Free A Christmas Rose: A Dusk Gate Chronicles Novella (Book 4 1/2) by Breeana Puttroff Page B

blink several times before she could get her eyes to stay open. When they finally did, she realized it was still dark. “Oh no. What’s wrong?” she asked.
    But William was smiling. “Nothing’s wrong. I just couldn’t wait anymore for you to wake up.”
    “You’ve been badgering me for nine months to sleep more . Why do you suddenly want me awake now?” This was the first time in those whole nine months when she wished he would leave her alone and let her sleep – she’d been having the best dream…
    “Come on.”
    “Where are we going? I’m not even dressed – you’re not even dressed.”
    He handed her robe to her as he pulled her out of the bed. “Just come. Your slippers are right here.”
    The hallways were dark and empty as he led her through them, but she somehow knew she and William weren’t the only ones awake. When they turned a corner and she saw light pouring into the hall from the common room, she frowned up at him. “What is going on?”
    It couldn’t have been much later than five in the morning, and her husband was grinning from ear to ear with barely concealed excitement. What in the…
    A few steps before they reached the common room, he stepped behind her, and put his hands over her eyes.
    “Will!”
    She couldn’t see anything, but she could feel him steering her through the door.
    It was mostly quiet, but she could hear the breathing and soft movement of several other people. She was starting to get a little concerned when William suddenly leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Merry Christmas.”
    Almost as soon as he pulled his hands away from her eyes, tears started pouring out of them.
    The whole common room had been transformed. Every surface had been hung with evergreen branches and red and green ribbons. More handmade stockings than she could immediately count were hanging on – and near – the mantle. Most breathtaking of all was the giant tree in front of the big windows at the end of the room. She didn’t even know where they’d gotten it, or how they’d managed to bring it inside.
    Presents were stacked under it – seemingly hundreds of them, wrapped in cloth instead of paper, but otherwise looking the same as Christmas morning in her world.
    “What … when did you … how?”
    William wrapped his arms around her. “Well, we’ve been planning it all and getting it ready for a couple of days … but most of this was after you were asleep last night.”
    Her jaw dropped, and she looked around at everyone in the room – Will’s family, her family. Stephen and Charlotte were there, and so were Nathaniel, Simon and Evelyn, Maxwell, Rebecca and Howard, Thomas and Mia, Linnea and Ben, Joshua, and Daniel. “You must have all been up all night.”
    “We were, sweetheart. But you’re worth it,” Thomas said, coming over and handing her a handkerchief. That was when she realized that the tears were still streaming down her face.
    “All of this…why?”
    “Nothing wrong with starting new traditions,” Charlotte said. “We always did send you Christmas presents while you were growing up, even though we didn’t celebrate it here. We thought it would be nice for once to celebrate with you and watch you open them.”
    “Where are the children?” she asked, looking around. The only children in the room were the tiniest babies – the two who didn’t yet sleep through the night, curled in Evelyn’s and Rebecca’s arms. “We can’t have Christmas morning without them.”
    “We didn’t wake them yet,” William said. “We all thought you’d like to be here to watch them – and maybe to help fill the stockings first?”
    She’d almost had her tears under control until he said that. “You remember everything I say, don’t you?” she whispered.
    “Of course I do, love. You’re mine.” And he held her close, turning her so he could kiss her gently on the lips.
     
    When they did bring the children in, it was the loudest, craziest, busiest, and most