Page 65 of Wrapped Up in Christmas Hope
“The ladder works?” Andrew looked impressed.
“You should come by and see it. I can show you how it works. Plus, Grammy and Grampy let me open a present early. It’s a puzzle of a fire truck.” His face scrunched. “A giant puzzle. Like a gazillion pieces, even. We’ve all been working on putting it together, but it’s hard. I bet you could help.”
Morgan watched as Andrew’s throat worked, saw the emotions playing on his face. Although he was happy to see Greyson, there was still something guarded in his interactions, and that disturbed her. He’d never held back with Greyson. Even if he’d judged her harshly for her disturbing trip down memory lane, she couldn’t believe he would hold that against Greyson. Something was wrong.
His brow rose. “An early present, eh?”
“I still have a bunch under the tree. I asked mom about getting a present for you, but she said we’d have to see.”
Eek. Morgan’s cheeks heated.
“She said she wasn’t sure what you needed, but I told her we could make you brownies with lots of candies because you liked them.”
Andrew nodded. “Brownies with lots of candy are my favorite.”
Greyson looked up at her with an I told you so look.
“But I’m good, bud,” Andrew continued. “You don’t need to get me anything for Christmas.”
“Hey, there’s Lisa,” Ben said, then gave them a sheepish look. “We had so much fun at Sarah and Bodie’s Christmas party we decided to give it another try. So, if you guys will excuse me...”
Andrew shook his head as Ben walked over to the pretty brunette, took her hand and kissed it. He rolled his eyes. “Dude thinks he’s Casanova.”
“Who is Casanova?” Greyson asked.
The corner of Andrew’s mouth lifted. “A ladies’ man.”
“Am I a Casanova since Brynne is my girlfriend?”
Morgan’s jaw dropped. “Um, no. A Casanova is more a guy who leads women on but doesn’t ever commit to any of them.”
Andrew’s gaze cut to her, but he didn’t say anything. She hadn’t meant him, but she suspected that’s how he’d taken her comment. She wanted to reassure him that that wasn’t the case. He’d certainly not led her on, or any woman, since he told them all upfront that he wasn’t interested in a long-term relationship. But she couldn’t think of how to say that with Greyson listening.
“Come on, buddy. Let’s go find your coloring sheet,” Andrew suggested. “What are we looking for?”
“A snow globe.”
“You decorated your ornament like a snow globe?” Morgan asked, her attention back to her son. “That was a brilliant idea.”
“Just wait until you see it,” Greyson beamed. “You’re going to love it.”
Andrew knew immediately which coloring sheet was Greyson’s even before the boy pointed out his entry. His knees felt a little wobbly at the emotions slamming through him.
“There it is!” Greyson pointed to the wall to their right.
Morgan’s eyes scanned the wall, trying to find the right sheet. When her gaze hit Greyson’s, it stopped. Her lips parted. Just as Andrew had, she immediately recognized what Greyson had drawn inside the blank ornament outline on the coloring sheet.
Them. There was no mistaking them playing in the snow with a reindeer and a snowman. He’d drawn white and silver snowflakes falling around them and big smiles on their faces. Andrew had never seen a more beautiful drawing than the simplistic disproportionate stick figures. Beautiful and scary.
“It’s...us,” Morgan said, sounding shaken. No wonder. His insides were trembling, too. The drawing appeared to be of a family. Was that how Greyson saw them? Or had the drawing just been an innocent depiction of a happy day in the kid’s life?
Andrew had been so wrong to befriend them. He hadn’t made their lives better. He’d set them up to get hurt and he had to figure out how to keep that from happening.
Looking proud and obviously oblivious to his mother’s reaction, Greyson nodded. “It’s from when we went to get Rosie’s reindeers. That’s us and Ralphie and our snowman.”
“It’s great, kid,” Andrew said to give Morgan a moment to recover from her shock. He was struggling with his own shock, too.
He felt shocked. Touched. And humbled. So very humbled by this kid.
