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“I love it, Tommy!” I exclaimed.

“You’re getting better and better at these,” Adele chimed in.

It was a three-tiered cake, decorated with a holiday theme. “I sure hope it tastes good,” he said as he sat down.

“Your cakes always taste good,” Maggie said.

“I am too full,” I announced a little while later.

As I let my gaze arc around the table, my heart felt like it might crack wide open from the fullness. Lincoln’s arm was slung casually around my shoulders and we were all just relaxing and talking. My dad was regaling them with his fishing tales from other parts of the world during his military days. I felt like we’d found a new family, as if we all belonged here.

I glanced up at Lincoln and impulsively leaned up to press a quick kiss on his cheek, and Maggie literally clapped from across the table, beaming. “I love you two!”

“Don’t you love all of us?” Grady teased lightly.

She glanced between Asher and Grady. “Now, you two get busy.”

“Oh, my God, Mom!” Asher protested while Grady rolled his eyes.

Chapter Forty-Six

Lincoln

Inside laps

Before the sun rose for a Christmas day that was cold with a bright blue sky and snow dusting everything beautifully, I woke up beside Chloe. The moment I became aware, my lips instantly curled in a smile because Chloe was warm and soft against me, and I hadn’t had a nightmare.

As I pondered that detail, I considered I might never fully know what would set off my nightmares. But I thought maybe this latest batch of them had been triggered with the run up to my first Christmas at Heartfire Falls since the fire.

I’d visited plenty, but I always managed to concoct a reason why I couldn’t make it for the actual holiday. I dreaded it. I would usually come before or after. I took a slow breath, my heart kicking with an achy beat. I missed my dad, and I missed my sister, and I always would. But that was the thing about loss. You learned to live with it, to carry it, and the sharpness of the pain did ease over time.

Chloe stirred beside me. It was still dark out, but the moon was dipping in the sky, creating a shimmering line over the mountain range. I checked the clock on my nightstand, five in the morning, my usual wake-up time.

“Lincoln.” Chloe’s voice was soft around the edges with sleep, a little raspy. I rolled my head to glance at her. She was curled against my side, her knee draped over mine. “Merry Christmas.” I slid my palm down her spine and gave her bottom a squeeze, and she giggled. “I have to pee,” she added.

I chuckled. “Same. Should we just get up?”

“Let’s. I love being up early while it’s still dark.”

Chloe giggled again as we untangled ourselves. The sound of her laughter was like sun shining through the windows into my heart. We rolled out of bed together, took care of business one at a time, and then I tugged her into the shower with me. Might as well start the day exactly right, which meant savoring the sound of her shuddering against me and gasping my name.

“You want to go for a morning walk?” I asked after we got dressed.

She glanced up, a slow smile unfurling across her face. “Yes.”

We bundled up and tromped outside into the yard, looking up at the stars stretching across the sky, our breath misting in the air as we walked. “We’re not going far,” she announced.

“Of course not,” I replied with a low laugh. “There’s something special about being outside in the morning in the winter.”

“I know.” She peered up at me, wearing her mittens, clapping them together before leaning up to cup my cheeks and press a fierce kiss on my lips.

“I love you, Lincoln.”

“I love you.” The joy I felt was almost too big, maybe as big as the Alaska sky, which when it was quiet like this and you looked toward the mountains, felt endless. “One of these nights we need to bring the telescope out.”

“Really?” Chloe squeaked. “We can do that?”

“Of course we can. I’m going to have to dig it out. It was my dad’s.”