1. Delphine

1

delphine

present…

“Remember when Black Friday actually had good sales?” Sasha asks, scrunching up her nose. “How is ten percent off anything to write home about? For all this, I could’ve stayed my butt home and caught up on Netflix.”

I smirk from beside her, setting the stuffed teddy bear I’ve picked up back down on the store shelf.

We’ve only been shopping at the Galleria for the last hour but have already decided we’re less than impressed. The malls aren’t as crowded as they used to be on the day after Thanksgiving, nor are the sales half as good.

“We still haven’t tried Cliffords. There’s a cologne they’re selling I want to pick up for Jon.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Bryce, put that down!” Sasha snaps. Her attention shifts momentarily from our conversation to the little tan boy knocking down several boxes of Legos. She abandons my side to go stop him.

He’s not alone—Dominic stands by him in the same aisle witnessing the mayhem go down. Thankfully, my little six-year-old chocolate drop knows better than to misbehave at the toy store. He takes his role as a big brother very seriously, which means he’s often trying to set the best example for his smaller siblings, especially Rena.

My girl is my shadow, humming softly as she fusses with her favorite Barbie doll she brings everywhere . Salvatore often jokes that I’ve been cloned and the end result was Serena. The tiny four-year-old looks exactly like me when I was her age, afro puffs and all.

And then there’s our newest addition to the Mancino family—two-year-old Dante who’s currently knocked out in the stroller I’ve brought on our shopping trip. He’s drooling and snoring, much like his father when he falls asleep on the couch.

Sasha returns with Dominic and Bryce half a step behind her. Dominic seems amused while Bryce is pouting.

“As we were saying,” Sasha huffs. “Maybe we should move onto Cliffords. Nobody’s getting toys here.”

Bryce stomps his foot as if tempted to go into full-blown tantrum mode.

We leave the Toy Chest behind before he can.

Though the Galleria isn’t as crowded as it once was the day after Thanksgiving, that doesn’t mean the mall hasn’t made an attempt to be as festive as possible. Christmas decorations already grace every corner of the mall, from the gigantic forty-foot tree in the center to the twinkling lights and wreaths hung everywhere.

In the background, cheerful Christmas music plays, putting you in the mood for the season.

“Are you going to explain what you meant?” I ask minutes later, once we’re browsing the perfume and cologne counters inside Cliffords department store.

Sasha’s picked up a cologne she thought Stitches might like but after giving it a spritz, she makes a face of disgust and puts it right back. “I just meant… as long as I’ve known you both, you kind of do this.”

“Do what? Buy my husband a Christmas present?”

“No…” She pauses before her next words as if choosing them wisely. “You try to rope Salvatore into the whole holiday cheer thing.”

“So?”

“It doesn’t seem to be his thing.” She gives a shrug, moving onto the next cologne that catches her eye.

I raise both brows and then pick up a cologne I’ve noticed myself. It smells like spiced cedar and reads all wrong for Salvatore. “Is this you speaking, or is this what Stitches told you?”

“Huh?”

“Sasha, have you forgotten I know Stitches pretty damn well? That’s exactly the kind of thing Stitches would pick up on.”

“Okay, so he’s mentioned it before. But you already knew too. Salvatore hates Christmas.”

It’s true.

I was fourteen years old the first time I set eyes on Salvatore Jonathan Mancino. I watched him and his family move into the magnificent mansion down the block from my family’s home. My father immediately warned me and my brother, Marcel, to stay away from them at all costs.

Soon I learned that Salvatore’s upbringing was less than perfect.

It was about as far from perfect as you could get…

In his case, all that glittered wasn’t gold. While he came from a wealthy background and his father—or the man he thought was his father—was Don of the Mancino crime family, behind closed doors, things were much darker.

The first Christmas we spent together as boyfriend and girlfriend made me realize just how much Salvatore detested the holiday. I was eighteen and he was twenty-one when I spent my holiday break from college in his apartment. He indulged me, letting me put up a small Christmas tree and exchanging gifts and celebrating the holiday, but it was not at all what he truly wanted.

In the many years since, I’ve often sought to change his perception.

Success has mostly alluded me.

I release a small sigh, bending over the stroller to tend to Dante. He’s just woken up from his afternoon nap and needs to go potty. “Do you think I should drop it?” I ask Sasha. “Has Stitches said Salvatore wishes I wouldn’t do these things? I wouldn’t be so… festive?”

Salvatore would never want to ruin the holiday for me; he wouldn’t have the heart to tell me if he hated that I was so big on celebrating Christmas.

He’d simply play along to make me happy. He’d do anything for me and the kids and has proven as much every day.

“Stitches didn’t say that,” Sasha says. “I think it’s more so just… that he wishes this time of year could be over. It might be a lot of pressure on him. Giving the kids the Christmas he never had.”

I consider Sasha’s words as we take our little brigade of small children and head to the bathrooms in Cliffords.

Dante is a little bit of a late bloomer as far as potty training goes. He’s still in a diaper. I change him into a fresh one while the other three go on their own.

“Everybody wash your hands,” Sasha reminds once Dominic, Serena, and Bryce emerge from their stalls in the ladies restroom.

“Mommy, I’m hungry!” Dante says.

“I know, baby. It’s almost time for a snack. When we get to the car, okay?”

Strapping him back into the stroller, we set off, deciding our Black Friday shopping excursion has come to an end. We’ll be dropping Sasha and Bryce off before driving home to Westoria. On the drive to Sasha’s neighborhood, I start thinking out loud.

“Maybe I should give him what he never had,” I mutter under my breath. “I could make this Christmas the best Christmas we’ve ever had.”

Sasha groans. “Delphine…”

“What?” I glance at her and then back at the road. “What’s the problem?”

“You have this habit sometimes where you try to… fix things. Champion causes.”

“I am a lawyer,” I point out. “I was Assistant District Attorney for years. I did almost become District Attorney.”

“You’re proving my point. Helping people is your thing. But maybe Salvatore doesn’t want to drudge all that up, you know? Speaking as someone with a fucked up past, sometimes it’s best to just leave that shit alone.”

Sasha’s opinion stays with me for the rest of the drive home.

By the time we’re pulling into the driveway, the three littles in the backseat have dozed off. I smile as I prop open the rear doors and unbuckle their car seats. The staff have come out to help, hoisting up Serena and Dante into their arms to carry them inside and lay them to rest. I stick with Dominic, gently waking him from his car seat.

“Hey, chocolate drop,” I say softly, smiling at him. “Want to help Mommy hide the presents?”

His eyes, identical to Salvatore’s, widen in half-drowsy excitement. We head inside clutching the couple of shopping bags filled with presents.

As I’ve grown into motherhood, I’ve learned to cultivate a special relationship with each of our children. Since Dominic takes his role as big brother so seriously, he loves helping me if he believes it’s a task only a “big kid” gets to do. He enjoys the idea that he’s my and his sibling’s little protector, taking after his father in that regard.

Salvatore has already started priming him as his heir. His firstborn son that will someday follow in his footsteps.

We share in a small laugh as we hide the presents in the closet and I make him promise he won’t tell another soul.

“Not even Daddy?”

“Not even Daddy.”

“What about Rena?”

“Nope, not Rena either.”

“Or Santa will be mad?” he asks, blinking up at me.

I can’t help caressing his head of curls. “Santa will never be mad at you, Dom. You’re a sweet little boy who behaves himself. But if you tell someone about the presents, then it won’t be a surprise.”

“Rena likes surprises!”

“And so does Dante, so you have to keep it a secret. Can you do that for Mommy?”

He beams up at me, showing off his missing front tooth, and nods vigorously.

“What’s going on over here?”

The familiar smooth voice makes me and Dominic both look up. Salvatore’s turned down the hall, still in his work clothes for the day—a basic black dress shirt and slacks. He looks as sexy as he always has, everything about him stealing my breath away.

Dark hair slicked and his beard thick yet trimmed, his intense blue-green eyes meet mine and his jaw tics in an almost-smirk like he knows what he does to me.

“Daddy!” Dominic dashes over to him for a hug.

Salvatore puts his arm around his eldest son and ruffles his curly hair. “There’s my boy. Did you keep your mother and brother and sister safe?”

“Yup! All by myself!” he squeaks proudly.

“That’s my boy. Go wash up for dinner and we’ll play ball later, alright?”

“Yes, Daddy!”

Dominic rushes off with the same amount of excitement he’d had about hiding the presents.

Now alone, I can’t hide the smirk that spreads onto my face. Salvatore steps toward me, arms sliding over my hips to draw me close. He drops a kiss on my lips and peers into my eyes in the intense, butterfly-inducing way only he can.

“How’s my beautiful wife doing?” he asks with a hint of humor.

“She’s doing well. She took your children to the Galleria today for some Christmas shopping.”

“Phi, you know I don’t like you around crowds. Not when you don’t have a full security detail.”

“Crowds? You mean like all of twenty people who were at the mall today? Black Friday isn’t what it used to be.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

I lean forward to kiss him this time. “You should come with me. We can finish the kid’s gifts.”

“You know Christmas shopping’s not my thing.”

“Christmas anything’s not your thing.”

“I’d rather keep it that way.”

The smirk that had spread on my face dims. “Does it bother you that the decorations will be going up soon? Shonda and I were going to start putting everything up.”

“Do what you think the kids will enjoy.”

“But how do you feel about it?”

“Phi, you know the answer to that. But it’s not for me. It’s for you and the kids.” Salvatore gives a quick caress to my cheek before he turns and walks off, letting me know he’ll be in his office getting some more work done before dinner.

I watch him go with a sensation I can’t place pitting in my stomach. It’s best described as the kind of longing you feel when you want something that seems so out of reach. In this case, it’s my yearning to give my husband the kind of Christmas cheer I know is possible.

The happiness and peace that a holiday like Christmas can have.

“I’ll do it for you,” I whisper to myself. “I don’t know how… but I’m going to figure out a way.”