My throat is tight as I search her eyes. “You love us that much?”
“I do. More.”
“Nora, are you sure?”
She sighs softly, nodding. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
“Me either.” My heart is slamming against my ribs, my blood rushing past my ears. I take her hand in mine and pull her back toward the apartment. “Come on, let’s go home.”
Leaning into my side, she takes a breath that I feel through my whole being. “I thought you’d never ask.”
She has no idea what I’m going to ask.
I push the door open and blink, finding Boomer and Bowie back on the couch, watching TV as they polish off a couple of sandwiches.
“Good to see you, Fun Wrecker,” Boomer says around a last bite as Nora rushes to where Otto is tucked in his arm.
She pulls him into her and kisses his head again and again. Fresh tears stream down her cheeks as she whispers that she loves him. That she missed him. That she won’t leave him again. I wrap the two of them in my arms, chuckling as Otto excitedly kicks, huffing her hair.
Bowie grabs the remote, turns off whatever reality dating show they’ve been watching, and grabs his buddy by the ear. “We’ll get her bags for you and take off.”
“Thanks, man.”
The three of us head back to our bedroom. I drape Nora’s coat over the back of the chair and climb into bed with the two people my heart beats for. Otto lies on his back, tucked between us, his eyes bright, fixed on his favorite girl.
I get it. I can’t look away either.
I stretch out my arm, and she rests her head on it, dark curls spilling around her.
“I love you, Nora.”
Her eyes come up, meeting mine. “I love you too.”
She’s not going to miss a thing. Maybe she won’t do the things she planned quite the way she planned them, but she’ll do them. I’ll take her to Paris after the playoffs. Paris and anywhere else she wants to go. She can finish her degree. Build a career if she wants one, though she’ll never need to work again if she doesn’t want to.
Slipping my hand into my pocket, I pull out the box I swiped from the top dresser drawer when we came in.
“I got you something.”
She raises a brow. “Since I left this morning?”
“You say it like it wasn’t a thousand years ago.”
She laughs softly, but emotion breaks the sound. “Two thousand years.”
I nod, watching her. Wondering how I’m going to make myself leave for practice tomorrow, let alone the four-day road trip the day after.
But maybe this will make it easier to go.
“I actually bought it a while ago. But as much as I wanted to give it to you, I couldn’t.” I couldn’t hold her back. Even now, I’m glad I didn’t. That she got the chance to go. To choose… and she’d chosen us.
If she hadn’t, I’d have spent the next fifty years wanting to kick my own ass for taking that choice from her.
Her head lifts from my arm, her brows knitting. “Axel, what are you talking about?” And then those beautiful eyes go wide. “What’s in your hand? What is that?”
Time to find out if the little-blue-box magic works on Nora.
I clear my throat and flip the lid open. “This is actually from Otto and me. Because we both want you. We love you like we didn’t know was possible. And we’re asking you to be ours, forever. Marry us. Please.”
Another tear slides free. Carefully, she leans in, meeting me above Otto’s swinging arms for a kiss that’s sweet and pure and goes on and on.
Her brow meets mine and she smiles against my mouth. “Yes.”
We push to sit, our boy between us, and I gently extract the ring from its box. Otto wants it bad but settles when Nora gives him the box. He really likes it.
I settle when the diamond ring that was within is secure on her finger, and the woman who’s become my everything is that much closer to becoming my wife.
Epilogue
Off-Season
Nora
“He never puts that stick down.” Abby laughs from the playroom floor as Otto crawls across the rink-patterned area rug, his well-loved plushy hockey stick clutched in one tight fist.
“Not if he can help it.” My boy is moving fast, half grunting as he makes a beeline for five-month-old Evan Wagner, who’s been enjoying some tummy time while his mom and I talk shop.
Abby and I really hit it off earlier this year, and when she found out I wasn’t leaving Chicago, she called me up for lunch. One thing led to another, and once my little family of three got back from our incredible honeymoon in France, I started working a few hours a week with her at the Wagner Foundation.
It’s been incredibly fulfilling, and I love working with the woman who’s become one of my closest friends in Chicago. But now she’s asking if I’d be interested in more.
“So, this is a full-time thing?” I ask hesitantly, watching as Otto meets his favorite play buddy and offers a drooly grin down into his face before setting his sights on me.
“Yes, but with flexible hours, and at least part of your week could be work-from-home.” She smiles at me, head falling to the side. “Look, I know how busy you are with Otto and the new house and classes and everything, but you’ve been doing such an amazing job. I had to at least offer you the position.”
Just then, Axel strolls in wearing cargo shorts, an old band T-shirt, and the apron Boomer gave him as a housewarming gift… with Boomer’s face on the front. Ridiculous.
“What’s this about a new position?” He plucks Otto off the floor and swings him up in the air, earning a delighted giggle. “They realize your mommy can run the world?”
“Oh, please.” I roll my eyes… but with an adoring grin. My husband is as biased about my abilities as he is devoted to our family. Completely.
“Pretty much,” Abby agrees, chuckling when Otto gets a fist into Axel’s neatly cropped off-season hair and presses his hockey stuffy to his daddy’s mouth.
“Gross, little man.”
I’ll never get tired of watching them together. My two favorite people in the world.
I turn to Abby. “I’m not sure about full-time.”
I love the time I have with these guys, and finishing my degree is as important to me as my work at the foundation. I don’t want to give any of it up.
She reaches for my hand, giving it a squeeze. “I’ll email you the specifics, and you think it over. We’ll talk in a day or so. But it’s a no-pressure offer.”
Another option in a life that, once upon a time, had none. “Seriously, thank you for thinking of me.”
Abby starts packing up Evan so she can meet Hank and their teen son, Mickey, for dinner with her mom.
When she’s gone, Axel takes my hand, bringing it to his mouth. “Hungry?”
“Starving. Want to eat out back?” I’ve been smelling whatever he was grilling, and my mouth is watering like crazy.
“Already set up.”
I don’t know why I asked. We’ve been having dinner on the back patio every night the weather permits. It’s beautiful, strung with Edison globe lights and overlooking a lush garden, sprawling yard, and pool… all of which are big enough to accommodate my family visiting. A requirement Axel gave the realtor when we started looking because I am married to the most thoughtful, generous man in all the land.