm of a camera. Normally, the charm is a hint for the big present, so I knew he got me a camera. I opened the big box, which held a Polaroid camera with lots of films, nestled in a coil of fairy lights with clothespins attached for me to attach the photos.

"Thank you, so so much." I take the camera out of the box and take a photo of the two of us kissing. Cameron then insisted on getting a 'proper' kiss, so we do that for a few minutes, acting like teenagers despite the fact that Cameron was going to be thirty in a few months.

"Okay, it's my turn." I insisted, pulling away for the third time. Cameron whined about being horny and tried to kiss me again, but I pulled away and put his small present in his lap. His eyes lit up as he opened the present, laughs erupting as he realized what it was. I bought him a Lego kit, one that he had been wanting for a while. Cameron never grew out of loving to build with Legos, so I try and buy him a few sets every year. I never want him to lose that childish aspect about himself.

"Time for your big present," I giggle, putting the small box in his hands. Cameron takes his time opening the box, making me nervous. He slid off the ribbon and ripped the wrapping paper off, looking at me. It was a box, a swirl of pink and blue galaxy with stars on it. Cameron slid the top off and saw a pair of tiny sneakers, grey with white velcro.

"Butterscotch?" Cameron's voice shook.

"Look underneath." He lifts the shoes and the small platform they were on, yelling at the sight of what was underneath.

"Holy shit is this a prank?" Cameron starts tearing up, our eyes meeting. I shake my head and smile, biting my tongue when I do so, just like Papa. "You're pregnant?" I nod. Cameron gets up and hugs me tightly, laughing and crying at the same time. "Holy shit you're pregnant." He kisses me chastely and places his hands on my stomach.

It's been eleven years since I told him I was pregnant as a teen. Since then, we've tried over and over to have children, but it kept failing. We started IVF about a year ago. We said that if we didn't get pregnant by the time I was 30, we were going to adopt a child.

But now, now, we have the chance to have a child. For the first time in eleven years, I was able to become pregnant. This is the chance of a lifetime.

"Do you want to tell people tonight?"

"No, I want to wait for a little, if that's okay with you. I want to wait until maybe Valentine's." I suggest. Cameron nods and smiles, still giddy over the idea. "I kind of rushed into telling people last time... and I'm a little nervous about jinxing it."