Page 85 of Press Your Luck

I held it to her as I said to her and the crowd, "I love you, Coach Withers. I want to spend my life with you and make lots of little hockey players. Would you make me the happiest man on Earth and marry me?”

Tears streamed down her face as her head bobbed up and down. "Yes, yes." She reached down, grabbing the lapels of my coat and tugging me up. I rose and slipped the ring on her finger, but she barely looked at it and instead threw her arms around my neck. It told me she didn't care about the bling or the money or anything but me and the family we were creating. The arena erupted in another roar of cheers.

I gave her a kiss but knew my time was limited. The third period of the game was still left to play.

We pulled away.

"I love you, Coach Jackson."

I grinned, feeling so fucking happy.

"But we’re still going to win tonight."

"Don't you know, baby? I just won." I gave her another quick kiss and then skated back to my side, hamming it up as a man in love with the fans. When I reached my side, I hoisted myself over the wall and received handshakes from Bo and the rest of the team.

"I told you, man, there's nothing better than love," Bo said, giving me a slap on the back. I looked across the rink at Naomi, who was watching me, and the love I saw in her eyes nearly brought me to my knees. He was right. There was nothing better than love. Win or lose tonight, I knew that I had already won the greatest gift—Naomi's love.

EPILOGUE I

Naomi

Idefied the laws of gravity, I decided as I looked at myself in the mirror wearing a custom-made maternity wedding dress. I thought of the bumblebee with its round, fat little body and tiny wings that somehow was able to fly. That was me. I was so big and round, I wasn't quite sure how I was able to stay standing.

I rubbed my hand over my belly, willing the babies to stay in there for as long as possible. When we won the championship, I was so happy, I jumped and then was afraid I’d induced labor when my stomach contracted. Luckily, it was a false alarm. We were just shy of thirty-three weeks of pregnancy, which was the average length when pregnant with triplets, Dr. Lyman explained. He assured me that all three were growing nicely, but there were still risks.

"You look beautiful." Analyn said as she placed flowers in my hair.

"Gorgeous," Ruby agreed.

“You always were beautiful,” my mother said as she looked at me through the mirror. “Your father always worried about men. He used to tease about beating them off with a stick.”

Our smiles were bittersweet as we thought about my dad.

“There’s no beating Pierce off,” Analyn said with a laugh. “That guy will crawl over broken glass naked for Naomi.”

We all laughed at that, and I was glad that I hadn’t ruined our friendship by keeping so much from them and hurting Pierce. When I finally explained everything, they were hurt that I hadn't trusted them, but these were wonderfully kind, generous women, and they forgave me. I was even invited when Ruby went into labor and gave birth to her and Bo’s second child, a boy they named Buck after Bo’s father.

And when my team beat their husbands’ team at the championship by a single goal, they were still thrilled for me. But of course, the talk of the game was Pierce's proposal to me. I had hoped that someday we would get married, but I hadn't expected him to skate across the ice in the middle of the championship game and propose. Then again, that was the sort of man Pierce was. Sweet, romantic, and one hundred percent mine.

Todd was beside himself when the news of our relationship broke. He especially liked the story that I was seducing the rival team to ensure a win. It didn't bug me as much as it would have in the past because I knew now that there were more important things to worry about than gossip. That didn't mean I wasn't concerned about my job. But after Pierce's proposal and our fans went even more wild, I knew it was the right time to negotiate my contract for next season. Todd was in a good mood as he not only won the championship, proving everyone who thought he was nuts to hire a female coach wrong, but he won the bet with Reed. I figured when Todd was happy, it was a good time to talk business.

Pierce and I had already begun working out the logistics of parenting three tiny babies. We would have some time during the off-season to spend with them, but I wanted to return to my career, and Pierce wanted me to, as well.

"I've already achieved everything I set out to do. Now my goal is your goal. That doesn't mean I'm going to give you coaching tips because I'm still part-owner of the Buckaroos, but I will support you in every other way, including taking care of the babies or helping pack them up and bringing them along when you travel."

If I wasn't already one hundred percent head over heels in love with him, his commitment to me would have done it. "What about the Buckaroos?"

"It's time for Bo to take the helm. I'm not retiring, but I'll take a step back so that I can be with my wife and children and still help Reed out as well."

Never in a million years did I think I would be able to achieve the dream of coaching in the men's league and having a happy ever after. And yet here I was, about to marry the man of my dreams after negotiating a near-perfect coaching package with Todd. My demands had been fairly simple. I didn’t ask for a raise. Instead, I asked for an assistant coach, private flights when we traveled, a place for the babies in my office and when traveling, and hiring Betts to take over marketing for the team. Todd agreed. He didn’t even negotiate. He just said yes.

So as I stood in front of the mirror, ready to commit my life to Pierce, I had everything in the world I could've ever wanted and more.

“Ready?” Analyn asked.

“Yes. More than ready.”

We walked from the sunroom where I was getting ready, down the hall to the ballroom where the ceremony and reception would be held. We were holding the wedding in an old log lodge overlooking the desert. It had been built in the nineteenth century by a wealthy silver mine owner, so while it might've been made of logs, it was the size of a mansion and just as opulent. Today, it was operated as a boutique lodge by none other than my boss, Todd Marshall.

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