Happy Holidays! In my With Me series, the core group of guys (the heptad) has been in the military for over 20 years each and they’ve learned the value of enjoying their friends and family whenever they can. Those in the military know that coming home from a deployment isn’t always guaranteed and that missing holidays is the norm.

I participated in a birthday bash where we were asked to write a scene where our characters threw us a birthday party. Since my birthday is on Christmas Eve, I had my heptad and their spouses and children gathering at a beach house for the holidays. They “threw me a party”, celebrating the beginning of Christmas with the Icelandic tradition of giving each other books. Here’s what happened next.

 

A Heptad Christmas

“But Aunt Britt, Uncle Kevin—” Cam said looking up at his aunt. Okay, maybe she wasn’t his aunt like Aunt Becca but he saw her more than his mom’s sister.

“said we could!” Cal finished.

“Mama, we gots to stay up,” Tristan told his mother. “We gots our bags and everthin’.”

“Everything,” Brittany corrected automatically. “If you don’t go to bed, no Santa.”

“But Aunt— Ow!” Cam elbowed Cal hard in the ribs, shutting him up. “Why did—”

“If you don’t shut your mouth, I’m going—”

“Camden! If you finish that sentence, you won’t be getting any presents,” his dad said from behind Cam.

“Dad! Cal was going to tell the secret,” Cam whined. “It’s not my fault, he’s a blabber mouth.”

“Enough! So help me… how your mother hasn’t lost her mind is beyond me.” Mooney closed his eyes a took a few deep breaths. “Now—”

“Uncle Moon, can you help me with my sleeping bag?” Maddy asked softly.

“Maddy girl, why do you want to sleep on the floor?” Mooney asked as he squatted down to her level.

“Uncle Kevin said that if we sleeped in the room, we’ll see Santa,” Maddy explained, leaning against Mooney’s shoulder.

“Nibbles, let’s go get the cookies ready,” Mackey called out as he gathered the little ones. “Cam and Cal? You two get the milk. Now, what kind should we leave?” Mackey picked up Julia and walked toward the big kitchen.

Scott entered the room just in time to see Mackey acting like a big kid. “Being here with the group is all he’s talked about for months. Whoever had the idea for us to all spend it together on the beach, is a genius.” Scott stopped next to Mooney.

“Go help your uncle, Maddy.” Mooney gave Maddy a kiss before she ran off with the others.

“I think we’ve all been looking forward to this. It’s been hard keeping in touch these days. Between the kids growing up, some of us getting out, Brian’s deploying again soon. Think Mike’s dropping his papers. Yeah, way too much going on.”

“Debbie’s going back to school, too?” Scott asked as he watched his lover with all the kids.

“She’s finally going to finish her degree,” Mooney said, pride evident in his voice.

“Nutrition?”

“Yeah, then she’s going to either teach or do consulting? Maybe work in a practice? She’s got so many options now that I’m not going to drag her around every two years.”

“No feeling guilty, Mooney. We all knew what we were getting into saying yes,” Holly said as she wrapped one arm around Mooney and one around Scott. “Didn’t we, Scott?”

“Yeah, we did and Mooney should know that well. Debbie and him helped me figure it all out way back.” Scott leaned his head against Holly’s as they both gave Mooney a “look” that said ‘we’ve got this and don’t you change it’.

“Okay, I’ll try. I’m just… yeah, I think as we all look at getting out… how the hell you all haven’t left us high and dry is…” Mooney looked up at the ceiling, blinking.

“Luny?” Debbie wrapped her arms around her husband. “Kiss me? I’m under the mistletoe.”

“You never have to ask, Debs.” Mooney leaned in and laid a kiss on his wife that was probably not children safe.

“Dad!”

“Ewwww, gross!”

“Yeah, what the squeakers said,” Danny teased.

Mooney pulled back from his wife and whispered, “I’ll finish that later. First, I must kill Danny.” Mooney turned to all the kids. “Let’s get him!”

Danny turned and ran out the door onto the beach. The motley group of kids and guys chased after him with different little ones ending up in either their uncle’s or daddy’s arms. The sound of laughter, high and low, rang through the open windows.

“How’d we all get so lucky?” Jeanine asked as the spouses watched.

“It’s those damn uniforms,” Liam and Scott pointed out at the same time.

“Yeah,” the wives all agreed.

 

You can read more about the heptad and the younger crews in Kris’ With Me series. They can all be read standalone but it does add to the stories if you read them in order. The first book in the series is WAIT FOR ME

MLR Press

Amazon

 

Kris Jacen grew up just north of Boston, Massachusetts, met her soldier in high school but didn’t married him almost ten years later. She moved around with him and their daughters (born in two different states thanks to the Army) for the first 19 years of their marriage (they’ll celebrate their silver anniversary in 2018) before settling in western New York.

She has been the Editor in Chief and Formatting Director for ManLoveRomance Press and its imprints since January of 2008 and has never looked back. Working with the amazing authors at MLR has allowed her to both hone her editorial skills and indulge her inner fangirl. She also acts as editor, mentor and sounding-board for newcomers which lets her “pay-it-forward” and help authors realize their dreams.

You can find out more about Kris on her website www.krisjacen.com.

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