Keeping You At Christmas (Book 2 of Christmas Series)

Our Past Year

Harper’s POV

   Over the past year, dating Caleb has been nothing short of amazing. Yeah sure there have been a few hiccups here and there but all relationships are like that. You can’t have it amazing all the time, so issues will seep in no matter what. Like some days my communication really sucks and he’s really big on communication, so it’s more him getting irritated with me for not talking at all and just working. 

   We make sure to call and text each other every day if we aren’t together. At least twice a week we FaceTime each other just to see each other’s faces. Hearing his voice is nice, but seeing his face is nicer. Sometimes when it’s been a tough week we FaceTime more than just twice. Not only that, but FaceTime s*x is pretty awesome. Who knew things like that would work for a long distance relationship? 

   Each month we take time out of our busy lives to be together. I go to see him with or without the kids once a month, it just depends on how my schedule is. He also takes some time to come see us with or without his kids. With all the back and forth we have been doing we gave each other keys to our houses pretty early on. I use my key to his house way more than he uses his to mine. 

   Over this time we have been together we have learned a lot about one another. We learned a lot about all four of the kids also. When I first met Reese, I just thought he was shy and was surprised to learn that he’s actually autistic. Caleb never said anything about it until after the second time I had seen him. We didn’t treat him any differently than the other kids and it was amazing to watch him come out of his shell and to come to know Archer, Olivia and me. 

   When Caleb first started getting to know Archer and Olivia he seemed shy and unsure of how to proceed with them. He didn’t know how to talk with them or if he should even play with them. Him and Daisy, on the other hand, hit it off right away and that seemed to have helped with Caleb blending in with Archer and Olivia. That man loves that dog as much as all the kids do. After a few times of them being around each other it didn’t take long and he was treating them like his own kids. 

   I love watching him with all the kids. I fell more in love with Caleb because of the way he interacts with them all. It’s like they are all siblings even if they really aren’t. I especially enjoy watching him at night with them. He tells the kids goodnight every night that they are with us and tucks them into bed. Could this man be any more of a perfect father? Any time he caught me staring at him when he was doing his night time activities with the kids he would always wiggle his eyebrows at me. He knew I found it sexy that he was such a great dad. 

   During our year of adventures we have taken the kids out with us everywhere we went. All the kids get along beautifully and they enjoy being together which makes outings easier. The six of us out doing anything can be interesting, because the boys are the same age at eleven and so are the girls at nine. A lot of people automatically assume that I gave birth to two sets of twins. Comments tend to be that I look amazing after giving birth to two sets of twins, or that I was brave for having two sets of twins. At first we tried to correct people but then give up when it kept happening. It's funny to think that comments like that are now normal.  

   Over the summer we went on a vacation together with the kids for three days at the beach. Olivia, Ava and Archer loved it and didn’t want to leave. We had to work with Reese when it came to the sand and the water at first. He had a few meltdowns and I would sit with him and calm him down while Caleb played in the waves with everyone else. By the last day Reese was out there playing with everyone else. 

   It was hilarious to see Ava and Reese’s faces when they saw me in a bikini. They didn’t know what to make of me having so many tattoos. Reese examined my arms and my back. It fascinated him. Sure they had seen the tattoos on my arms from wearing short sleeve shirts and the ones on my legs from having on shorts, but not the tattoos on my back. 

   During our time together I learned that Caleb likes to play pranks on people. His favorite is to prank me with fake spiders in random places every once in a while. He really paid attention to me that day in the science museum when I said I hated spiders, but why it was a good idea to scare me with them is beyond me. Great thing is I learned how to get him back. He can’t stand loud noises so when the kids aren’t around I scare the crap out of him with either an air horn or something of that nature. Reese and Archer can’t do loud noises so I’m considerate of them, just not Caleb. 

   In August I met Caleb’s younger brother, Brandon, and his wife, Sabrina. Brandon is a little shorter than Caleb but you can tell he has the same workout ethic as his older brother. He has the same honey colored eyes as Caleb, but has dark brown hair. He’s a great guy and very laid back. 

   Sabrina was pregnant when we met and very excited to be having their first baby. Sabrina and me hit it off right away. We text and call each other constantly. I see her as more of a sister than a friend at this point. She’s a little shorter than me with dark brown eyes and light brown hair. She has a sweet smile and I love talking with her. We had a lot in common and just liked to chat with each other in general. 

   I’ve seen a lot of success over the past year with my writing and my Airbnb business. I opened my third Airbnb in Waco and all of them seem to be getting a lot of attention. I decorated each of them for the holiday’s and that seemed to up my ratings. It’s crazy how something so simple can improve so much. 

   I published two more books this year. They hit the bestsellers list two weeks after they hit the shelves. I was on cloud nine. What made it better, Caleb bought and read every book I ever wrote. He was surprised with some of the things that I wrote about, and even asked if I wanted to act out some of the s*x scens I wrote. The answer to that was always yes. 

   With our ups there also come our downs. This past year has been all over the place for Caleb. Stress from work that he has talked about kept me worried about him a lot. One day they were chasing after some teenagers that had crossed the border and were running along the river. One had doubled back and was going to cross the river on his own which is dangerous. Caleb was there with several other agents when the boy went underwater and never came back up. They were able to get him out but he was no longer breathing and they couldn’t revive him. Things like that hit Caleb hard because he loves kids so much. It didn’t matter that he was a teenager or that he wasn't his kid. It still affected him greatly. Because of that incident, I ended up dropping what I was doing and traveled to see him, making sure he was really ok and letting him know that I was right there for him.

   Later this year he got into an altercation with someone he was trying to detain. He didn’t tell me how bad it really was until after I showed up for a weekend and saw his black eye and busted lip. He told me it was minor and he didn’t feel like it was that bad. I ended up raising my voice and cussed at him for the first time in our relationship. He was surprised by my outburst but didn’t yell at me for it. Instead he wrapped me in a hug and told me that he was fine. I realized that I had gotten scared and instead of being the level-headed person I like to be, I yelled. I was even more surprised that he reacted the way he did. Most men would yell back, but he didn’t. He’s always proving that he’s the perfect man for me. 

   Recently he had stopped a truck that had ten women in it trying to cross the border. He grumbled about it because of all the paperwork he had to file and then call the local police to arrest the driver. Other than all of that it was a boring year for him at work. He would rather it be a little boring just so he didn’t have to do paperwork. Sitting at a desk wasn’t for him. He needed to be on the move. 

   The most unfortunate part of this year was we were still dealing with issues caused by his ex-wife. She was still trying to get back with him when I wasn’t around. She would text or call him whenever she knew I was in town to try and make things inconvenient for us. Caleb called her the hosebeast one day when the kids weren’t around and I had to agree with him. I hoped life wouldn’t always be like this for us when it came to her. We will have to find a way to make her stop. 

   Now it’s Christmas time again and we get to be together for a week before I have to head back home. I can’t wait to see what adventures we will go through this holiday with all four kids together with his family in the place he grew up.