"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" I groaned and turned my face further into Patch's chest, pulling the duvet over my face to drown out my two year old daughter Kimberley's voice. She huffed, and seemingly not satisfied, proceeded to jump on me and tugged at my hair. "Get up! Get up! GET UP!" She screamed. "Santa left me presents and I have to open them NOW I can't wait any longer! MOMMY!" I heard Patch chuckle beside me and opened one eye long enough to glare at him. He kissed me on my forehead before Kim screamed at me for the thousandth time to get out of bed. Using all my mental willpower, I climbed out of bed and wrapped myself in Patch's thick dressing gown to keep warm. Looking at the time, the digits blurred in and out of focus before I finally was coordinated and awake enough to read them. 5:38.
"Kimberley!" I all but screamed at my daughter who was lying flat out on Patch, looking innocent. "It's half 5 in the morning. Go back to sleep!" But even I knew that was never going to happen. It was her first Christmas really understanding Santa and getting her to sleep last night was a task of its own, without last minute preparations to finish. I climbed into bed just gone two o'clock last night and exhaustion doesn't even begin to cover it. Patch leaned over and picked up a discarded black tee before setting Kim on his shoulders and ducking out of the doorway and down the stairs.
"Wakey wakey," I knocked on my 16 year old son's door. A moment later I heard Jaxon shuffling to the door, tripping over something in the process and pulling his door open. He was the spit of Patch with his long, pitch black hair, but more warming eyes than both mine and Patch's which were dark brown. He was kindhearted and kept to himself. He seemed popular enough at school, but chose only a few select people to hang around with, claiming people were selfish and only out for themselves.
"What time is it?" He mumbled.
"Quarter to six," and he groaned the same as I had five minutes earlier when given a less polite wake up call.
"It's Kim's first proper Christmas," I pointed out. "Go and wake Sammy up," I told him. Samantha Cherish Morgan-or Sammy-for short was his girlfriend. She moved to Coldwater's Orphanage from NY after being put in care when her parents abandoned her and she wanted to leave the city and its memories behind. As much as she hates Coldwater, her and Jaxon became fast friends when she joined local high school CHS and they soon began dating. They've been together a little over a year, and we were able to strike a deal with the orphanage to let her spend Christmas with us. I walked down the stairs and found my middle child Chrissie and her vibrant curly hair sat underneath the Christmas tree eyeing a present. Once Jaxon and Sammy joined us, the children dived into their presents. I pulled mine and Patch's out of the wreckage of torn wrapping paper and piles of opened presents and moved to the sofa where he sat with Kim on his lap tearing into her present. Seeming confident enough with herself to be able to do the others, she jumped of his lap and took the present from his grasp and joined the others under the tree. I couldn't help but giggle at my tiny toddler as she sat with her presents towering over her, looking sceptically at it, clearly wondering how to tackle the situation at hand.
"Merry Christmas Mr Cipriano," I told him.
"Merry Christmas to you too Mrs Cipriano," he told me and leaned in to kiss me. "Now open you're present. I saw you burning holes into it last night." A blush spread across my cheeks as I realised he caught me. I had no idea what my present was, and it had been there for two weeks. I was almost as excited as Kimberley. Almost. I tore the wrapping paper off and tossed it into the growing pile on the floor. I lifted the lid off the box and frowned, inside was another wrapped box. 4 boxes later, I glared at him and was about to throw the towel in. He merely grinned at me and pulled me into his lap and kissed my temple.
"Last one," he told me. I tore off the paper, for what I hoped would be the last time and carefully lifted the lid on the delicate box.
"Patch," I whispered, still transfixed by the diamond ring it held. "What's this?" I asked him.
"Marry me," he said simply. I slowly turned to face him.
"Marry you?" I asked, not believing what I was hearing.
"Marry me," he clarified. He took the ring and placed it on my finger, whilst I sat there speechless. He looked at me intently and placed a loose strand of hair behind my ear and kissed me. "You still haven't said anything," he pointed out, looking a bit worried.
"Of course I'll marry you!" He stood up, taking me with him and spun me around before kissing me again.
"Ew. That's gross!" Kimberley shouted, mortified.
"I thought you were married?" Sammy asked confused. Jaxon decided to pipe up.
"Mom just changed her name years ago. They told us some story about how they said their vows under heaven and didn't need a piece of paper to prove their love for each other." He rolled his eyes as if he didn't believe it.
"It's true," me and Patch chimed. "Shall we do it now?" I asked him and discreetly nodded in Sammy's direction. He nodded and I got the envelope out my bag. "Sammy?" I called her attention. "This is a little something off Patch and I."
"Thank you," she told us and opened the envelope. We stood waiting whilst she read it, and I crossed my fingers behind my back. Whilst she read, the room grew silent and the tension became unbearable.
"What does it say?" Jaxon questioned.
"They want to adopt me," she whispered and went pale.
"What?!"
"Here us out," I said. "We always wanted a big family, and the past year that's what you've been. We don't want to adopt you for the sake of it, and we don't expect anything of you in return. But the past few weeks we've thought long and hard about it. We spoke to the orphanage and all the paperwork's signed, all we need is your consent. You can say no if you want to and it won't change anything, we'll completely understand. The decision is yours. Take as long as you have to." Patch was the next to speak.
"We understand it's complicated. You and Jaxon may not be together forever, and you'd be living here. Me and Nora wouldn't ask you, or take on the responsibility if we didn't believe it was for the best. I know you must have some doubts, because you're parents left you, but we would never do that. We're not asking you to call us mom and dad, and we will never be able to replace your parents. But we love you and want to take care of you."
"You want to adopt me," she said again and the flicker of a smile crossed her lips. "I'd like that." By now, all of us were full on grinning. Our family was by no means perfect, but it was complete and it was ours. We were happy and healthy, and that was all that mattered.
"What's going on?" Kim asked us frustratedly. It appeared we'd stopped her opening her last present and she didn't like that. Patience was never her strong point. We all burst out laughing, and that's how we spent the rest of the day. Laughing together as a family, sharing and creating more memories.
AN. One shot of a Cipriano Christmas. May write the story of Sammy Morgan at some point. Thoughts on that? If you've read Joss Stirling's Finding Sky series(you don't need to have read the latest Misty Falls)check out my story Saving Florentina - Crystal and Xav's daughter. Read and review!