Stevie had already dressed and was in the kitchen stirring in some cooking pots. She wore a white cooking apron above her red dress to prevent it from getting spotted with sauce.
Lindsey was still upstairs showering and getting ready while Sara was in the dining-room with Shadow, setting and decorating the table.
Suddenly, the bell rang and the little dog started barking in an excited high pitched sound - Stevie could very well imagine how this was going to sound when the dog would have reached its full size and potential.
"I get it!", Sara shouted and ran to the door.
Barbara and Jess were the first ones to arrive. They all hugged each other warmly and Sara guided them into the living-room, so they could admire their beautiful Christmas tree.
Shortly after, Lori, Christopher and Jessica arrived and the whole procedure repeated itself. Dog-barking, hugging, chatting, living-room!
Lindsey's brother Jeffrey, his wife and their two children were the last ones to rang the bell as they needed to take a plane to Arizona. When they all settled down in the living-room, Lindsey joined them to welcome them happily.
"Where's Stevie?!", Lindsey asked after a few minutes and looked around.
"She went back in the kitchen!", Barbara responded.
"Oh, I go and see if I can help her."
Lindsey had made his way into the kitchen and there she was - dressed in a beautiful dark red dress, platform boots, her long, golden hair covered her back in soft curls. She twirled around and he saw the cute, little white cooking apron tied around her belly. That was too much for him!
"You look beautiful, Steph!", he said and walked over to her.
"Oh, Linds. Thanks God! I already thought you were drowned in the shower!", her voice sounded nervous.
"I was in the living-room, welcoming our guests.", he explained and wrapped his arms around her, placing soft kisses on her neck, "How can I help you?"
"You can take these out and serve the appetizers!", Stevie pointed at the aperitifs.
He nodded and kissed her gently on her lips, "You're doing a great job, Steph!"
She smiled as she watched him leaving the kitchen again.
---
The rest of the dinner went very well. Everybody was making compliments about the food, they were chatting, drinking plenty of wine and having fun.
After the dessert, Stevie started cleaning the table, she refused taking any help from Barbara and Lori and sent them back to the living-room, instead.
Sara and the kids were playing with Shadow while the other guests had sat down on the couch.
Lindsey left them and got back into the kitchen. She smiled relieved as she saw him.
"We're done! It's over!", she said happily, pointing at the empty plates and cooking pots.
"And you did an amazing job! Everybody loved the food! I'm so proud of you."
Her mood had visibly improved and he saw it was safe to approach her. He wrapped his arms around her and their eyes met.
"Have I told you yet how beautiful you are?", he asked.
"No", she lied, "Tell me about it!"
"You look absolutely breathtaking in that sexy red dress and I would just love to rip it off of you, right here, right now", he smirked seductively, squeezing her ass.
"Linds.. We're having guests over!", she laughed.
He picked her up and sat her down on the kitchen board, placing soft kisses down her throat, "They don't need to find out..", he said in between kisses, lifting up her dress and his hand moved up her thighs while he kissed her passionately, "Just be quiet for a change.."
"Linds..", she moaned, "We have to stop!", she went on.
"Why?"
"Because we always get caught, remember? First Mick, Karen, then Sara...."
"Sara?!", he looked up at her quizzically.
"She heard us..."
"Really?", he chuckled.
She nodded, "We'll save that for later!", she kissed him once more and jumped off the kitchen board.
---
It was time for Christmas presents and everybody had started giving them to each other. It was wonderful to see how much joy it brought to everyone, but especially to the kids.
Stevie loved seeing those children's eyes getting wide of excitement every time they unwrapped a present.
"I've got a little something for you..", Lindsey whispered in her ear. He got up and handed her a medium-sized package. It was packed in golden wrapping paper and its content was soft.
She looked into his eyes, slightly confused what could be in there.
"Just open it up!", he said, reading her mind.
She unwrapped it and inside she found three things. The first one was a golden necklace with a small pendant and an emerald stone. She remembered that necklace, "Linds, but this is your mother's neckl..."
"I know. You always loved it!"
She nodded and remembered when she was 20 and saw it for the very first time. She was enchanted by it. It was so simple and yet so beautiful. For years, she had been searching for something similar.
"She always said to me, 'give it to the woman who is worth it'."
She smiled sadly by his words. She had always loved Lindsey's mother Rutheda and it hurt to know that she was gone. He took it and tied it at her neck.
The next thing in the package was a beautiful white dress – totally her style – made out of chiffon. She smiled to herself as it was a summer dress and it was terribly cold outside.
She opened the envelope and two plane tickets fell into her lap.
"I hope you'll wear the dress for me when we go there!", he said and she shrieked as she saw that they were flying to the Seychelles in less than a few weeks. She fell into his arms and kissed him thankfully.
"Merry Christmas, Steph!"
"Merry Christmas, Linds. This is beautiful, thank you so much!"
---
They talked for hours and it was very late when the guests got up to crawl into their bedrooms. Most of the children had fallen asleep on the couch and needed to get carried up into their beds.
At that moment, Stevie was very glad about having such a huge house with so many guest rooms that she didn't have to send anybody home or to a hotel.
Lindsey and Stevie went up to their room and she locked the door. They got changed and she went into the bathroom to get rid of her make up. As soon as she lay down beside him on the bed she took his hand and looked at him.
"I've got something for you as well, Linds.. I didn't want to give it to you in front of everybody as it was something more intimate.."
He chuckled, turned his face to her and began undressing her.
"What are you doing?", she asked laughingly.
"Unwrapping my present!", he said.
"Linds... I really got you something!", she laughed.
"Oh, I thought..."
"Yeah, you'll get that later, as well...", she rolled her eyes playfully.
"Thanks God!", he mumbled.
She turned to her bedside table, opened the first drawer and grabbed a small box. She gave it to him.
He took it and watched it closely. This was so her – decorated with little moons and crystals.
"Open it!"
He did as she demanded. The inside was made out of red velvet and in the middle of it lay two keys.
He looked at her quizzically.
"You know how very hard it is to get you something?", she laughed at the expression on his face, "This one", she pointed at the smaller key, "is the one to my house, to our home. I want you to move in with us. And this one", she pointed at the other key, "is for your new music studio that is going to be made in the basement of this house next week, so you can bring all you guitars and stuff with you when you move in and work here."
He looked at her. He was so touched by her gift that he was speechless. She saw some tears forming in his beautiful blue eyes and smiled at him.
"Do you like it?", she asked.
"Oh Steph! I love it! I love you!", he said and covered her entire face with warm, soft kisses.
She laughed at his emotional outburst and returned soft kisses which turned into passionate, fiery ones, and shortly after they got rid off their clothes and ended up in intensive love-making.