Someone was calling my name.
“Faith?”
There it was again.
“Fatih, sweety, wake up, it’s Christmas.”
It’s Brian.
But I don’t want to get up. I want to lay there in bed for a little while longer.
“Faith...?”
“Hmmm?”
“Ok, good you are alive.”
“Barely. I don’t want to get up.” With that I moved closer to him and rested my head on his chest. I really didn’t want to get up, but I didn’t want him to go anywhere either. I felt him kiss the top of my head.
“Come on, lets get up!”
“But I don’t wanna!”
“Faith, think about it like this. It’s either me waking you up right now and getting you up so you can get ready for all the people that are going to be here, or you can wait until Aaron has decided that he’s been in bed long enough and have him come in here and jump on you. Either way you are going to be up in about five minutes.”
“Fine! I’ll get up!” I sat up and looked at Brian. He looked cute in his t-shirt and boxers, with his bed head. He actually almost looked better like that then he would have if he had spent 45 minutes getting ready. “It’s just not fair!”
“What’s not fair?”
“Guys can roll out of bed and look just fine. Some look better like that then they do after spending a lot of time getting ready. Women on the other hand, spend an hour getting ready and most of us still look like crap! It’s not fair!”
“Faith, I have no idea what you are talking about, just get up and go take a shower.”
“What’s in it for me?”
“Well, you get hot water. And you wont look like crap when everyone else rolls out of bed.”
“Fine, I’ll go. Can you check on Tommy for me?”
“Yeah, hon, just go take a shower and I’ll get Tommy up.”
OK” I got out of the teeny, tiny little bed that was in Brian’s room and walked out into the hall, but not before grabbing the clothes that I had laid out the night before.
I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. I was greeted by quite a sight.
Brian and Nick were feeding Tommy, Polly was trying to keep Howie out of the kitchen so that he wouldn’t ruin breakfast, Hope, Destiny, BJ and Leslie were trying to make breakfast while Polly kept her brother out of their way. Howie’s brothers were sitting at the table, reading the newspaper, and the twins were sitting on the floor with AJ, coloring, or something along those lines.
I smiled. This was what life was supposed to be like.
“Good morning everyone!” I called as I walked over to Nick, Brian and Tommy.
“Good morning!” Everyone called back.
“Merry Christmas!” I said to Nick as gave him a hug.
“You too!”
“Hey, what about me?!” Brian whined.
“Nope, sorry, not until you go and take a shower.”
“Fine, I’ll go.”
“Hey, Bri, there are two showers, right?” Nick asked.
“Yeah.”
“OK, then I’m gonna go take one too.”
So then I was dessreted. I looked down at Tommy, who was all smiles. He was happy to have all the activity around him again.
“Faith, can Aaron and I play with Tommy?” Angel asked, walking up to me.
“Sure, but be careful, OK?”
“OK. AJ will help us watch him.”
“Again, I say, be careful.” Angel giggled and I handed her Tommy, knowing that she was able to carry him.
Everyone was ready, all dressed up in their nice clothes.
“That was Mom.” Brian said, getting off the phone. “They are just about ready to start heading over here, They should be here in about an hour or so.“
“What time did H say he and Angie (his wife) were going to be here?” AJ asked.
“Umm, I talked to him this morning and he said that they should be here...” I looked at my watch. It was already 10:30. “Well, they should be here in about 5 minutes, ten max.”
“OK.”
Everyone went back to doing their own thing, getting ready for the massive Christmas that we were about to have.
“Hey Faith?” Brian said, walking up behind me. “Can I talk to you, alone?”
“Yeah, sure Bri!” I looked around to make sure that Tommy was OK and the allowed Brian to guide me to the porch that wrapped all the way around the house. “What’s up Brian?”
He didn’t say anything. He just looked at me for a minute. Then I knew what was going to happen. It was what I wanted to happen. And I was right.
He leaned down and kissed me. It was short and sweet and left me wanting more. When it was over I looked into his blue eyes and saw the same emotion I had seen the first night that Hope and Destiny had been back at the house, after Holloween.
This time I kissed him. It was a lot more powerful then the first kiss, and it spoke volumes. When we pulled apart that time, I leaned my head on his shoulder. He pulled me closer to him and rested his head on mine.
“I love you Faith.” It was said quietly, and with so much feeling that I had no choice but to believe anything he said.
“I love you too, Brian.” It was the first time I had said those words out loud, to anyone. It was the ifrst time that I had admitted, even to myself that I had fallen for this guy.
We stood there for a good ten minutes before either one of us said or did anything. We just enjoyed being together. When we did finally move apart Brian looked at me and smiled. “ Lets go celebrate Christmas with our friends.”
I nodded and let him pull me back into the house. It wasn’t until then that I noticed how cold it had been outside. I shivered.
“You OK?” Brian asked.
“Yeah, I just realized how cold it was outside.”
“Oh you poor little thing!” He pulled me into a hug. “That better?”
“Oh, yeah, lots.” I said and hugged him back. “Now, I need to find my son and get him ready for his first Christmas.” I walked out of his reach and into the kitchen.
I was greeted by even more people. Well, it was just Brian’s brother and his wife, but still, there were more people then there had been 15 minutes before.
I walked over to them.
“Hi Faith!” Harold said, with a smile.
“Merry Christmas! How are you doing?”
“Good! Come here and give me a hug, we are going to be family pretty soon.” I laughed and gave him a hug. “That’s better. Now, Faith, I’d like you to meet my wife, Angie. Ang, this is Faith, Bri’s fiancee.”
“It’s nice to meet you. Now I have someone who knows what I go through!” She smiled as she spoke. She was definatly going to be a good friend.
“It’s nice to meet you too! Excuse me, I’d stay and talk but I have to get Tommy ready.”
“Where is the little guy, anyways? H here won’t shut up about how adorable he is.”
“Well, he is a total mess right now, no doubt. But after I get him cleaned up, I’ll bring him over and introduce you.”
“Sounds good to me!” I smiled at the two and continued on the search for my son.
I found him in the TV room, with BJ and the twins. Aparently AJ had gone off to find Destiny. I pick Tommy up and made my way upstairs.
Once there I headed to the bathroom and gave him a quick bath. Once I was done with that I took him into the bedroom and dried him off. I then proceeded to dress him in his Christmas clothes and brushed the fuzz that was his hair.
20 minutes after I had disapeered I walked back down the stairs to find that the ‘adults’ had arrived. I walked into the living room and was greeted by Jane Carter.
“You look lovely today, Faith, and Tommy looks just adorable!”
“Thank you Jane! You look nice too!”
“Well, I’m going to go into the kitchen and see if I can help Polly with anything.”
“Ok, I’ll see you later Jane.”
I walked further into the living room and spotted Harold and Angie sitting next to Brian, talking. I remembered what I had promised Angie and walked over to the three of them.
“Hello!” I said when I had reachedthem.
“Hi Faith!” Angie said. Then she noticed the baby in my arms. “Is this Tommy?”
“Yes it is.” Brian moved over a little and I sat down between him and Angie. “Tommy, this is Angie.” He giggled and smiled.
“He likes you.” Brian said with a smile.
“He looks like he’sa happy baby.” Angie said, looking at her brother – in – law with a smile. “But then again, I see no reason for him to be otherwise.”
Just then, Harlod Sr. walked into the room. “OK, everyone! We are ready to start this party! We can start by opening presents!”
Everyone eventually found a place to sit down and the presents were passed out. Tommy’s first Christmas had begun.