Chapter 38

"Like you said for Thomas, I just want Papa to be happy with someone he can love with all his heart and I can see that he is with you."

They might have said more to each other at that time, but just then AJ returned home with the puppy and both women hurried out to get a look at the tiny adorable bundle. They both fell instantly in love with the little puppy and took turns holding and cuddling him. Dammit however looked on the new arrival with distain. She made a point of coming up to the puppy, sniffing it, and then with her nose in the air, walked to the far end of the room to lay down with her back to those cooing over the interloper.

"It looks like Dammit is jealous of Randy's gift," AJ laughed when he saw this.

"It looks like it's a good thing the puppy will be going home with Randy Christmas day," Miranda agreed.

"Oh how can you bear to give this cutie away?" Francesca cried as she held the ball of fur to her face and nuzzled him.

"I'm sure we'll see him often and one dog in the house is enough," AJ assured his daughter.

"It would still be impossible for me to hand this sweet bundle over to anyone else!" Francesca declared.

Miranda caught her stepdaughter's eye and the two of them shared a look that said both of them knew Francesca had been talking about something other that the puppy. Miranda smiled, it seemed Francesca had made her decision.

AJ made dinner that night amid the advice and kibitzing from the two women. He finally sent them out of the room to go and 'do something female'! They left giggling and went to set things up for the gift-wrapping they were going to do after dinner. Francesca laughed and told Miranda that she was lucky to get her Papa to do it that soon. He was usually wrapping on Christmas Eve, she declared. Miranda rolled her eyes and said that he'd told her that, but she had put her foot down!

They continued to tease AJ throughout dinner and he grumbled that he was going to call Tom or Josh to come over so he wouldn't be outnumbered by women. Seeing the look on Francesca's face at the mention of Tom coming over, Miranda quickly promised her husband that they would stop teasing him.

Pleased that his threat had worked although he had no idea of the real reason that it had, his eyes filled with concern when Francesca pulled a handful of something small and colorful out of her pocket and popped them into her mouth. "What are you eating Darlin'? Didn't you get enough dinner?"

"Oh no, I had plenty to eat Papa!" she said as she showed him a new handful before eating them too! "They are just jelly beans, I seem to have developed a sweet tooth lately."

AJ was relieved that at least it wasn't drugs she was taking and let the subject go as they left the dining room to start on the gift-wrapping. However, something niggled at the back of his mind saying that there was something he should remember, but when nothing came to mind he dismissed it.

Just before bed they were putting the last of the gifts under the tree and cleaning up the paper and ribbons that the puppy thought was his own personal play ground, when AJ noticed something odd. There were two gifts under the tree without nametags on them. Knowing the paper they were wrapped in wasn't something that they owned, he turned to his daughter and asked, "Francesca who are these for?" he was holding them both in his hands.

Thinking quickly she explained, "You never know when someone you were not expecting to get you a gift from will show up with one and I hate not to have something to give them in return. So those are in case something like that happens."

"That's really a good idea! We should do that Miranda!" AJ suggested to his wife.

She held up a basket of hand blown glass Christmas ornaments that came in their own decorative boxes and asked him, "What do you think these are darling?"

"Oh, I thought they were for the tree."

"They are if we don't give them all away," she grinned at him.

"There are times that I wonder how I ever got along before you came into my life, my love," AJ told her.

"I wonder that too, darling," Miranda laughed.

To be continued…