Christmas on the Cherry Farm
“Is it too
much?” She tried to look objectively at the room and scrunched her nose. The
tree was the focal point, it stood nearly as tall and as wide as the windows it
was centered in front of and glittered with tiny fairy lights. It was covered
it in ornaments. A mix of old and new; ones Aidan had in storage and those
Maggie had had shipped from Philadelphia, plus ones they had bought together on
a recent shopping trip. She’d saved the angel for last; she wanted to put that
on together, today. But she’d giggled when she’d hung the stockings on an
actual fireplace.
Maggie had
the stereo tuned to a station playing Christmas carols. Stuffed Santas,
reindeers and snowmen mingled with their ceramic counterparts and grinned out
at them from various nooks and crannies. Candles and bells littered various
surfaces. It had snowed again and the lights twinkling in the windows reflected
off the ice. She could see her new Audi,
an early Christmas gift from Aidan, sparkling in the December sunlight. Somehow
even the shiny SUV managed looked festive.
“No. I love
it. I haven’t celebrated since my mom died. Haven’t wanted to or had a reason
to; until now.” He squeezed her lightly. “My mom loved Christmas. I avoided the
holiday because I thought it would make me miss her more. Now I wish I had
celebrated. It feels like she’s here.” He kissed Maggie’s neck. “Thank you.
She’d have loved this. And you. And her granddaughter.”
“I have something
for you” Maggie stepped away and produced a small, weathered box from behind
the sofa which she then presented to him solemnly. She had guessed when she’d
found the antique in storage that it had been his mother’s and that it was
likely he hadn’t seen it since she passed away.
He smiled sadly when he un-wrapped the angel from the yellow folds of
tissue paper.
“I’m sorry,
Aidan. I overstepped.” She laid her hand against his cheek.
“No way,
Rock Star, you did just right.” Aidan
turned his face so he kissed her palm.
“This will be absolutely perfect on top of our tree. Thank you.”
Maggie sat
on the arm of the sofa providing direction as Aidan perched on top of the
ladder trying to place the angel to her satisfaction. She could tell he was getting exasperated
with her and she tucked her tongue in her check and intentionally made him
correct it a few more times than necessary before declaring it perfect. She was waiting at the bottom of the ladder
to wrap her arm around his waist so they could view the tree together. She thought it was splendid.
“Christmas
spirit wasn’t exactly high on my mother’s list of priorities, as you can imagine.
But Jenna’s family always included me. They knew how to do Christmas: lots of
mess and cookies and laughter and love.” She turned in his arms. “But this will
be our first Christmas, in our home, our family, our tree. Not someone else’s
being shared. I might’ve gone a little overboard.”
“We’ll go
overboard every year.” Aidan promised dipping his head low and kissing her
soundly. The kiss deepened and Maggie’s
hands tangled into his hair as the tone shifted. Aidan’s hands ranged low,
skimmed over, and then cupped her backside. “Hmmm,” he hummed, “Baby’s still
napping right?” Maggie nodded. “I’ve never made love under a Christmas tree
before; how about you?”
“Of course
not.” Maggie tried, and failed, to sound shocked by the suggestion as Aidan
started to back step her toward the tree, his lips nipping at her earlobe. But
her lips quirked up and a laugh escaped as he hummed ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to
Town’ against her neck, his fingers skating under the hem of her shirt. “You’re
naughty.”
He shrugged,
pulled the shirt up over her head and tossed it aside. “I don’t need the jolly
old bugger to bring me anything for Christmas.” With his finger tucked into her
bra strap he tugged her close, “I’ve got everything I want right here.”
With her
heart tripping over his words, she slid to the floor with Aidan and under the
tree filled with fairy lights they started making their own traditions.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Get to know Aidan & Maggie better in their story
FATED SOULS (1st book in The Fated Series)
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