Page 135 of Crazy Love

“You just have to wear that with it,” I say, pointing to the cool helmet I found for him. “Every single time,” I add.

He rushes to the helmet and picks it up. “This is so sick,” he says, turning it every angle. “I love it!” He turns to look at me and I reach out and hug him. “I’ll wear it every time. Thanks, Mom,” he says.

“You’re so welcome,” I croak, hugging him tight and blinking fast.

Today’s the first time he’s called us Mom and Dad, and yeah, I’m going to be a puddle all day long.

We sit down around the tree…well, all of us but Penn, who jogs into the laundry room where the cats sleep. He comes back carrying the kittens, Jezebel on his heels.

“They didn’t want to miss out,” he says.

He sets them down and gives them the little toys we bought for them, and we laugh when Gizmo attacks his.

Penn points toward the stockings. “Want these now, or are we doing the big stuff?”

“Can I open this one?” Winnie asks, holding up a pink, sparkly box.

“Absolutely.” I nod.

Sam looks on happily, still holding his skateboard.

Winnie shrieks when she pulls out a set of glittery fairy wings and a matching tutu. “Fairy princess!”

“You’ve always been a fairy princess,” Penn tells her.

He hands Sam a box and Sam’s mouth drops when he opens the new headphones. “These are—these are so cool. I can’t believe it,” he says, shaking his head.

Penn sits down beside him and ruffles his hair. Then he hands me a huge box.

“Me?”

“Yes, you.” He smirks.

Inside is a luxurious blanket. I hold it up to my face and sigh. “So soft.”

He gives me a sweet smile, his eyes heating with promise.

I give him a sweater and a beautiful decanter set that he loves. He gives me a robe that makes me feel like a queen, stunning earrings, and an adorable floppy flamingo.

It’s Penn’s turn to get teary when we give him an album filled with the pictures he’s been taking.

Sam and Winnie are beside themselves with every present we give them, so excited and so grateful.

When they give us each a leather key chain with Mom and Dad on the front, there are more tears. And under the little leather flap that opens up, there’s a picture of the four of us together.

“This is the best,” I cry.

We go through the stockings one at a time, and it’s Just. So. Fun. Seeing Christmas through Sam and Winnie’s eyes—and Penn’s because he’s just as excited—makes me happier than I thought possible.

There’s one little box left in my stocking and I pull it out, eyes wide at Penn.

“Open it,” he whispers.

Inside the box is a delicate chain with dainty charms—Cupid’s arrow, a unicorn, a skateboard, a football, ballet slippers, and an infinity symbol. I laugh when I see the last two—a slice of pizza because Sam will always say he wants pizza if asked. And last but not least, a flamingo.

I bite my lip. “Penn...”

“You like it?”

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