Epilogue
GO FOR THE GOLD
Winter
Five Years Later
It’s the third period, just over a minute and a half left in the game. We’re tied. Overtime is coming if we don’t score a goal. My stomach is tight with anticipation. Anything can happen.
I scan the arena and find BJ in the stands. His parents are here, too, and so is my mom. I never thought this would be my life. Never dared to dream this big until BJ came along and planted an entire garden of hope in my heart and made it bloom endlessly.
Nothing about the past five years has been easy, but every battle we fought to get here has been worth it.
BJ eventually decided to try for the Olympics as a solo skater. It took four years of rehab and hard work to get him there, but he made it to the trials. We both did. And this past year has been the toughest yet, because we had to spend so much time apart.
But we accomplished the goal, despite all odds, and he’s made the best out of what has been a truly life-altering injury.
There were so many times that he wanted to give up, months where it looked like competitive skating would never be an option for him again.
He had some deep lows, but we battled through them together.
I did for him what he did for me—fed his hope, held his hand, and held him up when he couldn’t do it on his own.
We’ve spent a lot of time on the ice together and even more time off it, planning, figuring things out, and growing as a couple.
Every day I fall more and more in love with him. With his resilience. With his patience. With his desire to overcome the obstacles in his path.
He didn’t place, but he competed. For him, that was always the goal. And it was enough. His plan now is to go back to school and get his PhD in psychotherapy. I finished a degree in social work, but I have a place on the women’s US hockey team, and it’s been a dream come true.
And so much else has happened over the past five years.
My mom completed her GED. Seeing her graduate was amazing, and then she took classes at a community college to become a personal care aide.
She’s working at the Lavender House now, which Clover and Maverick run with the help of our amazing hockey family.
It’s a place where battered women and their families go to get back on their feet.
They help with everything from housing and therapy, to accompanying women and their families to court dates, or retrieving belongings from their homes so they can start fresh.
It’s exactly the right place for my mom, and she couldn’t be happier.
I hope one day she’ll find love again, but the good kind. The kind that builds her up instead of breaks her down.
I catch BJ’s gaze from across the arena, and he presses two fingers to his lips and touches his heart, mouthing you got this.
A few seconds later, the whistle blows, and I’m back on the ice, heading for my teammate who has control of the puck.
I see the opportunity, and so does she. She passes to me, and instead of taking the shot, I pass it back, skating behind the net and picking up the puck again as I come out the other side.
Then I tap it in, the buzzer going off a few seconds later.
The roar of the crowd is deafening, and I’m swarmed by my teammates, my eyes lifting to the scoreboard as I watch our score move from two to three, giving Team USA the gold medal. Another goal accomplished. Another win. Another hope flower blooming.
BJ
Watching Winter kick ass on the ice fills my heart in a way no medal ever could. Making it to the Olympics was an uphill battle for both of us. But it’s been worth every grueling minute to see Winter shine so brightly.
It’s hours later before I can finally celebrate this huge win with her. And even more hours before we’re alone in our hotel room. For the first time in weeks.
“You were magical out there tonight.” I cup her face between my palms and kiss her, but don’t make a move to deepen it yet. I want to revel in the closeness for a minute. To soak up her presence like a balm. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too.” She wraps her arms around my waist. “I’m all for love professions and long conversations, but can we save them for pillow talk? We haven’t had sex in weeks, and I’m ready to explode.”
I chuckle. “So you’re saying you don’t want me to tell you one of my long, meandering stories with no ending?”
“Later, after you’ve given me several outstanding orgasms and I’m too tired and sated to complain, you’re more than welcome to tell one of your excessively long-winded, meandering stories. But for now, we have a lot of Tongue-Fuck Tuesdays and Sweet Spot Saturdays to make up for.”
“Stop talking and let me kiss you then.” I slant my mouth over hers and walk her backwards to the bed.
We kiss like the world is on fire, and Winter tries to tear the clothes off my body. “I’m not going anywhere, Snowflake.”
“I need you. I missed you. The only reason I made it through was because I knew eventually I’d be right here with you again.” She shoves my pants and boxers down and grips my erection.
We both groan as we climb onto the bed.
“What if I want to savor this experience? It isn’t every day I get to have hot sex with an Olympic medalist.”
“You can savor later. Right now, I need to fuck-ebrate.”
“Fuck-ebrate? Did you come up with that on your own or—”
My words get lost when she pulls me between her parted thighs and guides me to her entrance. She wraps her legs around my waist, tipping her hips up as she pushes down on my ass at the same time.
Everything changes the second I’m inside her. All my stupid commentary dissolves into grunts of desperation and moans of need.
The sex isn’t gentle or tender or sweet like I’d originally planned. It’s weeks of pent-up desire unleashed. It’s a frenzy of need, hot words, and promises of more groaned into each other’s mouths. It isn’t until we’ve both come twice that Winter finally takes stock of our surroundings.
She peels a pink rose petal off my chest and glances around the room. “Oh my God, you tried to make this all romantic, and I attacked you like a starved wolf.”
“I can’t really blame you, though. I’m hard to resist, aren’t I?”
She laughs. “Totally irresistible.”
I caress the edge of her jaw. “I do plan to make sweet, sweet love to you. Soon—”
Before I can say anything else, Winter puts a hand on my chest. “I have something I need to ask you first.”
“Fire away.”
“I love you.” Her hand rests over my heart. I’ve added new art over the years, including several snowflakes.
“I love you too. More than anyone else in the world.”
“It’s the same for me.” She brushes her lips over mine.
“That wasn’t a question, though.”
“I know. I’m getting to it.” She runs her hands through my hair. It’s shorter again. And I’m beardless.
“The anticipation is real.”
She smiles softly. “The last six years have been amazing, and challenging, and more than I’d ever dreamed they could be.
The universe brought you into my life when I needed you most. You showed me what strength and perseverance are.
I know my playing for Team USA means we’re apart almost as much as we’re together, but I feel like all it does is make our love stronger. ”
“Watching you live your dream has been totally worth it,” I assure her.
“I want to face whatever challenges come at us together. I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” Winter whispers.
I let my fingers drift down her cheek. I have a feeling I know where this is going. “Funny, because I’ve been thinking the same thing.”
“I have something for you.” Winter grabs her toiletries bag from the nightstand.
It’s where she keeps her birth control pills and extra condoms. Her hands are shaking as she turns back to me.
“I know this defies convention, but that’s sort of how we roll.
” She reveals a small, blue velvet box, but before she can flip it open, I cover her hand with mine.
“Hold one second, please.” I slide my hand under the pillow behind her and feel around for the box I tucked there earlier. I flip my hand palm up and show her the matching blue velvet box. “Looks like we’re on the same page again.”
Winter tweaks my nipple. “Are you stealing my thunder?”
I arch a brow. “Are you stealing mine?”
We laugh.
“I guess the sweaty palms are pretty pointless now, huh?”
“Seems like we’re both sure things.”
She grins. “Seems like.”
“It might be a bit archaic, but in this case, ladies first seems appropriate.”
“I had a whole speech prepared, and I can’t remember any of it now,” Winter admits.
“I’m planning to save mine for after we’ve made sweet, sweet love and you’re too orgasm-sated to be annoyed by how long and meandering it is.”
“Seems on brand.” She takes a deep breath.
“I know we’re young, and we still have so much learning and growing to do, but you’re my ride or die, Randall.
You’re the only person I want to experience this roller coaster called life with.
” She flips open the box. Inside is a white gold ring with a single snowflake etched into the band. “Will you marry me?”
“Absolutely and without question, yes.” I flip open the box in my own palm to reveal a white gold band with tiny diamonds that form a snowflake pattern. “There is nothing and no one in this world that I love more, Winter. My heart belongs to you.”
“And mine belongs to you.”
We slip the bands on each other’s fingers and lace them together.
“Whatever you need,” I murmur.
“However you need it,” she whispers.
“I’ll give it to you,” we say together.
“Just you.”
She smiles and echoes, “Just you.”
“Always.”
She’s one of a kind.
My Snowflake.
My forever.
THE END