Chapter 56

A/N First Christmas

Happy birthday to me! All of you got presents this week. Hope you enjoyed the extra chapters!

I will give the 200th reviewer a sneak peak if they want it. Also apparently you can no longer use the word sm*t it is autocorrected to shut. Lol

Henry and Elizabeth were running through the snow on the hill around the Finance building. They had been playing in the snow, lobbing snowballs at each other and making snow angels. They needed an outlet for the many hours that they had been putting in studying for finals.

Henry was deep in the last writing of his paper for his final in his History of Religion class. He had spent many hours doing the research and had a partial draft written.

Elizabeth had added a minor in Political Science and she was expelling a large amount of brain time studying for her Constitutional Law class. Her Professor was one of the most revered on campus and she felt very privileged to be able to take his class since it was an upper level class. She wasn't sure if it was actually getting through to her brain or just going in and coming out. She was determined to keep her GPA intact and this class was really testing her.

Henry had suggested that they put on their coats and scarves and get some fresh air. The fresh snow from last night had piled up and they wanted to burn off some tension and have a good time too.

Elizabeth was laying down swinging her arms back and forth and laughing. Her laugh was genuine and he could see was really enjoying herself. Henry loved her laugh. He was slowly tearing down all the walls she had built up since her parent's deaths. She built them to protect herself from further pain.

Henry was leaning on a tree near her with a smile on his face. They had been dating almost 6 months and she was everything to him. He was making her dinner tonight and it was time to take the next step with her. He just hoped she would be receptive to it and not pull back behind her walls.

"Babe, let's head back and I will cook us dinner. Your nose is like Rudolph," he told her laughing. He reached a hand down to help her up. She smirked at him and used his hand to pull him down in the snow beside her. Once he was on the ground, she grabbed a handful of snow and dropped it on his face.

He scrambled away from her enough to get an advantage on her. He then lunged at her and pinned her down holding her hands above her head. He used his other hand to gather up a pile of snow and dropped it on her. She squealed and fought him to get free. He leaned down and took her lips in his and kissed her with everything he had. She pulled him down tighter to her and moaned as he continued kissing her.

Her moaning into him was making his pants suddenly tight and he needed to put a stop before they went too further. He pulled back and released her. He stood and helped her to her feet. He slung his arm over her shoulders and guided her towards his apartment.

He cooked them dinner as she warmed up. She grew up in Virginia and was used to snow, but hated the cold. She loved how the snow looked but the cold was something else entirely. Snow reminded her of spending time cuddled up under a blanket with a roaring fire in the fireplace at her home. Sipping on hot chocolate and reading for hours.

Henry was watching her from the kitchen and saw her expression change and eyes cloud over. Over the last 6 months he had seen this happen and it usually was about her parents. She would sometimes tell him about it in the moment when he saw it, but she was still prone to deflect and change the subject.

Henry decided that now was the perfect time to tell her what he wanted to tell her. He walked over and sat down beside her on the couch. He turned towards her and took her hands in his. She looked towards him and could tell that he wanted to tell her something.

"Babe, we have been together for nearly 6 months. It has been the best of my life. You in my life makes it richer and more worthwhile. I go to sleep at night and you are my last thought. I wake up and you are my first thought. Your smile lights up my life. Your intelligence makes me a better man and student. My whole world is better because you are in my life," He then took her hand and placed it over his heart. "You feel my heart beating and just seeing you makes it thunder in my chest. I wanted to tell you that I LOVE YOU Elizabeth Suzanne Adams. When I look at my future you are all that I see."

Elizabeth looked up at him. She was not sure how she was feeling. No one other than her family had ever told her that they loved her. Her heart was beating out of control. Henry's declaration was out of the blue. She stood up and walked over to look out of the window. She needed to get her emotions under control.

Henry watched her get up and walk away from him. He silently prayed that he had not just caused her to bolt away from him. He knew that she needed to come to this in her own way. He saw her reach for the pendant that she wore around her neck. He had seen her use the pendant over and over when she was struggling with something. She would pinch it between her thumb and forefinger and rub it back and forth. He did not know the significance of the necklace, but he guessed it was very important to her.

She rubbed her pendant back and forth. It always was a comfort to her in times of stress. She had not realized it for a long time that she used it for that. Joey had pointed it out to her during a very stressful debate back at Houghton.

She turned back and walked over and sat down beside him. She took his hand in hers. "Henry, no one other than my family has ever told me that they loved me. My parents were my whole world and when they died it nearly destroyed me. I have not let myself love anyone else since. You came into my life and turned it upside down. I was afraid to let myself love anyone again for fear they would be taken from me also. Losing the ones I love is my greatest fear." She leaned her head back trying to fight back tears.

Henry slid over and took her in his arms. He pulled her tightly to him and held onto her like she might slip away from him. He ran his hand up and down her back and soothed her as best he could.

She pulled back from him and looked up at him. "I LOVE YOU too Henry Patrick McCord. You loving me has brought joy back to my heart that I have not felt since my parent's death. I was so afraid to let you in, but I realize that you too are my first thought in the morning and the last thought at night. I am sad when we are not together and so happy when we come back together again. I see you in my future also."

He pulled her in and kissed her again. Her stomach decided to interrupt their moment to growl. He pulled back and laughed. "Guess we better get you fed."

During dinner, he wanted to ask her about Christmas break. "Do you have any plans for Christmas break? I wanted us to go back to Pittsburgh. I know it was a rough introduction to my family at Thanksgiving, I am hoping some of the ice has thawed and another visit will be better."

"Will is going to New York to do an internship, so I was just going to stay at school. I would love to go to Pittsburgh with you," she told him.

Finals were taken and both were relieved to have that behind them. They both struggled and hoped that their efforts would not be in vain and they would maintain their GPA's.

The campus cleared out and Elizabeth had once again decided to stay with Henry until they left for Pittsburgh. They were going to have a private Christmas just the two of them before they left.

Elizabeth wanted to take Henry out to her family farm and introduce him to farm life. The farm was a very important part of her life and she wanted to share it with him.

They were going to spend 4 days there and then head to Pittsburgh. Elizabeth pulled up in front of her home and sat in the car taking it in.

Elizabeth had told him about her family farm, but the house he was looking at was not your typical farm house. Her Mom had designed the house and the landscaping. The porch wrapped around the house and columns adorned the front of the house. They walked hand in hand up the steps and entered the house.

A few days earlier, Henry had used her phone while she was taking a nap and called Billy the farm manager. He asked him to go cut down a Christmas tree and put it up in the house. He had not told her about it. He wanted it to be a surprise for her.

They walked in the door and took off their coats and hung them on the hooks. Elizabeth took his hand and started walking him around the house. She told him some stories from her childhood.

Billy had set up the tree next to the fireplace. When they walked out of her parent's office, she saw the tree. Billy had placed the lights on it and snuck in and turned them on while they were in the office.

Her hands went to her mouth and took in a deep breath. There had not been a Christmas tree in the house in three years and seeing it brought tears to her eyes. She turned to Henry with tears in her eyes. "Did you do this?"

He shook his head and pulled her into his arms. He had wanted it to bring joy to her, not sadness. Her tears made him think he had made a mistake. "I am sorry, Babe. I wanted this to be happy for you, not make you cry."

She shook her head at him. "I am happy, these are tears of joy not sadness. It is just there hasn't been a tree in here in a while and I knew I missed it, just didn't realize how much until there was one again."

He cupped her cheeks in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe her tears away. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. She smiled on his lips and it caused his heart to skip a beat.

"I got Billy's number and called him and asked him to get a tree. He and his wife went and cut one down and put the lights on. He also got the decorations out of the storage shed. I thought we could start a new tradition and decorate it. Is that okay with you?" he asked.

She leaned up and pulled him down for another kiss. "Henry, this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. Christmas has just been another day of the week for me since their deaths. I usually spend it by myself and either stayed at Houghton or at UVA. Thank you for bringing Christmas back to me."

They finished the tour of the house. Elizabeth told him stories as they explored the house. Henry loved all the books in the office. Her Dad was a big reader and the bookshelves were stuffed full.

They had brought some groceries with them and Henry went and retrieved them and their bags from the car. He took care of the groceries while she took the bags up to her room.

Henry cooked them dinner. They were sitting at the table eating when he looked over at her. She was smiling at him.

"What is that smile about?" he asked.

"It has been a long time since I ate a meal at this table that was not by myself and it was a happy occasion." she said.

He reached over and squeezed her hand and said, "I love you and I am making it my mission in life to make sure your Christmas is always happy from here on out."

They finished dinner and cleaned up the dishes together. They then went to decorate the tree. Elizabeth regaled him with stories of the ornaments and her family Christmas' of the past. How her Mom always insisted on having popcorn strings on the tree. Henry told her they could do that tomorrow. It had been a long day and they were both tired.

Hand in hand they walked up the stairs to her room. The bunk beads had been replaced with a queen size bed after Izzy had moved away. They each changed into pj's, brushed their teeth and slid under the covers together.

The next two days passed by. Since it was winter time they didn't get to go riding, but she had plans to bring him back in the spring to teach him to ride. They explored the farm and had even had a picnic at the lake.

Henry needed to run into town and get the gift he had made for her. He was going to make them dinner and they were going to exchange their gifts.

After dinner, they retired to the living room. A roaring fire was blazing in the fireplace. Elizabeth had opened a bottle of wine and they were wrapped up in a blanket.

Henry reached over and pulled her gift out from under the tree. He handed it to her and sat back to watch her open it.

She removed the colorful wrapping and raised the lid on the felt box. She gasped when she saw what was inside.

Henry reached for it and pulled it from the box. He took her wrist and attached it.

"I had this made for you. I wanted you to always have something to remind you of us. He had gotten her a charm bracelet. "There is a theme to this." He showed her each charm. "This is a running person. The first time I saw you was on one of my morning runs. This is a coffee cup and a spoon from when we were in the coffee shop and you dropped your spoon. This is a library book from me catching you in the door of the library. Finally, this is a slice of pizza from our disaster at Giovanni's."

She laughed as he described each charm and why he had chosen it. Remembering all the encounters of them seeing each other. She thumbed each one as tears were streaming down her cheeks. She leaned over and placed her lips on his. "I love it and I love you. This is such a special gift and I will treasure it always."

"I have one more for you and I don't want you to read too much into it." He stood up and walked over to the tree and got the other gift. He handed it to her and sat down beside her.

She tore off the paper and found a velvet jewelry box in her hand. Her breath caught in her throat. She looked up at him with her eyes blown wide. Was he giving me an engagement ring? No he can't be doing that it is way too soon for that. But..what.

He saw the look of panic on her face and placed his hands over hers. He lifted the lid of the box and she looked down.

A key was laying in the box. Her face turned to a questioning look.

"It is a key to my apartment. I want you to have one so that you can come and go as you want. I want you to just have it in case you want to use it and I hope you want to use it a lot." he smiled at her.

She reached up and pulled him into a hug. His gifts were so special and his words turned her heart into butterflies.

"Okay your turn," she told him as she handed him his gift.

Her Aunt Joan had found the gift for her in DC. Joan was also a reader and told her about the old bookstore she had found.

Henry unwrapped the box and pulled back the tissue paper. Inside was a first edition of Select Writings of Thomas Aquinas. It was leather bound and was in excellent condition for a book that was over 500 years old. Henry raised the book to his face and inhaled the smell of the book. The love of old books was something that they shared and this was a very special gift to him.

"Babe, this is great. I love how you have embraced my religious studies. You are one of the only people in my whole life who has supported me in it and not tried to encourage me to abandon it," he told her as he pulled her into his arms.

"Well I figured since you are always quoting him you should have an original reference. My Aunt found it in a bookstore in DC and was telling me about it on one of our phone calls. I asked her to pick it up for me when she was there," she told him.

He laid the book aside and pulled her into his arms. They cuddled into each other and stared into the crackling fire. Their first Christmas together was perfect and both were thinking they wanted many, many more in the future together.