Page 70 of The Loneliest Dragon at Christmas
After consideration, I have decided that I will continue paying for your living expenses and providing you with an allowance. My only stipulation is that you do not draw attention to yourself in any unnecessary manner. Considering you have never done so, I assume this shall not be a problem for you.
Sincerely, Duke Azer
Avery stared at the letter. He let out a slow breath. “Well, that’s some good news, I suppose.” He folded the note. “He is not cutting off my allowance and will continue paying for my living costs.”
“That’s something.” Jack stroked his arm.
Avery nodded, feeling numb. “Yes. I suppose it is.”
Jack stroked his arm. “Anything else?”
“A few things. But I don’t really want to think of it now.” Avery walked to the library.
Jack followed.
As Avery passed a table, he opened a drawer, dropped the letter in, and shut it away.
Avery had a complicated relationship with his father, a painful and confusing relationship. He cared for his father. He loved him even. He always had. He’d always wanted his father’sapproval and love. But Avery had always known what he was to his father. A responsibility. A duty. A mistake.
It had cut him deep for years. But today, although it still hurt, it ached less.
Because now Avery had Jack. Jack, who cared for him, who loved him, and who never made Avery feel like he was something less than wonderful. He turned and looked to Jack, whose brown eyes watched him warily, filled with concern.
Avery stepped forward and embraced him. “Thank you,” Avery murmured against Jack’s neck.
“For what?” Jack wrapped his arms around Avery, holding him tight.
“For loving me,” Avery said.
Jack pressed a kiss to his hair. “You don’t ever need to thank me for that. Never.” He squeezed Avery. “And we can talk about your father whenever you are ready.”
Avery pulled back. He nodded. “But not today. Or tomorrow. Maybe not for a while. I want to celebrate and enjoy Christmas with you.” He smiled. “Now what do you think of the tree?”
Jack looked. “It’s perfect.”
Jack disappeared for a few minutes into the kitchen. He returned with hot chocolate as well as a plate of vanilla crescent cookies Jack had brought earlier and a plate of chocolate tarts left by Cook.
Joy rushing through his veins, they opened the boxes of decorations. Snowflakes made of glass glistened. A variety of blown glass birds and woodland creatures lay nestled in soft tissue paper, which crinkled when Avery touched it. Bright hand-painted baubles of red, gold, and silver gleamed.
Avery stroked the baubles. “So how do we start?”
Jack chuckled. “We just start.” Jack picked up a box of baubles and stood.
Avery rose and followed him to the tree. “But how do we know where to put them?”
Jack handed him a bauble. “Just go with your heart.”
Avery took the red bauble. He turned to the tree. Reaching out, he hung the bauble from a branch. It swayed as it settled. “Like that?”
Jack handed him another one. “Just like that.”
They spent the next hour decorating and gorging themselves on hot chocolate, cookies, and tarts. Avery decided every Christmas Eve should be spent eating cookies and tarts and drinking hot chocolate. It could be their Christmas Eve tradition.
“What do you think, Carrie?” Avery asked once the tree was decorated. “Doesn’t it look perfect?”
Carrie lifted her head from the cushion in front of the fireplace. Blinking her eyes open, she stared at the tree.
“She thinks it looks magnificent.” Jack wrapped his arm around Avery’s waist.
