The Winter Games

by Sharp, Dr. Rebecca

  After everything… after all the madness that life had thrown at me… we were going to have a baby.

  “Mammy! Daddy is here!” Lila yelled again and pounded her small fist on the door.

  I’d started back at Open Hearts right after we moved; Lila and I both had. It was good to be back with all the kids and helping Becca who sorely missed me. Nick dropped us off and picked us up almost every day, and then either would go help Wyatt and Chance with the school that had opened its doors last week or would check on how the renovations were going at the Frost compound.

  After we moved from the guest house, Nick’s mother was given the option to live there or move somewhere else while he had the main house completely gutted. Everything inside was either sold or donated and the funds were put toward the new inhabitant of the monstrous space: Homeward.

  Finally free from the painful weight of his past, Nick was able to focus on not only his future with Lila and me as a family but also with what he really wanted to do with the fortune he’d amassed. We’d been cuddling under the plush blankets that swamped our new bed when I’d asked him, aside from investing, what really made him happy?

  Fast-forward past all his answers involving me and Lila, he’d paused for a moment before saying, “Helping kids. Letting them know that someone cares about them. Letting them know that there are good people in this world, not like Stone or maybe their own neglectful parents. Showing them that there is good out there… and love.”

  And that was where the idea for Homeward began. It would be a place for all the foster homes in the area or other non-profits for children to use for events like birthdays and holiday parties and other social events. At some point, we’d brainstormed even opening up the upper floor to house older foster kids as well as giving them jobs at this community-like center.

  My heart began to pound in my ears with nervous anticipation. How should I tell him?

  We’d already talked about adoption as a sure thing at some point in the future. Even though the doctor hadn’t taken everything out, I wasn’t going to put all my eggs in that basket.

  I turned the lock on the door and opened it to find Nick’s grim face on the other side.

  “What’s wrong?” he demanded before I could even open my mouth, his eyes scouring my face like it could give him all the answers. “Are you okay? Are you having pain?”

  I shook my head.

  Maybe I should have waited, chosen a moment that was more poignant or scenic or found some cute way to reveal this surprise to him. But that wasn’t me. When I needed him, I needed him. When I loved him, I told him. And finding out that I was pregnant, all I wanted was to have him be a part of this moment that I thought would—and was ok with, never coming. I was an open book because that’s all I knew how to be and that was the woman he loved.

  So, we stood in the doorway of the daycare bathroom and I not-so-ceremoniously blurted out the two words that were the definition of improbability in my dictionary.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  Comprehension of what I said quickly faded to surprise that blanketed every beautiful feature on his face.

  “What? Tam, are you serious?” he said with a voice drowning thickly with emotion.

  I nodded and held up the test.

  As he stared at the small lines, I said quietly, “I can’t believe it either. I know we didn’t plan for—“

  His lips hard on mine silenced me.

  “Priss, we did plan on this,” he murmured against my mouth.

  I looked up at him with confusion etched between my brows.

  “We planned on love… we planned on family… that’s the only plan I know of. Whenever… however… it happens, doesn’t matter as long as it happens with you.”

  “I love you,” I whispered with a voice so small compared to the love that was housed inside of it. “I love you so much, Nick.”

  “I love you, too, gorgeous.”

  The next kiss wasn’t just a kiss. It was a promise and the future all rolled into one as he picked me up and spun me around in the small hall, both of us laughing and crying at the same time.

  “Daddy!” Lila squealed. “What are you doing to Mommy?”

  Slowly setting me down on my toes, we both looked down at her very adorably concerned face, her arms crossing over her chest with her stuffed Dory trapped behind them.

  I looked to Nick, unsure what to say.

  Reluctantly releasing me, he crouched down in front of Lila, brushing a wayward curl from her face.

  “Daddy, why are you crying?” she asked, her lip quivering.

  “Because Daddy is really, really happy. Mommy, too.” He shot me a wink that made my cheeks bloom and my toes curl. “Princess, how would you feel about having a brother or a sister?”

  She looked between us, puzzled for a moment and my heart stopped, wondering if maybe we should have prepared her more.

  Rubbing her nose, she asked, “You mean like a baby?”

  Nick chuckled. “Yeah, like if Mommy had a baby.”

  Her face scrunched for a minute as she thought about it. “I think I would like a baby. Do you think the baby would like me?”

  A watery laugh bubbled over as I bent down and reached for Lila wanting to hug her precious little body and huge warm heart.

  “I think you will be the best big sister in the whole world,” I informed her before pressing my lips to her forehead. “And that the baby will love you.”

  She grinned up at me, showing me her now toothy smile having lost her bottom two front teeth recently.

  “Do you think the baby will like Dory?” She pulled the stuffed animal from her chest and held it out to me.

  I laughed and looked at the well-loved toy. “I think the baby will love Dory.”

  That seemed to make her even happier than the news that the baby would love her.

  She let out a gasp and exclaimed, “Can we name the baby ‘Squishy’?”

  I bit back a groan; we really needed to curtail the number of times this girl watched Finding Nemo.

  I looked to Nick who just put his hands up like I was on my own for this one as he laughed at me from the background.

  “Let’s… umm… let’s think about it. We have some time before we have to name the baby, but Squishy can be on the list,” I promised weakly as I stood back up and reached for her hand. “Why don’t we go home?”

  Lila nodded eagerly and began to ask all sorts of other questions that I hoped meant she would forget about naming the baby Squishy. I locked the daycare behind us and with my hand in Lila’s and Nick’s arm possessively around my waist, we walked out to his truck.

  “Where do babies come from?” Lila wondered with complete innocence.

  I bit my lip to stop from bursting out laughing when Nick’s arm dropped from me and his pace fumbled, pure dread covering his face.

  This, at least, I knew how to handle.

  I grinned at him before leaning down to answer our girl, “Love, honey. Babies come from love between Mommy and Daddy.”

  Nick’s stride restarted and he caught up to us to open the back door of the truck so I could buckle Lila into her car seat.

  As soon as the door was shut, he pulled me flush to him and captured my lips again, kissing me deeply.

  “Love?” he rasped against my mouth.

  “It didn’t look like you had a better answer to tell her,” I teased softly as he reached behind me and opened the passenger door.

  His teeth grabbed my lower lip and sucked it into his mouth, a gasp rushing into my lungs as warmth spread between my thighs.

  “Maybe not, Priss. But I have a better answer to show you as soon as we get home,” he growled against me, giving my butt a squeeze that pulled me tight against the rock-hard length of his erection.

  I shivered as I climbed up into the truck. He gave me a wicked grin when my legs immediately crossed, trying to stop the flood of anticipation between them.

  “What if I don’t like your answer?” I teased with a
wink.

  He pretended offense before sending me a wicked grin. “You’ve never not liked my answer. Don’t think you’re going to start now.”

  “What if—“

  He cut me off, “No more questions.” His tone was only a shell of hardness that protected so much love.

  No questions. The promise now meant there was no question about how much he loved me and I loved him.

  “No more rules,” I whispered back.

  No rules. The vow because our love defied them all.

  The End

  4 months later

  “I NOW INTRODUCE TO YOU, for the very first time, Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt Olsen!”

  The guests cheered as Lil and Wyatt made their grand entrance into the lodge reception room. Hard to believe that this place was the lodge dining room just a few hours ago before Lil and the girls worked their magic. Earthy greens and twinkle lights littered the space until there was no other word for the room except magical. But really, that had nothing to do with the lighting or decor and everything to do with the love of everyone in it.

  Of course, Lil and Wyatt wanted to get married on the mountain—where it all started. So, at the end of February, with a solid seventy inches at the base, we schlepped out in tuxedos and boots, the bridesmaids bundled up in faux-fur jackets, and the two best snowboarders at Snowmass—now the two co-owners of the most popular private school in the state—tied the knot with snowflakes falling so perfectly I swore that Wyatt must’ve had them turn the snow machine on. (He hadn’t.)

  It was cold outside, but at the same time, it wasn’t.

  It was that kind of cold that’s refreshing—the kind that you take a deep breath of and you can’t help but feel like it’s cleared out any anger or unhappiness from your body; it was cleansing.

  A new beginning… for all of us.

  I heard the music start up—Wyatt had pulled some strings to get some famous popstar to come play… Blake Taylor… Tyler… something like that. I didn’t listen to much pop music but hearing her play acoustic right now, she was pretty damn good.

  The cheers and chatter dulled as the first dance went into full swing. I should have watched their entrance. I should have been watching them dance; Lil was like a sister to me.

  Instead, the only woman I was watching was the one I intended to keep in my arms all night long.

  “I love this song,” that woman murmured, swaying against me as I held her to my chest. “She looks so happy, so beautiful.”

  My head bent and I kissed the edge of her ear, whispering, “Yes, she does.”

  Tammy’s eyes flicked to mine, a blush stealing over her cheeks when she realized that I was only looking at her. Reaching down, I pulled her left hand up to my lips and kissed where I’d slid a ring onto her finger only three short weeks ago. Grinning deviously, my other hand pressed her back tighter against me so that she could feel just how uncomfortable this damn tux was ever since I’d walked her down the aisle for the second time that month, both of us part of the bridal party today.

  The first time though, that one had killed me.

  It hadn’t been like this—there were at least two hundred people here. Not that Lil was a big-party type of girl, but she was an in-love-with-Wyatt-Olsen type of girl and Wyatt Olsen had made a lot of friends over the years. No, when Tammy’s father walked her down the aisle to me at their family ranch earlier this month, it had been to the tune of forty-seven people (including the photographers.)

  The aisle had ended in their barn, so I guess there were a few more guests if you counted the horses. And the cats.

  Getting married before Lil and Wyatt hadn’t been my plan. Just like getting pregnant before being married hadn’t been Tammy’s. I smiled, my eyes finally drawing to the happy couple, but not really seeing them. Instead, I was seeing the look on Tammy’s face when her doctor confirmed the results of the test—that, against so many odds, she’d gotten pregnant.

  So, it was a good thing that I’d already picked out a ring.

  When you promise the perfect woman ‘forever,’ you want it to start as soon as fucking possible.

  So here I was, the biggest fuck-up of the group to be the first one married. I loved it.

  I loved her. I loved our chaos.

  And I already loved this baby so damn much I couldn’t fucking stand it.

  Lila did, too, and if there was one thing I knew would make my heart explode, it was going to be seeing her with her new baby brother or sister; she was already insisting that she wanted to name the baby ‘Squishy,’ which meant that sometime in the next seven-ish months, we were going to have to cut back on Finding Nemo because we were not naming the baby ‘Squishy.’

  My hand that had been resting on her hip drifted up over her stomach as anticipation shot through me; it made me hard as hell to think about Priss pregnant with my baby—filled with my baby.

  Fuck.

  I was going to need to fill her with something else. And soon. Otherwise, I was never going to make it through the rest of the night.

  “Nick,” she moaned my name softly as I made her rock back against me to the beat.

  “Can’t help myself, Priss,” I growled softly. “You know this is what you do to me.”

  And I was practically moved to violence when Jessa walked up and pulled my wife from my arms and into a hug of their own. Tammy squeezed my fingers gently as though saying that she would come back.

  “I’m so happy,” Jessa said as they held each other, watching Lil and Wyatt finish their dance.

  “For all of us,” Tammy replied.

  Their heads ducked together and I didn’t have the heart to be selfish with her right now. I wanted to. I so fucking wanted to. But we’d find an empty room in this building later.

  “Pride,” I said, giving my friend a knowing half-smile.

  The way he was looking at Jessa told me that his thoughts ran along similar lines to mine.

  “I always thought they’d be the first,” I smirked at Frost, watching as he spun his wedding band around his finger.

  “You know we can’t fucking let Olsen be number one for everything. That shit goes right to his head,” he joked back, and I laughed.

  Well-played.

  For the first time since probably high school (and the periods that he was too high to remember), Frost looked relaxed and happy. The giant weight of his family and the future of his daughter had been lifted. In many ways, I now saw the man that Frost had always wanted to be but never could. And I was happy for him—after all the shit he’d been through.

  “You want to grab a drink?” I asked, clapping him on the back as we watched our girls rush out to the dance floor to hug Lil.

  She looked beautiful tonight, the slim-fitting, sleeveless ivory gown showing the world that she was actually Chance Ryder’s sister for once. She didn’t give a shit about them, though. The only person she’d put that dress on for was the one who couldn’t take his eyes from her—and the reason had nothing to do with the damn dress.

  I felt her happiness as surely as I felt my own; we were always like that. We could always sense each other. Knowing that I was thinking about her, my twin raised her matching Ryder-turned-Olsen blue eyes to mine and smiled at me. Something unspoken passed between us—something that couldn’t be put into words. A sensation of pure disbelief that this is where we ended—or where we began, depending on how you looked at it.

  “Sure,” Frost answered, flicking his eyes to Tammy every other step; I didn’t blame him. If she hadn’t meant everything to him before, now that she was pregnant, she was the word for ‘more than everything’ that hadn’t been invented yet.

  I knew because I’d already searched for it trying to tell Jessa just how much I loved her.

  “Gin and tonic,” I said to the bartender before turning and scanning the crowd.

  My eyes paused on my woman, her pink head in conversation with Kyle Masters and his girlfriend, Jac. I remembered a time when seeing Jessa talk with her co-worker had made me b
urn with possessiveness and jealousy. But now, she was all mine.

  And I knew the look on Kyle’s face all too well. I lived that look. The one where the pro skier attached to his arm was the only woman he could see. And I was happy that, along with the rest of us, he’d found his forever woman, too.

  Most of the guests had already gotten their drinks and were now making their way onto the huge wooden dance floor, including my parents. I gave my mom a slight wave as she caught my eye, laughing as my dad pulled her onto the floor and spinning her. I missed them. But they loved Florida and I loved snow. They’d stayed with Jessa and me this past week and were going to stay at Wyatt and Lil’s next week while they were on their honeymoon.

  They loved Jessa—probably more than they loved me, but I was okay with that. And my mom, well, when I told her that I was going to propose, I don’t think Joanna Gaines coming to personally redecorate their house in Florida could have made her more excited.

  And if I had to hear one more fucking time how we should put shiplap somewhere in the house…

  “Two, please,” Nick added, sending me a sideways glance. “So, when are you going to do it?”

  “Do what?” I asked, smiling as J-bird’s pink and yellow hair stood out like a neon beacon as the girls danced. Her ‘La Croix cut’ as I liked to call it—swearing that she purposely dyed it to look like her damn cans of water.

  “Propose.”

  Fucker. “How did you know?” I demanded.

  “Seriously?” Frost chuckled.

  I didn’t know how he did it, but he always seemed to know this shit. Angling toward him and using my back as a shield against the dance floor, I reached inside my pocket and pulled out the tiny box that I’d been carrying around for a week now.

  I popped it open to reveal an oval pink sapphire inside, offset by two smaller white diamonds on either side.

  “Nice,” Frost said, glancing at it and then back to the dance floor.

  “Are you two seriously fucking discussing this without me?” King swore as he joined the group, Wyatt trailing closely behind. The un-official fourth SnowmassHole.