Our Ghost Adventures

“How’s de weddin’ plannin’ comin’ ‘long?” Carlin asked, walking into the kitchen early in the morning. It was December 25th—Christmas and she and Daren had just gotten to Vegas two nights before. I was sitting at the counter and looking over the different plans.

“It’s good, how are you doing with the jetlag?”

“I’ll be okay,” she said. “Where’s de tea?”

“I’ll make you some, just sit down.”

“I’m old, not incapable.”

“Second shelf in the cabinet by the stove,” I replied, shaking my head. After a few more minutes, someone else came down the stairs. But this time, they wrapped their arms around my upper body and rested their head on my shoulder. “Tired, baby?” I asked Zak as I ran my hands through his hair.

“Very.”

He was always so cute when he was tired, he reminded me of a little kid. “You should come back up stairs and we can—Mrs. McMurphy!” Zak backed up quickly. Carlin smiled and chuckled a little bit.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, Zak. An’, me name is Carlin, not Mrs. McMurphy. I’ll get out of yer hair, I jus’ wanted some tea, I’ve got a book te read. Come an’ get me when little Lorelei wakes up te open ‘er presents.” Before I could object, she was out of the kitchen and back upstairs.

“I can make us some breakfast,” I offered.

“You don’t need to do that, I’ll just eat some cereal—besides, it’s only seven, if you make something now, everybody will just be hungry again later.”

“I guess you’re right,” I said. I looked over at our Christmas tree that we just got up last week, Zak didn’t own a fake tree, so we ended up having to buy one—I wasn’t a fan of real trees. Sure they smelled good and looked pretty, but they also dropped pine needles everywhere and got sap all over the place. We didn’t have decorations outside because we were just too busy for them with the wedding and it being Lorelei’s first Christmas, we just wanted to focus on that.

Under our fake tree, there were tons of colorfully wrapped boxes, just waiting to be opened. We would have to wait until Lorelei woke to open them though.

“Coffee?” Zak offered as he started to make a pot.

“Please,” I replied. “Is Aaron picking up the cake?”

“Yeah, I think so. Him or Nick; Aaron said Ariel made room for it at their place and then they’ll bring it over here.

“Okay, you’re having your bachelor party tomorrow, right?”

“That’s right. Now, Aaron planned the whole thing, we’re just going to go to some casinos and—”

“It’s your bachelor party; I want you to do whatever your little heart desires. If you want to go to a strip club, then go. I trust you one hundred percent.”

“I would never cheat on you,” he said.

“I know; I would never cheat on you either. I can’t promise what Ariel has planned for me either. I do know that it doesn’t include getting drunk.”

“I wish there was some way around that—for your sake…Don’t you want to drink for your bachelorette party?”

“There is a way around that; it just doesn’t bother me that much.”

“Okay well how about this, whenever you can, I want you to go out and get as drunk as you want with your friends—it’s not like I would stop you anyway, but I’m just saying.”

“Thanks,” I laughed.

***

Lorelei finally woke up an hour later. I held her as Zak brought presents to her.

“Pull on the paper like this,” I showed her, even though I was sure she didn’t understand what I was saying. Her little baby hands tugged on the paper.

“Lorelei, look up here,” Zak was holding his phone landscape style and he must’ve been video taping us.

“We’re probably gonna be ‘ere all day,” Carlin said with a slight chuckle as Lorelei worked on the same corner of the first packages in red and green wrapping.

“We’ll stay here for as long as we need,” Zak murmured. “How’s her mommy doing this morning?”

“Tired,” I replied.

“Aw, my poor baby has been up late and stressing herself out planning our wedding. I’m sorry, sweetie.”

“It’s not your fault,” I assured him. “I just want our day to be perfect.”

“As long as you’re there, it will be.”

I couldn’t help but ‘aww’ at that, so did Carlin. “You’re the sweetest. I love you.”

“And I love you,” he replied.

***

We had to get ready to go to Zak’s mom’s house that evening—she decided to have her get together Christmas Day rather than Christmas Eve this year. Joy. Zak and I had agreed to give each other out gifts when we came home, rather than earlier. I put on a long sleeved green dress that came to my knees along with a pair of black high heels. I put my hair in a clip—feeling too lazy to curl it tonight. I stood in the bathroom connected to mine and Zak’s room and applied a little bit of makeup. I swore that I saw something behind me move, it was dark and it was just a flash of something, so I couldn’t even be sure that I was seeing anything. A moment went by and I didn’t see anything else, so I went back to my task, but then I heard footsteps. I whipped around and felt a flood of relief flood over me when it was only Zak.

“Hey baby, are you ready?” he asked.

“Yeah, just give me a second to put my mascara on,” I replied. Using the mirror I applied a little bit, as I finished I noticed a small box with red wrapping paper on the sink beside me. “I thought we said that we were going to wait until after the party,” I said. He just gave me a cute smile.

“I couldn’t wait. Come on, open it.”

“Nope, we said we were going to wait,” I walked back into the bedroom and set it on my nightstand.

“Maybe I don’t want you to wait.”

“Well, I do,” I said. He walked over to me and leaned his forehead against mine.

“You don’t want to open my present?” he asked with a pout. I reached up and rested my hands on his chest. He was wearing a dark red button down shirt and it felt so smooth and it was kind of soft. He was close enough that I could smell his cologne easily, he smelled so good.

“I do, but I want to wait. You have to wait for yours,” I pressed a light kiss to his lips and looked at him lovingly.

“Sweetie, I don’t care if I have to wait. I want you to have yours.”

“No,” I said stubbornly. “We’re going to be late.”

“We’re going to be even later if you don’t stop looking giving me that look.”

“What look?”

“That sexy look,” his hands were on my sides and pulled out bodies a little closer. He kissed me passionately, by that point his hands had migrated to my rear.

“Zak, we have to go.”

“Do we?” he kissed me again and then moved to kiss my neck. “We could just stay here.”

“And let your mom hate me even more? I don’t think so, c’mon. There’ll be plenty of time for that after the party.” He sighed loudly. “Hey now, that’s my job. I’m supposed to be the one that doesn’t want to go.”

“We can go now if you open my present,” he grinned.

“Nope.”

“Then we’re not leaving,” he replied, kissing my neck again.

“You’re like a little fucking kid, you know that?” I sighed, acting like it bothered me more than I did.

“It’s good practice.”

“You need the practice.”

“Adrina, we aren’t going anywhere until you open my present or we—” I reached over and took the gift from the nightstand and began unwrapping it. “Yay!”

“Fucking child,” I sighed with a grin as I pulled the ribbon off and unwrapped the small box.

“You love it and you know it.”

I rolled my eyes and found there to be another velvety, rectangular box beneath the wrapping paper. I slowly opened the box and found there to be a silver Celtic Cross with diamonds on it…the same one I was looking at in the jewelry store the day we weren’t shopping at the mall.

“I love this, it’s beautiful,” I smiled. “Thank you,” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Mm, I love you too, I’m glad you love it. Want me to put it on?”

“Yes please,” I said. I turned around and he put the necklace around my neck. “They say that whenever the clasp spins around to the front, the person who puts it on is thinking of you.”

“Then yours is gonna turn around an awful lot. Let’s go, baby,” he finished with my necklace and we left.

***

“Oh my God, she’s beautiful,” Stephanie said as she held Lorelei. I smiled broadly at that. “What did my brother get you for Christmas?”

“This necklace,” I said, showing her the Celtic cross. “I was looking at it in the store one day like last month and apparently Zak bought it for me.

“It’s beautiful. What did you get him?”

“Um, he hasn’t gotten it yet, so I’m not telling.”

“Aw, come on.”

“Okay, so part of what I got him was this gift bag full of different things. I got him this pair of vampire teeth that look really real—”

“He’ll love that.”

“I thought so, there’s also a bracelet that’s supposed to protect from evil spirits, and there’s this box of candy stuff that he loved from some place we went—I bought it while we were there.”

“He’s going to love it.”

“There’s also other stuff, but that’s…private matters.” Stephanie smiled at me, but decided to change the subject.

“Are you excited for the wedding?”

“So excited, it’ll also be nice to get away from all of this damn planning. It’s driving me nuts.”

“I bet; I had lots and lots of help with mine.”

“Adri!” I turned at the sound of Ariel calling my name. She was walking towards me in a black sparkly dress.

“Excuse me a moment, that’s my maid of honor.” I stood up and walked over to her. “Ariel!” I hugged her and she hugged me back. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to you too,” she grinned. “Where’s that beautiful baby?”

“Stephanie has her.”

“Stephanie?”

“Zak’s sister, come here so that you can meet her,” I pulled Ariel over to where Stephanie was sitting with Lorelei in her arms. “Stephanie, this is Ariel, Ariel this is Stephanie.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Ariel said.

“You too. So who are you here with, if you don’t mind me asking…”

“I’m Aaron’s fiancée.”

“Fiancée?” I asked.

“Yes! He proposed to me this morning!” she exclaimed. “Oh my God, it was so romantic. I’ll have to tell you about it while the guys are out for Zak’s bachelor party tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Wait, have Nick and Veronique flown in yet?”

“No, they’re coming in tomorrow morning. They said that they wanted to spend Christmas at home.”

“Oh, that makes sense, I don’t blame them.”

“I’m going to go find my husband,” Stephanie said. We were probably making her feel a little awkward. She handed Lorelei back to me and dashed off.

“Oh, don’t forget that Zak and I are having that New Year’s Eve party before the wedding. When are Molly and Ellie flying in?”

“The thirtieth. They couldn’t get a flight until then. Wait, where are they staying? We won’t have room at Aaron’s and I didn’t think that you guys did either.”

“We don’t, Carlin and Daren are in the only guest bedroom. We have Lorelei’s room, the guest room, our room, and the office. Four bedrooms, but only one guest room…So I guess they’ll be staying at a hotel…Unless they want to sleep on the floor somewhere.”

“Well, I’ll have to talk to Aaron. Hotels around here are hell.” We had stayed at a hotel one time in Vegas—while we were here for the girls’ vacation. We had trouble finding a decent place that wasn’t so expensive.

***

After the get together at Elise’s Zak and I went back home. I was tired, but we still had gifts to give. Surprisingly—other than to see Lorelei—Elise didn’t talk to me much. I was kind of glad for that just because I didn’t want to argue. I knew that we could get along when we had to—like when Zak was sick, but I didn’t know how holidays would work out.

“Will you put Lorelei in her room?” I asked Zak. “I’m really tired and I need to get your gift out.”

“Sure, no problem.”

***Zak’s POV***

After I put Lorelei to bed, I walked into the bedroom Adrina and I shared. I couldn’t help my smile when I saw her sitting cross legged in red lingerie on our bed. I noticed the awkward look on her face. I knew she hated it.

“This better prove that I fucking love you. I had to go into that damn Victoria’s Secret store and buy this. I actually had to find the right size and it was a nightmare, Zak! A nightmare!” I only grinned at her feigned annoyance.

“I know you love me. You didn’t have to buy lingerie to prove that.”

“Well fuck! I wouldn’t’ve done it!”

“You could always take it off.”

“I’m not sure I know how,” she laughed with a blush.

“I think I can help you with that.”