Page 21 of Home For Christmas

“Do you have decorations now?” I was still caught up on the fact that Jasper had no decorations.

Harrison gave a half shrug. “I’ve got some at my house but definitely not enough to fully decorate our house.”

Jasper looked uncharacteristically bashful. “We don’t have to go all out.”

Derek gasped. He wasn’t little, but he wasn’t big, and had been coloring at the coffee table most of the morning. “But it’s Christmas. And we’re all going to be there. It doesn’t feel like Christmas without decorations.” He sat back and looked up at Colt. “Where’s that box Mom gave us a few years ago?”

It was time to accept I wasn’t sleeping anymore, so I slithered up the couch and draped myself across Declan’s lap, my ass between his thigh and the arm of the couch. Declan pulled me toward him, one arm over my legs and one around my back.

Colt stood up and headed out of the room. Derek cleaned his crayons and coloring book up while Colt was gone, and by the time Colt returned with an old box, any signs of Derek’s little side had been pushed to the side.

“The hell is that?” Jasper asked as Colt set the box down on the table.

I recognized my mom’s handwriting on the outside, but I couldn’t figure out why a box labeled Jasper’s ornaments was at Derek’s house. We had the same box at our house, but ours was labeled with both our names. Declan had been such a part of our lives that he’d had nearly as many ornaments at home as I’d had by the time my mom gave us the box.

“Oh!” Harrison nearly flew off the couch to sit next to Derek on the floor. “I bet I know what these are. Are they?” he asked Derek.

Derek nodded. “Yup. My mom gave them to us years ago to keep safe. It never parsed until just now. I’d thought it was weird that she’d given them to me, but I think she wanted to make sure that Jas got them when it was time.”

“What are those?” Jasper asked, finally getting out of his seat and going to sit behind Derek and Harrison.

Harrison looked up at my brother with a beaming smile. “Your Christmas ornaments.” The way he looked at Jasper made my heart skip a beat. Brown eyes gleamed, his cheeks rising with his smile, and love radiated off him. “These are the ornaments you made when you were little.”

Jasper’s face showed pure confusion. “What ornaments?”

Studying Jasper’s face more closely, I suspected he had absolutely no recollection of making ornaments with us as a kid. Greg stood up and walked to sit by Jasper, resting a hand on his knee. “Each of my kids have a box like this. They accumulate so quick when they’re little.”

Derek pulled the tape on the box back to expose a layer of newspaper. Harrison took it from there and reached in to pull out the first ornament. Holding up a Popsicle stick reindeer, he oohed and ahhed. “Oh my god, you were two when you made this!”

“I have one of those!” Derek laughed, pointing at the beaded candy cane.

“Oh, we have two of them,” Declan said.

“There’s one in my decorations too,” Harrison pointed out. “We all made them together in…” He flipped the ornament over to see the little tag my mom put on everything. “Eighth grade!”

I remembered that night well. Jasper had sworn he was too old, but he’d caved when Harrison had asked him. At the time, I’d been too young to understand that Jasper had only decorated the ornaments to placate Harrison. Thinking about it more, there were a lot of things that Jasper had done because Harrison had asked him to. That crush had lasted decades without him saying anything to Harrison.

Jasper smiled, but it didn’t seem to be at the memory, just a peaceful, content smile. The next ornament I picked up caused Jasper to reach out and grin. “Now, this one I remember!”

I didn’t remember it, but Jasper squeezed Harrison’s shoulder. “You sent me this the first year Hometown was on tour.”

Harrison’s cheeks turned bright red. “Yeah, I remember that.”

Derek looked between the two, wheels turning, but didn’t say anything. Maybe he didn’t have anything to say, maybe Greg beat him to it when he hummed and said, “I can’t believe how long you two were in love with each other and didn’t do a damn thing about it.”

I couldn’t help but agree. The horse ornament was sweet, and I wondered how hard he’d looked for it. Judging by the blush, I suspected it was longer than he’d ever admit to any of us.

Jasper didn’t remember many of the ornaments in the box, but we all enjoyed the time we spent looking through them and walking down memory lane. The ornaments themselves didn’t mean much to him, but the memories around them did. We laughed, and I teared up a few times. Derek, Harrison, and I argued about the stories around the various ornaments. Greg learned more about the Scott family than he probably ever wanted—or needed—to know, but most of all, we enjoyed being with each other.

The box had been put away, we’d had lunch, and I was beginning to think I’d fought off the worst of the hangover when the door opened and three screaming kids came barreling into the house. “Daddy! Poppy!” My nephews’ voices rang out loud enough to wake the dead and remind me that I definitely hadn’t completely shaken the hangover.

Derek didn’t seem to have the same problem as me as he scooped the boys in his arms and lifted them together, kissing their cheeks and listening to them chatter about the time they’d spent with their aunt.

As if on cue, Ellie walked in the door smiling broadly. “Thanks for letting them come back a little early today. They really wanted to see their uncles.” She shot beaming smiles toward the five of us in the living room. “Looks like someone’s a little worse for wear today,” she teased when her eyes fell on me.

“I was doing better until Manchester United’s cheer squad arrived.”

Declan pinched my ass. “Who was the one who decided to drink everything every person offered last night? I’m pretty sure I warned you to stop.”

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