Christmas day came, and, of course, it was a family event.
We trimmed the tree, we sang carols, we all wore ridiculous sweaters. And, of course, we all had stockings.
As we walked in to the living room, where all the stockings were hung over the fire, I watched Edward's face. I saw the very moment that he noticed it. One last irresistible surprise, peeping cheerfully over the top of his stocking.
He had walked into the room smiling, calm, happy, thinking mainly of Nessie and how happy she was today. But, when he saw what was sticking out of his stocking, his eyes widened in surprise. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but remembered who else was in the room and clamped it shut quickly. Then he looked over to me and raised a single eyebrow. I grinned at him and watched him trying not to smirk back. He had that delicious look in his eyes, nervous and excited all at once. Wondering what was in store for him and hoping it was happening soon.
I did have some great plans with his present. Plans to make Edward shiver a little and plans to get him to whimper for me. I love the soft whimper he makes when he's just the tiniest bit scared. And for Edward, well, I think it's a bit like a roller coaster or a ghost train. He loves the thrill of a game just this side of frightening.
Had we been alone, I might have asked him to hand over his unwrapped gift, enjoying the way he would squirm if he had to hold it in his hand, feeling the weight of it, and the enticing way it flexed. But I had limits on what we should do in public. Just having the thing in plain sight was going to make Edward squirm plenty.
Of course it couldn't be a secret, not right there in the living room, surrounded by our family. It was Jasper who noticed next, perhaps he was alerted by a slight (or not so slight) lust spike in our area of the room.
He looked at Edward's stocking, saw the unwrapped gift, then he looked at me.
"Why, Bella," he said, "that may be red with white stripes, but it is certainly not candy."
"Of course not," I said, "Edward doesn't like candy."
Edward's eyes flashed to mine, full of desire and a tiny bit of fear. He hadn't yet decided whether or not he liked this kind of cane either. Though I was pretty confident that I could persuade him to like it very much.
Then he turned, irritably, towards his brother. Jasper smiled innocently. Edward growled, he hated people - especially his brothers - commenting on his intimate relationship with me. Our games were a sort of open secret. They all knew what we got up to, with our vampire super senses some things are hard to miss; but, most of the time, we all pretended that we didn't know the intimate details of one another's lives.
Jasper smirked at his discomfort. Probably toying around with a few more teasing comments. The more spiky Edward got, the funnier his brothers found it to tease him.
But it was Christmas, and I didn't want Jasper ruining Edward's good mood. So I decided to put a quick stop to Jasper's remarks. "Are you jealous, Jasper?" I asked him, "I'm sure that I could order another one for you."
Jasper chewed his lip and glanced over to see if Alice had anything to say about that idea. She didn't bother to speak up, so Jasper looked a little more nervous. There was no way that Alice would ever spank Edward, she saw him as her brother, and, besides, I was fiercely protective of him. I played games that made him a little nervous, but nothing more than that. Alice was a different matter, however. When she played with Jasper, it could get rough and it could get serious. I wouldn't be surprised if Alice did think it was funny to let me loose on Jasper, and I don't think that he would be either. Alice couldn't have threatened Edward with a swat on the backside, he would know that she would never follow through. I, on the other hand, could keep Jasper guessing.
"Thank you, kindly," he said to me, "but I would really rather you didn't?" He managed to make his statement sound like a question. He was obviously wondering whether there was in fact one of these seasonal canes somewhere waiting for him.
Edward chuckled then. He liked how wary Jasper was around me. Having me around had shifted the relationship arrangement in the family, and - most of the time - Edward loved the new setup. He was particularly fond of having someone on his side. There were few things that made him happier than seeing me scold his big brothers (and, naturally, I did those things for him too).
Alice tutted, "Jazzy's been a very good boy this year," she said, wrapping him up in her arms, and sitting them both down on the sofa to open their stockings, "Santa has given him lots of presents."
Jasper leaned into Alice's side. Soothed now that he knew he wasn't winding up on the receiving end this time.
I nodded, "Edward's got plenty of presents, too," I said, "he's been mostly good." I sat down in a chair with my stocking on my lap and Nessie ran over to perch on the chair's arm.
Edward came over and sat at my feet, snuggling against my leg. "Mostly good?" he echoed.
"Yep," I said, carefully taking the cheery cane out of his stocking and slipping it into my pocket for later (the decorations would be up till Epiphany, so there were still a few days left for a bit of seasonal fun, and I was rather looking forward to trying my new toy out). Edward gave a slight sigh of relief, he hadn't wanted to handle my toy himself. I ruffled his hair fondly, "mostly good," I said again, "and entirely mine."