34. Luke

After cleaning Ally and then himself up after making love to her, he put her into a dry diaper and zipped up her new pajamas before carrying her to the living room and setting her on the carpet in front of the Christmas tree.

"No shaking any presents, little girl."

Ally grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.

"I don't even know how all these presents got here, Daddy. You haven't been out of the house at all the past couple of days."

Luke chuckled.

"Thank goodness Santa does two-day delivery."

Ally frowned. "But… I didn't get you anything. I've hardly been away from you since the first day we met."

Luke knelt by her, lifting her chin to look up at him.

"Little girl, you have given me the best gift I have ever received in my entire life. That is all I could ever ask for. Besides, it's Daddy's job to spoil his Little girl."

Ally reached up to touch his beard before pulling him closer to kiss. She loved touching his beard. It was like having her own living stuffed animal that she could pet whenever she wanted.

"You already spoil me, Daddy. I've never had this kind of attention and love from anyone before."

He smiled softly, touched by her sweet words, blinking back the wetness in his eyes. She really was the most amazing baby a man could ever ask for. He didn't want or care about presents but he could hardly wait to watch Ally open all of hers.

While he made dinner, Ally played with some of her favorite dolls on the floor. She had already named each one of the dolls, along with all her new stuffed animals. He realized he was going to need to write down a list of all the names for her toys so he could keep track.

He made a special dinner for her. She had told him that her mom had always made roasted chicken with cranberry stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cornbread for Christmas Eve dinner, so he did his best to recreate it for her.

When he set the table, he set out two candles, one for each of her parents, and special ornaments that he'd ordered with their names hand painted on them to hang on the back of each of the two empty chairs. When he told Ally dinner was ready, she came to the table and saw the ornaments. She immediately started sobbing. Questioning whether he should have included items for her parents at the table, Luke pulled Ally to him. He didn't want to ruin their evening.

"It's so perfect, Daddy. It's just perfect. I feel them here with us. They are happy. I think they are happy for us, too."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Luke squeezed her tight and hoped her parents would have approved of him, wishing they knew just how much he loved her.

"I'm happy they are here, baby. I was hoping they would be."

Ally sniffled, nodding her head before releasing him to sit down at the table. Luke sat next to her and fed her bites from her plate.

"Thank you, Daddy. This is so good. It is just like my mom used to make it. The stuffing is my favorite."

Smiling, he gave her another bite of the stuffing. She closed her eyes and relished the delicious food. When they finished eating, Luke handed her the ornaments and told her to go hang them on the tree so they could be in the living room while they watched the movie. Ally nodded obediently, her eyes wet with tears again after examining each ornament.

She hung the ornaments gently on the branches closest to the couch while he prepared hot chocolate with cinnamon and extra marshmallows for them and brought a plate of cookies out to the living room. Ally was already settled on the couch with a blanket over her lap. Her eyes lit up when he handed her the hot cocoa.

"Thank you, Daddy."

Sitting on the couch next to her, Luke patted his lap for her to crawl in to. She settled against him, taking a drink of her cocoa.

"Mmmmm. This is sooooo good. It tastes exactly how my dad made it."

A feeling of warmth spread through Luke. He was doing his best to make this Christmas as special as he could for Ally, and he was pleased that she seemed so happy about all of it.

Taking a drink of his own cocoa, Luke smiled. "Well, your dad sure made a good cup of cocoa, because this is delicious."

"Soooo good, Daddy."

"Are you ready to watch the movie?"

Ally nodded.

While they watched the movie, they drank their cocoa and munched on cookies. Tears ran down her cheeks on and off throughout the movie. Each time he saw her tears, he pulled her closer against him and nuzzled her neck, whispering sweet words to her. She seemed to relax a little more each time he pulled her in closer.

When the movie was over, Ally turned to him. "I love that movie so much. It's so funny. Did you like it?"

Luke nodded. "I love it, baby. I can't wait to watch it with you every year from now on."

She grinned, throwing her arms around his neck so tight he thought she might strangle him.