Christmas had come to his house, and it had brought elves. Elves with Stockton eyes, cheekbones, cowboy hats, wives, and kids. "What the hell is going on?"

Chase looked over from the corner, where he and Ryder were installing a Christmas tree in a stand. "What does it look like we're doing?"

"Putting up a Christmas tree in my living room."

"So, why ask, then? You got it." Chase turned away, angling the tree as Mira directed the men on which way to lean the tree to get it straight.

Travis and Lissa were in the kitchen, and he could see them unpacking boxes. He could see three pies on the counter already, plus three cartons of eggs, and fresh bread. The front door opened again, and Zane walked in with his two boys, all of them carrying cardboard boxes with red and green Christmas decorations overflowing from the top.

Ava, Hannah and Maddox's daughter, was at the coffee table with Bridgette, Lissa and Travis's daughter. The two of them had three Christmas stockings on the table, and an assortment of glitter glue, sparkles and felt letters. He could see the start of Emily and Jaimi's name on them, and realized the girls were making Christmas stockings for the three of them, which was incredibly thoughtful.

Maddox was on a stepstool, nailing Christmas lights around the perimeter of his walls, up by the ceiling, while Erin and Taylor were camped out at his fireplace, turning his mantle into a Christmas bonanza.

"Hey!" Dane held up his hands to try to quiet the din, but no one really listened. "Why are you setting up Christmas in my house?"

Mira put her hands on her hips and turned to face him. "Dane, you may not have noticed that you haven't had a single Christmas decoration in your house in all the years I've known you, but I noticed it. It's sad, and I tried to fix it by having you at our house for Christmas, but I always hated the idea of you coming home to a house with no Christmas spirit."

He blinked, startled by her comment. "You did?" He glanced at Chase, who grinned and shrugged.

"Yes." Mira set her hands on her hips. "And I was lying in bed last night, and the thought of Jaimi and Emily having to spend even a single day of the Christmas season without Christmas spirit was just so wrong. So, I woke Chase up, and he agreed."

Dane shot a look at Chase, who grinned. "It was three in the morning. I would have agreed to anything at that hour, and she knows it."

"So, I called everyone this morning," Mira continued, "and we all rounded up whatever spare decorations we could find, and agreed to bring them over." She grinned innocently. "So, here we are. Bringing you the Christmas you have deserved for so long."

He folded his arms over his chest. "This isn't for me. It's for them."

"No." Mira walked over to him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "It's for all of you. You're just as deserving as they are, but yes, I admit, it took having a new sister-in-law and niece to get me to take action."

Dane grimaced, glancing at his closed bedroom door. "They don't know you know," he warned. "I promised her I wouldn't tell."

Mira winked. "I know. So, you'll have to figure out how to explain us." Without another word, she walked off, asking Lissa and Travis how long it would be until breakfast was ready.

"Breakfast?" Dane echoed. "You guys are eating here?"

"Yep." Lissa waved at him from the kitchen. "We're all staying for breakfast with Jaimi and Emily. We want to know the woman who has won your heart."

Hell. Dane stood there, completely ignored and powerless as the Stocktons took over his house. He knew there was no way he was getting them out of there. "Doesn't anyone in this family know how long forty-eight hours is?"

"Sorry," Maddox said as he set a box down. "None of us know how to tell time. It's a Stockton thing."

"And it affects us when we marry them," Taylor chimed in. "It's kind of weird." She grinned at him. "Smile, Dane. You can't stop us."

As Dane stood there, watching the Stocktons turn his house into a Christmas oasis, a part of him wanted to grin, grab a strand of tinsel, and join right in. The other part of him was scared shitless about how Jaimi would react if she walked out and found them there.

Swearing, he walked over to Chase. "Can we talk?"

Chase handed him a string of lights. "We can talk while we put lights on the tree."

Dane swore and took the strand. "Chase, you don't get it. She's running scared. She's ready to go back to Boston today. She's terrified of the blood that runs in her veins now. She was reluctant to tell you guys who she was in the first place, but now she's scared shitless." He grabbed Chase's arm. "I can't lose her, Chase. I need her in my life."

Chase paused to look at him, then set down the lights. "Outside."

The two men navigated quickly around the mess and walked out into the snowy morning. It was bright, snowy, and cold as hell. Dane hugged his arms to his chest as he faced Chase, wishing he'd grabbed a coat. "I'm asking you to leave, Chase. It's too much of a risk."

Chase met his gaze. "She's my sister, Dane. I'm not walking away from her."

"You have to."

Chase ground his jaw for a moment, then shook his head. "Did you see who was in your house this morning?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Did you see who wasn't?"

Dane frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Who was missing? Who should have been here?"

He realized what Chase was talking about. "Caleb, Logan, and Quintin." The three Stockton brothers who hadn't yet reclaimed their roots.

"Yeah. Only six of us are here. We don't even know where Caleb is. He's gone. Missing. I don't even know if he's alive." Pain flashed in Chase's eyes. "Every one of my brothers left town, Dane. You and I were the only ones here for years. They'd stop by, but everyone had walked away from the memories. I tried to hold the family together by giving them all the space to walk away, and I thought I'd lost them all by doing it."

Dane and Chase had talked about it during those years. He knew how hard it had been on Chase, because the man was all about family. Nothing else mattered to him. Hell, he'd bought the Stockton ranch for the sole purpose of creating a homestead for his brothers to join him on. No one had come. Not one. Until they'd met the women who had drawn them home.

"I don't know if I will ever hear from Caleb again. I don't know if I'll even know what happened to him. If he died. If he's alive. He's just gone." He spread his hands. "My own brother. Lost to me, completely. Just like Jaimi. She's my sister, and I didn't even know she existed, Dane. I didn't even know."

Dane sighed. "I know. I'm trying to bring her back to you, but it's not easy."

"I know it's not easy." Chase met his gaze. "I've been trying to get my brothers back for years. I know damn well how difficult it is. Logan and Quintin aren't coming back for Christmas. I don’t know what they're doing, but they're not going to be here."

"I'm sorry, Chase. I know that sucks."

Chase put his hand on Dane's shoulder. "Look at me, bro. Look me in the eye and tell me that you are absolutely certain that if Jaimi walks away without resolving this, that she'll be back. That we all won't lose her forever."

Dane ground his jaw. "I can't. I don't know that she'd come back."

"Exactly." Chase let go of him. "One thing I've learned over the years is that if you love someone, you can't ever give up on them. Rivers of pain become uncrossable oceans that can't be bridged if you don't try to fix them when they're small. I'm lucky as hell that Travis, Steen, Zane, and Maddox found women who helped them heal, because I couldn’t do it. But I learned my lesson. There's no way that I can let Jaimi walk away until I've done everything possible to bridge that gap. She's my sister, Dane."

"And she's the woman I love."

The two men stared at each other. "One doesn't trump the other," Chase said quietly. "They're both important."

Dane ground his jaw, trying to keep his voice even. "Yes, but she's afraid of you, and she's falling in love with me. I'm the one she trusts. You're the one who's going to make her run."

"So, let's make her unafraid."

Dane ran his hand through his hair. "I'm trying, but it's a little hard to do if you're here."

"Could you walk away from her if I asked you to?"

"Hell no—"

"Well, I can't walk away from her either, Dane. Don't ask me to do it, because it's impossible, both for me and my brothers. We all need her, because she's family." Chase set his hand on Dane's shoulder. "Let's do this together, Dane, like we used to as kids. We've gotten through the darkest of places together. We know how to make it work."

Dane swore. "If we fuck it up, the cost is too great."

"I know." Chase met his gaze. "Trust me, I know."

Dane sighed, hearing the seriousness of Chase's voice. "Yeah," he said. "I believe you do. So, what do we do?"

Chase grinned, relief evident in his eyes. "You're the one she's falling in love with," he said, with just a hint of amused challenge in his voice. "If you're worthy of my sister, and I’m not sure you are, then you're the one who has to know what she needs."

Dane glared at him. "You know I'm worthy of her. Don't be an ass."

"Just because you're worthy of being my brother, doesn’t mean you're worthy of dating my sister. You gotta prove yourself. So, figure out how to fix it. We'll follow your lead, except, of course, if it involves any of us vacating."

Dane rolled his eyes. "Heaven forbid I suggest something sensible like that."

"Fuck sensibility. Be more creative than that." Chase grinned. "But you better think fast, because I can't imagine she's still asleep. At any second, she's going to walk out of your bedroom door, and you better have something figured out." He doffed his hat. "Good luck, bro." Then he turned and walked back into Dane's house, leaving Dane standing outside in his shirtsleeves.

Dane sighed and clasped his hands above his head. "The Stocktons are a bunch of bastards," he muttered.

"I heard that!" Chase yelled from inside.

Dane grinned. "You deserved it!"

"Love you, too, bro. Now fix it."

Fix it.

How the hell was he going to do that?