Accidental Christmas Miracle

11.

Miracle

I hissed a bit as Sandy pressed the frozen peas on my wrist a little too hard.

"Oh, so sorry, darling!" She apologized and gave me an accompanying smile to go with the apology.

I said nothing.

"If I had known you were that bad at skating, I never would have let you do it." Christi added her two cents.

I gave her a look. "Dump some more salt on my cut-up pride, would ya?"

"Well, when  you put it that way..." She started.

"Oh, shove off, sis." Dot came in the room to hand me a cup of hot chocolate. Thankfully, I had just hurt my right hand more but hadn't even touched my left so I could still use it to drink the comforting hot drink.

Sandy put the candy cane in and I took a sip. It was perfect, as always.

"I didn't actually know that you couldn't stop." Christi tried to apologize for about the five millionth time.

I waved her off like every other time. I had set my cup down first, of course. "It's fine. Really." I tried to assure her but her face gave away that she didn't believe me.

"Christi, if the girl says she's okay, then she's okay." Her mother told her.

She sighed. "Fine," She said, putting her hands and taking a step back like she was surrendering. "Fine. I'll stop."

I gave her a smile.

"Now, Miracle, you are not allowed to leave this couch until I come back." Sandy told me. "I want you resting that wrist of yours."

"Can we watch movies then?" Noel came in, asking her mom.

Sandy chuckled at the excited twin. "Of course." She turned to Dot. "You're in charge, Dot. Don't let them burn down the house, okay?"

He gave her a mock salute. "Yes ma'am."

Laughing, Sandy left.

Dot grinned at us. "Movie time!" His eyes twinkled with excitement.

"Aren't you twenty-two?" Christi asked him.

"Yeah, and?"

"Getting a bit excited over watching movies?" The blonde teased him.

He stuck out his tongue. "Shush. I like movies."

I laughed as did Christi.

Noel rolled her eyes. "Really mature, Dot, sticking your tongue out like that." She said.

Gabriel came in with a small stack of movies. "I came bearing some options that I think we will all enjoy." He told us.

After shifting through the stack, we came up with the Christmas Chronicles, Disney's version of A Christmas Carol, and last but not least, the classical Frosty the Snowman.

Noel got us all blankets so we could watch the movies while being comfy.

Christi sat on one side of me while Noel sat on the other side.

Dot and Gabriel took their places on the other couch.

With blankets over us and snacks near us or for some - Dot - in their hands, we started the movie marathon.

After a number of hours - we had almost finished the third movie when Noel mentioned being hungry.

Our snacks had been long eaten and when she mentioned it, I realized I was also hungry.

Once everyone chimed in that they were too, Dot reluctantly got up to make dinner and that was only after Noel sweetly reminding him that he was in charge and then Christi chiming in on how disappointed their mother would be if she came back and he hadn't fed them.

They grinned at each other from either side of me.

The problem of me having to stay on the couch until Sandy came back became apparent as the simple buttered pasta for dinner was done.

"But Miracle gets to stay on the couch to eat dinner!" Noel whined at the unfairness of the situation.

"I could just sit with you guys at the table." I started to get up.

Everyone shook their heads at my suggestion.

"Mom will be able to tell." Gabriel told me.

"She always does." Noel added.

"It's kinda freaky sometimes." Dot said his opinion.

The other Taylor children nodded at what he said, sharing the same opinion as him.

In the end, we all ate on the couches and then watched the rest of the movies.

When Sandy came back, it was around seven thirty and only I and Dot were awake as the others had dozed off. I was rewatching Frosty the Snowman again and Dot was looking at his phone, careful not to wake up Gabriel who was leaning against him.

"Sorry. I didn't expect to be out that late." She whispered loudly to us. She was carrying multiple bags which led me to believe that she had gone Christmas shopping. "You actually stayed on the couch that whole time." She sounded surprised.
I nodded.

She gave me a smile and then turned to Dot. "Dot, help me with putting these away."

He carefully got up, shutting off his phone and did so.

Before Sandy went upstairs to hide the gifts, I'm assuming, she gave me the task of putting the twins to bed. "They're hard to wake up, carrying them up will be a lot easier." She advised me.

I nodded and slowly got up. Christi's head was on my shoulder and Noel had been leaning against me so I carefully shifted Noel so that she leaned the other way and moved Christi's head off my shoulder, laying it on a pillow instead.

Picking Gabe up, I walked up the stairs to his room which Dot directed me to and laid him down on his bed.

Tucking him in, I looked around his room with the light from the doorway shining in. His room was a dark green with bookcase of books against the opposite wall of his bed. A desk was beside his bed and on it was something that looked like a puzzle.

I smiled to myself as I was leaving, keeping the door half open when Dot whispered that Gabriel preferred it that way.

After getting Noel, I did the same to her. I put her in her room that I saw was painted blue. A piano was on one wall and desk on the same wall as her bed, like Gabriel's room.

She mumbled an almost incoherent 'good night' to me as I shut the door.

I smiled and went back downstairs to clean up the dishes we left and the blankets that we left.

However, Christi had woken up and was doing exactly that. I helped her anyways.

"Thanks." She told me when we had finished straightening the mess and were surveying the area that we had cleaned up.

"No problem." I paused. "What're your plans for tomorrow?"

"Something that won't hurt that wrist of yours anymore." Dot answered.

I swiveled my head to look at him. I hadn't noticed that he came down.

He was getting water from the tap and grinned at me. "Scared ya, didn't I?" He asked.

My cheeks turned a light pink. He had but I wasn't going to say that. "No. Of course not." I huffed at him.

Christi snorted. "Mhm."

I gave her a look. "Whatever. I'm just going to go to bed. See ya." I told them and headed upstairs to my room.