Chapter 19
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 25 th .” 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.”
She pressed in close. “ You’ve already made me the happiest person in the world, Dixon . No marriage required.”