@Arjan
So if I understand this correctly you are saying that Molly paid all those medical expenses and funerals because she felt sorry for Harry. Okay.
I'm saying as the self appointed protector of Chicago, Harry told someone that they were murdering bastards who needed to do the right thing. I doubt that who he told that to was Mab, since he was still existing on Christmas Eve. Molly to Harry.
She presented it with a flourish and a little bow. “It’s a little symbolic, but I think you’ll like it.”
Then
“Everyone who got hurt. It’s all paid for.”
It's a little vague bit I don't see a first person possessive in there anywhere. I can viz Mab in black looking over Molly's shoulders while Molly explains why some Accord members should cough up some liability payouts for starting a very public fight during the Peace talks. However this plays to my bias. And your position is as likely as mine.
I just read it again. Harry told Michael about the Christmas morning coffee and Michael got a message. Upstairs has a direct line to Kringle. Michael got a message not to spoil things and he left.
Yep, I think so.
For just a second, I smelled my dad’s old aftershave. For just a second, I heard him laughing, laughing so hard that tears had to have been rolling from his eyes. For just a second, I felt a hand, his hand, on my shoulder.
None of it in past tense. Then
I left the last sip in the bottom of the cup, kept my eyes closed, and said, “I love you, dad.”
Damn near makes me cry.
Since guessing who lives or dies is playing to JB's dork side, I'm gonna pass. If Murphy dies I will take solace from Tennyson's poem "In Memoriam A.H.H.".
” ‘Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all”
Which I hadn't realized was about a friend of Tennyson's. Quite relevant to this discussion,
here's a link with background. Be sure to read the last paragraph.
JB appears to be doing some cute things with Christmas mythology. Molly,Mab and Kringle could be seen as the three wise persons bearing gifts for a child, or more properly, two different children. Mab is also a trope, someone who wants to do the right thing but doesn't really know how. Much as Scrooge is in a Christmas Carol.
Happy rest of the holidays to you all.