Before the Snow Stops (Melting Point #2)

Chapter 1 Welcome Home

Welcome Home

Desiree

“Mommy, do you think Daddy decorated the big tree yet? The one that touches the ceiling?” Bella bounces in her booster seat, sending her twist-outs flying. “Remember last year he sent pictures, and it had a fairy on top that looked just like me?”

Don’t start picturing him, Dez. Smile. Breathe. Drive.

I grip the steering wheel tighter, navigating another curve on this godforsaken Winter Bay road. The rental car’s heater is blasting, but I still feel cold.

I hate roads I don’t know. I hate plans I didn’t make. Most of all, I hate that Ms. Okeke’s in the hospital with a broken hip, leaving me no choice but to drive my daughter to her father myself.

Our whole routine changed when Bella started kindergarten this fall. Before that, we split her time equally—one month with him in Winter Bay, one month with me in Atlanta, back and forth all year.

Ms. Okeke would fly with her, handling every transition so we never had to see each other. Now Enrick’s the one who flies to Atlanta every other weekend, renting a house I’ve never seen for their visits.

This is my first time being in Winter Bay, and after five years of avoiding him, I’m about to come face to face with Enrick Hughes.

“I’m sure he has, baby.” My voice comes out calmer than I feel. “You know your daddy loves Christmas.”

What I don’t say: Your daddy loves everything except complications. And your mama is the biggest complication he never wanted.

One night was all it took to change my life forever. Under flashing lights and pulsing music, a gorgeous man with piercing blue eyes bought me a drink. He made me laugh, made me feel attractive—and before I knew it, we were back at his hotel.

For five weeks after that night, we texted constantly. Talked on the phone until 2 AM about everything and nothing. Made plans for him to fly down to Atlanta again and for me to visit him in Winter Bay. Then everything came crashing down when I told him I was pregnant.

The GPS announces we’re two miles from our destination, and my stomach flips. The last time I felt this nervous driving somewhere I didn’t know, I was heading to a club in Atlanta, determined to prove I could have fun by myself. Look how that turned out.

My phone buzzes in the cupholder. Cassidy’s name flashes with a text.

Just got to the CPS office. Should be done in less than five minutes.

It was enough time to tell the social worker she wouldn’t be accepting responsibility for the child her ex had with her sister while they were still together. At least I’m not the only one dealing with complicated family matters today.

“Are we almost there?” Bella asks, kicking her light-up boots against the seat.

“Almost, B.”

Everything about this trip feels wrong: flying from Atlanta to Winter Bay three days before Christmas, delivering my daughter like some kind of courier service, and cutting my vacation short just to fit into his schedule.

Cassidy and I planned this layover in Winter Bay specifically to tackle our respective obligations before we could escape to Jamaica. We need five days free from any thought of Winter Bay, its betrayals, and the complications caused by babies.

Jamaica couldn’t come fast enough.

“Mommy, you’re making that face again.”

“What face?” I glance in the rearview mirror at my observant five-year-old.

“The one where your eyebrows get all scrunchy. Like when you found my slime in the washing machine.”

Despite everything, I laugh. “Nobody’s face should be happy about slime in the washing machine, B.”

“There it is! Uncle house!” Bella shrieks, and I nearly swerve off the road.

Jesus, Mary, and Beyoncé. When Bella said her uncle’s house was a castle, I pictured... I don’t know, something normal? Not this architectural wet dream sprawling across pristine white grounds, lit up like the North Pole’s corporate headquarters.

Every line of the house screams money and taste with floor-to-ceiling windows glowing warm against the snow. My battered Olympus Nyx back in Atlanta would feel like a hooptie in this driveway.

“I told you Uncle lived in a castle, Mommy,” Bella breathes, and I realize I’ve stopped the car in the middle of the circular drive, just... staring.

No wonder he thought I was after his money. Looking at this place, it’s obvious his family’s wealth runs far deeper than I ever guessed the night we met.

Through those glowing windows, I can see movement—people, family, the kind of warmth I’ve only ever seen in movies.

Our townhouse in Atlanta will be dark and empty for the next several days. The tree Bella and I decorated on Black Friday—complete with the lopsided star she insisted on putting up herself—will blink its lights for an audience of none.

My parents and two older siblings don’t celebrate Christmas. Their religion forbids it, and the family I walked away from at eighteen hasn’t forgiven me for choosing a different path.

Get it together, Desiree. Drop off your daughter and haul ass back to the airport. Your flight to Jamaica leaves in—I check my phone—three hours.

I pull up to the front entrance and turn off the engine. I step out into the biting cold, then open Bella’s door to unbuckle her.

She hops out immediately, stomping her boots in the fresh snow while I gather her backpack from the seat. Before I can reach for Bella’s suitcase in the trunk, the massive front door swings wide.

And there he is.

My body recognizes him before my brain catches up. The same current that shot through me across a crowded club six and a half years ago ignites me now, proving that time and distance haven’t fixed a damn thing.

Enrick Hughes in the flesh—all six-foot-three inches of him, wearing gray sweats that should be illegal. His red sweater clings to every muscle I explored with my hands, my mouth, my—

Stop it.

“Daddy!” Bella launches herself at him like a tiny missile, and he catches her easily, spinning her around while she giggles.

“There’s my princess,” he says, and his voice—God, that voice. Deep and smooth with just enough rasp to make a woman think dangerous thoughts. “I missed you so much.”

This doting father is the same man who’d wanted nothing to do with either of us until the paternity test came back three days after her birth. It feels surreal watching them together.

“Missed you too! Is Uncle here? And Aunt Gina? And Isa? And Asher? And Mycah? And Penny?”

Bella’s vibrating with excitement, and it amazes me how easily she transitions between her simple and loving life with me in Atlanta and the luxury she experiences here. She never complains about either, just packs her favorite stuffed unicorn and adapts.

“Everyone’s here, waiting for you.” His blue eyes—ocean blue, the kind that changes with his mood—finally lift to meet mine. “Desiree.”

Just my name. That’s all. But the way he says it makes my knees buckle. I force myself to act like a normal person who isn’t affected by their baby daddy’s presence.

“Enrick.” I aim for professional. Detached. “I should be on my way. My flight—”

“Let me get her bags.” He sets Bella down, and she immediately races through the door, shouting for her cousins. He moves toward me with his easy swagger, the one that made me notice him at the club.

“I got it,” I say quickly, but he’s already there, close enough that I catch his spicy-smoky scent.

His hand brushes mine when we both reach for Bella’s Frozen suitcase, and I swear to God, actual sparks shoot up my arm.

We both freeze. His eyes darken from ocean blue to the dark, restless shade of the sea before rain.

Six years, and my body still responds to him like I’m that twenty-two-year-old trying to outrun her first heartbreak by going to a nightclub alone because my first love said I wasn’t wild enough.

“Desiree, I—” He clears his throat. “I wanted to say thank you. For bringing her yourself. I know it wasn’t easy with your vacation and everything. I—” He pauses. “I know I don’t say it enough, but you’re an incredible mother. Bella’s lucky to have you.”

The words knock the air from my lungs. In five years, he’s never... we’ve never... This is new territory, and I don’t have a map.

“I do what any mother would do.” My voice sounds strange.

“No.” His voice drops lower. “You do more. You always have.”

“Desiree?” A warm female voice breaks the spell. “Oh my God, it’s great to finally meet you!”

I turn to find a gorgeous Black woman in her mid-thirties emerging from the house, wearing designer jeans and a cream cashmere sweater. Her smile is genuine and welcoming as she pulls me into a hug.

“I’m Gina, Maverick’s wife, and I have been dying to meet the woman who created my gorgeous niece.” She pulls back, dark eyes twinkling. “Enrick didn’t mention how beautiful you are.”

I catch Enrick shooting his sister-in-law a warning look, and Gina just grins wider.

“Don’t mind him,” Gina says, still holding my hands. “He gets all broody and protective. But seriously, I’ve been telling him for years that we should have you over, but he kept saying—”

She glances at Enrick, then back at me with a knowing smile. “Well, anyway. You’re here now. Come in. It’s freezing out here. Leave the bags; Enrick will get them.”

She links her arm through mine like we’re old friends, drawing me toward the house.

I glance back to see Enrick watching us.

“How was your flight? Winter Bay in December is not for the faint of heart. I’ve got hot chocolate on the stove, the real stuff, not that powder mess, and the kids are decorating their Christmas trees. ..”

She chatters on, but I’m distracted by the interior of the house. It’s even more stunning inside—soaring ceilings, massive windows showcasing snow-covered mountains, a tree that does indeed touch the ceiling. Everything is elegant but warm, decorated in rich creams and golds with pops of deep red.

“Mommy, look!” Bella races back, dragging a small girl and boy with her. “This is Isa. She’s five, like me! And this is her big brother Asher. Penny and Mycah are somewhere...”

The house fills with the chaos of children as I meet Enrick’s older brother, Maverick—same sharp jaw, same easy smile, but with green eyes instead of blue. Two teenagers hang back: Mycah, who’s clearly Gina’s son from a previous relationship, and Penny, who must be Maverick’s daughter.

Everyone is welcoming, but I keep checking my phone. Two and a half hours until my flight.

“Let me show you where Bella sleeps when she visits her cousins,” Enrick says, appearing at my elbow.

I follow him up a curved staircase, trying not to notice how good his ass looks. Failed.

Lord, some things just aren’t fair. The man got better with age. His shoulders are broader now, and the carefree twenty-four-year-old has been replaced by someone who clearly knows his own power.

It’s not just physical attraction that twists my insides, though that would be simpler.

It’s the complicated knot of emotions. Anger at his initial rejection of Bella, gratitude for his eventual commitment to her, resentment for the ease with which he provides what I work overtime to afford, and underneath it all, the dangerous whisper of what-if.

“This is Bella’s room,” he says, opening a door to reveal a little girl’s dream bedroom. A princess suite in soft purples and pinks, with a canopy bed and enough toys to stock a small store. “She helped design it last summer.”

“It’s perfect.” And it is. Everything here is perfect. Too perfect. It makes my three-bedroom townhouse in Atlanta look like a shoebox. “Listen, I really need to—”

“Ms. Okeke sent notes,” he says, moving closer. “Something about Bella’s new bedtime routine? And she’s been having those nightmares again?”

I step back, but there’s nowhere to go. I’m trapped between Enrick and a wall of built-in princess-themed shelving. “Just the one about the dark closet. She’s fine if you leave the hallway light on and crack her door.”

“The rainbow nightlight,” he says. “The one that projects stars. She told me about it when I called. I got one for her room at my place and one for here.” He gestures to the nightstand, where I see the same model I have at home.

“I really need to get to the airport. My flight—”

My phone buzzes with a notification. I glance down, and my heart sinks.

FLIGHT CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER CONDITIONS. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

“No, no, no...” I frantically open the airline app, but every flight shows the same thing. Canceled. There are no other scheduled flights.

“What’s wrong?” Enrick leans in to look at my phone, and his proximity scrambles my brain cells.

“My flight’s canceled.” I scroll desperately through other airlines. Nothing. “I need to find another way...”

“Desiree.” His hand covers mine, stilling my frantic scrolling. “Look outside.”

I turn to the window, and my heart sinks further. The snow that was pretty and picturesque an hour ago is now coming down in thick sheets. I can barely see the trees fifty feet from the house.

“Nothing’s flying out of Winter Bay tonight. Probably not tomorrow either.”

I close my eyes, breathing through the panic. Stuck. I’m stuck in Enrick Hughes’s perfect mansion, surrounded by his perfect family, pretending I don’t still feel every perfect inch of him standing too close to me.

“Daddy!” Bella bounces into the room. Enrick immediately crouches down to her level, and I watch as he tucks one of her twist-outs behind her ear.

“What’s up, princess?” he asks.

“Can Mommy stay? Please?” She’s bouncing on her toes, looking between us with those big hopeful eyes that neither of us can resist.

He glances up at me, still crouched at Bella’s level. “If your mom’s okay with it.”

The way he’s looking at me—like he already knows I have nowhere else to go—combined with how he’s holding our daughter’s hand, the gentleness in his voice.

.. this is what I’m afraid of. Not that he’s the same man who rejected us, but that he’s different.

Better. That he’s become the man I needed him to be six years too late.

“That’s really sweet, B, but let’s see how things go, okay?”

Enrick rises, eyes steady on mine. “Welcome home, Desiree,” he says softly.

Outside, snow whirls against the windows, sealing us in. And I know—I know—I’m in so much trouble.