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It’s winter break, which means everyone is off for a chaotic holiday. And since we announced that Olivia is pregnant to our families, this is the first full get-together with everyone at Olivia’s family home.

It’s as cozy as it is crazy with all of our kids.

The tree is sparkling by the front window, presents overflow underneath it. The smell of cinnamon and nutmeg swirls with the roast beef and garlic. A mix of Irish, Spanish, and Italian recipes that Theo was more than excited to experiment with.

Olivia is rolling out cookies and watching a pot on the stove, sharing the kitchen with her mom and Theo. The frilly apron accentuates the small baby bump. She’s just started to show, and I find it difficult to keep my hands off her.

Junior and Ivan are playing video games on the big screen TV, bumping shoulders and shouting at each other in their old-school Mario Kart competition. Ivan asked him and Waylen a billion and one questions about the prosthetic and what it could do.

Junior was a super good sport, taking it off to show the custom features he and Waylen fitted it with. The tweaks they’re always making.

Seems like something he is interested in. We might have someone else in the family business.

Matteo is on the other side of the room with Cassidy. He’s guiding her fingers over the frets of a guitar as he teaches her how to play a Spanish Christmas carol. Her voice is soft but carries above the other noise in the room with its sweetness.

Her cheeks are pink, but his quiet confidence seems to keep her grounded and keep her going. It’s the same way he pushes the staff at work—why he has the job he does.

And Waylen is workshopping a story with Ruby at the kitchen table. He’s got a pencil in hand, underlining something on the papers between them, and my daughter is nodding.

It took a little prodding from Olivia for her to share her writing, but now, Ruby’s been sharing drafts with her and Waylen on a regular basis.

The girls have started a little family book club too. Reading the same books together and having a girls’ night with sparkling grape juice, treats, and a lot of bonding. I like how much closer it’s made our family and the crazy circumstances we’ve found ourselves in.

Leonard, Olivia’s dad, hands me a beer, drawing my attention away from the room. “Tell me all about the conference.”

I grin at him. Right before the end of the semester, I took Olivia out to a conference to present her findings on the clinics from her thesis.

Her project isn’t done yet. She’s got another semester of testing and working with her subjects before she plans to recreate the experiment with another group.

She’ll use the funding she got from the gala when our lives took a turn.

However, her initial findings were more than enough to write a paper that during peer review got picked up for a presentation.

And she nailed it. All of her passion backed up by numbers and presented with her personality had people asking important questions instead of throwing fatphobic hate at her.

Sure, there were still some who probably wanted to, but after the first comment guised as a question and her subsequent academic slap down, no one else stood up to fight her ideas.

They did question her. Give her ideas for how her research will progress. That’s the great thing about academia and sharing ideas.

We’ve been planning together since, and it’s one of my favorite things to do with her.

Outside of bed.

“Well, how about I tell you what you really want to know. Olivia killed it. More than a dozen major government researchers, universities, and private programs are vying for her to work for them and transfer her research to their facilities.”

Her dad’s smile is big and proud. The man doesn’t smile much, serious by nature. A lot like Matteo in fact. But how he grins at me now is full of love. “That’s my girl.”

I laugh with him, equally proud for different reasons.

We both peer over at Olivia, who’s glowing, a hand cupped under her belly as she pours something into a pot on the stove.

She catches my gaze, a smirk curving the corners of her mouth, but the smile in her eyes is full of so much love.

I’m over the moon to tell her how much I love her every day.

I slap Leonard on the back and sneak into the kitchen for a small cuddle while she’s stuck in place. We try not to be overly romantic in front of the whole group, but I can’t help myself.

“You need anything, Liv? Glass of water. Some juice? We got the bubbly kind since it’s a special occasion.”

Olivia’s head falls back against my shoulder with a laugh. “I’m in the kitchen already, Nick. I can grab my own drinks.”

“Mmm. I don’t know. Looks like you have your hands full.” My hand dips to cover hers where she’s grown used to holding herself. She already cares about this baby so much that I can’t wait to see how she grows into being a mother.

“If you wanted to beat that frosting so that it’s nice and smooth, you could make yourself more useful.” She blinks up at me with the naughty kind of innocence.

I hum against the back of her neck. “You just want me for my muscles.”

“Right now. Yes.”

I laugh softly against her skin, rock her for another handful of seconds, and break off to pick up a wooden spoon and the bowl. It’s already mixed, but it’s been in the fridge, so I work some heat into it and wink at Olivia.

Her cheeks pinken as she cuts out trees and star shapes.

The day whips by with its slow moments. And once dinner is served, Leonard stands between the dining room and living room to give a toast, his beer in hand and a twinkle in his eye as he takes us all in.

Then, a smile flashes across his face. One filled with pure joy.

“To the wildest, most wonderful year our family’s ever seen.”