Chapter 8 Cora
Chapter eight
Cora
The plows finally carved a path down the mountain this morning. Dawson spent an hour chaining up his truck, jaw tight, eyes flicking to me every thirty seconds like he was afraid I’d vanish if he looked away too long.
Now we’re rumbling down the last stretch of gravel, Pine Hollow glittering below us like someone spilled diamonds across the valley. My stomach is in knots.
I keep waiting for the goodbye. For the polite thank-you-for-the-amazing-week, see-you-around-town, careful distance. Because that’s what happens after a blizzard fling, right? Except nothing about this feels like a fling, and I’m terrified I’m the only one who knows it.
He’s silent the whole drive, one hand on the wheel, the other gripping my thigh like he’s anchoring himself.
Half a mile from the town limits, he suddenly pulls off onto a wide turnout where the forest service keeps a scenic overlook. Fresh snow sparkles under the sun, untouched except for rabbit tracks. The truck rolls to a stop.
I frown. “Dawson?”
He kills the engine, stares straight ahead for a long second, then turns to me. His face is pale under the beard, eyes stormy.
“Get out with me.”
My heart starts hammering. This is it. He’s letting me down easy in the prettiest spot on the mountain so I won’t make a scene.
I swallow hard and climb out. The cold bites through my coat instantly.
He comes around the hood, boots crunching, and I brace myself.
Then he drops to one knee in the snow.
I stop breathing.
He looks up at me, gray eyes fierce and terrified and so full of everything that my own eyes flood before he even speaks.
“I don’t have a ring,” he starts, voice rough. “I didn’t plan this. I’m doing it all wrong, but I can’t drive another inch unless I know.”
He takes my bare hand in both of his, big and warm and trembling just slightly.
“I fell in love with you the second you handed me that damn cocoa and smiled like the world wasn’t a heavy place. I’ve been in love with you every single day since. I’m so in love with you it hurts to breathe.”
Tears spill hot down my frozen cheeks.
“I’m not good at this,” he continues, voice cracking.
“I don’t have pretty words or a ring or any right to ask, but I need to know you’re coming back to me.
That this isn’t just a Christmas miracle that disappears when the snow melts, Cora McClaine…
will you marry me? Be my family? Let me be yours? ”
The yes is out of my mouth before he finishes.
“Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes.”
I drop to my knees in the snow too, not caring that it soaks through my jeans, and kiss him hard.
“I love you,” I gasp against his mouth. “I love you so much, I didn’t know what to do with it. I was terrified you were bringing me back to say goodbye.”
He hauls me into his arms, crushing me against his chest, face buried in my hair. “Never. You’re stuck with me forever now, sunshine.”
We stay like that until we’re both shivering, foreheads pressed together, laughing through the tears like idiots.
Eventually, he stands, pulls me up with him, and kisses me slow and deep right there in the middle of the snowy overlook.
I don’t care.
I’m engaged to Dawson Hartman.
The rest of the drive into town is a blur of stupid grins and stolen kisses.
We pull up to Dottie’s store, and I drag him inside by the hand, bursting through the door like a lunatic.
Dottie looks up from the register, takes one look at our faces, and her eyes go wide. “What has you two looking like the happiest people on Earth?” she asks.
I hold up my bare left hand and wiggle my fingers. “Dawson asked me to marry him in the snow. No ring yet. I said yes. A million times yes.”
Dottie lets out a whoop that probably shatters windows three counties over, drops her invoice book, and barrels around the counter to crush us both in a hug that smells like cinnamon.
Dawson laughs and hugs her back with one arm while keeping me tucked tight against his side with the other.
Dottie pulls back, wipes her eyes, and beams at us. “Well, don’t just stand there. We’ve got cinnamon rolls to bake and a wedding to plan. Christmas came late this year, but damn if it isn’t the best one yet.”
I look up at Dawson, and he looks down at me like I’m the only thing in the universe. We’re both grinning like fools. I’ve never felt this happy before and I can’t wait to spend my life with this man.