Sealed with a Kiss, Leeanna Morgan [black authors fiction .txt] 📗
- Author: Leeanna Morgan
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Bella shook her head. “Open yours first. I made it myself.”
He carefully undid the tape and peeled back the paper. Bella didn’t say anything as he pulled an album out of the paper. He felt her gaze on him as he opened the cover.
“I called it, Christmas Memories,” Bella said as she crawled across to where he was sitting. She knelt beside him and pointed at the first photo. “Uncle Grant looked through his photos and found some of your old family ones. Rachel helped me copy our photos.”
The first photo was of his family. He would have been about six month’s old. Grant was sitting on the floor holding him in his arms. His mom and dad were crouched either side of them, smiling at the camera.
“It’s your first Christmas,” Bella said. “Keep going. It gets better.”
John turned to the next page. Another Christmas photo appeared, but instead of a Christmas tree, Grant and John were sitting on Santa’s knee, enjoying Christmas at the mall. The page was adorned with paper hearts and small Christmas pictures.
“Did you have enough scrapbooking supplies?”
“I had to make some. Rachel couldn’t come here yesterday, so Mrs. Daniels helped me.”
He turned to the next photo and looked at Bella. “Are there photos in here of each Christmas?”
Bella nodded. “That’s why it’s called, Christmas Memories. Do you like it?”
He left the album on the coffee table and pulled Bella close. “I love it. Thank you.”
Bella buried her head in his shoulder. “I wanted to make something special for you. Rachel took my photo at the mall with the elves. It was so much fun. That’s when I decided to make you a Christmas photo album. I found two photos of Mom and me at Christmas, but we haven’t got any with you.”
John swallowed the lump in his throat. He picked up the album and turned to the two photos Bella was talking about. Jacinta looked back at him, laughing at the camera with the same carefree spirit that he’d loved. “I wasn’t home when you were a baby, Bella. I was working overseas.”
“I know. That’s why I added your military photo.” She pointed at the photograph she’d stuck to the page. “I put little flags around the edges.”
John kissed the top of her head, then turned to the back page. “Is this empty page for this Christmas?”
Bella smiled. “How did you guess?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It could be because we’ve got the most amazing tree this year. And Uncle Grant hasn’t stopped bragging about a new camera he bought last week.” John leaned forward and whispered in Bella’s ear, “He might be expecting to take the photo.”
Bella threw her arms around his neck. “He is going to take our photo. He’s got a tripod and a timer and everything. Do you think Rachel could be in the photo, too? It was almost her idea.”
John’s heart sank. “Bella, Rachel’s busy and can’t be part of our family photo.”
Bella’s arms dropped from around his shoulders. “I know.”
John watched her bent head and tried to think of something to say. “You haven’t opened your present from me, yet.”
Bella’s head shot up. She slipped off his knee and watched him walk across to the tree. “It must be here somewhere,” he muttered, as he pretended to search through the gifts.
“I could help you look.”
“It’s okay. It’s right here.” John handed the present to Bella. “Merry Christmas.”
Bella tore the paper off the present and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, Dad. I love it.”
John knew how much she enjoyed creating things, so he’d bought her a big paint set and four different sized canvases.
“Can I paint something now?”
John couldn’t think of a single reason why she couldn’t paint now. At least if she was busy, he wouldn’t have to get his brother out of bed too early. “Let’s go into the kitchen. You can paint while I make breakfast.”
“Can you make pancakes?”
“Blueberry, cinnamon, or maple syrup?”
Bella thought long and hard. “Blueberry, please.”
They walked through to the kitchen and John took some eggs and buttermilk out of the refrigerator. “You’ve got nice manners.”
“I know.” Bella sighed. “Mrs. Daniels said I need to be extra good to make up for running away from Tank and Rachel. I got them into trouble, didn’t I?”
“You shouldn’t have run away, Bella. You could have been hurt.”
“I won’t do it again. Is that why Rachel doesn’t live here anymore?”
“Some of the reason. Rachel has things she needs to do.”
Bella’s bottom lip wobbled. “Doesn’t she like me?”
“She likes you. You’ll see her at school in another couple of weeks.”
“But that’s a long time away.”
“It’s the best I can do. How many pancakes would you like?”
“Three.” She smiled at John. “Please. Do you think Mr. Daniels would like a pancake? He’s been awake all night, but he didn’t see Santa Claus. Mr. Daniels thinks he must have been checking the garage when Santa snuck into the living room.”
John listened to Bella as she told him what Jim Daniels had been doing all night. With all his hair-raising adventures, John was surprised Santa had risked landing on their roof.
Jim Daniels, as well as being an ex-SAS officer and his housekeeper’s husband, was a good storyteller. And if John was lucky, his adventures would be enough to stop Bella asking about Rachel again.
John watched his brother flop onto the sofa. It was eight-thirty at night. Another Christmas had almost been and gone.
Grant sighed. “Bella is now happily sleeping after two chapters of Anne of the Island. She’s really got a thing for Anne Shirley. I’m surprised she hasn’t dyed her hair red.”
“Keep that observation to yourself,” John muttered. “If she thinks red hair is a possibility, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Grant snorted. “The trials and tribulations of being a parent.”
John cradled his coffee mug in his hands. “Do you remember when Spiderman hit the shelves at the library? You wanted to climb down the side of Mr. Garvey’s shed, just like Spiderman would have done.”
“It didn’t do me much good. You must have run like the wind to get home before I took my first step.”
John could still remember the terror that had propelled him forward. “You’re my older brother. You were supposed to have more common sense than me. Jumping off the side of a three-story barn wasn’t smart.”
“Tell me about it. Mom didn’t let me take a Spiderman comic out of the library for a month after that. She couldn’t have inflicted a worse punishment on me.”
John thought about their childhood, the carefree days of living on a ranch surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. He’d never fully appreciated what they’d had until he was halfway around the world, fighting in a war no one would ever win.
Grant stood and added another log to the fire. “Do you want to tell me why you’ve been trying so hard to smile?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you don’t. Just like you don’t know why you keep looking at the two presents that haven’t been opened.”
John narrowed his eyes at his brother. “It’s none of your business.”
“Where have I heard that before?” He walked across to the Christmas tree and took the presents out from under the branches. “Well, that’s a surprise. One of the presents is for you, and the other one is for Rachel.”
“Bella made her something.”
“And you didn’t think to drop it off?” Grant frowned at him. “I get it now. You’re scared of her.”
John clamped his lips together. He knew what his brother was up to. He was trying to rattle him, get under his skin until he annoyed him so much that he’d tell him everything.
Grant left the two presents on the coffee table. “Are you going to open the present that Rachel left for you?”
“No.”
“Come on. It won’t kill you to open it. It’s Christmas. That’s what people do.”
“I fired her, called her things that I shouldn’t have. She must have left our presents under the tree after she came home to pack her bags.”
“Bella liked her gift.”
John knew that was the biggest understatement of the year. Rachel had given Bella an Anne of Green Gables T-shirt, a carry bag, and a coloring book. Bella hadn’t taken the T-shirt off all day.
“So you’re worried that your gift might contain cyanide?”
John looked at the two presents. “I hurt her.”
“Tell her you’re sorry. She’d be the first
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