Her Christmas Lumberjack (Crave County: Lumberjacks Love Curves)

Bonus Chapter

Nolan

I blink away sleep, sunlight flooding through the curtains. My wife’s warm body is curled up against me, and I breathe in her sweet scent, wrapping my arms around her. Even after all these years, I still can’t believe I get to wake up beside this angel. I press a kiss on her cheek and she smiles, her eyes still closed.

“Good morning, sugar.”

“Good morning,” Aurora mumbles. She opens her pretty green eyes, and my heart jumps.

Fuck, I could look at her all day.

“Ready for breakfast?” I ask.

She lets out a sleepy moan. “Sounds good.”

“What do you say I make us some pancakes?” I reach out to stroke her hair, twirling a chocolate-brown strand around my fingers.

“That would be wonderful.” She smiles at me, still bleary-eyed. “I’ll go wake the kids.”

It’s Monday morning, which means it’s time for school. My wife always drops the kids off on her way to her office in Cherry Hollow, while I head over to work at the Christmas tree farm. I miss my family like crazy when we’re not together, but I’m usually able to sneak away from the farm long enough to grab lunch with Aurora in town. She gets to choose her hours now that she has her own solo practice.

I still can’t believe I’m married to a lawyer.

It blows my mind how damn smart my wife is. All that hard work and studying finally paid off, and even though it’s been a few years since she passed the bar exam, I’m still so fucking proud of her.

I lean over to press a kiss on my wife’s plump lips, squeezing her one last time before I get up and head to the living room. Rudolph is still half asleep in front of the fire, and he yawns when he sees me, following me into the kitchen where I feed him. Our border collie is still as lovable as ever. I’m glad he took a chance on us all those years ago when we brought him inside from the cold.

As I whip up a batch of pancakes, my wife goes from room to room, waking up the kids. I hear them trudge into the living room, yawning, and I plate up our breakfast, bringing everything out to the table.

“Morning, kiddos,” I say.

“Morning, Dad.”

Elijah looks just like me at his age, with his dark, messy hair and bright blue eyes. Millie and Lila take after their mom—pretty green eyes and pale heart-shaped faces. Being a dad has changed everything for me, and my heart swells with love every time I look at my sweet kids. They’re growing up so fast. Elijah is in middle school already, and Millie will be joining him there in just a couple of years. As for Lila, she’s already started preschool. It feels like we brought her home from the hospital yesterday. Hell, it feels like that with all three of them.

“You’re all very quiet this morning,” Aurora says as they tuck into their pancakes.

Elijah frowns, his mouth full as he says, “Dah-wan-gah-skull.”

“Swallow your food, then repeat that in English,” I tell him.

He does as he’s told and says, “I don’t want to go to school. We have a math test today. Another one. Mrs. Sayer seriously hates us.”

“I have a math test too,” Millie grumbles. “I hate fractions.”

“I’m sure you’ll do great,” Aurora says brightly. “You’re both a lot better at math than you think.”

“What about you, Lila?” I ask. “You excited to go to preschool?”

She shakes her head, pouting.

“Why not, honey? You love preschool.”

“I wanna stay with Woo-doff.” She reaches down to grab at Rudolph’s fur. “He’s my buddy.”

“Rudolph will be waiting for you after school, honey,” I tell her.

As the kids eat gloomily, Aurora gets up and opens the curtains. “Oh, shoot.” She turns back to me. “Nolan, come look at this.”

Frowning, I get up from the table and join her at the window. It was snowing a little when we went to bed last night, but it must have gotten a whole lot heavier after we fell asleep. The world outside is blanketed in white, and even my huge pickup truck is half buried. The track leading away from our cabin is totally impassable. We’ll have to wait for the snowplow to come around, and that could take all day. As I squint out at the brightness, my phone chirps with a text from my brother.

Won’t bother opening the farm today.

Nobody’s gonna be driving out here in this.

I tap out a quick reply in agreement as Aurora turns to the kids and says, “Looks like you guys are in luck.”

Millie cocks her head. “What do you mean?”

“We’re snowed in. No school or work today.”

The kids look at us wide-eyed, then at each other before letting out a whoop of delight.

“No math test!” Elijah says, clapping his hands together. “Thank you, snow!”

Aurora shakes her head at him, holding back a smile. “Okay, so no school, but I bet you both have some homework that needs doing.”

Elijah and Millie groan, and Lila copies them even though she’s too young to have homework.

“Tell you what…if you go finish all your homework, then we’ll do something fun, okay?” Aurora says.

“Like what?” Millie asks, her curiosity piqued.

“Like chopping down our tree,” I chime in, wrapping an arm around Aurora’s waist. “We can walk down to the farm and pick out the best Christmas tree there is.”

“And maybe I’ll make you some cocoa while you decorate it,” Aurora adds.

Millie and Elijah jump up from the table. “Deal!”

The kids finish their homework in record time, and once Aurora and I have checked it over, we bundle them up in their warmest clothing. I have to climb out the window to dig our way out of the front door, and I smile to myself as I shovel, remembering the time Aurora and I were snowed in back when we first met. I still think about that winter all the time, and every Christmas we’ve spent together since has been even more magical than the last.

Once the door is open, we take the kids’ mittened hands and guide them through the trees down toward the frozen lake, our winter boots crunching in the snow. We reach the Christmas tree farm, Rudolph bounding along beside us, and I hold Lila’s tiny hand tight as we wander through the trees. Elijah and Millie run up ahead. They know the farm like the back of their hand—the kids love hanging out here after school, playing hide and seek and drinking cocoa in the barn, showing the place off to their friends.

“This one!” Elijah cries, point to a blue spruce.

“No, this one!” Millie says.

“Wait…look at that one. It’s huge!”

They race around back and forth, and Lila toddles after them.

“That one!” she cries, pointing. “Me and Woo-duff want that one.” Her siblings turn to look, and their faces split into big grins. It’s a perfectly formed fir tree, almost too perfect to be real, like something out of a Hallmark movie.

“Yeah!” Millie says. “That one!”

“Nice job, Lila,” Elijah says, picking up his little sister. “This is definitely the one!”

Lila beams at the praise, and the three of them look admiringly at the tree.

“Stand back, kids,” I tell them, readying my axe and crouching down to reach the trunk. Once they’re at a safe distance, I chop down the tree and let it fall to the ground, shaking out the loose needles before I haul it over my shoulder.

The kids chat excitedly among themselves as we head back home, Aurora and I following behind. I take her hand and squeeze it, my other arm supporting the tree.

“This brings back memories,” I tell her, my pulse racing when she smiles at me.

“It sure does.” She lets out a wistful sigh. “Remember the first time we danced to Frank Sinatra?”

“How could I forget, sugar?”

“And the first time we kissed,” she adds, her eyes sparkling.

“What do you say we have an encore?”

Before she can respond, I drop the tree on the ground and pull her close, kissing her hard. She melts against me, her warm mouth sweet and soft against mine. My hands tangle in her hair, our tongues gliding together.

My perfect wife.

“Mom! Dad!” We break apart and look toward our kids who are watching us with their arms crossed. Even Rudolph looks impatient.

“We need to get the tree home so we can start decorating,” Millie says.

“And Mom said we could have cocoa,” Elijah adds.

“Alright, alright. We’re coming.”

With one last kiss, Aurora and I follow our kids the rest of the way to the cabin. Inside, I stoke the fire until it’s crackling before potting the tree and carrying the decorations down from the attic. Aurora makes cocoa for the kids, as promised, topping each cup with marshmallows and sprinkles.

“Thanks, Mom!”

We put on a Christmas playlist, and the kids start decorating the tree with a little help from Rudolph, who barks as he chases after a long strand of tinsel. The older kids save the lower branches for Lila, and she dives in eagerly, clapping her hands with delight each time she places an ornament.

“Pretty!” she says.

Aurora curls up beside me on the couch and we drink our cocoa, watching our babies. My heart warms as Millie helps Lila untangle a ribbon, speaking softly to her sister. “There you go, now you can hang it up.”

“You know,” Aurora mutters in my ear so only I can hear, “I’m glad we’re snowed in.”

“Me too, sugar.”

I press a kiss on her neck, grinning to myself. My family means everything to me. They’re my whole world, and they fill my life with magic. Before Aurora came along, I was a mess, crushed under the weight of my grief and feeling like my holiday spirit was gone forever. But everything has changed. Mistletoe Christmas Tree Farm is a family farm once more, and I know Dad would be proud as hell of me and Declan and the families we’ve built.

Soon enough, all the boxes are empty, the tree covered in decorations of every size, shape, and color. It’s a beautiful, chaotic mess, and the kids look delighted with themselves.

“I love it,” I tell them honestly. “It’s the perfect tree.”

“Agreed,” Aurora says, beaming at them. “But we still need to put the star on top.”

“I’ll do it!” Elijah cries.

“No, me!” Millie says.

They frown at each other, then their gaze drops to their sister. Lila’s mouth is ringed with chocolate, and she looks up at her siblings with wide eyes.

“Lila can do it,” Elijah says, and Millie nods in agreement, handing the star to her little sister.

I push myself off the couch and pick Lila up, lifting her until she’s level with the top of the tree. She holds the star tight and, after several attempts, manages to stick it on the top branch. Her siblings cheer, and so does Aurora, pulling Lila into a hug.

“Good job, sweetie.”

I wrap my arms around Elijah and Millie, kissing them both on the head. “Well done, kids. You did good.”

They smile bashfully. “Thanks, Dad.”

And as I hold my kids tight, catching my wife’s eye with a grin, I know I’m the luckiest man in the whole damn world.