When Angels Fall (Fallen Angels) (34 page)

“Yeah, after he kicked in the door. How long do you think we have?” Kevin groaned.

“Knowing Max? About ten minutes. He’s in there right now jumping on their bed, saying ‘Santa came, Santa came!’” Mark mimicked their little brother.

“We should really tell him the truth, then he would sleep in,” Kevin suggested as he hung over the side of his bunk.

“Hello, did that work for me?” Nick asked.

“No, and it didn’t work for you, either, Kev, so don’t even think about it,” Mark replied and sat up.

“Mom and Dad said get up! Oh, I forgot about Chloe!” Max exclaimed and started out the door.

Nick grabbed him. “I’ll wake Chloe up. She doesn’t need you jumping on her.” He handed him to Mark.

“Give us ten minutes. Wake up, Kevin!” their father said as he started down the steps.

Nick knocked on her door, and then went in.

Chloe was sound asleep on her side with the covers tucked under her arm. He climbed into the bed next to her and wanted so badly to just go back to sleep with her. “Chlo,” he said softly.

 
She moved a little.

“Baby, it’s time to get up.” He lightly rubbed her cheek.

She touched his hand and smiled a little.

Seeing that it wasn’t working, he kissed her cheek, and then her lips.

She took in a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes.

“Hello, beautiful. It’s Christmas.” He snuggled down next to her and held her hand.

“Let me guess, Max is up,” she deduced.

“I saved you from his tyranny. He was ready to come in here and jump on you a few minutes ago,” he informed her.

She laughed. “He is so cute.”

“Yeah, he’s just adorable. The little creep tried to pry my eyes open.” Nick told her.

“Chloe!” Max called from the door.

“Speak of the little devil.” Nick sat up,

“Hi, Max. I’m up,” she called to him.

“Santa came!” Max told her.

“Nick just told me.” Chloe sounded as excited as he was.

“We have to go to the steps and wait for Mommy and Daddy to call us,” he told her.

“We’ll be right there.” Nick laughed and smiled at her. “Christmas morning at the Allen house, got to love it.”

“Yeah, but I’m not an Allen, so I could go back to bed,” she teased.

“Sorry, baby. For this week, you are. And who knows? If you play your cards right, you really may be one, someday,” he joked.

“Why, is Kevin going to propose?”

“What happened from last night, when you told me you loved me, to until this morning, when you’re hoping my brother is going to ask you to marry him?” he said as he tickled her.

“I knew it would get you going. Stop!” She laughed.

“Hey, Mom and Dad are ready,” Mark called to them.

Nick let her up, and just as she went to the door, he grabbed her again. “I love you, and someday, I might just ask you,” he said to her.

“And then someday, I may just say yes. And I love you, too.” She kissed his cheek and headed down the steps with a smile.

Downstairs, the living room was full of gifts. Against the wall, were three snowboards, red, black, and green. There was a huge race track set up, almost spanning the entire room, and various other gifts under the tree.

“No way, snowboards!” Kevin went straight over to check them out.

“Kev, you’re grounded. No snowboarding for you with your arm like that,” his mother reminded him.

“Wow, Kev, I don’t know what to say.” Mark put his arm around him after seeing the look of disappointment on his face.

“I do!” Nick exclaimed. “We will be thinking about you as we slice through the slopes!”

Mark high-fived him and they both laughed.

“Leave your poor brother alone. Come on, let’s get this started,” their mother commanded and sat down next to their father.

Max dug through his pile of presents. He would open a box, to see clothes or a knit cap and gloves, and then throw it to open another.

“Hey, Chlo, what are you doing?” Nick asked.

“I’m watching, Max,” she replied and smiled.

“Chloe, there’s a pile there for you, too.”

“Why would there be? You gave me my stuff last night,” she replied, while looking shocked.

“Chloe, Sweetie, we wouldn’t leave you out,” Gina explained.

“Yeah, this pile next to mine is yours,” Nick told her, a little confused by her reaction.

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“Really? That’s mine?” Chloe felt suddenly overwhelmed.

Mrs. Allen looked puzzled. She took her by the hand and led her into the kitchen.
 
Pulling out a chair, she had Chloe sit down at the table. “Chloe, Honey, why would you think we would leave you out?”

“I just thought that what you gave me last night was all…” Chloe’s voice faded away. She was wringing her hands and trying not to fidget too much.

“When did he start leaving you alone on Christmas, really?”

Chloe twisted a lock of hair around her finger. “Two years ago,” she answered softly.

“And when was the last time you had a real Christmas and presents?”

“It doesn’t matter. I get a card with money in it every year.” She tried to stick up for them.

“Chloe, Honey, when was it?”

Chloe tried to avoid the question, but she knew his mother would not give up. “Six years ago, before my mother died, because she died in November and she’d been so sick she couldn’t go out to shop. The first Christmas without her, he told me I was old enough to realize that Christmas was just a silly holiday and we didn’t need to celebrate it anymore. Shelly made him get a tree after they got married, and they gave each other gifts and I get my card. Please don’t tell anyone, Mrs. Allen. I feel so silly because after she died, I made myself believe it didn’t matter anymore. I’m overwhelmed by what you’ve done for me. I’m just not used to it,” Chloe confessed to her as she wiped the tears that were forming in her eyes.

“Nick doesn’t know about, then?”

“No, I’ve told him so much already. I thought that if I told him everything, he would just feel sorry for me and maybe not want anything to do with me.” Chloe tried to make light of it.

Mrs. Allen took her hand and held it tightly. “Sweetie, I wish I could change everything that’s happened. You’ve had to grow up pretty fast, and deep down, you’re still just that little girl who lost her mother. If I could take you away from what your life must be like at home, I would. But since I can’t, while you’re here, you have a family that cares about you. Please, be that little girl again and enjoy Christmas, like you used to. Go and rip into those gifts like Max, or he’ll run out of his own and move to yours next.” Gina laughed through her tears.

“In case I didn’t say it, thank you, Mrs. Allen. You have been the closest person I have to a mom in a long time. And I hope that if anything bad ever happens between Nick and me, I can still think of you that way,” Chloe dared to say, hoping she didn’t cross any lines. But it was true. Gina Allen had treated her like one of her children without question, and she hated when she had to leave and go back home, because she missed her mothering when she wasn’t around.

Gina hugged her tightly. “Okay, then drop the Mrs. Allen stuff and call me Gina. And if anything bad happened between you and Nick, I will personally kick his butt for losing you. Now, let’s wipe away our tears, because we are both a mess right now, and go back out there. I want to watch you open those gifts like a little girl again.”

Chloe laughed and wiped her tears away, then they both went out arm and arm.

 
“Everything all right?” Mr. Allen asked his wife as she sat down and took his hand.

“Fine, it was just a girl thing.” She smiled and again wiped the tears from her eyes.

Nick gave Chloe a look.

 
She just smiled at him and reached for the first gift.

“Oh, Chloe, there’s an envelope there. What we did was take the money your lovely stepmother gave us for you and split it. So tomorrow, if you want, you and I can get up early and hit the sales at the mall,” Gina suggested.

“Honey, we’re leaving tomorrow,” Mr. Allen reminded her.

She turned and looked at him. “What time?”

“I would like to be on the road by noon.” He gave her a puzzled look.

“The sales start at six. That gives us six hours. You guys can sleep in and get the van packed. When we get back, we can go.” She put her hands in her lap and went back to watching the kids open their gifts.

“Yeah, that’s plenty of time. I need to get a dress for New Year’s Eve anyway. I really don’t like the one Shelly got me. When we’re done, could you look at it and see if I’m just being silly?” Chloe asked, wanting her opinion about the dress Shelly had bought. It was a size too small and a little too grown-up for her, but if Nick’s mom thought it was okay, she would wear it.

“Sure, and if it isn’t right, then I know just the place,” Gina answered.

“Did you find my gift yet?” Nick broke into the conversation.

“No, should I?”

“I’m thinking you should.” He reached back and handed her the box.

“Nick, you never did tell me what you got her.” His mother realized that he hadn’t, and that wasn’t like him.

“Well, find mine to you and we can open them together,” Chloe suggested as she tried to think what could be in the small square box.

“Chloe, it’s from me and Nick. Yeah, he forgot to put my name on it, but it is.” Kevin laughed as he went through the rest of his stuff.

“It is not! You were just there. That was it. Don’t listen to him,” Nick defended.

“Okay, you go first.” Chloe waited for him to open his.

He did and saw she’d gotten him the silver dog tag he’d been looking at for a while. “You remembered. I saw this, what? Like two months ago? When we went shopping for that stuff for Millie. That’s cool, I love it.” Nick kissed her quickly. “Now open mine.”

She ripped the paper from the box. “What is this?”

“Open it and find out,” Nick urged.

Chloe opened the box to find the charm bracelet with five charms. She couldn’t believe he’d even known about it.
 
She ran her fingers over the links and looked at the five charms that hung from it.

“I couldn’t think of what to get you and Gabbie told me about your mom’s. If you don’t like the charms, we can take them back and get others.” He was unsure of what she was thinking. She just sat there, staring at the bracelet.

She looked up, leaned over, and kissed him. “I love it and I don’t want to change anything.” Carefully, she took it out of the box.

Nick took it from her and put it on her wrist.

“So, what charms did you get her?” His mother looked impressed by the thoughtful gift.