Free Under the Mistletoe With Me by Kristen Proby Page B

other and stealing each other’s
food, kids spilling drinks, and women discussing shopping, spa treatments,
movies and fashion. At least, that’s what our women discuss because the whole
lot of them are girly girls, and honestly, I wouldn’t have them any other way.
    Stacy
smiles sweetly up at me as I pass her another roll. She likes to dip the bread
in her gravy. Fuck, I’ll give her any damn thing she wants. I may not be Luke
Williams wealthy, but my girls will never want for anything.
    “Stacy,
would you like a glass of wine?” Jules asks. “I brought your favorite.”
    “Oh, um,”
she pauses and wipes her mouth with her green napkin. “No, thanks. I’ll take
some more hot cider, though.”
    “No wine?”
I ask.
    She shakes
her head.
    Huh.
    Finally,
dinner is done, and everyone moves into the living area to exchange gifts and
relax. My mom grabs Soph and settles into the rocker Stacy and I vacated
earlier.
    I’m so
excited for this. I was going to wait to give Stace this gift tomorrow morning
at home, for our first Christmas as a family, but I just can’t wait.
    “Okay, so,
I’m the oldest, so I get to give my gift first,” I announce to the room.
    “Yeah, you
better go first, old man, ‘cause in about ten minutes you’ll forget what
holiday this is,” Will quips, earning a high-five from Caleb. I glare at them
and pull a small box, wrapped in gold with a cream bow, out from under the tree
and hand it to my wife.
    “We didn’t
bring this from home,” she says with a smile on her pretty lips as she looks
down at it.
    “Nope,” I
respond. “Open it.”
    She gently
pulls the ribbon off the box, and begins to ever so fucking carefully pull the
tape off the sides.
    “For God’s
sake, woman, just open it,” I growl at her, making her laugh. She knows I hate
it when she does this.
    “I like
the paper,” she murmurs.
    “I’ll buy
you a whole roll of the shit, open the damn thing!” Will yells from across the
room, stuffing more pumpkin pie in his mouth.
    “Jesus,
man, didn’t you just have two pieces of that?” Caleb asks him.
    “Shut up.
Christmas.” He mumbles from around the food.
    “Don’t
talk with your mouth full!” Mom yells at him, and Stacy and I laugh with each
other.
    Yep, it’s
a Montgomery Christmas.
    “Open it,”
I whisper.
    She pulls
the paper off and frowns at the soft blue Tiffany box. “Tiffany?” she asks.
    “He’s got
good taste,” Natalie boasts.
    “Yes, he
does,” Stacy murmurs and opens the box. Inside is a platinum pendant and chain.
The pendant is in the shape of a heart.
    She pulls
it out and smiles softly.
    “Turn it
over.”
    “What is
this?”
    “What is
it?” Samantha asks. The girls are all straining their necks to see.
    “It’s
Sophie’s fingerprint.”
    Stacy’s
hazel eyes meet mine as they fill with tears. “This is her fingerprint?”
    “Oh, what
a lovely gift,” Luke’s mom sighs.
    “Yeah, I
thought you’d like to always have a piece of her with you, even if she’s not
with you.” I shrug, feeling kind of silly, but she gives me that wide, special
smile and I know that she loves it.
    “It’s
wonderful! Thank you.”
    “Here,
Stace,” Nat hands Stacy a box wrapped in silver with a blue bow. It’s the size
of a small shirt box.
    “We didn’t
bring this from home either.”
    “No, we
didn’t.” She fidgets, not looking me in the eye, and looks suddenly very
nervous.
    “Do I get
to open it?” I ask dryly.
    She
glances nervously around the room. Brynna gives her a discreet thumbs up and
Natalie smiles brightly at her, and now I’m dying to know what’s in this damn
box.
    “Maybe we
should wait until we’re home.”
    “Oh hell
no!” Caleb and Luke yell out together. There are moans and boos, and she winces
and looks back up at me, biting her lower lip.
    “Hey,” I
cup her face in my hands and smile down at this amazing woman that I’m lucky
enough to call mine. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, I’ll love