Set in Stone

Chapter 16

It was Christmas Day number two in Roman and Grace's house. It was now their house as she had moved in, or at least had started to move in. They had only been back from Jamaica for a few days after the successful conclusion to filming Poseidon's Secret, therefore some of her things still remained to be moved out of her place. When that was done, she would be paying someone to give it a professional clean from top to bottom ahead of putting it on the rental market.

Although she was still getting used to her new surroundings, Grace liked the house a lot. It was bigger than hers, and had been expensively and tastefully renovated fairly recently. It did trouble her a bit that Andrea had probably had a lot of say in it, but then it wasn't as if she hadn't known that Roman was recently divorced when the relationship started. She hardly had cause for complaint.

In the outbuilding at the side of the garden, Layla's main gift was waiting. WWE's crew had made an excellent job of building one of their rings, albeit on a smaller scale. Every detail from the turnbuckle covers to the ring aprons was a replica of a Monday Night Raw ring, apart from obviously not having an LED apron on one side. Layla was bound to love it.

For her gift to Layla, Grace had purchased a set of ring attire from the company who made the ones she used herself. Roman had said Layla's favourite colours were red and black, so Grace had ordered an intricate design using those colours on a sports bra and a pair of wrestling pants. The set was folded up in a box, wrapped up and placed under the Christmas tree in the living room, along with the other gifts that were waiting to be given out.

Roman had gone to pick Layla up from Andrea's place. While she waited for their arrival, Grace had started her food prep for the Christmas dinner that she would be making later.

"Thank god that's over," she said to herself, having just finished stuffing the turkey, the one part of the prep that she really hadn't been looking forward to.

She had finished just in time, for she heard the distinctive sound of Roman's Ford GT parking up out front. Pulling off the rubber gloves that she had worn to protect herself against the nastiness of sticking her hand inside a turkey, she tossed them aside on the kitchen island and walked down the hallway towards the front door. To make herself look festive, she was wearing a red Santa hat and a dark blue pullover with a reindeer on it.

The front door opened and Layla rushed in, carrying a backpack that would contain everything she needed for her overnight stay.

"Grace!" Layla shrieked excitedly.

"Layla! Merry Christmas!" Grace replied with equal excitement.

Roman walked in and closed the door, smiling contentedly at how happy his daughter and his girlfriend were to see each other. He looked quite a sight, wearing a red pullover with a Christmas tree on it.

"Merry Christmas. Having two Christmases is weird," Layla said.

"But it's weird in a good way, right?" Roman said.

"Yes!" Layla said, turning to look at him. "Do I give Grace her gift now?"

"Let's go into the living room and we can all give each other gifts," Roman said. "Do you need the bathroom or a drink first?"

"Some juice, please."

Juice was how Layla requested orange juice, her favourite drink, Grace knew by now. "I'll get it," she offered. "Do you want anything, Rome?"

"Coffee would be good," he said with a smile.

Returning to the kitchen, Grace moved the stuffed turkey over to the work surface next to the oven, then set about fixing the drinks. Although Layla wasn't her daughter, she was excited about having her over for a Christmas celebration, even on the wrong day. She couldn't imagine how much it meant to Roman. He had talked about it a lot over the past few days, which Grace had found adorable. He was such a good dad, doing his absolute best in a less than ideal situation.