Suggested by @SadStrength18

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Ricky sat there quietly, with wide fear-filled eyes. He kept his posture straight as not to be impolite, but even so made himself as small as he possibly could. I wish there was a way I could save him. Honestly, a part of me wished I could save myself from this situation. However it was too cute to embarrass me.

My grandmother - bless her heart - was attacking Ricky with questions. Not necessarily bad ones, just ones that could easily be trick questions. She is the closest thing I have to a mother so she's a little overprotective of me.

"Do you have plans to purpose?" She asked him while leaning close to him.

Fair enough, I can take some blame for this. I should have known better than to let her sit directly across from him. A blush washed across Ricky's face. He actually became a bit... Bashful. I was expecting him to give the logical response, as he always does. It seemed my dear grandma struck a nerve. In a good way, I hope.

"Eventually. I know I love Devin enough to marry him, but finding time to plan a wedding in the middle of touring and my art and his clothing line would be impossible." He replied.

Okay, still the logical explanation, but holy fuck did he just admit he is going to purpose eventually? I've thought about it at night; Before I fall asleep I image what marring Ricky would be like. I just never pictured it to be a reality. It just hit me like ten tons of bricks. I must've worn my shock, because my aunt noticed.

"Well that seems like news to Devin." She teasingly stated.

I glanced down for a moment and pushed some hair out of my face. Ricky set his hand on my leg under the table to catch my attention. He smiled at me when I looked to him. Ricky leaned over and kissed my cheek with that sweet giggle.

"Eww." My little sister whined.

"Deal with it, weirdo." I replied.

"You're the weird one in the family." She pointed out.

Even if she meant it as a sisterly insult, it was true. The rest of my family looked extremely normal. Our family unit was a little strange. My mom passed away in childbirth when she had me. It took a few years, but my dad eventually remarried and that's why my siblings are so much younger than I am. My step-mom wasn't too fond of me because I wasn't hers, so my grandma played the motherly role. Honestly it took me this long into the night to realize my step-mom isn't even here. I don't want to know where she is anyways.

"But I'm the weird one that brings you all the good Christmas presents." I reminded her.

That made her stop teasing me. She loves me, she just likes to pick on me. I do it to her too, same with my little brother. I do love them, same as the rest of my family. This was Ricky's first time meeting any of them since we started dating. It's been a bit of an adventure for him.

"You two are going to give me some grandbabies, right?" My grandma asked, diverting back to her twenty million questions.

Ricky's smile fell and he looked at me to answer. We've never really talked about having kids. I come from a big family, so it's kind of expected. His family is much smaller. He has a sister and that's it. He has no cousins or anything. His parents didn't even want the kids they had, so Ricky was raised with a negative outlook to reproducing.

"We haven't talked about it much. We've only been dating a few months, Nan. We've got a lot to figure out." I said.

"A lot," Ricky repeated with a snit, "But the one thing, the important thing, we know is that we love each other more than anything."

"Well I guess that's all I could ever ask for." She smiled.

I couldn't help myself from grinning ear to ear. Ricky grabbed my hand that laid on the table and gently ran his hand over my knuckles. He was so damn sweet. I don't know what I'd do without him. My life was missing something, and I didn't realize until that night in Texas that he kissed me, that he was the missing link.

I think back to that night a lot. We were playing this festival and it was so humid out. I felt like I was melting, but I still enjoyed myself. Ricky had been out of sorts for months, and we honestly had given up on trying to help him. Vinny and I went on a walk by the buses to vape, as we usually do before a show. Ricky just in a the spur of the moment ran off the bus and attacked me with a kiss. It was so unexpected, but it felt so right. In that moment that he pulled away from me, I saw in his eyes that he was back to himself again. He was happy again. And, without even realizing I had been depressed prior, I felt that same returning happiness.

Now, here we are. My grandma is giving Ricky the third degree while my siblings and younger cousins are staring at him like he's a carnival act. Luckily after the kids question they laid off of him. After dinner, I helped my aunt wash the dishes while my grandma gave some pie to the little ones. My uncle and father went out to the garage and dragged my poor boyfriend out with him. Hopefully they don't scar him too badly. He seemed pretty okay with going, even if he was obviously nervous.

As they came back in, my grandma handed a plate with some pie to Ricky, "Here you go, Deary."

"Thank you, ma'am." He responded.

She handed the other plate in her hand to me and thanked her as well. I took Ricky with me to sit on the couch in the living room. We were in the corner of sofa closest to the tree. It's lights shined on him so beautifully. We finally got a moment somewhat alone while my grandma cut pie for the rest of the adults.

"My dad and uncle weren't too mean to you, were they?" I whispered to him.

"Not at all," Ricky snickered, "They of course gave me the whole 'don't fuck over our son/nephew' speech but it was fine."

I sighed, "I'm sorry my family is a little crazy."

"Baby, it's fine." He insisted. Ricky looked over to the kitchen and watched them interact for a moment, "They might be crazy, but they love you and they accept you. That's more than I could ever say for my family."

"Screw your asshole parents. You're apart of my family now, okay?" I chirped, then pecked his lips.

Ricky sat his plate down on the side table and pulled my legs into his lap. I rested my head on his shoulder and got comfortable against him. He took my empty plate and moved it to the side table as well, stacking the two on top of each other. Ricky began to run his hand up and down my leg soothingly. I cuddled into him more and felt people staring, but I didn't care.

A few minutes passed before everyone came over to open presents. I stayed with my legs in Ricky's lap. He was so comfy, to be forward with you. I could fall asleep right now. So many nights on tour I fell asleep on his chest because he has a relaxing presence to him.

I watched the kids of the family open presents. What if some day those were my kids? Obviously we'd have to adopt or have a surrogate. I'd prefer to adopt because there's already so many kids out there that need homes. I think about what it was like for me to grow up without a mother and couldn't imagine what it would be like to have neither of your parents. Would Ricky even want kids? Fuck I hope so. I want them pretty badly when I get older.

After we got through all the little ones gifts, Ricky and I decided to get home. The cats are probably missing us. Mercedes and Lexus don't always get along with Dexter either, so I worry about leaving them alone. Hopefully they'll have a little holiday spirit and not fight. As we were about to head out the door, my grandmother came and pulled Ricky away from me. He looked a little scared as he glanced back at me.

I'm not sure what she was doing with him but I had faith it was nothing bad. She seemed to like him. I hugged my sister and brother goodbye while I waited for my grandmother to bring my boyfriend back. In a few minutes she did and he seemed like he was okay.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing." She dismissed it. "It was so good to see you, Devin. I love you. Drive safely."

I hugged her goodbye and told her I loved her as well. Ricky and I finally got out of there so we could head home to our cats and warm fireplace. About five minutes into the drive home, I asked once again about what my grandma wanted that was so important she couldn't speak about it in front of me.

"You know I can't keep a secret from you." Ricky reached into his hoodie pocket, still keeping one hand on the wheel as he drove, "She gave me the family ring for whenever I purpose to you."

I stared at the box in his hand. He tilted it towards me to offer it to me. I delicately took it and looked at the velvet box. Opening it, I saw the ring I haven't laid eyes on in eyes.

"I'm surprised she didn't want to keep it for your sister." He stated.

"It's because she isn't technically related to my grandma. This was my mom's ring." I muttered.

Ricky glanced over at me. His eyes softened when he saw the mist in mine. I closed the box and handed it back to Ricky. With the sleeve of my sweater, I delicately blotted my eyes and tried not to mess up my makeup.

"Now I understand what she meant when she told me it belonged to you. You know your mom is looking down on us. She might not be physically here, but she is here."

I sniffled, "I know. Sometimes it just gets hard to think about. Especially around the holidays. But I have something now to fill the void in my heart that she left."

"Yeah, and what's that?" Ricky asked casually.

I set my hand on his and replied, "You."