Chapter 79

“Leigh, are you ready?” Brian called from the bottom of the stairs.

“Yeah, I'll be right there!” she called as she finished putting in her diamond earrings.

“You look nice.” Brian said as she walked down the stairs.

Leighanne was surprised to find herself blushing at his compliment. It had been so long since he'd said anything positive about her that she had nearly forgotten how it felt. “Thank you.”

“Wow Mommy, you look pretty!” Baylee said as he ran in wearing his brown corduroy pants with his green sweater that had Rudolph on the front.

“And you look very handsome! Are you ready to go to Emily and AJ's and sing some Christmas carols?”

“Yeah!” he yelled. “Emily said I could sit on the piano bench with her when she plays!”

“Wow! You get the place of honor! I hope AJ won't be jealous.” Brian teased.

Baylee thought for a moment. “I don't think he will, because he's a singer. Singers don't sit at the piano. I know how to play some songs so I think it's ok that I sit there.”

Leighanne and Brian exchanged a look of amazement at the things their son came up with as they put their coats on.

“Are you excited, I'm excited!” Emily said as she began setting out the food.

“Yes, I'm excited.” AJ smiled. “This party has become a really fun tradition.

Emily beamed. She'd always wanted to have a really fun holiday party that everyone looked forward to each year. Leighanne had dibs on Thanksgiving and Christmas day just because they'd always been hosting. Christmas Eve she and AJ liked to have a special evening together and by the 23, everyone else had already had their holiday parties so it just seemed like a logical date. The first time they'd done it was the first year they'd been married. It was only a few people and they all decided it'd be fun to sing some carols. They all had such a blast that everyone asked if she was going to do it again and so began the tradition. Each year after was a little bigger and a little fancier and AJ had to wonder what it'd be like in another ten years. With any luck there'd be more kids running around and Emily would have to bake even more cookies.

“You look very festive, by the way.” he said as he looked at her wearing her black pants and her tighter fitting red sweater that had just a hint of sparkle woven into it.

“Thank you! We should take our picture tonight, it'd be a great Christmas portrait! We're both in black pants, I have on red, you have on a green shirt....people might think we planned it!”

“Well, I used my powers of thinking to figure out what you'd want me to wear. Was I right?”

“Actually, yes, you were!”

The doorbell rang right at seven. “I'll get it!” he said. “Merry Christmas!” he said as he opened the door. He smiled as he saw Brian, Leighanne and Baylee standing there, actually looking happy. “Come on in!”

“Uncle AJ look at my new sweater!” Baylee said.

“Wow! Is that Rudolph?”

“Yeah!”

“Pretty cool!”

“Where's Emily?”

“I'm right here!” Emily appeared. “AJ would you like to hang their coats up?”

“Wow! The service here just gets better and better.” Brian laughed.

“I really think Emily has a private competition with Martha Stewart to see who can throw the best holiday party.” AJ teased.

“Am I winning?” she asked.

“Oh absolutely!” Leighanne answered with a laugh.

“The food is all set out on the table, the fire is going, the wassail is on the counter, mugs are next to it.”

Baylee tugged on her pant leg. “Emily?” he whispered.

Emily knelt down. “Yes?”

“I think Santa gave me my present early!” he said.

“Why?”

“Mommy and Daddy haven't yelled at all today!”

Emily felt her heart melt as she looked into his happy little face. “Well that's very good!”

By 7:30 everyone had arrived and Emily was going around making introductions. Randy and Dr. Keaton were having a conversation about the early flu season. Amanda and Leighanne were talking while Brian and AJ were discussing his album. The neighbors kids were playing with the nurses kids and everyone seemed to be mingling wonderfully. Emily made sure to keep the food stocked with her helpful assistant, Baylee.

“Don't you want to go play with the other kids?” she asked.

“No.”

“Ok. Well why don't you go ask AJ to empty the trash can for me?”

“Emily, everything is wonderful. Thank you for inviting us!” Randy appeared to refill his cup of wassail.

“Thanks! I'm glad you guys could make it.”

“Is Baylee ok?” he asked.

“He's fine, why?”

“I don't know, he just doesn't seem to be himself. I mean, it's just that I've seen the way kids act when something is going on at home.”

Emily was touched by his concern. “I think he's scared and confused. He'd overheard a lot of things he shouldn't have, which is why I have to talk to them after Christmas.”

Randy nodded. “Good.”

“You haven't said anything to Amanda, have you?”

“No. She's worried enough about her sister as it is. I don't want to add to it until it's time to. Do you really think they're going to let you keep him here?”

Emily shrugged. “I'm honestly not sure. I don't think it'll be easy, they aren't very open about these types of things so getting them to talk to me might be a bit of a challenge but I think I should be able to get through to at least one of them.”

“It's nice that he has people like you and AJ who care enough to get involved.”

“Thanks.” Emily smiled. “So...can I get you anything else?”

“No, I think I've eaten more than my share of cookies.”

“Well, then you might want to go rescue your girlfriend. It looks like she's been corned by Margie and her sister Laurie.”

Randy laughed and immediately went to stand by Amanda.

AJ reappeared after having taken out the trash and gave her a big kiss. “What are you doing in here? You should go enjoy your party!”

“I was just making sure everything was taken care of!”

“I can handle that, go have some fun!”

AJ wanted her to enjoy the holiday completely because he had a feeling when he fessed up to everything after the New Year, her fun would come to an end. He finished refilling the platters of food and grabbed himself a cup of wassail and went to join in Emily's conversation with one of their neighbors.

Not long after, Emily rounded everyone up and announced it was time to start singing. She promised the kids more cookies afterwards if they happily participated and everyone gathered around her new piano.

“Wow Emily, this is a lot better than that electric keyboard you've been using!” Brian said.

“I know! Sounds a lot better too!” she said as she pulled out her big book of Christmas music. Baylee climbed up next to her and Brian and Leighanne smiled as they remembered their conversation about his rightful place at the piano. They sang about ten songs in all and everyone had a great time singing and laughing. After the final verse of We Wish You A Merry Christmas the guests mingled a little longer before people started leaving.

When it was just Brian, Leighanne, Baylee, Amanda and Randy left, she collapsed on the couch exhausted. “Great party!” she said.

“Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.” AJ said as he stood by the fire.

“I'm surprised you guys are still here, it's getting late!” Emily said as she looked at her watch.

Everyone looked over at AJ. “That's because we wanted to give you an early Christmas gift.” he said.

A confused look passed over Emily's face. “Why?”

AJ handed her an envelope. “Open it and you'll see!”

Everyone was watching her expectantly as she opened the envelope. Inside, she found a card from their bank. She opened it up and tears immediately sprang to her eyes as she read it.

Thank you for opening your new charitable organization account with us!

The current balance for the Payton Watkins Pediatric Cancer Fund is:

$15,000.

Included inside the card was all the account information as well as a list of donors.

AJ McLean $10,000

Brian and Leighanne Littrell $2,000

Kevin and Kristin Richardson $1,000

Nick Carter $500

Howard Dorough $500

Amanda Wallace and Randal Brown $500

Denise McLean $500

“I don't understand....” Emily stammered, overcome with emotion.

“I know you've been wanting to do something like this for awhile and now seemed like a good time. I thought it would be more fitting to give it to you tonight.” AJ explained as he sat next to her. “The fund is yours to manage, you can do whatever you want with it. Donate it to research, use it to help families of babies born with cancer, however you feel it will best be put to use. And if you want to make it public, you could probably generate a lot more donations.”

“You guys all did this?”

“Well it was AJ's idea but when he told us what he was doing we all wanted to contribute.” Brian said.

“I just....I don't even know what to say!” she sniffed. “This is a wonderful way to remember him. I had no idea!” She turned and faced AJ. “Thank you.” she said, softly. “This means a lot to me.”

“I know it does. You're welcome.” he smiled.

She gave him a soft kiss and then got up and hugged everyone else and thanked them a million times.

“So, what do you think you want to do with it?” Randy asked.

Emily sighed. “Well, I think a percentage of it will go to research but I've always wanted to be able to offer financial assistance to the families. See, when I was going through it with Payton, I learned that there are a lot of clinical trials in pediatric cancer treatments but trials are never covered under insurance which means a lot of people either can't try them or they risk losing their homes and everything to pay for it. But I also know that without people able to do the trial, they'll never be able to make progress quick enough. So I think I'd like to set up some kind of grant program for families who have no other options and who will need assistance paying medical bills or rent or for food...whatever they need help with.”

“So how did you pay for Payton's medication?” Leighanne asked.

Emily chuckled. “He was insured under Joe's insurance, so Joe was down as the person responsible for payment. I never saw a single bill!”

Everyone laughed. “The lady at the bank that set it up for me said if you'd like to come in and meet with her she can give you some names of people to help you run it. They can help you set up an application process and talk to you about how to obtain more donations.” AJ explained. “That way you can do as much or as little of the work as you want to. And if it's ok with you, I'd like to make it one of my charities on my fan page.”

“Me too.” Brian added. “It'll go along great with the Healthy Heart Kids organization. Actually, I could talk to the people that run that for you, I'm sure they'd be willing to help you out too!”

“Wow! I just....never imagined I'd ever actually be able to pay back all the kindness I received when I went through all of that. Now I have a real chance.”

Eventually, everyone else went home feeling inspired by Emily's happiness to be able to make a difference. Emily called everyone else who had donated already to thank them and to wish them a merry Christmas while AJ cleaned up the kitchen for her. When he climbed into bed, she immediately snuggled up next to him.

“Thank you.” she said. “I feel like now I finally have a positive association to this date. It'll always be the day I lost my son but now it'll also be the day I was able to give back in his name.”

“I'm sure he's very proud right now as he looks down on you.” AJ said.

“I have two saints.” she said.

“What?”

“A priest I know once said that when babies die, whether born or unborn, they automatically become saints because they never got to live long enough to sin. That instead of praying for them, we should pray to them. So...somewhere up there, I have two children who have become saints.”

“Payton and the baby you lost this year?”

“Yeah. I think they're watching out for us.”

“And for each other.” he added. “I guess then I have two siblings who are saints.”

“The twins your mom lost?”

He nodded. “I never really thought of it that way before, but it is kind of a comforting thought. That maybe they were needed up in Heaven more than they were down here.”

“So....what do you want to do tomorrow?”

“Well, I was kind of thinking maybe we could sleep in and then go eat brunch at Fresh Fare. There's a movie theater that's showing Christmas Vacation all day and I thought it would be fun to go see it on the big screen. And I definitely have plans to take you out for a very romantic dinner.”

“Really? Where to?”

“I'm not telling. And then I thought we'd go to midnight Mass. I bet it's really beautiful, it's supposed to be a candlelight service!”

“Sounds like you've got a fabulous day planned!” she smiled.

“Did you ever doubt me?”

“No, I'm just always amazed that every year you have a really great Christmas Eve all planned out. I keep thinking that one of these times you're going to run out of ideas or something.”

AJ laughed and kissed the top of her head.

Chapter 80

Emily and AJ didn't exactly sleep in but they certainly didn't get out of bed early on Christmas Eve.

“I love having sex in the morning.” she sighed. “It's so relaxing yet energizing.”

AJ chuckled. “Want to take a shower with me?”

“Sure!” Emily said as she stretched her arms up over her head and yawned.

Emily loved their shower. Not only did they have a great shower head but they also had nozzles on the sides of the shower. She could tell that the previous owners of the house had the same appreciation for bathrooms and kitchens that she did. She used her Twisted Peppermint body wash and then relaxed under the hot water as AJ washed her hair.

“I can't believe it's Christmas Eve already!” she said as they dried off. “I never want to get sick after Thanksgiving again, I feel like I lost so much time!”

“Well, how about just never getting that sick again and then you'll never have to worry about timing it right.”

“Were you really that worried?” she asked.

“Emily, you could barely breathe before you went to the hospital! I could hear it over the phone!”

Emily smiled. “I'm sorry. Geez, what will you do when I'm in labor?”

“Are you planning on having trouble breathing when you're having a baby?”

“Well, no, but I probably will be screaming in pain.”

AJ shuddered. “I guess I'll find a way to handle it.” Truthfully, the thought of Emily having to go through childbirth scared the daylights out of him. It wasn't just that he was worried something would go wrong, he also just didn't want her to go through that much pain and know that there wasn't really anything he could do to help her.

They got dressed and headed out to Fresh Fare for brunch near where Brian and Leighanne live. They laughed as they passed the shopping mall on the highway and saw how crowded all the stores were as the last minute shoppers were out in full force. “Do you think Brian's out today?” she asked.

“I don't know, hopefully he got it all done the other day, it looks nasty!”

“I don't know why he doesn't just shop online if he hates shopping that much.”

“He's a man. Men are not logical.” AJ replied.

“Can I get that in writing in case I need to remind you of that in the future?”

“No.” he smiled. “You'll never be able to prove I ever said it.”

“What are you going to have to eat?” Emily asked as he pulled into the parking lot.

“I'm going to have what I always have.” he said, looking at her like she'd asked a stupid question.

“Well I just thought one of these days you'd try something new for a change!”

“Not today!” he laughed.

They enjoyed a light-hearted brunch together as they remembered when they used to come here when she lived at Brian's and he'd be in town visiting. AJ ordered his usual Western Scramble and Emily had strawberry crepes. They stayed awhile and enjoyed their coffee and talked about what Emily was going to say to Brian and Leighanne when she went to talk to them.

“I think you need to tell them exactly what Baylee said to you, about everything he's overheard. And then you need to tell them that this has gone on long enough. It isn't working and they need to take some time to figure out what they want. Brian needs to figure out whether or not he wants to work this out and Leighanne probably just needs a break.” AJ said.

Emily nodded. “I'm just not sure it'll be that easy.”

“No.” he shook his head. “It won't be. But I'm sure you'll find a way to get through to them.”

“Do you want to come with me?”

“Not really. I tend to shy away from interventions.

Emily laughed. “Whatever, you're just scared to get in the middle of this!”

“Damn right! Are you ready to go see the movie?”

“Sure!”

While AJ and Emily were having a nice afternoon together, Brian and Leighanne were still avoiding each other.

“I've been thinking.” Leighanne started.

“About what?” Brian looked up from his computer.

“I think I should sleep in our room tonight.”

Brian looked skeptical.

“I promise I won't touch you. I just don't want Baylee to get confused when he comes to wake us up at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning and I'm not in there.” she said, defensively.

Brian nodded. “That'll be fine then.”

Leighanne fought the temptation to roll her eyes at him and left the room.

Brian sat back and took a deep breath. He had to admit that there was a small part of him that actually thought it would be nice to have her back in his bed again. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept alone for so long. It was lonely. Things he took for granted before, like the way she hogged the blanket and the way she'd roll over in her sleep and snuggle against him, he found he really missed. On the other hand, he'd been so angry with her that he didn't want her anywhere near him. He supposed what it all came down to was that he felt very violated by her. Finding out that she'd manipulated his trust the way that she had made him feel very used and betrayed. It was hard for him to make sense of it all because it had happened so long ago. So much had happened since then, their relationship had been nothing but loving. He'd spent a few weeks feeling like everything since Baylee had been a farce, none of it had been real. Since he'd calmed down though, he began to realize that wasn't true. What he and Leighanne had been through was real. He really loved his son, he really loved his wife for giving him a son and for taking care of them the way that she had. When Kevin let it slip what she'd done, he had thought of her as some kind of monster that he couldn't even recognize, but the haze was slowly lifting. He couldn't yet forgive her for what she did but he could at least acknowledge that she was no monster. He figured that was at least a start.

Leighanne huffed around the kitchen trying to get organized for Christmas. She was tired of feeling so lonely. She was tired of putting up with Brian's coldness. She was really tired of how nasty he had been, of the way he treated her like she was some cruel bitch that had ruined his life. She didn't deserve that. She was willing to own up to what she had done but she was not willing to accept being treated that way any longer. Once his Christmas Truce expired, she was going to put her foot down.

After the movie, AJ and Emily went home for awhile to relax together before dinner. The timing couldn't have been more perfect for the conversation they would have as they watched tv together. Emily had turned on Access Hollywood and they had done a piece on Paula Abdul's stalker that had killer herself in front of Paula's home.

“Man, isn't it crazy what stalkers will do?” Emily commented as she watched.

“Yes. I mean I've had some pretty crazy fans but I feel pretty lucky that I haven't encountered anything more serious.”

“Yeah, I'm pretty glad of that too!” Emily laughed.

“What about you?” he asked

“What about me what? Did I ever have a crazy fan?” Emily laughed.

“No, I mean, did you ever just have like, a guy who was a little too nuts for you?”

Emily thought for a moment. “Not that I know of.”

“Well, keep your eyes out here for anything weird. I mean with me going out on my own, you never know what could happen when I'm back in the media a little more” he said, carefully.

“Well, what types of things are you talking about? People peeking through the windows or something?”

AJ faked a chuckle. “Just be careful of random packages that may show up, any flowers that get sent, things like that. I mean as far as I know none of that's happened lately, right?”

“The last flowers I got were from you right before I came to New York.”

AJ's heart skipped a beat. “Which flowers?”

“Duh...the red roses you sent me before our last weekend with the card that said, 'See you soon' on them! They were gorgeous, by the way. Sorry I forgot to thank you.....” she said, looking guilty.

AJ cleared his throat. He hadn't sent her any flowers. “Don't worry about it.” he said, kissing her on top of the head as he tried to stop himself from shaking.

“Yeah, the guy that delivered them was very nice. He was very chatty and then he asked if he could come in and use the bathroom.”

“You let a strange guy in the house when you were all alone?” AJ said, alarmed.

“Relax! I was actually on my way out and I'd already locked up so I told him I really needed to get going, I was going to be late to work. Which was the truth.”

“Thank God! You never know these days.”

“Are you alright? You look weird.” Emily said.

“Oh...I'm fine.”

“Would you mind if I went to lay down for like, half an hour? I just want a little rest before dinner.”

AJ smiled. “Not at all. I'll come wake you up.”

Emily leaned down and kissed him. “Thanks.”

AJ leaned back on the couch in shock. He'd been wrong, apparently there had been more encounters with the stalker. And who knew if the flowers had been the only thing? AJ had a strong suspicion that the alleged delivery man was probably the stalker himself and who knows what he wanted to do in the house. Hurt Emily? Look through their things? Plant a hidden camera in the shower? There was also always the possibility that he was just a delivery man who happened to be overly friendly but his feelings were that the guy was scoping the place out as well as getting in a chat with Emily. He could feel the bile rising in his throat as he thought of how close he'd actually been to his wife.

He wished he could figure out where this guy would have come across Emily. How did he become fixated on her? Had she met him somewhere? Did he see her in an article? Her picture had appeared in a few blogs and articles announcing his album release and tour dates so it was possible he saw her there. Was it someone they knew? If he was the delivery man though, and Emily knew him, she would have recognized him. Emily had always been very good at recognizing people she knew even if she couldn't place where she knew them from. So if he was to assume that his hunch was correct and the stalker had delivered the flowers, he would also have to assume that Emily didn't know him and therefore he was probably a stranger.

AJ took a deep breath and tried to shove it out of his mind. There wasn't anything he could do about it at the moment and he wanted to enjoy Christmas with Emily. After everything they'd been through in the last four months they deserved some good times together.

He decided to wake her up from her nap in a rather gentle and loving way by crawling in next to her and softly kissing the back of her neck. He knew she was awake by the way she softly sighed at the feeling of his lips on her skin. He didn't know what it was but he just couldn't seem to get enough of her lately. He figured they were just making up for lost time or something. Whatever it was, he seemed to be having a problem keeping his hands off of her. Not that she had ever complained about it.

They eventually got dressed up to go out to dinner. AJ wore black dress pants with a dark blue shirt. He helped Emily pick out a set of green underwear (he said it would help her feel more festive), an above the knee gray skirt with a pink sweater set.

“Where are we going?” she asked as he helped her into his car.

As he climbed in the drivers' side, he answered, “We're going to Villa Roma.”

“Where is that, I've never heard of it before!”

“It's downtown. It just opened last month but it's been getting rave reviews all around for it's homemade Italian food. And, they have a dance floor!”

“Really? Like, real dinner and dancing? No one has that anymore!”

“I know! I think that's part of the appeal to it. I haven't taken you dancing in awhile.”

AJ held her hand as he drove into the city. The sun was already setting and everything was twinkling with Christmas lights.

AJ was glad of his restaurant choice. It was a fancy Italian restaurant that somehow managed to still feel homey. The service was excellent and the food was even better. AJ tried his best to be relaxed but he couldn't help looking around him all the time, watching to see if anyone was staring at them. His heart pounded when Emily went to the bathroom in fear that maybe she wouldn't return. He held her tightly to him on the dance floor and continued to keep an eye on everyone around him.

“Are you alright tonight?” she asked as they sat down to eat dessert. “You seem quiet or distracted or something.”

AJ smiled. “I'm fine, I promise.”

“Is it because Randy's going to be there tomorrow?”

“What? God, no! Besides I just saw him last night!”

“I know but it was a big party and you didn't talk to him.” Emily shrugged.

“Honey I don't care about Randy being there. Really, let it go.” he insisted.

“Well I'm just trying to figure out what's wrong.”

He squeezed her hand. “I guess I'm just starting to realize how soon I have to be away from you again.”

Emily studied him, trying to decide if she believed him or not. “I know it'll be hard but it won't be for long periods, right? Just a few nights gone, a few nights home. Honestly I'm more worried about you wearing yourself out with all that traveling back and forth across the country!”

“I'm used to it, I think it'll be less stressful to keep coming home than it will be to stay gone.”

Emily cleared her throat. “So, umm, just out of curiosity, let's say we did have a baby in a year. How much do you think you'll be traveling then?” she tried to sound casual.

“You mean am I going to pull a Brian and not want to be around very much?”

“Yeah. I mean I'm not asking because I expect you to stop what you're doing, I'm just wondering how you'll handle it.”

“I totally supported Brian's decision to keep going full speed when Baylee was born, but that won't be something that I want to do. I don't want to quit but I promise I will be around to help you. I don't want to miss out on that! In fact I've even told Mark and Brent that the minute we start a family I will back off the promoting and touring. They weren't totally thrilled with the idea but they understood.”

Emily smiled. “You know, I kind of figured that's what you would do, but I guess seeing the way this has come between Brian and Leighanne I got a little worried admittedly. I think I could handle it, I just don't want to have to do it by myself.”

“But you're going to change all the poopy diapers, right?” he teased.

“Right! I have to grow them inside of me for nine months, then I have to give birth to them, I have to breast feed them every few hours...I think it's only fair that you get poop and vomit duty.”

“Yeah but that's all the gross stuff! I want some of the good stuff too.”

“Fine. You can have bath time and breakfast.”

“Cool!” he agreed.

Chapter 81

“Merry Christmas!” Emily said softly as she rolled on top of AJ and began gently nibbling on his ear.

AJ groaned softly and wrapped his arms around her. “Does this count as one of my presents?”

“Actually I was kind of hoping it would count as one of my presents.” she whispered into his ear as she slowly sunk on to him.

“Oh yeah?” he moaned. “What did you have in mind?”

“I was kind of hoping you'd fuck my brains out.” she said as she swirled her hips.

AJ absolutely loved it when Emily got a little raunchy in bed and hearing her ask for it like that floored him. Before she knew what had happened, he had her flipped over and on her knees as he roughly thrust himself back into her from behind. Emily moaned loudly into the pillow as her entire body shook with every thrust he gave her. She came quickly and loudly and could barely roll herself back over when AJ collapsed beside her drenched in sweat.

“Was that what you had in mind?” he asked.

“Uh-huh.” she panted. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure.” he laughed.

They cuddled for a few more minutes until Emily came back down to earth. “Do you want to open our gifts now?” she asked, excitedly.

“I was starting to think you'd forgotten all about that!” he laughed. “Of course I do!”

They threw on some pajamas and went downstairs.

“Do you want some coffee?” she offered.

“Of course!”

“I'll make a pot of that Winter Wonderland stuff I got at Crimson Cup the other day.”

“What's Crimson Cup?” he asked.

“Some new coffee shop across from the grocery store.” she called from the kitchen. “It's all fair trade and locally roasted or something like that.”

“Cool!”

Emily returned to the living room and sat down in front of the tree. They each dumped out their stockings and sorted through the goodies. AJ had filled Emily's with Godiva chocolates and Lindt truffles as well a tube of her favorite hand cream from Crabtree and Evelyn and a new bottle of massage oil. In AJ's, Emily had put loads of butterfinger bars, his favorite, a few packs of altoids, a small bottle of cologne and matching scented body wash. The dogs got new bones and Guapo got a new cat nip toy in the stocking for the pets which they all seemed to be enjoying thoroughly.

AJ went and poured them each a cup of coffee and set them down on the coffee table and then they exchanged their gifts.

Emily went first and opened a beautiful, sparkling snowflake necklace on a silver chain. “Oh it's so pretty!” she said as she held it up in the lights.

“Well, I know how much you love the snow so I figured this way you could at least have your own snow flake even if this one is made of diamonds.”

“It's beautiful, thank you!” she said.

“And this one goes with that.” he said, handing her another small box.

Emily opened it up and immediately recognized the little blue box from Tiffany. She opened it up and found the diamond tennis bracelet that she'd seen when they were shopping in New York. “How did you get this?” she laughed.

“I called them the day we got home.”

“Thank you, I love it!” she said, putting it on her wrist. “And on that note...” she handed him a package. “Merry Christmas.”

AJ tore open the package to find she had gotten him a new watch. He didn't know how she'd done it but she'd managed to find him exactly what he'd been looking for.

“I was going to inscribe the back, but I couldn't think of anything that didn't sound too corny so I didn't put anything.”

He laughed. “Thanks baby, it's perfect.” he said, putting it on.

They continued to unwrap their gifts. They'd each gotten each other some new clothes, AJ got Emily some new underwear and she joked that it was more for him than for her. He got her some new stuff from Bath and Body Works to add to her collection, more bubble bath and more Godiva coffee. She got him a web cam for his laptop so they could video conference while he was away and a diamond stud earring.

“I have one other gift for you that I couldn't wrap.” he said after they'd picked up all the wrapping paper.

“What is it?” she asked, curious.

“Well, after I finish the tour with the Colby shows, I'm going to quit smoking.”

Emily was stunned. “You are?”

“Yes.”

“Are you doing it for me, or for you?”

“I'm doing it for both of us. I know you hate it and I know how bad it is for me and for my voice and I also don't want to expose our future baby to my second hand smoke. It's dirty, it's disgusting and it's time to quit.”

“But...I mean, I thought that smoking was like, something that helped your addiction?”

AJ laughed. “Smoking helps calm my nerves, that's all. I'll just have to find something else to replace it with. I've actually been doing a lot of reading and there's been a lot of success combining acupuncture with hypnosis and herb supplements.”

“Wow! You're really serious, aren't you?”

“I wouldn't have told you if I didn't mean it. I'm not saying it'll be easy but I think I'm finally ready to tackle it.”

Emily gave him a big hug. “I think it's great.” she said. “And just think of all the money you'll save not buying cigarettes!”

“Actually, maybe this is stupid, but I was thinking that once I quit, I could put the money I used to spend smoking into your charity fund.”

“I think that's a great idea!” Emily perked. “I wonder if we could get other people to do that!” she laughed. “We'd be helping treat cancer and helping prevent it all at once! I've actually been thinking a lot about the charity. I really want to do a lot with it, you know? I can't wait to meet with the people to find a way to make it happen.”

“I'm sure with that kind of determination you'll be able to help a lot of people, especially because you do have a personal understanding.”

“Well, it's because of you that I have this opportunity, so thank you.” she stood up on her tip toes and gave him a soft kiss. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.” he whispered as he kissed her again.

Just as they expected, Baylee woke Brian and Leighanne up at six in the morning by jumping on their bed and yelling something about Santa. They kept in him in suspense as they took a few minutes to wake up. Leighanne had slept next to Brian but she kept her promise and didn't touch him but she was vaguely aware of him wrapping his arms around her in his sleep in the middle of the night. She doubted he remembered though but she woke feeling more rested than she had in weeks.

“Daddy, I want to go downstairs!” Baylee said.

“Hang on, Daddy needs to go make sure Santa's gone, ok?”

“Ok, hurry! But if you do see Santa, try to keep him so I can say hi!”

“Alright.” Brian went downstairs and plugged in the tree lights and smiled as he looked at all the wrapped gifts under the tree. When he finally let Baylee come downstairs he immediately ran over to the tree to examine his packages.

“You know the rules!” Leighanne said. “We each get to pick one gift to open before church!”

“Can't I open two this year?” Baylee whined.

“Sorry, just one.” Brian said.

They sat around the tree and Baylee picked out a medium sized box. He shook it before he tore off the paper. “SPONGE BOB!” he yelled as he revealed a Sponge Bob board game.

“Baylee why don't you pick out something for Daddy to open?” Brian said.

Baylee walked over to Brian's gifts. “Hmmm....” he said as he inspected them. “How about this one?” he said, handing Brian a box. Brian opened the box and found a new Armani dress shirt.

“I thought you'd like to wear it today.” Leighanne said, feeling uncomfortable. It felt so strange to exchange gifts with a person who seemed to hate your guts lately.

“It's great, thanks.” he smiled, understanding what she was thinking and feeling a tad guilty for it.

“Mommy open this one!” Baylee said, handing her a small box.

Leighanne unwrapped the box and found a set of pretty, pearl earrings. “Oh they're gorgeous!” she said. “Thank you.”

“Well, you always said you wished you had some pearls.” Brian said. The truth was, he hadn't gotten her anything special and as they sat and wrapped gifts together a few days before, he felt terrible for it. So he thought for awhile about what she might like and decided he could make time to go to the jewelry store and get her something. After all, Christmas was about giving, not getting back at your wife.

A few hours later, everyone began arriving at Brian's. Amanda and Randy got there with Leighanne's parents and AJ and Emily arrived about twenty minutes after that. They carried in their gifts and put them under the tree and Emily sent AJ back out to the car to bring in the food that she'd brought.

“How was your Christmas morning?” Leighanne asked.

“It was really nice, how was yours?”

“It was....good. Baylee's been hyper all morning, I finally convinced him to take a nap about an hour ago but it didn't last very long.” she commented as Baylee came charging down the steps.

“EMILY!” he yelled. “Come and see what Santa brought me!” he said as he drug Emily by the hand towards the Christmas tree.

After Baylee showed first Emily and then AJ everything and then he realized that Amanda, Randy and both of his grandparents also needed the grand tour of his gifts so he started all over again. Emily managed to escape to the kitchen to help Leighanne.

“So...your Christmas has really been good?” she asked.

“Well, not good like it always has been but good in the sense that Brian and I are speaking to each other. It's awkward but at least we aren't fighting. I guess that's about as much as I can ask for right now.”

“Do you really think it's a truce for Christmas or do you think he's finally ready to deal with all of it?”

Leighanne shrugged. “I don't know. He's been so unpredictable that I'm afraid to make a guess. What about you? I bet you two had a nice, romantic morning!”

Emily blushed.
“See, you two, I can predict!” Leighanne laughed. “What did he get you for Christmas?”

“Oh well there's the standards: Bath and Body Works stuff, bubble bath, my hand cream, fancy chocolates. And then he got me this.” she held up her snowflake necklace “Because he said he knows how much I love the snow and this way I can at least have my own snowflake. And he got me this to go with it!” she said, holding out her wrist to model her bracelet.

“Oh wow! You got all kinds of sparkles” Leighanne said as she examined each piece.

“The bracelet is from Tiffany. I saw it in New York.”

“They're both beautiful!”

“Oh, and there's one other thing. He said after the Colby tour he's going to quit smoking. He claims he's finally ready. I guess the prospect of exposing our children to it woke him up a bit. I'm not completely sure he'll do it but I guess the thought of it is a big step.”

Leighanne looked shocked. “Wow! We've been after him for years!”

“How about you? Did you get anything nice?”

“You mean besides coal?” she joked. “Actually, he got me a set of pearls!”

“Wow! He did better than usual!”

“I know, it's weird.”

About an hour later, everyone sat down and enjoyed a very nice Christmas dinner. Emily had been so busy helping in the kitchen that she hadn't seen much of AJ or Randy. After the table was cleared they all exchanged gifts with one another and enjoyed the holiday cheer as they sat around the tree. Eventually, Leighanne's parents had to leave to go to another party leaving the three couples plus Baylee. AJ and Brian set out dessert and they all nibbled while they chatted. Leighanne felt a bit left out when Emily and Amanda were discussing their travel plans for the upcoming week. Amanda was absolutely thrilled with her surprise vacation with Randy and Emily had no idea where AJ was taking her except for the fact that there would be snow. Leighanne wasn't getting a vacation any time soon. Not when she still had a husband who was furious at her.

Somehow, AJ and Randy ended up sitting across from each other and they both had to work very hard not to look at each other. AJ was already feeling a little overprotective of Emily because of the threatening letters and the last thing he needed was to be worried about Randy. When AJ's phone rang, he stepped out of the room to answer it. Unfortunately, Emily had gotten up to get another cookie and overheard him.

“Hello?”

“This is Brinks home security, is this AJ McLean?”

“Yes.” AJ answered, wondering why the security company was calling him on Christmas.

“Mr. McLean we're getting an alarm signal from your garage, is everything alright?”

AJ's heart began to pound. “Well, actually we aren't home at the moment but it was probably the dogs or something.”

“We'll go ahead and send out the police to check it out for you. Can they reach you at this number?”

“Yes, it's my cell phone.”

“We have someone on the way. We'll be in touch in a few minutes.”

“What was that all about?” Emily asked.

AJ cleared his throat. “That was the security company. I guess they got an alarm from our garage door. They said they're going to go ahead and send an officer to check it out.”

“Should we go over there?” Emily looked concerned.

“I'm sure it's fine. They'll call us back after they check.” AJ tried his best to sound reassuring.

They sat back down, and about five minutes later his phone rang again. This time AJ didn't bother getting up to answer it since Emily already knew.

“Mr. McLean this is officer Barone. We've checked the perimeter of your home as well as the garage where the alarm went off. It looks like someone might have tried to get into the side door but we can't say for sure. There's a foot print on it which suggests someone may have kicked it and gotten spooked by the alarm. Nothing else looks touched and the door isn't even damaged.”

“So the door was still shut?”

“Still shut, everything is locked up tight, we checked all your doors and windows.”

“Do I need to come over there and file a report or anything?”

“You can if you want to but there isn't much to file, nothing has been damaged. I say stay where you are and enjoy your holiday. I doubt they'll be back, not with your alarm system.”

“Ok, well, thanks for checking everything officer.” AJ said.

“What happened?” Emily asked, her eyes full of worry.

“He said everything is fine, someone may have tried to kick in the side entrance to the garage but he couldn't be sure. Nothing is damaged, they checked all our doors and windows and everything is locked up tight.”

Emily breathed a sigh of relief. “Why would someone try to get in the garage on the middle of Christmas day?”

AJ and Brian locked eyes. They knew why. AJ just didn't want Emily to know why.

“Probably just someone looking to rip off some expensive new gifts.” AJ said.

“Well, sounds like you guys got lucky.” Amanda said.

AJ could feel Brian glaring at him as the conversation changed to talking about the time Emily, Kristin and Leighanne snuck on to AJ's yard in Florida to TP his house. He got up and walked towards the office knowing Brian would follow him.

Randy wasn't an idiot. He saw the looks passing between the two men and knew there was more to the story that they weren't letting on to and he had a feeling it was something they didn't want Emily to know about. He didn't set out to eavesdrop, he simply excused himself to the bathroom that just happened to be right next to the office. It wasn't his fault he could hear through the walls.........

“AJ man, you have to tell her.” Brian said.

“We don't know it was him, it could have just been some punk kid.” AJ said.

“Maybe. But when you get two very threatening and graphic letters from a guy who wants to hurt your wife and do things to her I don't even want to think about, I don't think that's a very safe assumption to make.”

“You saw her face. Look how scared she was when she thought it was just a stupid vandal. Do you know what it would do to her if I told her someone wants to kidnap her, rape her, beat her, hurt her, maybe even kill her?”

“You swore you were going to tell her!”

“I swore I'd tell her after our vacation.” AJ said as he crossed his arms. “And I will.”

Brian shook his head. “I don't think you can wait that long. This guy means business. It isn't safe and you know it!”

Randy had heard enough. He didn't exactly know what was going on but from what he'd overheard, Emily was in danger and AJ wasn't doing a very good job of protecting her. He knocked on the office door and walked in.

“I can't believe you're going to keep this from her!” he said as he let himself in.

“Jesus, you were eavesdropping?” AJ exclaimed.

“No, I went to the bathroom and overheard.”

“Right.” AJ said skeptical.

“It doesn't matter how I heard. But I did, and Brian's right. You're not doing this to protect her, you're doing it to protect yourself.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means your life is easier if she doesn't know. It won't be public, it'll keep you from getting bad press....”

“You have no right to make that kind of judgment of me!”

“If you guys don't keep your voices down, everyone's going to know.” Brian said, stepping between the two men.

“If you don't tell her, I will.” Randy warned.

“AJ, he's right.” Brian said gently. “You need to tell her.”

AJ sighed. “Fine.”

“What's going on in here?” Emily asked. “I thought I heard yelling!” she took in the sight of Brian standing between AJ and Randy who were still glaring at each other.

“Just a little disagreement.” Randy said. “Right AJ?”

“Whatever.”

“What's going on?” she asked, growing concerned.

“Guys, could you excuse us please? Emily and I need to talk.” AJ said.