Chapter 28

Church bells are the first thing I hear as I open my eyes. Christmas morning. I let out a light smile as Asia hops onto the bed. "Merry Christmas little piggy," I say, petting my little Frenchie. Then I get my silk robe on and walk down the stairs quietly since my kids might still be sleeping. I figure they may like a nice breakfast when they wake up before they open their presents. There are a few more I hid in the closet so before I start breakfast I quickly get them and set them under the tree. Then I walk to the pantry and the fridge to get everything I need in there to make Ava and Joseph their favourite pancakes and hot chocolate for Christmas. As I mix all the ingredients in a bowl, I check the time and see it's about ten o'clock. I put some music downstairs at really low volume so I don't wake anyone up, the kids were really exhausted after last night and they're a little bummed. They haven't seen their father in a couple of days and we're hoping they can at least see their dad on Christmas but we haven't heard a word from him in a while. I've even been worried and wanted to get police involved but my mom said I'll hear from him soon, whatever she means by that. Speaking of which they should be here soon. They've been coming over every Christmas since Taylor left. It's helpful to have them around and it takes my mind off things. I try to hide it as much as possible but it's difficult to be happy on Christmas without Taylor. Even though I see him often I miss him so much. I couldn't ask for anything for Christmas. All I want is to be a family again. Speaking of family, the pitter patter of little feet down the stairs takes me away from my thoughts but in a good way. I turn around and find Joseph, rubbing his eyes with his arm, a small grin on his face that warms my heart. "Hehe, Merry Christmas Joey.""Merry Christmas mommy," he says to me in his groggy morning voice, giving me a hug. I wrap my arms around my boy and give him a kiss. "I'm making pancakes and hot chocolate, can you just put the doggie food for Asia and Koji please?""Sure," he says and runs into the kitchen while I walk up the stairs to check on Ava, who's lying down in her bed with her eyes half open, trying to adjust to the light of day. But she smiles when I walk into the room. "Merry Christmas baby.""Merry Christmas mommy," she answers, just like her brother did two minutes ago. I go to pick her up which she obviously doesn't seem excited about. I know doctors said to wait another week or two but maybe we can try something. "Wanna try a bit of walking or something honey," I ask her. Immediately I see this whole new glow in her eyes that makes me melt. "Can I," she asks, her eyes full of wonder. "We can try a little," I answer, setting her down at the edge of the bed where she was before. I wrap one arm around her waist and take one of her hands in mine, helping her lift off the bed. It's kind of like helping an old lady since her legs are still healing but so far she's doing an amazing job and that makes me proud. She takes a few steps but her balance needs reconditioning since she hasn't been walking for a while but we make it out of her room and into the hallway. She can't handle the stairs so I carry her down, which honestly probably saved some time, and put her on the couch by the TV with her wheelchair close by before going back into the kitchen to finish those pancakes I've been working on. After twenty minutes, there's a knock at the door so Joey goes to answer. Immediately I hear him gasp from surprise. "Oh my gosh grandma that's huge. What's in there," he asks. I hear my mother's laugh which makes me laugh. I walk to the kitchen table, curious as to how big this gift is and when I see it I almost drop the plate full of pancakes that I'm holding. Whatever is in there it's life size. I think it's even bigger than me how are the kids supposed to open it?"Oh my God, mom, dad, what did you guys do," I ask, shocked."Nothing at all Stef." I don't even understand this. Plus mom has another huge ass bag of gifts in her hand as dad pushes that ginormous one next to the Christmas tree. I stare at it a little because it just seems so strange. I was gonna get Ava but dad's already helping her take little steps toward the kitchen table, which impresses everyone in the room. We all dig in and enjoy our traditional Christmas breakfast before getting to the presents. Joey runs to the tree in excitement which makes all of us laugh. And of course he runs to that massive box wanting to open it. Dad seems a little panicked and mom tells Joey not to open it. "That one's for the end, save the best for last buddy," dad says, backing up my mom. I just hunch my shoulders and let it go before helping Ava back to the living room. Obviously we start giving the kids a present each before I give my parents their gifts and they give me one too, which I find sweet. Dad likes getting pictures so of course we need pictures of us holding whatever we just unwrapped. It takes long but it's okay. Mom and dad got me a bunch of stuff I need for touring so some cases for toiletries and makeup, a really cool bag specifically made to hold shoes, like several of them, some new journals to write new lyrics when I feel like writing, stuff like that. I love that plus I need it for the tour next year so that makes me very excited. Ava and Joseph even bought me my favourite fragrance. I was running low on it I don't even know how they knew, it's honestly such a nice surprise. "Oh my God you guys how did you even know this was my favourite?""I didn't," Joey answers, hunching his shoulders. "Ava picked it out, I just paid half with my birthday money." I look at my daughter quizzically. "What? I smell it on you all the time so I just checked out your perfume stock and looked for the bottle with the least amount of perfume left in it," she says."Aww, you guys are the best thank-you so much I love it," I reply, hugging each of my kids.I bought my parents their favourite wine, that lovely cookbook mom wanted, and a whole Springsteen collector's box for my dad that has vinyls, CDs, DVDs, posters, all kinds of merch, some signed stuff. It's really cool I couldn't even believe it existed when I saw it on the shelf. I had bought the kids mostly small things that they liked. So Joey unwraps a lot of video games, some DVDs, and just because he's annoyed with clothes shopping I have to sneak an outfit or two in there. Ava gets a whole bunch of clothes since I know her taste and she happens to be extra small, but I also got her some other stuff she likes, her grandparents bought her a stunning Tiffany necklace, and they bought Joey a stunning gold chain. Leave it to Italian grandparents to handle the jewelry department. The kids are loving their presents which makes me feel a lot better on Christmas. I love seeing them happy. Which leaves one last thing."Guys, there's still one more present left," dad says, obviously referring to that massive one they had brought in almost two hours ago. Joseph goes up to it and reads the label. "Mommy?""Yes my love.""It's for the three of us." I look at the gift funny. What could it be if it's that big."Well who's it from darling?" The answer is surprising."It's from dad. Do you wanna open it mom," he asks, slowly backing away from the gift like he's afraid of it. I slowly start walking to the present and take off the huge gold bow and ribbon. "You and Ava can unwrap it with me sweetheart," I tell him. The three of us start tearing the paper to shreds and that brings us to a huge box that oddly has a picture of a bathtub on it. At this point we're all just very confused. Mom and dad are laughing together and I don't get it. Taylor bought me a bathtub? I have one. "Just open it Loopy," dad says. So I do as he says. I slowly open the bathtub to find not just a bathtub but something even better. Something I thought I would never have again in my life. The second I see his face I break down into tears. The huge metal basin from the You & I video is cut off at one end to stand vertically, touched up with lights and white roses. And in it there's Taylor, my scientist in his white bottoms and his boots, on one knee.The whole living room is silent and I'm just speechless. I don't even know what to say or do or even how to breathe."Stefani, it should never have come to this. I shouldn't be doing this a second time because the first time I made a commitment to you and I broke it from lack of judgement and personal stress, none of which are excuses to walk out on something so precious. But I'm gonna do it again because I was crazy for leaving in the first place and because in these last three years all I've done was miss everything about you and life with you and the kids. I didn't know if you'd ever want me back but you taught me to never be afraid and to fight for what I want, and what I want is to never have to spend another second without you." Taylor opens a tiny red box with the most beautiful ring I've ever seen. I thought the heart diamond was so huge the first time but it's nothing compared to this. I can't even see him anymore because there are just so many tears, they blur my vision completely."Stefani Gypsy Princess Germanotta, will you marry me again?" I can't even talk for how hard I'm sobbing and laughing at the same time because he literally just replaced my middle name with Gypsy Princess. I instinctively start nodding excessively I don't even care how stupid it looks I just want him back. Taylor gets up and grabs me as he does, spinning me around the living round as I cling to his neck, tears of joy spread across my face. Once he puts me down he pushes me closer to him and connects his lips to mine, the most passionate kiss we've ever shared in all our time together, as the sound of the kids' squeals fills the room. I stare at this beautiful ring as it slides onto my finger before Taylor wraps his arms around me again, holding me tight against him. Then he picks up Ava with one arm while my son runs to us. I wrap one arm around him to pull him into our little family hug. We're all an emotional mess. Taylor's crying, I'm crying, the kids are crying. Mom and dad are even emotional and we have to have them join in on the hug too. After all these years, I finally got what I wanted: my family.**************************************************************************************************************MERRY CHRISTMAS LOVIES!Told you I had a gift for y'all! After like a full year of writing, I'm happy but also sad to say this was the last chapter of Behind Closed Doors. It was a pleasure writing it for you guys and I'm very glad you've been enjoying the story. Almost 6K reads, I'm shaking. I didn't even think one person would read it let alone almost 6000 reads. You're all so amazing thank you so much.I'm working on two other stories right now. I have to update Stay because I haven't in a while, and I'm also working on Missed. If you haven't read them yet but liked this book, you can check those stories out. They're both LG fics. Hope you like them if you happen to check them out. And I hope you liked the last chapter of this book. I love you all so much!-hausofa