I had no problem getting Bosco to Haggerty's by party time. In fact, he totally bought my not wanting to cook excuse and said it would be a great idea to go out, just the two of us. The whole ride there I filled his head with my worry about our boys, about the secrets I felt were lurking around the corner, just waiting to be discovered. Partly, I was talking just to keep his mind off of the restaurant and the other reason was because I really did want to tell him what had transpired between Brett and Carly on the telephone earlier in the day.

Bosco, unlike me, was not very worried about a fight between Brett and Carly, nor was he worried about Mikey and Kath. He preferred to stay out of their fights and arguments, while I did my best to try and figure out what was going on. Sometime's his lack of feeling about those things bothered me. Why wouldn't he want to know? Why wouldn't he try and help work it out? Every time I would ask him he would simply raise his eyebrows at me and say 'Faith. Let them have their business.'

I think my incessant chatter really was the finishing touch on the ride to the party, because by the time we parked our Mustang, Bosco was more than irritated by my bombarding him with questions as to why he wouldn't try and help me figure out what was going on with Brett and Carly, especially.

'Faith, just leave it alone would ya? You're like a hen in a henhouse that won't shut up. Cluck, cluck, cluck.' he said in an exasperated tone. He flapped his arms out like a hen and made a stupid face at me.

I punched him in the shoulder and gave him a vicious look. 'Ya? Well, it seems that I am the only one interested in getting to the bottom of this.' I snapped at him. I really was starting to get annoyed by his easy attitude.

We walked slowly toward the front of the restaurant, me hoping that everyone was in place and ready to shout as we walked in the door. Bosco grabbed my gloved hand in his as we walked along.

'Faith, let's not argue on Christmas Eve. I just think that you should really let them work things out between themselves. They don't need any help. ' he said softly, diplomatically, as he searched my face for any hint of a smile.

I nodded my head, thinking that I had done a wonderful job of concealing the party from him. He stopped walking and leaned in and gave me a big kiss. "I love you, Faith. Thank you for another wonderful birthday.'

'I love you too, babe.' I said as I opened the door. 'Go ahead, birthday boy.'

He walked in front of me and as soon as he stepped inside the crowd jumped out from behind the bar and yelled 'SURPRISE', at the top of their lungs.

Everyone we had invited was there. Our old Lieutenant Swersky, even though he was quite along in years, was their with his wife, Louise. Ty and Sasha and Carly and Tyrone stood along the side of the bar with Brett, Emma, Rob and Little Faith. Brendan Finney and his wife Grace were there as well as Sully and his companion, Stella. Everyone had huge smiles on their faces and held gifts and cards in their hands.

Lou, the owner of the bar, had strung streamers of all colors from the rafters of the huge room, along with a huge banner that read, 'Happy Birthday Maurice'. The room looked a little funny, I had to admit because it was also decorated for Christmas as well. Lou had let us rent the bar from six to ten, because no one really went there for Christmas Eve anyway. We had known him a long time. In the back, closer to the kitchen, stood his wife, Eve and son, Maxwell. They smiled and waved.

Bosco's mouth dropped open in shock and pleasure. He turned back to me and grabbed my hand.

'You did this?" He asked with incredulity in his voice.

'Ya. Happy Birthday Bosco. I love you.' I said and hugged him close to me.

People came up to him and hugged him and teased him about his age. It was a great party. Lou and Eve had prepared some of Haggerty's best bar snacks, along with fried mozza sticks, fried potato skins, buffalo wings and veggie's and dip. He also supplied huge platters of mushroom caps and stuffed crab rangoon, which was one of our favorite things to eat. And of course, there was beer and shots for whoever wanted them.

Bosco sat at the head table that Lou had prepared with Little Faith on his lap. He fed her bits of cake and icecream. Ty was on his left, Emma at his right. Brett and Carly were at the end of the table talking rather quietly. Sasha came up and threaded her arm through mine.

'This is a great party, Fay. It couldn't have turned out better.' She complimented me.

The years had been kind to my best friend. She was no more than five-five, and still kept her ebony hair fairly short, which accentuated her beautiful face and high cheek bones. She had wonderful dark eyes, soft and dreamy looking. She was still as lovely as she had been twenty-five years ago.

She and Ty had both stood up for us at our wedding. They hadn't been together at the time. They had gone through a terrible breakup because Sasha had gone through with an abortion. Only Bosco and I knew about it and as far as we knew, they had never told any of their children. When Sasha had told Ty that she wasn't ready for a family, it broke his heart and he immediately moved out of their new apartment. She, too, was heart-broken and realized just what she had lost. It seemed too late for a reconciliation but as the preparations for our wedding increased, she and Ty had to spend a lot of time together and eventually ended up back together and then, married. Our children had grown up together, played together from the time they had been babies and they were all quite close. Tyrone and Mikey were the same age and they were still best friends. Our two families, who were more like one by times, vacationed together, went out to eat together and had bbq's all summer long. I never imagined that we would have such dear friends.

Everyone was having a wonderful time, catching up on new and old times. Glasses clinked, food was consumed, chatter was loud and lively. I almost forgot that Mikey hadn't showed up until I glanced at my watch and saw that it was nearly nine. He should have been here by now, I thought to myself.

I glanced toward the door, thoughtfully, wondering where he was. I looked back around the crowded room and settled my eyes and my third son and Carly Davis. They were chatting at the table, but they seemed to be doing it only for appearances sake. She looked rather glum, I thought and he looked like he had something on my mind. I turned back to my best friend.

'Sash, do you know what's going on with Brett and Carly?' I asked in a low voice. I didn't want anyone to over-hear me and think that I was nosey.

She raised her eyes at me. 'You think something is going on too?' she whispered. 'Here, come to the bathroom with me.' she said and grabbed on to my arm.

We walked to the back of the room and ducked into the woman's washroom. Sasha looked under the three stalls that were along the back of the room, checking to make sure no one else was in there. Satisfied that no one was, she leaned back on the sink and crossed her arms over her breasts.

'When she got home last night, she seemed really tired and wanted to go to bed immediately, so I didn't think much of it, but in the middle of the night, I got up to get a drink of water and I heard her throwing up in the bathroom.' she confided.

I nodded my head. 'She threw up before she left for your house this afternoon too. Sash, do you think she's pregnant?' I asked.

She shook her head and bit down on her lower lip. ' I don't know...maybe...but she's never said anything to me about having a relationship...not even with Brett. They've been living together for years, never gone out with anyone else and I just thought that we'd of heard something by now. I mean, I thought that something was between them all these years, but neither of them will admit to anything.' She said, sadly.

My eyes widened at the way she described the two of them, for it was the same way I felt about the situation. This was defianetly a strange relationship. 'I know! It's like they don't want us to know anything about them...don't you find that really...' I searched for the words to describe how I was feeling.

'Weird?"

'Yes! Weird.' I mumbled.

'I keep asking Ty to try and get it out of her, but he tells me to mind my own business.' She said with a hint of annoyance. 'That man tells me to mind my business when Carly is my own daughter!'

I grinned at her, really amused. 'I know, Bosco tells me the same thing every time I bring it up.' I straitened up and crossed my arms over my chest and threw my head back and imitated his deep voice.

'I think ya should mind ya business...ya sound like a hen in a hen-house...cluck, cluck..'

Sasha laughed and grabbed onto my arm to keep from falling over. 'Oh Faith! You sound just like him. Don't let him hear you say that!'

'Let's make a pact Sasha. This Christmas we won't let our kids leave until we have the answers we're looking for.' I said solemnly, holding out my hand for her to shake.

She narrowed her dark eyes and grabbed on and shook hard. 'Deal. Now let's go see what we can find, girl.'

I loved my best friend. I could count on her for anything. Laughing, we exited the washroom and headed back to the party.

It was almost nine-thirty by the time we grabbed a couple of beers and sat down at the table with our husbands. Bosco and Ty were both on the verge of being pretty drunk, both having consumed about six beer to our one. They laughed and roared at Brendan Finney's account about the things that went on at work. He still had a few years to go to retirement. Both Bosco and I had been at the job for ten years before he had even shown up. But he looked fit and happy and was still quite handsome for his age. Lieu had left early with his wife. He was almost eighty years old now, but still full of fire. It had been great to see him again.

I remembered the day of my wedding when Lieu had walked me down the isle. He had kissed me on the cheek before he went to sit down. I would forever be grateful for him replacing my father on that day. I remembered how pleased he had looked when I asked him for that favor. He had accepted immediately and told me that I deserved happiness.

As we sat around eating pieces of Bosco's chocolate birthday cake my eyes again wandered to the door. Where was Mikey anyway? As if to answer my question, the door opened and he walked in. He held the door open and I felt my heart thump in anticipation that he may have made up with Kath and had brought her with him.

Seconds later, a tall brunette walked in and took his arm. She was perhaps five foot nine or ten with long dark hair and stunning green eyes that I could see even from my seat of ten feet away. She was dressed in a long dark dressy coat with matching high-heel black boots. Her face was made up to perfection, suggesting that she may have been a model. Mikey took her coat from her shoulders and carefully hung it up on the coat rack behind him. He was in uniform, but undid his jacket and hung it next to hers. From the way he acted, I could tell that this was probably the reason for him breaking up with Kath. I watched them, my stomach feeling like I had a huge chunk of ice buried deep inside. How could he bring someone else to his father's party? He had just broken up with Kath! We didn't know her. This wasn't a place to bring a new woman to for the first time, my mind screamed. I felt like he had betrayed Kath and I felt guilty that this new woman was even here with my family.

She was dressed in a long wool skirt with a charcoal gray turtle neck. She did look stunning with her dark, shiny hair and extremely bright eyes. As they walked toward us, I felt the skin on the back of my neck stand up. There was something familiar about her but I couldn't tell what it was. It was as if I had seen her before but I couldn't place her.

If she felt out of place about being introduced to Mikey's family on Christmas Eve at a party for his father, she didn't show it. Rather, she seemed to feed off of the attention of everyone staring at her. She smiled at everyone, with the expertise of a woman who got lots of attention. Even Carly hesitated between fork-fulls of cake to watch this ravenous beauty that was here with my son. All conversation stopped as they approached the table.

'Happy birthday dad!' Mikey said excitedly. Bosco and Ty both stopped, drinks mid-way to their mouths, to look at this creature before them. Sasha elbowed her husband, annoyed by his obvious gawking.

'This is Carmelle Sambrooke, everyone.' He said, the pride evident in his voice as he squeezed her around the waist. He looked like an excited school boy who had brought the best show and tell in to the class. He smiled at her, the lust and possessiveness he felt very evident. I was almost embarrassed by the way he looked at her, with such passion. And I knew that kind of passion and I had only felt it with one man. His father.

'Hello everyone.' She said in a strong clear voice. She was not the kind of woman to be intimidated by new people as I often was. She smiled at all of us, winningly, charmingly.

Bosco hesitated, then set his beer on the table. 'Well, hello there young lady. Welcome to our celebration.' he said in a silly voice. Clearly, he was as taken with her as every other man in the place was.

Ty picked up the thread. 'Yes, Ms. Sambrooke, please take a seat.' He stood up and bowed cordially toward her. Sasha rolled her eyes. ' Ty. You better get something else in your stomach besides that beer, you hear me?"

They both sat down and had a piece of cake. Mikey introduced her to all of us and pretty soon she was chatting up a storm with Carly and Brett. Only Sasha and I remained silent.

They didn't stay long, however, because Mikey had to get back to work. When they left, things started to die down and before long we found the party coming to an end.

As Bosco and I drove up our driveway, he leaned over and nuzzled my neck. 'So, am I gonna get to see you in that new thing you bought?'

'Sure baby.' I said, pulling in to our parking spot by the garage. 'Bosco..." I started.

He put his finger over my lips. 'Not tonight. Let's go inside.' He said.

I knew he was right. This was his night and he didn't want to spoil it with questions that neither one of us could answer.

He lead me upstairs to our room and even as he began his lovemaking, my mind had a thousand questions running through it.

Why was this Carmelle so familiar to me and why was it that I felt that our lives were about to change for the worse?

I forced myself back to the present and surrendered myself to my husband and my own desires, as I had done so many nights before.