Chapter 20
"What are you doing here!?" Connie fell to her knees smiling as her not so little girl threw her arms around her mother's neck. She pressed her lips to Grace's cheek while tears began to build up in her eyes.
Elliot stood slightly behind watching the scene between the two girls. "Jacob said you really missed me and that it wouldn't be Christmas without me at home." Connie leant backwards and looked at Grace almost making sure she was really there. "You spoke to Jacob?"
Grace nodded "He phoned Dad and talked about Christmas before I spoke to him and said I wanted to come home." Connie hugged her again before standing up and watching her walk through the hallway. Elliot stepped in beside Connie and placed a hand on her arm smiling warmly. "He went through a lot to get her here for you. He wanted you to have the perfect Christmas."
Connie walked back in and noticed Grace was standing in front of Jacob who was kneeling on the floor. "Well Uncle Elliot was right about you being the spitting image of your Mum. So tell me Grace, are you as smart as your Mum because you're just as beautiful as her." Grace just smiled before she noticed the tree and presents across the room. "Woah Mum, whose are all of those?"
An hour passed which was spent catching up on things that had been going on over in America. When Connie had the chance she slipped from the living room to find Jacob. Heading upstairs he heard her heels across the floor quickly putting the small box into his pocket. "Hey, everything okay?"
"Just thought I'd give you two some space to talk." Connie sat down on the bed beside him and smiled contently. He took hold of her hand as she looked back to him again, tears evident in her eyes. "Hey I didn't mean to upset-" "No you haven't… Jacob nobody's ever done something like that for me before. You couldn't have given me anything better than my daughter today. Thank you."
He couldn't find the words to show her how much she meant to him but doing this seemed to have done what thousands of words couldn't. Connie placed a hand on his cheek as she leant in and kissed him. It was slower than normal and more meaningful. It was as though she put everything she had into it, just to show him how much this all really meant to her.
When she parted from him, she kept her face close to his. As he looked into her eyes, he made up his mind. The one thing that had been floating around in his head for hours and he finally had the answer. "We better get downstairs before Grace throws a fit." Connie laughed finding it strange to talk about her daughter being here.
As they entered the living room Grace had turned the television onto a music channel which was playing Christmas songs. "You know your Mum loves a good Christmas song. And do you know what she likes even more?" Jacob turned his back to them and looked at Connie before looking at Grace. "When we turn it up really loud and sing." Grace beamed at him as the music was turned louder and Jacob began singing with Grace.
"Last Christmas I gave you my heart but the very next day, you gave it away. This year to save me from tears I'll give it to someone special." Grace pulled her Mum's hands and began to dance around with her as there was someone else at the door. "I'll go…" Jacob smiled and disappeared from the room to get the door.
"Merry Christmas Jacob, how's Connie?" Jacob smiled stepping aside as he let the other man inside and closed the door. "Come and see for yourself." They walked through to see Connie laughing as Grace spun her around to the music. When her eyes landed on them she smiled again. "Charlie?"
"I hope you don't mind, Jacob invited me over for lunch with you." Connie shook her head still with a smile as Grace let go of her hands and ran towards Charlie. "Hey, it's been a long time since I last saw you." Connie smiled up at Jacob as he stood in front of her looking down. "So not a conventional family Christmas, but our family Christmas." The pair watched as Charlie, Grace and Elliot sat in the living room.
For the first time in years Connie had the ones she cared about together at Christmas. Sitting down for lunch and playing games with them all throughout the afternoon was the most incredible thing she could have ever imagined.
What made it even better was how Grace and Jacob seemed to get along. Connie sat with Charlie while Elliot and Jacob played a game with Grace on the floor. "You look happy." Connie glanced sideways nodding. "I am-" "Good, don't let anything spoil that. So I hear someone's moving in with you. Congratulations." Another smile split across her face before she turned her attention back to Grace. Watching her daughter with Jacob was the best present anyone could have given her.