Chapter Text
Elaina woke up early as she always did on Christmas morning. Even though she was an adult and living on her own, her mom still insisted on sending her a package with a full stocking to open in the morning. She would be seeing her parents at the Inn’s Christmas party later in the day. She was excited to introduce them to Jack. The blonde figured she should probably get moving soon to head over early to help Sandy with the cooking. All the employees plus their families made for a decent sized gathering, and they needed a lot of food.
She got ready quickly as she had already set out everything she needed the night before. She was wearing her oversized red sweater and jeans. She stooped down beside the tree to grab the few gifts there to bring to the party.
Upon her arrival at the Inn, after depositing her gifts under the tree in the great room, she made her way to the kitchen. Jack had already been put to work helping prep the meal for the party. Elaina grabbed one of the spare aprons and washed her hands before claiming a spot beside him. He had a little bit of flour on his cheek that she wiped away.
“Merry Christmas!,” she said excitedly.
“Merry Christmas to you too, love.” His smile almost outdid hers in how wide it was.
When Sandy came back into the kitchen, Elaina ran over to her and gave her a hug. While she did so she also whispered something in her ear.
Sandy just nodded in response. Elaina noticed her trying to nonchalantly hide a good sized wrapped gift in the small pantry closet.
The rest of the morning passed quickly as they made their preparations. A few more of the employees showed up and joined them in the kitchen.
~~~
“Elaina, your parents are here!” Jessica called out from the other room.
She grabbed Jack's hand and led him out of the kitchen to meet her family. He was a bit nervous, it was a big deal to him to meet his lady’s family. He hoped they liked him. Where and when he came from if the parents didn’t approve it usually meant the end of the relationship unless you snuck around and kept it a secret. Things seemed different in this time. Still, he wanted to make a good impression.
He tugged on the bottom of his waistcoat with his free hand, trying to straighten it out. He suddenly felt very self conscious about his appearance. He took care of his clothes the best he could but they weren’t anything fancy. They probably looked a bit shabby by now as he had had them for a while. He also hadn't shaved that morning, and while he normally had a bit of stubble, he worried he looked too scruffy for the occasion.
Elaina could tell Jack seemed a bit off all the sudden, and she had an idea why. “Don’t worry, they are going to love you.” She smiled and he couldn’t help but relax a bit.
Once she found her parents she let go of Jack's hand and gave each of them a hug in greeting. “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Jack.”
Elaina’s mother went in for a hug without hesitation. Jack was caught off guard but appreciated the warm reception.
“Elaina has told us all about you. It’s been wonderful to see her so happy.”
“Nice to meet you Jack,” Elaina’s father interjected as he shook Jack’s hand. The two of them struck up a conversation as Elaina’s mother pulled her aside.
“So, when’s the wedding?” She winked and nudged her daughter.
Elaina got all flustered and turned bright red. “Mother, we’ve only known each other a few weeks!”
Her mother just shrugged with a knowing smile. “Mark my words, that man is going to be my son-in-law one day.”
~~~
After a wonderful meal was had by all, the large group gathered around the fireplace and Christmas tree in the great room. Sandy, as usual, acted as Santa and passed out the gifts to everyone. Given the amount of people present, each family group would exchange their gifts among themselves, otherwise it would take far too long to watch everyone unwrap their gifts.
Jack naturally was grouped with Elaina’s family. Her parents had brought him a small gift, which he wasn’t expecting. Having not met him before today, Elaina had told them enough about him that they had a good sense of his taste. They had given him a pocket watch that, while new, was crafted to have an antique look to it. His own pocket watch had long since stopped working. He had tried to get it repaired but it was no good. He had kept it because it had sentimental value. Bert had given it to him long ago when he was just a lad.
Jack reminisced about his youth for a few moments while Elaina’s parents opened their gifts from her and vice versa. He couldn’t help noticing what a lovely little family they were and hoped someday he may officially be a part of it. He smirked and shook his head a little at the boldness of such a thought, it was way too soon to be thinking of that.
Elaina pulled out a medium sized square box from beside where she was sitting and handed it to Jack. He carefully unwrapped the box and gently lifted out the contents. His face broke into one of his trademark million dollar smiles. “It’s wonderful love.” He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Suddenly the rest of the room was quiet and looked over at the two of them, wanting to see what he was holding. He gingerly lifted up the gift so they all could see. It was a snow globe containing a scene of a street lined with little lamp posts, not unlike many of those in his London.
Elaina quietly leaned over and flicked a little switch on the bottom and the lights on the tiny lamp posts lit up, along with Jack’s face. “There's more.” She wound the little handle on the side and music started to play. She leaned in close to whisper in his ear. “The song is called “The Old Lamplighter.” Jack nearly was in tears now, happy tears.
Elaina couldn’t believe she had stumbled upon such a perfect gift for him. He had mentioned he was a lamplighter and she could see the look on his face when he saw the lights around town, but she had only seen his world yesterday. Only just seen him in his element. She must have had some special intuition that led her to that particular gift. Or maybe Mary Poppins had me find it , she mused to herself.
With all eyes still on the couple, Jack put the snow globe back in its box for safe keeping and pulled Elaina’s gift out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was a small box, most likely gift wrapped by someone in a shop rather than by himself as it looked too fancy for his style.
Elaina recalled having seen the gift in his room a few days prior. She unwrapped it slowly then opened the crimson jewelry box inside. She pulled out an antique golden locket with an embossed rose design on the front. It was so perfectly her style that she was at a loss for words. She turned it over and it was engraved with: Merry Christmas, Love Jack.
“I love it. How did you know?”
It wasn’t something she had ever mentioned to Jack, but Elaina had wanted a necklace like this for a long time but had never managed to find one that was just right.
Jack held her gaze for a moment before grinning. “I just thought it looked like you.”
“Would you put it on me?” She handed him the necklace and held her hair up out of the way and the lamplighter clasped it at the back of her neck. Elaina let her hair fall back down and the two of them shifted further back into the couch, cuddling together.
Now that the spectacle of the cute couple exchanging gifts was over the room began to fill with chatter while Sandy snuck away unnoticed. She returned a few moments later with two more gifts.
“Attention everyone. There are a couple more gifts to be given out.” She made eye contact with Jack. “Jack, will you come up here please.”
He hauled himself up from his comfy spot on the couch and stood in front of everyone next to Sandy. She presented him with a large gift bag. “This is from the staff.”
Jack pulled the tissue paper off the top and pulled out a dark gray wool pea coat followed by a matching set of red gloves, scarf and hat. He was deeply moved by this gesture. The jacket he had was hardly enough to keep him warm when it got really cold, even with a few layers under it. “Thank you all, so very much.”
Sandy laid a hand on his shoulder. “I have something for you too.” She presented him with a small box. The box itself was decorative so it wasn’t wrapped, it just had a tiny bow on the top. He opened it and pulled out a key. Jack looked a bit perplexed. “What's this go to?”
Sandy gave him a smile. “Since it appears you are going to be sticking around town for the foreseeable future, I thought a more long term living arrangement was in order. I’ve been fixing up my in-law apartment for you. I had hoped to have it ready for today however it's not quite there yet. But you’ll be able to move in soon.”
Jack was stunned. He was going to have a real home here, and not just be living in a room in the Inn. He could feel himself starting to get a little teary. Sandy pulled him into a hug and he whispered his emotional thanks into her shoulder.
~~~
Later that evening once everyone else had cleared out, Jack and Elaina were still sitting all cozy by the fireplace. An idea popped into Jack's head. “Hey, let me see your glowing rectangle gadget.”
Elaina laughed. “You mean my phone?”
“Yeah, that.” He was looking at all the little pictures confused. “How do I play music?”
Elaina pulled up the app and opened it to the search feature so the on screen keyboard was ready. She couldn’t help but giggle as he struggled to type in what he wanted. After much frustrated grunting from the leerie, music finally started playing from the phone’s speaker.
Jack stood up and took her hands and pulled Elaina up too and began to lead them in slow dancing to the song.
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas?" Elaina looked at Jack with questioning eyes, wondering what his song choice meant.
“Now my home is wherever you are.” Jack said with a smile, and then he spun her around as they danced until the song finished.
The End