Anthony waited until the sound of her voice put him out of his misery. She looked delighted at the thought, and he felt a small wave of relief fall over him. Splendid, he hadn’t gone a step too far and offended her. In fact, she seemed so utterly pleased she dared to use his given name. This introduced a new level of intimacy that he found he didn’t mind in the least. Grinning happily in return (like a praised Labrador), the gentleman found he could consider this a successful Christmas Eve now. Her laugh, just an added bonus. He was surprised however as she moved to extricate something of her own from the pockets of her dress. Watching curiously as the little parcel was handed to him, Anthony felt his own heart skip a beat. She’d thought of him, too. He carefully handed off his little boxes in exchange for the parcel and made to unwrap it delicately. He was touched to find a token inside embroidered just for him. The ‘A’ very much in his style, too. “It’s… perfect, wow,” Anthony beamed a little bit. “You know me well, already. Thank you, Ms. Victoire, I appreciate the gesture greatly.”
He crumpled the paper into his palm then and made to tuck the little kerchief into his breast pocket so that the ‘A’ was poking out. Then, with a teasing little grin he held his hands out as if to say ‘just like this?’ He knew better than to leave it displayed, obviously, but if it made her laugh and got her to gently tuck it the rest of the way in, he would be satisfied.