A Rockin' Country Christmas - 2015

A Rockin' Country Christmas - Part One

"Watch him, Garrett!"

"Babe," Garrett laughed, as he scooped EJ up at the waist and turned around in a circle. EJ squealed and kicked his feet. "He's gonna fall. He's learning to walk. You've got to calm that gorgeous ass of yours."

"I know." Hannah sighed, looking at the two of them. EJ was his dad made over. Dimples, green eyes, and dark hair. The smile that kid would give her sometimes? Heart. Breaker. "I just hate when he falls and cries. The floor hurts his feelings."

"It pisses him off," Garrett protested.

"Give him here." She held out her hands, grabbing him up from his dad. "We're going upstairs to change. When the oven beeps, can you please take the bread out? Everybody will be here in a few minutes."

Garrett leaned down, kissing her softly on the side of her neck. His voice was soft as he moved his mouth up to her ear. "I got this."

She shivered, thinking of all the times he'd told her those exact words. Or a variation. Like I got you before he pushed her into a breath-stealing orgasm. Their eyes met, and she could tell by the fire there he was thinking the same thing. Crazy, but after as long as they'd been together, even after the craziness of the first year with EJ, they still felt the same passion. He still made her blush, and she still made him hard. She hoped that never changed. She cleared her throat. "We'll be back."

"Take your time."

He watched them head up the stairs of their Nashville home. This Christmas they'd decided to do it here. Switching back and forth seemed to be the fair thing to do. Most everyone followed wherever they went, and EJ had grandparents on both coasts. It was the least they could do. He grinned, thinking of EJ. A year old today—he couldn't believe it.

The oven beeped, and he reached in, taking out the bread like she'd asked him to, putting it on top of the stove for it to cool. Walking over to the fridge, he grabbed an energy drink he knew he would need to get him through the next few hours. As he closed the door, he had to shake his head. Their lives were so different than they had been a year ago. Back then, their fridge had been covered with wedding pictures and little notes to one another. It still had those notes and wedding pictures, but now it was covered with pictures of EJ. Magnets littered the bottom half. EJ loved to play with them. Grabbing them off the metal and putting them back on was one of his favorite games. He'd started doing it when they'd put him in a walker, and he was still doing it now, even though he was almost walking on his own.

"We're ready!"

Garrett turned around and did a double-take. It had taken Hannah a little while to lose the weight—just like they had known it would. Purposely she'd kept herself out of the public eye until she'd felt comfortable in her own skin. Neither one of them wanted to go down a road they didn't have to with her and the way she felt about herself. Lately though, she'd felt very comfortable in her own skin, and Garrett could tell by the way she'd been dressing. Today she wore a pair of jeans that showcased all her assets, a sweater, and a pair of boots that he had thoughts about having wrapped around his waist. Her hair had grown longer, and her look had matured, but it had matured in a way that made her sexier to him.

Then he got a glimpse of EJ, and his heart melted. He wore jeans, and a long-sleeve shirt that said My Daddy's A Rockstar, his longish hair in a little Mohawk.

"You're beautiful, he's cute, I'm a very lucky man." Garrett reached over, grabbing EJ out of her arms.

"Oh please." Hannah rolled her eyes. "You're definitely DILF material, I see it all the time on the internet."

"The only one I wanna be a DILF for is you." He grinned over at her. "I'm gonna take him and Havock outside for a few minutes, let them run off some energy while you finish up in here," he told her, tapping his thigh for the dog.

"Thank you! Don't let him get dirty," she warned.

"He's a boy, babe. It's what we do." He worked quickly, putting a jacket on himself and EJ.

She was still giving him instructions as all three of the boys made their way out the back door.

******

Hannah shook her head as she watched them make their way to the yard. They'd had it fenced in a few months ago, when it was obvious EJ was a baby who loved to be outdoors. It didn't matter if they were sitting on the back deck or carrying him around while doing yard work, he loved it. They knew eventually he would be one of those kids who loved running around, so they went ahead and had it taken care of—not to mention Havock was an extremely happy dog to have full-reign of the outside property.

Grabbing the pots and pans she'd used to make their Christmas dinner and the birthday cake for afterwards, she rinsed them before putting them into the dishwasher. Lifting back up and glancing out of the back window, she caught sight of her dad and Garrett's dad having joined her boys, and it looked like Jared was walking through the back gate. That meant she had limited time to enjoy the sight of her husband and son. Seeing Garrett hold EJ so lovingly in his big, sculpted arms never failed to make her heart race.

"Han, we're here!"

"In the kitchen," she yelled when she recognized Shell's voice.

"Hey," she greeted, carrying four huge gifts. Three of them with Christmas wrapping paper and one with birthday paper. "This poor kid, he's going to be spoiled at Christmas."

Hannah groaned. "I know, I feel like everyone's going to overcompensate so there is a divided line between birthday and Christmas, but he was stubborn and came when he wanted to. He's a lot like his dad." She winked as the rest of the ladies came through their garage and put Christmas presents under the tree, birthday presents on a table.

"I'm so happy to see you." Marie ran over and hugged her daughter-in-law.

It had been at least a month since they'd been able to be in the same place. Garrett and the guys had been doing a few writing sessions—one they'd done in Gatlinburg and the girls had come with them—and she had been doing some preliminary work on a new CD for herself. It was all in the infancy stage, but it felt good getting back out there.

"It's good to see you too!"

"Everett James looks like he's grown three inches since the last time we saw him," she said as she looked out the window.

"He's growing like a weed. I think he's going to be tall like Garrett." She reached into the fridge and pulled out the punch they would be drinking.

"Hey, I brought the dip." Her mom held a bowl over her head as she entered the kitchen.

Immediately they descended on her, each grabbing a cracker and taking a bite of the Captain Rodney's.

"I swear to God, they put crack in that shit." Shell moaned as she went for another cracker. "Think we have it done by the time the boys make it in here?"

Hannah laughed. "I think they would kill us."

Shell came over and put her arm around her friend, and they two of them turned around to look out into the backyard again. They were quiet as they watched Garrett and Jared throw a football back and forth. Kevin held EJ as he cheered on his dad and uncle.

"I never would have thought it," Shell whispered.

Hannah glanced down at the white gold band of diamonds that circled Shell's left hand. "I wouldn't have either. What a difference a year makes, huh?"

"One of the hardest and best years of my life," Shell admitted.

"Same here, girl." Hannah hugged her around the waist. "Same here."