The Final Chapter

Chapter Twenty Seven

ELENA'S POV:

"Mamma wake up! It's Christmas!" squealed Mia, excitedly running into our room, followed by her two younger siblings. They all climbed onto the bed, Axel and Gracie snuggling between the Mattia and I and Mia bouncing on the mattress.

"Oh my god, it's 8am" yawned Mattia, wrapping his arms around Axel. I laughed at Mia who was wearing her Christmas pyjamas along with Gracie.

"How long have you been awake for?" I asked, getting out of bed.

"I didn't sleep all night" said Mia, smiling proudly. Mattia got out of bed too, throwing a robe over his nightwear. Mia walked over to him and grabbed his hand, running towards the stairs.

"Slow down!" I called, spraying a face mist over my skin, hoping it'd seem like I'd had eight hours of sleep when I'd had four. Mattia and I had spent most of the night wrapping the presents and making sure the children got the best Christmas morning. After all, it was Gracie's first Christmas with us. I wanted everything to be perfect.

"Mamma I think I heard Santa last night" said Gracie, walking over and taking my hand. I smiled at her, perfectly aware that it was Mattia making the noises on purpose.

"Really? Well let's go see what he got you!" I said, taking Axel's hand too and leading them downstairs. Mia was excitedly waiting by the door to the living room, her hand wrapped around the handle as she bobbed up and down due to her excitement.

"Wait I need batteries" shouted Mattia, running into the kitchen with the video recorder in his hand.

"Didn't I tell you to do that before bed?" I said, watching the kids laugh at his foolishness.

"Come on, Papa!" said an impatient Mia. Mattia quickly reappeared again, pressing the red button on the device. Mia looked at me as Gracie and Axel ran to her side. I nodded, ushering them towards the door, but Mia took Gracie's hand, placing it on the doorknob. I looked at Mattia who smiled back at me.

"Open it, Gracie" I said. She smiled shyly at us before opening the door, revealing a sea of red and green wrapping paper.

"Oh my gosh!" shrieked Mia, running into the living room with Gracie and Axel. They all ran around looking for the name tags on the presents until they'd found their little mountain of goodies.

"I love it" laughed Axel, tearing open a new football that Mattia had chosen for him. I looked over at Mia and Gracie who were admiring their new shoes they'd been asking for.

"I think there's one more for you, Gracie" I said, pointing to the little black box on the fireplace.

"You sure about this?" asked Mattia, reaching over and giving my hand a little squeeze. I nodded, returning a reassuring smile. Gracie walked over to the box, opening the lid and picking out the small silver bracelet inside.

"What's this, Mamma?" she asked, walking over to me. I smiled, taking the bracelet and wrapping it around her wrist on the tightest setting.

"Your Uncle Kairi gave me this a long time ago" I said "it brings you good luck and I believe that's how I met you, so now I want you to have it"

"But it's too special" she said, staring dreamily at the silver diamond on the bracelet.

"Nothing is more special to me than my children" I said, kissing her head softly. A wide grin spread across her face as she wrapped her arms around me.

-

"Okay I have the turkey and Vic's bringing the dessert" said Alejandro, bursting into our kitchen. I turned to see him holding a huge turkey in his hands and Leo walking in behind him with party games in his little hands.

"Nice sweater" I laughed, looking at the fairy lights he'd glued around the reindeers. He rolled his eyes, a smile still on his face as Mattia put a Santa hat on his head.

"It was Vic's idea"

"What was?"

We turned to see Vic walking in, a strawberry cheesecake in her hands. But we were all looking at something else. And not the ugly sweater.

"Oh my god, you're pregnant!" I yelled, running over to her and smothering her in a hug. She laughed at everyone's shocked reaction as she cradled her baby bump.

"Oh yeah, that was my idea" she said, winking at Alejandro. She walked over to greet the kids, giving an extra tight hug to Gracie. I smiled, watching Gracie and Mia feel Vic's bump.

"Wanna have a fourth kid?"

I felt Mattia's hands make their way around my stomach as I laughed loudly.

"When's the next plane to France?" I asked, causing him laugh with me. I turned to face him and leaned against the countertop, kissing his lips softly.

"You taste like candy canes" he said, licking his lips. I grinned, pulling out my candy cane lip gloss.

"Makes a change to the usual watermelon scent" I said. He placed both hands on my hips as the door opened, revealing Kairi and Adriana.

"You made it!" said Mattia, going over to hug Kairi. I wrapped my arms around Adriana who handed me a bottle of white wine with flowers once we'd pulled away.

"Did everything go well in France?" she asked. I raised my eyebrows and looked over to the kids where Gracie was dancing with Leo.

"Oh she's beautiful" beamed Adriana, rushing over to greet everyone. Kairi smiled at me, giving me a hug once I'd set the wine and flowers on the counter.

"I spotted that bracelet from a mile away" he said, gesturing towards the sparkle coming from Gracie's wrist.

"It brought me the best kind of luck, so thank you" I said, smiling warmly at him.

"You don't need luck when you're surrounded by happiness like this" he said, looking around at everyone. Decked out in ugly sweaters, Santa hats and red lipstick. He was right.

Gracie was the missing piece to our family. I had to lose a child in order to find her. I walked over to Mattia, placing my hand in his. He looked down at me with a smile, he was thinking the same thing.

"I love how everything turned out" he said, leaning down and kissing my lips. I smirked at the red stains on his face, but didn't bother wiping them away.

"I wouldn't have it any other way" I said, taking it all in.

I was ready for the next hurdle life was about to throw at us, but for now, I just wanted it to stay like this, doing all my favourite things, surrounded by all my favourite people.

THE END

A/N: I can't believe I've finished this book!? Thank you all for being patient with me, and if you made it through all three books, I salute you 😂 you all brought Elena's character to life, and honestly I cannot put into words how much I will miss writing about her. I hope you all loved this series, my new book will be out either today or tomorrow, I hope to see you all there!! Please feel free to read 'undercover' or my book on BLM!

I love you all so much, thank you again!

K❤️