Myra wrapped a bright red scarf around her neck, pulled on her favorite brown leather boots, and grabbed her coat from the closet. Keegan handed her the gloves and knit cap she'd asked him to hold while he ushered her out the door.

They climbed into his sleek, dark grey Porsche and she stared out the window while he pulled from the parking garage. "Thank you for coming tonight, Myra." Keegan spoke quietly. "I know you just wanted to stay home, but it will be good for you, getting out and having some fun. Besides," he added. "You love the ice-skating rink. I think this is your favorite Christmastime tradition."

Myra turned to look at her brother. She knew he was trying to cheer her up, lift her spirits, and she loved him for it. She was trying her hardest to chipper up, but it was so difficult, getting the cloud that had taken residence over her to drift away. "Thank you for getting me out of my apartment, and thank you for being with me at the station."

Her voice sounded flat in her own ears. She hated it. "I'm looking forward to seeing mom and everybody. I'm looking forward to ice-skating."

Making the police report had been as bad as the actual attack, emotionally speaking. The two officers had asked her so many questions, over and over, made her feel at times like maybe what had happened was her fault. She kept telling herself they were just doing their jobs, making sure the facts were straight, but she almost wished she hadn't gone at all. When they asked to photograph her lip, which was swollen on one side from Adam's bruising forcefulness, she'd wanted to sink into the floor. And when she took off her cardigan to show them the fingerprints he'd left on her upper arm, turning black and blue, Keegan swore loudly, then apologized.

So, Myra wasn't really looking forward to ice-skating, but her family needed to see her, so she wouldn't be that girl who sat in the shower and cried. She wanted to be that girl, but she wouldn't. At least not on this night.

* * *

Every year, the outdoor mall in La Jolla installed an ice-skating rink. Myra didn't have a holiday memory where that rink wasn't involved. So when she and Keegan finally made it through the nightmare of parking and the crowds of Christmas shoppers, she nearly cried with happiness at the sight of her family there waiting for them. They look like a Hallmark family, Myra thought as they all began waving furiously at her and Keegan. "Thank you, Keegan. I really did need this." She smiled up at him and he leaned over to kiss her forehead affectionately.

"Myra, it's so good to see you again." Joshua, Marilyn's fiancé approached her with a warm smile.

Myra gave him a hug, then turned to Marilyn, getting a kiss on the cheek from her sister who put a gentle finger to Myra’s swollen lip, looking at her with sympathy and concern. “Honey, are you sure you want to be here?” Marilyn asked softly. “You don’t have to. I’ll sit with you or take you home.”

Myra shook her head. She didn’t want to be at home.

“Ok. Let me know if you need anything.”

Myra nodded, grateful for her sister’s concern.

Hugs and kisses were passed around then, like it was a long-overdue family reunion. After all that love, Myra had to admit that she was feeling much better, even though her mind was still working to process the events that had taken place earlier. Being with the people who loved her, who held her up, was what she needed. After giving little Brody his hug and kiss, she glanced up to find Liam standing over her, his eyes dark, his jaw beating out a steady tic. Her heart stuttered at the sight of him.

"Myra." His voice had taken on a husky tone. "I'm glad you decided to come." He paused a moment, as if assessing her, cataloguing her response. “Are you alright?”

He looked mouth-watering in black slacks that hugged his muscular thighs, and a grey knit sweater that showed off his broad shoulders and chest. Liam reached down to her and she lifted her hand to take his, letting him pull her up to stand in front of him. Her heart pounded in her chest at the way he looked at her while he continued to hold her hand, just staring down at her with that tic in his jaw. She nodded feebly, squirming inwardly, sliding her eyes to the ground, wishing she hadn’t put her gloves on, because she wanted to feel the comfort of his skin against hers more than anything else just then.

"Come on guys!" Rhonda called, breaking the spell of the moment.

"I guess we should go.” Myra sighed with a shrug and walked away from Liam, kicking herself as she went. Why did he get to her like that? Liam was her brother's best friend, someone she'd known for ten years. Ok, yeah, maybe she was in love with him, but there was no chance he had feelings for her. Women approached him all the time. Beautiful, sophisticated, worldly women who were perfect for him. She was clumsy and cute and not sophisticated at all. Plus, he was thirty-three and she was only twenty-one. Why couldn't her stupid hormones get the message?

* * *

For a girl who grew up in San Diego and was in general, classified as clumsy, Myra was as good on ice as she was on a surfboard, and it was plain to see that she loved the rink. Liam watched her guide Brody and Adrian in circles in the center of the rink and his heart clenched at the beauty of the scene, the sweet sound of her laughter making him smile. He was focused on Myra, not paying attention to where he was going, when he smacked into another skater.

"I'm sorry," he apologized immediately, reaching down to help the woman who’d landed flat on her ass in front of him. "I should have been watching where I was going."

"It's ok." The girl replied cheerfully, smiling up at him. "I was watching them too." She nodded towards Myra. "They're beautiful, your wife?"

Liam shook his head, helping the girl get steadied on her feet. "Not yet." He smiled at the girl and she looked back to Myra. "You better get on it then, big guy. A girl like that doesn't stay single for long." She gave him a wink before skating gracefully away.

Liam studied the trio happily making smooth figure eights on the ice, and thought about how he'd like nothing more than to 'get right on that'. Myra was the woman for him, he just needed to figure out how to make her see that she was.

* * *

"Myra, your hot chocolate."

Myra smiled at Liam when he set the steaming mug in front of her, then laughed when she looked down at the cup. "Liam, where did you get marshmallows?"

He just smiled that smile that melted her heart and lowered his large frame into the small chair next to hers. "I'm well prepared for any occasion." He told her meaningfully, still smiling at her.

"Ok, guys.” Her father interrupted. “I know it's late and we've all had a great time skating. The kids are tired and we want to go home, so let's make this quick."

The family sat around a table at their favorite after-skate coffee shop. Paul Valentine was about to make the same plans they made every year for their trek to the cabin at Lake Arrowhead. Myra looked across the table at Marilyn and they both rolled their eyes. Their dad did this every year, and every year you got the same job you’d been doing for all the previous years.

Marilyn and Joshua brought the meats, Rhonda and James brought the potatoes and breads, Liam and Keegan brought the beer, wine, and champagne, Brenda and Paul brought vegetables and breakfast foods, and Myra did the desserts.

She tried to concentrate on what her father was saying, but Liam's thigh rested against hers, the heat radiating off him burning through her. Scolding herself mercilessly, she wished she could be cool and composed, but no, because she failed at things like that. Myra glanced up to the cause of her distress and sighed inwardly. Of course Liam’s leg touched hers, he was bigger than anyone else at the table, squashed in between herself and Keegan. He was probably touching Keegan's thigh too, but Keegan didn't care, why should she care?

"Myra?" Her head snapped around to look at her father.

"Hmm?" She raised her eyebrows in question, feeling like the cat caught with its paw in the fishbowl.

"Are you ok driving up early with Liam since Keegan can't this year?" Her dad looked at her expectantly.

Liam and Keegan always went a couple days ahead of the family to get everything ready for the descent of the Valentine clan and their significant others on the large cabin, but now her dad wanted her to go with Liam? "Uh, yeah." She said slowly, feeling no confidence whatsoever that she would be able to keep her composure under such circumstances. "I guess I can do that."