Epilogue
Your swimsuit is really tight, honey.”
Lilly snorted. “Mom, all swimsuits are tight.”
“Well, I mean, there are a lot of half-naked men here.”
“They’re all Austin’s teammates. You can tell because Dad’s staring at them with his mouth open.”
She’d never realized her father was a hockey fan, but when Del had invited him to a pool party with the L.A.
Hawks, it had been the first time in months that he’d actually been looking forward to leaving the house.
To rest his hip, he was lying on one of the lounge chairs, talking to Nieminen about if Finland was really as cold as everyone said.
Within an hour, he’d probably convinced the player to pull some weeds at their place — even though it was completely unnecessary.
Austin had insisted on paying for a cleaning lady and a gardener for her parents and their house was currently looking better than Lilly’s.
“All right,” her mother said. “I must say your Austin is really attractive.” She looked with satisfaction at Austin, who was blowing up a beach ball. It wasn't for Del or any of the kids. No, it was for Blake Ford, who claimed his cheeks always hurt too much when he blew up a ball or balloon.
Lilly grinned. “Yes, I’m quite pleased.”
“You could have told us about him!”
“It was…complicated.”
“And now it isn’t?”
She shook her head, smiling. “No. Now it’s…easy.”
She knew it wouldn’t always be easy, but that was okay. She wasn’t alone. She and Austin would work it out together, no matter what obstacles arose.
“I’m glad to hear that, honey. So, you honestly know all these people?” she asked, surprised.
Lilly glanced around and realized the answer was yes. She knew every face. Delfina’s dream pool party was in full swing, which meant it was loud. And not necessarily because of the kids.
Delfina had thought it only fair to invite Austin’s entire team, including the coach and management, because, to quote her, “I don’t want to leave anyone out. I always feel awful when I’m left out!”
Which meant that, in addition to the children’s screams from Del’s entire swim team and some of her classmates, heated discussions were raging in every corner: about the season, about hockey — or, in the case of the coach and his two teenage daughters, about whether TikTok was amazing or the app from hell.
Everyone here knew that his daughters simply enjoyed getting on his nerves, but the players were too fascinated by their all-powerful coach losing his temper, so no one intervened.
“Austin has a very big family,” she said contentedly. “They’re all here.”
Her mom smiled and hugged her. “I’m so glad that you’re happy. And thanks for getting your dad to look at something other than the TV again. I’d better rescue the handsome Finn now since he can’t be having much fun discussing snow.
Her mother walked over to the lounge chair by the pool as a muscular arm tightened around Lilly’s shoulder.
“I can’t believe you only told them about me last week,” Austin whispered in her ear.
Lilly shrugged. She’d wanted to have him to herself for a little while longer! Before her parents demanded to meet him. “Well, it’s a good thing we’re in a forgiving mood this week,” she said innocently, wrapping her arm around his waist.
Austin looked down at her, smiling…and got that look on his face. It was a look she’d never shared with a man before. A look so full of love and trust that others felt like they were invading their privacy.
Others. Not Leon.
“Man, get your daughter under control!” he complained loudly, pushing his way into her line of sight. “She called me a jerk for no reason!”
“I guess I did have a reason!” Delfina shouted, rushing over to them. “He said if I took Dad’s name, I’d sound like a zoo!” Lilly grimaced. Well, Delfina Fox wasn’t exactly ideal…
“That’s okay,” Austin said. “I was thinking of taking your name anyway. As a double name, so to speak.”
She looked at him, puzzled. “You’d do that?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t seem fair to me that Del has to get used to something new, so I don’t mind.”
Leon snorted. “Fox-Adams would look awful on a jersey, you know that, right?”
Austin smiled curtly. “Not as bad as Alvarez.”
Leon flipped him the bird, and Del gasped in exasperation. “Hey!” she complained loudly. “Middle fingers are rude.”
“No, middle fingers are necessary,” Leon corrected her sagely. “I’m only not giving you one because you’re a little kid and it would never be a fair fight between us.”
Delfina pushed out her lower lip. “I bet it would be a fair fight.”
Leon snorted. “Never.”
“Okay.” Delfina narrowed her eyes. “I bet I can collect more pool noodles than you in ten minutes.”
Lilly grinned. Boy, was she glad there was now a bunch of hockey players who could make bets with her daughter.
“Oh, you’re on, little one,” Leon said, glaring at her. “You’re going down.”
“Never. I can swim.”
“I didn’t mean that kind of down,” he retorted angrily. “I meant: You’re going to lose.”
She snorted. “I’m short, I can bend down faster.”
"Oh, if you only knew how often I get down on my knees in front of women to…”
“Leon!” Austin snapped at him before Lilly could.
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” He waved it off.
“Dad, can you time us?” Delfina asked.
Leon flipped her off. “No! He’s on your side since he made you. We’ll ask West since he’ll be fair.”
With that, Leon strutted past her.
“Cazzone!” Del whispered and then ran after him.
“What does that mean?” Austin demanded.
Lilly smiled. “Idiot.”
“Oh, she summed up Leon perfectly.”
She laughed. “Del is extremely clever. You have tomorrow off, right? Could you drive her to school again? My vases are sold out again, so I have to make new ones.”
“Yup," he confirmed, kissing her temple before murmuring, “And after that, I’d like to visit you in the workshop and watch you work.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s incredibly hot.”
She grinned and leaned against him. “Well, there’s a furnace in the workshop, so…”
“That’s not what I mean. What you’re doing. With your hands, your mouth…that’s incredibly hot,” he said roughly.
She snorted. “I’m dirty and sweaty…”
“Now you’re just confirming what I said!”
“You sound like my groupie!”
“Is that a fantasy of yours?” he asked, intrigued. “That I pretend to be your groupie?”
She laughed loudly. “No! May be I should play yours?”
He tilted his head as if considering it, then said, “I wouldn’t mind if you were my groupie for a night.”
“What? So I can chase you around the house, and instead of shouting, I want your baby, I want your baby!, I can scream, I have your baby, I have your baby?”
He grinned and kissed her on the head before whispering in her ear, “I wouldn’t mind if you wanted another baby by me. Or even three.”
“Three?” she echoed incredulously.
“We could agree on two more; I’m open to negotiation.”
She smiled and kissed his chest. “Okay, I could manage two more.”
“Great. It would be a shame to stop now, since we’re obviously so damn good at it.” He gestured toward Delfina. “We owe it to humanity to keep going.”
She laughed loudly and watched Del patiently explain to Leon how he could improve his dive.
“Our daughter is pretty amazing, isn’t she?” she said contentedly.
Austin pulled his arm tighter around her shoulder and stared sideways at her.
She looked up, surprised. “What?”
“I like it when you say our.”
Her cheeks warmed. “Well, I should get used to it, shouldn’t I? I don’t think you’re going anywhere.”
“No, I'm not,” he confirmed with satisfaction.
“Good.” She smiled. “That’s good. Delfina would be inconsolable.”
“Only Delfina?”
“No. I would be,” she admitted with a grin—and kissed him.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading One More Puckin’ Chance!