Page 30 of Season's Greetings
Seeing the joy on his son’s face was bittersweet.
How had he not noticed that Toby hadn’t liked his grandparents coming around?
Seeing him now, beaming as he ran around the house with Barney, was like a ray of sunshine breaking through a storm.
His life—once a battleground of unspoken tensions—was now filled only with the happy chaos of barks and squeals.
And with Daniel, it would be even better.
“What do you want for lunch, champ?”
Toby giggled and pointed toward the fridge. “Mac and cheese!”
The simple request. The simple answer. The simple act of preparing a meal together—it felt like a victory.
Matthew settled in for an afternoon of play. Laughter echoed through the house. Crayon drawings piled up on the table. Barney barked at shadows and tail-wagged through every room.
Later, the sound of Daniel’s key turning in the door was the perfect end to the day.
“Papa’s home!” Toby scrambled down the hall, Barney close on his heels.
Daniel kneeled, scooping Toby into his arms, burying his face in the boy’s soft golden curls, breathing him in.
“Yes, little bear. Papa’s home.”
Matthew watched from the kitchen doorway, heart full.
This—this was what home was supposed to feel like.
Not approval. Not performance.
Just love.
Daniel
Being here with Matthew was pure magic.
There was a time he thought this moment would never come again. Not after the silence. Not after the heartbreak.
It had taken ten years of hoping, pining, and secretly wishing on every shooting star.
So many things had gotten in the way. So many forces trying to divert them from each other.
Through it all, the Hollow Moon Rite had been the tether—linking their love across time and distance.
Oh, he’d tried to stamp it down. Being rejected for a woman chosen by someone else will do that to you.
And for that to happen mere hours after committing to a soul bond?
Devastating.
But now, it felt like they’d come full circle.
They were standing again in the snow beneath the full moon, amidst frost-tipped fir trees. Only this time, they were in the ancestral bonding grove of the North Star lands—a sacred place reserved for the rarest of unions. Long forgotten by most, yet still claimed and held dear by Daniel’s lineage.
Matthew stood before him now, coat hanging open, breath hitching in the cold, amber eyes locked to Daniel’s like he hadn’t aged a day since their last vow.
But he had.
