Hudson
HUDSON
Epilogue II
2 Years Later
“Here you go. I have a quick video call.”
I let out an oof as a twenty-pound sack of potatoes landed on my lower back. Otherwise known as our son, Henry.
I’d fallen asleep on the floor with sketchbooks and schematics spread out around me.
Henry’s balance was still a little off. He fell face-forward into the middle of my shoulder blades, his giggles filling the living room. I reached around to grab him and rolled onto my back. A lovely stream of drool dropped into the neck of my sweatshirt.
“Hope that tooth comes in soon, you little demon.” I rolled up to a seated position with my fifteen-month-old son.
His giggles were still hearty in response. “Too!”
“Yeah, tooth.”
The latest sketch I’d been working on for the gingerbread house I’d been commissioned for was now crinkled under my butt. Henry bent over and I caught him. “That head is still a little too heavy huh, bud? You’ll grow into it. Your uncle Finn finally did.”
I detangled his surprisingly strong little fist from the drawing and struggled to my feet. The Valentine’s Day house was going to be the centerpiece for the grand opening of a new shop on Main Street.
It was pretty fitting since it was for Hadley McTavish’s jewelry store.
She was the artist who made the first gift I gave to my wife. The proprietress for the gift shop was correct—she’d definitely blown up. And Valentine’s Day week was the best day for shopping.
I knew firsthand.
But part of my commission included a very special item for Ocean.
Christmas was in a few days. And as was tradition, the Hawkins and MacGregors were renting the cabin again for the non-Coveites. The family had definitely expanded in two years.
But I was planning on giving Ocean my little gift tonight.
Her parents were in town already and itchy to take Henry for a sleepover. And I was itchy to get my wife alone for once.
Having a toddler was a little chaotic, especially since he was going through another bout of teething, but I loved every minute of it.
I hooked Henry’s legs around my waist and left my office, closing the door since our little demon was now very mobile. He was already wiggling to get down.
I set him down and he zoomed down the hall where Ocean and I had our office spaces. We definitely needed our separate areas. OH Cookie Company was now a four-man show. We had another baker to help out so I could concentrate on the actual illustrating and decorating of the product. We’d expanded into larger 3D versions of cookies and gingerbread houses after exploding on social media.
Because my wife was a genius.
Now she had a minion to help with her end of the business. They always had a damn camera over my shoulder while I was working, but that was how things sold these days.
Social media was king.
Which I was fine with as long as I didn’t have to do the posting and replying.
Perri, my baker, caught the tornado and sat him in his highchair. “I’ve got a broken cookie for you.”
“Yay!”
Broken cookies were a happy thing in this house. It meant we could eat them.
I shook my head as I walked through the living room into the massive kitchen we’d built into the house. I hoped to have a separate space for my business someday, but for now, we made do.
We were growing faster than even Ocean had projected. My wife had a helluva head for numbers. And whatever she didn’t know, she learned. She was a freaking whiz.
“Hey, Mr. MacGregor.”
“You ever going to call me ?”
Perri laughed. She was a tiny thing, with wild dark hair that she kept tamed into braids. “Sorry. .”
“Better. I think I finalized the drawings for Hadley. We can start figuring out the gingerbread and the supports we’ll need.”
“Oh, cool. I can’t wait to get moving on that. I finished the sugar cookies you wanted to decorate for your family party. They’re stacked in the blast chiller until you’re ready to work on them.”
“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”
She untied her apron. “I’ll see you after Christmas. The last holiday boxes were shipped out this morning. Brenden took a few straggler orders that came in today. I told them I couldn’t guarantee they would arrive on time, but they still wanted them.”
“You are the best hire ever. I sent over a little something for a holiday bonus too. I really appreciate how you jumped in.”
She flushed. “Thank you. This is the best job I’ve ever had.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Have a great holiday. Tell your mom I said the same.”
She nodded. “I will.” She ruffled Henry’s hair. “Bye, buddy.”
He gave her a sticky wave.
I didn’t need to do anything since Perri was an ace. The kitchen was spotless, as were the floors. Hallelujah.
“Officially out of office!” Ocean called from the back.
“Then get that fine behind out here. We’ve got broken cookies.”
“If I eat anymore broken cookies, my fine behind will not fit in my pants,” she said as she came into the kitchen. She kissed Henry on the top of his blond curls, then she took a bite of the thin gingerbread that I held out for her.
“Your fine behind is sexy AF.”
“Why thank you, husband.”
She’d grown out her hair, thanks to the prenatal vitamins she’d taken for Henry. Instead of chopping it off, she’d started wearing a saucy high ponytail that made me a little crazy.
I stepped forward and caught her lips in a quick kiss. “Your mom is coming to take Henry for a sleepover,” I said against her mouth.
Her blue eyes went from tired to interested. “I like the sound of that.”
“Thought we could have a little private Christmas before we go to the cabin.”
“That sounds even better.” She turned back to Henry. “You want to see Gams?”
“Yeah!”
She swung him out of the highchair. “All righty. Let’s get you cleaned up, then.”
He bowed back in annoyance. “Noooo.”
Ocean caught him because we were both well versed in his demon ways. “Then no Gams for you.”
He wrinkled up his nose but sighed and bumped his head against her chest.
“Thatta boy.” She tossed a grin over her shoulder. “I’ll be back.”
A bath with Henry meant I had at least fifteen minutes to put dinner in the oven—thank God for delivery. I retrieved the bag from my office and swore my way through wrapping. Making sure there was a white bow like our first Christmas.
I hurried back into the living room and set it under the tree then turned on some jazzy Christmas tunes from one of Ocean’s playlists.
The sounds of splashing and laughter floated down the hall. We had two wings off either side of the living space. Our bedroom and Henry’s on one side, our offices on the other.
It was hard as hell to keep the life-slash-work balance from tipping over to more work, but we were doing the damn thing, and that was all that mattered.
The doorbell trilled, then Ocean’s parents walked in, her mom leading the charge.
There was no true privacy when it came to both pairs of our parents.
“Hey, Lucy.”
“Where’s my grandbaby?”
“Nice to see you too.”
Al Hawkins came in and closed the door. “Lu, calm your horses.”
“My horses are raring.” She blew through the room and planted a quick kiss on my cheek and headed for the bedroom side of the house.
“How’s it going, Al?”
“Good now that I’m not driving that damn Winnebago anymore. I can’t believe she convinced me to buy that damn thing.”
Wanderlust had definitely hit Ocean’s parents hard. But they were sticking to the Northeast more and more these days.
“So, what’s the new traveling style?”
“We’re done. Well, mostly done. We found a nice little cabin in Turnbull. Think we’re going to stick around. You gonna give us more grandbabies?”
I laughed. “We’re thinking about it. I’d love a little girl. Maybe that one won’t be a demon.”
Al snorted. “Hawkins blood says probably no.”
“MacGregor too.”
We both chuckled.
Lucy came down the hall, holding Henry as she cooed about what a handsome man he was. “We’re going to have so much fun. Santa even brought you some presents a little early.”
Ocean followed her mom, rolling her eyes. “At least he doesn’t understand Santa quite yet.”
“Okay, we’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Lucy handed Henry to Al and went right to the closet where we kept his jacket.
“Not even going to stick around, Mom?” Ocean sidled up to me, slipping her fingers into the back pocket of my jeans and giving me a squeeze.
“Nope, I want all the time I can get with him before he gets passed around at the family Christmas.”
Ocean slipped away from me and gave Henry a few kisses, then she tightened his hat over his still damp curls. “Love you, bud.”
He blew kisses and the grandparents lost their minds as if they hadn’t seen it a million times.
Being the first grandbaby had its perks.
As quickly as they’d arrived, they departed with I love yous and threats to keep the baby forever. We both sagged against the door for a second. Then we turned and attacked each other.
We stumbled away from the door, aiming toward the living room.
Ocean flung her shirt over her shoulder and mine followed. We didn’t even bother to go down the hall to our bedroom.
“Remind you of something?” I asked as I flicked her bra open.
“The cabin? When we defiled the couch?”
“We’ve done the same to every inch of this house, Mrs. MacGregor.”
She sighed against my mouth. “I love when you call me that.” Then she pushed me onto the couch and climbed on top of me. “Say it again.”
“Mrs. MacGregor.” I scraped my teeth down her neck. “Wife.” I added a little extra growl that made her tip her head back. “My wife.” Then I tugged on her ponytail, and she had my jeans unsnapped and me inside her before I could say another word.
She opened her hazy eyes. “Think we can make another Christmas baby?”
I lifted my hips to get deeper inside of her. “Yes. I’ll try all night long, Angel.”
The sensory memory of her backlit by the tree caused me to drive up harder and she was right with me. The sweet clasp of her body and the love that always surged up between us had us both going over in record time.
She slumped against me. “Give me a second and we can try again.”
I laughed. “I’m with you there.”
She turned her face into my neck. “I’m always waiting for us to not be so hot for each other.”
“Blaspheme.”
She laughed and pressed her cheek to my shoulder. “I really do want to try again.” She straightened. “I know it’s not the best time with the business expanding?—”
I cut her off with a kiss. “I want it too. Nothing is more important to me than you and Henry and maybe another one to make us a happy quartet.”
“What if I end up with triplets?”
“Then I’ll love them too. And work harder so we can have a nanny.”
She laughed and kissed me gently. “Luckily, I think it’s passed through the women in a family.”
“Poor Cara,” I said with a snicker.
She cupped my bearded cheek. “I don’t care what we get, or if we do get. But I’m game for trying.”
“I’m always game.” I waggled my eyebrows.
Her stomach growled as if on cue. “Maybe after some food.”
“Oh, shit. I got distracted.” I picked her up and set her on the couch and hiked up my jeans on my way into the kitchen.
“Did you burn it?”
“A little crispy edge on the lasagna.”
She laughed. “Always lasagna.”
We ate and chatted about a new idea she had for sports team cookies, thanks to the throwaway idea from Levi. His firehouse cookies were the first branded ones from OH Cookie Company. And the fact that Levi had showed them off on social media had definitely elevated our brand.
Hot firefighters always won the internet.
We cleaned up companionably and I drew her back into the living room. “Since we have a little time alone…”
“Ahh, babe. I’m full.”
I laughed. “No, this time, I have a gift to give you.”
“Oh.” She folded herself into the corner of the couch. “I’m game for that one.” Her eyes shone with excitement. My wife loved gifts.
I reached for the bag and the box I had for her.
“Oh, can you grab that gold one for me?”
“I get one this year.”
“Shut up. You’ve gotten one every year except the first.”
I sat beside her on the couch. “I got a gift then too. We just didn’t know about it for a few weeks.”
She snorted. “That’s right. See, you can’t bitch again.”
“Oh, I will.”
She pushed the bag into my lap. “Me first.”
“It’s heavy.”
“The first one is kinda business related.”
“Okay…” I dug into the paper and found a square of silver. When I pulled it out, I noticed the logo to YouTube. “What’s this?”
“Your channel hit one-hundred-thousand subscribers.”
“What?”
She laughed. “You think I videotape you all the time for my health? I mean, you are damn hot in that apron, sir. Which I just got a quote to sell by the way.”
I chuckled. “Ever the marketing guru.”
“It is my gift.” She took the award and set it aside. “We’re going to mount that baby in the kitchen. Now open the other one.”
The bag was heavy again. I dug inside and found an ornate frame with four quadrants. It was an illustration of Henry that I’d done when he’d turned one. Ocean had printed it out on canvas. There was another of Ocean from someone else. And one of the three of us. And one empty spot.
“Are you pregnant already?”
She laughed. “No. But I wanted to maybe goose you into trying. You beat me to it.”
“Who did these other drawings?”
“A local guy I met through Hadley. Jensen Turner is his name. He’s doing some illustrations of her pieces. He does commission work.”
“It’s amazing.”
Ocean tipped her head against my shoulder. “I know you can do it, but sometimes it’s nice to have someone else take on some of the duties.”
I kissed her forehead. “You do all the time, Angel.”
“I’m glad you like it.” She sat up. “Can I open mine now?”
“Yes.” She wiggled in her seat and made gimme fingers.
“Guess we were on the same wavelength.” I handed her the gold bag.
She dug out a canvas print of the three of us at the beach that summer. It had been my favorite candid photo when we visited her parents in Myrtle Beach. I’d converted it into an illustration, softening the beach behind us to show off my little family.
“Oh, . When the heck did you have time to do this?”
“You make time when it’s important. I’ve been learning that ever since you came into my life.”
Her eyes filled. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too.”
She dabbed at her eyes and opened the smaller box. This time, the tears couldn’t be slowed.
Hadley had outdone herself with the crystal angel holding a tiny flower with Henry’s sapphire birthstone glittering from her little hands.
“,” she whispered. “I love it.” She held it out and spun around for me to put it on her. “I never take off my snowflake.”
“Which is why Hadley made this a companion piece to sit just below the snowflake.” I fumbled a little with the tiny locking clasp, but then it was on.
She shifted to show me how it looked, and it settled just below the snowflake.
“Perfect,” I murmured. A bit of white behind her shoulder distracted me. “Well, look at that?”
She frowned then glanced over her shoulder. “Snow.”
We both stood and went to the window to watch the flakes fly. Then she turned to me and took my hand. “Let’s go make that baby.”
Wondering who’s next? Turn the page…