Chapter 22 Maddie
MADDIE
Isit at my usual table in the lodge, just after dawn on the morning of Christmas Eve, wondering where the last few weeks went. So much has happened since the snowstorm that when the big day finally arrives, I can’t believe how fast the days have flown by.
There have been wedding plans for today keeping us busy, of course. But I’ve also been plenty busy working on my book and learning how the Angel Mountain factory operates, and what I can do to improve it.
I haven’t drawn the owner’s salary since the place became mine. So it’s just been sitting there, adding up and earning interest for all these years. And that means I can invest in things that make life better for the workers.
It took some doing, but I finally got it out of Eleanor that things like supportive chairs and better lighting would help the older ladies be more comfortable as they did their work. I also moved the thermostat down to the factory floor so that the ladies can adjust it to their heart’s delight.
The most fun thing was splurging on a few upgrades to the break room.
I’ve never been happier than on the Monday morning when they arrived to see the new table and chairs under a bright chandelier, along with a nicer coffee maker, a water cooler, and a big wooden buffet with healthy snacks stocked in the cupboards and a pretty, polished surface, where homemade treats can be proudly displayed on top.
There’s a row of hooks for hanging sweaters and bags now, and a wide window seat with cushions overlooking the view of the woods.
“Maddie, it’s lovely,” Aggie said, hugging me close, and then everyone else piled in for a big, group hug.
If my father could see this, I think he would approve. I know that he was overwhelmed by his money and he mostly tried to ignore it. I’d like to think that if I wind up earning even a tiny percentage of what he had, I won’t hide from it. I’ll make sure to find ways to make it meaningful.
I wanted to do something else important with the remainder of my nest egg, and so I talked to Jake about buying the lodge from him, so I could be sure nothing would ever happen to it.
But he reminded me that everything that’s his will also be mine after the wedding, and everything that’s mine will be his.
Of course, the whole conversation just made me think of Delilah marrying into my father’s fortune, and I hope Jake really knows that I’m not here for the money. I know he was relieved that my dad hadn’t actually left me with nothing. But he says it’s an emotional thing, not a money thing.
And he’s right. No one wants to feel forgotten.
After everything that happened with my own stepmother, I’m determined that Dylan will never feel forgotten by his father.
I’ve been trying to help Jake recognize that it’s okay to put his phone on the charger sometimes and walk away from it.
The memories he and Dylan are making right now are precious, and the future isn’t promised. No one knows that better than I do.
As for Dylan, he seems happy as can be. He’s decided that I’m going to be his mommy and nothing could be cuter than the pictures he’s been making of the three of us alongside a wedding cake that keeps getting more layers with each drawing.
Our only tense moment was when I first told Jake that I was going to be meeting with Delilah about the business.
He heard through some of his contacts that Delilah was furious when she realized that she couldn’t sell the name of the company, and she’d been telling anyone who would listen that my father had tricked her out of the Poconos factory.
So when she called and asked me to set up a time to go over some business details with her, Jake never expected that I would agree.
And when I did, he stormed around the chalet, incandescent that I would even think of meeting with her, until Dylan came into the room.
“When Maddie forgives her stepmother, her heart will be light,” he told his father with quiet conviction, leaving both of us a little bit amazed that he’d remembered that lesson from our story time by the fire.
But he’s right. It’s time for me to put it all behind me and move on. I’m not so sure I’ll be getting any kind of apology from Delilah, but I think Dad would want me to give her the opportunity.
And I’m trying hard to be my father’s daughter, every day.
Today is a day when I’m going to miss him bitterly, though. I can’t believe that by the time the sun goes down, I’ll be a married woman with a husband and son—the happiest woman in the world.
Ever since they cleared the roads after the big storm I’ve been staying in my apartment at the factory, but spending most days at the lodge and the chalet.
I got to the lodge super early this morning and just a few minutes ago, as the sun was starting to rise, I finished my book.
I have no idea what will happen with it. Maybe no one will ever read it but me. But it feels incredible to have completed something I dreamed of for so long.
And I’ve already got other ideas fighting for space in my imagination, all of them eager to get onto the page. So if this book doesn’t make it to print maybe another one will.
I close my laptop and slip it into my bag and then head back to the kitchen to see how Bronson is holding up.
Between the responsibility of making our wedding cake and the glory of knowing that Jake is about to build him a brand-new kitchen, this has been a very emotional time for our favorite chef.
During the snowstorm, the lodge staff and guests as well as the chalet owners and the workers all basically had a giant two-day slumber party in the lobby.
And hearing the new residents of the mountainside talk about how overrated working from home was and how lonely they all felt gave Jake an idea.
He’s having a giant kitchen addition built on the back of the lodge. And the current kitchen space is being converted into a “shared workspace” with a small café, where the new chalet neighbors can come to work and hang out.
If anyone understands feelings of isolation, it’s Jake Stone. It seems like planning the new workspace has been healing for him. He’s visibly happy every time he talks about it.
And Bronson is delighted because he’s getting an incredible new coffee station with all the latest European equipment and he gets to hire a new barista employee, whose whole job will be to help Bronson serve the workspace café guests.
“Maddie!” the chef exclaims when I appear in the doorway. “Don’t hover. Come and see your cake.”
He leads me back to the big fridge, where he’s removed several shelves to fit the cake. It’s absolutely enormous—seven tiers covered top to bottom in buttercream roses. Dylan is going to be in heaven. It’s even bigger than the ones in his drawings.
“What do you think?” Bronson asks, his usual confidence gone from his voice.
“It’s a triumph,” I tell him. “Is it wrong that I don’t want anyone to cut it up or eat it?”
Bronson laughs. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever heard that. It’s such a funny, happy sound, in no small part because it surprises us both.
“You’ll want to cut it up and eat it,” he says. “Believe me. There’s a raspberry jam infusion in there, just like you asked.”
“Jake will love it,” I say, smiling as I think of him eating that raspberry jam mountain pie by the fire what feels like a million years ago.
“Michael was looking for you earlier,” Bronson tells me.
“Oh, I’ll go find him,” I say. “Thank you again. It’s just magnificent.”
“Would you mind if I sent a video to Penelope?” he asks as I’m leaving.
“Not at all,” I tell him. “Great thinking.”
Amazingly, the influencer who was snowed in here made a handful of videos during the storm that ended up going pretty viral.
I think she might be singlehandedly responsible for us filling the rooms for the rest of the winter.
Tons of people saw the good old-fashioned fun we were all having eating grilled cheese and playing board games by the fire and wanted to be a part of it.
When I arrive in the lobby again, Michael is already waiting for me.
“Maddie,” he says with a warm smile. “I have a question for you.”
“Sure,” I reply.
Michael has a spring in his step lately, because one of the young gardeners has been promoted to bellhop, which means he’s a doorman once again, and able to focus on greeting and serving the guests the way he loves to do.
He leads me over to the fireplace to give us some privacy from Margo and the lady from the flower shop in town, who is here with a delivery for the ceremony.
“If you wanted,” Michael says carefully, “it would be my honor to give you away today.”
My heart wrenches in my chest and it takes everything I have not to just start sobbing.
“I understand that I can’t replace your father,” he says quickly, misinterpreting the look on my face. “And besides, I know young ladies your age probably don’t like to think of themselves as being given away anyhow…”
“Michael,” I manage, cutting him off. “Michael I’d love that.”
I barely get the words out before I’m hugging him and sobbing, and maybe that’s for the best. I was definitely going to cry at some point today, and I sure don’t want to do it in front of Dylan later.
I’m pulling myself together when someone comes to the door, and Michael rushes off to greet them.
“Why don’t we get you ready?” Margo says, approaching me with a gleam in her eyes.
She’s been very excited to do my hair and makeup for today.
“You’re not going to cry anymore, are you?” she asks suddenly, looking worried.
“No,” I tell her. “That was just the right amount of crying.”
It’s not true though.
I cry some more as Michael walks me down the makeshift aisle of the lobby. But that’s because all my adopted grandmas from the factory are wiping their eyes as we pass and I think happy tears must be contagious.
Eleanor gives me a secret smile and a wink as I pass and I know she’s telling me that she believes in me, and is proud.
The lodge staff members are all here too, along with a couple of curious and friendly guests. And Penelope and her cameraman, who I was shocked to learn is also her husband, are back to film everything for us.
It’s perfect. Almost.
I’ve been secretly wishing all day for just one more thing.
And even now, I’m searching the room for a sign—some sense that my dad is here with me.
But as I pass all these happy faces, I suddenly know to my bones, this is my sign. Every part of this moment—the factory he saved, the lodge he loved, this family of random people who have chosen to care about each other—he built this. The best of him is all around me.
And then I see Jake, looking handsome as ever, and Dylan beside him, and my whole world just falls into place.
Jake and I repeat our vows in calm and steady voices and I know all those promises we make are going to stick—not because there’s any magic in the words themselves, but because we are both ready to fight for this love, through thick and thin, rich and poor, in sickness and in health, and anything else life decides to throw our way.
Jake kisses me when it’s done and I practically swoon while all our well-wishers cheer.
“Now it’s time for cake,” Dylan says loudly, just as the cheers start to die down and we all have a good laugh as the three of us head back down the aisle to accept hugs and handshakes.
Sharing a meal in the dining room feels like the best way to celebrate. Naturally, it’s grilled cheese and homemade soup and it’s the most delicious meal I can imagine.
When Bronson and Anna roll the cake out on a little cart, we all practically go silent.
“Oh,” Dylan says reverently.
When Bronson calls us up to cut it, I’m pretty sure Jake will just hand me a slice on a china plate.
I told him all about how funny it was watching the old video of my parents’ wedding, where they smashed the cake into each other’s face before breaking down in laughter.
But this is Jake Stone we’re talking about.
He’s loosened up a lot since we met, but not that much.
“Here you go,” he says, his blue eyes sparkling.
And the next thing you know I’ve got about ten frosting flowers in my face.
I lick my lips and it’s beyond delicious. It’s heavenly.
But this calls for revenge, and he’s not even mad when I smush a big piece of cake in his face too.
Then everyone is laughing and clinking their glasses and I find myself kissing my handsome, sticky, delicious husband, while Dylan howls with laughter.
The biggest surprise of the day though, is when we’ve changed into comfy clothes and gathered in the lobby again. I’m expecting board games and hot chocolate, so when I see that Jake has the microphone again and Michael is dimming the lights, I’m amazed.
When Jake starts singing “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” and waves for me to join him, I’m laughing so hard I can barely sing.
But all our friends join in and Dylan scampers up to dance with us. I pick him up when the song is done, and he leans in close.
“I got all my wishes,” he whispers in my ear.
“You didn’t get your train set,” I remind him. I happen to know he’s getting it tomorrow though, and I think Jake is more excited to give it to him than Dylan is to get it. It’s a really nice wooden one from the toy store in town.
“I picked a different one,” he tells me, slipping a wadded-up bit of paper in my hand.
I open it up and find that it’s the original version of one of his letters to Santa.
“It’s from today,” he tells me. “Dad put the good one in the box.”
His scrawled words in pencil have been corrected with Jake’s neat pen.
Frosting for Bronson
Please send snow
I want Maddie in my family
My eyes blur with tears, and I close them for just a second, wondering how I ever got so lucky as to be in this child’s life.
“Look, Maddie,” he whispers, pointing.
Sure enough, when I look out the window, it’s snowing again on Angel Mountain. This time, it’s big lacy flakes that drift down like something on a Christmas card, and I feel so lucky to be in the lodge by the warm fire, surrounded by the people I love.