A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it took me a little longer. New job and such...it's craziness and also brings along a lot of writer's block since I'm always tired again lol.
Hopefully I'll get back into the "swing" of things ;) (sorry for the cheesiness of that pun used here)
Big chapter! Well, it's short, but big. Big things.
Enjoy!
G.
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"Bye..." She coos, standing at their door with just a robe wrapped around her body, watching the other couple leave. Tom comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist, smirking before kissing her cheek.
"That was fun." He whispers as she shuts the door. "Anthony and Michelle are quite the firecrackers."
She nods, turning in his arms to face him, smiling up into his eyes before pressing a kiss to his lips. "So were Brad and Sylvia." She coos, batting her eyes before smiling a little more deviously. "I'm glad we started swinging, Tom. Patty was so right..." She says, pausing to sigh, "It really does bring you even closer once the others are gone...it makes me love you even more."
He smiles, pressing his lips to her forehead. "I love you, too." He whispers. "Come on, let's start on those Christmas cookies for my mom's house." He says, chuckling. "You know she'll chew us out if we don't bring cookies on Christmas Eve."
She chuckles, nodding and rolling her eyes. "I love that woman. She's such a riot..." She coos, shaking her head before strolling off to the kitchen, fixing her robe a little. "It's crazy to think that I've known her now for almost two years. All started with nails."
"Well, technically it started with me." He corrects, teasing her a little and nudging her arm as she's getting the things out for them to bake. "I mean we met before you two met, it was just coincidence that your nail technician was my mother."
She rolls her eyes at him, shrugging. "I suppose you're right, sort of." She says begrudgingly, then adds, "It did start with you, because she asked what was on my mind and of course you were. And then I complained about you the whole time I was getting my nails filled." She says, shrugging proudly before shooting him a tiny smirk.
"Me?!" He asks playfully, "What could little old me have possibly done to make you vent to my mother for near two hours, hm?" He asks, chuckling before getting the things out for the cookies.
Trina starts getting the mixing bowl out with and the beater, "Oh, little old you knows exactly what you did to make me vent to poor Mel for two hours."
"Poor Mel." He mocks, scoffing a laugh. "Nothing poor about that woman...she's invincible."
She looks up at him, sighing sadly, "Tom, you know good and well this could easily be Mel's last Christmas..." She says sadly. "You know she's having those heart issues, and the doctors said they're only going to get worse."
Tom looks away, resting his hand on the bag of flour and hanging his head. "Tri..." He whispers sadly, "I don't want to think of it like that."
She sighs sadly, walking up behind him and gluing herself to his back. "You know it's true, babe. So let's make this Christmas a really great one." She whispers.
He shakes his head and clenches his eyes shut. "I can't lose both parents yet..." He says, clearing his throat. Trina can tell he's trying to not get choked up. "I mean, she has to see me marry my love one day...she has to see...she has to see..." He stops, because he can't think of anything else right off of the top of his head.
"Maybe she will see us get married." She whispers, then pauses and huffs a little laugh, "If your love is me, of course..." She teases lightheartedly. "I was actually really hoping you'd bring it up to talk about it again..."
"What, marriage?" Tom asks, bending his neck around to see her, exposing his reddened – but not yet tear-stained – face.
She nods softly, "Yeah..."
"You could've brought it up, you know..." He says, chuckling sadly. "I don't have to do all of the heavy work..."
She smiles, rolling her eyes at him. "You know me, I'm terrified of marriage...but I wouldn't want to be terrified and have someone I don't trust and love, Tom..." She says, shrugging a little. "I know that together, we can make a really great team."
"I know that too." Tom says, turning around so that his whole body is facing hers.
She wraps her arms around his neck and bites her lip a little, "So, I guess what I'm telling you is...if you asked me, I wouldn't say no." She whispers.
His eyes light up, and he got one of the biggest smiles she's ever seen him have. "Okay...I'll keep that in mind." He whispers.
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The Christmas cookies were made, the car was packed with the presents for each other and for Mel, and their stockings to hang up in Mel's house were setting up on top of the presents in the back seat. Tom drove there, and Trina helped unload everything while Mel was kissing all over Tom's face (which made Trina laugh, like always).
He had to go to the store, and once Mel stopped kissing him, she went inside with Trina. "You're a riot, Mel." Trina says, chuckling a bit and shaking her head as she prepares the cookies to be served in a nicer way than just a paper plate.
Mel smiles a little, taking a deep, shaky breath before sitting down in the chair. "I try to be." She teases, clearing her throat. "Snickerdoodles?" She asks, nodding toward the cookies.
Trina shakes her head, "Nope, they're this crazy recipe Tom got from Rex. They're called Buckeyes, and they're a peanut butter cookie with a Hershey's Kiss in the middle. They're very delicious, I already had five." She admits, laughing and biting her lip.
The older woman laughs as well, resting her head in her hand, "Hand me one." She whispers "Tom doesn't have to know."
Trina laughs, shrugging, "Can't see what it would hurt." She says, handing her one before she puts a cover over the decorative plate, scooting them to the side so they'd be out of the way.
Mel's face lights up as she's chewing the first bite, "These are delicious. What are they again?"
"Buckeyes." She replies, digging through her purse for the recipe card. "I figured you may want a copy." She says, handing it to Mel.
She nods vigorously, taking it into her fingers as she's chewing the last bite. "Mm, so easy to make too." She says.
Trina nods, "Easy enough that Tom didn't have to help a whole lot." She admits, laughing again.
"It wasn't another Thanksgiving fiasco, was it?" Mel teases. When Trina shakes her head with a smile on her face, Mel continues on, "That's already been two years ago, isn't that crazy? It seems like yesterday when you asked me to paint your nails red."
She nods softly, sitting down at the dining table once she hands Mel the recipe. "I have something to ask you, Mel. And it's kind of serious, too."
It got her attention, definitely, and she sits down as well after tucking the card into her recipe box. "What is it, hun?" She asks, furrowing her slivers of brows, now kind of just a few hairs to mark what used to be. (Age does crazy things to a person, she once said).
"Marriage." Trina blurts out, looking up into the older woman's eyes. "Tom and I...we had a nice little talk about it." She says softly, a tiny smile growing up on her lips. "I told him that...that I wouldn't say no if he asked me to-"
"Really?" Mel whispers, awed at what Trina was saying. "You would possibly be marrying my little boy?" She whispers.
Trina smiles softly, nodding a little. "Hopefully, one day." She coos, taking a shaky breath before leaning on the table a bit more. "I feel that he's the only one I'll ever meet in my life that will get me enough to be my husband. I mean, he knows me. He loves me, even when I'm downright rude to him." She says, bringing her smile back along with some watery eyes. "I just never imagined a husband and a home. But he makes me want that."
Mel smiles proudly, straightening herself a little when Trina says those last few words. "I am proud of him for making you want that, hun." She says, reaching out for Trina's hand that was resting on the table currently, laying hers on top of Trina's. "I'm so happy that you're considering it. He came to me and talked about it a few months back, back during the summer or something, but he said he just didn't think you were ready yet and that he may scare you off."
"Oh he definitely would've back then." Trina breathes, shaking her head, "I'm glad he didn't ask me then. Losing my mom and such, it made me see things in a different way, even though I wasn't all that close to her. I guess the money part of it all helped, too. I want to buy a house with Tom, which made me realize even more how much I wanted to spend my life with him. Which is scary, but-"
"Don't be scared." Mel cuts in, shrugging. "You two have lived together for what, almost two years? Close to two years?"
"Closer to one year." Trina says.
She nods softly, "One year, even. That's a lot of time to spend with someone every single day, sharing the same bathroom, cooking meals with them, all of that."
Trina nods and smiles softly, "I'm just happy you're happy, too, Mel. You're really the mother I never had, you know that right?"
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Merry Christmas, babe.
That's the first thing she hears at about 8:00 on Christmas morning. She turns over to see his face, kissing his lips gently. "Good morning, and Merry Christmas to you too, handsome." She coos with a soft smile.
He rubs her arm a little, turning her to where her front side is against him instead of her back. "Sleep well?" He asks.
She nods a little, "I always sleep well in this bed for some reason. Your mother's guest bed is the best." She says, laughing a little before sighing. "We had a talk last night – me and your mom. She said she was happy that we were considering marriage."
"Good, good." Tom whispers, a little smile creeping onto his face before he lets out a soft laugh. "She'd better be happy. She and I had talked about it-"
"A few months back." Trina interrupts, laughing. "I know, she told me."
"Can't keep nothing a secret anymore..." Tom murmurs, rolling his eyes.
She just laughs again, shrugging, "It was okay though. It just reassured me even more that we're serious..."
He nods, smiling before pecking her lips. "Speaking of the old woman," He teases, "She's probably up and raring to eat breakfast. Let's get down there before she comes up here."
They agree on that very quickly before getting up. Tom throws on a tee shirt and a sweater, since there was a little bit of chill in the house, and Trina puts on her robe over her pajamas. They both were wearing last year's slippers that they exchanged with each other (slippers – because everyone likes slippers. It's an easy first Christmas gift to break the ice with).
"Well good morning, you night owls, you!" Mel shouts from the kitchen table, getting up and lifting the lid up off of the plate of pancakes. "Fresh made, about an hour ago." She says, chuckling. "Thought you'd be up earlier."
"You could've waken us up." Trina says, chuckling and sitting down at the table to eat.
Once they eat and have a little small talk, Tom turns into a five year old, asking when they're going to open presents. Trina stayed up last night and filled the stockings with frivolous, fun things, and Mel and Tom filled her stocking with fun things as well. It was like the Christmases Trina had always wanted when growing up, but never seemed to get.
"Let's go through our stockings first." Mel says as they all head into the small, heavily decorated living room.
They all get situated in their places. Tom and Trina sat in the floor together, that way they could hand Mel her presents in her chair. Trina hands Tom his stocking after giving Mel's to her, and she chuckles, "Yours is heavy." She says to him, nudging him with her elbow.
He smirks a little, "More coal in mine." He says, shooting her a quick wink.
She laughs, beginning to dig through hers. The top of it had chocolate Santa's, a new spatula (probably from Mel, since she knows that she's been trying to cook a little more), a new color of polish for Mel to use on her, and a few other odds and ends.
She gets to the bottom and pulls out a small box, and the whole time Tom is watching her. She takes it between her fingers, "You shouldn't have gotten anything expensive, Tom..." She says softly, still holding the closed box. She could tell by the way the box was made that it was something nice, probably the diamond earrings she'd hinted at the other day.
He just simply lets out a chuckle before shaking his head, moving to get onto one knee in front of her and gently taking the box from her hands. "Actually, it comes with something else." He says softly, opening the box to expose a diamond ring. This must've been what he bought with his huge bonus this year. "Trina Russo, I've known you for what feels like forever." He starts off, repositioning himself a little.
She has tears in her eyes, she's trying to bat them away but Mel going, Awww...awww...awww... every five seconds doesn't help, and she finally can't hold them back anymore. They're running down her face, and Tom is just starting to get his words.
"Our beginning wasn't the smoothest. We had issues, but I think those were our worst ones..." He says, sighing a little. "We've been through a lot together, and I can't imagine going through anything more without you, baby." He whispers, taking a shaky breath. "So, Trina Eileen Russo, will you marry me?"
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What did you think? Please review and let me know. If you have anything youd like to see happen let me know please! It may help me with my writer's block haha.
Thanks!
G
