24. Hero Of The Holidays

"Aunt Lily, this is awesome," Lara said from the private suite where they had the New York Hawks match.

Quinn, Max and the family arrived on Saturday, but the only tickets they could get where she and Braylon could attend were for tonight, two days before Christmas.

Since she was on vacation anyway, she didn't care, but Braylon had to work earlier, and did it from his condo. West wasn't in the office this week either. Abby and her father flew in earlier today and were going to the game too since she'd heard Trevor was a huge fan.

It's just they beat West here.

"It is," she said. "What do you say to Braylon?"

"Thank you again, Braylon," Max said before his kids could. "You're the hero of the holidays in my family."

Lilian looked at Braylon and saw the smile on his face. "I'm glad it worked out. I wanted to come before now with Lily, but we've both been so crazy."

"I was because I knew I was off this week."

And she needed it. Stella had been almost unbearable to deal with.

In the past two weeks both Aaron and Nate had come to her on separate occasions asking her to do something for them. The first time, she'd brought up letting Stella come to the meeting and Aaron laughed at her. She was serious and he'd assured her that it had nothing to do with her work with Stella. It was a project he had for her.

She'd done it but told Aaron that she'd inform Stella, as she felt it was the right thing to do.

Aaron hadn't argued, but Stella was livid that Lily had been given a special project to work on and had even insinuated that flirting with the boss would backfire.

She hadn't said that to Braylon, knowing he'd probably flip out.

All she'd told him was how excited she'd been to do this project and when she was done with it, they praised her and then gave her another.

Did Stella ride her ass to make sure her other work was done faster? Yep, but she was handling it and if that meant working late, she did it.

This was her way to prove to everyone she had what it took, but she just had to deal with Stella in the meantime.

"And now you're on vacation," Lara said. "I wish you could spend the whole week with us."

"Yes," Jocelyn said. "Why can't you?"

"Because I'm going with Braylon to North Carolina to spend a few days with his family. But we'll be back on Thursday night. Braylon has to work on Friday, but I don't. So that can be our day to have fun if you want. Remember, you are visiting your grandparents too."

"Mom wants to see me," Lara said. "I told her no when Davy said he wasn't interested."

She cringed and looked at Max and then Quinn.

"Davy has the right to say no. He's eighteen. I tried to talk Lara into it," Quinn said. "But you know how it goes when you're a teen."

"She doesn't care to see me," Lara said. "She just wants to show me off. She wanted to take me to some fashion show with her. I said I wasn't interested. I don't wear dresses and heels."

Lara was in faded jeans with high-top Converse chucks. She had a Hawks jersey on like they all did. Max had given one to all the kids. Jerseys weren't Lilian's thing, but Braylon gave her a more fitted shirt to wear and when Abby walked into the suite with West and who she assumed was Trevor, Abby's father, she noticed they had the same shirt on.

"You should wear what you want," she said to Lara and gave her a side hug. "I think you look adorable."

"What about me, Aunt Lily?" Carson asked.

"You're always a cutie to me," she told her nephew. "Are you going to let me hold you or are you staying in Dad's arms all night?"

"With Daddy," Carson said.

"He's eating it right up," Quinn said.

"You get him all day long," Max said. "This is my time."

Lilian was so happy her sister had found this in her life. She was starting to think she'd have a shot at it too.

It wasn't as if she ever thought she'd have the life Quinn did. To live in a multi-million-dollar lake house with beautiful views of the mountains in the distance.

But she never thought she'd be dating a man worth more than her sister's husband either.

Money never meant much to her. Not like the money she was surrounded by. She was more interested in just being comfortable.

It was better than she'd ever had before.

"Quinn, Max, kids, this is Braylon's brother, West, his fiancée, Abby, and I'm assuming Abby's father, Trevor."

"Nice to meet you," Max said. "The kids are already having a ball and it hasn't even started. My son, Davy, is a huge fan. Lara, she put Davy to shame on the ice. I figured if I didn't say that she would have."

"I am faster than Davy," Lara said, shrugging her shoulders.

Lily only rolled her eyes. Lara was the athletic one of the two kids.

"Jocelyn isn't quite sure she's a fan," Lily said. "But she won't admit that." She pulled her youngest niece to her side. "The little guy is Carson and he loves anything his father and brother do."

"It's so nice to meet you all," Abby said. "This is my first game too."

"Then we are hockey virgins with Quinn."

"What's a virgin?" Jocelyn asked.

Her eyes went wide and she looked at Max and then Quinn. "Daddy will explain that to you when we get home," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

"It's something you'll be for a long, long time," Max said.

There was a lot of laughter at that statement. Everyone got comfortable and West and Braylon left to order food to be brought in.

"I didn't know they had food delivered," Quinn said, leaning over.

"I think West gets what he wants."

"He does," Abby said. "But there is a lot to choose from. I believe they are just calling it in after they figure out what to do."

"I told Braylon that no one has food allergies. I don't want to say what I think they are bringing in to get some people excited."

She was looking at Carson who had a fondness for pizza and if it was around wouldn't touch anything else until the last piece in the house was gone.

Hours later, the game was done and she thought they'd leave, but West said, "Unless you guys are in a hurry, we can go down to the locker room and meet some of the players. Get some autographs and stuff to take home."

Davy's jaw dropped. Lara started to jump up and down. "Seriously?" Lara asked.

"Only if you behave," Max said. "Thank you. This is awesome. I might be more excited than the kids."

"Not a problem," West said.

When they were back at Braylon's later Lily flopped on the couch. It was close to eleven. Carson was all but sleeping on Max's shoulder by the time they were walking out to get their taxi.

"That was such a nice thing your brother did tonight. Did you know he was going to?"

"No," he said. "I'm not surprised. Trevor is a huge fan. I think West still wants Trevor to know how much he loves Abby. Not by showing off but more like giving her father something he couldn't get but appreciated."

"My family is in awe. Lara and Davy were texting pictures to their friends and posting on social media. I think it was the best night of their life."

She had to say if she was a fan of the sport, she could understand why the kids were so excited. She felt a little like an idiot having to have the game explained to her by everyone.

For her, it was more about the action and the environment.

"I'm glad. We should get some sleep. We've got an early flight tomorrow."

"I'm tired. I'm hoping the minute my head hits the pillow I'll be out."

"Guess you don't need me to tire you out," he said, pulling her up from where she'd flopped on the couch.

"Oh, you can do that," she said. "As long as I don't have to do any work."

"Nope," he said. "I've got it covered."

He picked her up and carried her to his room and she actually felt like a princess for once in her life.