Page 67 of Wrapped in Winter
Her eyes well with tears and I kiss them as they slide down her cheeks. “No tears. You’ve cried enough for two lifetimes and I’m here to make sure that stops. Today.”
She's silent for the longest time and just when I think she's going to tell me to go to hell, she says, “I love you, too.”
My heart does a double take and I’m stunned. “Well, alright then. I'm glad we’re on the same page.”
She laughs and folds into me and I catch her. “I’ve been waiting so long to hear those four little words.”
“They didn’t come easy.”
“You're telling me.” I laugh as she wraps her arms around me.
“Momma! Whoa!” Lily slides into the kitchen and freezes. “Did you tell her?” She’s bouncing on her toes, from foot to foot, watching our interaction.
“Tell me what, baby?”
“That he loves you!” She jumps in her spot, excited over this latest development before latching onto my leg.
January laughs. “He did tell me.”
“And did you tell him?” She prods.
“I did.”
I bend down and pick her up, holding the three of us at this moment. “You two are the best things to happen to me in a very long time.”
“I wish we met you sooner.” January whispers.
“I don’t. We met right on time, baby. Right when we needed each other the most.”
…And then one day, there was a new life, a new love and the hurt didn’t hurt like it did….
THE END
*Catch up with Courtney and Jack in The Night He Saved Christmas: A companion novella
Epilogue - Blossom
10 YEARS AGO
“Let’s run away.”
“Run away? Where would we go?”
Bennet shrugs. “I don’t know, anywhere but here.”
I look at him and see the seriousness in his eyes. I would love to run away and start over. If I could erase the last five years of my life, I would. Everything about being in Wintervale used to be perfect. I didn’t know anything but love in my family. I never thought life would crush any kind of dream I had. I never thought anything could happen that would destroy our family in the blink of an eye.
It’s been five years since my dad died, two years since my sister took off, and one year since my brother went with her. It’s just me, Mom, and Meadow left in the house, and it’s the weirdest feeling to go from a full house of six to a lonely house of three. Actually, it’s more like a lonely house of two because Meadow doesn’t come home most nights. I don’t know where she goes, but she isn’t here. Those nights are the worst, because Ihear Mom crying, and I have to be the strongest one in the home even though I am the baby.
Five years later, and we’re not any closer to moving on than we were the day it happened.
There’s no one left, so what am I supposed to do?
Thank God for my best friend. He’s been with me since day one, and even when everything crashed around me, he didn’t leave. He’s the only one I can count on.
“What if we ran away and followed January and Lief?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Do you really want to follow them? They left. What do you really want to do?”