Christmas Surprise

My mom?s family had been coming to our house for the holidays for as long as I could remember. Since we had a small house and she had lots of relatives, we always had some strange sleeping arrangements. When I was smaller I would share a bed with my brother and one of my boy cousins. I didn?t like boys at that age and they hated girls so there was no worry of anything inappropriate going on.I had stayed over at my girlfriend?s house the past few years during the holidays to avoid having to share my bed. But this year she was staying with her boyfriend so it left me with no options other than to share my bed.I knew I wouldn?t be stuck with my brother or any of my male cousins. We were all older now and although related, I didn?t trust them. Neither did my mom. I was anxious to see who my sleeping partner or partners would be this year.?Hey, Molly.?I looked up from my bed and saw a very pretty young girl standing in my doorway.?Hey???I?m Emma, your cousin. Your mom said I would be staying with you this week.?Emma wasn?t really my cousin, she had been adopted but everyone considered her part of the family. Her new family had been having issues and they had not been part of our holiday tradition for a few years. The last time I saw her she was a skinny little kid that looked like she needed a bath. Now she was a young woman. Not only was she clean, she was no longer skinny. She had developed into a beautiful young woman.She seemed very timid. I got up from the bed and hugged her.?You sure have changed, Emma. How old are you now?"?Sixteen. My birthday was last month.?Sixteen and her boobs were bigger than mine. Life just isn?t fair sometimes. She sure had turned into a pretty young lady.I almanbahis şikayet cleared out a few drawers for her to put her things in. She seemed very hesitant to touch anything.?My room is your room, Emma. Make yourself at home.??Thanks,? She just smiled and put her things in the closet.The rest of the day was spent greeting more relatives and making sure everyone had a place to sleep. There were over thirty relatives coming for Christmas. Luckily some of them were staying at a local motel. Our three bedroom house was not big enough for all of them to stay at night.Lots of reminiscing was done around the kitchen table that afternoon. Although it was crowded I did enjoy having all the family there.Mom had been baking all day and the kitchen smelled wonderful. We all sat around the table ate cookies and drank hot chocolate. I noticed Emma didn?t seem to be enjoying herself. She sat off in the corner.I knew mom had said that her family had some very serious issues. She never really told me what they were. Emma?s mom and dad had been divorced for a few years now. She had been passed from relative to relative during all the problems.I walked over to where Emma was sitting. She looked up and smiled at me. I could see that she didn?t want to be there.?You want to take a walk with me? I?ll show you the old mill pond where we swim in the summer.?Emma nodded and got up from her chair. We put on our coats and boots and headed out.It was still snowing as we made our way out to the road. There was about four to five inches of fresh snow since yesterday. It hung on the trees and fences. It truly was a winter wonderland. You couldn?t get views like this in the city.The old mill was almanbahis canlı casino about a half mile away. As we walked I saw Emma looking all around. I even think I saw a smile on her face. I felt sorry for her that she didn?t know what the love of a real family felt like.?Do you have a boyfriend, Emma???No. I?ve been moving around so much I don?t get a chance to make many friends.?She had such a sad look on her face. I couldn?t look at her for long or I knew I would start to cry. I took her hand in mine and we continued down the road.?Do you have a boyfriend, Molly???Yes. His name is Bryan. He lives in Charleston. He?s visiting his parents this week.??I?m sorry you won?t see him for Christmas.??That?s okay. I have you this year. We?ll make our own special Christmas together.?She looked up at me and smiled as she squeezed my hand.We finally arrived at the old mill. It had not been used in years. The snow covered wheel and trough made a very pretty winter setting. We sat there for a little while. It was so quiet and serene.Emma didn?t say anything as we walked back to the house. I felt her squeeze my hand every now and then as we walked. I couldn?t imagine growing up moving from place to place, never having a real home. I didn?t speak either. I put my arm around Emma and we walked home.Dinner was fabulous as always. So much delicious food combined with the laughter of the family. I did so love the holidays. I think I even saw Emma smile a few times as we ate.After dinner we all gathered as close to the fireplace as we could. Emma and I shared the comfy old recliner. My grandpa read ?The Night Before Christmas? as he had been doing for as long as I can remember. No almanbahis casino matter how old I had become, I still loved hearing that story.I heard Emma sniffle. Looking down I saw she had tears in her eyes. I put my arm around her and pulled her close to me. She rested her head on my shoulder as grandpa finished the story.Another cookie and a sip of hot chocolate and I was ready for bed. It was so warm by the fireplace I hated to going upstairs to bed.Emma looked tired as she threw herself across the bottom of the bed. I wondered if she had a bed of her own or how often she had a good nights sleep.?I?m going to take a quick shower before bed.?Emma nodded. ?Okay.?As I showered I thought I heard the bathroom door creak open. Being an old house there weren?t many doors you could open without being heard. I listened for a moment then finished my shower.Emma was still lying on the bed when I came out of the bathroom. I had wrapped a towel around me. I dried off by the heater in the corner of the room. The warm air felt nice blowing over my skin.I could see Emma looking at me out of the corner of my eye.?Do you want to shower, Emma??She looked surprised by my question.?Um, sure.??Did you bring pj?s???I usually just sleep in my sweats.? She said as she slipped into the bathroom.No tonight I thought. I laid out a one of my sleep shirts for Emma. I wasn?t a frilly lingerie type of girl when it came to sleepwear. I just wanted to be warm and comfortable. Most times I just wore one of Bryan?s oversized t-shirts or even one of his long tailed dress shirts to bed.I dried my hair and slipped into the long dress shirt. Emma appeared through the bathroom door. Her hair was sort of all over the place as she tried to dry off while keeping the towel around her.?Let me help you with that.?I dried and brushed her hair. She stood sheepishly in front of me until I finished. It was as though she would be punished if she moved. I wondered what kind of life she had.