Nativity: Festive Novella (Heart of Stone #11) (5 page)

Everyone stared at Ava, me included as
they all opened their gifts. Nate looked horrified. Greg was just laughing. Sam
couldn’t take his eyes off it and both Liv and Courtney peered at Ava with open
mouths.

“Uhh,” Marcy mumbled as she spun the
wooden figure in her hand, studying every part of it as she scratched her head.
“It’s… uhh... different.”

Ava nodded eagerly, “Do you like it?”

“Uhh, yes. YES!” Marcy suddenly grinned
when she spotted the smooth carving of my backside.

“Ava,” Courtney looked over. “As much as
I love this, can you tell me why you we think we would want a wooden sculpture of
you and Mason naked?”

Ava looked hurt for a moment and
Courtney shook her head quickly. “I love it, babe. I just…”

“Well, I know you all miss us when we’re
out in Portugal so I thought you could look at this and it would make you
smile.”

“Oh it’s making me smile alright,” Marcy
grinned as she slipped her little finger down the crack of my ass. Sam scowled
and snatched it off her.

Nate looked at me and smirked. “Not as
big as I thought you would be, Mase.”

Sam and Greg barked out a laugh. I just
shook my head and groaned. “Merry Christmas, guys!”

***

Ava was quiet as she stood looking out
at the snow through the window. The caterers had arrived and were dressing the
table as I slid my arms around her and tickled her neck with my nose. “Are you
okay?”

She nodded and turned to place a soft
kiss on my cheek. “I just wish George was here… and Kade and Grace. It doesn’t
feel right without them…”

We both tensed when a scream ripped
through the house.

“Fuck!” Ava exclaimed.

“What the hell?”

“Courtney,” she shouted to me as she
dashed through the room.

Oh shit!

***

“For fucks sake!” Nate grumbled as he
paced the room. We all stiffened as another cry bounced around the house and
made our stomachs heave. “This is torture.”

I nodded, agreeing with him.

Another scream.

“Finally!” Sam declared when blue
flashing lights lit up the room as the ambulance pulled up the driveway. “Where
the hell have you been?” he asked angrily when two paramedics rushed into the
house.

“Sorry, busy day!” the female
apologized. They both stuttered to a stop when a baby’s cry echoed around us.
“Okay,” the male stated. “Looks like it just got a whole lot busier.”

He glared at me when I pushed past him
and ran up the stairs.

Courtney snapped her eyes to me when I
burst through the door. Her grin lit my heart. Nestled against her chest was a
bundle of pure perfection wrapped in a simple white blanket, a Christmas Angel.

“Hey,” she grinned as I walked over to
her and took my new Godson from her, smiling when he opened his eyes and stared
at me. “Mason, I’d like you to meet Mason Gregory Chambers.”

My mouth popped open and I stared at
her. “Mason?”

She grinned wider when a bloody tear
rolled down my cheek. “He’s perfect and now he’s honoured.”

Ava snorted and shook her head but
smiled when I narrowed my eyes on her. “He’s so very privileged to share your
name, baby.” I nodded, agreeing with her.

Greg slapped me on the shoulder and I
pulled him in for a hug.

I frowned when Ava whimpered. Turning
round I smiled at George, Kade and Grace when they walked into the room.

“Oh my God,” Ava choked out as she
pulled all three of them into a fierce hug. She turned to me with tears in her
eyes. “Did you do this?”

“Merry Christmas, baby.”

I grinned and swung my hips as Mason
sang into the mic.
“I'm so glad I finally found you
.
Yes, that one, the one in a million, yeah
.
And I wish my lovin' arms around you.”
 

It
amazed me how he thought he could sing. But I didn’t care. My man made my heart
sing every second of the day.

His
eyes found mine, the words he so very meant with his soul taking me along for
the ride with him. Greg, Nate and Kade provided the backing vocals as me and my
girlies danced our hearts out.

Mason
walked over to me, still singing with the mic in his hand as the guy’s followed
him and we each found our partners.

I
couldn’t help it. I started crying. He scowled at me but rolled his eyes.
“
You know your love, your love keeps liftin' me.
 
It keeps on liftin', your love keeps
liftin' me
 
higher, liftin' me,
higher and higher.
 
Yeah, yeah
your love, your love keeps liftin' me
,
it
keeps on liftin', your love keeps liftin' me
 
higher,
liftin' me higher and higher.”
 

“I love that song,” I whispered.

“Me too.” He grinned when Marcy came
dancing up and thrust a mic into my hands. I shook my head but she rolled her
eyes and dragged me up to front where the karaoke was set up. Liv, Katie and
Debora were stood already swinging when the music started.

I grinned, throwing away my nerves and
sang
Sister Sledge’s, We are Family.
Courtney sat swaying from her chair
in the corner of the room as Mason suckled on her breast. Fuck, that sounded so
wrong.

A couple of hours later we were all
relaxed and happy, alcohol and food filling our bellies as Christmas music
played and lights twinkled.

I stood on the verandah, staring towards
the lake and watching as the snow continued to fall and my family laughed and
sang in the house whilst I reminisced.

I couldn’t help but smile. What a
journey. What a life.

I lifted my face to the sky, smiling as
the flakes of cold snow tickled my cheeks. So many memories, so many friends
loved and lost. My parents, George, Katie, they were all looking down, holding
my hand to lead me into whatever was to come next. But I knew, with my glorious
bastard by my side, that it would be anything but boring.

Mason slipped a coat over my shoulders
and pulled me back to him as he wrapped his arms around me.

“Hey,” he breathed in my ear, placing a
soft kiss on my neck and handing me a glass of champagne. “Dawn’s ready. Are
you ready?”

I nodded, smiling as a tear trickled
down my face and I took a deep breath.

Lifting our glasses, we raise them to
you, our guides and our chaperones. “Goodbye,” we both whispered together. “And
thank you.”

“Hi. Oh God I’m crying again.

When I wrote and published Fortitude
last year, I said it was a final goodbye from the Fox’s, yet here we are again.

However, it is finally time to bow out
and let Katie and George continue with their parent’s legacy. It is time to
turn the last page, close the back cover and let Mason and Ava go. As hard as
it is for me, and for you.

Mason and Ava will always hold a special
place in my soul, always. They’re not just my characters, they’re my family. Their
lives will continue in our hearts and our heads.

I still picture Ava walking through
those double doors, the first time she met Mason with her hair a frizzy mess
and her knees trembling. And I still see Mason staring at this… beautiful blast
of strength forcing her way into his life and turning it upside down. My heart
still holds their suffering and sorrow, their laughter and their joy. They’ve
entertained us, angered us, torn us up and broken us. But yet, we will forever love
them for who they are and the story they told.

Their love has been unlike any I’ve ever
known. Mason, through all his controlling needs, his dominance and temper loves
Ava to the very depths of his soul. And Ava, as much as she has annoyed us,
humoured us and saddened us would protect Mason’s soul with her life.

When it’s time for one of them to leave
behind this world, we all know, the other will be right behind, running to keep
up.

Now they take the journey to the end and
we should leave them in peace to do that because to be honest, I could never
kill them. And who wants to live for ever?

So, with my hand on my heart, I thank
you for opening Incineration on the first page and closing Nativity on the very
last.”

From The Fox’s, their family and friends,
and from me.

Merry Christmas.

Goodbye

♡