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Two weeks before Christmas
--
“So, how did you do on your first final?” Ian asks, holding the phone eye level with his face as he takes a sip of his coffee.
On the screen Angela makes a face, shaking her head, pieces of her dark hair falling onto her face, slipping free from her haphazard ponytail.
“I think it went okay?” Angela says, her voice distracted, sounding far away as she moves from one section of campus to the next. “I’ll probably get a B.”
“Nice,” Ian says, and he means it. He himself did two years of community college and then graduated with an associate degree in business. Angela’s university experience is different from his own, and coupled with Angela’s dyslexia, Ian is quick to celebrate the grades Angela gets. She works hard in her college classes from what Ian can tell and though she’s majoring in theater, she is maintaining her grades well.
“I have another at two,” Angela says. Ian can see the familiar hallway of her dorm behind her as Angela seemingly walks back to her dorm, “And one tomorrow.”
“Then that’s it?” Ian asks, “your semester will be over?”
“Yeah,” Angela says, her eyes down as Ian hears the jingle of keys. “Are you and pop still picking me up from the airport on Friday?”
“Pop is,” Ian says, “I have a few last-minute things to wrap up at work.”
As if Ian and Angela’s conversation summoned him, Anthony pads into the kitchen, smiling at Ian and then coming around the counter to stand next to Ian. He smiles at the phone.
“Hey, hon!”
“Hi, Pop!” Angela says, sitting down in the beaten-up recliner in the living room of her dorm.
“Dad and I are excited to see you on Friday!”
As Anthony takes over the conversation Ian turns and gets down Anthony’s favorite coffee cup and opens the fridge to get out the vegan coffee creamer Anthony likes. After ten years of marriage and many more of dating and friendship -and four kids- the two of them work in a seamless rhythm, like a well-oiled machine.
Anthony gives up the conversation to Ian as he turns, pressing a kiss to Ian’s temple before he turns around to the back counter and prepares his own cup of coffee.
“After Pop picks you up from the airport we’re going to have dinner at Dom’s,” Ian says.
Angela’s eyes brighten and she gasps in surprise.
“Oh man, I’ve been dreaming of Dom’s for months now.”
“Well, Friday you can have all the pasta you can eat.”
Across the line, there’s a jingle of keys and then Angela’s dorm room opening and a voice calling out behind her.
“Ang, babe! I’m home!”
Ian can see a blush spread across Angela’s cheeks and she glances backwards at the door.
“Amanda, I’m on the phone with my dads.”
“Oh!” Amanda says from the background, before suddenly another woman is in frame, her chin on the top of Angela’s head, her long dark hair falling into Angela’s face. Angela laughs and swats her away, but Amanda perists. “Hi, Mr. Hecox-Padilla!”
“Hi, Amanda,” Ian says politely, “We’ll let you go, Angela.”
“Okay, talk to you later, dad!”
There is a squabbling of voices and noise and then Angela hangs up the FaceTime call. Ian tucks his phone away as he turns to face his husband.
“They are so dating.”
“Ian- “
“Anthony, I swear. She’s going to come home and confess to us that she’s dating her roommate.”
“But we’re not going to pressure her to tell us. She will when she’s ready.”
“Obviously, I’m not going to force her but the two of them are kind of obvious, don’t you think?”
“I think,” Anthony starts, sliding close to bump his hip against Ian’s, “That this is probably the same conversation your parents had about us, don’t you think?”
Ian rolls his eyes. “I like to think we were a little more subtle about the whole thing.”
“I’m just saying things might have turned out differently if our parents had pressured us.”
“Alright, alright,” Ian relents, sipping his coffee as Anthony presses a quick kiss to his cheek.
--
Come Friday Angela is standing in front of the baggage claim area, watching the beat-up suitcases roll by on the conveyor belt, waiting for her duffle bag to come around. As she stands there, her phone starts ringing and Angela fishes it out of her jeans pocket, seeing Shayne’s name flash across the screen.
“Shayne?” Angela asks as she answers her phone, bringing it to her ear.
“Hey, Ang! Anthony asked me to call you because he didn’t get a chance to but he had an emergency at Alex’s school, so he asked me if I’d be able to come pick you up from the airport.”
Angela rolls her eyes, “What did Alex do now?”
“I guess he had a nosebleed or something. Your Pop is taking him some new clothes.”
“Okay, I’m just waiting for my bag. Are you here? Is Courtney with you?”
“Court had to work so it’s just me and I’ll be pulling in the pick-up line in about ten minutes or so?”
As Angela listens to Shayne talk, she sees her purple duffle bag come rolling across the conveyor belt and she grabs the strap, tugging it close to her.
“Okay, I’ll head towards the entrance then. See you soon.”
“Yeah, see you soon, Ang.”
She and Shayne hang up and Angela pockets her phone. The tiniest part of her is disappointed that neither of her parents had been able to make it to pick her up from the airport. Angela isn’t that far away while attending college, choosing to attend UCLA in Los Angeles as opposed to sticking around Sacramento so most flights homes are a simple affair and quicker than driving, and yet she’s close enough to not get all that homesick.
She had just been home in August before her fall semester began, but still, you’d think her parents would be missing her after four months apart.
Angela heads out to the front of the airport, the pick-up terminal out front packed with cars. She scans the line of them before she sees Shayne and Courtney’s cherry red Fiat pull up to the line. Angela hurries down the curve of the sidewalk, making it to the car and opening the back door, tossing her duffle bag into the backseat before she climbs into the passenger side to join Shayne.
“Hey!” Shayne says brightly, and it looks like it takes everything he has to stop himself from ruffling her hair in a noogie.
“Hey, thanks for getting me last minute.”
Shayne scans their surroundings as he carefully pulls out of his parking spot in the line, allowing another car to occupy it.
“No problem. Couldn’t leave you stranded here.”
Shayne is Angela’s brother-in-law. He’s married to her oldest sister Courtney. Their parents had adopted Courtney first. She was fourteen from the story Angela was told. Her parents make it a tradition to talk about the adoptions, to pour over pictures, to recall firsts and memories.
Angela herself had been adopted by Ian and Anthony at the age of ten. She had bounced around between different foster families until she had landed at the Hecox-Padilla household and then Ian and Anthony had worked to adopt her shortly after.
Angela’s younger siblings Arasha and Alex had come later on. Arasha had been adopted at eight years old when Angela was twelve, and Alex had been adopted as a five-year-old when Angela was fourteen. Now, their family was ‘complete’ as Ian and Anthony liked to say, including Shayne once he and Courtney tied the knot.
“So, how’s college?” Shayne asks as he pulls out of the airport parking lot.
“It’s good,” Angela says, “my classes were a little stressful, but I think I survived through my finals.”
“Oh, yeah. A bunch of my students were shitting their pants over their psychology final.”
Shayne is a teaching assistant at the California State University in the psychology department. The university is where he and Courtney met as students when they both took the same film class in their second year of college. If anyone can relate and understand Angela’s frazzled state of mind, it’s Shayne.
“Missed you over Thanksgiving when the game was on,” Shayne continues, “no one else in the family cares about football at all.”
“If I’m the best you got that’s pretty sad considering I barely know shit about football.”
Shayne laughs, bright and happy, and it makes Angela laugh too.
“Yeah, I mean, your dad was trying to explain it to pop and the kids, but it was like he was speaking a different language.”
“Yeah, now we can look forward to our annual watching of Home Alone and Home Alone Two and dad showing us Die Hard.”
Shayne nods. “Yeah, but those are all the little things that Courtney ends up missing when we go to my family’s place for Christmas in Colorado. You know, besides you guys.”
Angela smiles, looking out at the window as the surroundings become more and more familiar and she and Shayne creep closer and closer to her childhood home. These types of conversations warm Angela from the inside out, something small, something delicate in her heart.
For a long time, she longed for a family. Ten years of feeling like an outsider, feeling like she never really belonged, and now she had her family. It was hard to feel annoyed at them or their rituals when for so long this was exactly what she wanted, a house full of people, parents, siblings, and even a brother-in-law to depend on and call family.
By the time Angela and Shayne get to the house Anthony’s car is parked in the driveway. Shayne pulls up behind Anthony’s car, and before Angela can even unbuckle her seatbelt, Anthony and Alex are rushing out to the front porch.
“Ang!” Alex shouts, a tissue stuffed in his nose.
“Hey, bud!” Angela says as she gets out of the car just in time to catch Alex in a hug as he throws himself at her.
Shayne gets out of the car long enough to hug Anthony.
“Thanks for picking her up, Shayne,” Anthony says.
“No problem. I never mind spending time with Angela.”
Angela releases her little brother and then moves to hug her pop. Anthony wraps his arms around her, squeezing her tightly and hooking his chin over her shoulder.
“It’s good to see you, sweetheart.”
Angela smiles against her pop’s shoulder. He smells like home, and she can’t help but hug him a little tighter.
“Yeah, you too, pop. Except Alex had to go and bleed.”
“Hey!” Alex pipes up from behind Shayne, “I got hit in the nose with a basketball! It’s not my fault!”
Angela rolls her eyes as Anthony releases her and he looks at Shayne.
“Can you stay, Shayne?” Anthony asks.
“No, unfortunately. I have to make it over to the high school in time to pick up Courtney from work, but we’ll still see you guys tonight for dinner at Dom’s,” Shayne says as he goes to open up the driver’s side of the car.
“Yeah, see you then.”
Then, Shayne gets in his car and begins to back out of the driveway, honking at the trio of family members still stationed in the driveway.
--
One week before Christmas
--
Ian is working on dinner, a vegan and gluten-free soup, when Alex pads into the kitchen and slaps down a crumpled flier on to the counter.
“What’s that?” Ian asks, only partially paying attention to his son as Ian is focused on mixing in the ingredients.
“The flier for my Christmas Concert.”
“A Christmas Concert? When is that?” Ian asks.
“Uh, tomorrow,” Alex says with a shrug.
Ian stops stirring and looks up at the boy.
“What? You have a concert tomorrow?”
Alex doesn’t seem concerned, and Ian loves the kid, couldn’t love him more if he tried, but he’s also keenly aware that Alex would lose his head if it wasn’t attached to his shoulders.
“Alex,” Ian sighs.
“What!” Alex says defensively, coming over to stand in front of Ian at the counter with the flier. “Mrs. Evans gave it to me like a week ago and I just forgot to show you.”
Ian takes the flier from Alex and reads it.
“The concert is tomorrow at one and according to the flier you need to ‘dress your best’.”
Alex waves a hand dismissively at his dad, “They always say that.”
Ian sighs before calling for Anthony.
Instead of Anthony, it’s Arasha that walks into the kitchen.
“Why are you yelling for pop?”
Ian lifts the flier in his hand, “Did you know your brother is having a Christmas concert tomorrow?”
Arasha nods, “They do it every year.”
Ian rubs at his temple and sets the flier down, going back to focusing on his soup.
“It would have been nice if either of you told us.”
Arasha looks at Alex, her hands on her hips, “You told me you gave them the flier!”
“I forgot!” Alex says defensively.
Finally, Anthony enters the kitchen, scanning Ian’s face first and then that of their two children.
“What’s going on?” Anthony asks.
“Alex has a Christmas concert at school tomorrow and neglected to tell us,” Ian says plainly, holding up the flier with one hand as he works to prevent his soup from burning.
Anthony comes over to the counter, joining Alex and Arasha as he plucks the flier from Ian’s hand and scans it.
“Okay, well…we do have the Christmas sweater-vest that Courtney got him for our Christmas photo,” Anthony says.
Alex groans, “That itches though.”
“Alex, it’s eight o’clock at night. Dad and I are not going out to the store to get you a different dress outfit for your concert tomorrow,” Anthony explains calmly, “your dad is about to have a conniption.”
“I am not,” Ian says, “I just want us to have a nice non-burned dinner.”
Anthony moves behind Ian, hand on his shoulder, giving it a calming squeeze.
“Dinner is going to be fine and so is the outfit for the concert,” Anthony says, smiling down at Ian.
Ian practically melts under Anthony’s palm and Arasha and Alex crinkle their noses in disgust.
“Please don’t start kissing,” Arasha says.
Ian tips his face up towards his husband, unable to resist torturing his children. Anthony cups his face, eager to play along.
“I’m out of here,” Arasha says, turning quickly and heading out of the room.
“Wait, I’m coming too!” Alex says, following along after her.
Ian sighs and laughs as Anthony brushes the barest kiss to his mouth before he picks back up the flier.
“So, looks like we have a concert tomorrow,” Anthony says, nudging his shoulder against Ian’s.
“Yeah,” Ian says, “can’t say I’m excited to sit through kindergarten through fourth grade to get to Alex’s class.”
“Oh, come on, where’s your Christmas spirit?” Anthony teases.
“My Christmas spirit does not extend to the Two Rivers Elementary School Christmas Concert.”
Anthony laughs, presses a kiss to Ian’s temple.
“Want help with the soup?”
Ian nods, “Sure.”
He remembers a time when he and Anthony were still dating and everything felt fresh and new, he and Anthony would cook together. Anthony is all too happy to assist Ian in his recipes. Though life is different now, much busier than it used to be, Ian is happy with his husband, his kids, the life the two of them have managed to build around each other. There are times when Ian feels he’s lucked into it all. Lucked into marrying his best friend and high school sweetheart, that he has four great – if not mildly annoying- children, an equally kind son-in-law, and a house full of family to spend the holidays with.
“Soup Boy’s Assistant at your service,” Anthony says, drawing Ian’s attention back to him, as Anthony offers Ian a shaker of seasoning.
--
“Why do we have to get here thirty minutes early?” Angela complains as she’s ushered down a row of metal folding chairs set up in the auditorium of the Two Rivers Elementary School.
Ian sits down next to Angela, Anthony sitting next to him, and then Arasha, followed by Courtney and Shayne at the end.
“Because the seats fill up fast,” Ian explains, “and if we’re sitting through this thing then we want to actually be able to see your brother.”
“Remember when we had to do this?” Anthony asks, nudging Ian in his side with his elbow.
“Aww,” Courtney coos at her parents, “that’s sweet.”
The genuine love and care her parents show for each other is something Courtney loves about them. It’s something that pushed her to find that for herself in her own relationships, and it took a while but when Courtney met Shayne in college and they began dating, she knew she had found exactly that.
“I’m not complaining because this concert got us a half-day,” Arasha says.
The half-day for the high school is the same reason Courtney was able to attend the concert as she teaches in the local high school. There’s a handful of high schoolers milling around the auditorium, and every two seconds Arasha is waving at someone, or calling out someone’s name, the same for Courtney, different students stopping to call out a greeting to ‘Mrs. Topp’.
Courtney turns to look at her husband, settling her hand on his thigh where he covers it with his own.
“You didn’t have to leave work early to come, you know.”
“I know,” Shayne says, “but I want to support Alex, and the rest of the family is attending. Besides, I was just helping with grading mostly.”
Courtney squeezes Shayne’s hand and not for the first time she’s grateful for his seemingly unending kindness and understanding. He’s all in on her family, as weird, and wild as they can be. He’s never hesitated at the fact that she was adopted, nor the fact that she was raised by two dads, and that she’s close-knit to her family, living close to her parents, working in the same high school that her younger sister attends, and being there for her younger siblings’ events and functions.
Shayne never bats an eye at any of it. He treats Courtney’s parents as if they were his own, and his relationship with her siblings is just as warm and welcoming. Alex adores Shayne and he and Angela have a love-hate relationship that never ceases to entertain Courtney. Arasha loves to talk to Shayne, especially about books they are learning about in school because Shayne is a giant bookworm and Arasha enjoys picking his brain.
When she and Shayne got married last March it was a small ceremony. Both of Courtney’s dads had walked her down the aisle, her sisters had served as her bridesmaids, Alex got to be the ring-bearer, along with Shayne’s brothers being his best men, and his own parents walking him down the aisle to match Courtney.
Even now, Shayne has left work early to attend the concert of her younger brother. Courtney already knew when they began dating that Shayne was her perfect match, but he proves it to her again and again every day.
Before too long the concert begins and Courtney watches the kindergarteners march out onto the stage, Santa hats perched on their tiny heads.
Each grade sings two songs each and slowly the concert works up from kindergarten to finally fifth grade where Alex comes out on stage with his classmates. He loves music and from their seats, Courtney can see the big grin stretching across his face from being on stage and getting to perform for a crowd.
The song his class sings is one Courtney doesn’t know, something about a snowman, but Courtney smiles as she watches her younger brother light up as he performs. She glances at her parents. Dad has his phone out, and Pop is leaning over his shoulder, watching him record. For all their complaining about the concert, both have smiles on their faces and their eyes alight with a certain amount of pride and love.
They are great parents and there are times when Courtney wishes she had come to them younger, like the other kids had, but still, she had found her way to them, and they are her parents who love her.
As Alex’s first song comes to an end the entire Hecox-Padilla clan is on their feet, shamelessly cheering and clapping for Alex. Shayne’s the one that settles the lot of them so that the fifth graders can begin their second song.
The second song starts and it’s a more classic Christmas song, and again, Alex glows in his performance, his voice standing out amongst the throng of other awkward fifth graders, some who flat out look like they’d rather be anywhere else in the world than on stage singing for these adults in their elementary school.
Once the second song is over, the fifth graders are corralled off the stage to head back to their classroom. The sixth graders are the last to perform and the family sits through the remaining two songs before getting up to exit with the rest of the audience once the concert is finished and the appropriate applause and congratulations are given.
Ian catches Courtney by her elbow, “We’re going to head to the office and sign Alex out for the day,” he tells her.
Courtney nods, “Okay, we can meet you guys in the parking lot to give Alex some hugs.”
Ian and Anthony exit the auditorium along with their children, except they turn towards the front of the building where a gaggle of other parents who had the same idea as Ian and Anthony are all also heading to the office to sign their kids out for the day as opposed to coming back in an hour to pick them up from the departure line.
Courtney, Shayne, Angela, and Arasha are heading towards the parking lot where the Hecox-Padilla family car is parked next to Shayne and Courtney’s car. Courtney turns slightly, noting Arasha lagging behind and scanning the parking lot as if she’s looking for someone.
“What’s with her?” Angela asks, turning back as she notices Arasha’s odd behavior.
“I think she’s probably looking for Trevor,” Courtney says, smiling fondly at her younger sister.
“Whose Trevor?” Angela asks.
“Arasha’s boyfriend,” Courtney supplies.
Angela’s eyes go comically wide and her mouth drops.
“What?! Arasha has a boyfriend?”
“Shh!” Courtney says, a finger to her lips, “don’t embarrass her. They’ve been sort of dating for maybe four months now, something like that.”
“Do Dad and Pop know?” Angela asks, her hands on her hips as she wheels around to see Arasha.
“Yes,” Courtney says with a laugh, grabbing Angela’s arm and turning her back around to face the cars instead of their younger sister, “and they like him. Trevor’s a good kid.”
“You say that about all your high schoolers,” Angela says.
“Fair, but he really is,” Shayne adds, “honestly, he’s kind of a nerd.”
“Shayne!” Courtney says, gently hitting his shoulder in mock offense.
“I mean it in a good way!” Shayne says, “he likes video games and is on the high school golf team.”
“Oh, yeah, he’s definitely a nerd,” Angela says.
Courtney groans, “Do not let Arasha hear you say that about him.”
--
“Arasha!” Arasha hears her name being called and she turns at the familiar voice, seeing Trevor jogging across the parking lot to meet her.
“Hey! I was looking for you,” she says, glancing back at where her family is stationed across the parking lot, talking to each other at the cars as they wait for Dad, Pop, and Alex, before she turns back to give Trevor her full attention.
“Sorry, my parents wanted to stop and talk to a million people they know,” Trevor says, a goofy smile on his face, one that makes Arasha’s heart stutter in her chest.
“So,” Arasha says, her tone turning shy, “did you ask your parents if it was okay if you come over for Christmas Eve with my family?”
A fine blush crosses Trevor’s face, but he nods, “Um, yeah, I did. They said it was fine.”
Arasha smiles, a grin breaking on her face. “Really?”
“Yeah, but ‘Rash, I gotta say, I’m kind of nervous.”
Arasha reaches out and takes Trevor’s hand in her own, squeezing his fingers gently. She can see his blush darken and her own face feels warm.
“Dad and Pop are going to love you. You’ll also get to meet my older sister Angela! She’s home from college for Christmas break.”
Arasha understands why Trevor is nervous. The first time she had come over to have dinner at the Evarts household, she had been terrified, had thought that Trevor’s parents would hate her, but the dinner had gone well, and Trevor’s parents had been nice, even if his dad talked about basketball a little too much. Arasha can’t see her dad or pop being anything but polite to Trevor.
Trevor holds her hand, his cheeks pink, and his eyes locked on hers. His thumb sweeps across the back of her hand and then he nods.
“You’re right. I’ll be there, of course. I know it’s important to you.”
Arasha smiles, tugging Trevor close and hugging him. He’s taller than her and her cheek is against his chest. When they hug, she can feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest. He’s her first boyfriend and she’s excited to have him meet her family properly beyond waves or casual conversations as they hang out or meet up for dates.
They release each other quickly, before either set of their parents can come along and embarrass them, but Arasha still hangs on to Trevor’s hand, smiling up at him in the elementary school parking lot.
Eventually, Arasha sees her parents and Alex following along behind them, the three of them making their way towards the family car.
“I gotta go,” Arasha says. Quickly, before her parents and Alex get too close, she presses up on the toes of her sneakers and gives Trevor a quick kiss on his cheek.
His face goes red, and he touches his cheek where she kissed him as she throws him a smile and a wave and hurries over to the family car.
Arasha re-joins her family at the same time as her dads bring Alex to the car. Courtney is quick to pull him into a hug, and Angela is fast to round on Arasha.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had a boyfriend?” Angela asks, “I thought we were the kind of sisters that told each other everything!”
“We are! I just…didn’t mention it yet.”
“To be fair, I only found out because I saw them holding hands in the hallway.”
“Courtney!” Arasha whines.
“Okay, enough embarrassing your sister,” Ian says. He grabs Alex by the shoulder and pushes the boy forward, “it’s time to fawn over your brother.”
Angela wraps Alex in a hug and while her sister is distracted, Arasha slides up close to her dads.
“Speaking of Trevor though,” she begins, “is it…okay if Trevor comes over on Christmas Eve? His parents already said it’s okay and I thought it would be nice for you guys to meet him officially!”
Ian glances at Anthony, the two of them doing that weird thing they do where they have a whole conversation without saying one word. Arasha hates when they do that because she can never predict what they might say or what their answer might be.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Pop ends up saying.
Dad nods along, “As long as he brings a gift.”
“Dad,” Arasha sighs, rolling her eyes at him.
--
Christmas Eve
--
At three PM on Christmas Eve, Trevor’s parents drop him off at the Hecox-Padilla residence. Trevor nervously knocks on the front door as his parents inch down the road in the family mini-van. In between the time it takes for him to knock, and the door to open, Trevor imagines a million scenarios where things go wrong. Where Arasha breaks up with him on the spot, or her parents hate him, or she doesn’t like the present he got her.
Then, the door opens, and Arasha is standing there in a long red dress, with a lovely smile on her face.
“Hey,” Trevor says, trying to sound cool and calm and not like he’s nervous as hell.
“Hi!” Arasha says brightly, moving aside to let him into her house.
Trevor toes off his sneakers at the door and Arasha leads him through the house to the living room, where the whole family is stationed watching a movie with the volume low.
“Guys, Trevor is here,” Arasha says.
“Hi,” Trevor says, waving awkwardly at Arasha’s family.
Trevor notes they are all dressed in the same shade of red as Arasha, and he remembers her telling him about how they were going to be doing a family portrait.
Arasha leads Trevor to the end of the couch, the two of them sitting together, her thigh touching his own. He’s holding a gift bag in his hands with presents for Arasha as well as her parents, and Alex – courtesy of his mom and dad- though Trevor had picked out Arasha’s gift himself.
“Here,” Courtney says, standing from the couch where she’s seated next to her husband, taking the gift from Trevor’s hands, and moving it over towards the Christmas tree that is set up in the living room, piled with ornaments and presents.
“We get to open one present on Christmas Eve!” Alex, Arasha’s little brother explains.
“Oh, I do have a present for you.”
“You do? Dad! Pop! Does that mean I can open two?” Alex asks, pleadingly.
“We’ll see,” one of Arasha’s dads says.
“Trevor,” Arasha says, standing and pulling him up with her, “these are my dads.”
Trevor wipes a sweaty palm on his jeans before he leans in and shakes the hands of Arasha’s two dads, one with glasses and one with curly dark hair. They both smile at him kindly as they shake his hand and greet him.
“It’s nice to meet you, Sirs,” Trevor says, trying to keep the nerves out of his voice.
Arasha also introduces Trevor to his older sister Angela, and Mrs. Topp’s husband Shayne.
They sit then together on the couch, and Trevor feels his nerves begin to settle. Arasha’s family is kind, her dads are funny, so are her sisters, and Trevor likes Alex despite him being a few years younger than he and Arasha.
“You hungry, Trevor? We’re going to have Thai food in a little while,” Arasha’s Pop says.
“That sounds great,” Trevor says, though he doesn’t mention how he’s never really had Thai food before.
The family talks, watching the movie on TV. Arasha shows Trevor the photos on her phone of the photoshoot they had taken earlier in the day. Arasha’s dads crack jokes, Shayne tells stories, Alex shows Trevor all of his latest video games.
Trevor feels like he fits right in, he feels comfortable, and he’s happy to be close to Arasha, to her family.
Eventually, Arasha’s dads go to order dinner, her siblings entertain each other. For a moment, it’s just Trevor and Arasha.
“So, what do you think?” Arasha asks, her hand sliding into Trevor’s.
He squeezes her hand. “I think your family is awesome.”
“Yeah? They’re okay. I’m so glad you’re here, Trev.”
“Thanks for the invite,” Trevor says.
He feels her squeeze his hand in return.
--
That night, Anthony sets the last few wrapped presents under the Christmas tree. He gets up from the floor, taking Ian’s hand in his own.
“There, Santa has officially arrived.”
“I don’t think Alex even believes in Santa anymore,” Ian says.
“Okay, fair, but let’s wait a couple more years before we start writing our names on the presents instead of Santa’s, okay?”
Ian rolls his eyes, but he brings Anthony’s hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss there.
“Alright, I can live with that.”
The two of them leave the living room, padding through the quiet and darkened house. It’s a tradition, since they’ve had the kids, since the kids were younger, to check up on them on the night of Christmas Eve. They are older now, no longer needing to be checked on, no need to make sure they are sleeping in order to pretend that Santa has delivered them presents, but still the two of them find themselves outside of Alex’s door, peeking inside where their son is sleeping soundly in his bed.
The next is Arasha, asleep on her stomach. Angela is asleep with her door cracked open, her phone pillowed on her bed and playing rain sounds from the speaker.
“She gets that from you,” Ian says, nudging Anthony as they whisper near their daughter’s door.
Courtney and Shayne are sleeping over in the guest room, the door shut, and Ian and Anthony don’t disturb the two of them, instead they head to their own bedroom.
“It’s nice to have all the kids under the same roof again,” Anthony says as Ian climbs into bed.
Anthony peels off his T-shirt before he climbs next to Ian, sliding under the covers and settling in next to his husband.
“Yeah, it’s really nice. The house feels full,” Ian says.
Anthony cuddles next to Ian, tucking his chin over Ian’s shoulder.
“Yeah, and in the morning we’ll all get to open presents together and then have breakfast and Arasha and Alex will probably want to go back to sleep.”
Ian laughs, “Yeah, you’re right. You think they’re going to like what we got them?”
“Oh yeah, we did really well this year.”
Ian can’t help but feel warm, happy, comfortable in the arms of his husband and talking about celebrating Christmas with their children. It’s perfect.
“Merry Christmas, Ian,” Anthony whispers.
“Merry Christmas, Anthony.”