"You're never going to get your grandmother into the truck," Aaron pointed out. "You can use the new one I just bought."

"You bought a new car?" Masen asked.

Both of us looked at Masen like she was joking, but obviously she wasn't.

"What?" she pursed her lips, taking a sip of my coffee and handing it back to me.

I took it and took my own sip before I placed it back on the ledge of the couch.

"You do remember, right, how he got the burns?" I asked finally.

Her eyes widened, and then a blush stole over her face.

"Shit," she covered her mouth, causing Aaron to laugh.

"Ahh, you're a breath of fresh air, Mase," Aaron grinned, reaching for another donut.

"You're going to eat all of my donuts, aren't you?" I asked him. "There are a ton of sprinkled ones there."

Aaron shrugged and took a bite.

I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe this afternoon I can talk to your grandmother about buying her house. And you can tell our parents that you're getting married," Aaron said.

I turned to Masen and smiled.

"They're going to freak out."

She nodded in confirmation.

"They sure are."

Masen "Mom," I wheezed through a constricted wind pipe. "I can't breathe."

"I'm so happy for you, honey," she whispered. "So, so happy."

My mom finally let me go and I stretched my neck to ensure proper blood flow began going back into my head. My mom jumped from me to my father, and when I say jump, she literally jumped.

"Chill out, Karen," my dad ordered. "You're embarrassing me."

I laughed.

That was as far from the truth as it could possibly be.

My mom didn't embarrass my father at all; in fact, my father was worse than my mother in his excitement.

"Let's toast!" Booth's mother said. "Gather round."

Adria passed out goblets for the champagne that Booth had forced us to stop and get on the way to pick up my Grammy.

Once every one had a glass, Booth's stepfather spoke.

"Alright," Bill said. "I know, just like we all know, that this day was bound to happen. I can't help but feel excited that it's finally come, and I can't wait to bring Masen officially into our family."

My belly warmed deliciously at Bill's kind words.

"It's been a hell of a long time since we've all been together like this, and I can't wait for next year, and all the years to come," Bill finished. "Cheers."

Booth rolled his eyes from across the room where he was leaning against the door, speaking with my grandmother in low tones.

I grinned at him and turned to the picture that still graced the Sims' wall.

There, in a place of honor, was a picture of me and Daniela, the first year we'd come over to spend Thanksgiving with the Sims' family.

I was holding on to Daniela's hand as she tried to force feed me a bite of pumpkin pie, the most horrid pie on the planet.

Tears clogged my throat as I looked at that picture, one moment frozen in time of one of the happiest moments of my life.

I licked my lips just as two strong arms wrapped around my chest from behind.

"You okay?" Booth rumbled, pressing his lips against my neck.

I shivered as his bristled jaw rubbed deliciously against my sensitive skin, causing goose bumps to break out all over my body.

Patting his hands, I leaned back against him and said, "I wish she was here."

"Me, too," he said. "She's missed."

She was.

Although my parents were here and happy, they weren't happy at first to be celebrating.

We hadn't had Thanksgiving or Christmas at all since she'd died.

Those two days were just like any other day for me, and I was happy to see that both of my parents were enjoying the day despite missing one integral part of our family.

I looked over at our parents as they planned our wedding already and smiled.

"We did good, big boy," I said.

"Yeah, we did good," he agreed.

"Next year we might have a baby," I whispered, nerves making my belly swim.

"You can count on that," he teased roughly against my throat.

My insides tightened, and I found myself quite excited about the future.

Next year would be completely different, and I couldn't wait to experience it.

Chapter 19.

Beware of old men in a profession where they usually die young.

-Fact of Life Masen "Do you mind if we stop by to get my mail?" I asked Mia. "I've got to cash the check I'm expecting back from my credit card company for overpaying them."

"No problem," she agreed. "But it would be better for me if you dropped me off with Tai for a few minutes so I could see him. He's going to be on shift for forty-eight hours, and I want to say hi before he has to go into work."

I nodded.

Tai and Mia lived on the way to my parents' house, and I had pass the street that they lived on to get to where I was going anyway.

"What was up with them all having to pull a double shift, anyway?" I asked, stopping at the stoplight and waiting for it to turn green.

"A man on A-shift got married yesterday, and the entire shift requested a day off," Mia explained.

"Oh," I said. "Well, I guess I'm going to be requiring the same thing soon, huh?" I said thoughtfully.

"Exactly," Mia replied. "I still can't believe you're getting married."

I grinned at her.

"What I can't believe is that we're going to do this before we go to work in the morning," I grumbled as I pulled into traffic. "What the hell are we thinking?"

Mia giggled and turned her face to study the landscape.

"We do this every year. This year's no different," she pointed out. "You should just be happy that we had Thanksgiving off, or we really would've been dead."

No doubt about that.

Mia and I had requested it off, even though we were sure we wouldn't be getting it since we were so new at the hospital.

However, we were surprised to find out that we did, indeed, get the day off.

Normally we rolled into Thanksgiving about two hours after it'd already started.

Last year it was me going to the retirement home and eating cold dessert with Grammy.

This year was much more fun.

The drive to Mia's house was harrowing at best, the Black Friday shoppers going strong at five minutes past six in the morning, and I drove as cautiously as I could with all the traffic.

"Just drop me off right here," she pointed. "And if he comes out here, don't tell him how much I bought. Tell him it's all yours."

My eyes flicked to the back of the truck that was housing over thirty bags of shit, belonging only to her.

Mine we'd already dropped off at my place where I'd changed for work. Mia had come already wearing her work clothes, which was what I should've done.

"He's never going to believe that all that baby crap is mine," I informed her, smiling as I did.

She shrugged. "He doesn't have to know, though. Plausible deniability and all that jazz."

I watched the door, but Tai never came out.

"Are you sure he's here?" I asked.

She nodded and pointed to the truck still in the driveway.

"He hasn't left yet."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll load some of it up into your car really quick if he doesn't come out. He'll never have to know."

Her eyes lit and she gave me a thumb's up. "Good idea!"

She hurried quickly to the door, and her luck stayed with her as she made it inside without him coming outside.

After she disappeared into her house, I loaded about half the bags, i.e. the ones I could reach without actually getting into the truck, into Mia's backseat.

After locking the doors, I got into the truck and hurried over to my parents' house.

I didn't notice a thing out of place as I drove down the street.

Not the car parked outside our house. Not the man standing beside the car with a black bat wrapped in black electrical tape. And not even the way he glared at me as I came.

I was pulling into the driveway when I finally became aware of what exactly was going on, and by the time I realized that I should've paid more attention, I was already being pulled out of the truck and hit repeatedly with the bat.

Over and over, blow after blow, reigned down upon me.

"Where are my letters, you stupid cunt?" The man's garbled scream came from behind his mask.