He touched the strips on his temple. That was nothing. No one had concussions. The car wasn’t even likely to be written off because it was like a freaking tank. Jack doubted that Riley would accept that though and would probably buy another one out of his ready cash. He attempted to push his thoughts to one side. Christmas wasn’t the time to be maudlin. He had a responsibility to his family; he and Riley were the core of the six of them. The strength.

“I remember the day you came to see me in here and asked me if I was pregnant,” Beth said. She ran her fingers gently over Cam’s soft hair as he nursed.

“That wasn’t a good time,” Jack offered in response. He’d been so angry with Riley then, despised him for what he was doing, hated the man to the point where if he’d had a gun he may well have hit him in the knee. Or at least shot the tires out in his damn sports car. “I hated him so much. I wanted to kill him.”

“Riley?”

“Yeah. Asshole fucking with my family.” He chuckled at his words. He’d come to terms with what drove Riley at that time and with the husband he had now.

Beth smiled. “No one messes with a Campbell. Anyway, without Riley in my life I may never have ended up realizing I loved Steve, and you would have been a lonely middle-aged guy.”

Jack huffed and poked his sister in her side. The baby squirmed in her arms. “Less of the middle-aged, I’m only halfway through my thirties.”

“It’s all about family, Jack, at the end of the day. You and Riley were meant to be, Hayley and Max, both meant to be, and the twins, you wouldn’t have them if you didn’t have Riley. What happened yesterday was a shock, but you’re all okay and you should count your blessings like I do every day.”

Abruptly it hit Jack what was wrong with him. Where this stupid idiotic funk was coming from. Not from yesterday as such, more from everything that had taken him on this journey to today.

“What if I had none of it?” he said gruff and emotional. “What if Dad and Gerald had never fought, what if he hadn’t set that stupid thing in his will? We’d never have met and now we have…and the children. What if someone takes it from me, or I lose it, the kids, the ranch, Riley?”

Beth reached out her free hand and gripped his firmly. “What bought this on, big brother?”

Jack shook his head to try and free some of the more useless of feelings.

“There were times when I was pregnant I wondered if I was doing the right thing. What if something happened to me? Steve and I have already been given the gift of living for ourselves, and Emily is such a good baby, why would I chance to change things horribly?” She paused and glanced down at Cam. “Then I see him and I know it was all worth it somehow.”

“I love you,” Jack said gently. “You’re my favorite sister,” he added with a teasing smile.

“And I love you too. You will always be my second-favorite brother,” she teased back, and Jack’s black mood lifted slowly under the brilliance of her smile.

“You coming to trim the tree? There’s alcohol-free eggnog.”

“Eww,” Beth said with an exaggerated purse of her lips. “I’ll be in as soon as this little one is done.”

Jack pressed a kiss to his sister’s forehead and one to Cam’s, then left the sun room to join the others. He found Riley waiting for him in the hall. Riley looked concerned and Jack cursed his stupidity.

“Is Beth okay?” Riley asked immediately.

“She’s good. I was just telling her that I couldn’t imagine life without the kids and you and the family.”

Riley stepped into his space and cradled his face. His breath smelt vaguely eggnoggy, and his skin held a day’s worth of stubble. He looked tired, but he was smiling softly. “After yesterday I get that. But don’t waste time on imagining not having us.”

“I’m tired, is all,” Jack admitted. “But don’t you ever think? What if your dad hadn’t set that stupid clause in the contract about you marrying? We may never have met.”

Riley tilted his head as he appeared to consider, then his expression softened. “Nuh-uh,” he dismissed. “Somehow we would have always found our way to each other.”

“You think?”

Riley kissed him and deepened the kiss while pressing Jack back to the wall. Evidently this was Riley’s answer.

Jack kind of liked it. A lot.

When Jack at last made it to tree trimming, it was to find Liam sat on the floor with Hayley, helping her string paper chains, and Marcus struggling with the base for the tree.

Jack took over and Marcus backed away thankfully.

“Why do they make things so difficult?” Marcus griped.

Jack twisted the final screw and the whole thing popped up and in seconds he had it in place ready for the tree. “Because nothing beautiful is ever easy to make,” Jack said profoundly. There was silence. Then Riley sniggered, followed closely by Josh and Marcus until everyone was laughing uncontrollably.

“You’re a poet, bro,” Josh said between wiping away tears of laughter.

“Ass. Hole,” Jack said. Then in a smooth move he had his brother pinned to the floor with Hayley, Logan, and Lea joining in.

“Uncle! Uncle!” Josh shouted.

“Never letting you go, Uncle Josh,” Hayley said with a grin.

Max joined them, standing in front of Jack with a frown. Damn it, they were scaring him. Jack made to move, then realized Max had a cushion in his hand. Carefully Max laid it on Josh’s face. Evidently that was his comment on the situation.

Jack smiled at Max. He didn’t get a smile back. But it didn’t matter. He felt in his heart the smile that would have been on Max’s face.

Epilogue

The tree lights leant a soft glow to the early morning, and Liam cuddled closer to Marcus.

“Merry Christmas,” Marcus said gently.

Thinking back to this time last year, the last time Hank had hurt him, it didn’t seem real that he’d found friends and a home. And Marcus. He inhaled the scent of his lover, the citrus of the shower gel they’d used in the shower as Christmas Eve passed to Christmas Day. They’d exchanged gifts the night before, a new cell phone for him from Marcus, a frame for Marcus with a photo inside that Eli had given them a few weeks back. He and Marcus sat on the metal steps up to the apartment, staring into each other’s eyes and looking so damn intent on whatever they were discussing.

Liam could recall in detail what they had been discussing. Something that, while not making them argue, made Liam uncomfortable. Marcus wanted him to talk to someone about Hank, sure the authorities would believe him after what had happened with Yuri.

“I’m going to call someone on the case tomorrow. About what happened in Laredo,” Liam whispered against Marcus’s warm skin. He tensed when Marcus didn’t immediately reply. “I might have to go down there.” Still nothing. “Marcus?”

“Tell me when,” Marcus finally said. “I’ll come with you.”

“I can handle it on my own,” Liam said defiantly. Well, as defiant as he could be while cradled in his lover’s arms.

“But, Liam, you don’t have to.”

Liam’s throat choked with emotion. “I love you.”

“And I love you.”

* * * * *

Eli rolled over on his back and wondered how he was going to survive the next fifty years if he kept having orgasms as intense as that.

“Fuck, Robbie,” he managed to say through the feeling of melted bones and lack of brains.

Robbie chuckled and propped himself up on his elbow. “That good, eh?”

“Better.”

“Better than what.”

“Better than last time.”

“What about the time before that?”

“What time?”

“The chocolate and the cream.”

“Oh—” Eli flung an arm over his eyes and exhaled noisily. “—the time you nearly killed me through orgasm.”

“Yeah, that time.”

Eli moved his arm and tilted his head to observe his very satisfied-looking lover. He could never get enough of Robbie. Never.