Page 23 of A Little Christmas: Star
For a few minutes, he said nothing. He walked around the room, touching things. He crouched down to look into the tent and fingered the bindings of the books. Star stood in the middle of the room, not speaking.
Scaring the life out of me.
“You did all this for me, Daddy?” he asked in his little voice, the cutest damned thing in the world.
“I did.”
“This used to be your office.”
I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “I don’t need a home office anymore. I want my time at home to be with you.”
“How long did this take you?”
Shrugging, I kissed his neck. “A week or so?”
He still hadn’t said if he liked it or not, and I was about to burst.
“You are so damned good to me.” Star turned around and wrapped his arms around my neck.
“But do you like it? I guessed about the colors and the toys and everything. I didn’t know…”
“Caelum, it’s absolutely perfect. I couldn’t ask for a better nursery.”
“The closet and dressers are full of things for you as well. You didn’t even look at those.” I chuckled.
“It doesn’t matter. Everything you chose is amazing. What a lucky little I am.”
“What a lucky daddy I am,” I replied and kissed him on the lips. “Should I leave you to play for a while?”
Star nodded. “I’d like to explore more on my own for a while if that’s okay. Then maybe you can come in with me.”
“That sounds amazing, Star. Welcome home.”
For the rest of the night, Star played until he was tuckered out. He took a long bath, playing with some of his new tub toys and bath crayons and then was happy to get into his jammies and go straight to sleep, even before a story.
I cleaned up the kitchen and picked up some things in his nursery before going to bed myself. Star was dead asleep, knees curled up to his chest.
Every day I swore was the best day ever, but today was one for the books. I finally had my love, and this time, I would never let him go.
Epilogue
Star
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” I slid the mittens on, humming the parts I didn’t know the words for and singing along to the radio for all the ones I did.
A couple of weeks earlier, Caelum and I had gotten matching mittens made from old sweaters at a Christmas market in our city. The market had been so much fun. It was small business after small business with nonprofits intermixed. Amazing food, crafts from local senior centers, ornaments from around the world, and toys galore.
I always preferred wearing mittens to gloves when I was outside. Driving required gloves, but walking around in the cold was the job of mittens. And these were super cute, made from a sweater that had been covered in reindeer. The sweater had been thick wool, making them super warm. I had to get them. There was no choice. Obviously, Caelum needed a pair too. How else could we be twinsies?
At the time, I thought I’d wear them playing in the snow or while going for walks. I never expected the first time I wore them to be here…about to do something I’d longed to do for over a decade. Daddy had really outdone himself with this one.
I was sliding them on as we were about to wander New York City during our Christmas getaway. We had so many activities planned, and today was my favorite on the list.
It was hard to believe we’d been together for three years already. Who would’ve thought that when I ran into that building, I’d run straight into his office? I still never discovered why the paparazzi had been lurking near the club that day. They hadn’t been there since, and now there was every reason forthem to be. I was officially a member of Chained, Daddy and I hanging out there at least once a month.
So many things had changed since that fateful day and just as many were the same. I’d slowed down in my career when it came to projects that required traveling. There had been a time when I had to say yes to pretty much all offers. I couldn’t afford to be “difficult.” That would only make getting future roles difficult.
That time had passed, and now I was the one picking projects and not accepting everything that came my way. I started doing more voice work. With my fame, it paid pretty well, and I could do most of it from a local studio.
