Rory is asleep in her bed when her mom comes into her room and sits down on the edge of the bed. She gently rubs her arm.
"Rory, wake up."
Rory's eyes open.
"Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, momma." Rory hugs her mom.
"There's a surprise for you in the living room."
Rory gets up, but she isn't in a hurry. She isn't expecting anything big. Both she and her mom walk down the hallway to the living room. The entire living room is covered in presents. Rory's eyes light up and she smiles a big smile.
"He came."
"Those presents aren't going to open themselves."
"Wait."
Rory turns and runs back to her room. She comes back down the hall carrying a small present. "This one is for you."
She hands the present to her mom. She opens it and finds a homemade potholder.
"It's beautiful, sweetheart. I'm going to cherish this forever."
Rory and her mom hug again.
"It's your turn."
Rory finally runs to the present pile and starts opening up her gifts. The first present she opens is a ride-on firetruck with 118 on the side. A nod to the secret Santas.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Everyone's families come into the fire house for Christmas lunch. Hen greets Karen and the kids. Karen comforts Hen for a minute, then they part.
"Let's take these presents upstairs."
As Karen and the kids turn to go upstairs, Jo walks in. She's carrying a small gift bag and nothing else.
"Merry Christmas, Jo," Hen says.
"Merry Christmas," Jo replies with a big smile on her face.
"What are you smiling for?" Karen asks curiously.
Jo doesn't answer. "Have you seen Buck?"
Both Hen and Karen smile, immediately knowing what's going on.
"Hey Buckley," Hen calls. "You have company."
Jo smiles back at them. A few seconds later, Buck comes around the fire truck. He smiles when he sees Jo.
"Hey!"
He goes to Jo and kisses her. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas."
Hen, Karen and the kids head to the stairs, leaving Jo and Buck alone. Buck sees the gift bag she's carrying.
"What's that?"
"Your Christmas present."
"But we exchanged presents last night."
"This one I wanted to wait and give you on Christmas day," Jo says with a smile as she hands the bag over.
Buck rips through the tissue paper then pulls out a small piece of clothing. It's a onsie with a firetruck on it. He looks up at Jo, confused.
"What is this?"
Jo smiles. He connects the dots.
"I thought it was negative?" Buck asks.
"When I came home the other day, the dog had gotten into the trash can and the test was laying on the floor. I noticed the negative line was on the wrong side, which means the test is defective. I went to the store and bought another one, and..." She pulls a pregnancy test out of the bag. "It's positive."
Buck stays cautious. "This one could be defective, too."
Jo pulls two more positive tests out of the bag. "One maybe, but not three."
Evan breaks out into a smile. "You're pregnant?"
Jo nods with tears in her eyes. "Yea."
Buck pulls Jo into him and spins her around.
He puts her down. "We're going to have a baby."
They kiss with smiles still on their faces. Tears fill their eyes. They see everyone is standing behind the fire truck trying to listen in and decide to fill them in.
"We're having a baby!"
Everyone cheers and congratulates the couple. It turned out to be a Merry Christmas, indeed.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
You may or may not have noticed that I haven't updated in a while. I'll be completely honest, I have had some major writers block, if you can even call it that. Every time I would sit down to edit, I'd just stare at the screen, not wanting to. I don't want to say I lost my passion, but maybe I did a little. My mental health has had some ups and downs as well. I have so many stories that I've already written and I want to get them published, but there are some filler stories that I just can't make myself get excited about. I'm trying to go little by little, so it may be a while before I publish anything again. You never know, I might find that spark again and randomly publish one day.
I'm so grateful for every single person that has clicked on one of my stories, favorited or followed them. I hope by reading one of my stories that your day got a little brighter. Don't worry, I'll still be around, and hopefully I'll be back soon!