“No, thank you, dear. Anne served up a rather large breakfast this morning.” Gran smiles and squeezes Greyston’s hand. “And you can call me Gran.”
I watch as Greyston finally relaxes, and I step forward, popping up onto my toes to kiss him lightly. “See. I told you she’d like you,” I whisper.
The doorbell rings again, and Greyston suggests we migrate to the living room for our gift exchange. I take Gran while he answers the door for his parents.
“Mom, I told you not to worry about gifts,” I hear Greyston tell her as I help ease Gran onto the couch. “You’ve already done so much to help me out with Juliette’s.”
Interesting, I think to myself with a smirk.
“I know, but that was technically your gift to Juliette. We had to get her something, too. Don’t worry, we were sure to coordinate.”
These clues are no good. I still have no idea what’s going on. It’s like he’s doing it on purpose at this point.
Greyston and his father join us in the living room, and I hear Jocelyn make her way toward the kitchen. After putting a stack of presents beneath the tree, Daniel sits on the couch next to my dad, and I introduce him to Gran. As they become acquainted, I sit on the floor next to the tree, leaning against the large armchair we moved from the corner of the room.
Soon, Jocelyn appears, passing by Greyston who is standing in the doorway still with a grin on his face. She sits next to Daniel on our gigantic couch and introduces herself to Gran. Greyston’s parents ask me about school, and I ask them about work. We get caught up in a conversation that comes on so naturally, I find myself momentarily basking in the moment. Everything about this just feels…right. Like my life was meant to turn out this way. And all because of an ad in the paper. Who knew.
I sit back and listen, laughing when my mom tells everyone a story about her first Christmas with my dad after they got married and how she burned the turkey. This opens up a new discussion about everyone’s first Christmases together, and I look up at Greyston, still standing in the doorway, arms crossed and leaning against the doorframe while he watches us all. Smiling when our eyes meet, I pat the seat of the empty chair, and he finally joins us, kissing the top of my head as he sits.
“Should we hand out presents?” Greyston asks, settling in behind me.
Nodding excitedly, I start organizing the gifts into piles so I can hand them out. I’m quite perplexed to find quite a few of them are mine—and they’re mostly massive.
I hand the gifts out to our parents and Gran, and then I resume my place in front of Greyston and watch while our family opens their gifts. Dad’s up first, and the look in his eyes when he opens his Diamondback season tickets makes me extremely happy. Truth is, I had no idea what to get him, and it was Greyston’s suggestion to go this route.
“This is…” He looks down at the booklet and then up at us. “Thank you both. It’s amazing—and entirely too much.”
“Nah,” I say with a shrug. “Just promise you’ll take me to a game.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” I nod. “I had a great time at that football game, and I’ve recently decided to experience new things.” I toss a quick sideways glance at Greyston, and he smirks. “Besides, it’s so rare we spend any real father-daughter time together anymore. This would be perfect.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal,” he agrees quickly, turning to show Mom his tickets before she opens her gift.
Her mouth falls open when she opens the long, slender black velvet box that contains the necklace and spa gift card we got her. “Thanks, you two. This is absolutely perfect.” She stops and looks at me with a wide smile and wet eyes. “This necklace is stunning, honey.”
“I saw it and just couldn’t resist,” I tell her. “It has our birthstones in it.”
Mom blinks away a few emotional tears and asks my dad to help her put the necklace on. “It’s exquisite.” I get the feeling that something might be on my mom’s mind; I’ve never known her to be this emotional over a gift before—regardless of the sentiment behind it. Before I can ask her if she’s okay, she hands a gift to Gran.
“Here, Mum. This is from Juliette and Greyston.”
I shift in place, getting up onto my knees, eager for my gran’s reaction. I’d spent so much time on the main part of her gift before Greyston and I went out and got her a set of personalized ceramic pie plates as well.
She’s always been happy baking for her family, so the pie dishes were a big hit, but when she got to the actual gift…