The bells rang at midnight, heralding Christmas Day, and Lawrence listened to them alone. Alone. As always.
He raised his glass, saluted, and then threw the rest of the brandy down his throat, grimacing as it went. He banked the fire up so that it would burn through the night and at least keep the place warm. He wondered about sleeping in the chair. Upstairs there were too many reminders of Christy, but when he looked around, all he could see was Christy.
He was still pondering the options available to him that might do the least damage to his already wounded heart, when a knock came to the back door.
He froze.
The knock came again.
Lawrence limped to the door and opened it to reveal Christy standing there. On the threshold, snow cascading gently over his shoulders, sticking briefly i
