I probably drank way more brandy than necessary on Christmas, but forgive me if I needed a little liquid reinforcement after discovering that I'd been befriended by a ghost all this time.

Milo had pulled out his phone after I came to. When I was ready to talk, Milo opened his Facebook page. He'd gone through his pictures, until he found an old family photo of him and his Nana that he'd posted a few years ago for Throwback Thursday. Sure as hell, the happy little woman standing next to the adorable little omega boy was my friend Aggie.

Ian was way less freaked out about the whole thing than I was, and Milo just looked rattled. Tom was uncharacteristically quiet too. Every once in awhile, Tom would stop and look at Milo's ring again. Then he'd shake his head and pour himself another eggnog. I was shocked to realize that I was actually okay with it all, despite my original reaction.

Of course, the brandy probably helped with that. Milo had gathered himself in time to finish dinner before the boys arrived. When the doorbell rang, I was surprised to see a cleaned up Kent dressed in his Sunday best and carrying a potted poinsettia plant for Milo.

His brother was Kent's opposite. He definitely seemed to have a brain, although he was older by a few years. Maybe poor Kent was just young yet. They both had a hard time keeping their eyes off Tom, much to Ian's irritation. Milo called us all to the table, and everything smelled delicious.

I looked over at Milo after I'd swallowed a bite of his honey glazed ham. “Babe? Would it freak you out if I asked if this is by chance one of your Nana's recipes?” This was one of the things that I'd smelled cooking in the unused kitchen a few months prior.

He nodded hesitantly. “Do I want to know? Is this another haunted Nana story?”

I laughed. “Milo. Relax, baby. But yeah, I smelled this exact thing cooking more than once when I was here alone. But there wasn't anything cooking at the time.”

Milo shook his head and blew out a long breath. “Okay, then. Well, that makes sense I guess. Nana made this every Christmas. It was a tradition. That's why I made it today. I mean, it's not my house yet, but it was always served here. I couldn't imagine a Christmas without it.”

I swallowed another bite and replied: “Milo, you're pregnant with my kid, and we're engaged now. At this point, it's just a matter of how soon can I move you in here.”

Milo grinned. “Well, since you're being haunted by my family, I guess I should just move right in.”

Tom choked on whatever he was chewing, while Ian slapped his back and laughed at what Milo had said. Ian looked over at me and said: “Damn, Rafe. I hadn't thought of it that way. What a way to meet the in-laws!”

* * *

“Careful with that, Ian. Milo will kill us if we drop his Nana's cabinet!” Milo had officially moved the day after that weird Christmas of revelations. We'd waited through January to do more decorating until after we'd gotten the furniture we wanted for the house. I was finally bringing the cabinet and trunk down from the attic.

Milo was putting them in our master bedroom, where we could both use them. Well, the cabinet anyway. The trunk was planned storage for blankets and pillows. It was amazing how the house was coming together under Milo's practiced eye. We had bought a boatload of new furniture, and he was blending in pieces from the attic to add a piece of himself to our home.

Milo and Tom were waiting in our room to direct where the cabinet would stand. Once it was in place, Tom got busy polishing and waxing it while Milo began the long process of emptying it out.

I stopped and rubbed his shoulders after we'd carried in the trunk. “Baby, if it's too hard to go through your Nana's things, I can help you. It's not as personal to me.”

Milo looked at me over his shoulder. “You know what though, Rafe? Now that I've come to terms with you somehow seeing and talking to my dead Nana, I'm actually at peace with it. I mean, I would've loved to see her too. But maybe that's not how it's supposed to work?” He shrugged. “Anyway, I feel like you care about Nana too. So it would be just as weird for you to sort these things.”

I thought about it and said: “Maybe. But to me she was a cool old bird that I liked to talk to whenever she came around. She's actually your family. Somehow, I think that trumps my friendship with her. But still, let me know if you want my help.”

I kissed his neck and slipped away to go finish pulling down the rest of the things that we'd decided to bring down from the attic. The croquet set had been a given. The red ball was finally staying put in the caddy now that it was parked downstairs. At least for now anyway. Milo planned to make us all play this summer after the baby came.

Ian and I had just finished in the attic and were headed down for a beer when I heard Tom and Milo squealing with laughter. I went and popped my head into our room to see what was so funny.

“Oh, Rafe! Look what I found!” Milo was holding up an old skeleton key. “It's the key to the attic!”

“What's so funny about that? I mean it's cool and all that you found it, but I don't get why it's funny.” I looked at them curiously until Tom came dancing across the room with a big pink vibrator. He waved it over his head like a lasso while dancing around in a circle and slapping his own ass. I rolled my eyes, until Milo spoke through his giggles.

“The key was in a wooden box with that thing.” I looked at in horror, trying to reconcile it with the sweet little old lady that I'd met.

I turned to Ian and said: “Let's go get those beers.” I heard the omegas giggle harder as I made tracks for the stairs without looking back.