Coming Home For Christmas
Chapter 9

Lacey's POV.

“"MUM?, DAYTON'S BOUNCING ON HIS BED AGAIN!" For god's sake.

“DAYTON, WHAT HAVE 1 TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT?" “YOU TOLD ME TO STOP BOUNCING ON THE BED!I" “EXACTLY, SO PLEASE TELL ME WHY YOU'RE STILL DOING IT?" “ERM.LLIFORGOT!" Forgot my ass “WELL, NEXT TIME DON'T FORGET UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO CALL UP SANTA CLAUS AND TELL HIM DAYTON WRIGHT HAS BEEN A NAUGHTY BOY AGAIN!"

Ithreatened my son using a parent's number one weapon when it comes to getting their kids to be good.

“NO MUMMY, PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T CALL UP SANTA CLAUS!" “WELL, BE A GOOD BOY THEN!" “oki Dayton groaned in defeat.

Tsmiled happily as I headed into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee before going back into the living room to finish wrapping up some of the Christmas presents I brought today.

Twas made up because I was finally able to get my princess the Wednesday and Little Mermaid dolls which she's been bugging me for ever since the beginning of summer but they've always been out of stock whenever I've gone to get them Twas also able to get Logan the book on Quantum Physics which is the only thing he's really asked me for, so I've had to use my little spy Dayton to get some other ideas on what I can get him because I'm not just getting him a book for Christmas.

As for Dayton, I got him the Black Panther mask and gloves he's been harassing me for and Iwas lucky to get them today because they were the last ones in stock Tm not a Marvel fan and have only ever watched the movies because they tend to cast really hot actors in them but I ‘went with the kids to watch Wakanda Forever last year and the only two things that stopped me from dying from total boredom was the iconic Angela Bassett as well as the incredibly handsome Michael 8 Jordan Tswear that man is fine like wine.

Anyway, Twas wrapping up the last of the presents for tonight when I got a text notification from Carmella

Topened up my phone and scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion when T saw that it was a YouTube link with an angry face emaji, an angry cursing face emoji and a fist emoji What's pissed Carmella off now? wasn't surprised to see it's a link to her favourite talk show Jimmy Fallon but I was surprised to see who his guests are

Why did she send me this?.

Twas in two minds about whether or not I should play it but after reading some of the comments most of which were talking about me and how I should tell Luca and Dylan to f**k off, I decided to play it Hopefully, no harm comes from me watching this.

“My next guests are the number one trending topic of the week after publically coming out and announcing their relationship to the world, here for an exclusive interview please welcome Luca Carpenter and Dylan Tate" Jimmy introduced my brother and my ex to the stage and my breath hitched when they both walked out hand in hand looking dapper in their suits ‘The first two things I noticed with the pair of them is that they ve both lost some weight but not a lot and they're both sporting a five clock shadow as well Another thing I noticed which made me feel sad was that their eyes and smiles weren't as bright as they normally are, especially my brothers Luca has got stunning eyes and an absolutely beautiful smile that always lights up the room but I'm not seeing this smile or those bright eyes right now, no what I'm seeing here are dull eyes and a sad and pained smile.

“Welcome to the show guys” “Thank you for having us, Jimmy" “Now, you guys are the talk of the town and it seems that you've broken several internet records, not to mention you've also broken many hearts as well this week” Jimmy says with a smile and the boys chuckle but they dont seem very amused to me.

“Yeah our love for one another has done nothing but break hearts, unfortunately, one was the beautiful and precious heart of someone we both deeply love and care for” Luca said and my heart started to beat faster than usual “Would I be right in saying this someone is your sister Lacey?" “Yes, sir” Luca said sadly as he looked down.

Dylan tried to comfort him by gently squeezing his hand but Luca looked too upset to be comforted.

“Its hard being a gay man and being in love with someone when nobody knows about your sexuality and the man you love belongs to someane else but it's even worse when that someone else is your little sister and best friend” “So, what happened guys? because when news broke about Lacey and Dylan's break up as well as Lacey's sudden disappearance from the public eye, the country was led to believe that she was at fault and all of the blame had been placed on her head” Jimmy asked causing my brother and my ex to squirm in their seats.

“Yeah, that's another thing we're all guilty of"

Dylan said and he actually sounded like he was guilty and remorseful

“At the time of my engagement to Lacey, 1 was confused. I was in love with Lacey but I also knew I had an attraction to Luca, at first I thought I was bisexual and that my attraction to Luca was purely s****l which 1 hoped would go away when I married Lacey but 1 was wrong and I found myself becoming more attracted to him then I was to Lacey and eventually we fell in love with other each other” “But you still got engaged to Lacey even though you were in love with her brother?” Jimmy asks sounding like he was shocked and a little annoyed and I don't blame him.

1f1was on the outside looking in on this story then Td feel the same way.

Tknow the world hasn't always been kind to those in the I***q+ community but there are many people in this world ‘who support them wholeheartedly and they wouldnt have batted an eyelid to Luca and Dylan coming out mean, the public would've been shocked at first but then they would've eventually got over it and gone on with their lives like business as usual after the shock wore off it's only idiots who have been taught to hate and narrow- ‘minded fools that would've been seriously bothered by it As for me, well, 1 would've just preferred them to be honest with me.

‘They both know how much love and support I've given to the I***q+ community and I've even attended gay pride several times with friends If they had just used their brains instead of their d***s and they had sat down and told me about their sexualities and attraction to each other then none of this would've happened.

wouldn't have left and they'd be happy.

Tswear if ever replace out they hid it from me because they thought I'd judge them or hate them then Tl seriously be angry and disappointed in them even more so than 1 already am.

“Yes. like I said I thought I could make it work with Lacey but then Luca and I found ourselves embroiled in a full- blown secret affair and before we knew it we were both in love..everything then came to a head when Lacey caught

us together on our engagement night and things went downhill from there” “What do you mean?” “Well, the next day Lacey was adamant that she wanted the wedding called off but her parents refused to cancel it because she didn't have a good reason to." “Even though she did" My brother said interrupting Dylan.

“She had more than enough reason to call off the wedding because she could've easily told everyone about us but she knew that if she told our parents then she'd not only be outing us both as gay but she'd also be outing our affair as well and being the good-hearted soul she i, she didn't want to do that._she could've done and in all honesty, T ‘was expecting her to_ but she didn't” Luca and Dylan share a look with each other before looking back at the host “Anyway, we were 50 lost in hiding who we were and hiding our love for one another that we sat back and did nothing as Lacey was made the scapegoat for what happened, she was made the big, bad wolf while I was the innocent victim when I was anything but and we're both deeply sorry for what we put Lacey through because our actions forced her to leave us and our family and we haven't seen her since” “You haverit seen your sister in five years?” Jimmy asked sounding shocked.

“Six and yeah..she left and we have no clue where she is” “So, if this happened six years ago then why are you all only coming out to the public now?" Jimmy asks them

“Because we're fed up of hiding who we are and hiding our love for another, we wanna live out in the open to hell with anyone who doesn't agree with us and our lifestyle, T love Luca and he loves me” “We also really love my sister and we want to make things right with her but to do that we need to replace her” “We're willing to do anything to replace Lacey because she wasn't just Luca's baby sister or my fiance, she was our best friend as well and we miss her so freaking much” Oh hell no This can't be happening If Luca and Dylan want to replace me then it won't be long until they eventually do, especially if they speak to my.

grandpa and get my address from him.

“If you're out there and you're watching this Lace, please give us a call or better yet come back home, we all love and miss you, princess and we'd love nothing more than to have our baby girl back home for Christmas” Luca says and I shut my phone off after this because I didn't wanna hear any more of their BS right now.

Twas on sensory overload and I needed to relax and calm myself down before I went to bed.

“Mummy, this man said he's an old friend of yours and he wanted to see you" Theard Teddy's voice speaking from behind me and I narrowed my eyes in confusion.

Man? “What man, Teddy?" Tturned around and my eyes instantly widened when I saw who was standing there next to my daughter in my living room.

Tturned around and my eyes instantly widened when I saw who was standing there next to my daughter in my living room.

Oh my god What the hell is he doing here?.

Istood up and looked at the man of both my dreams and nightmares with a shocked expression on my face.

“Logan” “Hey, Lace, it's good to see you again, babe” He said with that sexy devilish smirk on his face.

Oh god, Im f****d