Page 70 of Carpenter's Christmas Bride

“Aidan, that’s amazing,” she said, sounding genuinely happy for him. “I hope you won’t let my mistakes hold you back from that. If you have feelings for someone, I’m sure she’s awesome, and she deserves a clean slate.”

“Thanks,” he told her, amazed at how well she still knew him.

“Thank you so much for picking up tonight,” she said. “The baby will be here soon, and I couldn’t stand not to make things at least a little bit right with you first.”

“Boy or girl?” Aidan asked with a smile.

“A girl,” she said, sounding happy for the first time in their conversation.

He talked with her for a few more minutes about her due date, baby names, and their new life in Chicago before wishing each other a Merry Christmas and signing off.

He put the phone down, feeling at peace about the ending of his marriage for the first time since Sharon had told him she was leaving. Instead of heading up to bed, he found himself going out to the front porch.

The frigid air felt good, clearing his mind as he gazed up at the stars. He loved the way they sparkled against the velvet of the sky out here instead of being washed out by the city lights.

Sharon had actually given him excellent advice. Kenzie did deserve a clean slate, and she deserved to know that he wanted her to share her life with him. He could fool around with dating and games, but at the end of the day, what he wanted was to be her man. And if that meant uprooting himself and Walt to follow her to New York, then so be it.

Maybe she wanted to be married to her career, or maybe she would want someone more sophisticated to share her life with if she went back to the ballet world.

But maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t mind having a small-town carpenter and his boy tag along on her big adventure.

The only way to find out was to ask.

We’ll talk tomorrow after the ballet, he told himself. We’ll figure it all out somehow.

21

KENZIE

Kenzie sat in Dr. Kellan Webb’s office, her legs hanging off the paper covered table with Mal on the chair opposite her.

“All in all, I can see you’ve been doing your exercises and this leg looks really good,” Dr. Webb said with a gentle smile.

“That’s good,” Kenzie said, unable to believe the good news, even though he’d been making positive statements throughout the examination.

“You can start wearing your regular shoes again,” he went on. “But I want you to take it easy. Keep doing your exercises, and we’ll add some more, but I still don’t want you doing any isolated strength work on just one leg.”

Kenzie nodded, unable to make herself ask the question she wanted to ask.

“You still have months of work ahead of you,” Dr. Webb warned her. “But, Kenzie, this leg is structurally sound. I see no reason why you can’t continue your recovery without incident, and regain the full strength and motion you had before.”

She could hear Mal draw in a breath, and Dr. Webb wore an expression of happy anticipation, like they were both expecting her to start crying with joy and relief.

And she was happy and relieved. But she didn’t feel any sudden urgency to get back to New York.

I want you to be my partner…

She couldn’t help hearing Grandma Lee’s voice in her head, making her an offer that got more and more compelling the more she thought about it.

Was it silly to be the co-director of a tiny non-profit dance school in Pennsylvania when she had the balance of a professional career as a ballerina waiting for her in New York?

“That’s great,” she said softly, giving Kellan a genuine smile. “I’ll keep working hard.”

“Atta’ girl,” he said with a grin. “I love giving good news.”

“So I can really just leave in my sneakers?” she asked him.

“You really can,” he said, chuckling. “I’ll give you some space to get them on and you can see Daisy to schedule a follow-up on your way out, okay?”

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