Chapter 16

Its finally Christmas day and mom got up super early dragging Cass and I with her to the kitchen to prepare a few things.

My job was to chop most of the vegetables and season a few of the dishes. Cass was on cleaning duty as usual since she couldn't do anything.

We moved to baking cookies and a mini cake. It wasn't much work when we got to this as I already had a mixer to kill the stress of using all our energy to stir the mix. The only work was to use the different cookie cutters on the dough to get the required shapes. When everything was in the oven, we decided to place the different food on the table and clean up the kitchen.

By the time we rounded up, it was almost mid-day, we agreed to go take our bath and get dressed to begin the day.

Michael came down in a white Christmas sweater and black jeans with Cass literally glued to his hand in a short flay chiffon red dress, she let her hair fall all the way down and I think she even straightened it a bit. They both walked to the table to meet us.

I had invited Lily and her fiancé to the house, I knew they might have made plans already but I really wanted her to be here. I also invited Chris,my boyfriend, yes in case you're wondering, your girl is not single no more.

They arrived a few hours after. Lily and her fiancé were the first to arrive. When they pulled up in the driveway, I waited for them to reach my door and after hearing the knock, I opened the door with a bright smile on my face. I gave Lily a big hug mostly because I really missed her, we were not able to meet up for the a while now since she was busy trying to plan the perfect Christmas for her soon to be mother in law.

"Merry Christmas" I almost shouted in excitement.

"You owe me alot for coming here, you have no idea the kind of excuse Luke and I had to come up with to get here. Uh..by the way Tina this is my fiancé Luke and babe this is my very good friend Tina" she looked at him lovingly and he also had that looked like he adored her. Wow so beautiful. He extended his hands over to me for a handshake and I immediately returned it.

"Its really nice to finally meet you Tina. I finally get to meet the person that my fiancée cannot stop talking about" he finished with a smile. I released a light chuckle before gesturing for them both to get in.

We further into the house and saw Cass and Michael coming from the back holding hands.

"Hey Cass this is Lily I told you about her and her fiancé Luke, Lily and Luke this is my best friend Cass and her boyfriend Michael" Cass looked at her as if she was looking for something before letting a bright smile apoer on her face.

"Nice to meet you both, Lily I've heard a lot about you. Merry Christmas" she ended and gave them both hugs. Michael also extended his hand and gave them both a hand shake.

"Merry Christmas" Lily and Luke said in chorus.

We got into sharing the food and chatting while a few selected Christmas songs were playing in the background.

Chris came like an hour later. He looked even more handsome in his casual Christmas Christmas sweater that wrote 'Santa' boldly in front with jeans and a pair of sneakers. I opened the door for him and with his hand in mine that felt so warm and so right, we walked to meet the others in the yard that was well decorated for the season. There were people talking, giggling, sharing food and drinks and my heart just swelled at the scene. It had been a long time since I saw such happiness in one table, it just brought back a lot of memories I guess.

"Everyone can I get your attention please" They all stopped amd turned to my direction on hearing my voice.

I suddenly became nervous, all the pair of eyes were on me mostly with confusion and worry.

"Uhh...I just want to make a formal introduction, this is Chris, most of you might know him by now or have heard about him. He is my boyfriend, I just thought it would be nice to have him here on this special day too. Chris this is my family, every single person here means a lot to me" he gave me a curt nod and turned to the rest at the table and nodded at them too.

"Nice to meet you all, its a pleasure"

Cass stood up and walked towards us. She gave me a long hug before pulling away.

"I'm very happy for you babe you deserve the absolute best" she turned to Chris and gave him a serious look.

"Treat her like the queen she is. Don't break her heart because if you do, I'll break every single bone in that body of yours. Congratulations" she smiled at the both of us before walking away.

Mom came immediately after and hugged me.

"I'm proud of you my child. What a christmas present right?" She chuckled and faced Chris.

"Welcome to the family son" she said before giving him a hug and walked back to the group at the table. Before I could understand what was going on, Lily launched herself on me with all excitement.

"Oh my God I knew it, of course this would happen. Gosh I'm so happy for you" her eyes sparkled with happiness. It made me so happy that she was this happy. I didn't expect this reaction from all of them so its safe to say I was overwhelmed, really overwhelmed. She abruptly turned to him,

"One wrong move pretty boy and you'll regret ever knowing us. ok? ok." she patted him on the shoulder and gave him an innocent smile like she just didn't threaten him. Chris had already turned pale and I couldn't help but burst into laughter. He looked at me as though I had gone crazy. The guys also congratulated us after.

"Alright you lovebirds this food isn't going to finish itself, get your asses over here" Cass yelled from her seat.

Dinner was great, everyone was talking and laughing and having a good time. I knew mom was feeling sour because dad wasn't around and there was nothing I could do about it, I mean I've tried but it doesn't seem to work.

After dinner, we exchanged our gifts with a few drinks. Mom was probably tired by this time or it was just something she did to let us have alone time, she went to bed early. A few minutes later I excused myself to check on her as I felt something was wrong. I knocked on her door and opened it since she forgot to lock it. The sight I saw broke my heart into pieces, I gasped in surprise, she was crying on the floor.

I was in too much shock that I could barely move my legs but I took slow strides towards her.

"Mom" she looked up at me and tried cleaning up her tears.

"Uh..hey baby shouldn't you be downstairs with everyone?" She said shuffling around I guess trying to distract herself.

"Mom you don't have to pretend around me, I-I know its hard for y-you" my words had began to hook in my throat because of the huge bile in it and the tears freely falling to my cheeks.

"Baby don't cry, I'll be fine I promise, this happens every time, I miss him you know" she broke into another round of tears. I rushed over to her and hugged her tight, I couldn't stop my own tears so there was no use making her stop hers. I sat with her for God knows how long as we both cried our hearts out hoping dad could see us now and realize how much we miss him especially mom. I couldn't hear her sniffing anymore and her breathing became even. I looked down at her and realized she slept off. After tucking her in, I went to meet the rest not before washing my tear stained face. Cass was the first too see and asked what happened, I told her everything and started looking for Chris. I found him talking and laughing with Lily, Luke and Michael.

Lily and Luke walked over after noticing my presence.

"We have to get going, its late already thank you for inviting us" Lily said.

"Thank you so much for coming I'll call you ok?" They both smiled and left.

I saw Chris standing in the yard staring at the sky, I went over and hugged him from behind and placed my head on his back.

"Hi" I whispered. He scented like vanilla and rich cologne, I could stay there forever, it was so addictive.

"Hey" he turned to me and directed me to a chair to seat.

"What's wrong?" He looked at me dead in the eye.

"What do you mean what's wrong?" I was confused at this point.

"Your eyes are swollen which means you've been crying, what happened with your mom?" How did he even-I washed my face and even applied a little concealer. I sighed in defeat and told him what happened. He kept on staring at me.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're a very strong woman you know that?"

"I don't know about that" I looked down fiddling with my fingers. He held my hands and gave me an encouraging smile.

"Why didnt you go home for Christmas? I would have let you go yinno"

"Uh its not necessary, I haven't gone home for Christmas for two years now" he said with a pained expression, my brows creased in confusion.

"Why what happened"

"We always end up fighting and I leave in anger I'm just not ready for that this year, plus why would I pass the chance to spend time with the love of my life and her amazing family" he smirked and my cheeks began to heat up in a blush.

"I had a really good time and the best Family time in a while" he said with sadness laced in his voice. I knew he wasn't happy that he was staying away from his family. I placed my palm on his cheek and crashed my lips on his. I didn't want him feeling bad or blaming himself. Whatever it was going on with his family, I was going to help him through it, I guess thats a mission for me.

"Merry Christmas babe" I said after breaking the kiss.

"Merry Christmas" he smiled and joined his lips with mine in another kiss.