Our Own Angels

Chapter 19

I rest my head on his shoulder and watch as Mira and Eli play with toys. We lay back on the couch and this moment feels so unreal. After everything that happened, I can't believe that we're here now. About an hour ago, we weren't even talking to each other. Now, we back together and cuddling. The game of life is a roller coaster full of mystery and challenges but I'm ready to accept them all.

"I think it's time for us to go..." I yawn. I really don't want to leave but I'm in need of a long nap. Also, I feel like I haven't spent as much time with Alice as I would like. I sit up and look at him. He's getting drowsy too.

"Already?" He pouts and I nudge him playfully. "Okay, fine. But before you go, I want to give you something." He gets up and quickly dashes upstairs. After a couple seconds he quickly descends them. He's holding a very small gift box wrapped with a red bow. What? Silas kneels down next to the couch and holds the small box in his hands. He places it into my hands and wraps his hand around it. My heart is beating so fast.

"This is your Christmas present and an apology present. I would prefer you to open it now but it's cool if you want to open it on Christmas day." He explains. I stare at him confused.

"If we never made up, would this have been your back up plan?" I ask jokingly.

"No, no, I was already going to give you a present even if we never made up." He tells me. So, even if we never have gotten back together, he would've still gotten me a present. This man is one of a kind.

"I'll open it now." I say. He looks excited but nervous at the same time. He bites on his lower lip as he waits for me to open the box. That's a habit of his when he gets nervous. I open the box and a long blue velvet box sits inside. My heart is pounding. When I open it, a silver necklace sits inside. As I look closer, it's a diamond encrusted necklace. There's a small crescent moon and small star attached it. It reflects the light so that it glitters and shines. This is the most perfect necklace that I have ever seen. It's so simple yet delicate and beautiful. I look back up at him and he does his shy smile. Without saying anything, I kiss him. I softly place a kiss on his lips and look back down at the bracelet.

"Do you like it? Does that mean I'm forgiven?" He asks nervously. Is he serious?

"I love it. It's beautiful and of course I forgive you." I say. I take it out of the box and I examine even more. The more I keep looking at it, the more beautiful it gets. "You really didn't have to. Thank you." I say to him.

"But why a star and a moon? I love it and it's perfect, but I'm just curious." I ask him. He sighs and looks down.

"When we didn't talk for that whole month, I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I only saw you, I couldn't get you out of my head. So...at night, I just stared out the window and I looked at the sky. I just kept reminding myself that we both fall asleep underneath the same moon and stars. That was the only thing that kept my sanity." He explains. I'm falling so hard for him right now. I don't know if I could fall anymore in love with him as I do now.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love you?" I smile and he chuckles. He takes the necklace and tells me to turn around. I do as he says and face the wall. He moves my hair to one side and clasps it on. Before I turn around, he kisses the side of my neck and electricity fills me. I turn around and I lay on his chest. I change my mind, I don't want to go home just yet.

"No matter how much I say I love you, I will always love you more than that." He whispers in my ear. I dig my face into the crook of his neck and smile. He wraps his arms around me and I try my hardest not to fall asleep. Silas Mendoza is really mine. I'm really his. When I saw him at the mall, he was probably buying this necklace. I really thought that he was buying a necklace for someone else. I should have known better.

After a half an hour passes of us just laying there embracing each other, my phone rings. I sit up and see who it is. It's Alice.

"Hey Alice, what's up?" I say.

"Hi honey, I just wanted to check up on you. Is everything okay, you've been gone for a while?" She asks.

"Everything's perfect." I say and look at Silas. He props himself up on his elbows and smiles.

"That's wonderful news dear. Also, I wanted to let you know that dinner will be ready in about half an hour. No rush." She informs me.

"Okay thanks for letting me know. We'll be home before then." I reply. We say our goodbyes and hangup the phone.

"I don't wanna go but dinner is ready..." I whine as I lay on Silas again.

"It's okay, I feel bad for taking away your time with Alice." He says. He always feels bad for everything he does. I finally get up after a few minutes and grab my jacket. Eli and I put our shoes on and we head for the door. Once Eli and I say our goodbyes to Mira, we head out the door and Silas follows. Eli hugs Silas goodbye and now it's my turn. He opens his arms for me and I walk into them.

"Goodb-" I try to say but he cuts me off.

"Don't say goodbye, it sounds too sad. See you later?" He raises his eyebrows at me.

"See you later." I reply. He swiftly pecks my lips and Eli and I head to the car. When we pull out onto the street Silas goes back inside.

"Did you have fun bud?" I ask Eli.

"Yeah! I think Mira's my new best friend." He says.

"Hey, I thought I was your best friend." I playfully say.

"You're my #1 best friend, Mira's my #2 best friend." He explains. I see him smile through the rear view mirror as we continue to drive.

"Did you have fun Ro?" He asks me.

"I did." We both laugh. The rest of the car ride, we talked about nonsense but we love doing that. We jam out to songs in the car and before we know it, we're back home.

We walk inside and take our shoes off. Eli runs off to his play sets and I head to the kitchen. Alice has already set the table and she's taking something out of the oven.

"Hey Alice!" I chirp. I sit on one of the stools on the island.

"Hey sweetheart, how was it? Did it go well?" She asks as she offers me a fruit tart. I take one and start to eat it.

"It was better than I imagined. I thought that we were just gonna go and drop off the presents but no." I say.

"That's wonderful. So why was he being so unkind to you before?" She asks me.

"Let's talk about it over dinner." I smile. She nods and I help her set the food on the table. In the middle of dinner, I share with Alice what happened at Silas's house. Of course I didn't tell her every detail but I shared enough. I tell her why he ignored me but I didn't share every bit of his past. I even told her that Mira is probably Eli's new best friend. The rest of dinner goes well and I help her clean up.  

"You know it doesn't feel like Christmas is in a week." I say to her as I load the dish washer. 

"We just have to get into the Christmas spirit that's all." She replies. 

"I mean I do try. I even decorated my room. I haven't felt it last year either." I say to her. 

"Christmas isn't about the decor and presents and all. I don't want to sound all cliche but this season is a time of giving, love, and family. Nowadays, that's been ignored." She says. We continue to chat and it might have been a placebo effect but I was starting to feel the Christmas spirit. 

"Hey, you know what we should do?" I sit up. She smiles and shrugs. 

"We should we to the Christmas garden!" I shout excitedly. Before our mom died, we would visit the annual Christmas garden in our town. That was something that we all looked forward to every year. Even if we memorized the paths and light shows, Eli and I would still pretend that we had never been there before.