Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
He closes his eyes, resting his nose on mine. “You drive me insane, woman. Utterly insane.”
My grin widens. “I know you love me.”
“More than you’ll ever know.”
He kisses me then, and I cuddle deep into his chest. Not only for the closeness but for the warmth. It’s cold as hell in the Smokies, but I knew it’d be the perfect place for everyone to meet up. With the boys in South Carolina, I wanted to make the trip easy for them. I knew that everyone from Nashville would have to drive, but I wanted a real white Christmas. Of course the Smokies have delivered. The mountaintops are covered with beautiful blankets of snow, and so is the chalet. It’s moody and magical as darkness approaches, but for me, it’s perfect. Most everyone will be here by morning except Evan and his girlfriend Callie since they’re doing Christmas Eve morning with Callie’s family. I extended the invite to them, but Evan didn’t seem to want to extend it further.
I was under the impression that everything was fine with Callie’s sister and her husband, but maybe something happened. I don’t know, and I honestly don’t care, because Evan is so happy. The change from being broken and lost because he retired early from the NHL into the man he is now still brings me to tears. I’m just so proud, and oh, I can’t wait to see him and Callie. She is so good for my boy, and I adore her sweet face.
When the crunching of snow disrupts our kiss, we both turn to see our billet son, Benson, pulling in beside our truck, with our youngest son in the passenger seat. My babies. When we opened our home to Benson, I wasn’t aware how much I would love him. He is such a sweet boy, and being able to be here for him as he navigates college is a blessing. He had a chance to go to the juniors, but he chose to go to school instead. The University of Bellevue is one of the top hockey colleges in the US, so he knew he would still have a chance to draft. Benson waves as he parks, but my heart is heavy for him.
He’s had a rough couple of months, and I know he isn’t over what happened at the end of his freshman year. I think that’s why he isn’t going home for the holidays—not only because he doesn’t want to stop training, but because he doesn’t want to tell his mom that he’d gotten a girl pregnant and she chose to terminate the pregnancy. I am extremely proud of the way he supported and stood beside her through the whole thing. I’ve heard they don’t talk anymore, but I know he knows that he did right by her.
Shea kisses my nose as the boys hop out. I wave to them while Shea goes to help with the endless amounts of gifts we brought. We had to drive two trucks to bring all the presents. With it being Fitzgerald’s first real Christmas since he was too little to do more than sleep on his actual first Christmas, I am excited…and may have overbought. Hope Aiden and Shelli have room in their car to take everything back with them.
“Hey, guys!” I call as both boys look up at the chalet.
My baby, Quinn, looks back at me, blue eyes like his daddy’s and looking every bit like his dad did when I met him. “I really don’t think you got a big enough place for us.”
“Har-har,” I throw back, and he laughs, which brings a wide grin to my face. Quinn is in his first year of residency, and we are so astonished by him. We always thought he was extremely advanced when he was younger, but we really didn’t think we could have made a genius. We did, and it’s Quinn. The older kids always get upset, and they say that we saved all the smarts for Quinn. It’s not true; all our kids are successful. Quinn is just…something entirely different.
“Over forty trees inside,” Shea says, and Quinn gawks at me.
“So that’s the real reason you rented this, so you can have more trees,” he accuses, and I laugh.
Benson chuckles. “I don’t know… She makes those trees fit. She put a tree on the back of my toilet. It’s decorated with toilet paper.”
Quinn and Shea shake their heads as I smile proudly. “I even made little rolls of toilet paper to hang like ornaments.”
I swear I hear one of them call me crazy, but before I can complain, we are hurrying inside with all the gifts. In the middle of the great room, beside a large stone fireplace where a stocking is hung for everyone, is a gorgeous floor-to-ceiling spruce that could give Joanna Gaines a run for her money. I had come up with Grace at the beginning of the week and put all our family ornaments on the tree for all the families coming. I wanted it to look like we took everyone’s individual trees and made one huge one. Grace called me crazy, but I didn’t care. It came out perfectly. The décor of the home is very rustic and woodsy. Everything is decorated for Christmas, but there is also a bear theme throughout the house. When I see a large taxidermied bear in the corner by the kitchen, tears gather in my eyes. “Aw, Shea, remember when I took the kids to Bass Pro Shop that one Christmas to get Karson and Lacey that gift card?”