Chapter 15

Brittany's POV

Deciding not to tell anyone about our engagement until Christmas, the week of waiting was almost pure torture. Still, I knew that telling our families in person was something that was very important to both of us.

Our daughter's first Christmas, we knew, she would never remember. Still, we wanted it to be special. Santana and I had decided we would go to Lima for a few days but return home on Christmas Eve to have our own Christmas in Columbus.

Everly was just over three months old when we packed up and made our way to Lima in a snow storm.

"We should have just stayed home," Santana said, about an hour into the drive, but not even close to half of the way to Lima.

Being the driver, Santana was even more anxious than normal, rightfully so, since the snow that was blowing across the roads made it progressively harder to see. The sky slowly grew darker with the sunset that we knew was happening behind the snow clouds.

"Well, we can't just turn back now," I replied. "We're more than an hour out of Columbus."

"I'm going to pull over." Santana turned on the car's hazard lights and pulled over very cautiously, not completely sure where the side of the road was. The last thing we needed was to end up stuck in the ditch.

Our daughter, who usually slept through car rides, woke up, starting to fuss in the backseat.

"She shouldn't need to eat yet," I said, a little confused, as I climbed over the center console and into the backseat.

"What should I do?" Santana asked, stressed.

"Call our parents," I replied, not really sure what to do in the situation either. I changed Everly's diaper on the mat we kept in the back of the car but didn't return her to her car seat yet, needing to hold her close.

"They said we should try to keep driving," Santana said, "before we get stuck here or the car car runs out of gas. There is a hotel a few miles from here where we can stay if we need to stop before it's too dark out."

"Okay. Do you want me to try driving?" I asked, although, we both knew I had even less experience than Santana when it came to driving in winter storms.

"I think you know the answer to that question," Santana kidded, her voice shaking despite trying to make me laugh.

I smiled and buckled Everly back into her car seat, climbing back into the passenger seat of the car.

The sky was almost completely dark by the time we reached the hotel, deciding to stop, since driving in a snow storm got way worse once it was nighttime. We'd been driving for almost two hours (the same amount of time it usually would take us to get to Lima), and we were exhausted.

Santana stopped the car next to the entrance of the hotel, and I ran inside to ask about a room.

"You're lucky," the man at the front desk replied when I asked about open rooms. "We only have three rooms left." He handed me a key. "You're in room number 345."

"Thank you," I said, rushing back outside to tell Santana.

She parked the car as close to the hotel entrance as she could. Then, I got out of the car, pulling my hood on to try to protect my face from the wind as I opened the door to get Everly out of the car.

I pulled the cover we hadn't ever used yet over her infant seat before pulling it and her diaper bag out, closing the door behind me. From the trunk, Santana grabbed one of each of our suitcases and the case with the pack'n'play for Everly before locking the car. We winced against the cold wind biting our skin as we walked through the parking lot, our shoes slowly getting covered in crisp snow. Stepping into the hotel, we finally let out sighs of relief before heading into the elevator to make our way to our room on the third floor.

Only one bed occupied our room, but it was more than enough for us. We were beyond grateful that there even was an open room for us to stay in.

After setting down our bags and taking off our wet shoes and jackets, Santana started setting up the pack'n'play.

I uncovered Everly's car seat and lifted her out, hugging her to share the warmth, although she was the least cold of the three of us. It was time for her to eat, so I undid my top (even though I was still shaking from the cold outdoors) to breastfeed her.

"Should we order in some food?" Santana asked while Everly breastfed. "I guess in this storm we have to order from the hotel, though."

We had originally planned to eat once we arrived in Lima, but clearly that wasn't happening.

"Sure, why not? Do they have pizza or something?" I replied.

"Yeah, I'll call to order," Santana said.

While she was on the phone, Everly finished breastfeeding, and I burped her before deciding to change her into some warm pyjamas. I dressed her in layers, since the room was a little chillier than we were used to in our apartment, then laid her down in her pack'n'play to sleep, since it was past her bedtime.

By the time Santana and I were finally eating, we were beyond exhausted. We turned on the TV, watching some mindless show while we ate, huddling close together on the bed to keep warm.

"I guess I should probably call your parents," Santana said, "since we never did tell them we're staying in a hotel. Knowing them, they're worried about us."

"I'll call them," I replied.

"Okay, I'll call my parents as well," said Santana.

After getting off the phone with our parents, we turned off the TV and decided to have a bath to warm us up even more, since the room was not very warm. I loved taking baths with Santana; it was something we hadn't done a lot, but every time we did, it relaxed me.

Our moment was broken when Everly started crying. I sighed, feeling like I never really got to spend any time with just Santana. As much as we loved our daughter, there were times where we wished we could just be ourselves.

I got out of the bathtub, quickly drying myself off and putting on a bathrobe to get Everly.

"Hi, Ever. It's time to eat, right?" I lifted her up and brought her into the bathroom, which was quite a bit warmer than the rest of our hotel room because of the steam from our bath.

I sat on the floor next to the bathtub to breastfeed Everly, since the water in the bath tub was too warm for her.

Once she was done eating, we put her back to bed before getting ready ourselves.

"Goodnight, B," Santana said.

"Goodnight."

The next morning, I was woken by light coming in the window. We'd only woken up one time during the night when I fed Everly, but I still didn't feel rested. I shivered before turning over to see the bed empty.

"Santana?" I asked before getting out of bed.

"In here," she replied from the bathroom. "I'm just getting ready."

I glanced in the pack'n'play to see Everly still asleep before heading into the bathroom.

"Are the roads okay?"

"They're partially snow-covered," she replied, "but they're not closed, so we should be able to drive to Lima. We're close anyway."

"That's good. I'm sure everyone will be excited to see us, or more likely, Everly."

"And we have some good news to tell them," Santana said smiling.

"And that too."

Everly woke up soon after I got dressed, and I sat down on the bed to breastfeed her while Santana went to the hotel lobby to pick up some food from the free continental breakfast.

Soon enough, we were back on the road, with Everly awake but occupied in the backseat.

"Hey!" my mom exclaimed, running out onto the snowy driveway to greet us, when we pulled up to the house.

"Hi," I replied, getting out of the car and picking up Everly who was still awake, handing her to my mom.

"Your father and sister are still asleep," she said as Santana also got out of the car.

"That's not a surprise." I led the way into the house, carrying a few of our bags. Glancing back at Santana, I saw that she wasn't sure whether to take her gloves off; my mom would definitely notice the engagement ring if she did, but I didn't think I could keep it a secret much longer myself.

"Mom," I said once we made our way into the living room, "we have some news."

"And you're telling me first?" she asked.

"Well, everyone else is still sleeping," I replied, looking over at Santana.

"We're engaged!" Santana took her left hand out of her pocket to show my mother the ring.

"Oh! That's so exciting! Do you know when?"

"Probably in summer," I replied. "We need some time to plan. But, we're planning on keeping it very small, so please don't tell anyone else."

"I won't," she replied. "I'm very happy for you."

Telling the rest of my family was much the same, and when Santana's parents came over later, they were happy for us too, although their outward expression was a lot more subdued.

"We're very proud of you, mija," I heard Santana's mother telling her once they were aside a little later.

Of course, everyone wanted to spend as much time as possible with Everly, especially once they saw how much she loved to grab and shake toys (and pull on long hair), something she hadn't been doing the last time they'd seen her.

And, as much as we enjoyed spending time with our families, when we packed up all the toys and clothes our families had gotten for Everly on Christmas Eve to head back to Columbus, I was a little relieved. Our parents insisted on giving our daughter too many gifts and were constantly trying to hold her. I was glad that we'd be spending Christmas in our apartment, without all that craziness.

"Do we want to let Everly believe in Santa?" Santana asked while she was driving us back home from Lima.

"I guess I hadn't really thought of that," I replied. "Do you?"

"I don't think so, but if you want to, I'm okay with that. I just remember how everyone in high school made fun of you, and you know, I don't really like the idea of lying to her about something for a few years, just to have to tell her it was never real."

"I agree. I like the idea of it, but believing in Santa was never what made Christmas so special. It was the people we were with, the food, the presents, and the experiences," I said, reaching to hold Santana's hand on the center console.

"Exactly. Besides, I don't know how much I like the idea of handing her off to some mall Santa just to get a picture after all those other kids were sitting on him."

I laughed. "Yeah, that is a little strange if you think about it."

Once we were back inside our apartment, we ate a quick supper before I breastfed Everly in the living room, the lights on the Christmas tree glowing. All the gifts we'd bought for Everly (which were definitely less than the gifts our families got her) were already under the tree.

"I hope it's okay I didn't get you much for Christmas," I said.

"You didn't need to get me anything," Santana replied. "You already got me this." She looked at the engagement ring on her finger.

"Yeah, I know, but I was thinking. Would you like your gift tonight? Maybe we could start a new tradition, you know, once the baby's asleep, we could have our own mini Christmas Eve party."

"Sure, that sounds great."

We bathed Everly and got her ready for bed, reading her a story with high-contrast pictures before laying her in the bassinet next to our bed, grabbing the baby monitor, and heading back to the living room.

I handed Santana a small wrapped gift once we were seated.

She unwrapped it, pulling out a small black bracelet with silver lines and dots.

"It's a morse code bracelet," I explained as she put it on.

"What does it say?" Santana asked.

"Everly," I replied. "So that you always have her with you when you're at work. I got something inexpensive that won't move on your wrist for that reason."

"Thanks, B." Santana smiled. "I was hoping you hadn't spent too much money on my present because of the ring. Now, I'll give you yours."

I carefully unwrapped (so I could save the wrapping paper) a gift card to a spa.

"I figured we could spend a day with just us getting massages and doing other spa things," she said.

"Spa things?"

"You know what I mean!" Santana laughed.

"I do. Thank you."

We stayed in the living room together, drinking hot chocolate and talking, until Everly started to cry from the bedroom. So, we decided it was time to get ready for bed. I nursed Everly while Santana got ready, and she burped her while I got ready. Once we were in bed, we fell asleep almost instantly.

I woke up early the next morning despite being tired (I was sure it had something to do with the Christmas spirit) and lifted a barely awake Everly out of the bassinet. She'd woken up twice during the night to nurse, and it was still crazy to me just how much she'd grown, no longer needing to eat every two hours.

I breastfed her while Santana slept before bringing Everly into the nursery to get her dressed.

"Do you want to wear candy cane stripe or reindeer themed clothes today, Ever?" I asked her as I lay her down on the changing table.

She grabbed my hair and pulled on it in response, and I smiled.

"How about we go with candy cane stripes?" I continued talking to her. "Your mami and I have candy cane stripe pyjamas, so we can match."

Once Everly was dressed in a soft candy cane stripe shirt and red pants over her white onesie, I picked her up again to bring her to Santana.

"Merry Christmas, Santana!" I exclaimed walking into the bedroom.

"Merry Christmas," she mumbled in response.

Once she sat up, I passed Everly into her arms.

"Let me guess," Santana said, looking at Everly's outfit, "we're going to have to keep our candy cane pyjamas on so that we all match."

"Of course," I replied. "And then we're going to open our stockings, eat breakfast, and give Everly all her presents."

Everly wasn't old enough to react to her presents beyond grabbing them and shoving them in her mouth (which she definitely did, especially with the wrapping paper), but all the Christmas stuff was mostly for Santana and us, and for all the pictures we'd want to cherish and show our families.

While Santana was showing Everly the pictures in one of her new books, my phone rang, and I stepped aside to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi Brittany. This is Miranda, Reid's mom," the woman on the other side answered.

"Why are you calling?" I asked.

"I was wondering if I could meet my grandbaby."

A/N:

It feels a little weird to be posting a Christmas chapter at the end of May, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Thanks for reading!