Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

“ P oppy! Poppy, wake up. Santa Claus came!”

Austin checked to make sure both he and Ky had shorts on. Then he lifted the comforter and grabbed Dallas, yanking him under it with giant growling and chomping noises.

“Eeee! Paige. Save me!”

“Dal! I’m coming!” Paige careened into the room, looking around with wild eyes.

“Arrrrr nom nom nom!” Kyler snarled and darted out to pull Paige in.

“Nooooo!” Paige giggled, though, her struggling patently fake.

“Grr!” He hugged Dallas tight. “Santa Monster!”

“Monnnnnster!”

“What the Sam hell is going on here?” Henley asked from the doorway of the bedroom. When he peeked out of the covers, he found her wearing a Mrs. Claus apron and two oven mitts.

“Uh, Hen, if you’re cold, we have blankets,” Ky said. “No need to steal kitchen gear. ”

“Ha-ha. I am making blueberry muffins. From a mix,” she admitted.

“Yum.” Austin popped his head out of the covers. “The blanket monsters have eaten the kids, so more for us.”

“Poppy!” Dallas wiggled out from under his arm. “I like muffins.”

“Me too.” Paige emerged, her hair sticking up all over with static. “And pressies!”

“After muffins and some coffee for me and Daddy,” Austin said.

“Come on, you two. You can help me get plates and butter and stuff,” Henley said, winking. “Merry Christmas, guys.”

“Mmm.” They all trooped out, and Ky grabbed him for a kiss. “Morning. Merry Christmas.”

“Morning, babe. Merry Christmas to you.” Austin held on tight, rocking them together. “She’s not going to poison us, is she?”

“Uhhh… Not if it’s a mix. She can follow directions.”

Lord help him.

Not that either one of them was appreciably better.

The Christmas tree was packed full with gifts — books and clothes and toys and sleds and new bikes for both kiddos. It was the kind of Christmas he’d dreamed of giving Dallas, with a sibling and a ton of love and happy music and…

He took a deep breath. “Should we put on the matching jammies?”

“God, yes. This is going to be a hoot.”

They dressed in their Thing One and Thing Two jammies, and their elf shoes with bells on the toes. Hand-in-hand, they wandered together to the front room, where the smell of coffee and baking muffins greeted them.

Yum.

“Oh my god, y’all. You two crack me up.” Henley snorted, pouring them both a mug of coffee. “I let the kids have their stockings.”

“Without us?”

“No, like right now. They’re waiting for you to open them.”

“Oh, cool.” Ky tugged him to the couch. “You have a timer on, right?”

“I do. We have twenty minutes. Let’s do this.” Henley bounced, plopping on the couch across from the kids.

The children ripped into their stockings, oohing and ahhing at the small toys, crayons, and oranges and apples. Paige and Dallas each got a gift card from his parents and Henley’s, which Austin melted over.

Henley’s people were more than willing to fold Dallas into their goofy huge family too.

“Poppy, look! A tiny book!” Dallas showed him a mini book, the kind that came with little toys attached. It was Sherlock Holmes, and it had a magnifying glass on the string.

“From Santa, huh?”

“Oh, that’s cool…” Paige examined the book with a hint of a frown, then Dallas nudged her.

“You have to have one too. Santa is fair.”

“Hmm.” She dug in her stocking and pulled out a bitty wrapped package. “Oooh!” She tore it open, gently for her, and blinked. “It’s about horses! Oh, wow! Mommy, I got a horsey book!”

Henley applauded. “Y’all are going to both have to read to me!”

“Okay! After we color?”

“Sounds great.” The timer went off, and Henley went to save breakfast while the kids settled in with crayons and color books. That meant they could have coffee.

Thank God.

He leaned against Ky, breathing nice and slow. All the big gifts were out here, but the signed copy of The Joy of Gay Sex ? That was a present for tonight.

He grinned, and Ky glanced down at him. “What are you thinking about, honey?”

“Christmas. Presents. Moving all the rest of our things over.”

“Yeah. That makes me smile too.” They were going to do that before the first so his friends could go back to using the condo as a rental. They didn’t have a lot—mostly books and toys.

And books.

Also bookcases.

And God, he was so happy to have an office here. No little to no chair space for him anymore. He had an ergonomic wonder.

“Poppy! Daddy! We have to eat so we can open our presents!” Paige beamed at them. “We have to see our bikes!”

He chuckled, and Ky got up, hauling him to his feet. “The little beasts have spoken, honey. Time to eat.”

“They taste good!” Henley crowed from the kitchen.

“Hooray, Momma Hen!” Dallas crowed, doing a passable chicken impersonation.

He caught the happy, soft smile on Ky’s face, and he was so glad his kid was open and loving and happy to accept this whole co-parenting thing. There was a lot of love in the room right now.

Soon there would be toys and games, a new pair of boots for Kyler, and a framed poster of his last Maverick book for Henley.

“You happy, honey?” Ky asked, wrapping an arm around his waist as they walked to the kitchen.

“I am. Next year, we’ll have to go see my folks. Henley’s welcome to come.”

“I’ll tell her, but I bet she comes for Thanksgiving and goes to her momma’s for Christmas.” Kyler let go to pour them both a cup of joe. “But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Dallas wants to introduce me to his granny and grandpa.”

“He does. And I imagine they’ll come here for Easter now that there’s a guest room.”

“That’s fine, honey. Or they could come in summer when it’s so pretty.”

“We’ll figure it out, I bet.” They had…time.

All the time in the world.

“Poppy!” Paige grabbed their hands. “Daddy. Food. Food and then presents!”

They both laughed and nodded, and Henley served up muffins as they got more coffee, and he could hardly bear how good it felt.

He had a new, fascinating family, and he wasn’t going it alone anymore, and his body was whispering to him how much Ky wanted him.

Santa had been good to him.

Tonight, Santa was going to be super good to Kyler.