37. Duke's present.

I look up at the small wooden clock and it's just fifteen minutes to midnight. Fifteen minutes to Christmas.

When I remember my Christmas celebration for the past years, it was always lonely, unless I spent it with Mary and her family.

"Rowan was not Christian," I finally break the silence between us, "so I believed that's why he never agreed to celebrate it with me." I continue talking while staring at the dancing flames in the hearth.

"Now that I think about it, he was probably spending the day with Alicia, don't you think?" I turn my head and stare at him with a fake smile. I let out a soft chuckle before turning my head back to the hearth.

"After my parents died, I moved in with my aunt. Since apart from grandpa, she was my only living relative. And I guess for me that was when Christmas and birthdays stopped."