“Daddy, look, Mrs. B made me my own apron for when we cook!” Kade jumps up and down with excitement as he unwraps his present. Christmas Day has been chaos with the boys opening their Santa presents.
Nash has been sitting all morning building his new LEGO, and Kade is fascinated with the dinosaur that walks and roars, along with his remote-control car. The walls in my house will never be the same again.
Coming over to Mrs. B for a traditional Christmas lunch with all the trimmings has been amazing. And watching Poppy sitting on the floor with the boys as they open a few small presents from them both is very sweet.
Last night, getting into bed after making sure everything was set up for Christmas morning, I could still smell Poppy in my bed, which made me miss what I’d had the night before. Sure,the sex was unbelievable, but it was the snuggling and talking that I have been longing for, and last night reminded me of that.
“Daddy, this one has your name on it,” Nash proudly announces, rushing over to me with a long flat box. I wasn’t expecting anything, and as I read the card, I smile.
To Landon
From Perfect Poppy x
I wish she knew how perfect she really is.
“You didn’t need to do that.” I glance at her across the room where she now has Kade sitting in her lap on the floor.
“Just open it.” She laughs.
I tear the paper off, because otherwise, the boys will be complaining how long I’m taking.
Lifting the black lid off, inside is a bright red tie, with a note:“Bring a little color into your life. It’s okay to live a little on the wild side.”I look up at her and see the meaning behind her words has nothing to do with the tie, and I have her to thank for starting to see that there is hope that life will get better going forward.
Poppy just shrugs her shoulders, and I start laughing out loud.
“So, you think I’m boring?” I pretend to be offended, when really this gift has touched me in a way I can’t express.
“Not anymore.” She winks at me as Kade then crawls from her lap and reaches for the present that I deliberately buried at the back when we arrived.
“Poppy, Poppy,” he calls to her excitedly as he scrambles back out from under the tree. “This one is for you from me and Nash. Oh, and Daddy too.” He crawls back into her lap and then almost opens it for her.
Her eyes begin to water, and she squeezes Kade that little bit tighter. Slowly, she lifts her face up to show me the full emotion she is having trouble containing.
Nash crawls over the carpet to Poppy from where he was sitting at my feet.
“Look, Poppy, I’m even smiling with Santa just like you are. Daddy said he will smile better next year.” It brings the room into a fit of laughter, including me. Poppy is now crying, but I know they are happy tears, as she can’t take her eyes off the framed Santa photos of her with the boys and me.
When the photographer’s assistant told me she wanted to be photoshopped from the image, after she had just been so beautiful to a little boy who was missing his mom, I told her absolutely not and to give me extra copies. I knew that day she was already crawling under my skin, I just didn’t understand how far she would get under there.
“There is more.” Nash then brings the other present.
“Landon, you are spoiling me.” She takes the box with a red-and-white-striped ribbon wrapped around it. “Nice touch.” She just looks at me and laughs.
Pulling out the photo book, she gasps at the title: The Twelve Days of Christmas. She runs her fingers down the cover, over the picture of her and the boys in their gingerbread-men onesies and covered in powdered sugar, proudly showing off their houses. The tears are running down her cheeks, and I just want to pull her into my lap and wipe them away for her.
“How did you… I’m… I have no words.” She turns page after page of photos of her and the boys, some with either Mrs. B or me as well, but it’s a book of her Christmas here with us this year.
“I may have had some help from your mom and Autumn, who raided your phone for photos and sent them to me, and I have a friend who did the rush job for me yesterday.” I just smileat her, trying to convey what her time here has meant to us all. “I have a copy for you, Mrs. B, and one for the boys to keep too.”
“Oh thank you, my sweet boy, I will treasure that.” Mrs. B hops up from her seat and comes over to kiss me on the cheek. “Boys, who wants to help me get the pumpkin pie ready for dessert and maybe some hot chocolates too?” Which has them both screaming yes and following her to the kitchen.
The moment they leave the room, Poppy is on her feet and across the room, straddling me on the couch, and her lips are on mine. My hands are in her hair, and I pull her as close as possible as we devour each other.
“I don’t want to let you go.” The words slip from me, which is unfair, but I can’t help it, it’s how I feel.
“I wish I could stay.” She buries her head in my shoulder as I hug her tightly.
“Right person, right time, wrong place,” I whisper to her, and she nods.
