Chapter 9
My heart rate sped up with each floor we climbed, the elevator moving quickly to the top of my condo tower.
At the end of last season, I’d debated selling this place and moving out to the suburbs, but that had taken a back burner to everything else lately, especially since this place was already outfitted to suit Mom’s needs.
“Jesus, how high are we going?” Shannon muttered as she watched the numbers ticking by.
“I have the penthouse.”
When her hand twitched in mine, I looked down at her. “Are you afraid of heights?”
She shook her head, but the bead of sweat gathering along her hairline told a different story.
“I grew up at altitude. What a dumb question.”
Leena wiggled out of my hold, and I set her down at my feet before turning back to Shannon.
“That’s not the same. Are you afraid of heights, wife?”
“Stop calling me that.”
“But that’s what you are, wife.”
She rolled her eyes, but the tension in her shoulders eased.
When the elevator finally stopped, I gave her hand another squeeze. Whether it was for her or me, I wasn’t sure, but I liked the feeling of her hand in mine, and I had no idea how the next few minutes would go.
The doors slid open, revealing the wall of windows wrapping around my apartment. Shannon’s gaze swept across the skyline stretching beneath us before dropping to the floor, her grip shifting again.
I reached over to the control panel beside the entryway and pressed a button. Instantly, the motorized shades drifted down in a quiet sweep, replacing the endless view of Denver with soft linen until the room felt comfortably enclosed instead of suspended over the city.
“Better?” I asked.
She looked from the windows to me, her brow knitting together. “Yes. Thanks.”
My daughter had no such reservations, darting across the foyer, pink sneakers squeaking against the hardwood.
“Leena?” Mom’s voice floated through the apartment. “Where’s my baby?”
Leena shrieked with delight and sprinted toward her when Mom came around the corner. She locked the brakes on her wheelchair and opened her arms, laughing when Leena climbed into her lap with the confidence of someone who’d done it a hundred times before.
Shannon’s attention followed them, watching Leena wrap both arms around my mom’s neck and squeeze. Despite everything life had thrown at her, Mom had never once let anyone wonder if they were loved, and it was impossible not to love her back.
Once Leena settled against her, Mom released the brakes and rolled toward us. Her smile stayed fixed on me until her gaze landed on Shannon standing beside me. It lingered for half a heartbeat before dropping to where our hands were still linked.
“This is Shannon,” I said, deciding there wasn’t much point easing into whatever came next.
“And who is Shannon?” my dad asked in Finnish as he stepped into the room behind Mom.
“Someone important,” Mom answered before I could, her eyes still focused on Shannon. “Don’t be rude, Jari.”
She continued toward us, Leena bouncing happily in her lap.
“Hello, Shannon. I’m Helena.” She offered her hand with an easy smile. “And this is my husband, Jari.”
Shannon shifted enough to shake her hand, mine still wrapped around her left. I hadn’t meant to hide her wedding ring, but maybe buying us another minute wasn’t the worst idea.
“It’s nice to meet you both.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed as he looked between us.
“This is your friend?” he asked in Finnish. “How long have you known her?”
“Long enough.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“And I don’t owe you one.”
His expression only hardened, arms folded over his chest. “I didn’t raise a fool, Mikko. This isn’t the time for a woman, not when your career is on the line.”
Shannon stiffened beside me, her hand practically vibrating in mine. She couldn’t understand him, but from the way he spat the words, the meaning was unmistakable.
He was disappointed in me, and he didn’t like her.
Too bad I’d done this song and dance before.
“I’m sure Shannon would prefer you switch to English if you’re going to insult us both.”
My mom was on the verge of tears, the same way she was every time Dad and I butted heads like this. But how was I supposed to look him in the face when he hadn’t chosen me for the Finnish Olympic team last winter?
I wasn’t good enough then, and I sure wasn’t good enough now.
Maybe I never would be.
“How long have you known my son?” Dad asked.
Shannon smiled politely, an odd look on the fearsome woman I’d seen bring grown men to their knees. “We met during the winter Olympics earlier this year.”
Mom drew in a breath, her eyes watering as she looked between us. “A sign, Miksu.”
Dad’s jaw tightened, and so did my hand in Shannon’s.
“That’s right,” she said. “Mikko told me you were both Olympians. That’s how you met. I forgot that connection.”
She looked up at me, her dark brows raised, looking for my approval. I gave her the smallest nod, reassuring her she was doing great.
With a grin, Shannon looked back at my parents and said, “So now Mikko needs to make the national team, and the legacy’s complete, right?”
Mom’s eyes darted to me, a hurt expression I couldn’t stand shining back. Dad looked away from us both, muttering under his breath. But Shannon stood there, oblivious to the mess she’d walked into. That she’d hit my family’s most tender nerve.
“Is that why she’s here?” my dad said, switching back to Finnish. “So you can punish me some more?”
Anger rose so fast in me, all rational thought went right out the window.
I lifted Shannon’s hand that was still tangled in mine, turning it so her ring was clear as day.
“This is why she’s here, Papa. Because my wife is loyal.
Because she believes in me even when I’m not good enough.
Because she chose me, which is more than I can ever say for you. ”
Shannon’s back went ramrod straight, surprised by the sudden turn of events, and I felt like an asshole. Maybe I should have warned her, or called ahead, or done something to lessen the blow. But this was how every conversation with my father ended with me pissed off, hurt, and feeling not enough.
“Your son is wonderful,” Shannon said. Her voice laced with steel, but the words were so tender they shocked the hell out of me.
“He steps up for those in need, even when they can’t admit they need it,” she went on, and my heart pounded in my chest.
“And look at what he’s done for his daughter.” Shannon pointed at the toys gathered in the corner of my otherwise modern penthouse, the highchair tucked under the counter, the boots by the front door.
“He’s selfless and kind and thoughtful and just plain good in a way most people can’t even fathom. If you don’t see the value in that, then it’s time to look inside, Mr. Laaksonen, because that’s your inferiority complex showing, not his.”
Silence sat heavy in the room, everyone as shocked as me by what she said.
Shannon’s fingers loosened in mine, realizing what she’d done.
But I couldn’t let go.
Not after that.
Not after she’d stepped into a fight she’d never asked for and somehow walked away defending me better than I’d ever defended myself.
I couldn’t look away.
Not when she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin enough to dare anyone to disagree with her. I’d watched her put Beckett and his players in their place without breaking a sweat, but this wasn’t the same.
She’d gone to war with my father for a man she barely knew.
Slowly, she turned toward me, and the fight melted out of her expression almost instantly.
“What?” she asked quietly.
“You...” I shook my head once, still trying to catch up to whatever had just happened. “Thank you.”
A faint blush crept across her cheeks, and she looked almost embarrassed by the gratitude.
“I don’t like bullies.”
“No,” my mom said. “Neither do I.”
The room had gone so quiet I’d almost forgotten anyone else was standing there.
Mom rolled toward us until she stopped directly in front of Shannon. For a long moment, she simply looked at her, studying her face with the same careful kindness she’d always reserved for people worth knowing. When Leena reached for Shannon, my mom smiled.
“My son has spent his whole life protecting everyone else,” she said. “It’s nice to see someone protecting him for a change.”
Shannon’s eyes widened, and Mom reached forward, covering both Leena’s tiny hand and Shannon’s with hers.
“Welcome to the family, Shannon.”
Something caught in my throat.
Shannon blinked hard, clearly fighting whatever emotion had blindsided her too.
“I...” She laughed softly, the sound thinner than usual. “Thank you.”
For the first time since we’d met, Shannon didn’t seem to know what to do with herself.
She stood there looking almost strangely vulnerable, her shirt slipping off one shoulder to reveal the roses tattooed down her pale arm.
I’d noticed them before, but somehow I’d missed the thorns woven through every stem.
Now they made perfect sense.
They were beautiful, sure, but those thorns were what made her different. And I’d watched those thorns come out for me.
When her storm-gray eyes finally lifted to mine through the curtain of dark hair framing her face, I knew I was staring, but I couldn’t make myself stop.
Mom chuckled when Leena climbed off her lap and tugged at Shannon’s leg, pointing at her backpack.
Shannon slipped it off her shoulder and crouched beside her, digging out the bag of princess dolls they’d been playing with all day before placing it in Leena’s eager hands.
I could feel Mom’s eyes shift from Shannon to me, full of far more understanding than I was comfortable with.
“I think she’s exactly what this family needed.”
Across the room, Dad said nothing. He only turned away with a muttered curse under his breath and disappeared down the hallway.
But for the first time in a long time, watching him walk away didn’t feel like losing.