Epilogue Noah
Epilogue
Noah
“Wheels, wheels, wheels!”
The young skaters pick up the pace, rushing down the ice toward the net, and I grin.
Fuck, I love this. The second I strapped my skates on for our first training session at Stick Taps Community Iceplex six months ago, I knew I had made the right decision.
The year Ezra and I spent trying to sort out layouts, choose paint colors, hire employees, and everything else that came with building the rink was all worth it.
The cidery is thriving, the farm booked for weddings for the next two years. Ezra was quite pleased by that, which was a bit weird to witness. Then again, he’s been a little more chipper lately, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it yet.
“You’re doing great, Carlson!” I call to the goalie who has just let a goal in. I skate over to him, stopping short of where he’s sitting on his knees, head bent. “Just need to get your glove up a bit higher.” I grab it, lifting it to where it needs to be. “There. Just like that.”
“Thanks, Coach,” he says, then drops into his stretches.
I skate back to center ice. This is the six-to-eight group, so the kids look comically small next to me as they wait for me to drop the puck.
I let it fall, and each player scrambles to get possession. And by that, I mean they fall face-first on the ice.
It’s hilarious, but I love how fiercely they’re fighting.
I watch their play as they run all around the rink. We do this over and over until we call it a game.
Carlson skates up to me. “Thanks for the advice on my glove. I think we won because of that.”
“You won because of you. Not me.” I tap his helmet. “I’ll see you next practice, kid.”
He waves at me, then skates off to the dressing room to change out of his gear.
I pick up the discarded pucks and grab the nets, moving them over to the side to make way for the free skate we’re holding later this afternoon.
That’s when I see her.
A smile forms on my lips instantly, and I skate over to the boards, stopping before her.
“Odie.”
She giggles. “Noah.”
I lean over, giving her a quick kiss because I don’t feel like hearing a round of “ewws” from the kids still straggling behind.
“What are you doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you. I just thought you were coming by later.”
“I was going to, but my nonna wanted to watch.” She points to the stands where her grandmother sits, smiling as she watches us. She has a blanket wrapped around her lap, a puffy jacket, mittens, and a warm hat covering her ears.
I wave to her. “She’s still watching too much hockey, isn’t she?”
“She’s the Seattle Serpents’ biggest fan. Ken got her hooked on it big-time.”
Odette’s mother and Ken have been dating since the wedding-turned-liberation-celebration. Apparently Ken’s a big hockey fan, and now Odette’s grandmother and mother attend games in Seattle. It’s been fun to watch them fall in love with the sport.
Almost as fun as it’s been to watch Elaine find her happiness.
I’m not saying that the curse is broken for everyone, but I think the Chambers women have finally realized that their lives don’t need to be dictated by something that may or may not be real.
I know Odette has.
“You look very hot out here, by the way.”
“Really? I’m kind of cold.”
“I’m flirting with you, Noah. Certainly you’re not so old that you can’t tell when a hot, younger woman is hitting on you.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “What’d I say about calling me old?”
“That you secretly love it just like I love those gray hairs that multiply daily.” She runs a finger over said locks.
She’s lucky we’re in public. I have half a mind to bend her over my knee and spank her for that.
Instead, I press my lips to her, kissing her hard, not caring about the kids still lingering.
She’s breathless when I pull away, and I can’t help but grin down at her.
“What was that for?”
I shrug. “Wanted to.”
She smiles. “I love you, you know.”
“Oh, I know, fiancée.”
It happened last month. We were lying in bed in the middle of our latest binge show, and I looked at her and knew.
So I reached into my bedside table, pulled out the ring I’d been keeping in there for months, and asked her.
There were a lot of tears and a little apprehension—that old fear of the curse rearing its head—but she accepted. One thing we instantly agreed on? We will not be cramming planning our wedding into ten weeks. We’re taking our time. When we know it’s right, we’ll know.
We did, however, start our own wedding wish list.
The only thing on mine? Marry the woman of my dreams.
I don’t care about all the other details. That’s Odette’s thing. I just want to marry her.
I think back to a year and a half ago when I was dead set against ever getting married again. Now look at me, absolutely in love with this girl and looking more forward to the day when she walks down the aisle toward me than anything else.
Funny how things change like that.
“I’d better get back over to my nonna. I don’t want to leave her unsupervised for too long. You know how that old bat can be.”
I chuckle lightly, then press my lips against hers once more.
“You can’t keep kissing me like that in public, Noah,” she says once we part, our breaths still mingling as I rest my forehead against hers.
“I’ll do as I please, Odie.”
She doesn’t argue with me about it. Instead, she gives me one last peck before sauntering away.
I watch her go, eyes locked on her. My eyes will always be locked on her.
Because while I might have been against forevers once upon a time, I’m not anymore.
I found mine, and I’m never letting her go.
Odette
“That boy is so in love with you.”
I smile as I settle back next to my nonna. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m so in love with him, too, huh?”
She shakes her head with a slight grin. “Never thought I’d see the day.” She bumps her shoulder against mine. “It was you, you know.”
“What was me?”
“Breaking the Chambers curse. It’s why your mother is so happy with Ken. Why Collette found love with Dale and why your aunt Rita is married now. You did it with true love’s kiss.”
“Nonna . . .” I laugh at her. “I did no such thing. We weren’t cursed. Just a little unlucky, remember?”
“Bah.” She waves me off. “You’re our savior, Odette. I don’t care what you might think, but you fixed us all.”
She’s wrong. I didn’t fix us. We fixed ourselves.
Doubts still creep into my mind. I still worry about the future and what-ifs.
I still fear that every wedding I plan will be my last, even if my business is now booming to the point that I have to turn couples away quite often.
Even though Izzy’s wedding never happened, the liberation celebration was such a hit, and the brides loved the story so much, they still wanted to book with me.
My first wedding after that was perfect from beginning to end.
Not a single issue. It brought in more vendors and more clientele, to the point that I’m not even sure when I’ll have time to plan my own wedding.
I glance down at the ring on my finger with a grin.
Noah proposing was a huge surprise. I was terrified at first. What if I become too happy? Would the curse rear its head and knock me back down a peg?
I didn’t know, and I still don’t know, but one thing I never worry about? Noah’s love. I know without a doubt that it’s the purest, realest, and most unwavering thing I’ve ever experienced.
I’ve never been happier than in the last year and a half.
I had no idea that my heart belonged on the farm with him and Tootsie, who is still somehow escaping her coop, or with Larry and her attitude.
I had no idea it was there with Pork and Beans, who are so inseparable it’s not even funny.
I didn’t realize it lay with the cidery or late nights working on making this iceplex what it is today.
I had no idea it belonged to Noah.
I hoped it would someday, but I thought that was just a childish dream.
I was wrong, and I’ve never been so glad to be proved as such.
Now that I have him, I’m not letting him go. He’s not going anywhere, and neither am I. If the curse wants to try to tear us apart, we’ll face it.
Together.