Epilogue
Willa said yes! She’s going to marry me.
I guess all those years of bad luck with women were for a reason. Those days got me to this point, and I’ve never been happier.
We announce our engagement, and our families and friends are ecstatic. Prior to that, we took a trip up to Boston to tell my folks the news in person. They were thrilled.
I also had the chance to finally show Willa where I grew up. All in all, it was a great trip.
When we return, the Bears tweet out the news, and we’re inundated with well-wishes from tons of people.
I ask Willa when we should have our wedding, and she agrees with me that the offseason would be best.
So we go with July.
When we choose the exact date, she tells me, “This is going to be the absolute best wedding I’ve ever planned. It certainly will be the most important.”
I take her in my arms. “You got that right.”
The days and months pass by, and it’s pretty much all hockey and wedding planning. Turns out, Willa wants a midsize wedding.
That’s fine with me.
We decide on a church and a beautiful reception venue. She tells me that she wants lots of candles and loads of flowers.
Shay helps with a lot of the arrangements as well. Between their attention to detail and expertise, I know we’re going to have a spectacular wedding.
And we do—my wedding day is the best day of my life.
We settle into wedded bliss, and another new season begins.
My team is having a strong start, and my own stats are impressive, even better than last year, which were good.
Then one day in late October, after I return from two away games, Willa sits me down in the living room.
“I have something to talk to you about,” she says.
It sounds serious, and I immediately begin to worry.
She hands me an envelope, and it feels like there’s some kind of sticklike thing in it.
Now I’m totally confused.
“What is this?” I ask.
Smiling, so I know this can’t be all bad, she says, “Just open it, Shane.”
Feeling a little more confident, I tear open the envelope.
Annnd…
Out falls a little plastic stick.
Hey, I know what this is.
I look over at her with wide eyes, speechless for a moment.
“Willa?” I manage to whisper.
“Flip it over, silly.”
I do, and I am now experiencing another best day of my life.
Willa is pregnant!
We weren’t trying, per se, but we weren’t not trying either. We didn’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves, so we were just taking it day by day to see what would happen.
And now it is happening.
“We’re having a baby,” I gush.
“We are,” she replies with a huge smile.
She scoots over, and we share a kiss, then just hold on to each other.
I feel blessed to have had two of the best days of my life happen in just the past year.
But the day that exceeds all of the above is when my son is born and the nurse places him in my arms for the first time.
I fall in love all over again, but this time as a father.
I also fall deeper in love with Willa.
A love I thought couldn’t grow any stronger actually does.
Yeah, I love my wife and I love my son, and the life I have as of this day is the best this man could ever have hoped for.
Up next in the best-selling Glacier Hockey romance series of interconnected stand-alones is book #4—Brock—releasing October 2026!