Page 63 of Small-Town Secrets
A thoughtful look crossed Chris' features. "Maybe we were just really bad."
"I don't believe that's true," I said, because I didn't want my son to believe he didn'tdeservethe kind of gifts that children with richer parents received. "I think Santa was just really busy. You'll see, this year will be better."
"How do you know that?" Chris asked suspiciously.
"Because Santa has already asked me to help with your gifts," I lied. Great, now I was reinforcing the Santa lie.
Maybe I was a step closer to being a parent.
Besides, it wasn’t a problem that I promised my son a better Christmas because I was determined to make it happen.
* * *
For the most part, the children behaved during lunch, and they didn't complain when we lined up to see Santa, either.
"Should we have our picture taken?" I asked Laurence as we waited, because I saw other families do that. I wasn't exactly keen on being in a picture with the mall employee in the red suit, but it would be nice to haveanysort of photograph that showed us and the twins together.
"We'd have to pay for that."
"That's okay, I can pay."
Laurence hesitated, but then he nodded.
I gave him a short kiss. "I'll have something to send my parents."
"You're going to tell them?" Laurence asked in a hushed tone of voice, glancing at the twins who stood before us, talking among themselves and not paying us any mind.
"I'll have to, eventually. They need to know they have more grandkids to spoil."
"You think they'll be happy?"
"I know they'll be." Maybe not happy about having missed so much, but they would understand. If I could accept this, so could they. I gave my omega another kiss, just to make sure he wasn't forgetting how much I cared about him.
"Thank you." Laurence smiled at me. He looked so beautiful like that my heart beat a little faster and I kind of wanted to be in my bedroom with him.
"You don't have to thank me."
"Yeah, I do."
Before I could argue any further—or do any of the million unwise things I wanted to do to my omega that moment, and screw the public—it was our turn to meet Santa.
One of the elves in his ridiculously green costume stepped up to the boys and asked them if they would like to go together or separately.
Immediately, Tyler announced that he wanted to go first.
I was quietly relieved when Chris actually let him, even if that was only because he wasn't as enthusiastic about all of this as his brother was.
Santa greeted Tyler with a kind laugh when the boy sat on his lap. "Have you been good this year?"
"I was super good." He glanced at his twin. "I was better than Chris."
Santa laughed again while Chris scowled. "Is that so?" the old man with the friendly smile asked. "What would you like for Christmas then?"
"I want to have my own ice cream place so I can have ice cream any time I want."
Next to me, Laurence chuckled, while I wondered what else would make the kid happy—as in terms of things I could actually afford to buy. Christmas was only a week away, after all, and I had a ton of preparations to make.
"That's a big wish," Santa said, as if he was thinking along the same lines as me. "Do you have any smaller ones?"
