YEAR FOUR

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The house was quiet as Jenna crept through the dark with the pristinely wrapped stack of presents. She tiptoed down the hallway, past Lulu's bedroom, praying the three-year-old wouldn't wake up as she was playing Santa. Navigating the living room, barely passing the coffee table without stubbing her toe, she placed the three boxes underneath the tree on top of the ones already there.

It wasn't much, and she had just a few more boxes to grab from her closet, but she was proud of the presents she'd picked out for her. Hopefully tonight, no surprises would be ruined. Especially with Lulu sleeping as lightly as she was.

Jenna turned around to go back to get the rest of the presents when she heard a little voice from the other room.

"Mama?"

Shoot.

Without hesitation, trying to come up with a plan to get her back to sleep as soon as possible, Jenna walked back to Lulu's room.

As she made her way down the hall, the three-year-old called more loudly, more desperately, "Mama!"

"I'm coming, sweetie," Jenna called to her as she opened the bedroom door, peeking inside.

Lulu was curled up in her toddler bed, tugging her blanket closer to her. As Jenna approached, the girl coughed.

"What's the matter, baby?" Jenna asked gently, sitting on the bed at her daughter's feet.

Lulu craned her neck to look up at her and placed her little hand on the front of her neck. "My throat's scratchy."

"It's scratchy?" Jenna asked her, running her fingers through the girl's hair. At Lulu's nod, she placed the back of her hand on her forehead. She was burning up.

"Uh-oh," she muttered, "I think you have a fever."

She'd seemed fine before she'd gone to bed. A little more tired than usual, but nothing serious. Of course, children knew how to get sick at the best of times. This was expected.

"Don't feel good," Lulu muttered with a groan. "Can I sleep with you?"

With a nod, Jenna told her, "Let's take your temperature first, and then you can come sleep in my bed, okay?"

"Mmkay."

Jenna guided her to take her covers off, then she lifted the three-year-old in her arms. She was almost getting too big to carry.

First stop was down the hall to the bathroom, where Jenna grabbed the thermometer from the medicine cabinet. She closed the toilet lid and had Lulu sit down. Then she placed a new plastic covering over the thermometer ear piece and brought it to the girl's ear, holding down the button and waiting.

100.2 F

"Yep, definitely up there," she murmured, removing the plastic off of the thermometer and tossing it. "We need to take you to the doctor tomorrow, but I don't know who we'll find on Christmas."

She picked the child up again, carrying her down the hall to her bedroom. She placed the child on the side of the bed opposite where she slept. The girl reached for the comforter covering the bed and, while she didn't cover herself with it, she tugged it close as if to cuddle into it.

"I'm gonna get you some water," Jenna told her. "Maybe that'll help a little."

Lulu muttered an okay as Jenna left the room.

The older woman turned on lights as she walked down the hallway, making her way across the living room to the kitchen. She found Lulu's favorite sippie cup, grabbing the Brita pitcher out of the fridge and filling the cup with cold water.

When she returned to the bedroom, Lulu was coughing more. Probably drainage. If they were lucky, she didn't have strep, but...well, the fever said otherwise, and it had been going around daycare. Jenna knew if that was the case she would probably end up catching it as well.

She'd get tested as soon as she could get a hold of a doctor in the morning.

Christmas morning.

Jenna sighed, sad that Lulu's joy over opening her presents would be dampered. But, she supposed, it would be worse to let her go the rest of the holiday without treatment.

"Here, baby," she whispered, guiding Lulu to sit up. The child did, and Jenna handed her the cup.

The baker rubbed her daughter's back soothingly as she drank.

Once the girl had her fill, she handed the cup back to Jenna, who set it in the nightstand. She tucked Lulu in then, placing only the over sheet over her.

"I need Teddy," Lulu told her in a near whisper.

With a nod, Jenna picked herself up from the bed and made her way down the hall to her daughter's bedroom. The beloved teddy bear sat in the corner of the bed. With the utmost care, Jenna grabbed it along with Lulu's favorite blankie.

When she brought them back to the bedroom, Lulu was already half asleep. She handed the bear and the blanket to the girl, who pulled them closer to herself, as if hanging on for dear life.

Finally, Jenna crawled into bed, climbing beneath the covers and rolling over to be closer to Lulu. The three-year-old rolled toward her and, bear and blanket stuffed between them, clung to her mother. Jenna wrapped an arm around her, not caring if she did get sick.

As she drifted off, she remembered there were still presents left to place under the tree. But given that Lulu hadn't even asked if Santa had shown up yet, she figured it wouldn't be hard to get up in a few hours to take care of it.

Whatever happened tomorrow, she was determined to not let illness ruin Christmas for the precious little girl next to her.