“Is that the new kid they got last year from Chicago?”
He nodded. “Yeah, he’s not bad.”
We all turned to the door as it opened, my mom and Diane walking in brandishing the bottles of champagne Wolfie had requested. Felix turned to me as everyone else started busying themselves with opening drinks, until they realized there was nothing to pour into.
“Come outside with me.”
“Now?”
“Yes.” He stood up. “Molly and I will go and find some glasses.”
We walked into the corridor and he pulled me around the corner to a set of chairs, making me sit down again. He cupped my face, breathing me in with a quick kiss before I could say a word, and in turn filled me with a level of happiness I hadn’t felt in a long time. My heart had been recharged and he was the battery.
“What’s going on?”
His cerulean eyes, like swimming pools on a summer day, creased in amusement. “Nothing, but I didn’t know how much we would see each other over the holidays and I wanted to give you your Christmas present.”
He reached into his pocket, pulling out a little velvet box and placed it on my knee. It was almost exactly the same as a box he’d given me years before, and I opened it up to find a charm, similar to the one I was wearing, only this time it was a little diamond bone.
I gasped, looking back at his face, so filled with excitement it made my heart flutter. “Lex… it’s so beautiful. Thank you.”
“It’s my bone. My femur. And see this?” He pointed to a miniscule platinum stripe down the middle of the diamonds. “That’s the metal rod you inserted. And look…” He flipped it over, I could just make out an engraving on the back -F+M.
I didn’t know how he managed to do it, but every present he bought me topped the one before. Each so full of meaning itmade my heart swell to bursting. As it was, my throat filled with tears until I couldn’t hold them in any longer.
“Hey, why are you crying?”
“I don’t know. Because I’m happy? Because of you.”
He brushed a tear away, kissing me quickly again, because he didn’t seem to ever get enough. “You don’t have to cry because of me.”
“I just mean you make me happy.”
He reached around the back of my neck, his fingers sending goosebumps down my spine as they brushed over my skin. He undid the clasp on my chain, holding it in his hand as he removed the bone from the box and slid it on the chain, next to the stethoscope, before reattaching it around my neck.
“Good, I want to make you happy. You make me happy, you always have. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to realize.”
I placed my hand on his chest, I could feel his heart beating underneath, full of life and love. “Lex, you don’t have anything to apologize for. I do though, I don’t have your Christmas present here.”
“Mol, you’re my present. You’re all I need. Nothing else.”
Maybe I really had been a good girl this year and Santa had finally, for the first time ever, given me the one thing I’d been asking for.
He brushed his lips across mine again. “Now, when am I going to see you over the holidays? Please tell me you have New Year’s Eve off, because it’s the fancy dress party.”
Felix and his fancy dress parties. I didn’t often get to enjoy them in person, usually only able to witness the costumes afterwards via group text. Normally the fancy dress parties were held on Halloween, which I could never make as it was one of the busiest surgery nights of the year. It was amazing how astoundingly stupid people were when fancy dress was involved – a chainsaw was still going to cause significant damage,whether you were dressed like Leatherface or not. But this year would be different.
“I’m on call over Christmas, but I’ll be there. I do have New Year’s off though.”
His sigh of relief made me laugh out loud.
“Come on, let’s get back to the others.”
His groan made me laugh even louder as he stole one last kiss.
We walked back into the room five minutes later, having swiped some plastic cups from a housekeeping cart we passed on the way. I handed them to my mom, who filled them up and we all settled in to watch the pre-game commentary, taking our minds off what was going on elsewhere. Except, every thirty minutes I was sent to get an update on Freddie.
The Rangers were two-all against Tampa in the middle of the third period when the door opened and Cooper appeared, draped in a hospital gown, his eyes red and watery. Someone muted the television and no one dared make a sound.
