My Irish Sweetheart

Chapter 9 - All In A Look

Chapter 9 - All In A Look

Christmas Eve morning and already everything and everyone was up and buzzing with energy. Cillian's brother was adding last minute gifts under the tree, his sisters were helping his mother prep food for tomorrow, and his father was outside shovelling snow off the path and adding salt here and there so no one would slip and hurt themselves.

I smiled at the view out the window. Hills dappled green and white; grass mismatched with the light snow that had fallen in the night. Little birds twittered in the trees beside the house happily as the sun finally came through the clouds again. It was a lovely view, and I hummed happily to myself along with the birds as I wrapped and labelled my final presents. I'd hunted Cillian out of the spare room shortly after we'd gotten up so I could wrap things without him sneaking a peek. He'd been like a kid in a candy shop when I'd pulled the few bags of still unwrapped gifts out from under the bed where I had stashed them a day and a half before. But no, I'd refused to let him look at anything - even after quite considerable persuasion which hinted at us locking the door and returning to bed. In all honesty, that offer had been hard to turn down, but I'd wanted everything to be a surprise and had hunted him out with the help of his mother in the end.

Just to be safe, I'd wrapped Cillian's gifts first. But now I just had the couple of things Cillian and I had picked together for his parents...and it was now he decided to sneak back into the room.

"Oh, hey," I beamed and looked around at the sound of the door clicking closed, tearing off a piece of tape and pressing it against the folded paper I'd been holding down. "I'm just doing the things for your mum and dad if you want to help..."

"Was just going to ask if you wanted a hand taking things downstairs." Cillian chuckled as he sat on the bed beside me and handed me another piece of tape.

"Thanks..." I smiled and gave him a chaste kiss before taping the other end of the wrapping down. "Well, that's your mum's presents done..."

"You've done them all?" Cillian suddenly asked, looking at the different piles of gifts.

"All but your dad's." I nodded, straightening up and leaning back a little to stretch; sighing happily as my spine cracked in relief.

"But there were so many...and you've not been up here that long, surely-"

"I've not been downstairs today." I sighed then cringed slightly as my stomach growled in protest. "Which, in hindsight, may not have been the best idea...but I'm nearly done, so yay!"

"No," Cillian placed his hand gently on my wrist as I reached for one of his father's gifts to wrap it. "They'll keep til after lunch...you've missed one meal today, I'll be damned if I willingly let you miss a second."

"Technically I missed three," I smirked, counting on my fingers. "Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Morning Tea-"

I was cut short by him grabbing me about the waist and pulling me into his lap, tickling me as he did so. I squealed with laughter as he tumbled us onto the plush rug on the floor by the bed, trying to catch a hold of his hands to get him to stop but not really wanting him to stop either, happy when he laughed with me as our hands finally caught each other's.

"For a moment I thought there were a couple of school kids in here," Cillian's brither's voice said from the doorway and we both looked in his direction. "But now I see it's just you two."

"Play is required at all ages, Paidi." I grinned as I sat up, one of my hands still in Cillian's. "Whether we're actors, dancers, children, or construction workers; 'play' is good for the soul."