Christmas day finally arrives. Molly wakes up to Daisy yelling at her through her bedroom door. They had gotten back from Bakersfield yesterday afternoon and they spent the night watching movies and doing each other's hair. It was a surreal few days and Molly tried to have fun the best she could but there was something missing. She swapped numbers with Natalie and they messaged each other most of the journey back and most of last night. Without Natalie there she would have gone insane.
Molly stretches her arms and glances at her phone. She squints at the message, trying to adjust to the brightness.
Merry Christmas, beautiful. See you soon x
She smiles for a long time and then replies to Charlie. Her mind is craving coffee before anything else and after using the bathroom she walks downstairs with her bathrobe around her and ignores the excited squealing from the lounge.
Pam is in the kitchen, already making them coffees. She passes one to Molly with a smile. "You might have had snow in New York but does it have that noise?" She points to the doorway. "I think not. Best sound in the world isn't it?"
"I'll let you know after my coffee," Molly laughs.
"I think Santa might have been once, twice and ten times," she hears Daniel say as she walks back through. He's kneeling at the tree and the kids are being forced to wait patiently on the floor with their backs to the couch. Lily is just sitting quietly; she's not entirely woken up yet.
"Can we open them yet?" Daisy demands. "Please, please!"
"We're going to do this calmly," Pam says. "Let your dad give them out first."
Daniel divides the pile of presents into piles. Because of how huge Pam's family is the presents are never ending. A few are thrown towards Molly's feet and she bends down to place them beside her on the chair. Once everyone has acquired their gifts Pam says they can start opening them, slowly, one at a time.
Daisy almost hyperventilates and Henley is overwhelmed as his mouth opens at the pile in amazement. Molly opens the closest one to her, a small box signed from Gwen and she stares at the diamond earrings in shock. Pam leans over to get a better view and Molly swears she can hear her sigh. Most of the other presents are a mixture of bath sets, shower creams, perfumes, clothes—expensive clothes—and boxes of chocolate. Molly glances over to Lily and finds that her presents are almost identical. Lily picks up Molly's present, opens it, and her eyes widen as she holds the box of headphones in her hands.
"Thank you, Molly," Lily says. "I love them!"
"No problem," Molly says. "The guy at the store said they were dope."
"Dope as hell," Lily says excitedly.
More gifts are exchanged between the six of them. Pam thanks Molly for her perfume and Daniel is lost for words when he sets his eyes on his brand-new tool kit.
"You really do listen to everything," Daniel laughs to her.
Molly smiles and then she turns her attention to Daisy who is holding Molly's present in her arms and cradling it. It's not the only present Molly has gotten her but it's the one she clings to. She walks across the room slowly, stopping in front of Molly.
"It's your book, Molly," Daisy says quietly.
Molly winks at her. "I don't need it anymore. It's yours."
Daisy hugs her. "Thank you."
"Henley, you okay over there?" Pam says.
"It's a car building!" Henley yells. "It's big, Daisy, look. Wow."
"A very expensive one," Pam says quietly. "Do not break it."
"Henley look, I have a computer," Daisy says, showing him the laptop again. "It's so shiny. I can't wait to play on it. Thank you, mum and dad! Thank you!"
Pam smiles and then her eyes meet Molly's from across the room. She walks towards the tree and Daniel passes her a square-shaped present that she extends to Molly.
"From all of us," Pam says.
Molly places her coffee to the side and gently unwraps the sharp-edged object. Molly holds the metal frame in her hand and she covers her mouth with her hand. She hasn't seen this picture in years. It's the last picture her family took together taken by her grandmother. Tears stream down her face as she looks upon her father's face, his dark hair, his wise and kind brown eyes. She looks at her mother next, her smile was so big and happy, she was wearing her favourite grey cardigan, it complimented her honey hair. And then her sister, her beautiful sister, who holds baby Riley on her lap, it took so long to get him to stay still. And Molly looks at herself, a younger and happier version, sitting right in the middle, looking directly at the camera with alert and proud eyes. Proud to be sitting next to the three most incredible people in the world.
"We found it in some boxes in the attic, we added the frame," Pam says. "And we thought, they're a part of our family too now. So, they deserve a place beside us."
Molly stands up and wipes her eyes as she places the picture frame on a shelf above the fireplace, next to the picture of the six of them. She touches it gently until she backs away. This has always been the hardest day of the year for Molly and if another foster family had done this for her she probably would have broken down and ran to her bedroom. She never imagined looking at their faces now and remembering those fond memories would bring her joy.
"It's perfect," Molly says as she turns back around. There's suddenly someone missing. "Where's Daniel?"
"Come with me." Pam holds her hand out and Molly takes it confusingly. "Kids, stay here."
Molly realizes that Pam is taking her outside and Molly starts to panic. "I'm not dressed."
"Oh, who cares?" Pam mutters. "Come on, keep walking."
Molly doesn't understand what's going on. She joins Pam at the bottom of the driveway and then a shiny, red car pulls up in front of them and Molly squints her eyes at Daniel as he exits the car and throws her the keys.
"Surprise," Pam says.
Molly clasps her hands to her mouth. She runs her eyes across the Ford Focus, the car is beautiful and she recognizes it from down the street, it's been parked there for over a week.
"You bought me a car?" Molly says in disbelief.
"We know you said you wanted to wait until you got your inheritance but that could take months," Pam says. "The insurance is paid up for a year and we've registered it in your name. It's yours."
"I don't want you to think that I'm not grateful, because I am, but how did you afford this?"
"It's second hand," Daniel says. Pam slaps his arm.
"We got a good deal on it," Pam says, glaring at him. "Do you like it?"
"I love it, thank you so much," she says, pulling them both by their shoulders, they curl into her and she's shaking with excitement when she looks back to the car. "You guys are nuts."
"That we are," Pam laughs. "You can take it for a spin later, maybe with a certain someone?"
"Hm, who could that be?" Daniel teases as they walk back to the house.
The kids have their faces pressed to the window and they rush back to the floor, pretending to be calm. Henley holds a small red car up in his hand and smiles.
"Molly, your car is like mine."
"It's a bit bigger than yours, Henley," Daisy says.
"No, Daisy, my hands are just really small."
Everyone laughs and then Molly glances at the clock. Charlie will be here soon and she needs to start getting ready. She grabs her gifts and takes them to her bedroom. She changes into a soft fleece with jeans and brushes her hair into a ponytail. She adds soft make up to her face and covers her lips with a new light pink gloss. When the doorbell rings she grabs Charlie's present from her nightstand and puts it into her back pocket. She waits at the bottom of the staircase as Pam opens the door. Pam and Samantha greet each other and Jaz just runs right by them as she follows the sound of Daisy's laughter. Samantha says hello to Molly and Molly says it back before she turns her attention back to the door.
Charlie walks up the driveway slowly wearing a leather jacket and a white shirt. Before he's barely through the doorway she runs and throws her arms around him. She kisses him strongly and he pulls away grinning.
"I missed you too," he says. "Merry Christmas."
"I think I missed you more," she says as she leads him into the house. "What do you think to my new car?"
"What?" Charlie says, spinning around. "The red one? It's yours?"
Molly nods. "Yeah, I can't believe it either. Want to come on a small trip with me later?"
"Definitely," he says. "Look at you being all grown up." He pulls on her fleece and she crashes into him. "I don't think I can quite compete with a car but here." He slides a small, wrapped box into her hand.
She unwraps it, placing the paper onto a shelf. Daniel walks into the hallway just as Molly holds the black box in her hand and he points to it before rushing up the stairs.
"That better not be an engagement ring."
Charlie laughs. "Open it."
Molly looks at him before she does. Something jingles as she pulls the lid up. She takes out the silver chain, attached to a small, round pendant with the image of Saint Christopher. She wants to laugh but she knows she can't so she covers her mouth and tries to disguise it.
"I actually don't believe this," she mutters. "This is what you got me?"
Charlie narrows his eyes and reaches over, picking the chain up. "I know it's not diamonds but as the legend goes as long as you're wearing this then whenever you are lost or far from home it'll protect you from harm."
Molly smiles and turns herself towards the mirror, she holds her ponytail up. "Put it on."
Charlie places the chain around her throat and Molly shivers as his fingers graze her skin. Their eyes meet in the oval mirror and she touches the pendant softly as her other hand takes his present out from her pocket.
"I knew I should have got you something with a jewel," Charlie sighs as he starts unwrapping. "Girls like that stuff don't they?"
Molly laughs as she turns around. "Open it."
Charlie lifts the lid on his box and he laughs as he rubs his chin. He brings out the larger, golden chain and he fingers the Saint Christopher pendant with an amused look. "Well now it makes sense. Great minds think alike."
"They do," she whispers.
He places the chain around his throat and then he pulls her in for another kiss. The world stops still for a few moments, there's no sound but the beating of their hearts. It's loud and it's chaotic but she isn't falling, she's floating.
"How are you doing today?" he whispers. "This time of year can't be easy."
"Lots of triggers," she mumbles. "But I'm okay. I'm better than okay. It's hard and I'm not going to pretend that it isn't but there's no pain."
"Good," he says. "If you need to talk then I'll be right here."
"I know."
They kiss again and she takes a deep breath before taking his hand and walking him into the chaos.
+ + +
After dinner everyone sits at the dining table rubbing their stomachs. There was so much food and Molly feels like she's going to pass out from being so full. Lily is the only one that isn't here, her mother picked her up and she's spending the rest of the day with her family across the city. Molly is so happy for her that she doesn't mind but they can all feel her absence. Molly sits in between Jaz and Charlie and she pulls crackers with them and lets Jaz keep all the small gifts.
Pam suddenly stands up at the other end of the table and clears her throat. "Before we start preparing dessert, which will be a while yet don't worry, there's something I wanted to say." Everyone falls silent as they listen, even Daisy. "When I first told Daniel that I wanted to foster a child, he looked at me and said, 'No way, you're gonna fall in love with them and you're never going to be able to let them go.'" Pam glances over at Daniel, who lowers his head smiling. "And I said, that isn't going to happen. These kids need somewhere safe, they need somewhere where they'll be loved but I can let them go. It took a long time and a lot of convincing but I eventually won him round. And I never imagined after we got approved that my first foster 'child' would be a teenage girl with the most painful past I've ever heard." Pam looks at Molly sadly. "Molly, from the moment you stepped through our door I knew Daniel was right. I wouldn't be able to let you go. Either of you."
Molly clasps onto Charlie's leg as she suddenly realizes what is happening.
"You've made our family complete," Pam says. "And we just couldn't imagine it any other way." She takes a deep breath, turning towards the little boy at the other side of the table who is deeply oblivious to all of this. "Henley?"
"Yes, Pam?" Henley whispers sweetly as he looks up.
Pam walks over to him and crouches down at his feet. Daniel pushes his chair back and joins her. "How do you feel about Daniel and I being your parents?"
"Really?" Henley gasps.
Molly clings on to Charlie's hand so hard that she accidentally hurts him. From the first time that she met Henley she's been waiting for this moment.
"Really," Daniel says. "We want to adopt you."
Henley starts to sniffle and then he covers his face as he cries. "Don't cry," Pam says. "I'll cry too." He jumps into their arms and he hides his emotional state inside their clothes.
Daisy runs over and joins the group embrace. Molly smiles at Charlie and rests her head into his shoulder. That little boy had the worst start in life. He was beaten, dragged, starved and left out in the cold. Now, he has two loving parents and a sister that will always be beside him. She wishes all the Henley's out there could be given that chance but their time will come. For now, she enjoys this blissful, perfect moment; a moment she'll remember for the rest of her life.