Chapter 24 Sloane
SLOANE
Iwake up to sunlight streaming through the windows, and Jax’s arm heavy across my waist. For a moment, I just lay there, taking it in.
The warmth of his body against mine. The sound of his steady breathing.
The way his bedroom smells like pine and him.
The fact that I’m here, in his bed, in his home, and it feels right. It feels like home.
“Merry Christmas,” Jax mumbles against my neck, his voice rough with sleep.
“Merry Christmas.” I turn in his arms to face him. “How long have you been awake?”
“About five minutes. I was watching you sleep.”
“That’s creepy.”
“You’re cute when you sleep. You make these little sounds.” He demonstrates, making a soft snuffling noise that makes me smack his chest.
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do. It’s adorable.”
“I hate you.” I pout.
“No, you don’t.” He kisses me softly. “You love me.”
“Unfortunately, yes.” I smirk, giving him side eye.
His grin is blinding. “Say it again.”
“I love you.”
“Again.”
“I love you, Jax Reid.”
“Never going to get tired of hearing that.” He pulls me closer. “What time is it?”
I grab my phone from the nightstand. “Eight-thirty. Why?”
“Because my grandmother will be here at nine, demanding to make Christmas breakfast for everyone.”
“Everyone?”
“My family. Your sister. Riley.” He kisses my shoulder. “Hope you’re ready for chaos.”
“After last night, I think I can handle anything,” I tell him.
“Last night was pretty perfect, wasn’t it?”
“Pretty perfect?” He raises an eyebrow. “I seem to remember you calling it life-altering.”
“Also, true.” I grin.
His hand slides down my side. “Want to make it even more life-altering before they get here?”
“How much time do we have?” I ask.
“About twenty minutes.”
“Then you’d better make it fast,” I tell him.
He grins, rolling me onto my back. “Challenge accepted.”
Twenty-two minutes later, we’re both showered and dressed, and attempting to look innocent when we hear a vehicle pulling up outside.
“They’re early.” Jax groans.
“Your grandmother strikes me as the early type.” I smirk.
“She lives to torture me.” He groans.
I laugh, pressing a kiss to his jaw. “Come on. Let’s go face the chaos.”
We head downstairs hand in hand, and I can already hear voices outside. The door bursts open, and his grandmother sweeps in, carrying approximately seventeen grocery bags.
“Jax. Help me with these. Where’s that girl of yours?” She spots me. “There you are. Merry Christmas, sweetheart. I hope you like pancakes because I’m making enough to feed an army.”
“I love pancakes,” I tell her.
“Good answer.” She hands me a bag. “Put these in the kitchen. Jax, start the coffee. Where are your brothers?”
“Probably sleeping off their hangovers,” he says.
His grandmother grunts as if it’s a normal occurrence. And just like that, I’m swept into the Reid family Christmas morning.
Not long after, I notice Jax’s parents come through the door loaded up with presents. His mom hands off the boxes to her husband immediately pulls me into a hug. “How did you sleep, dear?”
“Great, thank you.”
She gives me a knowing look. “I’m sure you did.”
My face burns, and Jax laughs, kissing my temple. “Mom, stop embarrassing my girlfriend.”
“It’s my job. You brought her home, I get to embarrass you both.”
His brothers start trickling in, all of them looking various levels of hungover. Everett is the first one in, and he immediately asks, “Is Riley coming?”
“She texted this morning. She and Maggie are on their way.”
“Good.” He tries to act casual. “That’s good.”
Wilder snorts. “Subtle, man. Real subtle.”
“Shut up.” He glares at his brother.
“He’s been texting her nonstop,” Ford tattles. “It’s actually kind of cute.”
“I will end you,” Everett warns.
“Boys.” Their grandmother snaps. “Stop fighting and start cooking. I need someone on bacon duty. Mason, you’re on eggs. Ford, you’re on toast. Wilder, try not to burn anything.”
“Why do I always get assigned the don’t burn things task?” Wilder protests.
“Because you have a history of burning things,” Jax tells him.
“That was one time,” he argues.
“It was four times,” Ford adds.
I’m laughing, helping Jax’s grandmother mix pancake batter, when Riley and Maggie arrive.
“Merry Christmas,” Riley announces, holding up a bottle of champagne. “I brought mimosa supplies.”
“It’s nine in the morning,” I point out.
“It’s Christmas. Mimosas are a Christmas morning tradition.”
“Since when?” Maggie asks.
“Since right now. I’m starting a tradition,” Riley tells her.
Everett appears immediately, taking the champagne from Riley. “I’ll help you with that.”
“My hero,” she says, batting her eyelashes.
They disappear into the kitchen together, and Maggie looks at me. “Is that going to be a thing?” she asks.
“I think it already is.” I smile at her.
“Huh.” She watches them go with an interested expression. “Good for her.”
“How are you doing?” I ask, pulling her aside. “With everything?”
“Good. Really good, actually.” She smiles.
“Your guy’s mom has already offered to help me find an apartment.
And his dad knows a good accountant. And I think .
..” She trails off, her eyes landing on Ford, who’s cracking eggs into a bowl and laughing at something Mason said.
“I think this town is going to be good for me.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She looks back at me. “You did good, Sloane. This is a good place. Good people.”
“It really is.” I sigh, feeling the happiest I’ve ever felt.
Breakfast is chaos in the best way. Too many people in the kitchen, everyone talking over each other, grandmother directing traffic like a general commanding troops.
But it’s warm and loud and full of laughter, and I love every second of it.
We eat at the huge dining table that barely fits everyone.
Pancakes and bacon and eggs and enough food to feed twenty people, even though there’s only twelve of us.
“This is amazing,” I tell his grandmother. “Thank you for doing all this.”
“It’s tradition, dear. Christmas breakfast with all my boys. Though this year is special.” She pats my hand. “This year, we have you girls here. Makes it feel like the family is growing.”
My eyes sting with happy tears. “Thank you. That means a lot.”
“Of course, dear. Now eat. You’re too thin.”
Jax laughs. “Grams thinks everyone is too thin.”
“Because you are. All of you. I blame your mother for not feeding you enough.”
“Mom feeds us plenty,” Ford protests.
“Not enough, clearly,” she grumbles.
After breakfast, we move to the living room where a massive Christmas tree takes up one entire corner. Presents are piled underneath, and Jax’s mom starts distributing them.
“We didn’t know you girls were coming,” she apologizes to me, Riley, and Maggie. “So, we don’t have much …”
“You didn’t have to get us anything,” I protest. Because I feel bad that I have nothing.
“Nonsense. But I did throw together a few things this morning.” She hands each of us a gift bag.
Inside mine is a beautiful scarf, homemade cookies, and a small ornament with Reid Farm painted on it.
“For your tree,” she says softly. “For when you move here. So, you always remember your first Christmas with us.”
I’m full-on crying now. “Thank you. This is perfect.”
Jax wraps his arm around me, kissing my temple. “Told you they’d love you.”
We spend the next hour opening presents. The brothers all gave each other gag gifts, which have everyone laughing. Jax’s parents are practical, new tools, warm socks, things he needs for the farm.
And then Jax hands me a small box. “You didn’t have to get me anything,” I say.
“Open it.”
Inside is a key on a simple chain.
“It’s a key to the farmhouse,” he explains. “So, you can come and go whenever you want. You’ll always have a place here. With me.”
“What he really means is, will you move in with him?” Ford calls out.
I still. Jax glares at his brother, who shrugs.
“Move in with you?” I ask softly.
“Only if you want to. I … um …” He rubs the back of his neck nervously.
“Do it,” Riley urges.
I throw my arms around him, not caring that everyone is watching. “Yes, I’ll move in with you. I love you.”
Jax seems genuinely shocked by my answer. “I love you too.”
“Get a room,” Everett calls out.
“We have a room,” Jax shoots back. “We used it extensively last night.”
“Jax.” His mother gasps while his brothers whoop.
I’m laughing and crying and so incredibly happy I might burst.
The afternoon is lazy and perfect. Some people nap. Some watch football. Riley and Everett disappear onto the porch for what they claim is fresh air, but I think they are making out.
I find Maggie in the kitchen helping clean up.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah. Just thinking.” She smiles.
“About?”
“About how different this is from our family Christmases.” She dries a plate. “No judgment. No criticism. No feeling like I must be perfect. Just ... acceptance.”
“I know what you mean.”
“Do you think Mom and Dad will ever forgive us? For choosing this instead of what they wanted?” she asks.
I think about that. “Maybe. Eventually. But, Maggie? Even if they don’t, we made the right choice. For us.”
“Yeah.” She smiles. “We really did.”
Ford walks in with more dishes. “Need help?”
“Sure,” Maggie says, and I notice the way her cheeks flush slightly.
Interesting. I leave them to it and find Jax on the porch, staring out at the snow-covered fields.
“Hey,” I say, wrapping my arms around him from behind.
“Hey, yourself.” He turns, pulling me in front of him so my back is against his chest. “What are you thinking about?”
“About how perfect today has been. About how lucky I am.”
“I’m the lucky one.”
“We can both be lucky.”
“Deal.” He kisses the top of my head. “So, you're moving here in a week.”
“I’m moving here in a week.” I nod.
“In with me too,” he asks.
“Yep.”
“I hope you will be happy here. It’s not much but …”
“Hey,” I say, turning his face to me, “I’ve never been happier.” I lean in and kiss him softly. “I love it here.”
“I just worry, what if you get here and decide you hate small town life?”
I turn in his arms. “What if it’s perfect? What if this is exactly what we’re supposed to be doing? What if we are about to build something amazing together?”
He lets out a heavy sigh and relaxes. “Then we’re the luckiest people alive.”
“Exactly.” I kiss him softly. “Stop borrowing trouble. We’ve got this.”
“We’ve got this,” he agrees.
We stand there for a long moment, just holding each other, watching the snow fall.
“Jax?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for this Christmas. For your family. For making me feel like I belong.”
“You do belong. Here. With me. Always.” He pulls back to look at me. “This is just the first of many Christmases together.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
From inside, I hear his grandmother calling everyone for dinner.
“Ready to do this all over again?” Jax asks.
“With your family? Always.”
We head back inside, hands linked, and I think about how much my life has changed in just a few weeks. I went from lost and broken to found and whole. How one snowstorm led me exactly where I needed to be. To Jax. To his family. To this town. To home.
Dinner is even more chaotic than breakfast. The table is crowded, and voices overlap with everyone talking, laughing, and teasing each other.
It’s perfect. I’m sitting between Jax and Riley, and across from us, I notice Maggie and Ford are deep in conversation about something that has them both smiling.
“You see that?” I whisper to Riley.
“Oh, I see it. Your sister is totally into him.”
“And he’s into her,” I whisper back.
“We’re going to have to play matchmaker.” She grins.
“Let’s not. Let’s just let it happen naturally,” I warn her.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Riley laughs.
After dinner, we’re all lounging around the living room, too full to move, when Jax’s grandmother stands up.
“I have an announcement,” she says, and everyone quiets.
“This has been the best Christmas in years. Having all my boys here. Having new faces at the table. Watching this family grow.” She looks at me, Riley, and Maggie.
“You girls are welcome here anytime. In fact, I insist you come to every holiday from now on.”
“Grams …” Jax starts.
“Hush. I’m not done.” She smiles. “I’m getting old. I won’t be around forever. And it does my heart good to see my boys finding people who make them happy. So, Jax, don’t mess this up.” Then she looks at Maggie, Riley, and Jax’s brothers. “I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of you, too.”
Maggie and Riley’s cheeks turn pink.
She sits back down, pleased with herself. “Now, who wants pie?”
Everyone laughs, and the conversation returns to normal. But I catch Jax’s eye across the room, and he mouths, “I love you.”
I mouth it back.
Later, much later, after everyone has gone home, Jax and I are back in his room, curled up in bed.
“Best Christmas ever?” he asks.
“Best Christmas ever,” I confirm. “Though I have a feeling they’re all going to be this good from now on.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Because I’ll be spending them with you,” he says, pulling me closer. I rest my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
“One week,” he says quietly.
“One week until I move here for good.”
“Can’t wait.”
“Me neither.”
We lay there in comfortable silence, and I think about the future. About opening the business with Maggie and Riley. About building a life in this town. About waking up next to Jax every morning. About his family becoming my family. About everything I have to look forward to.
“Sloane?”
“Hmm?”
“Marry me.”
I lift my head to look at him. “What?”
“Not now. Not yet. But someday. When you’re ready. When we’ve had time to just be together. Marry me.”
My heart is racing. “Is that a proposal or a statement of intent?”
“Statement of intent. But also, a promise. That I’m in this. All the way. For keeps.”
Tears fill my eyes. “I’m in this, too. All the way.”
“Good.” He kisses me softly. “Then I’ll ask you properly someday. With a ring and a plan and something more romantic than a post-Christmas food coma conversation in bed.”
“I don’t need romantic. I just need you.”
“You’ve got me. Forever.”
“Forever,” I repeat. “I like the sound of that.”
We fall asleep wrapped around each other, and I dream about the future.
And when I wake up in the morning, I know with absolute certainty that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.
This is home.
This is family.
This is love.
And it’s everything I never knew I needed.
THE END