"Wake up," he breathed, knowing it was an impossible request. "Don't leave me, Leta. Please."
But all the begging in the world changed nothing. She was gone and he was alone.
His heart shattering, he pulled her against him and did the one thing he hadn't done since the night his parents had died. He sobbed.
Rocking her in his arms, he held her for what seemed to be forever as he cried. All he wanted was to go back in time and change all of this. To start fresh and new.
To tell her he loved her too.
"I love you, Leta," he whispered into her ear, knowing she couldn't hear him.
Why hadn't he said it earlier?
But then he knew. He'd been afraid to voice it. Afraid she would somehow use that to hurt him. Now she would never know just how much she'd meant to him. It was so unfair.
"She knows."
He looked up to find a tall, beautiful blond woman standing over him. "Who are you?"
"Persephone." She knelt by his side with sympathy in her eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss. Leta was a wonderful woman." Pulling out a small black handkerchief, she wiped his eyes. "You need to return home now. I'll take care of her for you."
"No!"
"Aidan," she said quietly. "You can't stay here. Believe me, you don't really want to. I will make sure Leta is taken care of, but you have to go."
Aching deep inside his soul, Aidan knew she was right. He pressed his lips to Leta's cold temple before he allowed Persephone to take her body from his arms. "Will you bury her with her family? She doesn't like to be alone."
Tears welled in her eyes as she nodded. "You do love her, don't you?"
"More than my life. I wish to God she'd let me die in her place."
Persephone sniffed as she took Leta from his arms. "Deimos," she said, summoning the god to appear in front of them. "Can you take him back to his world?"
Deimos nodded before he and Aidan vanished.
As soon as he was home again, Aidan turned on him. "Why did you take me there?"
"I wanted you to know how much she cared for you."
"Why? So that it would haunt me for the rest of eternity? No offense, Deimos, but as the ghost of Christmas Present, you suck. At least Scrooge was given a chance to fix his life. I can't fix this. Why the hell did you show it to me?"
Deimos shrugged. "Zeus was going to kill her anyway. As you told Persephone, she didn't like to be alone. I thought it would be nice for her if you were at least there when she died. She needed you."
He was right, but it did nothing to stop the pain inside Aidan. "Thank you, Demon. For everything."
He saw the sympathy on the god's face before he left.
Alone, Aidan stood in the center of his living room, feeling bereft. Closing his eyes, he could feel Leta here. Hear her laughter. Her jacket was still on his tree where she'd left it.
Needing to be closer to her, he walked over to it so that he could touch its softness. "I wish I had you back, Leta. If I did, I'd take better care of you than anyone you've ever known."
And if wishes were horses, even beggars would ride.
Aidan pulled the small hat out of her pocket and lifted it to his nose. It contained her scent and that brought another set of tears to his eyes. His chest tight, he went to the mantel where he had pictures of Donnie, Heather, and Ronald. One by one, he plucked them off and tossed them into the fire where the glass heated and shattered and the pictures burned.
The only photo he left was the one of his parents. He set Leta's knit hat beside it and stepped back.
Yeah. That was his family, and only they deserved a place of honor on his shelf.
Aidan woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his front door. He looked at the clock... it was just after noon on Christmas Eve.
"Leta?" he breathed, tossing back his covers to run to the front door. Wearing nothing more than a loose pair of green boxer shorts, he threw the door open to find Mori and his wife with a medium-sized suitcase.
Shirley raked a hungry and amused look over his body. "I know it does nothing for you, Mor, but that just made getting on an airplane and coming to this godforsaken place worthwhile. Thanks!"
Mori rolled his eyes as he pushed past his wife and came into the house. "Merry Christmas, Aidan."
Aidan stepped back and allowed Shirley to sashay in behind her husband before he closed the door. "What are you doing here?"
He'd barely closed the door before another knock sounded. Frowning, Aidan saw Theresa and Robert on the porch, holding a small tree between them.
He'd hired Robert to be his manager two weeks before Donnie had started blackmailing him. Short and tiny with brown hair and bright blue eyes, Theresa was his publicist. "And again I say, no offense, but what are you doing here?"
"We couldn't stand the thought of you spending one more Christmas alone," Robert said. "Mori called and asked if we could come out to make you a decent meal on Christmas Eve and we agreed. It's time you realized that there are people in this world who do love you, Aidan."
Before Leta had come into his life, he would have tossed them out of his house and locked the door behind them.
Today, they were more than welcome.
"Come on in. Let me go get some clothes on."
"I don't know," Theresa said with a laugh. "I kind of like your Christmas suit."
Shirley laughed. "You mean 'birthday suit,' don't you?"
Theresa set the tree in the corner by his fireplace. "I'd like that even better, but heis dressed in holiday green. Christmas suit."