Page 21 of Never Been Snow Lucky

“I was already dreading the thought of leaving,” I confessed, flipping open my laptop so he could see what I’d been doing when he walked in. “I planned on pushing back my flight as far out as I could. Because…umm…”

I was so overcome by emotion that I felt as though I had a frog in my throat.

Jack took pity on me and asked, “Because you wanna stay here in Winter Falls with me?”

“Yeah,” I whispered, my eyes filling with happy tears.

He cupped my cheeks with his hands, his dark gaze locked on mine. “Forever?”

“Uh-huh.” I would need to work out some details with my adviser, but I didn’t need to be on campus except to defend my thesis and walk at graduation. Everything else could be done online from here.

“Thank fuck,” he breathed before capturing my mouth in a deep kiss. “I love you so fucking much. I can’t even begin to explain what a relief it is to know that I’m not gonna have to figure out a way to let you go. It was tearing me up inside, but it’s not as though there are many jobs for ski patrol in North Carolina.”

“There really aren’t.” I sniffled. “And I love you, too.”

“You better, angel. Because there’s no getting rid of me now. Not when you’re my every Christmas wish wrapped in one sexy-as-fuck package.”

“C’mon.” I jumped to my feet, tugging him along with me. “It’s a good thing I took that long bath you recommended earlier.”

“Oh yeah?” he asked, sweeping me off my feet to carry me into the bedroom.

After he set me on the mattress, I beckoned him close enough to grip the front of his shirt and pull him down with me. “The hot water eased all of my aches, and now I’m more than ready to celebrate the best way I know how…in bed with you.”

“And we have a lot to celebrate.”

We spent the next eight hours doing just that, with a lot more I love yous being spoken. Whimpered. And moaned.

EPILOGUE

JACK

“Ican’t believe my mom is ice-skating with the kids.”

I pulled my wife closer to my side as we leaned against the dasher boards surrounding the rink. “She’s doing pretty good, too. She only fell that one time when she first went out.”

“In all the years that I figure skated, I can’t think of a single time she went on the ice with me.”

I hated that her parents had let her down so much when she was younger, but I loved how she’d turned that pain into determination to be the best mother she could for our children. “Poppy will never be able to say the same about you.”

“Not after I practically dragged her onto the ice when she was three.” Iris rolled her eyes. “Our baby girl is as stubborn as her daddy.”

I gently bumped her with my hip. “If that’s the case, then our son gets his stubbornness from his mommy.”

“Fair point.” She beamed a mischievous grin at me. “But he definitely got your snowboard skills. Not mine.”

“And thank fuck for that or else we’d never be able to let him on one.” Iris was great on skis, but her luck was awful every time she tried to board. When she broke her arm, I banned her fromgetting on one again. Not that she argued. She was happy to be done with snowboarding by then.

“It’s amazing how far we’ve come after that first blizzard stranded us together,” she mused, giving me a little more of her weight as she leaned further into my side. “Other than my lack of snowboarding skills.”

I thanked my lucky stars for the fact that I had gotten stuck on the mountain with nowhere to stay that holiday season. Iris was the best thing that had happened to me, and I couldn’t imagine my life without her and our children in it.

Her parents had been stunned when she told them that she was going to finish her thesis while living in Winter Falls—with me. The engagement ring I put on her finger before they headed back home had helped a little. But it wasn’t until we were married that summer and announced that she was pregnant that they truly got on board with our plan.

And it was a damn good thing because I no longer felt as though I had to protect my wife from her parents. I would never be able to understand why they’d done a piss-poor job of showing her how important she was to them before I came into the picture, but they’d proven to both of us that they’d learned their lesson by treating our son and daughter

The magic of Winter Falls had worked even better on my in-laws than anyone could have expected. After Poppy was born, Bob surprised everyone—even his wife—when he bought a three-bedroom house in town. He’d said that he wanted Diane to have somewhere to stay so she wasn’t underfoot when she visited. But then when we had James three years later, he announced his retirement. They moved here two months later and had dedicated themselves to being involved grandparents.

“Having two children tends to do that. Change things, I mean.”

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