“When you said no one knows how to handle two children who’ve lost their parents, that the right guardians are the ones who care enough to try…everything snapped into place.Icare enough to try.” He turned his hand over, and they laced their fingers together.
“Are you serious?” Tears brimmed.
“Dead serious.”
“What…what does this mean, exactly? You’re going back to Boston in two weeks.”
“I want us to be a family.” Frustrated with himself, he shook his head. His thoughts were flying too fast in his head. “We alreadyarea family. Hockey’s my job just like designing is yours. We can do this.”
“Yes, we can. I just needed to know you wanted to.”
“That was never the problem. I just didn’t think I was the best man—because of my past. What I’ve done.” He shook his head again, clearing out the negativity. “And why would they want me over a blood relative? But you put it into perspective. No one’s going to care about those girls the way I do. The way we do.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. “We’re doing this.”
“Yeah, LaLee. We’re doing this.” He leaned in close, breathed in her scent, and kissed a teardrop right before it hit her upper lip.
She gripped his arm. “How will this work?”
“That’s for us to decide. If you need to be in New York, then we’ll get a place big enough for all four of us. If you—”
“I want to raise them here. In Calamity. We have friends, and it’s the right place for the girls to grow up. But what about hockey? You’re gone eighty-two days a year.”
He sat back, going a little panicky at the idea his career might change her mind. “I’m not going to disappear. A lot of our time together over the season will involve texts and emails and phone calls. And then we’ll do what every other family does. You and the girls will visit me, and I’ll come home when I can. It won’t happen as much as I’d like, but you’re my priority. You know that, right? You understand how much you mean to me, right?”
She nodded, eyes bright with happiness.
“So, trust me when I say I’ll make sure you won’t feel alone in this.”
A soft smile warmed her features. “I trust you.”
“We just have to communicate. You need to tell me if you’re feeling like I’m not doing my share or if I’m too focused on hockey. And we’ll get you help so you can get your work done.”
“Okay.” She brought her other hand on top of their joined ones. “You’re shaking. Are you scared?”
And that was the wildest thing of all. “Not a damn bit.”
He wanted this more than he’d ever wanted anything.
And he wouldn’t fuck it up.
* * *
Formal adoption papers showed up the second week in January. Hailey would’ve signed immediately, but Cole was training, and she wanted them to do it together, so she set them on the countertop and just stared.
She couldn’t believe how dramatically her life had changed in just one month.
The night she’d gotten the attorney’s call, she’d had a job she could do in her sleep, lived in a tiny studio apartment, and did nothing but work. She’d had very few friends.
Now, she had Cole, the girls, and a whole group of women who truly supported her.
She was living a life she’d never imagined andlovingit.
At the sound of a key in the back door, a thrill spiraled through her.
Cole.
Snow dusting the broad shoulders of his black parka, he yanked off his wool beanie and tossed it on the counter. “Hey.” Finding her watching him, he checked the clock on the stove. “Am I late? Are you waiting for me or something?”