Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
There was one more person that we had gifts for as well. Lara, who wasn’t expecting anything, was shocked when Zaley took the first gift over to her.
“We got you some things as well. I hope you don’t mind.” I saw the look on my little girl’s face as she watched the woman apprehensively. She was nervous for a moment, but then she lit up. Zaley’s face lit up about a second before Lara’s did.
“Y..you got me something?”
“Yes. You are celebrating with us, so we got you gifts. Don’t worry about not getting something for us. We have all that we need.” Zaley looked at me and Joaquin with bright, smiling eyes before looking back to Lara. “We have more than we need, and we want to share it with you now.”
“That is so sweet.” Lara wiped a tear from her eye and then looked up at Zaley again. “Which one are you again?”
“I am Zaley. The youngest of the quads. I was the surprise baby, because my brothers were hiding me in the womb. The doctor didn’t see me on the ultrasound.”
“Oh, isn’t that sweet. A surprise baby or not, I know that you are very loved, Zaley.”
“Thank you.” She smiled back at the woman and then went to grab another gift from the tree. The others did the same. Zachary, Zander, Zayden, Talia, Reagan and Rika all took gifts over to Lara as they increased the size of her gift pile.
“Why did you get me so much?” The reporter looked at me perplexed.
“You haven’t celebrated the holiday in a while, right?” I asked her with a knowing note in my voice.
“Well, no, I haven’t.”
“Then I am making up for all the missed holidays. I guessed at the sizes, and I hope that you like what we got you. If you need to exchange anything, we can take care of it. They were mainly bought from the various stores that we own, so we can handle the exchanges with no issues.”
“This is too much.” Lara wiped away another tear as she stared at the pile before her.
“No, it’s not. I wanted to do something special for you. You are celebrating with us. Not just observing the holiday that we are having. I wanted to make sure that you felt as included as possible.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Gray.”
“Call me Riviana.” I smiled at her as I handed her one more gift. “I got this one as well, but I am not sure how much you are willing to part with your other one.” The gift in my hand was small, just a little box that held something small.
“What is this?” She asked as she took the box from me.
“Just open it, then you will see.” I smiled as she excitedly pulled off the bow to the gift that I had handed her.
“I..i..is this the key to a new car?” She looked up at me.
“I admit that I got it when I saw that you had such an old car. I know that it has to be close to thirty years old. However, I also know that you love the car that you have, so you are not obligated to take this one if you don’t want to.”
“Th..this is too much. I can’t believe this. A..a..are you sure, Riviana?”
“Of course. You know something, the first Christmas that Joaquin and I were together, before we had a family, he gave me a car. It was a Jeep, big and sturdy. It was the first car that I had ever owned, and I loved that thing with all of my heart. So, I know how you feel about your car right now.”
“Thank you. This is so sweet of you. I can’t believe that you did this for me.”
“I just wanted to help you out, Lara. I hope you like it. We will take you to the garage later to show it to you. For now, though, open the rest of your gifts.” I encouraged her and the others to start tearing off all the paper that covered the presents. It was a happy and cheerful morning with everyone enjoying their gifts and sharing the love.
Once all the gifts had been opened, Reagan and Joaquin helped Lara carry her gifts down to the garage as we showed her what her car was. It was a sedan, nothing overly special, but I thought that she would like it. It had room for her to carry all her equipment with her, some people if she needed to, and it was big and powerful enough to handle the winters here in the Rocky Mountain State.
Lara loved the car. She cried again when she saw it, and that left me feeling really happy as well. She was feeling cared for and appreciated, or at least I thought that she was. And that was how I wanted her to feel. I didn’t want her to feel like an outsider on Christmas, that wouldn’t be fun for anyone.
What I saw when Lara opened her gift, and when she saw her new car, that was what the holidays were about. Making others happy, spreading cheer, making memories, these things and more are what the holidays were supposed to mean to everyone. It wasn’t just the gifts or how much they cost, it was the joy that they brought to Lara when she opened them. And I hoped that when this footage was edited and aired, they would be able to see that as well,
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Riviana
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We were done with the gifts for the time being, but we weren’t done with the day. Not by a long shot. We gathered a lot of our staff up and packed up several large SUVs with food and gifts. Joaquin and I had for a long time gone down to the homeless shelters in the city to deliver gifts and food. This was a large caravan that we traveled in, and it was something that the shelters had come to expect and count on. I for one wasn’t going to let the reveal change this part of our traditions.
With the dozen vehicles all traveling in one group, we made our way to the first of the four homeless shelters in the city. We delivered enough food for them to feed everyone their Christmas dinner and gifts of new clothes and other much needed items to them all. All the kids that were there got toys and new coats and boats to protect them in the winter.
We did this three more times, taking the items as a family to these people that were in need.
“Riviana?” Lara asked me as we were walking into the first of the shelters that afternoon.
“Yes?” I looked up from handing a little girl a purple coat and a teddy bear.
“Why do you do this?” She was looking around the shelter and at all the people that were happy to be getting something for the holiday.
…..
“Why?” I was surprised by her question. “Hmm. Well, let me see. After my first baby shower, when I was pregnant with the twins, I had started to give back to the community. Joaquin and I had more than enough to do everything on our own, but our pack at the time had insisted on giving us so much for the babies. I know that it might sound rude, donating those items that they had gifted us, but we really didn’t have a need for them. However, there were other people in our pack and in the city that did need them. So, we decided to give them the items that we couldn’t put to use.”