Page 83 of Forever Home

“You know… we should have used ice cream a long time ago.”

My eyes meet hers again with laughter as I shake my head. “It was a spur-of-the-moment idea.”

“You should have more moments like that, because… damn.”

“Well,” I say with amusement in my voice, “let’s get cleaned up and head back to the house. I have a surprise waiting for you, and it can’t wait any longer.”

“You do?” she asks with a raised brow as she stares at me. “What kind of surprise?”

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, Madi.”

“You know I don’t like surprises, right?” she replies, reminding me of something I’ve known since we were kids. Though, this surprise was one worth making her wait for.

“I promise, you’re going to love it.”

She scoffs with a soft smile as she pulls on her clothes. “I guess we will see.”

Forty minutes later, after one hell of a car ride where Madison's magic mouth left me completely spent, we pulled up outside my apartment building. My nerves were on edge over the surprise I had waiting for her upstairs. Since she'd been here, I felt like I wasn’t doing enough with her. And honestly, until Christmas, things were going to be even more chaotic.

That’s why I planned today out the way I did. I purposely took her out so that she wasn’t in the apartment when her surprise arrived, giving everything time to be set up perfectly before we got home. The cake baking turned out to be a bonus, extending the time needed to get things just right.

“So, what do you have waiting for me?” she asks as we step into the elevator.

I glance at her, shrugging my shoulders while trying to contain my smile. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

The moment we step out of the elevator and approach my apartment door, my heart races. This could either go terribly wrong or completely right. Every part of me hoped that she loved it because it took a lot of convincing to even make this happen.

Stepping into the apartment, it looks completely different than it did this morning when we left. Christmas decorations litter every piece of furniture around the penthouse. My interior decorator went overboard with the surprise for Madison, of course, guided by one other important person.

“Oh wow,” she gasps. “You did all this… for me?”

“Uh, yes. Do you like it?”

She’s quiet for a moment before slowly nodding her head. “I don’t know what to say… I mean—”

Her voice breaks slightly as she cuts herself off.

“Madison—I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t,” she replies, turning to me with soft laughter as she wipes the loose tears from her eyes. “It’s just that I’ve never been away from my mom for the holidays, and I’d thought about going back for Christmas, but—I also don’t want to leave you.”

Her words touch me deeply, and I pull her close, wrapping my arms around her in a hug as my lips press against the top of her head. “What if I told you that you didn’t have to leave and you could still see your mom?”

“What?” she asks softly, pulling back to look up at me.

“He said… what if you can still spend Christmas with me?”

At the sound of her voice, Madison turns around only to come face to face with her mother, who stood just inside the living room, smiling in her long cardigan, leggings, and slippers. Her arms open wide, and I watch Madison run to her, tears streaming down her face as she embraces her mother.

“Oh my God!” Madison exclaims, “How are you here?”

“It’s a long story, but we will say that Jaxson is a very convincing man. And he planned the entire thing. Down to letting me help his decorator create a special setup for Christmas.”

While the two of them reunited, I slipped towards my room to change. My mind swirled over the idea that I’d not only just made this Christmas special—something I’ve never been able to do—but also found a way to reunite a family over the holidays.

I often wondered what my parents and siblings were doing during these times of the year, but every time I did, I was reminded of the fact that though they claimed to love me, I wasn’t exactly top priority on their list. At least, not enough to even receive a Christmas card. But I suppose there’s always a possibility that things can change.

I mean, hell, I never imagined that my life would be filled with all that is Madi. Yet, here I am, living it.

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