Page 78 of Avalanche
If I could marry all of you today, I would.
That’s what Lily said, according to Antoine’s whispered confession. “I want to give her that,” he’d told me. “I know I’ve married her, legally, but I want to give her a real wedding. With all of us. Together.” He’d squeezed my knee then, a warm gesture that had sent affection and longing coiling low in my belly. “She deserves that. And so do you.”
“She’d marry you today if she could,” I tell Eddie.
The look Eddie gives me, it’s so full longing and hope tangled with doubt, it makes me want to hug him all over again. But I don’t. Because I get the feeling Eddie doesn’t like hugs.
“You mean it?” he whispers.
I nod, giving him a reassuring smile. “Yeah, man. She’s so in love with you.”
I swallow, my throat suddenly tight, my eyes suddenly hot despite the icy wind gusting off the mountain. The staff changing rooms are looming ahead of us now, the heavy door creaking as Lily, Liam and Antoine head inside. I’ll have to tuck all this away soon, hide it, put on my instructor’s uniform. Hold back the ‘I love yous’ until we get off the mountain.
But I’m sure anyone who sees us together knows. They have to know.
“She’s in love with all of us.”
Chapter 24
Lily
Mom: Hi darling! Sorry it took so long to text you back. Things have been incredibly busy here. But I’d love to talk to you when you have a moment.
Mom: I know we didn’t exactly part on the best of terms, and you might have felt like me and dad were being a bit harsh, but you know we only want the best for you right? We love you so much. You’ll always be our little girl, even though you’re all grown up.
Mom: Do you think you’ll be going to France to live? I’m sure your dad would love to come visit you there if you do. But I hope you come home first, we’d love to see you.
Mom: I sincerely hope you aren’t giving me the silent treatment, just because I didn’t reply to your messages as quickly as you would have liked. That would very immature.
Mom: Missed call.
Mom: Missed call.
Mom: Missed call.
I stare in disbelief as the string of notifications pop up across my screen, panic rising as that number in the little red circle grows and grows.
“You’re popular this morning,” Liam complains from beside me in the bed. The mattress shifts as he rolls, squinting through sleepy eyes to try and see my screen.
“Sorry.” I place the phone screen down on the blankets, holding it against my chest in an attempt to muffle it as another angry sounding string of alerts pings in the darkness before I manage to put it on silent. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“What time is it?” Antoine mumbles, his lips brushing against my bare shoulder as he presses against my other side.
“Six,” I admit with a grimace. Way too early to be up. Certainly way too early to be hit with a barrage of texts. “I shouldn’t have turned on my phone.”
“It’s okay.” Antoine presses a kiss to my shoulder, then reaches over to rest his hand on my stomach beneath the blankets. I sigh at the comforting feel of it, at the press of their bodies on either side of me, their legs alongside mine. “I was going to get up soon anyway.”
“I wasn’t,” Liam snorts, but he’s trailing his fingers along the underside of my breasts, teasing the thin fabric of my sleep shirt, so he can’t be that annoyed. “I was planning on staying in this bed until Matty made breakfast.”
I smile into the darkness, tightening my fingers against my vibrating phone. It’s our first day off after five full days on the snow—the first day off since Seth came home from the hospital—and I can hardly wait to spend time with the guys. To have all of us together. It’s been torture going to work each day knowing Seth is at home alone.
“But seriously, who is calling you?” Liam asks when my phone gives another desperate sounding buzz against the covers. “Is there some emergency?”
I let out a tremulous sigh and lift my phone, my mind racing as I try to piece together the meaning behind all my mom’s messages. Her incessant calls. After nearly two months of complete silence and unanswered text messages.
Another message blares across my screen, blue light cutting through the darkness.
Lani: YOU GOT MARRIED!?
