AUDREY
When I woke up on Christmas day, I was expecting to wake up at whatever time my body could bear to release me from my dreams and crack open its eyelids but instead, it was by children (that I'd honestly forgot about) screaming somewhere in the cottage and a knock at my door.
"Audrey? Are you awake?" I heard Sebastian ask through the warzone of excited children.
"I am now," I replied, getting up to open the door for him.
"Good morning Audrey, merry-" he was interrupted by a kid running past him screaming about Santa, "Merry Christmas."
We decided to lie in bed for an extra twenty minutes before joining whatever family is awake downstairs. We walked in to see the children already through a third of their presents and playing with their toys as they go. We took a sofa near the electric fireplace as Alex came over and handed us our drinks, how he knew what we'd want I have no idea.
"Audrey, this one's for you." One of the children beamed as he handed a neatly wrapped present to me.
"Oh, here's one for you Mr Sebastian!" Another kid jumped up and handed him his present.
I began to unwrap the shiny paper, excitement secretly running through my veins, once I chucked the paper into the pile of discarded shiny abominations I was left with a large box from my uncle Matthew and Veronica.
"I know you like space and all so I thought it would be cool to get you that galaxy projector thingy." He commented with Veronica nodding along.
"Thank you so much, I really appreciate it." I smiled and carefully put it to the side.
I looked over to Sebastian who held a thin box with an expensive-looking pen inside, as he looked like he was about to cry his father spoke up. "I know everything is computerised in law firms now but if there's anything you need to do on paper, that's a really good pen."
As he thanked his father, I realised it wasn't only the fact that his father got him a good pen that made him want to cry, it was also the small inscription on the side of the pen too.
'I'm proud of you son and always will be, love your ol' man'
I felt my own eyes beginning to betray me, but I held it in because once again a kid came up to me with a present.
"Another one for you princess Audrey." This time it was a girl with a tiara shining on her head.
"Thank you, princess Gemma." I bowed my head to her as she curtsied and returned to the tree and the other children.
"Princess Audrey? When did that happen?" Sebastian mumbled into my ear.
"Oh hush, open your present." I retorted, a present being handed to him right on cue.
I opened my present, it was wrapped in a paper covered with stars and tied with a ribbon, this was from my parents. I unravelled the paper to find a long thin box, when I opened I was faced with one of the most beautiful necklaces I have ever seen, it was a delicate gold chain that held a star pendant, a gemstone surrounded by alternating gold and diamond-encrusted spikes.
"It's beautiful, thank you." I looked to my parents who both wore smiles on their faces.
"Don't thank me, thank your dad, my presents are still in the pile." My mother responded, looking at the pile inquisitively before deciding to just get up and get them herself. So I followed her instructions and thanked my father. I put the necklace on with the help of Sebastian and ended up playing with it, that came to a halt when I caught sight of the back of the pendant.
'You will always be my little star
Love dad'
I don't think my father noticed that I found the inscription, but knowing my father's gifts to Margo and my mother over the years, this is something he does a lot, it was just overwhelming that I have received one.
The rest of the morning was spent opening presents and then abandoning them to have breakfast together before going right back to them, as the children played, the adults began cleaning up and hauling their presents to their rooms for safekeeping. I couldn't help but fumble with the necklace as I sat in my room, taking in the morning and trying to relax, no matter how old I am I still get excited for Christmas.
"Hey, you okay?" My mother popped her head around the door, coming to join me on my bed.
"Yeah, it's just weird getting an inscription from father."
"Oh please, your father has always been like that. He may be a tough, brooding man but he's always been sentimental."
"That was to you and Margo, he was never like that to me. The only thing I know about when it comes to me is the videos, and I only found out about them before I left for Paris."
She sighed and rubbed my back. "That's because you never had a use for those kinds of things. You never wore jewellery and you especially never had an emotional attachment to them. You always wanted your books to be pristine so it's not like your father could write in them."
"Hmm, I agree, if father wrote in my book I'd die."
"See? It's not that your father didn't want to it's that he didn't know how. Every other person he knows is easy to buy for but you, however, are a mystery. You are like a bright star in a clear sky, so different yet so awe-inspiring, so unique. Until recently you've kept to yourself and have been closed off to everyone around you, of course, your father and I could have done better as parents and how you turned out as a result of our so-called tough love but what I'm trying to say is, we didn't truly know you until you left and by then you were miles away."
"I didn't think you both wanted to know me. I was kept up on that floor to study and to prepare myself to take over the company, I didn't think I had enough time to even know who I was myself."
"And that was our fault, we shouldn't have been so hard on you, we just knew that you had so much potential and even though you were young your father knew that he couldn't trust anyone else to run the company as well as you could."
I glanced at her, seeing her face so worn down after the past few days of chaos. "What if I wanted to become something different? What if I didn't want to run the company?"
"Your father is a smart man, he had a backup plan. Should you want to pursue a different career then he would continue running it until he found a suitable candidate, though he was pretty set on you since you did practically do his job for him when you were six."
"What?"
She laughed and continued on. "Your father brought you to the office a lot, everyone loved you and your father took pride when you answered a question with something smart and how much of a fast thinker you were, anyway he took you one day when you were six and he left a meeting for a moment to answer an urgent message. Apparently, when he came back, you had not only finished the slideshow but you got the clients to sign on an even better and more effective deal, of course, all the legal matter had to be sorted out by your father and his lawyer but you did that...at six."
"No way, you're lying." She shook her head in response, huh, I guess she's telling the truth.
"Interesting."
She began to get up, petting my head. "What do you want for lunch?"
After she left I was vulnerable to my own devices, six-year-old me was a boss and clearly followed her own plans.