Part ten:

Penelope opened her eyes to see Eva standing beside the bed, her eyes wide. "Mommy, are you awake?" Eva whispered. "It's Christmas."

Penelope closed her eyes and reached out to grab the little girl. She hauled her up onto the bed, tickling her gently as she squealed and kicked and giggled. "Oh, you," Penelope laughed. "Have you already been downstairs to see if Santa came?"

Eva giggled and shook her head, hugging her mother and snuggling in her arms. "Gramma told me to come wake you and Daddy up, but Daddy's already awake."

"Oh he is, is he?" Penelope asked with a smile. She kissed Eva's cheek. "I love you, monkey," she murmured.

"I love you, too, Mommy – can we go downstairs?" Eva asked.

"Of course we can," Penelope murmured, giving her another kiss. "Do you need to go potty first?"

"Nope," Eva chirped. "I already did."

"Well, I do need to go potty," Penelope said, "so when Daddy gets back from the bathroom, you can go downstairs with him."

"Okay!" Eva agreed, hopping down from the bed and smiling as she held Paddington. "I like having a gramma, Mommy."

"Good," Penelope said. "Because she's going to be your grandma for a long time."

"Good!" Eva cried.

"What's good?" Derek asked, coming back into the room.

"Gramma's gonna be my gramma forever and ever and ever," Eva said, twirling around with Paddington in her arms. "Just like you're my daddy for goods."

Derek scooped her up and grinned. "I'm very happy to be your daddy for goods," he said. "And I'm very happy you're my little girl, Eva – and nothing is going to change that."

"Do you love my Mommy, too?" Eva asked, concerned.

"I love your Mommy more than all the rainbows and kittens in the world," he said firmly. "More than all of the candy and –"

"More than pie and Santa Claus?" Evan asked, her eyes wide.

"Yes," Derek murmured.

"Oh," Eva said. She smiled over at Penelope and said, "Mommy, Daddy loves you a lot."

"I know he does," Penelope murmured as she got up and wrapped up in her robe. "And we're going to be a happy family, aren't we?"

Eva paused, then looked at Derek quizzically. "Daddy, does this mean you're going to sleep with Mommy all of the time?" she asked. "And we'll all live in the same house?"

"Soon," Derek promised.

Eva's eyes widened and she squeaked, "MOMMY – did you hear that?"

Penelope smiled and said, "Yes, I did, sweetheart."

Eva looked at her teddy bear and said, "Paddington, this is the bestest Christmas EVER."

"Come on, you," Derek said, bouncing her on his hip. "Let's go downstairs and get some juice. Baby Girl, you want anything to drink while we open gifts? Momma's made coffee and there's juice and wassail and some non-alcoholic egg nog –"

Penelope felt green at the very mention of egg nog. "Orange juice," she said, clutching her stomach as she lurched toward the bathroom.

As they passed by, Penelope heard Eva say, "Mommy gets sick a lot in the morning. I bring her crackers. Does gramma have crackers, Daddy?"

"Mommy's going to be fine," Derek promised.

Penelope got her nausea under control and went to the bathroom, then made her way downstairs. "Hey, everyone's here now," Sarah said with a smile. "Who wants to help Nana pass out presents this year?"

Her kids started fighting for the honor, but Desiree stepped in. "Oh no, it's my turn," she said firmly. "And that means stockings first."

"But they don't have stockings," Georgie said, pointing at Eva and Penelope, pouting. Her brothers nodded their agreement.

"Oh, but they do," Fran said, gesturing at the stockings hanging from the mantle. "Look – Santa's elves were nice and brought them from their house."

"Then why do they look like ours?" Brandon asked.

"That one has my name on it," Eva said excitedly, looking up at her mother in wonder. "Santa knew I'd be here!"

Desiree got up and took the stockings down, handing the kids theirs first, then passing around the adults' stockings. Penelope was surprised that hers was heavy – and full. Derek smiled as Fran gave the signal and everyone started tearing into their goodies. The air was rife with kids squealing and –

"Mommy, mommy, lookit!" Eva cried, holding up a little jewelry box. "It's so pretty! Is it really for me?"

Penelope opened the box and smiled when she saw a little chain and pendant that she'd been eyeing at the jewelry store. Derek clearly had better taste than he'd let on. "It's really for you, sweetheart," she promised. "But you have to be very careful with it."

Eva nodded and said, "Did you tell Santa I like hearts, Mommy? 'Cause I didn't."

"Santa knows everything we want," Penelope said softly, closing the box and handing it back to her daughter. "Now, go look at your other things –"

"What about you, Mommy?" Eva asked. "You gonna look at yours?"

"You first," Penelope said.

Eva pawed through her stocking, coming up with several books, a little box of chocolates, a Hello Kitty doll, and an apple and an orange. "Mommy, Mommy, Santa got me Wizard of Oz!" Eva squealed excitedly. "Can we read it tonight?"

"Absolutely," Penelope said with a smile.

"Now you," Eva said pointedly, poking at her mother's stocking. "There's lotsa stuff in there."

"Okay, okay," Penelope said, taking out the first thing – a little bag of candied almonds. Once the dam was broken, she took out thing after thing – from a troll doll to fuzzy pens to a USB drive in the shape of the pig from Angry Birds. Down in the very bottom of the stocking was a little box.

She pulled it out with shaking hands and opened it, smiling over at Derek. "You are insane," she said very quietly.

"Yeah, well… I saw it and thought of you," he said, pulling out the ring and slipping into onto her finger. "Because every girl needs a real engagement ring." The diamonds sparkled in the sun streaming in from the windows. "Do you like it?"

"Holy crap, you're getting married?" Sarah asked from the other side of the room. "When did that happen?"

"I asked Penelope last night," Derek said. "And she said yes."

"That's wonderful!" Fran exclaimed, coming over to kiss Penelope and admire the ring. "Welcome to the family, such as it is –"

Eva grabbed Penelope's hand and looked at the ring. "It's sparkly," she said, "but not like the one bad daddy gave you."

"No," Penelope said softly, "not like that one. This one is real and it means so much more."

Eva nodded and said, "Daddy loves you."

"Yes, I do," Derek said, holding Penelope's hand and smiling.

"Okay, okay – so, there are lots of presents under the tree," Fran said. "And we usually pass them out one at a time."

"But since we have so many people," Desiree said, "Mom and I are going to pass one out to everyone and go from there."

Before she knew it, Penelope had a lap full of things – gift cards and things for her computer and workstation and a little clay plaque that had Derek's handprint and then Eva's handprint inside his that made her cry in front of everyone. Her hormones were all over the place…

And then Fran opened her present from Derek and Penelope.

"Oh my god, is this what I think it is?" Fran gasped.

"If you think that's your first picture of your grandbaby, you bet," Derek said with a small smile.

The floodgates opened and Penelope and Fran were both crying. God knows Penelope didn't know why she was crying – there was no reason for it –

"MOMMY, MOMMY!" Eva shrieked, starting to bawl herself. "MOMMY, SANTA CLAUS BROUGHT ME JANE! I GOT MY JANE BACK – MOMMY!" She was clinging to the doll's box like her life depended on it – and Penelope cried harder. It had taken her days of looking on eBay before she'd found it and had it rush delivered to Fran's for Christmas. And it was worth every moment of the agonizing wait to see Eva ripping the box apart like a crazed child.

"Here, let me help," Derek said, getting down on the floor and assisting Eva in freeing the doll from the packaging. "You really missed her, didn't you?" he asked softly.

Eva looked up at him and nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks and a smile on her lips.

Derek hugged Eva and gave her a kiss. "You take very good care of her," he said softly, "because she missed you, too."

Eva clutched the doll to her chest and ran over to Penelope, crawling up onto her lap and snuggling up. "Hey," Penelope murmured, smiling.

"I don' want no more presents," Eva whispered. "I don't deserve them – I've been a bad girl –"

"No, you haven't," Penelope whispered. "You've been my very brave good girl. And I love you."

Eva sighed. "But –"

"No buts, little miss," Penelope murmured, kissing the top of her head. "Whatever your bad daddy told you, it wasn't true. I love you so much I could burst –"

"But you and Daddy are going to have a baby," Eva said.

"Yes," Penelope said. "But that doesn't change how we feel about you. Not ever. You are my brilliant, brave, sweet little girl – and I love you so much."

"Mommy, Santa brought me Jane back," Eva whispered. "And she's all new and better and not broken –"

"I know, princess," Penelope murmured.

"But she doesn't have a Mommy sweater," Eva said. "Will you make her one?"

"Absolutely," Penelope breathed.

"Can I pick the colors?" Eva asked, running her fingers through the doll's hair.

"Of course."

"Thank you," Eva whispered.

Desiree came over with a little box and said, "Can you open it with her on your lap or –"

"Do you want to help me open it?" Penelope asked, taking the box. Eva held out her hand and she and her mother tore off the paper together. Penelope opened the box and gasped. She stared at Derek for a long moment, then closed the box. He leaned in and kissed her, though the top of Eva's head kind of got in the way. "You are too good to me, Derek Morgan –"

"Nothing's too good for the mother of my children," he said softly. "Do you want to try it on now?"

"Later," she murmured. "With those stockings – in our bedroom."

"Do you want to open another present, Eva?" Fran asked. "This one is from me –"

Eva's eyes widened. "Gramma, you're giving me something, too?" she asked. "But Mommy and Daddy and Santa already gave me so much –"

"Go open it," Penelope said softly, setting her back down on the floor.

Eva went across the room to Fran and accepted the box. She opened it and said, "OH! Gramma! How did you know I wanted these shoes?"

"Because your Daddy told me," Fran said with a smile. "I got them a little big so you can grow into them."

"Thank you," Eva said, hugging Fran tight. "Thank you, gramma – this is the best Christmas ever!"

"You keep saying that," Fran said with a smile. "And we haven't even had breakfast yet."

"What's for breakfast?" Eva asked.

"Blueberry pancakes and all kinds of things," Desiree said.

"Can I help?" Eva asked. "Mommy and Daddy let me help make stuff."

"Don't you want to finish opening presents?" Fran asked.

Eva gaped at her. "There's MORE?" she said in disbelief.

"What did you get for Christmas last year?" Fran asked gently.

"Jane – and a new dress – and a box of crayons," Eva said, looking over at her mother. "But we didn't have very much monies and –"

"Eva, this is from me," Desiree said, handing her a package.

Eva paused, then tore it open. "I – I love this book!" she said. "Mommy got it for me at the liblarbly and I was really sad when we took it back," she added with a smile as she clutched the copy of Jane Eyre. "Is it really for me?"

Desiree nodded and smiled. "Can you do me a big favor?" she asked.

"Yes," Eva said firmly.

"Can you call me Aunt Desi?"

Eva nodded, her smile widening. "Yes, Aunt Desi – thank you!"

"You wanna carry this over to your mom?" Desiree asked, handing her another small package.

Eva trotted over and thrust the package into her mother's hands. "Mommy, this is from gramma," she said. "I read the label," she whispered, smiling.

Penelope laughed and patted her on the head. "You're so silly," she said softly.

"Open it, Mommy – open it," Eva insisted.

Penelope opened it and gaped at Fran. "I can't accept this – it's too much," she said.

"That," Fran said, pointing, "is the present Derek's father gave me for Christmas the morning before Derek was born." She smiled and continued, "Now shut up and try it on."

Derek helped Penelope put on the pearl necklace with the carnelian cameo, and Fran nodded. "It's perfect on you, Penelope – it deserves to be worn, not sit around collecting dust in my jewelry box. And James and I decided a long time ago that it should be a gift to the woman lucky enough to hold onto Derek's heart. That's you, honey."

Eva came over and looked at the necklace and smiled, touching each pearl, then said, "Mommy, that's pretty. Is all this really for us?"

Penelope choked back her tears and nodded. "Yes, baby – all of this is for us," she whispered.