A lifetime worth of gifts

As the day progressed it was time for the gift exchange. Since they are all wealthy and it is the thought that counts, the family had chosen to do a gift exchange event. Where each person would provide one gift. Multiple family games would be played and the winner from each game would be allowed to pick a gift. If the person who came in first had already chosen a gift, the turn would go to the person that had come in second and they would continue until everyone had gotten a gift. The only person that had been exempted from this by Jason's grandparents, was Jenny.

They were very happy to see her again and had prepared a grand Christmas gift for her, making the others wonder if they were their actual children and grandchildren. They gave her a beautiful music box they had bought a long time ago from an artist that now was world famous. It had been signed and was one of his first works. Back then they had bought it for a thousand pounds but now it was of unmeasurable value and had been a thing that plenty of the family members had been after. It was a little larger than the palm of her hand and was in the shape of an antique jewellery box.

When she opened the box, it had a small figurine standing in it. Upon closer inspection she saw that the figurine had been holding a smaller figurine in her hand, which turned out to be her zodiac sign. When she wound up the key on the back, the figurine started dancing round and round and with each round, one of the starshaped carvings on the inside of the lid started to light up. When all lights were lit, they formed the shape of her star sign as found in the constellations. The longer Jenny looked, the more details she found. Making her fall more in love with the box with each note it played and each spin the figurine made.

Jenny got up and hugged the both of them. "This is wonderful. There was no need for you to get me something so valuable. How am I supposed to thank you for something like this?" While Jason's grandfather told her to not worry about it and said that her happiness was all the thanks they needed, his grandmother took this chance to whisper "All I need you to do is to give me a great-grandchild and you will have given me a lifetime worth of gifts." When she let Jenny go, she gave her a wink as Jenny looked at her with a shocked expression. Jason's grandfather didn't know what had gotten Jenny to react the way she did. He looked confused at Jenny clearing her throat and start fidgeting with her sleeves as she looked away and answered softly, "I will do my best." Jason's grandmother started to chuckle and understood now why everyone loved to tease her so much. This caused the grandfather's confused look to be turned towards his amused wife, who filled him in after Jenny had made her escape to Jason's side, causing him to smile as well as he imagined it. However, fate had a different plan in mind and another one of their friends would beat them to it. Something which would be revealed in the near future.

When Jason noticed Jenny being flustered, he looked at her with a look of concern as he whispered "What's wrong? What happened?" Jenny shook her head, telling Jason that it was nothing and she didn't want to talk about it right now. So, he just put his arm around her and rubbed it gently as he continued to talk to the people he was sitting with. Thinking to himself that he will ask her about it when they would retire to their room later that night. The opportunity to ask Jenny about it again presented itself earlier when they were called into the dining room as dinner would be served. While the room cleared out and Jenny too got up to head into the dining room, Jason pulled her back by her waist causing Jenny to fall onto his lap. Jenny looked in the direction of the dining room and saw that no one was looking their direction before she hissed at him, "What are you doing? Let me go silly." Jason looked at her with determined eyes and an unchanged expression, clearly not impressed by her words, and said, "Not until you tell what was wrong with you earlier."

Jenny's face flushed a little as she softly said, "It was nothing much, really... I was just caught off guard. Your grandmother told me that I could thank her for this gift and a lifetime's worth by giving her great-grandchild. So, that got me a bit flustered." Jason let out a puff of air out of amusement and said, "Why are you getting flustered by the obvious? Just tell her that you are planning to in the near future or just that you will. It's not like she asked you to hand her one over right now." Jenny put on a fake, annoyed smile as she said, "Well, sorry for getting 'flustered by the obvious' Mr. Cool. We can't all be so unperturbed like you."

Seeing that he had angered his feisty kitten Jason chuckled and pulled her into a tight hug as he said, "Sorry, sorry. Act as if I didn't say anything at all. Instead of my words, let the feast in the dining room comfort you." Jenny, who was being squeezed so tightly that she could hardly breathe, let alone move, tapped at his shoulder as she said, "Alright, let me go! Let me go!" Jason loosened his grip allowing Jenny to hit Jason on his chest as she said, "That was way too tight! Are you trying to suffocate me?" With a flirtatious smile Jason replied, "No, just trying to squeeze out the bad feelings." Jenny was baffled at how Jason could come up with these things and laughed as she playfully tapped his chest and got up off his lap. "What will I do with you? Let's go and eat you silly man." With a light heart and a growling stomach Jenny entered the food filled room, followed behind closely by Jason, so that they could enjoy their second feast.