I was sleeping peacefully in my comfortable bed when a sudden commotion caused me to wake up. My mom came in with a speaker and was blasting All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey.

"I DON'T WANT A LOT FOR CHRISTMAS. THERE IS JUST ONE THING I NEED" She screamed the lyrics as she danced around the room.

I covered my face with one of the pillows on the bed. "MOM IT'S TOO EARLY FOR THIS"

"IT'S CHRISTMAS. GET UP"

"MY CHILD IS SLEEPING. YOUR CHILD IS SLEEPING"

She turned down the music and walked towards me. "Get up child" She whispered. "You're finally going to get Shawn's surprise"

"If it's not him, I don't want it"

The bed shifted as she sat down next to legs. "Alana. Shawn wouldn't want you to be sulking about him on Christmas"

"Well that's what I'm doing" I took the pillow off my face and sat up. "I miss him mom"

"I know you do and there's nothing you can do about it. If you sulk all day, so is your baby. Do you want that?"

"No"

"Then get out of bed and get dressed. We're taking a trip"

"A trip? This early in the morning? I'm going to murder him"

"Those pregnancy hormones of yours certainly make you sassy"

I stood up from the bed. "Sorry mom. Merry Christmas"

"Merry Christmas" She smiled. "Now. Get dressed and meet us downstairs"

I took a shower and dressed myself in a green, long sleeved flowy dress with red floral designs on it. I curled my hair, applied some lip balm, and grabbed my bag.

My mom, dad, and I went into their car and we started driving. "So can you tell me where exactly we're going?"

My dad looked at me through the rear view mirror. "Nope"

We drove for about five minutes to the new neighborhood that was being built next to my parents' neighborhood. We stopped in front of a beautiful and large house.

My dad stopped the car, we all went out and walked to the front door. My mom rung the doorbell and we waited. "Mom, Dad, what are we doing here? Who's house is this?" I whispered.

"Wait" My mom whispered back.

The door finally opened and revealed Elena in a green sweater with black jeans and brown heeled boots. "Come on in!" She exclaimed.

We walked into the house and my parents continued down the hall.

Elena kept me from going any further. "This is for you" She handed me a folded piece of paper.

"What is going on?"

"Just read it and meet us in the living room"

I perched an eyebrow as she left me alone. I unfolded the piece of paper, inside was a typed letter.

My dearest Alana,

Hi sweetheart. You must be so confused. Since I wasn't able to be there for Christmas, I asked a bunch of people, including your family to help me coordinate all of this. Look around you. This is ours. Our house.

I stopped reading for a second. My heart skipped a beat. Our house.

I continued the letter.

Throughout the house, I left you a bunch of letters to which you will follow the instructions of. After the house tour, call me. Now, for the first step is to go down the hall and meet with your family.

I folded the letter again and put it in my black shoulder bag. I did what I was told and followed the hall all the way to an open floor plan.

The living room and the kitchen was connected with another wall confining a dining room. At one of the corners of the living room, a Christmas tree was set up with gifts underneath (not shown in the photo)

My parents and Elena were sitting at the couch. "So. What do you think?" My mom asked. "Was it worth waking up early in the morning?"

I opened my mouth but nothing came out. "She's speechless" Dad spoke for me.

"You have another letter on the kitchen counter" Elena pointed.

I nodded and made my way to the counter. Next to the letter was a beautiful bouquet of white flowers. I opened the letter.

Honey bunches of oats,

You made it to the next letter. The name of the flowers are actually called Jasmines.

I stopped reading. Jasmine. It's the perfect name.

You know, when I was picking the flowers, I was actually going to get the basic roses but I saw the name on the website and thought they were beautiful. I think, and I hope you do too, that Jasmine is what we need to name our baby girl. I did a little research and those flowers resemble love and beauty. I personally think it's the perfect name. Anyways, your next letter is upstairs. The first door on the right is the one you need to open.

I placed the letter in my bag and went back down the hall and up the staircase. I saw the door that Shawn was talking about and opened it. The master bedroom.

Whoever designed this house was spot on because this is what I envisioned my dream house to be like. I walked further into the room and saw the folded white paper on the bed.

Alana Rose Mendes,

The bed is really comfortable. I bounced on it while I was picking it out at the store. Let me actually tell you the story of how this house came to be. We were at your parents' house, the weekend of Layla's fifth birthday a year ago. While having tea with her and Mr. Snuggles, she kept mentioning how happy she was that we were here and how much she missed you. I made a promise to her the night before we left to go back to Toronto. I told her that we would move nearby so she wouldn't have to miss you anymore because I know how much it sucks to not see you everyday. The next letter is in the closet. Your dream closet. Get excited.

I smiled at his letter and walked to the back of the room to a tiny little section that held the doors to bathroom and the closet. The closet door was already opened so I walked right in.

My dream closet. Growing up, I'd always wanted a walk in closet. Not too big and not too small. A good sized room where I can dance around in the morning while I would get ready.

I found the next letter on a small bench in the middle of the closet.

Beautiful,

Hi. We meet again. I hope the closet reaches your expectations. You're sharing it with me; I hope you know that. You have two more rooms on our little tour. Of course there's more to the house than I've shown you but I just wanted to give you the main rooms before you go off on your own. I'm running out of things to talk about. The next letter is next door to the bedroom!

I put away the letter and went out of the room, into the hallway. I opened the wooden door to the next room.

I stared at the room before me. My heart pounded out of my chest. I looked down at my ever growing tummy and rubbed circles on it. "This is your room, Sweets" I said. Shawn and I started calling the baby, Sweets, since we didn't have a name fore her yet and we joked that we were going to name her that if we didn't have a name by the time she was born.

I walked to the crib and found a baby doll with a diaper next to the letter.

My wife,

This is Sweets' room. Baby's room. The baby doll next to the letter. I did the diaper. Are you proud of me? I spent so much time perfecting the diaper change so when Sweets comes out, you can rest and I can change her diapers. This pretty much concludes the tour. I hope you love it. Now CALL ME!

I pulled out my phone and FaceTimed Shawn. The phone rung many times but he never picked up. I decided to text him instead.

i know you must be super busy but you told me to call you and I'm honestly super offended that you didn't answer because you SPECIFICALLY told me to call you

anyways

i love you soooooooooooooo much

to infinity and beyond

your diaper work is marvelous

youre a beautiful human shawn peter raul mendes

did i mention I love you?

because I LOVE YOU

so so so much

babyyyy pick up

im crying now i miss you

I put away my phone and headed downstairs with my family.

"So. What'd you think?" My dad asked.

"I'm overwhelmed. This is house is beautiful. I don't know what to do"

"Well, we should all open presents!" My mom clapped her hands and stood up to walk to the Christmas tree. "We brought all the presents here" She explained.

My mom distributed all the presents and we all started opening them. I was in the middle of watching Layla opening her present from Shawn and I, a girl version of her beloved Mr. Snuggles. We had it custom made by the same maker of the original Snuggles. Her eyes widened and she ran over to me.

"Where did you get this? It's Mrs. Snuggles!" She bounced up and down.

"It's a secret" I winked.

Shortly after, the doorbell rang. My dad got up to open the door and he came back with a medium sized package. "This is for you" He handed me the box.

Elena handed me scissors to open the super light box. Inside was a single Christmas card. I opened it and it said, Look behind you.

"This is so creepy" I stated. I turned my head but there was nothing behind me. I turned back around and there Shawn was, standing near the living room's entrance.

I stared at him, my lips slowly coming to a curl. "Hey" I smiled and stood up from the couch to greet him.

"Hi" He smiled back.

I reached my arms around his neck and engulfed him into a bear hug.

"Woah. Your stomach's getting huge. I can barely hug you anymore"

I left my head on his shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

He rubbed my back. "I pulled some strings. I have to leave tonight though"

I pulled away and looked at him. "All that matters is that you're here"

Shawn kissed my forehead and put his to mine. "What do you think about the house?"

"Better than I could've imagined. Thank you love bug"

"Why are you guys crying?" Layla's voice whispered.

Shawn and I pulled away and looked at my family on the couch. They all had tears streaming down their eyes, even my dad.

"Are you guys alright?" I started.

"Don't mind us. Just keep being in love" My mom swooshed her hand.

I chuckled and shook my head. My eyes shifted to the last box at the Christmas tree. I gasped and clapped my hands. "My present for you" I left Shawn standing and went to the tree to get it. "It's not as great as your gift but I'm excited about it"

He walked to the couch next to the one my family was sitting on.

I picked up the huge box and scooted it towards Shawn on the couch.

I lightly pushed him. "Here. Open it" I sat down next to him.

"Is it a guitar?"

I stared at him. "How'd you know?"

He shrugged. "Just a guess. Also, the shape of the box does a great job at pointing out what it is" Shawn nodded.

"Dang it. I should have known. Anyways, this one's really special"

He ripped the wrapping paper and set the guitar case on his lap. He unlatched the clasps and opened the case. He pulled out the acoustic guitar and put the case on the floor.

"Are you serious?" His eyes widened.

"Cool, isn't it?" I had the guitar made with a printed pattern of Shawn's tattoos covering it.

"So cool. Thank you sweetheart. I love it" He strummed some chords. "I have to tell you something though" He looked at me guiltily. "I may have gotten a new one before going to the airport earlier"

"You're kidding?"

He turned around so I could see the new tattoo on the back of his left arm. In cursive lettering, it read Good Luck.

"You known you could've told me"

"It was an impulse decision" He gave me a smug look. "Sorry"

I sighed. "It's fine. Merry Christmas, love bug"

"Merry Christmas honey"

———————————

I put on some grey sweatpants and just left the closet with my sports bra. Shawn was laying on the bed, scrolling through his phone. He looked up and grinned.

I walked over to the bed and sat next to him. He turned his phone off and placed it on the nightstand next to him. "Alone at last"

I pouted. "And yet you have to leave again. But I'm happy you're here for" I looked at the clock on the wall. Shawn had to leave at two in the morning to catch his flight. "Four more hours"

"The next time I see you, we're going to be parents"

"You're going to be a daddy"

He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "Repeat that again?"

My eyes widened and my mouth went agape. I placed my hands on the sides of my stomach. "Don't say that! She's listening"

He started laughing. "I'm sorry. I'm joking. Call me daddy all you want"

I smacked his chest. "Ow! I didn't mean it that way!"

I rested my back against the pillows on the headboard and admired him. "How are you? We talk everyday but it feels like we haven't talked in years"

He snuggled himself next to me and put his cheek on the top of my head. "I'm doing all right. What about you?"

"Same here"

It was silent in the room for a couple of minutes. I thought that Shawn fell asleep when he spoke up. "Do you think we're going to be good parents?"

"Yes. I hope so"

This time he didn't respond and I also ended up falling into a deep sleep.

In the morning, I found myself blindly feeling around the bed with my arms for Shawn but he was already gone.