Gift

Chapter one :

May 1988

The thought of moving out of Colorado filled Mary Abrams with

uncertainty. Having barely even left the state before, the news that her
family was moving to Canada came as a shock, to say the least.
Having finished school the year before, her only consolation was that
she wasn't leaving much behind. Her only commitment was to a part-
time job and she didn't have a lot of friends to speak of. Mary had
always been very reserved and more often than not, preferred her own
company to that of others, which made saying her goodbyes a lot
simpler. And so, they had packed up and left. Mary, her younger sister,
and her dad had sold their house in Montrose, Colorado in favor of a
cabin in the small town of Val-d'Or in south-west Quebec. They had
jumped on a plane and left behind their American lives.

As if moving internationally didn't make her anxious enough, multiple

flight delays meant that the three of them were stranded in Montreal
Airport for a number of hours. To pass the time, Mary left her bag with
her dad and took her sister Betty for a walk.

"How are you feeling about the move?" Betty asked.

"I'm..." Mary sighed, trying to solidify her thoughts. "I don't know,
honestly. It's such a big change that I'm still having trouble wrapping
my head around it."
"I know what you mean," Betty nodded. "I think it'll be for the best
though."

"You aren't worried about how it'll affect your schooling?"

Betty frowned. "What do you mean? Why would that be affected?"

"Because Canada is a different country."

"Well, what does that mean for me?" Betty panicked.

"I guess you'll find out once we get settled in," Mary grinned, enjoying
watching her sister squirm.

Betty groaned and her shoulders slumped. "And suddenly, I'm less
excited about this whole idea," she muttered.

Mary tousled her sister's multi-colored hair. "Try to stay positive, sis.
We've gotta be supportive of Dad."

A few hours later, once the delay had cleared, Mary and her family
were seated on their second flight for the day. The last leg of their
journey would take them from Montreal to Val-d'Or, where their new
lives awaited them. The Abrams family patriarch, Wayne, had, after
years of loyal and studious work, been offered a promotion within the
company he worked for. To Wayne, the job looked to be a significant
improvement over his current position and also promised a hefty pay
raise. But of course, the position didn't come without a catch, and that
catch came in the form of a relocation two thousand miles north. He
had spent a little under a week in deliberation, contemplating the
massive lifestyle change but, eventually, Wayne opted to take the
promotion for the sake of his daughters. Being that he was a single
father, supporting two nearly college-aged daughters, Wayne knew
that a greater income would make a definite impact on their standard
of living. So with his daughters' futures in mind, Wayne had taken the
position and set to work making the necessary arrangements. As
Montreal shrunk far below the plane, Wayne kept telling himself that
he'd made the right decision for Mary and Betty's sake.

From the plane, the three of them hailed a cab and rode out to their
new house in awed near-silence, taking in the new scenery. It wasn't
cold enough for snow to be forming on the ground, but the peaks of the
distant mountains were capped in its serene whiteness. While it
wasn't an especially long drive, the culture shock turned minutes into
what felt like an hour. As she left the relative warmth of the cab, Betty
gasped and pulled her coat tighter around her, immediately feeling the
icy bite that the gentle breeze carried. She quickly dropped her bags
on the porch and pulled a white knit cap over her blue and blonde hair,
covering her ears. Betty hugged herself as she waited for Wayne to
unlock the door, eager to get out of the cold. She rushed into the
barren, unfurnished house and frowned in panic at the lack of warmth
inside the house. She was still freezing.

Being cold was a familiar feeling to Betty. Elizabeth Waverly Abrams

had been born on the 29th of March, 1971, a full five weeks before she
was due. She had been a tiny baby and her small stature had followed
her into adolescence. Now, at seventeen, she stood at only 5"2' and
weighed a meager 112lbs. In the winter months, she was rarely seen
outside the house in anything less than jeans.

"Where's the heater?" she called out.

"There should be a few radiators around." Her dad replied, "There's
also a fireplace in the living room if you're patient enough to get a fire
going."

"I am not."

Betty scouted around until she found a radiator and then started it and
sat a foot away from it until she was warm. Only then did she stop to
take in her new house. It was more of an oversized log cabin, made
largely of wood and two stories tall. The fireplace that Betty's dad had
mentioned was at the center of the house and there was a staircase
that climbed around it, leading to the girls' bedrooms in the back
corners of the upper level, with Betty on the left and Mary on the right.
Betty breathed it in, enjoying the woody musk. Despite the house
being bereft of furniture, Betty had no trouble picturing it as her new
home.

That first night, the family slept in sleeping bags on the floor around
the fireplace. As the days passed, their furniture arrived and they
began setting up their new lives. Wayne got started in his new
position, Betty went on a shopping spree for more climate-appropriate
clothes and Mary dedicated her time to meet the locals.

Chapter Two :

In an effort to familiarise themselves with the locals and the town,

Betty dragged Mary out of the house whenever she could. The sisters
spent weeks roaming Val-d'Or, as Wayne found himself getting
intimately familiar with the small office he'd been granted. Having
been in a cubicle in Colorado, Wayne was still getting used to the
privacy that came with having a door. Unfortunately, he was also
unused to the workload of his new position. His first late night at the
office had come as a rude shock; after that, they were commonplace.
He would often spend up to twelve hours in the office each day and in
addition to this, the people below him were demanding guidance and
those above him demanded results.

Wayne quickly found himself stressed and overworked and came to

realize just how unprepared he had been for the responsibility of his
new job. Sure, he had excelled in his last position, but by comparison,
it'd been a cakewalk. Already sporting wireframe glasses and thinning
grey hair, Wayne shuddered to think of the toll that the added stress
was taking on his appearance. Most days, Wayne would question
whether he'd made the right decision in taking the promotion. For that
exact reason, he kept a framed photograph of Mary and Betty just
beside his computer. The photo gave his hope, but it was also a
bittersweet reminder that he saw that photo more than the girls
themselves.

In the week before summer vacation was due to start, Betty stumbled
across a flyer for a summer fair that she insisted on taking Mary to.

"It'll be fun," Betty promised. She read off the flyer. "There'll be
'carnival games, rides', attractive strangers..."

"It says that, does it?"

"No, I just feel like you've been single for far too long."

Mary mocked offense. "Since when are you the expert on

relationships?"
"I've had more than you."

"If anything, that makes you an amateur."

Betty sneered at Mary. "Anyway, we are definitely going to that fair.

It'll be a good opportunity to meet people and have some fun."

"I suppose so. I mean, it's not like I have anything better to do. Ok,
you've convinced me."

Betty cheered.

The weekend of the fair rolled around and Betty asked for Mary's
opinion on what to wear, more for a laugh than any actual help. In
Betty's experience, Mary had an abysmal dress sense and in contrast
to Betty, Mary would favor practicality over vanity. As if to prove her
point, Mary was waiting in jeans and a t-shirt when Betty emerged in a
flowy dress with a denim jacket. With an amused smirk, Betty joined
Mary and Wayne, who stood to wait by the front door, and they set off.

Once they reached the fair, Betty immediately split from the group and
went off on her own. "Well, I'm off to see what kind of boys this town
has to offer. Meet you two back here for lunch?"

"Please be careful, Elizabeth," Her dad chastised. "Stay safe. And

sober!"

"Pfft, I always am, Dad."

Mary scoffed. "Since when?"

Betty acted offended. "I've never left you alone so that I can party."

"Yes you have," Wayne deadpanned. "With alarming regularity."

"I'll be fine," she dismissed them. And with that, she was gone.

Wayne sighed. "I worry about her sometimes."

"I worry about her often," Mary replied.

Wayne turned to Mary. "Did you want to walk around with me or are
you gonna runoff as well?" he joked.

Mary smiled. "No, I'll walk with you. I still don't know anyone here."

"You haven't made friends?" he asked, concerned.

"Not exactly..." Mary muttered.

"Have you been talking to anyone other than Betty?"

Mary simply bit her lip, not willing to admit to her aloneness.

Wayne put an arm around her shoulders. "It's ok, kiddo. I'm sure you'll
make some new friends at some point."

Wayne and Mary casually wandered the fair, chatting and stopping
whenever they came to something interesting. At one point, Wayne
stopped to get them both drinks while Mary went to explore the nearby
petting zoo. Ever the animal-lover, Mary stepped inside to pet a foal.
The serene innocence of the zoo was perforated by two shrieks from
across the petting zoo– one animal, one human. Startled, Mary looked
up to see a small goat barrelling towards her, head down, horns
pointed right at her. At the last moment, a dark blur flew towards Mary
and tackled her out of the goat's path, just as it smacked into the
fence She had been leaning on.
In the confusion, it took Mary a moment to realize that she was now
inches away from a stranger's attractive, olive-skinned face. It took
her a second longer to work out that his arms were gripping her hips
and that she was lying on top of him. He flashed her a wide grin,
showing a number of straight but large teeth. Shocked, she rolled off
him and let the stranger help her to her feet. His grip was strong and
the skin of his hands was rough and calloused.

"Tu vas bien? Mon nom est Sebastien. Eh... parlez-vous français?" The
stranger spoke in rapid French. Mary stared at him, confused.

"I'll take that as a 'no' then," the stranger switched to English, laced
with a strong French accent. "Are you ok?"

What she'd seen of the stranger formed quite a strong mental image of
his character in her mind. He was tall, over six foot, if Mary had to
guess, and had an athletic build – slim but with an upper-body barely
contained by his tight grey t-shirt. The way he had saved her, plus the
skin, the curled hair, the accent... It was almost enough to take her
breath away.

"You... You saved me," Mary stammered.

"I suppose I did." He led her out of the petting zoo and extended his
had to her. "My name is Sebastien."

Mary shook his hand. "Mary Abrams. That was so brave of you."

Sebastien shrugged. "It was nothing."

"Well, I want to thank you for it. How can I repay you?"
Sebastien deliberated for a moment, looking her up and down. Slowly,
a mischievous smirk split across his face. "You could let me take you
out to dinner tomorrow night?"

Mary let out a sharp intake of breath, barely audible. "It's a date- deal!
I meant 'deal'... But that's not to say it's not a date – it is. It's both! A
deal and a date." She grinned sheepishly, very flustered.

He laughed and gave her an earnest smile, tinged with just a touch of
shyness.

Chapter Three :

"You screwed him, didn't you?"

"Betty!" Mary shrieked in shock.

"What?"

Having been out with Sebastien as late as she was, Mary was
expecting Betty to be fast asleep. What she had walked in on instead,
was Betty on top of her new fling, John, in the middle of the living
room, both of them shirtless. Mary had immediately left the room.
Betty had come and found her later.
"You had a spring in your step when you came in, that's all."

"I'm not going to discuss me and Sebastien with you."

"Oh, you definitely did," Betty mumbled with a grin. "In any case, John
is taking me to the drive-in this weekend, I thought we could make it a
double date; Me and John, you and Sebastien. What do you think?"

"I think it sounds like a good idea. I'll let him know in the morning."

The following day, Sebastien agreed to the idea of a double date but
insisted that they took his car and not John's. John disagreed.

"I don't want to ride with that guy," John started. "I barely know him."

"Nor do I but I don't have a problem with him," Betty countered.

"Why not? He's shifty and I don't like it."

"'Shifty?'" Sebastien echoed angrily.

"How is he 'shifty'?" Betty asked.

"Well, why does he want to drive so badly?"

"Why do you want to drive so badly?" Betty asked.

"Because it was my idea!"

Sebastien sneered. "You can take your idea and shove it-"

"Oh, calm down, Seb." Betty chided.

Sebastien's face darkened. He took a finger and jabbed her chest.

"You do not call me that!"
The room burst into noise as John, Sebastien and Betty all roared at
each other. Mary walked to the nearest door, opened it and then
slammed it shut again. The roaring stopped and they all turned to
Mary.

"Quiet, all of you!" Mary yelled. "We can take both cars! Both of you
can drive if it's such a big goddamn deal to you two."

Begrudgingly, they both relented and went to the drive-in in two cars,
Betty and John in his dad's pickup, and Mary and Sebastien in
Sebastien's second-hand Cadillac. Not exactly the peak of romantic
automobiles, but Mary found it to have a certain cozy quality
nonetheless. As the movie started, Mary found herself only partially
paying attention, sneaking sideways glances at Sebastien whenever
she could. The light of the projector bounced off the screen and
illuminated his face in a way that let her examine every minuscule
detail, from his olive skin to the light stubble on his sharp chin to the
glint of the movie, reflected in his emerald eyes.

Mary figured he must have picked up on her glances because he slid

himself closer to her and gently placed one arm around her shoulders.
In turn, she also moved closer and laid her head on his shoulder. Their
hands met between them and they stayed embraced in silence for the
rest of the film. As it drew to a close, Mary turned to face Sebastien.
His eyes locked with hers and she hesitated for just a second. As Time
of my Life came on over the radio, Sebastien took over and moved his
lips gently against hers, without missing a beat. She returned the kiss
and pressed her mouth into his, feeling the warmth of his breath and
the cool caress of his hand on her cheek. As the reluctantly broke the
kiss-off, Mary lost herself in his eyes and knew with instant confidence
that they had a connection.

Betty meanwhile had ignored the entirety of the movie, as she and
John were otherwise occupied, their hands in each other's clothes and
tongues in each other's mouths. Betty had never been an especially
emotive girl, and her session with John had none of the intimacy or
passion of her sister's. To Betty, it was nothing beyond physical
pleasure, pure and simple, with no feelings attached. However, as she
discovered at a most inopportune time, John didn't feel the same way.
With his hand in her shorts, John proclaimed his love for her. She
pushed him back, taken aback.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I do, I love you. I've been thinking about it a lot lately."

"And you thought now was the best time to share?" she asked,
gesturing to his hand, which she removed from her personal space.

"It's not?"

"No, God no! Even if I was into that, which, by the way, I'm super not,
that was the worst possible time to bring it up."

"Wait, you... don't feel the same way?"

"What the hell, dude? No, not a chance. I've said from the start that
this was just casual."

"I thought we were beyond that." He said, his voice rising. "If you don't
love me, why are we still seeing each other?"
"Because I like sex?" she offered with a grin.

Her head rocked back as a biting pain surfaced on her cheek. Betty
touched her face gingerly as she realized he'd just slapped her, tears
of shock and pain welling up and threatening to spill over.

"You led me on, you bitch!" He was screaming now. Betty recoiled
from him, shaken.

He advanced on her, raising his hand to slap her again. She drew her
foot up and kicked him in the chest, falling backward out of the car.
She stood up and he kept coming, following her. Betty took off towards
Mary and Sebastien and John gave chase, calling after her. Betty
spotted Sebastien standing beside his car and began to call for help.
Spotting her, Sebastien came towards her and positioned himself
between her and John.

"What's going on?"

"He abused me!" Betty immediately yelled. Mary, noticing the

commotion, stepped out of the car.

"What the hell, man? You hit her?"

"She had it coming," John sneered.

In the blink of an eye, Sebastien had crossed the distance between

them. Sebastien wrapped his hand around John's throat and threw him
violently to the ground, kneeling on his chest. He grabbed John's collar
with one hand and began laying punches into his face. Mary raced
around the car and caught Sebastien's fist before he could do any
permanent damage. John scrambled to his feet and stared daggers at
Betty, blood flowing from his nose, mouth and left the eye.

"Rot in Hell, Elizabeth Abrams!" John roared."You'll regret this," he

threatened her once more, then turned tail and left. Betty started
crying.

Chapter four :

Following the altercation at the drive-in, Sebastien's reputation with

the Abrams girls had been gradually improving. Having been dating for
nearly two months, Mary felt as though it was time for Sebastien to
meet her dad. Mary talked to both of them and convinced them to meet
over dinner at Mary's house. Nerves knotted in Mary's stomach while
she was getting ready. She had seen the abrasive side of Sebastien's
temper and was concerned that it would clash with her dad's
somewhat overprotective nature. After her dad had become widowed,
he had become far more strict on Mary and Betty, presumably out of
fear of losing them too. Although she would never speak ill of him to
his face, her dad was something of a basket case when it came to his
daughters. Because of this, it was clear to Mary that the dinner would
be tense, to say the least. Betty realized this too and as such, chose
not to attend.

At the sound of the doorbell, Mary descended the stairs in a pale violet
dress. Sebastien was dressed in a simple, yet smart outfit and wore
his curled dark hair out of his face. Mary greeted him with a quick kiss
and led him into the dining room.

"Dad, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Sebastien Le Fleur. Sebastien,

this is my dad, Wayne." The shook hands with a firm but quick grip.

"It's good to finally meet you, son. Mary talks quite highly of you."

"Likewise. Only the good stuff, I hope?" Sebastien chuckled.

"Mostly."

"That's reassuring," he muttered under his breath.

"I'm sorry?" Wayne asked.

"It's a great house you've got here," Sebastien said quickly, ignoring
Wayne's question.

"... Thanks," Wayne nodded with a cautious glance.

Wayne and Sebastien each took a seat at the table while Mary served
up the food she'd prepared. As she'd feared, an uncomfortable silence
settled over them as they started the meal. The tension was palpable.

"So, Sebastien, What do you do for a living?" Wayne asked.

"I tend to work... odd jobs wherever I can. I'm not usually in the same
place for very long."
"Do you mean workplace or residence?"

"Both."

"So you have neither a stable income nor home." It was a statement,
not a question. "Remind me, how old are you again?"

"Dad!" Mary interjected. The conversation was turning south quick and
Mary could do nothing to stop it.

"I'm sorry, but why is my age relevant?"

"I want to make sure that my daughter isn't dating some slob of a man-
child with no ambition."

Sebastien's hands visibly tightened on his silverware. "'No ambition'? if

I had no ambition, I'd settle for any woman on the street. I wouldn't be
dating someone as flawless as Mary."

Wayne went to retaliate but realized that Sebastien's last line had
actually been a compliment. He shut his mouth, backed into a corner.

"And as I said," Sebastien continued, "I work jobs. I have the money. If
that isn't good enough for you," he shrugged, "well, too bad."

Wayne rose from his seat with a start. "That isn't good enough for me!
That isn't good enough for her!" He gestured to Mary.

"Dad, sit down."

Sebastien rose to his feet as well. "Well, it's a damn good thing I'm not
dating you then, isn't it? I live my life the way I want to, and I'm sure
as hell not changing that to appease you. I know Mary and I have a
connection – if you can't see that, tough luck! That won't change a
thing."

Wayne slammed his fist down on the table, rattling the plates. By this
point, Mary was also on her feet and trying to put distance between
Wayne and Sebastien.

"With an attitude like that, you're never dating any daughter of mine.
Now, you've quite outstayed your welcome, so I suggest you leave,
and if you know what's good for you, you won't come back!"

"Gladly." He turned to Mary. "I'll see you later?"

Wayne cut Mary off before she could respond. "No, you won't. If I
hadn't made that clear, you two are done. Mary, I don't want you
having anything to do with this slacker from now on. You can do better
than that."

Sebastien's face soured but he left without another word. Mary sat and
buried her face in her hands.

"Well," she sighed, "That went terribly."

In order to avoid the inevitable train wreck of a dinner, Betty set out
for a walk in the late afternoon. Her plan was to watch as the sunset
over the nearby Lac Blouin and then catch a movie before heading
home. Just before sunset, Betty found a tree near the lake's edge and
sat down, leaning against it. She took in a deep breath of the cool air
and wondered idly if anything could ruin the serenity of their new
location. As the horizon darkened, she allowed her thoughts to drift
and, curiously, they settled on John. She hadn't seen him since the
drive-in, but the words of his threat still resonated in her mind. Not
wanting to ruin the mood of her setting, Betty drove the thoughts out
and focussed instead of the natural beauty around her.

With the last of the sunlight faded from the sky, Betty stood and began
her walk into town. About a block shy of the cinema, she heard an
unfamiliar voice calling to her from across the street. She looked over
to see a guy around her own age crossing the street towards her. He
wore a hoodie with the sleeves removed. She frowned subtly, not
recognizing him.

"You're Betty Abrams, right?"

"Who's asking?" Betty responded cagily, lowering her face.

"I'm no one," he dismissed with a wave. "Just a friend, who's heard a

lot about you."

"And what do you want?" She quickened her pace. The stranger
adjusted his own to be walking slightly ahead of her.

"I want to make sure you're who I think you are. This is her, right?"

"Certainly looks like her," came a second voice from behind her. Betty
turned her head to see two more young men following closely behind
her. One was lanky with a long mullet and the was shorter and ginger,
with a few teeth missing. The one in the hooded vest came to a
sudden stop in front of an alleyway and Betty crashed into him. The
lanky one slipped his hand into her back pocket, taking her wallet and
checking her ID.

"Yeah, this is her," he confirmed.

Hoodie Vest grabbed Betty and threw her into the alleyway, knocking
her to the ground. She rolled in the dirt and came to a stop staring at a
pair of boots. She looked up at their wearer with desperation and
pleaded for help. The man who looked down at her had a shaved head
and wore sunglasses, despite the darkness. He smirked at her and
backhanded her with a tattooed forearm.

"Tough luck, Sweetheart. I'm with them."

Betty scrambled backward and the four men advanced. She was
panicking now. Hoodie Vest stepped ahead of the others.

"We've been sent to teach you a lesson. See, John, he's a man of his
word, and tonight-" he nodded to Mullet and Toothy, "- that word is
'regret'."

Mullet and Toothy each grabbed one of Betty's arms and dragged her
to her feet. They then forced her back and pinned her arms against the
back wall of the cinema. Betty struggled wildly, trying but failing to
free her arms. Shades stepped forward and sunk a fist into Betty's
stomach.

"We were given two rules about tonight. One, don't kill her; two, make
sure she never forgets the experience. Beyond that, John said we can
do with you as we please."

Shades wrapped his hand around Betty's throat and squeezed, just
enough to make it hurt. Betty kicked out, still struggling, refusing to go
down without a fight. He placed his other hand over her mouth to keep
her quiet. Hoodie Vest went to work on her legs and stomach,
punching her over and over, making her scream and cry. After a while
of this, he stood up and grabbed her chin, forcing Betty to look at him.
He smiled a cruel and bloodthirsty smile.

"John also said that you're a maniac in the sheets. He suggests we

find that out firsthand."

Betty started screaming and sobbing and writhing with all the strength
she could muster, doing anything she could to try to get free. Her futile
efforts didn't go far though, as anyone of these men could overpower
her, let alone all four. Shades swapped the hand covering her mouth
for a strip of duct tape he had with him and crouched down to restrain
her legs as best he could. Betty could do nothing to stop Mullet and
Toothy from each sliding a hand between the buttons of her shirt and
pulling until they ripped it open. Betty threw everything she had into
panicking and trying to scream, to no avail. She was filled with a sense
of total and utter hopelessness.

With Shades holding her legs down, Hoodie Vest set to work
unbuckling her belt and jeans. He then jammed his hands down the
waistband of her jeans and peeled them down to her ankles. The
grotesque mixture of terror, shame and pain Betty was now
experiencing was beyond words. And then a sixth person entered the
scenario.

"Hoi!" called the voice. "What's this?" Angry. British. Female.

"Hold her," Hoodie Vest instructed his cronies. "I'll deal with this." He
turned to the newcomer. "It's none of your business, that's what. Now,
why don't you turn around and go back the way you came?"
"Because it would seem to me that that young lady there ain't enjoying
what you lot are doin' to her."

"I'm warning you: leave. Now."

"Oh, you're warning me. Well, now, ain't that cute?" in the blink of an
eye, the woman, who Betty hadn't actually seen yet, had shot a fist
into Hoodie Vest's throat, making him double over, coughing and
gagging.

Toothy took both of Betty's arms while Shades and Mullet went to
defend Hoodie Vest. The woman came closer and in the dim moonlight,
Betty saw that she was dark-skinned and tall, with muscles rippling
beneath the tight clothes she wore. The woman drew a pocketknife
from the small of her back and faced the three goons.

"Come and have a go, then, if you think you're hard enough."

With no small amount of hesitation, the gang advanced. Shades took a

step too far and the woman opened up a slice across his stomach. The
realization that the woman posed a serious threat was enough to
cause Shades and Mullet to turn tail and book it. With Toothy
distracted by the fight, Betty broke free and rammed an elbow into his
jaw, knocking herself free of him. Having seen the outcome of the
fight, he also fled the scene. The woman pocketed her knife and
grabbed Hoodie Vest by the neck of his shirt. While Betty redressed,
the woman forced Hoodie Vest up against the same wall he'd held
Betty against.

"Did you want to get some payback?" the woman offered Betty.

Still heavily in shock, all Betty could manage was to shake her head.
"Then get yourself home, quick."

"Thank you," Betty managed to croak out.

"Don't mention it. I just don't like bullies, that's all."

Leaving the woman to deal with Hoodie Vest, Betty raced home as
quick as she could. She crawled into bed, curled up into a ball and
cried.
Chapter five :

The mood in the Abrams household had hit an all-time low, the worst it
had been since they'd moved to Val-d'Or. Mary was angry at Wayne
nearly constantly, while he defended his position on her boyfriend.
Mary had ignored him and was still seeing Sebastien behind Wayne's
back. So much focus was on the tension between father and daughter
that neither had noticed Betty's slow slip into isolation.

Things were tense between Mary and Sebastien as well. All in all,
Mary's life was quite stressful. Sebastien was, of course, angry at
Wayne rejecting him and, while Mary agreed with him on this point, at
the same time she didn't want to alienate herself from her dad entirely.
In her mind, it was still possible that, somehow, the two men would
one day be able to coexist without coming to blows. For now, though,
she had to focus on keeping Sebastien from cutting his losses and
leaving her over the argument.

"You still love me, right?" she asked one night while staying in the
trailer he called his home.

"What? Of course, I do. What made you ask that?"

"It's been playing on my mind. I don't want to lose what we've got."

"Is this because of that dinner?"

Mary sigh and when she answered, she did so reluctantly. "Yeah. I
can't stop thinking about it. Our relationship is special and I really
don't want things to go sour between you or my dad."
"I don't either, but... what if it's the only choice? If he keeps pushing, I
want to know that you're on my side."

The walls of Sebastien's bedroom seemed to close in on Mary. She

moved herself to the edge of the bed and sat up, staring into the
darkness.

"This isn't about sides, Sebastien. I don't want to have to choose

between you or him, I want to choose both of you."

Sebastien reached out and stroked her bare hip. "I know. But what if
he doesn't?"

"Oh, I know he doesn't," Mary said, pulling on a shirt of Sebastien's

from the floor. "He's made that clear. I'm worried about you."

"What, you think that I'll leave you if don't pick me over your dad?"

"That's exactly what I'm worried about."

"You don't trust me?" Sebastien asked, pain in his voice.

Mary stood up and Sebastien moved to where she'd just been sitting.
Moving to get a glass of water, she adjusted the volume of her voice to
keep the conversation going.

"Of course I do, baby. I just..." Returning to Sebastien, Mary sat down
on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her emotions welled
up behind her eyes. "I love you as I've never loved anyone before, and I
couldn't bear to lose that." She pressed her lips to his in a kiss fuelled
by her passion and desperation. Sebastien leaned in, returning the kiss
and pulling Mary closer to him.
"I love you, Mary. Trust me, this relationship means a lot to me too. I'll
be honest with you, in the past, I haven't had a great history of long-
term relationships, but I see something different in you. I'm not scared
to say that I can see a future with you."

Mary smiled widely, at a loss for words, nearly crying tears of

happiness. For just a moment, a single image flashed through Mary's
mind, in which she saw a vision of a potential future with Sebastien.
She saw older versions of herself and Sebastien and two young kids, in
front of a small house in a warm climate. At that moment, a future with
Sebastien became more than just a possibility, it became an
inevitability.

Mary kissed Sebastien once more and then adjusted her legs so that
they straddled his. She moved her lips slowly downwards from his,
tracing his jawline and running her hands over his chest. She let his
shirt slide off her shoulders and then fall to the floor. Mary pushed
Sebastien gently onto his back. She leaned forward and nibbled at his
ear, feeling both his breath and heartbeat quicken beneath her. Mary
pulled the sheet over them.

More than a month following her attack, Betty was still heavily in
shock. Her relationship with John had gone from casual, to
complicated, to downright terrifying in only a matter for days and it
had left Betty reeling. It hadn't helped that the one person who Betty
felt she could talk to, Mary, seemed to be too busy for her. Mary's feud
with their dad consumed the vast majority of the time spent at home
by both of them and left Betty at a loss on who to talk to and as a
result, Betty turned to the only other person she felt she could trust,
Sebastien. Having defended her from John before, she hoped he would
understand. In a move of uncharacteristic empathy, he did. Sebastien
let Betty open up to him and offered her a shoulder to cry on. Aside
from her conversations with him, Betty was otherwise a reclusive
shut-in. She barely left her room or spoke to anyone other than him for
nearly over a month. It was eating away at her that her family hadn't
seemed to notice.

Later that week, Mary was in her room getting ready for a dinner out
with Sebastien when she heard a knock at her bedroom door. She
opened the door and peered out it to see her dad.

"Hi Dad," Mary said with cold unfriendliness.

"Hi, Mary." Wayne looked haggard. His eyes were gaunt, his cheeks
sallow and his thinning hair was frazzled. The stress of both his job
and his home life was clearly taking a toll on him. If Mary hadn't felt so
strongly in his opinion, she might've felt sorry for him.

"Did you need something?" she asked. On the one hand, she felt
terrible about treating him so coldly, but on the other, she was firm
about her feelings for Sebastien.

"I just... wanted to talk to you." He appraised her outfit, which was
certainly far too nice for a night in. "Are you going out someplace?"

"Dinner. Is that ok or are you forbidding me from that too?"

Wayne sighed, knowing that this was rehashing an old argument. "I'm
worried about you, ok? I don't want you to go down the wrong path for
a boy."

"I never said I was going out with him."

"Are you?"

Mary glanced down at her watch. She had planned to meet Sebastien
outside at seven o'clock. Her watch read 6:53. "That's none of your
concern."

"I am concerned with whom my daughter spends her time. You're

clearly favoring this fling of yours over your family."

"Sebastien is not a fling, Dad - we're serious!"

"I still don't want you going out with him."

"Fine. Look, can we talk about this later?"

Without giving him time to respond, she hurriedly ushered him out of
her room. Sighing, Mary moved to her window and sat on the sill. She
stared out of the window until Sebastien and his motorcycle pulled up
across the road. Gathering her things, she prepared herself to make a
run for the door. Being careful not to make a sound, Mary slinked out
of her room and, not seeing her dad, moved quietly toward the front
door. Stepping out onto the front porch, Mary pressed her key into the
lock.

"Mary?"

"Dad?!"
"I thought you weren't going out."

"I thought you were inside."

Wayne's eyes moved to the street where he spotted Sebastien's bike,

alarmingly quickly. Before he could react, Mary took off running
towards Sebastien. Calling after her, Wayne gave chase. Closing in, he
leaped at Mary but fell just short. Mary made it to Sebastien's bike and
hopped on while her dad was still on the ground. Sebastien flicked up
his kickstand and began to ride off, crossing an intersection and
rounding the next corner, leaving Wayne and their house in the bike's
wake.

Wayne scrambled to his feet, furiously roaring his daughter's name.

Fuelled by anger, he pursued the quickly fading taillights, his tiring
legs pumping far faster than his age would betray. As he reached the
first intersection, Wayne's dwindling fitness caught up with his body
and he stumbled to a wheezing aching halt.

Then a car shattered his lower body.

Chapter six :

The car that hit Wayne was big and green. It had a lot of weight behind
it and because it was on an otherwise empty road, reasonably late in
the afternoon, it had a lot of speed behind it as well. It was in no way
the driver's fault that Wayne had been hit. Even so, she was one of five
people standing around the gurney that held Wayne's comatose and
potentially paraplegic form. The other four people were his daughters,
naturally, a male nurse and Wayne's boss. His daughter's boyfriend
was notably absent. The driver's name was Sarah Callahan and despite
being a local to the area and living only a few streets from the Abrams,
she had never had the pleasure of meeting them. She felt awful when
she discovered this, knowing that their first impression of her was
'that maniac who hit the dad with her car'.

Sarah wasn't the only one in Wayne's hospital room who felt misplaced
guilt over the accident. Mary knew that if she hadn't run off with
Sebastien, Wayne wouldn't've chased her and, as such, wouldn't've
been hit. It made her feel worse than, thinking back to that night, she'd
heard tires screeching but neither she nor Sebastien had made any
attempt to investigate.

She had only found out about the accident early the following morning
when a sobbing Betty had filled her in. Seeing her face crumple into a
panic of tears and shock, Sebastien moved to comfort her.

With his arms wrapped around her, he asked: "What's wrong?"

"Dad's in hospital," Mary managed between the sobs that wracked her
body.

"What? What happened?"

"Betty said he was hit by a car a few streets from home." She paused.
"It was late this afternoon."

"Is he ok?" Sebastien asked, but Mary wasn't listening. As the events
of the previous night clicked in her mind, she sank to her knees.

"Oh, God," she sobbed. "This is all my fault..."

"Hey, don't say that," Sebastien warned. "You didn't have anything to
do with it."

"But I did... He was chasing me when... when it happened."

Sebastien frowned. "You didn't ask him to chase you. This isn't on
you."

"Nothing would've happened if I had just listened to him."

"Or if he had any goddamn faith in you," Sebastien chided defensively.

"Wh-what?"

"Think about it. If he trusted either of us, he would've left the situation
well enough alone."

Mary turned on him in an emotional rage. "Are you serious?!"

"Yeah, I am. This isn't your fault. It was his stupid idea to chase after
you and look where it got him." He flung his arm out, exasperated.
Mary curled her fist into balls, seething at how her supposed
"boyfriend" could be so cold and uncaring about her own father. Wiping
the tears from her eyes, she pushed that line of thinking out of her
head – she would deal with it later.

"Take me to the hospital," she demanded. "Now!"

At the hospital, she had peeled her helmet off and pushed it into
Sebastien's hands.

"Hang on to it," he said. "I'll be waiting out here when you're done."

She stared at him for a moment with sadness in her eyes. "Don't. I
need time to process this."

"Well, take as long as you need. I don't mind waiting."

Realizing that he wasn't grasping the gravity of her words, she turned
away and sighed. She couldn't bear to look him in the eye. "You aren't
going to see me anymore." A part of her didn't believe the words
coming out of her mouth. "Maybe ever."

Sebastien's face contorted into a mask of hurt, bewilderment, and

anger. "Mary-"

"Go home, Sebastien."

Life after Wayne's accident crawled to a halt for the entirety of the
Abrams household. Their intertwined personal drama had gotten out of
hand and left all of them feeling drained and broken – Wayne's body,
Mary's heart, and Betty's innocence. For weeks, none of them were
really living –simply existing, shells of people. A week following the
accident, Wayne was released from the hospital in a wheelchair and
told that the healing process would likely take the better part four
months, depending on how his legs took to physical therapy. That day,
Wayne had wheeled himself into his room and stared at the photo he
kept of him and his late wife, wondering what had happened.

As the dust from the three incidents settled, one of them (and no one
could quite remember who) decided that they should all come clean
with each other. And so, one tense and emotionally-charged night,
Wayne, Mary, and Betty all took a seat around their dining table and
opened themselves up incomplete, raw honesty. Betty found this the
hardest, knowing that the caliber of her situation had the potential to
change how they saw her, but it didn't. Wayne and Mary both gave her
their full support. That night was among the hardest that the family, as
a whole, had faced, but it was critical in allowing them to continue
their lives, now closer than ever. That night allowed them to be a
family once more.

Chapter seven :

The weeks following Wayne's car accident were no easier on

Sebastien, who, after realizing that Mary had been serious about their
breakup, had launched wholeheartedly into a week-long rum-induced,
depression-fuelled stupor of enraged property destruction and
blackout drunkenness. One day he woke up lying upside down in a pile
of garbage and old clothes on the kitchen floor of his trailer. He was
wearing a pair of soiled jeans and holding a yet another bottle of rum,
which was uncorked and half empty. He lifted his head to read the wall
clock across the room through bleary eyes and, upon reading 3:17 pm,
decided to re-evaluate his recent choices; he was waking up severely
hungover at three in the afternoon, he didn't know what day it was, he
was living in utter filth and couldn't remember the last time he'd
showered. And all of this, he thought, over Mary. He hadn't realized
quite how attached to her he was or just how much he would miss her
if he ever lost her. In the height of his depression, he had become
vividly aware of the fact that his life had been shaped by her ever
since they'd met. His life had become better with her around, and
without her, well... he only had to look around to see the effect that
that had had. He scowled in pure disgust at himself.

At that moment, he vowed to himself that he would grow the hell up

and get over himself. If one girl could send him spiraling this far down
a rabbit hole, he reasoned, that was clearly a girl he needed in his life.
Sebastien knew that the first step to winning Mary back would be to
apologize. He pulled himself to his feet, showered and pulled on a
fresh set of clothes. If his apology was going to have any chance of
working, he needed to go the extra distance to show Mary his
sincerity. After a quick shave, he sat down and got to work on drafting
the apology. It needed to be perfect.

On a night where Betty sat, with her eyes closed, listening to her
Walkman, she had made a point to tune out the outside world. She had
her feet up on her desk and her head resting upside down on her
windowsill. And just when she thought nothing could disturb her, a
small pebble came sailing through the air and struck her in the center
of the forehead. Crying out in shock, Betty panicked and fell to the
floor, her Walkman becoming dislodged. Annoyed, Betty got up and
stomped to her window. Standing in the garden, staring up with a
confused look, was Sebastien Le Fleur.

"Sebastien? What the hell are you doing?"

"Isn't... isn't this Mary's window?"

Betty gestured around her. "Obviously not." She sighed. "It's the same
one on the other side. You'd better have a good reason for being here."

"I do, trust me." As he started to walk off, Betty called down to him
again.

"Oh, Sebastien?"

"Yeah?"

"It's good to see you again."

He smiled and kept walking. "I hope Mary feels the same."

Mary was seated, scribbling in a notepad when the slightest of clinks

knocked at her window. She ignored it but when it came a second
time, she stood and opened it. In the moonlight, Sebastien stood.

"I know you probably hate me and if you do, that's entirely justified. I'm
not here to try to make you do anything, I'm just looking for an
opportunity to apologize to you. You don't have to say anything if you
don't want to, but please, hear me out."

Mary stared at him, several conflicting emotions tugging at her heart.

What made up her mind in the end, was the fact that she had nothing
to lose by listening to him. If she didn't like what she heard, she could
simply close the window.

"Fine."

"Thank you. I... am not a good person. I'm sure you've seen this. I'm
selfish, arrogant, quick-tempered. I'm incredibly careless. In
retrospect, I see that. I was never a perfect boyfriend, but I tried to do
what was right and I tried to do what was best for you. After your dad's
accident, I said and did the wrong things. I was right in saying that it
wasn't your fault, but it wasn't his either and I can't just blame him for
looking out for his daughter. If anyone is at blame for the accident, it's
me for being as argumentative as I was toward him. My relationship
with your father was rocky from the start, and I take full responsibility
for that.

In the time we've been apart, I've come to really appreciate how much
you mean to me – my life feels like an incomplete mess without you –
but as I said, the way I've acted in the past isn't excusable, and I
understand if you want nothing to do with me. I guess the long and
short of it is, I'm sorry and I love you."

Mary had tears in her eyes. She didn't know if she trusted what
Sebastien had said, despite her whole body wanting her to.

"I need some time to think."

Sebastien produced a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.
"Whatever you decide, these are yours. I'll leave them on the porch."

Mary closed the window and let her tears flow freely.

Wayne watched from the window of his study as Sebastien placed the
flowers on the welcome mat and turned to walk away. Wayne cracked
the window and quietly called his name. Wayne pushed a key out the
window. "Let yourself in and come into my study. We should talk."

Wayne was sitting behind his desk, looking tired and worn, when
Sebastien came in.

"I heard what you said out there. Did you mean it?"

"Yes, sir. Every word of it. For what it's worth, I'd like to apologize to
you too, for how I've acted and for pretty much all of our interactions."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me. You aren't the only one who
should be apologizing though. I know I was harsh on you from the day
we met, but I think you know, that was all for Mary's sake; I only ever
want what's best for her. That's why I'd like to propose a fresh start
between us. I can see that you made her happy and, if it's done right, I
think the two of you could be a wonderful thing."

"Thank you. A fresh start would do us good."

"I also think you should give Mary some space. I don't want to play
matchmaker, but I know how she thinks. She'll want some time to
think it over. If I may, I have an idea."

Wayne took an envelope for a drawer in his desk and slid it across to
Sebastien. He continued as Sebastien opened it.
"Christmas eve, next month – there's a party that I'm bringing the girls
to. I think you should go as well and surprise Mary. Accompanied by
some grand romantic gesture, I'm sure she'd love to see you."

"I..." Sebastien stammered, shocked. "I don't know what to say. I never
thought you'd be so understanding."

"Know that just because I'm doing this, it doesn't make us friends. I
can see that you've changed, but it's going to be some time before I
trust you. Don't make me regret this."

"I hurt Mary once before and it was the biggest mistake of my life. I
wouldn't put her through that again."

Sebastien turned to leave. At the door to the study, he glanced over

his shoulder at Wayne. "Thank you."

Chapter eight :

On the night before Christmas, Sebastien sat in the driver's seat of his
Cadillac, heater on, staring through the heavy sheen of snow at the
event hall where the party was being held. He wore a coat over a
denim jacket and a pair of simple trousers, in an effort to combat the
subzero temperature. In preparation for this party, he had saved up
what meager money he had and taken Wayne's suggestion of a grand
romantic gesture. He took a list out of his pocket and read over the
evening's choreography one last time. With a deep breath, he stepped
out of the car and began walking through the snow.
Mary didn't have especially high hopes for the Christmas party. In fact,
she was only there because her dad had dragged her along. The
entirety of her plan for the evening was to politely greet the few
people she knew and then wait out the rest of it in the corner of the
room. Under her dad's insistence, she had, at least, go to the effort of
putting on a nice dress. For a while, Mary watched Betty walking
around and socializing. It was good to see her back to her usual self.
Mary was worried that the events of the past few months would have
more of an effect on her, but she seemed to be dealing with it in her
own way. Her dad was also making a decent recovery, emotionally
speaking. Physically speaking, he was still stuck in a wheelchair, but
he had been able to return to work and Mary had seen him talking to
the woman who had hit him. Wayne claimed that it was only to make
sure there were no hard feelings, but Mary sensed that there was more
to their relationship than that. Looking around, Mary realized that she
was the only one still clinging to the past and what could have been.
She hadn't seen Sebastien after his late-night visit to her bedroom
window. She didn't know how things stood between them.

Not wanting to get lost in her own thoughts, she turned her attention
to the live band and the song they were playing. She enjoyed that for a
while, but at the end of the song, the lights dimmed and the band
stayed silent for a minute. When they resumed, it was with the high,
lilting tones of Time of my Life. Mary sighed, wistfully remembering
how this song had been playing when she and Sebastien had shared
their first kiss at the drive-in. Slowly, two spotlights came on: one
illuminating the band and the other pointed directly at Mary. She
raised her eyebrows, confused and mildly embarrassed. Upon the
stage, the second spotlight revealed to her that the band's lead singer
had been stepped back and his place had been taken by Sebastien.
Mary brought her hands to her mouth, realizing that this must be his
doing. Sebastien started singing and Mary bit her lip, overwhelmed.

As he continued to sing a disco ball was lowered from the ceiling and
couples around the room stopped staring at Mary and began to slow
dance. Sebastien smoothly gave the microphone back to the lead
singer and made his way onto the center of the dance floor, where
space around Mary had been cleared. He took her hands in his and
looked into her eyes.

"I know you were still unsure about our relationship after the night I
visited you. I talked to your dad as well, and with his help, I've done
everything I can to make tonight special for you. I really want to show
you how much you mean to me."

"You talked to Dad?"

"I did. In the wake of our breakup, it became clear to me just how
important your dad is to you, and I knew that for you to even consider
taking me back, we would have to be on good terms. I never wanted to
come between you and him."

"Sebastien, I want to believe you-"

"See for yourself." Sebastien gestured to where Wayne was sitting,
half smiling, half laughing. He caught Mary's eye and gave her a
knowing nod of approval.

The song came to a close and the lighting returned to normal. Seeing
all that he'd done for her, Mary's indecision about Sebastien was
quickly fading. Feeling more confident than she had in months, she
turned to Sebastien and gave him a quick peck on the lips while his
attention was elsewhere. Sebastien jerked his head back in surprise
and they both shared a laugh.

"So does this mean you forgive me?" he asked.

"Well, that depends," she replied playfully, "What else do you have
planned for tonight?"

Sebastien's face split into a wide grin. "I thought you'd never ask. I've
got to prepare a few things first, why don't you talk to your family for a
minute?"

"Gladly. I'll see you in a bit."

As Sebastien left her, Mary headed back to Wayne and Betty, who both
looked at her on approach.

"How are you enjoying the party, honey?" Wayne asked.

"It's wonderful! Sebastien's really outdone himself."

"Does that mean you two are back together?"

"I haven't told him yet, but yes! He has a way of making me feel really
special, and I just love it! I also hear he sought some professional help
with all this romanticism," she added, nudging her dad.

"What, me?" he shook his head. "You've been misinformed. I haven't

talked to him since that night he came to your window."

Mary frowned, confused. "He said you two had talked?"

"We did – that night. Everything here is his doing."

Mary bit her lip, love-struck. In her head, she took a moment to
reminisce on the time she and Sebastien had spent together – him
saving her from a goat at the festival, defending Betty against John at
the drive-in, the nights they'd spent in his trailer and the heartfelt
apology at her bedroom window. She knew more than ever that he was
the one for her.

Betty interrupted her thoughts. "Hey, uh, who's that girl Sebastien's
talking to?" She nodded to where he was standing, talking in what
looked to be a hostile manner, to a tall albino girl with an extravagant
red Mohawk. Someone moved and Betty saw a third person in the
conversation. With a start, Betty recognized the British woman who
had rescued her from John's friends months earlier. There was lots of
gesturing from both Sebastien and the albino girl. The girl looked to be
antagonizing Sebastien. He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated motion
and caught sight of Mary watching him. Seemingly worried, Sebastien
jabbed a finger at the newcomer and walked away from her. He hurried
back to Mary and took her by the hand. He addressed her family.
"I'm sorry you had to see that. Might I sneak Mary away for a moment?
I have our next surprise lined up."

"By all means," Wayne replied. "I see you took my advice."

"I did. Thank you."

Wayne looked up at Sebastien and Mary. They stood beside each

other, their hands on each other's waist. Mary was looking up at
Sebastien's face and Wayne could see the adoration in her eyes. He
smiled as they kissed and he felt, for the first time in a long time, that
he had done right by Mary. He was proud of them both. "You two enjoy
your night."

Mary let Sebastien lead her out onto a secluded balcony away from the
party. The balcony was small and had a guitarist in a suit and
sunglasses standing in the corner.

"This is Rick," Sebastien introduced the guitarist. "A friend."

Rick started to strum while Sebastien kept talking. "I first heard this
song shortly after our break up. It made me think of you and what we
could've been – hopefully, what we will someday be."

Quietly, Rick started singing and Mary recognized Never Tear Us

Apart, softly enough for Sebastien to be heard over it.

"I love you, Mary, like I've loved no other." He looked up and she
followed his gaze to the sprig of leaves above the doorframe.

"Mistletoe," Mary remarked. Sebastien looked at her with no pretense

of bravado, simply love and innocence in its purest form. Tenderly, she
pulled him close and pressed her lips to his. As the kiss broke off, they
rested their foreheads against each other. "I love you too Sebastien."

From behind his back, he produced a ring box. "A promise ring," he
explained, as he presented her with a silver ring, cradling a small but
ornate sapphire. She put it on and pulled him into an embrace, lost, for
that moment, in a feeling of pure love