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Chapter 31 - Jingle Bells

CHAPTER 31

JOHN

It was December 23rd and the whole town looked beautiful in all of its festive glory.

Quite frankly though, as I walked around the grocery store and filled up my cart, I found myself quite sick of the holiday tunes – especially considering they started playing it everywhere in the middle of November.

After loading up the backseat of my truck with groceries I made a quick stop to buy some presents for Carly's family and our friends. We already had the majority of them already wrapped and ready to go, but Carly's pregnancy hormones were apparently making her really generous.

It didn't take too long to get everything I needed. I sent Carly a text when I got back in the truck letting her know I was on my way back, making sure she didn't need anything else while I was here.

As an afterthought I decided to stop and grab some coffee – decaf for Carly – then made my way back home, humming Jingle Bells to myself as I went.

"I'll jingle your fuckin' bells," I muttered, annoyed.

At this time last year I was in Afghanistan; for most it didn't feel much like Christmas over there, away from loved ones, but for me that was about as close to Christmas as I ever got. Before that, if I happened to be in the States during the holidays, then really it was just business as usual for me.

Indeed, I never really got in the habit of celebrating Christmas, not in the way most people do. Growing up in foster care, I never stayed in one place long enough to really get used to the holidays and all of the fuss that came along with it. Some foster families decorated a little, some even got us a couple presents, but it was never anything really special. This year was different though; I was making all of these plans with Carly and it felt a little strange... a good kind of strange.

What was even stranger was the idea that next Christmas I'd be playing Santa Claus for a six month old.

Things would be different from now on. My kid was going to know what Christmas was supposed to be all about. He or she was going to know what it was like to be loved and cared for, and to have the whole family together on December 25th. My kid would never have to go through what I'd gone through and that was a promise I was desperate to keep.

"Hey babe, you got the sugar?" Carly asked when I came into the kitchen.

Her hair was pulled into a messy bun on top of her head, she didn't have a trace of make-up on and she was wearing one of my t-shirts with a pair of sweatpants. She was elbow-deep in Christmas baking and the smell alone when I walked through the door made my mouth water.

"I'll give ya some sugar," I drawled, dropping two large grocery bags onto the counter, the coffee tray and another bag with small presents, Christmas cards and gift cards. I came from behind and wrapped my arms around her middle, kissing her neck. "Hi," I smiled when she turned her face to the side to look at me.

"Hi," she laughed, turning on her heels so that we were facing each other. She lifted herself up on the tip of her toes and kissed me good and proper. "As much as I love your sugar, it won't work for these cookies," she giggled.

"I got it, no worries," I chuckled, crouching down so that I was level with her belly. I kissed it too and Carly giggled, running her fingers through my hair.

I looked up at her and grinned. She was entering her second trimester tomorrow and although I knew she wasn't nearly as big as she was going to get, I was already astounded by the little bump.