Chapter 12

Paul walked into the Boston Children's hospital with a dozen roses under his arm. He passed the front desk without a word and found his way to the children's ward. "Do you know Alice? Is she here today?" He asked a nurse.

"Oh my GOD! Triple H! Yeah, she's right in here." She pointed to an office. "Alice! The man of your dreams is here!"

"Huh? That's not the man of my dreams, eww. He's my brother." She smiled and hugged him, keeping her stomach out of the way. "I never expected you to be here."

"Me neither. I missed you and I heard about the baby and the husband, so I came to wish you well. It's a boy?"

"Yeah." She smiled brightly. "His name is gonna be Pauly. Can you stay a while?"

He sighed. "No, I have to get back home. But I will come back tomorrow and stay for a day or two." He talked for a few more minutes before rushing back to Stamford. On the way, he made a cell phone call from the highway. "Hello? Amy?"

"Shhh, it's Trips." She waved to the house full of people. "Yeah? I'm sorry about the animal…"

"Don't worry about it." He interrupted. "I just want you to have a merry Christmas with your family. Congratulations on your engagement."

"Uh, thank you? Merry Christmas to you too. How did you know?"

"Word travels fast in this company. Have fun. Bye." He smiled and hung up.

As he pulled up to the McMahon estate for lunch with the family, he parked the car and waved to Shane. "HEY! Nice to see you buddy!"

"I see what you mean. He needs to see a doctor." Shane whispered to Stephanie. "Hi, Paul."

"I need to talk to you for a minute." He said pulling Shane into a tight hug. "Let's go into the office. Once inside, Paul closed the door.

"So what is all this Trips? Putting on a show for the holidays to make yourself look better to the family and the company? It's not going to work. You really did it this time." He scoffed.

"I want us to have equal partnership."

"WHAT? You ARE sick."

"I'm not sick. I'm perfectly fine. I want us to be equal, Shane. Equal say in the decisions, in the bookings, everything. You're the real heir to the throne, not me. I know your dad is going to be pissed, but it will work better this way."

"It won't. Dad would never let a gay man inherit the company! That's why you're marrying my sister! It's easier for you guys to pretend to love each other than for me to pretend to be straight, Paul."

"You're not inheriting the company. Not all of it anyway. Just half. Then when we feel like retiring, we can give it all to Stephanie. She wants it more than we do anyhow and she's younger. Just think about it."

Shane nodded and walked out to the dining room with him.

"Everything okay, guys?" Steph asked softly.

Shane smiled. "It's great. Just Great."

Cameron…

Matt watched Amy on the phone and began to worry. "Let me guess? You have to fly to Iraq to entertain the troops tonight? Or wait? You have to go to Alaska for a Wal-mart opening?"

"No. He just wanted to wish us a happy holiday and congratulate us on the engagement." Amy smiled and sat beside him as the phone rang again. "UGH! Just 5 minutes of peace! Please? Hello? Hi, doctor. No, the neck is great. Why? Did you find something wrong in my last test? Okay, good, so what's up? Matt? January 4th? Great, thank you so much. Merry Christmas!"

"Who was that?" Shan asked.

"The doctor in Texas. Somebody in the company got Matt in for an appointment. They are paying for the whole trip, the hospital stay and everything!" She smiled. "It's been such a great Christmas."

"It sure has. What's the thing that kid says?" He chuckled and spoke in a high, girly voice. "GOD BLESS US! EVERYONE!"

The end….