A few months later, it was the first Christmas Ollie and I were together, and I had no idea what to expect. We were spending Christmas Day with our respective families. Ollie with the extended Watson clan, and me with Alice and my current foster brother, William. We had agreed that Christmas Eve would be the day we would spend together and exchange gifts.
Christmas Eve morning had the first snowfall of the winter that year. Ollie arrived at the door, set a bag inside the hallway, and asked me to join him for a walk. I wrapped myself up warmly and took his hand as we walked to the small park a few streets away. The snow was starting to fall thickly, and it was creating a white blanket over everything. It was picture postcard perfect as we walked over to the deserted play area, dusted the snow from the swings, and sat down.
“Sunshine, there’s something I want to tell you,” he announced as he rocked back and forth slowly.
“Oh?” I asked, trying not to sound nervous.
“Yeah. It’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a while.” He sounded unsure of himself, and I could feel the knot in my stomach grow and my palms starting to sweat.
“What is it?” I asked him.
“Well, Josh,” he started, “the thing is, I’ve been pretty sure for a while now that I’m in love with you.” He paused, and I couldn’t believe my ears.
“You what?”
“I love you, sunshine.” He grinned at me.
Warmth flooded me in a way I had never known before. I stopped swinging and stared at him.
“You love me?” I asked him, not believing my ears.
“Is that a bad thing?”
I jumped from my swing, suddenly concerned I was offending him. I launched myself into his lap on the swing and hung on to his neck. “No! It’s fantastic! Oh, Ollie! I can’t believe how lucky I am! I love you too! So much!”
He pulled me tight against him and pressed his lips against mine; a slow soft kiss at first, passion bubbling up between us quickly, his tongue duelling with mine. He held me tight against his body as we kissed each other feverously. The snow was falling thick and fast by the time he put me back on my feet.
“I think we should head back before we turn into snowmen!” he said.
I smiled at him. “I guess so.”
We walked hand in hand through the heavy snow, back to Alice’s house.
When we arrived, Alice ushered us into the living room to enjoy the big open fire and the lights dancing on the large real fir tree in the corner of the room. We snuggled on the sofa, and Alice brought us in some hot chocolate before making herself scarce again. After about half a cup, Ollie took my drink from me.
“Hey! I wasn’t finished!” I giggled.
“You don’t want to drink too much of that anyway, you’ll just get fat,” he scolded.
My face fell. Is he saying I’m fat?
“Besides,” he added, “if you have a cup in your hand, you can’t open your gift!” He smiled, and some of the sting of his previous comment was forgotten.
All of the sting vanished when I peeled back the wrapping paper of the gift Ollie had presented me with. I found a dark blue velvet jewellery box. I held my breath as I opened it. A little golden sun with silver inlays came into view, hanging on a silver chain.
“Oh my God, Ollie! It’s beautiful!”
He beamed at me. “It’s a sun for my sunshine.” He took the little velvet box from my hands and lifted out the necklace. “Turn around,” he instructed as he opened the catch on the delicate silver chain. I turned, allowed him to slip the necklace around me, and held my hair out of the way as he fastened it behind my neck.
“Oh, Ollie,” I said again as I looked at the sun that hung around my collar. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as I turned back around to face him. “I’ve never had anything so beautiful.” I wrapped my arms around him.
“Sunshine, you are beautiful, and you deserve beautiful things. I want to make it my job to spoil you as often as I can.” Tears spilled from my eyes, and I snuggled tightly against him, overwhelmed by his statement of love in the park, his gift, and his promise to spoil me. I felt like a fairy tale prince, and I was overwhelmed, surrounded by a bubble of love and pure joy.