Page 27 of Honorable Sins

"We celebrate Christmas-in-July."

Her eyes ask me why and I explain. "We even put the tree up 'early' like I do in November. The mansion gets decorated for Christmas the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but we put our family tree up a week earlier."

"And you do all this to help Cormac see his value." She sighs and looks off into the distance. "We'll do just about anything to keep our kids safe and happy, won't we?"

"Yes." Including standing by while another woman is railroaded into a mob marriage.

It doesn't make me proud of myself, but I'm not ashamed either and I send a fervent wish out to the universe that Áine's arranged marriage ends up as solid as mine.

"Cormac’s declared it a competition to see who can scatter the most flour across the floor," I declare lightly, moving us both away from our heavy thoughts. I hope.

"Then he’s already won," Fitz mutters dryly without looking up.

That earns him a grin from me. "Probably."

I pass Áine a cookie cutter. "Come on. It’s good therapy and Joy could use some help getting her cookies started."

The other woman hesitates, then moves closer to the counter. Suddenly, Joy is there too, excited to roll out the dough with her mom.

Fitz catches my eye as he slides his tray of cookies into one of the ovens. He mouths, "Thank you," to me, pleased that Sadie and her family have been included in our Christmas-in-July cookie tradition. He's so much like Mick that sometimes I forget he has me in him too.

But right now? I see it and it warms my heart.

Mick and I were both raised with staff around us, but I want our children to experience a semblance of normalcy. Which is why my mobster hubby and I take turns making breakfast daily and our children clean their own bedrooms.

My life has never been normal, but I’ll be damned if my kids don’t get to pretend sometimes.

Áine's hands tremble as she uses the spatula to move the cookies from the counter to the baking tray.

I know what it is to feel like the world around you has gone sideways, and that pretending normal is the only way to make it through anything but. So, I give her a reassuring smile and pretend not to notice her trembling hands and tight smiles.

Sadie's attention drifts now and again. Her rolling pin stills, her eyes go distant, taking on a haunted look, but then Fitz cracks a joke, or Mavey giggles, and Sadie blinks back into the present.

"This one," Mavey orders, holding out a candy cane cutter for her new friend.

Sadie smiles at my daughter and cuts out the candy can shaped cookie before Mavey does the same a second later.

Áine looks at her daughter’s face and her expression crumples for just a heartbeat before she pulls herself together again. Wraith is right. She is strong.

And compassionate. Because the threat to Wraith's life moved her as surely as the threat to her own safety.

When the first batch goes into the oven, Cormac snatches one of the unbaked scraps from the counter, and rolls it into a ball. But instead of flattening it so he can cut out a cookie, he throws it at Fitz.

With eye-to-hand coordination nearly as good as his father's and older brothers, the tiny dough ball hits my oldest son on the shoulder. Fitz looks up with the wounded dignity of a twelve-year-old.

"Cormac!" I admonish, trying not to laugh.

"Don't teach our sisters bad habits," Fitz cautions his brother, sounding so adult I have to turn away to hide my laugh.

By the time the kitchen fills with the buttery, golden smell of baking cookies, everyone is dusted in flour—except Sorcha, whose clothing and face are as pristine as when she started. Joy claps her hands together, sending a flurry of powdered sugar into the air like snow.

Áine actually laughs. Just once, soft and surprised, but real.

For a moment, the heaviness in the world outside this kitchen fades. There’s only light and warmth and the sound of children’s laughter echoing off polished steel.

And I think, this right here, moments like this, are why it's all worth it.

Thirty minutes later, half the cookies are baked, and the kitchen smells like Christmas traditions and peace.