Christmas Love by Brittney Thompson (dark academia books to read TXT) 📕

The air was frigid, the wind howled like a pack of wolves, and the sound of carolers filled the snowy air. Katrina stared out her boyfriend’s window, watching the uniquely shaped snowflakes fall from the dark sky. She often thought of herself as a snowflake, unique and one of a kind. She couldn’t believe that the artistic, shy girl got the popular captain of the hockey team for a boy friend. She turned and looked at him as he drove down the road, humming to a Christmas song that played softly in the background. She placed her hand on his knee, making him look a t her and smile.
“Thank you for coming tonight.” He said, intertwining his fingers with hers.
“You’re welcome... I’m kind of nervous though.” She pulled her hand away, turning toward the window and then back to him. “I mean, we’ve been dating for five months and I’ve only met you’re parents… It’s just, it’s awkward, meeting the rest of your extra ordinarily large family.” She smiled.
“Don’t be nervous, they’re really nice, I promise, it’ll be fine. Don’t worry about what everyone thinks, just have fun. Be yourself, okay?” He took the wheel and turned onto a side road. She nodded.
They drove for about fifteen more minutes until they reached a mansion sized home. Katrina’s jaw slightly dropped as she stared at the magnificently decorated house. There were giant bows around the pillars in the front, blue and white lights outlined all of the windows and the French doors in the front. As Jake opened the door for her the smell of cinnamon, pine and Christmas filled the air, followed by the joyous sound of laughter filled the air. He helped her out of his dark blue truck, lifting her off of the step and placing her gently on the paved drive.
“Thank you.” She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. He grabbed her hand and squeezed.
They headed toward the door. She could feel her heart pounding, she was getting nervous. But like Jake said, ‘be you’ she thought as they reached the front door. Jake wrung the doorbell and awaited an answer. A few moments later a lady with really big blonde hair answered the door. Katrina stared at her with a slight smile, trying not to look nervous. Jake gently pulled her, telling her to follow. He entered the home and headed straight back, toward the kitchen. Katrina was in total shock. This house was huge! There were blue lights on everything that could hold them, Christmas balls hung from garland on the staircase in the corner, and then to the right, was the biggest tree she’d ever seen. It almost reached the church tall ceilings, decorated perfectly, making the room smell of fresh pine.
Jake motioned for her to come over to the crowd of people standing by him. There were several middle aged people, his parents, and then who she would suspect to be his grandparents. He whistled, and everyone that was talking stopped and turned toward him. He smiled at everyone before speaking.
“Merry Christmas Eve!” He announced, waiting until they finished saying it back, “I would like to introduce, my girlfriend, Katrina.” He motioned to her. She smiled and shrugged shyly before saying something.
“It’s nice to meet everyone. Happy Christmas Eve.” She said proudly. She gave everyone a big smile as they said it back to her.
Jake grabbed her hand lightly and pulled her toward the elderly couple sitting at the head of the very long table. “Grandma, grandpa, this is Katrina. Katrina, this is my Grandma Fae and my Grandpa Harry.”
“Very nice to meet you.” She held her hand out to meet Harry’s hand. He had a firm grip for an elder.
“She has a sweet handshake. Very feminine.” He winked at his grandson and smiled at Katrina.
Fae stood up slowly and called her toward her; she slowly inched closer, being pulled into a huge hug from Fae. “It’s so nice to meet you dear. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Good things?” Katrina asked in a small voice.
“Of course darling,” Fae exclaimed “and you can call us grandma and grandpa.”
“Okay,” Katrina smiled and stepped back, making her kitten heel clank on the hard wood floor, “you’re home is beautiful.”
“Thank you, very much.” Grandpa Harry said, pushing himself up and striding to the food counter.
“When do we eat?” She whispered to Jake.
“Soon I –“ the sound of a bell rang “well that’s the dinner bell, so now.” He smiled and held her hand as they walked to long line being formed at the food table.
Everyone was getting a plate full of food, and then they grabbed a glass and a man, in his late forties, poured the drinks. Katrina grabbed a piece of ham, mashed potatoes, corn, and yams, then realized her favorite, dinner rolls, where also there, so she took one of them as well. After getting a glass of sparkling apple cider she waited for Jake, and then sat down. They waited for the dinner party to sit down with their food, and hold hands for prayer. Katrina had to hold hands with a complete stranger, which made her sort of uncomfortable. Tom, Jake’s father, stood up and said thanks for the food, family, and friends, followed by thanks for Katrina being there. She blushed. Everyone capped and said ‘amen’.
Jake held Katrina’s hand throughout dinner. They both finished at the same time, and as Katrina went to stand up, he pulled her back down and whispered “The chef collects the plates and serves dessert. Sorry, I should have told you before.”
She quickly looked down, embarrassed. He placed his hand on her lap. She looked up with a tear in her eye. His face was overcome with sadness. He reached up and wiped away the tear, making her smile. The stared at each other like they always did. It made her feel safe; as if there was no one else she’d rather be with. She often thought of saying ‘I love you.’ But she didn’t truly know if he loved her back so she never did.
Out of the blue a hand was reaching over her, she quickly looked up to see the chef’s graying beard above her head. He was collecting the plates. She tapped her feet on the floor and winked at Jake. He winked back, making her stomach tingle. The smell of cinnamon filled the dining room and moments later a plate of with a hot cinnamon bun and a slice of cinnamon and pumpkin pie with whipped cream on the side was in front of her. Her taste buds ran wild, she absolutely loved pumpkin pie and the smell of cinnamon relaxed her. She stared at the plate of delicious dessert and then when she glanced to Jake, he was already eating. She looked across the table and everyone else either has a mouth full of pie or was taking a bite of the cinnamon bun. She quickly picked up her fork and scooped a piece of pie up, and into her mouth. She relaxed her shoulders and finished her plate.
Another bell sounded off, making Katrina jump, “It’s time for presents.” Jake told her, helping her up from her chair.
“Oh. Okay, well I, I didn’t get anyone gifts. I feel really bad.” She had a sad distressed look on her face.
“It’s fine. No one would have expected you to bring anything, and I have gifts, and you’re name is on them next to mine.” He laughed and headed toward the tree.
Katrina fixed her medium length red dress and followed everyone to the living room to open gifts. Names were being called as people walked up to the tree and grabbed their gift. Katrina stood in the corner watching everyone happily open their presents, saying ‘thank you’ and ‘you’re welcome’. Katrina looked around for Jake, but he was nowhere to be seen. By the third time his name was called, Katrina had decided to go up and claim them for him, but as she walked up to the tree, Jake ran up behind her, carrying a huge bag of gifts. She smiled and walked back to the corner she stood by before.
A few minutes later Jake appeared with five gifts in his hands. He set them down and told Katrina to sit with him on the floor, she did so and watched him open his presents from his aunts, uncles, grandparents, and parents. But then he set the last, candy cane wrapped gift aside, stood up, and held a hand out for Katrina. She stood up and he pulled her to the center of the room, waved to his uncle who9 was in charge of the Christmas music playing throughout the house, and he changed the tape to something slow. Jake held out his hand, asking Katrina to dance. She accepted and placed her hand on his shoulder. They danced through the living room, surrounded by happy family. Katrina felt so special and warm.
When the song ended, he leaned in a kissed her. She kissed him back and bit her lip as they walked away. “You should open you’re last gift.” She told him, really wondering what was inside.
“Nope. I’m not opening it.” He walked away.
Not knowing what to do, she stood there and waited. She waved to Fae as she passed through and smiled to one of the many uncles’s that Jake had. Without knowing it, Katrina started to sing to Jingle Bells when it came on. She swayed her hips and spun around. Just as she turned away from the crowd two hands grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up, spinning her toward them. Jake stood there laughing when he saw her shocked face. She giggled and lightly punched his arm. He looked at her with his big brown eyes and handed her the gift.
“What’s this?”
“The gift. It’s not mine. It’s yours.”
“F-from whom?” she asked in a high pitch.
“Me,” He said and shrugged his shoulders “It’s nothing really, just a small thing I thought you’d like.”
“Don’t say that.” She told him as she ripped at the candy cane covered paper. It was a small gift, about the size of a tennis ball.
She took all of the paper off and dropped it on the floor, she looked at the box. Taking a deep breath, she opened the box. Inside was a piece of paper with noting on it. She looked up at him, confused. He simply smiled and pulled her to him. He gave her a deep hearted hug and then whispered to her, “I love you.” He pulled away with a small smile on his face.
Katrina’s heart stopped. Her eye’s got bigger and she could feel the blood rush to her face, she smiled a huge smile and replied “I love you too.”
It was the best Christmas gift Katrina could have asked for. After the party, on their way out, they hugged everyone good-bye and headed to the car. As the stopped before leaving the covered porch and entering the snowy winter land Jake looked up and smiled. He leaned into Katrina and kissed her softly. She looked up, mistle-toe.
“I love you Katrina.” He said as he swept her off of her feet.
“Jake, I love you too.” She smiled as the snow was falling on her face and the wind made her shiver. Just as they got to his car she told him “Thank you.”

THE END