will's Pov
The three of us are sitting on our living room floor wrapping presents for the children's hospital. It's something Juliet does every year since Lilly's first Christmas as they spent that in the hospital with pneumonia. It made her see that so many children spend Christmas in the hospital every year, and all children's hospitals try to collect presents for all the kids for Christmas Day. That's why we have spent the last 2 weeks wrapping presents for the hospitals. We had Patrick, Selena, Nate, and Asher here to help us wrap, but now the last day it's just the three of us. Lilly isn't that much of a help, but she does put a sticker on every single present that says Merry Christmas.
We attach a ribbon around every present with a note that says what's inside so the hospital can figure out which kid to give it to. All in all, I think we are at around 1k presents together for all the children's hospitals around here.
Our company does a similar thing where they give presents to an organization that gives presents to kids where the parents can't afford Christmas presents for whatever reason. It's been something the Fitzgerald company has done for a few years, and we decided to continue the tradition after the merger. The interns and assistants have had the joy of wrapping a couple of thousands of presents that came from our company.
"Do you want to build a showman, come on let's go and play" Lilly sings at the top of her lungs as she dances around us between putting stickers on presents. "I never see you anymore, come out the door, it's like you've gone away" I add in my terrible singing voice making her laugh.
She comes over and cups my face in her small hands "We used to be best buddies, And now we're not, I wish you would tell me why! Do you wanna build a snowman? It doesn't have to be a snowman..." she says and adds the silly voice at the end.
This kid is full of rainbows and sunshine with a constant heightened energy. It's like the batteries never run out of her, she is always wiggling or on the move. How she manages to sit still in class is a mystery to me. But we haven't heard anything from the school about her not paying attention or getting up from her seat, so she must be doing as she is told there.
"willy. you're a silly Billy willy" she says and lets me continue to wrap presents. when I look over at Juliet, she is watching us with a big smile on her face. she has told me how much it means to her that I get along with Lilly because Lilly has never had a male figure in her life. It's not that I try to be her dad for real, I don't think I'm ready to be anyone's dad, but being a stepdad isn't that bad after all. When I first heard that the woman, I was marrying had a child I wanted to run away because I'm not fit to be around a child. But Lilly proved me wrong, I can handle children and they are a lot of fun after all.
Juliet's Pov
"Mommy it's Christmas!" Lilly screams as she comes running into my room on Christmas morning. I groan and rub my tired eyes. will and I didn't go to bed until late last night because we were getting the presents under the tree and making sure everything was perfect for today. "Merry Christmas Lilliana. How about you go, and wake Will too"
She doesn't need to be asked twice so she runs to the other room and wakes him too with excitement. I slip out of bed in my Christmas pajamas and go join them in Will's room. She is jumping on his bed while he is waking up. I walk over and run my fingers through his soft blond hair. "Merry Christmas love," he says pulling me down for a simple peck on the lips. "Merry Christmas will"
Lilly drags us both downstairs to see if Santa came and if he ate her homemade cookies and drank the milk. Will did both of those things last night, but she still believes in the magic of Christmas and I'm not going to spoil that.
There are a lot of presents under the tree from family and friends as well as from Santa. we start with Lilly's presents because she is a kid and it's easiest to get hers over with first. It's not only toys because she already has a lot, but there are also books, drawing stuff and clothes. Who said you can't get practical stuff for Christmas? We do most of the presents not from Santa because that's just how it was when I was a kid too.
From my parents, she gets one of those kid kraft doll houses for your Barbies that she has been wanting for a while. She has been asking for it for months since she first saw it, so I told my parents that it might be a good idea. She is so excited to play with it later. She also gets a few barbies from them. From Selena, she gets a pair of tights for ice skating and a Barbie. From Asher, she gets something similar but instead of a Barbie, she gets some drawing supplies because she loves that.
I was surprised when Will pulled out a present to her from Nate. He got her a set of books and an Elsa dress. How he even got her size I don't know, but I suspect Selena has something to do with that.
"Can I open the big one?" She asks and points to a present from Will. It's big and I don't know what he got her. She unwraps it and it's a bicycle. "I saw that you don't have a bicycle, so I thought I could get you one and then I can teach you to ride it," he says, and she runs over to hug him. "And to keep your mother's sanity I got a helmet and knee and elbow protection things" he adds, and I roll my eyes, but I appreciate it.
From me, she gets a new iPad because hers broke a few weeks ago, as well as another American girl doll with furniture that matches it.
While Lilly is busy with her new toys Will and I open our presents too. From my parents, I get diamond studs and then I get different stuff from everyone else. then I open the present from Selena and Will bursts out laughing when he sees it. She got me lingerie with a note telling me to have a fashion show for my husband. I hate her and love her at the same time. "I won't object to seeing that fashion show love. I'm sure you would look sexy as hell" he says and holds up a little lace thong Selena got me, and I am red as a tomato.
"In your dreams William," I say and snatch it away from him. I'm going to kill Selena.
Then Will hands me a present that's from him and I raise my eyebrow in surprise "You got me a present" I say and bite my lip. Of course, I got him presents too, but I wasn't expecting something in return.
I take it and when I open it, I see it's a teal Tiffany's box. Opening it I smile because it's a necklace with two pendants, one W and one L. "So you can always have a piece of us with you. It might be cheesy, and you might hate it, but I thought it was cute" he says and scratches the back of his neck.
"I pulled some strings; it was really hard to get but I asked Selena what your favorite book was, and she told me. So I knew I had to figure out how to get a signed copy for you" he says, and I peck his lips again thanking him for doing that for me.
Then I hand him his presents, first, he opens his main gift an elegant, small-faced Patek Philippe watch. "It started ticking the same year you were born, so it's as old as you."
His fingers trace over the watch before pulling it out and putting it on his wrist. "Thank you, love, I will wear this every day for sure. It's so pretty and it is special because it is from you" he says and kisses me again. Before he opens more presents, I am so excited to put on the necklace, so he puts it on me while I hold my hair back.
Feeling the delicate chain around my neck and how the pendant hangs on my chest I feel special. He is right, it's going to be like having a piece of him and Lilly with me all the time. Sure it is a cheesy idea but it's also perfect and I love it. Sometimes I feel lonely in the world when the dark thoughts and anxiety take over, so this will remind me that I'm never alone.
Then he opens the rest of his presents. I got him pajamas because his are old and needs to get changed out, and of course, he gets some boxers and socks. What Christmas is it if the males don't get boxers and socks? "Do you want a fashion show in these boxers' love?" He says with a smug smile.
"No, you idiot. I got some for me and for Lilly too. Christmas and a new year are a good time to switch out some of those things. And when I did laundry the other day, I was so annoyed because I found five of your socks that had holes in them. It was annoying" We sometimes do a load of laundry us selves because it's convenient. A lot of our clothes get sent out with our assistant to get dry-cleaned, but the rest either the housekeeper does, or we do. Our housekeeper is here every other day during the week, but other than that we do stuff ourselves. When you're in a house of three people there usually is a load of laundry every day, especially when there is a kid involved.
I was going to get him books because I figured it would be a good present, but he doesn't like to read so I needed to figure out something else.
"Your last present is for all your man-child needs. And I think a certain girl would be happy to use it with you" I say and hand him a big box. "I'm not a man-child. I simply embrace my inner child now and then" he argues before he opens the present.
I got him a PS5 with several games that are fit for him and some that he can play with Lilly. "Thanks love. This is going to be a lot of fun. I don't have one of these here. I had an Xbox in my old apartment, but it broke before I moved, and I didn't get a new console."
I was a little nervous to give an almost 27-year-old man a PlayStation, but clearly, I was right on point with that one. I knew he was a child on the inside even if he didn't want to admit it. Hey, even I will admit that I wouldn't mind playing with him, it sounds fun.
"I think it might be best to put it up in the playroom maybe. She can use it too" he says, and I nod. I was thinking we would put it in the movie room, but it's probably better to play in the playroom. There is no way it would be practical to have it in the living room because the seating and vibe of the room would not make sense. It's better to have it in another room.
After we clean up the wrapping paper, we go to make breakfast. Our chef made a batter for chocolate chip pancakes last night that he put red food coloring in to make it Christmas-appropriate. We gave him Half of yesterday, all of today, and all of tomorrow to spend with his family, the same with the other people who work in our home. Of course, they deserve to spend Christmas with their families. I'm also one of those people who gives the people working in my home Christmas bonuses and their children presents for Christmas and their birthdays. It was something my parents always did so I adapted that tradition myself. I do tell them that they don't need to give anything in return, but they have a habit of getting Lilly a little something for her to play with. This year she got play dough from our chef and some other small stuff from the housekeeper, driver, security, our personal assistant, and nanny.
"They are yummy," Lilly says when she digs into the pancakes. We even gave her whipped cream on the top which she only gets on special occasions. We also have orange juice the chef made yesterday and cut-up fruit for breakfast.
"Are we going to grandma and grandpa for dinner?" She asks and I nod. My parents have invited us and Will's parents to their house for Christmas dinner. Lilly and I always go there, so of course Will was included. They also decided that it would be nice to have Will's family there too, they are family too now.
Christmas was one of the only days during the year when I had my parent's attention and love because they always took Christmas Day off from work to spend with me. We watched movies together, made gingerbread houses, and opened presents. Then we had a family dinner in the evening where we talked about all sorts of different things. Growing up I didn't spend that much time with my parents because they were always working, so Christmas has a special place in my heart. It's not that my parents didn't love me the rest of the year, they truly did, but they were focused on work more than their daughter. Under the tree, there were so many presents that I often forgot what I got, but no present meant more than the day with Mom and Dad.
will's Pov
We are dressed and arrive at the Fitzgerald house, where I have never been. Juliet has been avoiding her parents since the marriage because she was pissed, she was forced into it, but after the last gala, they have been talking again. She even went out to dinner with her mother and ate lunch with her dad in the office. It makes me happy that she isn't holding a grudge against them anymore because she deserves a good relationship with them.
Lilly runs in front of us into the living room while I intertwine my fingers with Juliet's as we walk after her. When I look at her, she has a faint blush on her cheek which is adorable. I love that just a simple touch has that effect on her.
My parents and my brother are already here when we walk in and when my brother sees our fingers intertwined, he gets a smug look on his face. I haven't talked to any of my family about the fact that Juliet and I are... I don't even know what to call it because she isn't my girlfriend or someone I'm dating; she is my wife. How do I even explain what's going on? But I'm just going to refer to it as making the marriage work because we are getting to know each other on a romantic level but legally we are married. Fuck it's complicated even in my head so I have no idea about how it looks to the people around us. Not to mention that my mom would overreact and for sure scare Juliet away.
Our mothers see us holding hands too when we walk over to greet them, and they are both smiling "Oh there the lovebirds are. How are you? You look so adorable together. Young love is beautiful" my mother says, and Juliet squeezes my hand.
"We are doing good Mom. It was a nice Christmas morning in our house, and I hope it was for you guys too" I say avoiding the topic of Juliet and me together entirely. For our family and friends' Christmas presents Juliet and I teamed up because we figured it was normal for a married couple to give a joint present to people, at least that's what Google told us when we googled it. Neither one of us has good luck in the relationship department, so we have had to google a few things along the way so far. It's kind of embarrassing at our age, but it is what it is.
I hold my hand on Juliet's back as I lead her over to the dinner table pulling her chair out for her. After she sits down, I do the same with Lilly who sits on the other side of her mom "Thank you Willy" she grins and I kiss the top of her head, which doesn't go unnoticed by our parents, but they don't comment on it. It just feels natural and sometimes the affection towards Lilly is just on autopilot like it's something I've been doing for years when it's only been a fairly short time of knowing her.
Never in my life would I have thought that I would be affectionate towards people in the way I am towards Lilly and Juliet, but it feels like second nature and the natural thing to do. Hugging them, giving them kisses, and talking about their day are some of my favorite things. I might not have chosen this marriage, but they have become my family.