An Underestimated Christmas (Underestimated 3) (35 page)

The sun coming from the open curtain woke me just after seven. I looked over to Morgan asleep beside me and smiled. She could hog my bed for the rest of my life. My plan was to close the curtain, piss, and then come back and wake her up with my cock. I watched it go up in smoke when I saw Nicholas on the back patio wrapped in a blanket while Dasher did his business. I smiled proudly down at him. He was such little man.

After finding clothes and escaping quietly, I scrambled eggs and listened to Nicholas tell me about the Golden Gate Bridge—again.

“Well, did you know that Charles Alton Ellis and Joseph Strauss designed it?” he asked, wrapping the dog leash round and around his arm. Yes. Nicky. Yes. I know who the architects are that designed the bay bridge. Hurry up, coffee.

I walked upstairs for my laptop once both boys were seated at the bar, watching cartoons. Morgan wasn’t in bed when I quietly entered my room. I started to get it and leave when I thought I heard Morgan say something. I did hear something, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was. The handle turned in my hand and Morgan’s hand went behind her back in a flash. Fuck.

“What are you doing, Morgan?”

“Nothing. Jesus. Can’t I have some privacy?”

“Yeah, to take a shit,” I countered, walking angrily toward her. What the fuck? She was doing so amazing. “What the fuck are you doing?” I asked, grabbing her wrist. She held her hand in a tight fist.

“Drew, stop. It’s not what you think. I swear.”

“Open your hand, Morgan,” I demanded.

“No, I’m embarrassed.”

“You should be embarrassed. Open it!” I demanded raising my tone just a touch. What the hell did she expect?

Morgan took a deep breath and slowly opened her hand. My eyes went to hers and I released the death grip I had on her hand.

“You owe me an apology.” She smirked, pushing the button on the end of the tiny little object. The silver bullet vibrated in her hand and my cock shot straight up.

“You were masturbating?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I needed a distraction. I woke up and thought about last night to keep from thinking about Carlie and it made me horny. You were already downstairs with the boys.”

I burst out laughing and took the tool from her hand. “Bend over, I’ll take care of it for you.”

“Drew, no. The boys will be storming in here any second.”

I stretched my arm and locked the door. I spun her and had my dick in her pussy before she could say another word. I knew the boys would be there at any given moment. This wasn’t my first bathroom quickie around my boys. I knew I had about three minutes. I reached around her front, spread her pussy lips with my fingers, and touched her clit with the cold metal.

Morgan moaned while I fucked her like a madman from behind. The vibrating bullet rubbed her clit hard and she was calling out at precisely the same moment as Tadpole.

“Mommy! I have a pee,” he whined on the other side of the door.

Morgan screamed that she was coming, shoving her ass as far back on my cock as she could go.

“Get on your knees, Morgan,” I urged, pulling out. As soon as her lips parted, my come coated them. I slid in and dumped another load inside her mouth, sliding my cock to the back of her throat all while pretending Tadpole wasn’t right outside the door. This woman was going to be the death of me. Never a dull moment.

“Morgan, I’m telling you, I mean, I am asking you. Please don’t get involved.”

“I can’t believe you right now, Drew,” I alleged. “All this talk about magic and us being here because of a purpose, what was all of that? Did you just mean the magic should stay here, in this house?” I argued back. That was just like Drew. Do what I say, not what I do. Fuck that. This was a life we were talking about. A little girl that had no one else fighting for her. Seeing that little girl broke my heart into a million tiny little pieces. She may as well have been laying in that coffin with her that’s how much life she had left in her little face.

“Morgan you can’t save the world.”

“I don’t want to save the world, Drew. Just Carol. She’s seven,” I pleaded in a reasonable but frustrated tone. “What if it were Nicky and Tadpole? Wouldn’t you want someone to fight for them? She’s in foster care, Drew. I’m not asking you to adopt a kid. I’m asking for you to help me hire a private investigator to track down her mother’s family.”

“Fine, Morgan. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m only worried about you. I don’t want you taking on more than you already have.”

“So you would rather protect my feelings than save this little girl from a life of unknown hell?”

“Well, that was below the belt. Let’s shoot real bullets,” Drew smartly replied, retrieving his phone. “Let’s go down to the library. I have a guy that I’ve used for years.”

“Hope it’s not the one that couldn’t find me,” I countered.

Drew laughed, but I didn’t really mean for it to be funny.

“There you go,” Drew said, pointing to a name and phone number in the email. Wow, that was quick.

“Call her.” I nodded behind Drew.

“Oh no, not me. This is your baby. You want your independence, have at it,” Drew said, bobbing his head to the desk phone.

“I can’t talk like you. You talk to people every day. Please, Drew. You do it.” Looking out to the sofa, I noticed both boys had dozed off in front of the television.
The Sound of Music
worked every time.

“Sit,” Drew ordered. “You’ve got this. Square your shoulders and suck in your confidence.”

I did just that, only no confidence entered my lungs and my straight posture did nothing to calm my nerves.

“Hello,” a cheerful voice answered. Good. That was a plus.

“Yes, my name is Morgan Kelley. I’m looking for May Pritchard.”

“This is May.”

Drew nudged me from behind when I froze again. “Um, yeah. I was calling about Carlie.”

“Sorry, don’t know any Carlie. My Carlie died when she left me here with her dying father nine years ago. Have a good day.”

“Wait! Mrs. Pritchard. Carlie did die.” I didn’t mean to blurt it out that way, but she didn’t really give me any choice. She was going to hang up on me. My eyes shifted to see if she was still there when the tone went silent. “Mrs. Pritchard?” I questioned, knowing she hadn’t hung up.

“What happened to her?”

“Drug overdose,” I honestly told her.

“Do you need money to send the body home or what?”

“No ma’am. She was buried just outside of Buffalo New York in a nice little cemetery. She has a little girl. She’s in foster care.”

“She has a little girl?”

“Yes, ma’am. She’s the cutest little thing you’ve ever seen and she’s alone and afraid. She sure could use some family right about now.”

“I’ll be on the next flight. What’s the nearest airport?”

I couldn’t talk anymore. Tears flooded my eyes and the emotion from that one sentence rushed over me like a tidal wave. Drew took the phone and I heaved in a sob, thanking the good lord above. Drew arranged for May to arrive at the airport that very day, via private jet.

“Thank you,” I said, falling into Drew’s arms after he hung up.

“No, thank you. Always be you, Morgan. Don’t back down from me. Sometimes I need you to put me in my place and demand things from me. If you wouldn’t have been so bullheaded, that little girl would have spent her life in and out of foster care. I love you so much, but sit down. I want to show you something.”

“The boys are asleep. Maybe you can show me later,” I teased, tracing his bottom lip with my tongue. Drew kissed me and spun me to sit.

“This folder is kept locked in the safe. Every password to anything you would ever need is in this folder.”

“I don’t need in your safe, Drew,” I said, looking over my shoulder. What the hell? I was happy. Christmas magic just happened and I was a part of it. I wanted to celebrate.

“It’s our safe and you need to know this.”

“Stop talking like you’re dying,” I said, getting up. Oh hell no. We weren’t doing this. This was a bad omen. There were certain things I didn’t need to know about. Drew did just fine taking care of the finance side of our lives.

“This is our main checking account. I like to keep around ten thousand dollars in there at all times,” he continued after making me sit again. Grrrr. “This bank account here is the one I move money from to keep this one at ten thousand,” he explained, going from one account to the other.

“These are our investments, but you shouldn’t need to worry about those. Chuck takes good care of our money. This here is our net worth.”

“Damn, we have a lot of money,” I exclaimed.

Drew snorted and kissed the top of my head. “Yes, love. We do. Everything you need to know if something happened to me is in this folder right here.”

“Drew, stop,” I ordered for real this time. I wasn’t doing this.

“Morgan. I need to do this. I need to make sure you’re okay. That you can jump in my shoes and be okay for these boys.”

I made him lean against the desk with my body and tried to make him understand. “Drew, I will do this with you all day long. Not today. Not this day and not the next two days. Not until after the holidays. I want to be happy. I want to sing and dance. I want to see who can slide the furthest in sock feet. I want to read
The Night Before Christmas
in front of the tree and cozy fire. I want to rejoice because something magical happened. We single handedly just saved a little girl’s life. I want to be tangled in your body while we watch Christmas movies with the boys. I want to think about doing dirty things with you, not burying you. Not now. I gave you thirty days, now give me a couple,” I begged.

“Okay,” Drew nodded. “I get it. I’m sorry. We’ll do it after the holidays.”

“Good, now about that other thing.”

“What other thing?” Drew teased, dipping his tongue in my mouth. Somehow, we ended up swapping places and I was now the one seated on the desk. Drew thrust his hips right to my already revived nub and I moaned in his mouth. “Do you need to be fucked, Mrs. Kelley?” Drew asked, sucking hard on my neck.

“Hmmm, yes,” I moaned.

“Later, I’ve got work to do. Will you make us a cup of hot cocoa?” he asked, abruptly snapping the tight wire between us. What the fuck?

“What work? No, it’s Christmas. We’re playing, that’s it.”

“I want to call Carol’s social worker and see if we can’t get this little girl home with her grandma before Christmas. I want to call Nicole, she’s shopping today, right?” Drew asked.

“Um, yeah, I think so,” I said. What the hell just happened here?

“Good, I’ll have her do some shopping for Christmas Carol and we’ll wrap them and have them delivered to the jet.”

Yeah, I pretty much fell madly in love with Drew all over again. I loved the Christmas Carol remark and I’m glad I won this fight.

Thanks to Drew, May and Carol spent Christmas Eve with us at the barn. If ever the spirit of Jesus was felt, it was that night. Christmas Carol’s social worker gave up her own holiday festivities to get this little girl with someone who would love and take care of her. I even saw a smile on her little face while we all sat on cold metal chairs and watched my little men in their play.

Never in a million years did I think I would see Nicky standing in front of this many people, singing to the top of his lungs. He didn’t make eye contact, but he made sure everyone could hear him. Tadpole, of course, had to steal the show with his curtness. 

Nicole tried to pull his wings up his arms while the preschool kids took the stage.

“No, me a eagle,” he insisted, putting them back. The crowd laughed and Nicole let him be an eagle.

Sitting beside my husband, hand-in-hand, I felt nothing but love. This town and these people truly were magical. Anyone else would call it coincidence. Ask Drew or me on any given day, and we would call it magic. I was positively sure that Drew and I would always reside in Center Station, New York, population, 3023. I loved the closeness of the town, how everyone knew everyone, and how even though you had your normal run of the mill town drunks, sluts, gossip, and back stabbing, not one of these people would turn their back on the other. Not one.

This was a miracle for my family. Nicholas had progressed so much in the short time that we’d been there, and I owed it all to John. He didn’t shy behind Drew or me when someone talked to him anymore. Sometimes, you had to remind him to look at people when he talked, but that was getting better by the day, too.

“You look extraordinarily happy tonight, Mrs. Kelley,” Drew teased.

I looked over my poinsettia punch cup and out to the crowd of Christmas cheer. This was what it was about. Tadpole shook his little butt with Nicole’s twin boys. I’m not quite sure what Solomon was trying to teach them, I just hoped it wasn’t twerking.

“I am extraordinarily happy tonight, Mr. Kelley,” I admitted, letting him wrap me in his arm.

Nicholas watched from a distance to the kids playing and dancing, but never joined them. I didn’t feel sad about it. He was happier over there with Dasher by his side. His hand rubbed under his neck and he smiled at his little brother sliding across the floor on his knees.

“Take your shoes off,” Drew ordered, sliding out of his.

“Drew, no. I’m not dancing again. I’ll kill you in your sleep. I mean it.”

Drew laughed and dropped to his knees to remove my heels. After dragging me to the slippery floor, he grabbed Tadpole and sat him on his butt, removed his shoes, and then went after Nicky. I smiled and covered my mouth. I fucking loved that man. Drew was the best daddy in the entire universe. I watched him remove Nicky’s shoes and drag him to the floor, too.

“Mrs. Kelley, can I interest you in a sock sliding contest with our boys,” he asked with a smile and a kiss to my lips, failing miserably at a British accent.

“Absolutely,” I proudly boasted, linking my elbow with his.

Drew walked us back to the stage and reached for a microphone. “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Center Station’s first annual Christmas sock sliding contest. The way we play it at home is by distance. Whoever can slide the furthest wins and gets to be dragged back to the starting line.”

Drew counted to three and we ran. Stopping midway, our feet slid further on the shiny hardwood than our marble. I knew I was going to win because of the stocking. Pantyhose always guaranteed I was being dragged back to the starting line.

I quit after a few times, watching the entire Christmas Eve party sliding around in sock feet. Nicole was already talking about making it an annual tradition.

“We can even do like the funniest Christmas socks, or most original,” she said, planning ahead in her mind. I was sure that my husband just created a Kelley Christmas tradition that would go on for many years, all because he wanted our son to fit in. Drew had a heart of a lion when it came to his family. There isn’t anything he wouldn’t do for any of us.

May Pritchard thanked us over and over, and over, when we drove her to the private plane. I walked in on Drew talking to her before we left the party. My heart fluttered when I heard him tell her he would set up full scholarship and if there was anything she needed, clothes, shoes, braces, anything, that his wallet was always open. She cried. Turns out, May Pritchard had been alone since Carlie left her and her husband died of cancer. I think Carol was an angel for her as much as May was for Carol. Thanks to Drew and a wonderful social worker, May was granted temporary custody and Christmas Carol was going home. My cup runneth over.