Hockey Holidays Read online

  James just grins, and then he says, “Who wouldn’t? She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  Me? The best thing? It’s so hard to believe, but somehow, he sparks something inside me that makes me think maybe I am.

  “You’re right, Mom,” he says slowly, and then he flashes me a grin. He wants this, the whole shebang. A family. I can give him that. We are that, in a sense. But I’ll be damned if that doesn’t evoke a certain kind of fear in me.

  I scoot my chair out so I can go to the bathroom. But then James is standing, clinking his fork to his wineglass. I raise a brow, looking from him to Shea, who is grinning like he just scored the game winner. “What are you doing?”

  James swallows hard before turning to me. “Almost two months ago, you told me you weren’t ready to marry me.”

  “Oh my,” I mutter, and that only makes him grin. Meanwhile, my mom is squealing like a pig. I want to tell her to shut it, but like always, James’s gaze captures mine.

  “I said fine. In two months, we’d revisit it, even though I kept asking,” he says, and then he drops to his knee in such a princely fashion that I want to cry. “You tell me you’re scared, that you think you’re not worthy of anyone’s love. But Grace, you, all of you, is priceless. No one can put a value on you because there isn’t one.”

  “James—”

  “Let him talk,” Mom sighs dreamily, but Shea shakes his head.

  “Don’t interrupt. They don’t like that.”

  “You had to do this in front of them?” I ask, but James isn’t fazed. He nods.

  “Yes, because I asked your dad, and he told me I’m the one for you. I asked your mom, and she said the same. We both know Shea wants this for us. And if you look deep inside, you want it too. You just let these issues from before blind you to that when, baby, you’re absolutely perfect to me. I love you. So damn much.”

  Tears flood my eyes as he takes my hand. In his other hand, he’s holding the white box with the ring in it that he bought me so long ago. “I will never hurt you. I will never leave you. I will never lie to you. I sure as hell will never love anyone like I love you. I want to raise our son together, in our home, and I want to love you for the rest of my life. Because one look at you, Grace, and everything just fell into place. You’re it for me. My option two. Now let me be your option two and the rest of your forever.”

  My heart is in my throat, my chest hurts from me holding my breath, and I don’t know what to say.

  “Oh yes. Please say yes, Grace,” my mom whispers over the remnants of the turkey.

  “For real. He’ll make you happy,” Shea says.

  But my eyes are on James. A slow grin covers his face as his gaze burns into mine.

  “I think he’s the only one to handle your shit,” Dad calls out, and I close my eyes in annoyance. I could kill James for doing this, but I won’t. They’re all right. He does make me happy, and Lord knows he’s the only one to put up with my shit. He makes me feel things I didn’t even know I could feel.

  Before I can even think, my heart gets out of that box I’ve kept it in, and I whisper, “Yes.”

  Did I just say that? The room explodes with cheers as James pulls me up into his arms. Holy crap, I did. I wait for the panic, the fear, but then his arm comes around my body, his hand holding my chin as he takes my mouth with his. Bliss. All I feel is bliss. His other hand, still holding the ring box, digs into my side, but I don’t feel a thing.

  Only our hearts beating as one.

  February 3rd

  “He looks exactly like Shea.”

  The annoyance in James’s voice is making it very hard not to laugh.

  “No, he has your chin,” I whisper, running my finger along Ryan’s sweet little chin. After forty-two weeks of pregnancy and eighteen hours of labor, I am finally holding my prize. My son. He’s flawlessly perfect and healthy—and huge.

  “I shot my best swimmers, and he couldn’t look like me?”

  I look up at James, and he’s holding back a grin. “He’s perfect.”

  James kisses my head. “You are perfect, Grace, honestly. So strong and beautiful and resilient. I’m so proud of you. I wanted to give up after hour ten. That was rough.”

  “Eh, I had you. And look at this little bundle of perfection,” I say in my best baby voice. “I would do it all over again.”

  “Everything?”

  I glance up at him. “Everything,” I repeat. “Especially the part where I fall madly in love with you.”

  I can see his heart in his eyes as he leans his forehead to mine. “When was that?”

  “Pretty sure it was back the first time you proposed to me. But I think I fell for you all over again when you grabbed my leg, pushed it back, and didn’t even say anything when I shit everywhere.”

  He presses his lips together, his eyes filling with tears of laughter. “Because what can I say to a warrior who is giving me the best gift of my life, except ‘I love you’ and ‘You’re absolutely amazing’?”

  “Even I was grossed out.”

  James can’t hold it in. He chuckles, making Ryan squirm a bit. We both coo at him as I hold him close to my chest. “You’re beautiful, Grace, and I love you so much.”

  My face breaks into a grin, and Lord, I don’t know how he can even say that. I look like roadkill run over twice, but in his eyes, I’m gorgeous. How could I ever think I didn’t love this man? He is my option two. “I love you too.”

  “About damn time.”

  “Only took a year.”

  “The best year of my life.”

  “Mine too.”

  He kisses my top lip, his nose pressed to mine. “And just think, we still have more years to go.”

  “So many, I hope.”

  “Forever,” he promises, and then he kisses me once more. When he pulls back, tears spill down his cheeks. “And I’m naming the girl.”

  I snort. “What!”

  “You heard me. I’m knocking you up again as soon as possible, and it better be a girl.”

  I laugh at that. “And if it’s not?”

  “Then we’re gonna have to keep trying.”

  I hold Ryan close. I could go for a lot of kids. As long as James is with me. Beside me. Loving me forever. “Fine, and what will you name her?”

  “Amelia. After my mom.”

  It fills me with such joy and promise. “I love it.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  James cuddles beside me as we both gaze down at the beautiful baby boy we made. I don’t know what life will hold for us, but I know one thing for sure.

  James will never leave me.

  Us.

  He’ll never leave us.

  Twenty years later…

  “Oh, James,” I whisper, moving my fingers along the slick wood beneath them. “What a life, huh? You gave me everything and anything I could possibly want. Not only did you give me the most unbelievable love, you gave me two wonderful kids.”

  A slight drizzle has started, and it only makes sense that would happen. God knows I’m dying inside; the day should match, I guess. I clear my throat free of the sob as I whisper, “The kids are gonna do big things and be such amazing people.” I sniff back my tears, trying so hard to be strong. I know the kids are watching. Hell, everyone is probably watching. “Ryan was accepted into that PT program at Bellevue, just like you wanted. Isn’t that amazing? We got the notification the other day. We tried to be excited, but you know… It was hard, but I told Ryan you’d be so proud.”

  My face hurts from trying not to cry, but I have to get through this. Not only for James but for me. “Talk is, there is going to be a gymnastics program at Bellevue, and Amelia wants to try to go there. I know what you’re thinking. Why? Send her off somewhere else, let her wings open so she can fly like she flies on those bars. But she doesn’t want to leave me.” I close my eyes as my tears spill down over my cheeks, and my heart feels dead in my chest.

  “Th