Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support for this story. And a special thank you to guest reviewers and new readers ndhbfan, Kate Smith, and Dorothy, whom I cannot answer personally. I'm glad you're enjoying the story and that you took the time to read and review. I hope everyone continues enjoying the story.


"I'm sorry I'm late," Alexis said as she rushed to the table. She quickly, chastely kissed Javier hello, rested a hand on Matias's shoulder for a few seconds, and then sat down, letting her purse and backpack drop to the floor beside her chair and carefully setting down the messenger bag containing her laptop beneath her chair. "I had to talk to my Civil Procedure professor. That final is going to be a killer."

"Ah, that's right, you are in law school," Matias said.

"Civil Procedure is the bane of my existence right now," Alexis said.

Javier reached over and took her hand in his. "You'll get it," he assured her. "I'll help you study, if you want."

"You didn't have to wait for me to order," Alexis said as Matias lifted a hand to hail the waiter.

"We wanted to," Javier assured her.

Things were civil between him and Matias. They spoke on the phone a few times a week, met for meals occasionally, like tonight, and Alexis followed Javier's lead, treating Matias civilly and with respect, but not getting too familiar. She knew the pain of parental abandonment too well, although she did give Matias credit for being honest with Javier, no matter the situation or its consequences.

"I'm gonna have to start studying for finals over Thanksgiving break," Alexis said. "These are gonna be the toughest finals I've ever taken."

Javier felt uncomfortable on the inside, but since Alexis had brought it up, he felt compelled to turn to Matias and say, "So, about Thanksgiving..."

"I already have plans," Matias said.

Javier and Alexis were both surprised. "You already have plans?" Javier echoed, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.

"Yes," Matias said. "My friend Walter, he grew up in Brooklyn, and his son and his family still live there. I've spent the past several Thanksgivings with Walter and his family. They alternate years—sometimes Walter and I would come up to Brooklyn, other times Simon and his family would come to Miami. And I'm sure the two of you have plans for the holiday as well."

Javier and Alexis would be spending Thanksgiving with Rick, Kate, Lily, Martha, and Jim, as they had done last year. "We do," Javier said. Deep down, he felt relieved that he didn't have to go through Thanksgiving trying to make more out of his and Matias's so-called relationship than there was. They were cordial to each other. Javier made sure Matias followed doctor's orders and ate three meals a day. Matias didn't push Javier harder than Javier was ready to be pushed, and he respected Alexis for so solidly standing beside Javier. Matias knew they would get married someday, but he also knew the chances were excellent that he wouldn't be around to see it happen. Matias was just grateful that he had been able to establish contact and some sort of relationship with Javier before the end came for him.

They ordered their meals, and Alexis surprised Javier and Matias both by ordering in flawless Spanish. (They were at a Mexican restaurant.) "A woman of many talents," Matias said, toasting Alexis with his water glass.

"She certainly is," Javier agreed, looking at Alexis with his heart in his eyes. "No me dijiste que hablas español," he said to her. ["You didn't tell me you speak Spanish."]

"No preguntaste," she replied with a grin. ["You didn't ask."]

Javier chuckled. "Me atrapaste," he said. ["You got me there."]

Matias watched them and felt at peace. He had never truly done right by his son, he knew that. But in spite of that, and maybe even a little bit because of it, Javier had grown into a fine man, and he had the love of a good woman whom Matias instinctively knew would never leave him. Javier also had an extended family in Alexis's parents and his detective partner, Kevin Ryan. Matias remembered how all of them had given him a piece of their respective minds when he had first returned to Javier's life. Javier was blessed to have a family that loved him very much. Now, facing the end of his own life, Matias was relieved to know that this was the case. Over all the years they had been apart, Matias had wanted, and prayed, for Javier to be a better man, and a happier man, than he, Matias, was. Now Matias knew that that prayer had been answered. He couldn't ask for anything more.

Alexis noticed that Matias was staring at her and Javier, but she wasn't sure if he was actually seeing them or not. "Matias? Are you all right?" she asked.

Matias smiled. "Yes, Alexis," he assured her. He then focused on her and Javi together. "All is right with the world from where I'm sitting."

Javier and Alexis exchanged a look, not completely certain what Matias meant by that. But their waiter returned with their dinners then, and everyone's attention shifted to their food. Matias never did elaborate on his comment, and neither Javier nor Alexis asked him to elaborate before the evening ended.


Mark and Madison had been talking on the phone and texting since Madison had called Mark a few days after one of Kate's last campaign events and he had surprised her when she'd had to cancel their coffee date at the last minute, because of work crises and Mark had shown up at her restaurant Q3 to keep their coffee date.

Madison had asked Mark what he was doing for Thanksgiving a couple of weeks before the holiday. "I'm going to Boston to see my mom and stepdad," he had replied.

"I didn't know you had a stepdad," Madison said.

Mark nodded once. "My dad died when I in college. Brain aneurysm. No signs until right before it happened. Mom married Coach five years later."

"Coach?" Madison asked.

"The man's entire life is football," Mark replied dryly. "He's one of those 'Football is life, everything else is just details' guys. I mean, I like football, I catch the Giants whenever I can, but football is Coach's religion. He played in college, didn't make the pros, and became a high-school football coach."

"Oh, like Friday Night Lights," Madison said.

Mark laughed shortly, mirthlessly. "Not exactly," he said. "I call him 'Coach' because he insists that what I call him. Everyone has to call him 'Coach' except my mother. And he is one mean son of a bitch, but he's won a lot of state championships, so they keep him around. He never gets physical with his players, but I went to a practice once, at my mother's suggestion, to 'help' him shortly after they were married. No one helps The Coach, first off. Secondly, I couldn't take the way he was talking to a bunch of 16- and 17-year-old boys. They were not all worthless sacks of shit who got winded tying their shoes and couldn't catch a football if their hands had Krazy Glue on them. But that's one of his favorite insults."

"And your mother's okay with this?" Madison asked, surprised.

Mark lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. "The Coach is the polar opposite of my dad in every possible way. Looks, temperament, everything. But he treats her right, or at least that's what she says. I hope she's telling me the truth. They go on a cruise every Christmas with some of his old football buddies, so I go there for Thanksgiving. It's one day, because I always come back on Friday. That's really not so bad, since most people are shopping or still with their families the day after Thanksgiving. I fly up Wednesday night. I can handle a day and two nights. Coach is always watching football on Thanksgiving anyway. We eat in front of the TV."

"That doesn't sound like much of a Thanksgiving," Madison reflected. "Of course, I'm going to be working, so I guess I'm not having much of a Thanksgiving either. I work every year. We're all booked up for the holiday."

"Do you ever take any holidays off?" Mark asked her.

"Christmas Day and New Year's Day," Madison replied. "That's pretty much it."

"Yeah, I work a lot too," he said. "There've been a few New Year's Days I've gone into work. Never on Christmas, though. Usually I just stay home. Call my mom on her cruise, make sure she got my gift. But first I gotta get through Thanksgiving."

"I hope it's a good day for you," Madison said.

"I'll settle for peaceful," Mark replied. "I've had to learn to fake interest in the Dallas Cowboys. Coach's favorite team. They're America's team, according to him. No other team is any damned good."

"I'll bet that's a direct quote from The Coach himself," Madison said.

"How did you know?" Mark asked sarcastically.

"So what time do you come back on Friday?" Madison asked.

"I always fly JetBlue, and take the first flight out of Logan I can get," Mark replied. "I fly out around noon, as long as I can get a seat, and I'm at JFK by 1:30 at the latest."

"Have a safe trip," Madison told him.

"Thanks. And even though you're working, you have a happy Thanksgiving," Mark replied.

It was a couple of minutes before 1 PM the day after Thanksgiving, and Madison was waiting at JFK Airport for Mark's flight to land. He hadn't given her specific flight information, but the JetBlue website had let her know that there was, indeed, a JetBlue flight out of Logan Airport in Boston nonstop to JFK in New York that departed Boston at noon. Arrival time at JFK was 1:14 PM, barring any delays. According to the board, there were no delays.

When Mark walked into the mostly deserted terminal, he was surprised to see Madison standing there. "Madison?" he asked.

"Surprise!" Madison exclaimed as she approached him. "I don't know what the cab situation is like, but you won't have to worry about that, because I'm here to give you a ride home, or wherever it is you're going."

"You didn't have to do this," Mark said.

"I know I didn't have to," Madison replied. "I wanted to. One of the perks of being your own boss is that you can take the day off. And after yesterday, I decided I had earned it. Baggage claim is over here."

Unconsciously, she linked her arm through Mark's. He looked at her arm through his, then looked back up at her, but all he said was, "That's one place I don't have to go." He held up the overnight bag he was carrying in his other hand. "I travel light. I didn't need much."

They headed outside in companionable silence, Madison's arm still linked through Mark's. When they were in the parking lot, Mark said, "How'd you know which flight I'd be on?"

"You said a couple of weeks ago that you always fly JetBlue," Madison reminded him, "and that you always fly out of Boston around noon. A quick visit to the World Wide Web, and process of elimination told me this was where and when you'd come in."

Mark nodded. "I appreciate this," he said. "Thank you."

"My car's over here," she replied. Madison's car was a silver Lincoln Continental, a few years old but in excellent condition. Mark stowed his bag in the trunk, and got into the passenger side as Madison started the car.

Something was happening between him and Madison. Mark knew that.

He just wasn't sure what that "something" was, exactly, or where it was leading.

He only knew if he didn't follow it wherever it led, he would regret it, and he'd had enough regrets to last him a lifetime.

For her part, Madison also knew something was happening, and, like Mark, she wasn't sure exactly what it was either.

Madison had never really done serious in relationships. And when she met Mark at Kate's campaign event, she was attracted by his good looks, and by the challenge he presented.

But she somehow felt that Mark Fallon was not a man who did casual relationships. Casual would mean nothing to a man like Mark. So in that sense, since losing his wife, Mark probably had done casual, because casual meant no strings, no commitments, nothing serious, and everyone moves along with no hard feelings when it's over.

No, Mark Fallon was the kind of man a woman got serious about.

And for the first time in her life, Madison found herself wanting to get serious about a man. Specifically, she wanted to get serious about Mark Fallon. But she wasn't sure if Mark wanted to get serious about her, or if he even could.

Mark hadn't opened up to Madison about his wife, at least not yet. And that was all right. They'd only known each other not even two months yet. Madison wasn't going to push. She had never been through a loss like that, but she remembered telling Kate at her mom's funeral that she'd be there if Kate ever wanted to talk. Then she hadn't seen or heard from Kate until Kate and Castle showed up after the murder of her chef, several years later. Madison wasn't going to make that mistake with Mark. He would tell her about his wife when he was ready, and in the meantime, she was fine with waiting. She would follow this wherever it led, even though at the moment, she had no idea exactly where that was. She was, however, beginning to get some ideas about where she wanted it to lead.

"So," Madison said as she drove through the parking lot, "where do you live?"

"Lower East Side, Ludlow Street," Mark replied.

Madison pulled out of the JFK Airport parking lot. "So," she said, "I know I can get there via the Grand Central Parkway and the FDR Drive."

Mark usually took a slightly shorter route, a straight shot down I-495W, even though it had toll booths. But a few extra minutes in Madison's company was not something he would complain about at all. "You're the driver," he said.

"So how was your Thanksgiving with your mom and The Coach?" Madison asked.

"Business as usual," Mark replied. "They're going to the Bahamas for Christmas this year."

Madison took a deep breath, trying not to be obvious about it, at least not so obvious that Mark would notice, and said, "So, since you're going to be alone on Christmas, and I'm going to be alone on Christmas, would you like to have dinner together?"

"You said your restaurant's closed on Christmas Day," Mark said. Great. Sound like a stupid 15-year-old, why don't you, he chided himself.

"It is," Madison replied. "Even though I run the restaurant, I actually do know how to cook, and pretty well, if I do say so myself."

"I'm not too bad myself," Mark said. "A necessity when you get tired of takeout. I get enough of that when I'm working."

"Do you have any Christmas specialties?" Madison asked.

"Scalloped potatoes," Mark replied. "From scratch."

Madison gave a low whistle. "That's impressive," she said. "Which do you prefer—ham or turkey?"

"I eat both," Mark said, "but for Christmas, I've gotta go with ham."

"I happen to make an excellent glazed ham," Madison said.

"I think we have a menu," Mark said.

"The beginnings of one, at least," Madison said.

They spent the rest of the drive to Mark's apartment debating mashed potatoes vs. sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce vs. cranberry salad, and what kind of dressing to make, after discovering they both liked dressing with their ham just as much as they did with turkey, and when they arrived on Ludlow Street, Mark said, "123, that's me."

Madison pulled up to the curb and put her car in Park. "Here we are," she announced. "Front door service. Or, well, as close as I could get."

Mark nodded. "I appreciate it, Madison. Thank you."

Madison had just popped the trunk so Mark could get his bag, but he made no move to get out of the car. She turned to look at him, and he was looking at her, and then he leaned across the console and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks," he said again. "I'll talk to you later."

Madison was so stunned that Mark had kissed her cheek that it wasn't until Mark was out of the car and headed back to the trunk to remove his overnight bag that she realized she hadn't reacted. Luckily, Mark leaned down, and Madison fumbled to roll down the passenger side window. "I'll talk to you later," she echoed, hoping she didn't sound too thrown or too lame.

Mark smiled at her, a real, full smile that lasted several seconds, maybe even a full minute. "'Til then," he said.

Madison watched him enter his building, and after he had disappeared from her view, she put her car in gear and went back to her own apartment, smiling the whole way home at the kiss on the cheek from Mark.


The day after Thanksgiving, Lily sat in her swing and watched in amazement as Mommy, Daddy, Alexis, and Gram brought out all sorts of bright and shiny things and put them up everywhere. Daddy called the giant green thing "the Christmas tree," and Lily babbled almost nonstop and waved her arms around as she watched Mommy, Daddy, Alexis, and Gram hang a lot of shiny, dangly things on the Christmas tree, which glowed with lots of lights in all the different colors, the ones that her family told her about and read to her about but that she didn't know the names of herself yet. She wanted to hang the shiny, dangly things from the Christmas tree with everyone else, and she was trying to let them know that, but they weren't understanding her.

At least, she thought they weren't understanding her until Daddy reached down and lifted her out of her swing, swooping her up and flying her through the air as he walked over to the Christmas tree. "Do you have it?" he asked Mommy.

Mommy held up a dangly thing, and Lily's eyes focused on it. "Right here," Mommy said, and then she smiled right at Lily.

"This is a big moment, Lily," Daddy said. "This is your first Christmas, and this is your very first Christmas ornament."

Kate was holding a pink glass ball inscribed in white script 'Baby's First Christmas 2017.'

Rick shifted Lily in his arms so that her back and her little bottom were resting against his chest, his arm wrapped tightly around her middle. He looked at Kate. "Ready?" he asked her.

"Ready," she said with a smile. Kate stretched up to hang the ornament on the tree, and Rick rested his hand atop hers so they hung the ornament together, on the branch next to the branch that held the glass red heart ornament that proclaimed "Our First Christmas Rick & Kate 2014" that Rick had surprised Kate with for their first married Christmas.

Lily was enthralled by the pretty tree with all the lights and shiny, dangly ornaments. She fell asleep in Mommy's arms staring at it.

It was a little after 3 AM when Lily awoke, fussing because the pretty tree with all the lights and shiny, dangly ornaments was nowhere in her sight. Hearing her over the nursery monitor, Kate yawned, stretched, and went upstairs. Lily didn't need a diaper change at the moment and didn't seem to want to nurse, though, so Kate brought her downstairs, almost colliding with Rick, who was on the second step. "What's the matter with Sweetpea?" he asked.

"I don't know," Kate said. "She doesn't seem to want to eat, and she didn't need a diaper change." She put Lily up over her shoulder as she ascended into the living room and began to walk back and forth in front of the coffee table. "What's the matter, sweet girl, huh?" she asked Lily, brushing her lips to Lily's forehead and confirming that Lily had no fever.

Rick went over and turned the Christmas tree on, and as soon as Lily caught sight of the lights on the tree, and the way they shined off the ornaments, she immediately stopped crying, as if a switch had been flipped. "No way," Kate said, shifting Lily in her arms so she could look into the baby's now calm, happy face.

Rick walked over to Kate holding Lily. "What?" he asked.

"As soon as you turned on the tree lights, she stopped crying," Kate pointed out.

They both looked at their daughter in the dim light of the room. She was looking at the Christmas tree intently, happily cooing as she shoved a few fingers in her mouth.

"That's my girl," Rick said happily.

"Getting up to feed her or change her diaper at three in the morning is one thing," Kate said, "but getting up to stare at the Christmas tree? Seriously?"

"It's all my fault, I know," Rick said, but he didn't sound the least bit repentant. "It's the Castle in her. She loves Christmas."

Kate sat down on the couch, Lily in her arms. "I really didn't think this would start until you could walk and talk, Lily."

Rick sat down next to them. "I'll take her if you want to go back to bed," he said seriously.

Kate leaned back against the couch. "She might want to nurse in a little while," she said. "It's okay." She looked at Lily. "Are you planning on making this an every-night thing between now and Christmas?" she asked the baby.

"Well, she can't on Christmas Eve. Santa won't come until she's asleep," Rick pointed out.

"We're in for years of this, aren't we?" Kate mused. "Probably all of our kids are going to be like this." Before Rick could say anything, Kate continued, "And I wouldn't want it any other way." She looked at Lily, who was still gazing raptly at the Christmas tree. "Because you, Lily, are the best reason in the world to lose sleep. And you being so excited for Christmas that you want to get up at 3 AM to stare at the Christmas tree is magical to me, because I never looked at Christmas before the way I do since your daddy and I got together, and for you to see Christmas that way all your life is magical, and what I want for you."

Rick put his arm around Kate's shoulders and gently pulled her and Lily against his side, then pulled the plaid flannel throw off the back of the couch and draped it over their laps. Kate rested her cheek against Rick's shoulder, and Lily didn't take her eyes off the tree.

"Mother and I never had trees as big as this one when I was growing up," Rick said softly, "but I went through a phase where I used to camp out under the Christmas tree in my sleeping bag when I was a little boy. I started when I was four and kept it up until I was at my first boarding school, so I couldn't do that anymore."

"That's just so you," Kate said fondly. "Well, if Lily decides to do that in a few years, at least I'll know she comes by it honestly. And someday she'll have company under that tree. But can we make it a rule that the kids both, or all, have to be at least four before they can start camping out under the Christmas tree in their sleeping bags?"

"Yes, absolutely," Rick said, his heart so full of love for Kate and for Lily and for Lily's future younger sibling(s) and for Christmas that he thought it would burst.

"All right, then," Kate replied. "In the meantime, the three of us will sit here and enjoy Lily's first Christmas tree together."

Lily cooed and looked up at her mommy and daddy looking at her as if to say she agreed with them before turning her attention once more to the pretty tree.

And mother, father, and baby daughter eventually fell asleep together on the couch by the light of Lily's first Christmas tree, Lily nestled against Kate's chest, and Kate and Lily both wrapped up in Rick's arms.