Epilogue
Emily
Christmas
Snow fell in slow, lazy drifts outside the massive windows of the cabin, blanketing the Rockies in a sacred, blissful quiet.
Inside, there was nothing quiet about it.
Laughter bounced off the vaulted ceilings, mixing with the crackle of the fire and the faint hum of Christmas music playing on a speaker. The tree in the corner glowed warm and golden, overloaded with ornaments that didn’t match but somehow still worked — just like the group gathered around it.
Just like me and Braden.
I leaned against the kitchen island, sipping spiked hot apple cider that Julep had insisted I try, and watched the chaos unfold.
“I’ll teach you pole,” she promised me, her dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail as she mixed up another hot apple cider.
This one she handed to her husband Holden, who swept by with a swift kiss.
Their eyes lingered on each other long after before she turned to me.
“But it’s not as easy as people make it look. ”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it. I’ve seen videos. The upper body strength is insane,” I said.
“Just wait until you get the pole kisses,” Giana said with a shiver. “Don’t let the cute name fool you. They’re just bruises.”
I chuckled, sipping my drink as the girls gabbed on.
It was my first time meeting the whole crew — all the people Braden went to college with, plus Kyle’s wife, Madelyn. They were a big group of eleven rowdy, loving friends.
I made twelve.
We’d all been able to miraculously slip away for three days in-between games. None of our teams played on Christmas, and the timing worked out just right to have a Monday night, full Tuesday, and Wednesday before everyone would have to report back for practice.
I hadn’t been exactly nervous, but it did feel just as big as meeting Braden’s family — which had turned out to be a breeze when we flew out to see Ginny once she was settled at home again. They were so lovely it was impossible to feel nervous after the first few minutes.
It turned out this North Boston University crew was the same.
“I don’t expect to be good instantly,” I said, grinning. “I just expect you to teach me your ways.”
Julep nodded. “That, I can do. And I’m glad you have patience, because you’ll need it.”
From the living room, Braden snorted.
I shot him a look over my shoulder, but he only lifted his hands in surrender. “Just saying, patience isn’t exactly your brand, Em.”
“Wow. Bold of you to say that when I know all your weaknesses,” I fired back.
“Name one.”
I smirked. “Me.”
The room erupted in laughter, and Braden just shook his head, but I caught the way his eyes softened when they met mine — like he still couldn’t quite believe I was real, or here, or his.
God, I loved that look.
“Okay, but seriously,” I said, turning back to Julep. “You teach me pole, and I’ll choreograph some floor work for you that’ll make Holden come in his pants.”
Julep nearly spit out her drink, eyes wide like there was a story behind her sudden panic.
Holden perked up from where he was on the floor, currently losing a very intense game of Mario Kart to Zeke and Sebastian. “I heard my name and I don’t like it.”
“You will,” Julep called sweetly.
“Certainly more than you’ll like your final position in this game,” Zeke added, and then threw his hands up as the Luigi character he was controlling flew across the finish line, Sebastian right on his heels. “Boo-yah!”
Sebastian giggled. “No fair, you and those stupid bananas!”
“Don’t be a sore loser,” Zeke teased.
“Hey! You better lay off and let my son beat your ass,” Kyle called from where he was playing on the floor with Raven.
“I don’t need him to let me!” Sebastian claimed proudly, and he swiped Zeke’s controller before starting another game. “I got this, Dad.”
The whole room went silent at that, some looks being shared, and I gave one to Braden that told him he’d be filling me in on that later.
“Okay, now that we’ve been here a couple days… can we talk about the elephant in the room?” Mary asked me, sliding in to join us in the kitchen.
“And that is?”
“That I’m obsessed with your ink, and also desperate to add to the canvas.”
Riley laughed. “Oh boy, here we go.”
“Just know if you let her start, she’ll never stop,” Leo warned from where he was taking the controller from Zeke. “Take me as proof.”
The man was covered in ink, especially all down his right arm.
I smiled, turning to Mary. “Music to my ears. What are you thinking?”
Glee lit up her eyes as she tugged my arm into her and started pointing at the gaps and how she’d fill them. She also went on to talk about her tattoo parlor and how she wanted to add a little piece of me to it. Maybe monthly dance classes, as she suggested.
In the living room, Atlas woke from where he’d been dozing on Clay’s chest.
It was loud. It was messy. It was everything.
It felt like home.
“Hey.”
Warm hands slid around my waist from behind, pulling me back against a solid chest with that greeting.
I melted into Braden instantly.
“Hey,” I echoed, tilting my head back to look at him.
He pressed a kiss to my temple, lingering there.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
I followed his gaze out around the cabin — cataloging the people who had welcomed me in like I’d always been a part of this.
“I’m more than okay,” I said finally. “I think I’m… exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
His arms tightened around me at that.
“Yeah,” he murmured. “You are.”
“Riley is so smart,” I said. “I’ve been picking her brain about youth programs and how to deal with teenage girls.”
Braden chuffed a laugh. “If anyone knows how to do it, it’s her. Does that mean you’re still thinking about teaching after this season?”
“Well…”
But I couldn’t get another word out because chaos erupted in the next room when Sebastian got first place in the Mario Kart race.
He jumped up, swooping his baby sister off the floor and running around with her while she giggled in his arms. Kyle swooped them both up in a Herculean effort when they ran by him, and then he was using his baby girl’s tiny fingers to point at each of his friends.
“In your face! And yours! And yours!”
The room was shrieking with laughter, and even when things settled a bit, it was still madness.
Everyone was talking over each other. No one was really listening.
And yet… everyone was seen.
Braden shifted behind me, his chin resting on my shoulder as we both watched them.
“This is what we needed,” he said quietly. “Just… a second to breathe.”
I nodded, covering his hands with mine.
The season had been relentless. Games, travel, pressure — all of it constant, all of it demanding. But this… this was their pause. Their reset. Their reminder of why they did any of it in the first place.
Family.
Not the one you were born into.
The one you built.
“Come on!” Riley called suddenly. “We’re doing gifts before dessert, because if I wait any longer, I’m going to explode.”
“That sounds like a personal problem,” Leo muttered, but he was already pushing off the floor to join her.
“Emily!” Mary waved me over. “You have to open yours first.”
I glanced up at Braden. “I’m scared.”
“You should be,” he said solemnly. “With Mary, it could be a very thoughtful piece of art or a whole ass animal you have to care for.”
He grinned, pressing one more quick kiss to my cheek before guiding me toward the tree.
I barely made it into a sitting position before Giana shoved a wrapped box into my hands.
And as I peeled back the paper, surrounded by laughter and commentary and way too many opinions, I felt it again — that overwhelming, chest-tightening certainty.
This.
This was everything.
Not the spotlight. Not the expectations. Not the endless chase to be more, do more, prove more to myself or anyone else.
Just this.
Love.
Messy, loud, beautiful love.
I glanced up, finding Braden watching me from across the room.
He didn’t say anything.
He didn’t have to.
Because I knew.
He saw me as his family now.
And he was mine, too.
Later that night, the cabin finally quieted.
Not completely — it never really did with this group — but enough that the laughter had dulled to low murmurs, the fire had burned down to glowing embers, and the world outside had been wrapped in a fresh layer of snow.
The kids were asleep, the adults soaking in our last night together before we got back to the real world tomorrow.
I slipped out onto the back porch, tugging Braden’s hoodie tighter around me as the cold nipped at my cheeks.
The door creaked open behind me a second later.
“Had to escape the madness?” Braden asked, his voice low and warm.
I smiled as he stepped up beside me, his arm instantly wrapping around my shoulders, pulling me into his side like second nature. “Just wanted to get some fresh air.”
We stood like that for a moment, just watching the snow fall, each of us inhaling deep breaths of pine and snow.
“You have fun?” he asked.
“Mm,” I hummed. “I think Mary and I have a whole sleeve planned now.”
He huffed a laugh. “I am not even a little surprised.”
“And Julep is dead serious about pole lessons.”
“Oh, she absolutely is.”
“And Riley…” I exhaled softly, my fingers curling into the fabric of his hoodie. “Riley got me thinking.”
He shifted slightly, angling toward me. “Yeah?”
I nodded, then hesitated — just for a second — before turning in his arms so I could see his face.
“Claire pulled me aside before the break,” I said. “She knows I was planning to turn in my uniform at the end of the season.”
His expression didn’t change, but his hands tightened on me just a fraction. “Okay.”
“She asked me not to.”
That got his attention. “What did you say?”
I smiled, a little breathless now. “Well… if it was just to stay and dance on the field, I might have said no. But it’s different.”
He arched a brow, waiting.
“The organization wants to start a youth dance program. Something to connect kids to the team, to give them access, mentorship… a place to learn and belong.” My voice softened.
“To show them what dance can be. What it did for me. And how it can lead to a spot with the dancers in the future, if they want it.”
Braden’s eyes searched mine, something like awe flickering there.
“They want me to lead it,” I finished.
For a heartbeat, he just stared at me, and then a wide, breathtaking smile spread on his face — the very one that had stolen my heart months ago.
“Em…” He let out a disbelieving laugh, his hands sliding up to cup my face. “That’s — are you kidding me? That’s perfect for you.”
My chest tightened. “You think so?”
“I know so,” he said without hesitation.
“You light up every room you walk into. You care about people in a way that sticks with them. We’ve been talking about this for months now, the way you were with those girls at the jamboree, the way you saw what none of us did.
And dance? It’s always been more than just a hobby for you.
” He shook his head, smiling like he couldn’t help it.
“I’ve seen you light up when you move to music, when you’re free to explore.
These kids… they’re going to have their worlds rocked.
You’re going to change lives with something like this. ”
Emotion climbed up my throat, thick and sudden.
“Claire said instead of turning in my uniform, we just change what it means.”
“Damn right we do,” he said.
I laughed softly, leaning into him again, and he held me tighter — like he was grounding me in it, in the possibility of it all.
We fell quiet after that, and the snow began to fall again.
“Playoffs are coming up,” Braden said after a moment, his voice thoughtful now. “If we can seal our spot with this next game.”
I tipped my head back to look at him. “You ready?”
He exhaled, eyes drifting out toward the mountains. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he admitted. “It’s… a lot. The pressure, the expectations.” His lips curved faintly. “But I do know I’m playing better than I ever have.”
I smiled. “You are.”
“And for the first time, I’m not in my head about it,” he added. “I’m just… in it.”
“That’s a dangerous man right there,” I teased.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. League’s not ready.”
He huffed a quiet laugh, pressing a kiss to my hair.
So much talking had happened over the last few days. We’d video chatted with my parents, who were holidaying in London with my dad’s family, and we’d checked in with Braden’s parents and Ginny, watching them open the gifts we’d sent.
Everyone was good. Everyone was okay.
And it felt like permission was granted to both of us to finally lean into what we needed next.
Braden shifted, pulling me fully into his arms now, wrapping me up as the snow continued to fall around us — soft and endless and quiet.
I tucked my face into his chest, breathing him in.
“What?” I asked when I felt him go still above me.
He was quiet for a long moment.
“Just thinking,” he said.
“About what?”
“Us.” He smiled, kissing my forehead. “Always us.”
“Anything specific, Mr. Vague?”
I leaned back just enough to look up at him, snow catching in my lashes, his gaze already locked on mine.
Braden smiled — slow and certain, like he’d found the answer to whatever question he’d silently asked just by looking down at me.
“So, my family has this saying,” he said, his hands sliding up to frame my face. “Whenever things get crazy, when the pressure hits, when anxiety starts creeping in… We ask each other — what’s the best that could happen?”
Snow drifted between us, catching in his chestnut hair, melting against his skin. His eyes gleamed, brighter than the lights behind him.
“I always wondered what that was. I mused over it, you know? When that question forced me to. I imagined the best that could happen being me making it to the NFL, then paying off my parents’ house, then renewing my contract. So on and so forth.”
He shook his head, hand reaching out to trace my jaw before I leaned into his touch.
“Turns out… it was you.”
I closed my eyes on a smile, my heart skipping in my chest. And when he kissed me, it was the best Christmas gift I’d ever received.
I didn’t even feel the cold anymore.
Not when he kissed me like that.
Not when I knew — without a doubt, without fear, without hesitation —
He was the best thing that could have ever happened to me, too.
* * *
If you enjoyed the Red Zone Rivals series, you’ll love the Kings of the Ice hockey series, packed with all your favorite tropes. Keep reading for a sneak peek inside book one: Meet Your Match.