Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence
This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…
I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews.
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
A Judas Among Us.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
Five New Clues…
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
Chapter 14: Nine Ladies Glowing
Hal's POV:
I stepped out of my apartment on 4 and headed for the stairs. I was on my way to the store to pick up Janie from her shift so we could do some Christmas shopping. We had a lot of shopping left to do but neither of us wanted to shop without the other. It took me less than 10 minutes to reach the clothing store where Janie worked as a designer. I found a parking space close to the front door and made my way inside. I smiled as I zeroed in on Janie as she was talking to her boss and friend Marci. As I watched, Janie turned and her smile lit up the room. I watched as she maneuvered her wheelchair over to where I was standing. I smiled down at her before leaning down and kissing her with all the love and passion inside me.
Janie's voice was breathless as she asked, "Are you ready to do some shopping?"
"Yes. But I don't think we have nearly enough time to get everything done before the Christmas Party tonight."
Janie winked at me, "I already passed out 9 of the gifts."
I raised an eyebrow and she started giggling. "Just to 9 of the ladies. After all, they really needed to come in and try their gift on so I knew if it would fit or not."
I grinned knowing which 9 presents she had already passed out. "I think the guys will appreciate the gift as much as the ladies."
Janie grinned and we headed out. I drove us to Quaker Bridge Mall where we spent the better part of three hours shopping for the guys and their families. I paid extra to make sure the gifts were wrapped with the name tags on the gift and ready to go before we left the stores. Of course I had to make several trips out to the car to get them all in the SUV. It was a good thing there would be lots of guys to help in getting the gifts from the garage to the third floor ball room where the party would take place. When we had all our shopping done I carried the last of the wrapped gifts out to the SUV as Janie wheeled herself beside me. Although I would have preferred her to wait and let me help her out to the car, she refused to allow anyone to treat her as an invalid. Although she knows my intentions were not to imply she wasn't capable, she needed to assert her independence.
I stored the gifts in the back and then lifted Janie into the passenger seat before storing her chair in the back as well. I drove us back to the Rangeman building and as I pulled into the garage I called upstairs to get some willing hands to help. In no time the guys had the SUV unloaded and had taken the gifts to the party room. I got the chair out of the back and lifted Janie from the car to the chair. We headed for our apartment on 4 as we had only half an hour in which to get ready before the party.
I allowed Janie the use of the bathroom first and 20 minutes later she came out dressed and ready to go. I quickly used my allotted 10 minutes to shower and get ready myself. We headed out the door with 30 seconds to spare. We made our way to the elevator and rode down to the third floor. When we exited and made our way to the entrance for the party, we were greeted by Ranger and Stephanie.
Steph smiled at Janie and bent to hug her. "I love what you did for the ladies Janie. That was a wonderful idea."
Janie grinned, "I hope no one is upset that some got to open their gifts early."
Steph laughed, "Not at all. The ladies are thrilled and you know the guys are happy with anything that makes their wives happy."
Janie grinned. We spent a few more minutes talking before Steph encouraged us to find something to snack on and let us know dinner would be served in another half hour. We headed for the Hors d'oeuvres table and nibbled on the delicious morsels that were set out for the party. We talked with several of the others and the ladies kept coming and thanking Janie for the beautiful dress claiming it was just perfect. When the dinner buffet was finally brought out we filled our plates and took our seats. There was laughter and more murmured conversation as everyone ate their dinner. Waiters had been hired for the evening and our plates were cleared as we finished them and everyone was encouraged to go back for more. By the time we all had our fill it was getting close to 9 p.m. Suddenly Santa was making his way to his thrown and all the children we clambering to get closer. Once the gifts were passed out to everyone and we'd all opened them, Stephanie asked Janie over and she and all the other women were in conversation for several moments.
Janie wheeled herself over to the piano and began to play. The rest of the ladies followed behind her and arranged themselves in a semicircle around the piano. Then the Christmas Carols started and we all watched with loving smiles as our hearts stood there singing about the birth of Jesus and having a Merry Christmas. For the last song Steph stepped a little forward and the nine women who were obviously pregnant stood behind her as the other ladies sat back down. Janie played the opening strains of There's A New Kid In Town and Steph started it and the others joined in. Such a beautiful song and the way the women performed the song was breathtaking.
As they neared the end of the song it seemed as if the nine women standing behind Stephanie were glowing. It was unbelievably beautiful. The radiant look on my Janie's face as she had it lifted to the sky moved me beyond words and I knew the rest of the guys were equally affected. Rafael walked over to my Janie and placed his small hand on her leg and he smiled at her. Janie bent down to him and kissed his cheek. I couldn't hear what he said to her in response but there was a stunned look of hope in Janie's eyes. I made a note to ask Rafe what it was he had said. The party seemed to break up after that, with everyone heading off to their own homes. Janie wheeled herself over to me and we headed to the elevator to go up one floor and headed to our apartment. I carried our gifts and in no time we were home and I was holding my Janie in my arms.