Heavenly Virtues

Part 41

She woke up early, partially from the excitement of it all. She was excited to give them their presents before they headed for her Granda's for a late breakfast. They would be home for dinner and Ashley was planning on making their Ma's Irish stew.

She lay there for a little while, it was still dark out and the only light in the small space was coming from the twinkling lights on the tree. The soft light danced over both of their bare skin. Connor looked so peaceful, facing her on his back she watched his chest as it rose and fell in the same calm rhythm as Murphy's. She turned her head, facing the other twin.

Murphy was on his chest, facing away from her but she watched as the muscles in his back rippled to accommodate the expansion of his chest. They were so beautiful, and they were hers. She knew the twins wouldn't appreciate the term beautiful being used with them, but they were.

The way they carried themselves, the way they treated her, they were such good people in general. She didn't know how she had gotten so lucky, she remembered back to the first few weeks she knew them. She had been so tormented by the thought that they didn't like her back, so conflicted about having feelings for the both of them. Now here they sat cuddled together in bed on Christmas morning like it's the most normal thing in the world.

They hadn't even known each other for a year, but she couldn't remember being happier than when she was with them, she didn't want to envision a life without them. "Merry Christmas." She heard a raspy voice from beside her. Connor was blinking at her with tired eyes, she beamed a smile at him. "Merry Christmas." She quickly and not so gracefully rolled over and moved to straddle him, bringing her body close to his.

"Coffee?" She asked as she kissed him. She heard a groan from the other side of the bed "coffee, yes please." As Murphy shifted in bed, never the morning person his brother was. She smiled into the kiss with Connor then pulled herself off of him, her feet landing on the cold ground. She slipped on Connor's slippers and shuffled to the kitchen to start a pot.

By the time the pot was brewed Connor was up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and Murphy was propped up in bed, smoking a cigarette. "So what's tha plan love?" Murphy asked as he blew a cloud of smoke. She took a sip of her coffee and gestured to the tree "presents here, then we'll head to my grandas?" She asked, looking at them to see if they agreed.

They both nodded into their cups "sounds good lass." Murphy snubbed out his cigarette and then made his way to the pot of coffee. He sat at the table with his coffee before reaching out to Ashley "come 'ere love." She reached out to him and he pulled her into his lap "will ye open mine, first love? Please?" She pecked his lips "Okay." She said with a giggle.

They all made their way near the tree. Murphy picked up his and handed it to her, she smiled at him as he chewed on his thumb, nervous about if she was going to like it. She unwrapped the gift, no bigger than her two hands, it was a picture frame. She had opened it to the back, pulled the paper away then turned it over. Ashley smiled wide at the photo, her heart skipping a beat.

One of her favorite drawings Murphy had done had been that one he had made of the three of them, this was much like that one. She could tell more time had gone into this one, details that weren't in the first. Perfectly captivating their love for each other. Murphy pulled his thumb away from his mouth "I know it ain't much love-" She cut him off as she pressed her lips to his. She pulled away with tears in her eyes "I love this so much Murphy, this is the first picture I have of all three of us. Thank you." She kissed him again.

He was happy with her reaction to the gift, he had been worried that she wouldn't have liked it, and felt like it should have been more, but the sentimental value and the time that had gone into it were far more important to her than the price of it. "My turn. Connor smiled as he held his own gift for her.