Holy Hannah, you guys are amazing. I really didn't think that so many people would take interest in this story, but I am so happy that you all like it so much. To say 'thank you' I'm posting Chapter 7 this morning instead of tonight for you all. Thank you for reading, and please let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with the Twilight series.
Chapter 7
As the night wore on, Ethan and Sara were tucked in bed to await Santa Claus and Christmas morning. Sara had taken a liking to me just like her brother did and had spent a majority of the night we had all spent in the living room settled on my lap and playing with my braid after I had pulled it over my shoulder. I had to help Emily tuck her into bed because she wouldn't let Sam take her upstairs.
With the kids tucked in their beds, everyone had pretty much said their goodbyes and gone home. The only ones remaining at Sam and Emily's were Kim, Jared, Paul, and I. Emily and Kim were snuggled close the men in their lives and I was settled on the sofa next to Paul, but unlike Kim and Emily I wasn't snuggled into his side. We were enjoying mugs of hot cocoa but the guys declined the drink leaving more for us girls.
"Thank you for having me over," I said with a smile. "I know I've said it several times, but I really appreciate it. It's been so long since I've just had fun that I almost forgot what it was like." Paul's left arm that was resting behind me on the back of the sofa lowered so it was resting on my shoulders and he scooted closer to me. His warmth was welcome because I had grown chilled yet again.
"Thank you for coming," Emily said. "I don't think I have ever seen Sara sit still for so long since before she could crawl." I smiled before I took a small drink from my still steaming glass. I was rather tired, but I didn't want to lose the great company around me just yet and I didn't want Paul to take me home.
"You're a natural, Amanda," Kim said and I looked at her and the bright smile that was on her face as she rested her hand on her stomach. "After you get married, do you know how many kids you want to have?" I looked down at my mug of cocoa and frowned a bit. I didn't know how to answer that question.
After I was diagnosed and well enough to do a little research about lupus I found out a few things the doctors hadn't covered. During my research I learned that pregnancy with lupus needed to be planned and the disease in remission to be safe for both the baby and me. If it wasn't, I could miscarry, deliver a stillborn, or have severe complications. Also, if I ever had children, I would have to see an obstetrician that specialized in high risk pregnancies and I would have to be very careful.
"I don't know," I said finally, realizing that I had spaced off when they were all looking at me and I looked back at Kim. "I never really thought about it because that is in the far distant future." That was a small lie. Before I'd gotten sick, I always said I wanted at least four kids because I wanted a big family. I felt terrible for lying, but I couldn't exactly say I didn't know if I was ever going to have children because it would be risky.
"Well, however many you have, you'll be a great mom," Emily said and I smiled at her. Before I could hold it back, I yawned. I quickly covered my mouth with my left hand, but Paul caught the yawn and shifted in his seat.
"Maybe I should get you home," Paul said and I looked up and over my right shoulder at him. "I don't want your mom angry with me for bringing you home too late." I glanced at the clock and saw that it was quarter after nine.
"I suppose so," I said. "She won't be very happy with me if I'm not home before ten." Paul gave me a crooked smile before he took the mug from my hand and sat it on the coffee table before helping me up from the couch. Emily stood and quickly came over to me and embraced me warmly and I smiled again as I hugged her back.
"You have to come over again, Amanda. If not to visit me, but to visit with Ethan and Sara," Emily said as we pulled apart and I laughed lightly. "They took a liking to you."
"I'd love to. Even if it's just to babysit," I said and she smiled. I bid good bye to Sam and walked over to Kim and Jared. Kim made to stand, but I shook my head as I leaned down and hugged her. She laughed and hugged me back. I pulled away and smiled down at her. "Remember our deal," I said as I pointed to her stomach and she grinned.
"I'll do my best," she said and Jared was looking at me curiously.
"What are you talking about?" Jared asked and I smiled at him.
"She's due on the seventeenth," I said and he nodded. "My birthday's the sixteenth." He smiled then before he stood from his wife's side and hugged me. Jared was like Paul. He was an inch shorter than Paul, but his body was hot to the touch and comforting like Paul's was. Soon, we finished with our goodbyes and Paul made sure I was bundled up before he ushered me outside to his truck. It had started snowing again, so, his truck was covered with a layer of snow.
"You can sit in the cab while I brush off the snow," he said. I nodded silently as he helped me into the truck on the driver's side and handed me the keys. "Start her up and crank up the heat." I did as he said while he closed the door and grabbed his snow scraper from the bed of his truck. I sighed when the air finally turned warm and I put my gloved hands up to the vent as I watched Paul brush away the snow.
The clouds must not have been very thick because even though it was snowing, the moon's light was still bright enough behind the clouds to cast a soft and gentle glow down upon the house and the trees. Normally when the snow landed in someone's hair it would stick for a while, I know it did on mine, but the second the snow hit Paul's head and face it melted away and I smiled as I watched him wipe away the wetness from his skin.
While he worked, it gave me the opportunity to study him privately. He was really . . . beautiful. There was no other word that would accurately describe him. I was suddenly kicking myself for stopping him from kissing me earlier that day. If I hadn't, I would already know what his full lips felt like against my own. Now, that was all I wanted to know. After a minute of staring it was as if he felt my eyes on him, and he looked at me through the windshield he just finished clearing off. My face flushed a bit at being caught, but I smiled at him to make it seem like it was completely natural for me to be drooling at the mere thought of his lips against mine.
I expected the cocky grin I had seen him give Jared early that night when they were talking about something that had happened ages ago. I was not expecting the warm and endearing smile he gave me before he finished brushing off the snow. I laughed lightly and shook my head to shake away my deepening blush as I lowered my hands and settled them in my lap. I watched Paul tuck the snow brush back under the tarp in the bed of his truck before he opened the driver's side door. I scooted across the bench seat of the old truck and settled myself on the passenger side and buckled my seat belt.
The ride to my grandparents' house was spent in a comfortable silence. Paul was driving slowly, I assumed because of the weather, but I was silently hoping it was because he was dreading dropping me off. I watched the snow fall in front of the headlights and sighed softly when I knew my grandparents' driveway was quickly approaching. It wasn't long before he turned in to my grandparents' driveway and drove to the house. The lights were still on, so, I knew everyone was still up and probably waiting for me. He stopped his truck next to Dad's SUV and put it in park. I looked at him and he looked at me with a small smile on his face.
"Will I see you after Christmas?" I asked.
"Do you want to see me?" he asked and I unbuckled my seatbelt and scooted closer to him so I was sitting more in the middle of the seat.
"Of course I want to see you again," I said and he raised his right arm so it rested on the back of the seat and behind me. His dark eyes were focused on me and I smiled at him. "I don't remember a better Christmas Eve. Thank you for today, Paul. It's been so long since I've just had fun like I did today. You've given me the best Christmas present I could ask for this year."
"Actually, this is your Christmas present," he said as he reached into his coat with his left hand and pulled out a small but long black box. I frowned as I looked at the box and then at him. "Take it," he said with a soft smile. Hesitantly, I took the box from him and looked down at it in my hands for a second before he chuckled. "You can open it you know," he said and I looked at him. "Please?" he asked and I sat the box down on my lap before I pulled off my gloves and sat them on the seat between Paul and me. I picked up the box again and took off the lid only gasp when I saw what rested on the soft lining of the box.
"Paul, I can't accept this," I said as I tore my eyes away from the beautiful gray and white swirled single pearl like pendant that rested on a dainty silver chain.
"Yes you can," he said and I shook my head as I put the lid of the box back on.
"No, I can't," I said before I tried to hand it back to him, but he raised his left hand and gently pushed my hands back towards my chest.
"Please, Amanda, I got it for you," he said and I shook my head.
"Why?" I asked, confused as to why he would get me anything, especially something so nice, when we'd known each other for a total of three days.
"I was doing last minute shopping for a gift for my mom and when I saw it, I thought of you," he said with the honesty of his answer bright in his dark eyes. I didn't know what to say, so, I did what my heart told me to do. I leaned close to him and placed a kiss on his right cheek. I pulled back slowly and paused when my face was just inches from his.
"Thank you," I whispered and he smiled softly.
"You're welcome," he whispered back. It was the perfect moment. Paul and I just looking at each other and the snow falling around us outside; the only sounds around us were our gentle breaths and the soft hum of the engine of the truck.
Paul slowly raised his left hand to my face and all the apprehension I had when I found myself in this very situation hours earlier was nowhere to be found. I wanted him to kiss me. I needed him to kiss me. I started to close the small distance between us, and upon realizing I was closing in Paul started to lean into me. His labored and heated breath brushed across my lips and as I started to close my eyes in the anticipation of his kiss a sound knocking on the glass of the passenger window made both Paul and I practically jump out of our skin. We looked to the window to see Grandpa standing on the other side of the door, a grin on his face.
"Time to come inside, Amanda," came his voice from the other side of the glass and I sighed as I tried to calm my heartbeat. I nodded and looked back at Paul, who sighed heavily as he took his arm off the back of the seat and settled his hands on the steering wheel.
"Good night, Paul," I said and he looked at me. "Merry Christmas." He smiled then and my heart started beating rapidly yet again.
"Merry Christmas, Amanda," he said. I slid across the seat, opened the passenger door, and climbed out of the truck. Grandpa closed the door behind me and waived at Paul before he put his arm around my shoulders and guided me to the house. I heard Paul's truck pull out of the driveway and I sighed softly as I looked down at the box in my hands.
"What's that?" Grandpa asked and I looked at him.
"Paul got me a gift," I said and he smiled as we walked up the porch steps.
"That was nice of him," he said and I nodded. I realized then that I had left my gloves in Paul's truck, but I really didn't care. He'd give them back to me when he came to visit again.
"We we starting to wonder if you were ever coming in," came Derek's voice from the living room when Grandpa and I went inside the house. After taking off my boots so I would drag any snow through the house and tucking my gift from Paul into the pocket of my coat, I gave Mom a sheepish smile as she looked at me expectantly.
"Sorry," I said. "I lost track of time at Sam and Emily's."
"That's not what I meant," Derek said and I looked at him with a frown before I looked back at Mom.
"You were sitting in that young man's truck for the last fifteen minutes," Mom said as she stood from the sofa and walked over to me. My eyes widened. I hadn't realized we'd been parked outside the house for that long. "You're father was ready to go out there and drag you inside, but I sent him in the kitchen too get a drink while Grandpa went out to get you. Just what were you doing out there?"
"I don't have to have a talk with that boy do I, Amanda?" Dad asked as he came into the living room, glass of water in hand. I opened my mouth to answer when Grandpa answered for me.
"They were just talking, Mitchell," he said and I looked away from Dad to Mom when he looked skeptical. Mom raised an eyebrow in doubt as she looked at Grandpa and then at me. I blushed under her gaze, but nodded all the same. After all, that's all we had been doing. Grandpa came out and stopped anything more from happening. "There's no need for either of you to look at her that way. They weren't even sitting close to each other when I went out there." I loved Grandpa even more than I already did at that very moment when his answer seemed to satisfy my parents.
"Well, if I'm going to be any good tomorrow, I should get to bed," I said before I bid everyone good night and after kissing Grandpa's cheek I rushed upstairs to my room. I took Paul's gift out of my pocket and sat it on the vanity that rested under the window. Once my coat and scarf were tucked into the closet I went back to the vanity and opened the box before I carefully took the pendant off its velvet resting place and smiled as the chain sparkled from the light in the room. I decided then that I was going to wear it the following day, but hide it under my shirt so my family wouldn't ask questions.
I put it back in its box and as I put the lid on, I looked out the window and noticed something large moving at the edge of the trees. I leaned closer to the window and narrowed my eyes to try and get a better look, but whatever had been there was no longer there and I frowned. However, I decided to forget about it and got ready for bed. I knew my dreams that night were going to be filled with a large and sweet young man who I was falling head over heels for.
