Christmas Eve, day 5
"Elizabeth," Lucas whispered, putting a plate of pancakes on the bedside table along with some coffee.
"Hm?"
"Breakfast is ready, babe."
She opened her eyes and smiled. "I was having the best dream."
He softly kissed her lips and smiled back. "Yeah?"
"Yep. We were an old married couple, like Gran and Grandpa. We had five kids and like a dozen grandkids and we lived in San Diego right next to Rosie and Lee and we were so happy."
He chuckled.
"Oh and our daughter married their son so we were related!"
"Wouldn't that be something?"
"A great something."
"Five kids?"
"Mmhm."
"I thought we said two."
"I'm open for more," she mentioned, grabbing her pancakes, taking a bite.
"But five?"
She shrugged and fed him a bite too. "Sweetie, these are really good. Thank you for making them."
"Happy to."
"So what are we doing today?" she asked, getting up and heading to the bathroom to shower.
He followed and leaned back against the sink. "We need to trim our tree and I need to wrap my gift for you."
"And we need to get food for tomorrow."
It was their very first Christmas together not to mention as a married couple. She wanted to make new memories and traditions.
"I'm going to make an amazing breakfast for you this time," she told him, peeking around the glass enclosure.
"We could cook together."
"Nope. Breakfast in bed for you tomorrow. Then we can cook dinner together."
"Okay. Sounds good."
….
"Babe, look at this," Lucas said later in the store. "I've always wanted to try building a gingerbread house."
She smiled up at him, a child-like glint in his eyes. "Sure, sweetie. That can be a new tradition. Every Christmas Eve we build one."
"Great." He put the kit in their cart and started to think of new traditions they could implement. He already had a new ornament especially for her that he'd give this afternoon when they tackled the tree. He planned on buying a new one for her every year.
"Luke, will you grab a small chicken and a loaf of bread please? I'm going to grab some veggies."
"A chicken? Not a ham?" Growing up, Christmas dinner was always ham in the Bouchard house.
"For Christmas? We always had chicken."
He nodded, somehow feeling disappointed.
"We could have turkey," she suggested.
"Our own tradition?" he asked.
She stretched up and gave him a soft peck on his lips.
"If you'd rather have ham, sweetheart, we will have ham."
"I appreciate that but…what if we rotate, making different things each year."
In the end, they decided to make turkey and dressing. She was also making cranberry sauce and green beans.
He grabbed an already made apple pie from the bakery and then they headed back to the cabin.
….
As they lay twinkle lights along the branches of the very fake Christmas tree that the house owners allowed, they listened to Christmas music on Elizabeth's phone.
"O, holy night, the stars are brightly shining," Elizabeth sang.
Lucas fell further in love with his wife, upon hearing her angelic voice. He, himself, couldn't carry a tune, but she had talent.
As the song ended, Elizabeth wiped a tear from her cheek.
"That was beautiful, love," he told her. "I had no idea how well you could sing."
She shrugged. "That song gets me every time. It was Mom's favorite. She sang it to us every year as we decorated the tree."
He could see her tearing up again so he stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
"I miss her so much," she admitted. "I love Lynn, of course, but Grace Thatcher was an amazing mother."
"I have a feeling our babies, when the time comes, will be so blessed to have you as their mother."
"Thank you." She turned in his arms and stretched up to kiss him. "I love you so much."
"I love you too."
…..
The next morning
Elizabeth woke up early, and instead of following her like he wanted, he pretended to still be asleep so she could bring him breakfast in bed like she insisted.
As he waited, he smelled bacon and cinnamon rolls and coffee, causing his stomach to let out a huge growl.
After about forty minutes, he was about to go find her when she walked in with a tray of food and a small, gift-wrapped box.
"Merry Christmas, Mr. Bouchard," she said, a smile on her lovely face. He loved her morning face. Well, he loved all versions of her face but in the morning, she was fresh and even more beautiful without makeup, in his opinion.
"Merry Christmas to you, Mrs. Bouchard. You look particularly gorgeous this morning."
"Why's that?"
"Because you just do. You must be happy." He winked, which caused her to blush and he just about told her to put the food off to the side for later.
"I am," she confirmed, sitting down next to him and handing him a plate.
"Wow, babe. You made all this in forty minutes?"
"I cheated. I used the cinnamon rolls in a can."
"No matter to me. So delicious no matter where they come from."
She moved the little gift box in front of him. "Its for you."
He turned and pulled open the drawer of the bedside table and gave her a box just like it. "For you."
Each of them opened their box and then laughed. They each had given an ornament.
"I figured we can give a new ornament every year to put on our tree," Elizabeth said.
"That's what I thought too."
She giggled at hers. It was a Luke Skywalker ornament, reminiscent of her having a thing for guys named Luke.
Luke held up his and smiled. It was a clear ball ornament with sand and tiny shells in it. He knew the beach was important to them for a lot of reasons. "I love it, Elizabeth. Thank you."
"You're welcome. After we eat, we should go hang them up and then make a fire and open the other gifts."
So that's what they did. It was a lovely and perfect first Christmas together. Even though she missed her sisters and parents, she was very grateful for the holiday alone with her new husband.
…..
"Oh, babe, we didn't make the gingerbread house!" Lucas said, spying it on the table. "We need to do this."
"We did go to bed early," she smirked at him, loving the playful, yet serious child-like man she had married. She kissed his cheek and headed to the kitchen for more coffee.
"I'm going to make a gingerbread mansion," he muttered, staring at the instructions.
Elizabeth was one hundred percent confident he would only be able to make the size house that the box claimed but she didn't want to disappoint him.
"Luke, do you want more coffee?"
"No thanks."
She turned on some Christmas music and sat down at the table beside him. "Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer" started playing and it made her giggle.
"This song has always been a favorite," she mentioned. "What's your favorite?"
"Let It Snow," he told her. "It reminds me of being a kid and going to Gran and Grandpa's and spending the night during Christmas break. Gran would make me hot cocoa with loads of marshmallows, and we would stay up until 12:01 and open one present each."
"You didn't spend Christmas at home?"
"Not always."
She could tell by his tone there was more to the story. "You can tell me," she prompted.
"Mom and Dad sometimes traveled," he said, shrugging. "Its no big deal."
"I think it is."
"I loved staying with Gran and Grandpa. I missed my parents but I felt more like their house was mine too." He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "I can promise you though that I will always spend the holidays with you and our kids. I won't ever make you feel like I'd rather be somewhere else."
"I'm glad." She kissed his cheek and pulled back slightly. His eyes were filled with tears which he tried to blink away. One fell anyway so she wiped it away. "Did you ever tell your parents how you felt?"
"No."
"Even now? Sweetheart…"
"What's the point of bringing it up to them now? It will only hurt them. Plus, there were times we did travel together. I have been to a lot of places."
She nodded and to lighten the mood, she handed him the instructions that he had put down. "Let's make this mansion."
….
A mansion it wasn't but they had a lot of fun putting it together anyway. Then, they found an Italian restaurant nearby, got takeout and watched Casablanca and Its a Wonderful Life before retiring early again.
Neither of them knew how enjoyable it could be to go to bed early until getting married.
The next few days were spent taking a gondola ride up a mountain, going to a fancy restaurant for dinner and then going for a chilly moonlit walk near the lake. It was literally the most enjoyable and romantic trip of their lives.
On the last day of their honeymoon, Elizabeth and Lucas got on FaceTime with their best friends to find out the gender of Baby Coulter.
"Ready?" Rosie asked, ready to pop the giant balloon that Lee kept steady.
"Yes!" Elizabeth said, barely containing her excitement.
"Speaking of babies," Lee teased. "When are you two going to have a baby?"
"Lee," Rosie scolded. "But seriously, when?" she chimed in.
"We've been married ten days, guys," Lucas told them. "Now, we called because we were excited to hear your announcement. If you don't want to get to it, we have better things to do."
Elizabeth giggled and nudged her husband.
"Alright! Let's pop the balloon," Rosie squealed. "One, two…"
On three, she stabbed the balloon with her giant pin and tons of blue confetti floated to the ground.
"A boy!" Elizabeth squealed, wishing she could hug her best friend. "Congratulations! We are so happy for you."
They hung up a few moments later and decided they needed to clean up the house a bit and pack since their flight would be early in the morning.
As they packed, Lucas had a thought. "Babe, should we go out or stay in for New Years?"
"I'd rather stay in. You?"
"In. We could get some champagne and order takeout."
"And take a bubble bath," she suggested.
"Perfect," they said in unison.
"Then, back to real life," Lucas mentioned. Which involved school for her and Collins Architecture for him.
"Yeah. I'm just glad my real life includes you."
"Ditto, love. Always."