Page 76 of Please Send Snow
I close my eyes and let him kiss me.
His kiss is so gentle, like being wrapped in a warm sweater and shivering in a glittering snowstorm all at once. Every cell of me is alive and filled with joy and anticipation.
But I feel his restraint slipping as the strong arm he’s got wrapped around me begins to tremble against the pull between us.
And then Dylan is hugging me too and I pull out of Jake’s kiss to lift his son in my arms so he can be part of our embrace.
The whole lobby bursts into cheers. Bronson announces that he’s going to find some champagne, and all of a sudden everyone is talking at once, shaking Jake’s hand and congratulating me, and asking Dylan if he’s excited to eat lots of wedding cake.
Jake catches my eye and I can see relief and gratitude and a powerful love written clear as day across his handsome features. And I know that everything really is going to be okay.
We’ve got each other’s backs, the three of us, from now on.
22
MADDIE
Isit at my usual table in the lodge, just after dawn on the morning of Christmas Eve, wondering where the last few weeks went. So much has happened since the snowstorm that when the big day finally arrives, I can’t believe how fast the days have flown by.
There have been wedding plans for today keeping us busy, of course. But I’ve also been plenty busy working on my book and learning how the Angel Mountain factory operates, and what I can do to improve it.
I haven’t drawn the owner’s salary since the place became mine. So it’s just been sitting there, adding up and earning interest for all these years. And that means I can invest in things that make life better for the workers.
It took some doing, but I finally got it out of Eleanor that things like supportive chairs and better lighting would help the older ladies be more comfortable as they did their work. I also moved the thermostat down to the factory floor so that the ladies can adjust it to their heart’s delight.
The most fun thing was splurging on a few upgrades to the break room. I’ve never been happier than on the Monday morning when they arrived to see the new table and chairs under a bright chandelier, along with a nicer coffee maker, a water cooler, and a big wooden buffet with healthy snacks stocked in the cupboards and a pretty, polished surface, where homemade treats can be proudly displayed on top. There’s a row of hooks for hanging sweaters and bags now, and a wide window seat with cushions overlooking the view of the woods.
“Maddie, it’s lovely,” Aggie said, hugging me close, and then everyone else piled in for a big, group hug.
If my father could see this, I think he would approve. I know that he was overwhelmed by his money and he mostly tried to ignore it. I’d like to think that if I wind up earning even a tiny percentage of what he had, I won’t hide from it. I’ll make sure to find ways to make it meaningful.
I wanted to do something else important with the remainder of my nest egg, and so I talked to Jake about buying the lodge from him, so I could be sure nothing would ever happen to it.
But he reminded me that everything that’s his will also be mine after the wedding, and everything that’s mine will be his.
Of course, the whole conversation just made me think of Delilah marrying into my father’s fortune, and I hope Jakereallyknows that I’m not here for the money. I know he was relieved that my dad hadn’t actually left me with nothing. But he says it’s an emotional thing, not a money thing.
And he’s right. No one wants to feel forgotten.
After everything that happened with my own stepmother, I’m determined that Dylan will never feel forgotten by his father. I’ve been trying to help Jake recognize that it’s okay to put his phone on the charger sometimes and walk away from it. The memories he and Dylan are making right now are precious, and the future isn’t promised. No one knows that better than I do.
As for Dylan, he seems happy as can be. He’s decided that I’m going to be his mommy and nothing could be cuter than the pictures he’s been making of the three of us alongside a wedding cake that keeps getting more layers with each drawing.
Our only tense moment was when I first told Jake that I was going to be meeting with Delilah about the business.
He heard through some of his contacts that Delilah was furious when she realized that she couldn’t sell the name of the company, and she’d been telling anyone who would listen that my father hadtricked herout of the Poconos factory.
So when she called and asked me to set up a time to go over some business details with her, Jake never expected that I would agree.
And when I did, he stormed around the chalet, incandescent that I would even think of meeting with her, until Dylan came into the room.
“When Maddie forgives her stepmother, her heart will be light,” he told his father with quiet conviction, leaving both of us a little bit amazed that he’d remembered that lesson from our story time by the fire.
But he’s right. It’s time for me to put it all behind me and move on. I’m not so sure I’ll be getting any kind of apology from Delilah, but I think Dad would want me to give her the opportunity.
And I’m trying hard to be my father’s daughter, every day.
Today is a day when I’m going to miss him bitterly, though. I can’t believe that by the time the sun goes down, I’ll be a married woman with a husband and son—the happiest woman in the world.
