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not going to like what I have to say, but he needs to hear the words. “Xavier, we all know Alyssa is dying, but he doesn’t. Even if he knows his mom is sick, even if he can see that she’s getting a little bit weaker every day, he doesn’t realize this is the last Christmas Eve he will get to spend with her. That tomorrow is her last Christmas morning with him. You need to get past what your intellectual mind knows and give him what he desperately needs right now. And that is for you to put a smile on your face, strap him into his car seat, and find Alyssa the best gift you possibly can.”
    I see the tears welling in Xavier’s eyes and I know I’ve cut him deep. His chest rises and falls in unsteady breaths as his mind processes what I’ve said. Beating down everything in my body that is screaming for me to get out of this room and run as fast as I can, I wrap my arms around Xavier’s waist, pulling him close to me. He tenses momentarily before leaning into me, allowing me to hold him as the tears begin streaming down his face.
    “How am I going to do this without her?” he sobs. My heart shatters as the strongest man I have ever known bawls uncontrollably in my embrace. “Melanie, I can’t do this. I know I have no right to ask this of you, but I need you to help me. Please help me figure out what I’m supposed to do…”
    I’m so lost in trying to keep from crying now that he’s gone and I have a moment of peace that I don’t hear the front door open and close. “What in the hell are you doing here?” asks an angry voice directly behind me. I spin around and find myself staring at the one person who could blow the lid off this well-intentioned charade.
    “Braydon, I didn’t hear you come in,” I say, reaching up to wipe the tears away from my face. I look around his impressive form, making sure Alyssa isn’t standing in the kitchen. “What are you doing here?”
    It’s a ridiculous question seeing as it is Christmas Eve and he is Xavier’s older brother. The two of them had a strained relationship in the past, but they refused to stop trying to get along despite the fact that both were raised by mothers who blamed the other woman for being the downfall of their relationship with William Ross.
    I try to move away from the window, but every time I move, Braydon moves with me. “I asked you first,” he says angrily. “And the way I see it, only one of us is supposed to be here right now. I don’t know what fucking game you’re playing at, but Xavier has a good life now. He needs to spend his time with Alyssa and Jacob.”
    “Keep your voice down, Braydon,” I whisper, pulling him out onto the front porch. I know his temper well and there’s not a room in the house that will hold our secrets when he’s upset. I begin shivering the moment the frigid air hits my skin. “I know that he needs to be able to pay attention to his wife and his child, ” I respond, making sure there’s no misunderstanding that I know exactly who Alyssa and Jacob are to him.
    “Then why would you march back into his life, forcing him to tear open wounds that took a hell of a long time to heal?” I’m not a small woman and I don’t back down easily, but with Braydon staring down at me, backing me into the corner of the front porch, I feel miniscule. “He almost fucked things up with a decent woman because he was still so hung up on you. Now, she’s fighting for her fucking life and you’re back. What the fuck, Melanie?”
    I can’t believe what a skewed version of my own past Braydon is hurling at me. I didn’t walk out of Xavier’s life, he pushed me out. He is the one who told me he needed time to think and then never called me again. I spent almost a year telling myself that he would come around, that he would realize what we had was strong enough to get past the problems we had. That one night of me proving that I was capable of thinking for myself wasn’t worth throwing away four years of happiness.