Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“I’m good,” he promised. “Shoulder’s a little stiff. But the trainer already had a look at it and says it’s fine.”
I blew out a relieved breath. “Good. Now get on that plane and come home. I miss you.”
He winked. “Yes, ma’am.”
Before we hung up, he said, “Give Annie a kiss for me. Tell her that I love her. And her mom.”
There went that fluttering in my chest again. “I love you, too, Dix.”
I’d started calling him Dix sometime in between his first home game and his first away game.
Everyone called him that, and I’d just fell onto the bandwagon.
Now I called him nothing but Dix.
Which he loved.
It was much easier for Anleigh to say, too.
“Bye, baby. See you soon.”
Chapter
Nineteen
It’s okay to be a disgrace.
—Jeremiah to Bryson
JEREMIAH
The last game of the season was over.
We’d won.
I now could say that I’d won the Stanley Cup.
And I was retiring.
The look on my teammates’ faces would’ve hurt had I not had who I did at home waiting for me.
“It’ll be okay,” I said. “I might consider a coaching position if I can stay at home to do it.”
Bryson clapped me on the back and said, “Take it easy.”
I left feeling lighter than I had in months.
That lightheartedness went to euphoria when I drove past the candy shop that the asshole owned and saw a “foreclosed” sign on the door.
When I let myself into the apartment, I smiled when I saw all the kids run toward me.
“Uncle Dix!” Cammie called. “Look!”
I grinned. “You ready for school to be over, Cammie?”
“No.” She wrinkled her nose.
I laughed.
Cammie had to be the only one that loved it.
The rest of the world hated it.
I grinned when Anleigh came up to me and held up her hands. “Up.”
I picked her up, loving the yell that had just sounded.
Over the months, Anleigh had grown into herself.
Her voice had gone from a whisper to a normal volume to yelling.
I fucking loved it.
I loved the woman walking toward me with Rosa in her arms even more.
“Hey, handsome,” Merriam said. “How’d it go?”
“Lots of crying, complaining, and curses. But in the end, they were happy for me to retire,” I answered.
“Oh, yeah?” she asked. “Does that mean I get your help full-time?”
“Nope.” Chris came in from the hallway that led to his place. He walked right to his baby and picked her up, snuggling her close. “He’s going to help me.”
“Um, that’s new?” Merriam said as she leaned into me, looking at me accusingly.
I pulled her in close. “It’s new to me, too.”
“That’s because I just thought of it,” Chris said as he put Rosa up onto his shoulder. “Now that I don’t have to worry about childcare, thanks to your fabulous woman taking care of Rosa and the rest of the hooligans, I’ve agreed to take on a really big project. And I could really use the help.”
Since we’d all grown up with hammers in our hands thanks to Gramps, I was more than capable of helping, but…
“As long as he’s back by dinnertime, you can have him,” Merriam answered for me. “But just know, I reserve the right to meet him for quickies once all the kids are in school.”
Chris hooted. “Deal!”
The kids left one by one, until only Anleigh was left.
After dinner and the bedtime routine commenced, I’d made love to the woman I loved, and we were back in bed as I said, “I want to marry you.”
She blinked at me. “Was that a proposal?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m just waiting on the ring. It’s supposed to be delivered tomorrow, and since I now have to go help Chris, you’ll have to sign for it.”
She laughed. “Do I get to put it on after I sign?”
“No.” I tickled her, causing her to giggle. “I want to propose. And then we can set our wedding date for December 25th.” I pressed my hand to her slightly swollen belly. “When we have our baby, it’ll give you two months to prepare. After I give you my name, I then want to go in front of a judge and give Anleigh my last name, too.”
She pressed closer to me. “That’s a lot of thought in four sentences.”
“Do you disagree with any of them?”
She sniffled. “No.”
“Then let’s do this,” I said. “Let’s do life together.”
She pressed her lips against mine. “Okay, Jeremiah Dixon. But only under one condition.”
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“You stop making me cry because you’re making me so deliriously happy.”
“Absolutely not,” I disagreed. “From now on, I want you as happy as possible. Speaking of happiness…I saw a foreclosed sign on a certain someone’s candy shop.”
The laugh that burst out of my future wife was one I’d remember forever.
“Why do I love that so much?” she asked.
“Because you’re healing.” I pulled her in close. “I can’t wait to marry you and make you the happiest woman in the world.”