Chapter 25

Christmas morning came and Bob slipped downstairs at four a.m. He went to the pantry and took out the presents that he had bought for Ann and Brenda and arranged them under the tree. He filled the stockings with the small, but definitely not cheaper, presents that he had picked up. The past couple of days he and Ann had to slip away to be together whenever Brenda was either riding her horse or was with Todd.

About five thirty he heard movement upstairs. Soon Ann came down the stairs with Bob's robe over top of her pajamas. Ann walked to him and put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

She pulled away a little and looked at Bob, "Merry Christmas."

Bob pulled her to him again and kissed her. Ann made no attempt to move away from him. When they broke their kiss she kept looking into his eyes; drinking in his rugged good looks.

They heard a chair scraping on the floor and looked at Brenda sitting down at the table, "Gosh, don't you two ever stop? Coffee ready?"

Ann's face began to turn beet red, "Gosh Mom, you don't think that I can see what's going on?" Are we going to eat breakfast first or open presents first?"

Bob spoke first, "Let's all get a slice of toast and a cup of coffee and take it in the living room and open presents."

Bob put the bread in the toaster and then poured each of them a cup of coffee. They were waiting for him to lead the way so he passed them and walked into the living room. He put a couple of logs on the fire and shoved a piece of fat wood under the logs to get them started. When they saw all of the presents under the tree, they both gasped.

Bob sat on the couch and put out his hand to Ann, "Since we're already busted, why don't you sit here with me. Brenda can pass out the presents."

Ann sat next to Bob and he put his arm around her and Ann looked quickly at Brenda to see if her daughter approved.

Brenda went to the tree and began to look at the presents, "Mom, these look like their all for us! Wait, look. Didn't you get us anything Bob? All of the presents have from Santa Claus on them."

Bob got a silly grin on his face, "Why should I buy you any presents?"

Ann gave him a stern look and Bob gave her a quick kiss and said, "It's just great having you here. Thanks for sharing your Christmas with me."

"Bob, you shouldn't have..."

Bob cut her off, "Do you know how I've spent Christmas the past few years? I've spent Christmas in the office alone and working. I told myself that I could get a lot more done because there was no one to interrupt me. You don't know how great it is to share Christmas with two people that I care about."

Brenda started handing out the presents. She would hand one to her mother and then open one herself. Brenda picked up one heavy package and opened it. It was a top of the line laptop computer. Ann opened her first present and it was an Omega watch. Brenda decided to open a small present and saw that Bob had given her a pocket computer.

When they had opened all of the presents, except several that the labels said were for Paula and Dave, Bob had given Ann a set of Coach Luggage and a briefcase, jewelry and perfume. In several boxes he had put a gift certificate to some of the better women's shops in Washington, D.C.; he had put the gift certificate in a big box like her parents had done years ago. Bob was beginning to worry that Brenda would have trouble getting all of her things back to college.

Ann went upstairs and came back with two presents, "These are from Brenda and me."

Bob opened his first present and it was a heavy hand knit sweater from the Aran Islands. He knew that it strained her budget because they were very expensive and only a limited number were available each year. He opened his second present and it was a bottle of Lagerfeld aftershave.

"I got you that because that's the men's aftershave that I like," Ann smiled.

Bob saw that the envelope was still under the tree, "Brenda, there's an envelope under the tree that has your name on it."

Brenda opened the envelope and saw that there were ten one hundred dollar bills in it. There was also a Visa card in the envelope.

Brenda looked at Bob quizzically.

"You're going to have to drive back to college by yourself. Your mother and I have to go to South America on January Third. That's money so that you can eat and stay at a motel at night. I don't want you trying to drive straight through. The Visa card is a prepaid card. There's four thousand on the card right now and I'll keep an eye on the balance so that it doesn't run out."

Brenda got up with a big grin on her face, "I'll fix breakfast."

Ann looked up at her daughter, "Oh no. Not unless you learned to cook in the past week. I've tasted some of your cooking, remember?"

Bob stood up, "It's my kitchen and I'm going to fix breakfast. You two go through your gifts and tell each other how mistreated you both are."

Bob went into the kitchen and began to prepare breakfast. He heard Brenda and Ann talking and laughing in the living room.

Bob was fixing breakfast when Ann came in and hugged him from behind. Within minutes he had a second pair of arms around him. Bob turned and had two women in his arms.

Ann looked up at him, "Why did you spend so much on us? You went way overboard."

Bob hugged them closer, "I told you what my Christmas has been like the past few years. I feel so great about having two people that I think are really super spend Christmas with me that I decided to make this a Christmas you'll remember for a long time. Now, if you don't like the presents; I'm sure that I could take them to Goodwill tomorrow."

"I think I'll keep mine," Brenda laughed.

"You'd better let me go before breakfast burns."

Bob rushed around the kitchen, trying to keep things from getting over done, and soon had eggs, bacon and waffles on the table. He poured a glass of orange juice and a coffee for each of them and sat down.

After breakfast Brenda asked her mother if she could go over to Todd's house a little later. She said that Todd said that he had a small present for her. Brenda promised to be home for Christmas dinner. She and Todd had made their plans already. Todd and Brenda would both eat Christmas dinner with their respective families and then they would spend the rest of Christmas day with each other.