Anna's Taboo Christmas Gift

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~~ All characters in this book are over 18. ~~

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Chapter 1

Christmas Eve. Nineteen Years Ago.

"Merry Christmas!" Jimmy yelled, running into the house. He dashed into the family room, not even taking off his coat. "Santa came!" he shouted, jumping excitedly. "He came! He came!" The Christmas tree, which had been dark when his mother had taken him out to the car to drive to church, was now lit up, shining in the shadowy room. And the glass of milk and plate of cookies were empty, with only a few crumbs left.

And best of all, there were

presents

under the tree, way more than this morning! Jimmy's eyes rounded as he took in the heap of packages, topped with bows and wrapped in bright paper.

He reached for one, and then was caught up in a strong pair of arms. "Not so fast, Slugger," his father rumbled into his ear. "What did Mom tell you when we were driving home?"

He sighed. "We open presents as a family," he recited.

"Right. So go hang up your coat. And if you need to use the bathroom, do that. Your presents will still be here when you get back."

"Can I change, too?" he asked. "I don't like these dumb church clothes. They itch."

A fond hand ruffled his hair. "Of course you can, sweetie," his mother said as his father put him down. "Run along now."

Jimmy ran upstairs, hung up his coat, peed and flushed the toilet and washed his hands, and changed into his favorite pair of pajamas, the ones with the little rocket ships on the front. When he got back downstairs to the living room, a fire was crackling in the fireplace and his parents were sitting on the couch, with a plate of snacks on the coffee table. They each held glasses of wine, and Jimmy made a face. He had tried some, once, when the neighbors had visited and his mother wasn't looking. It tasted

terrible.

"I think Jimmy should look in his stocking first," his mother said. "I think I saw something in there."

Jimmy nodded and lifted the bright green stocking, knitted by his grandmother, off the hook where it hung over the fireplace. The first thing his fingers encountered was a long, white envelope.

"For Jimmy,"

was written on the front in big fancy letters.

"A...letter?" he asked slowly.

"A letter from Santa Claus?" his father said. "Wow! Do you want to read it?"

Jimmy nodded and opened the envelope. There was a single page inside, covered with printed letters.

"Dear Jimmy,"

he sounded out slowly.

The first few words were easy, since he had seen them so often lately. But some were long and hard. He looked up. "I can't read it all."

"How about you come and sit down with us," his mother suggested. "And we can read it together?"

"Okay." He climbed onto the couch, sitting between his mom and dad like he did when they all watched a movie. He held the letter in his hands, and his mother's finger traced the words, the same way she did when she was reading him a story at bedtime.

"Dear Jimmy,"

he read again, his mother helping him when he reached a word he didn't understand.

"Ho Ho Ho. Merry Christmas! This is your good buddy Santa Claus!

"I know you have been extra good this year, and I hope you like the presents I brought you. But I wanted to let you know about a special surprise.

"You're going to be a big brother! That's right. Your mommy and daddy are going to have a baby girl. Her name is Anna. She is going to be your little sister, and you will be her big brother. She's in your mommy's belly right now, but she will be born this spring, when all the flowers are coming up! You need to be a good big brother to her, and love her and teach her everything she needs to know. Being a big brother is a big responsibility, but I'm sure you'll do a great job. Anna will be a lovely little girl, so you have to do your best to be the best big brother you can be!

"Well, I better run. It's Christmas Eve and I need to feed the reindeer before the big night! We've got lots of presents to deliver, and Comet and Blitzen get cranky if they don't get their special trail mix before we take off from the North Pole.

"Ho Ho Ho, and Merry Christmas!

"Be good!

"Santa."

Jimmy's mouth fell open and he stared up at his mother. "A-a sister?" he stammered.

She smiled down at him. "Yes. Are you happy?"

He frowned and chewed his lip. "I don't know. Will I have to share my room?"

His father chuckled. "She'll sleep in our room for a little while, Jimmy. The same way you did when you were a baby. But when she's big enough, she'll have her own room."

"Okay." He stared at his mother's stomach. It didn't look

nearly

big enough to hold another person. "And she's in there? In your belly?"

She lay a hand across her stomach. "Yes. You can't feel her yet. But soon you will be able to."

"Wow. How did she get in there?"

His mother put her arm around his shoulders. "When mommies and daddies want to have a baby, there's a special seed they use. And the seed turns into a baby."

"So you swallow it?"

Jimmy didn't understand why that made his mother turn pink, or his father chuckle. "Sometimes."

"But what about the other times?"

"What I want to know," his father said. "Is how Santa knew about your little sister. We haven't told anyone. Not even your grandparents. How did that fat old man find out?"

"Santa knows everything," his mother said, and Jimmy nodded. "And now I think it's time for us to open presents, isn't it?"

"Well, that seemed to go well," Carl said, his voice low, as his wife returned from tucking their son into bed. "No screaming, no tantrums." He shot a look at his wife. "Comet and Blitzen get special trail mix?"

"Poetic license," his wife replied serenely. "Anyway, Jimmy isn't the sort of little boy who throws tantrums," Lindsey said, sitting down with a sigh. "And he was more excited by the new bike. Plus, wouldn't you have been thrilled to be getting a letter from Santa Claus when you were five years old?"

"True." Carl got up with a groan. "I guess we should probably clean up this mess. Especially since we have to drive to Mom and Dad's place tomorrow."

"And my parents over the weekend," Lindsey agreed. "Lots of time on the road coming up. Why did we move to Chicago again?"

"Because that's where the jobs were. And because I promised to show you the bright lights and the big city."

"Hah."

Together, they dumped the crumpled wrapping paper into a garbage bag and broke down the boxes to be recycled. Jimmy's new toys, books, and clothes were put back underneath the tree. She would have to find room for them somewhere, Lindsey sighed. But not tonight.

"Hey, what's this?" Carl straightened, a small box in his hand.

"What's what?"

"This. It's addressed to you."

Lindsey took the box, too small to be anything but jewelry. "Carl William Mitchell, what did you get me?"

"Me?" Carl rounded his eyes at her. "It's not from me. Look at the label. Santa must have gotten it for you."

"Right." But her fingers were already ripping at the paper. Inside was a jewelry box. And when she opened it...

"Oh, Carl." She looked at the ring through eyes swimming with tears. "It's lovely. Is it..."

"A birthstone ring," her husband confirmed. "Garnet for Jimmy. And emerald for little Anna, when she is born in May."

"You took a chance," she commented. "What if she's late? Or early?"

"Then we exchange it. The birthstone for April is diamond. That would look nice."

"And June?"

"Pearl."

She sniffled, and put the ring on. It fit perfectly, a match for the diamond wedding band on her other hand. "You're hopelessly romantic, you know that?"

"You like it?"

"I love it." She pressed close to him, raising her mouth for a kiss. "I love you."

In the bedroom, with the only light a pair of candles, he undressed her slowly, deliberately, taking time to lavish kisses on every part of her body as he peeled away the moss-green dress she had worn to church. And when she was naked, he lay her down on their bed and went down on her, his skilled, gentle tongue slowly bringing her to a fever-pitch of arousal. She came, hard, and then a second time, more gently, and when he finally lifted his head from between her thighs, her body was damp with sweat.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured, his gorgeous prick hovering over her dew-slick lips. His expression was faintly worshipful.

"Hah," she muttered darkly. "In three months I'll be so fat I won't be able to look at myself, and my tits will swell up like a pair of water balloons. And you probably won't even want to touch me."

"I don't remember that happening last time. With Jimmy. And I actually liked it when your breasts got bigger." He kissed one in loving demonstration. "You know what a disgusting pervert I am. And how I never got over my teenage boob fetish."

Lindsey was tempted to smack the smile off Carl's face. But her heart was so full of love and desire she couldn't quite get up the motivation. "Are you going to talk all night? Or are you actually going to do something with that thing?"

He covered her with his body, his fingers sinking into her hair as he entered her. After so many years together, he didn't even need to look down. Their bodies knew. Lindsey gasped, her body humming like a plucked string. They had made love so many times that the novelty should have worn off years ago, but somehow she never got tired of it, the wonderful sensation as her husband's shaft stroked her channel, the way he moved in just the

right

way to rub against her clit.

"I love you," she said, wrapping her arms around him tight, making sure he couldn't get away. As she began to soar once again towards the height of her orgasm, she knew they would always be together.

Forever.

Chapter 2

Worst. Thanksgiving. Ever.

Anna bit her lip and tried not to sniffle.

It wasn't Jimmy's fault. She knew that. It wasn't his fault that his apartment wasn't their old home in Lombard. It wasn't his fault that his cramped kitchen didn't have enough room to prepare a proper Thanksgiving dinner, or that his windows looked out onto a rain-drenched parking lot rather than a front yard with graceful maple trees her mother had planted before she was born. It wasn't his fault that his neighbors were playing some sort of awful European death-metal that leaked through the walls. It wasn't his fault that even the weather seemed to be conspiring to make her feel miserable - day after day of cold, pounding rain, without even one soggy snowflake to make you look forward to winter.

It especially wasn't his fault their parents were dead.

Anna blinked, trying not to cry. Because that would ruin her makeup, and if

one more thing

went wrong, after the hell of the last six weeks, she was probably going to start screaming and never stop.

Her parents were dead. Her kind, sweet mother, who made the best raisin-oatmeal cookies in the world and never hesitated to give her children a swift kick in the butt if she felt they weren't living up to their potential. And her cheerful, joking father, always ready to listen, and who had regarded his lovely, golden-haired wife with the sort of absentminded awe a man feels when he can't quite believe his good fortune.

Her parents were dead, and there wasn't even anyone to blame! It hadn't been a drunk driver, or some dumb-ass kid doing seventy miles an hour and texting on his cell. Just a simple, stupid accident, when her mother had turned the wrong way onto a one-way street late one night and met an SUV coming the other way. She imagined them, leaving the restaurant, getting into the car, her mother laughing at one of her father's jokes, just distracted enough to not notice the signs.

At least they didn't suffer. At least there's that.

The music from next door stopped, and Anna relaxed. Three seconds later it started up again, a screeching buzzsaw wail that felt like it was drilling straight through her skull and into the parts of her brain that kept her sanity intact.

She gritted her teeth and cut into a slice of turkey. Across the wobbly table from her, Jimmy gave an apologetic half-smile. "Sorry. If I knew it was going to be like this, I would have suggested we go out somewhere."

"On Thanksgiving?"

"Anything is better than this," he grimaced.

"How can you live next door to these people? I mean, it's not great in the dorms. But at least if someone is making an ass of themselves, you can call the RAs and they'll make them turn their shitty music down."

Jimmy shrugged. "They just moved in a couple of weeks ago. And usually they're pretty quiet. I don't know what's going on."

Anna took another bite, then pushed her plate away, her appetite gone. They had done a pretty good job with the meal, all things considered. Not as good as her mother's Thanksgiving dinner, of course. But it would have been ridiculous trying to make a meal like that for only the two of them. As it was, they would have plenty of leftovers, even after buying the smallest turkey they could find. Turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy, kernel corn and cranberry sauce and veggies with dip and crescent rolls that weren't even close to as good as the ones her father used to make.

"Maybe we could poison them," she mused. "Maybe get some chloroform, pump it in under the door until they pass out. The entire building would cheer us on. I bet we'd even get medals."

Jimmy snorted laughter and stood up. "All right. I can take a hint. If I'm not back in five minutes, call the police."

He strode out the door and into the hall. Nervous, Anna followed. There was a firm knock, and then the music abruptly stopped, followed by the sound of her brother's voice, speaking to someone.

A few seconds later he was back. "They apologized," he said, closing the apartment door. "And they promised to keep it down for the rest of the night. I don't think they realized how thin these walls are."

A knot seemed to loosen at the back of Anna's neck. But it wouldn't do to let Jimmy get too full of himself. "My hero," she simpered up at him, batting her eyelashes outrageously. Wise to her tricks, her brother simply raised his eyebrows at her, and she giggled.

"Want a beer?" he asked, heading for the fridge. "Or I think I've got some of Mom and Dad's wine. I brought a couple of bottles back, the last time I was over at the house."

"Wine, please," she said, and was shortly rewarded with a glass of red.

"To Mom and Dad," Jimmy said, raising his bottle in a toast.

"To Mom and Dad," she whispered, and this time she did let the tears fall.

They each took a quiet drink, and Jimmy cleared his throat. "What?"

He looked down at his feet. "Listen, Anna. I know things have been really tough on you. I mean, dealing with school and keeping your grades up and dealing with...you know. Everything. I've tried not to bother you too much. I figured you were going through enough crap without me calling you every night."

She nodded. "But?"

"But we need to decide what to do with the house. Right now it's just sitting empty. I've been paying the mortgage, but-"

"You've what?" she gasped. "The mortgage? God in heaven, Jimmy, how can you afford it?"

He waved a hand. "Relax. It's only been a couple of payments. And my half of the insurance money will take care of it until it's paid off, if we decide to keep it."

"If we decide to keep it, we'll

both

pay the mortgage," she said firmly.

"Fine. But we have to decide what to do with it, first."

Anna sank onto the couch. "What are our choices?" Her voice sounded small and scared.

"Well." Jimmy moved to the kitchen and started to put things away, the way he always did when he was thinking. It was as if his brain didn't work unless his body was moving. "We can sell it, of course. Put the money in our own pockets, instead of the damn bank. But that would mean you wouldn't have anywhere to live once school is out for the year. Though you can always move in with me," he added quickly.

Anna looked around the tiny apartment, and snorted. She might have reconciled herself to sleeping on the couch for a night or two over Thanksgiving. But the thought of living with Jimmy for an entire summer, even as much as she loved her older brother, was appalling. "Yeah, let's see what's behind door number two."

"We could rent out the house. That way we would still see some income."

Rent out the house? Rent out the only home she had ever known? Let a new set of strangers live there every year, wrecking the place until it was unrecognizable? The thought made her fists clench. It was even worse than selling it. At least in selling, there would be some sense of closure. And another family (hopefully a nice one) would be taking responsibility for her childhood home.

Jimmy must have read the expression on her face. "No?"

"No," she confirmed.

Jimmy scraped mashed potatoes into a plastic container. "Then our only other choice is for one of us to move back in. Unless you want the place to just sit there empty, which would be stupid. I guess it would have to be me. The commute back and forth downtown wouldn't be much worse than what I deal with now. But it would be a pain in the ass to break the lease on this place."

"So we don't have any good choices?"

Her brother poured leftover gravy into yet another container. "Welcome to life as an adult."

Anna pressed the heels of her hands into her eye sockets. "I can't think about it now. Do we have to make a decision right away?"

"No. Of course not." Jimmy came over and sat down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into the hug. "It's our house now, Anna. Yours and mine. No one's going to put us in homeowner jail if we take some time to make up our minds."

"I just want..."

"Want what?"

"I want to say goodbye." Anna wiped her eyes, and to hell with her makeup. "Does that seem silly? The last few months, everything has been so crazy. College started, and I wanted that. Wanted to be treated like an adult. But then me and Dave broke up, because he couldn't deal with a long-distance relationship, the dumb jerk. And then Mom and Dad died. And now the house. If I lose one more thing, I won't even know who I am anymore."

"You'll always have me," her brother said with a bracing squeeze of her arm. "I promised Mom and Dad before you were born that I would always take care of you. And I always will."

He cocked his head, as if he'd had a good idea. "How about Christmas?"

"What?"

"Christmas," Jimmy said. "Work is always slow around the holidays. I can ask for time off, and you'll be on Christmas break. We can clean the place up, decide what we want to keep, what we want to pitch or give away, and what we might want to put into storage for later."

"And we can have a last Christmas at home," Anna said excitedly, her heart lifting at the idea. "A

real

Christmas," she added, looking around at the shabby apartment. Honestly, it wasn't Jimmy's fault, she knew he was saving for something better, but this place was a dump. "With a tree and presents and cookies and

good

music and our favorite shows on the TV and hot chocolate and waiting up for Santa Claus!"

Jimmy pulled back, a solemn expression on his face. "Anna, I think there's something I should tell you about Santa. You do know that he's not-"

"Blah blah blah blah blah!" She covered her ears with her hands. "I can't hear you!"

Her brother grinned, and she matched it. It was something to look forward to, something

good.

If she had to face the holidays without her parents, at least she could do it at home, with four familiar walls safe around her, and her older brother, who had always been there for her, filling the empty place where her parents had once stood.