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He chuckles, dropping a kiss to my lips. “I’ll gladly carry you home.”

I throw my best pout at him. “And then hot springs?”

He rolls his eyes, but his smile doesn’t fall. “What kind of mate would I be to deny you such pleasures?”

CHAPTER 25

BLAKE 1 MONTH LATER - CHRISTMAS DAY

“Baby!” Arden’s excited voice flows through the cabin from outside. “Come out here!”

I pack away the wrapping paper and tape. For the last thirty minutes, I’ve been trying to figure out how to wrap Arden’s present but the shape of the gift is hard to work with. For now the ten pieces of tape and three separate cuttings of paper for the painfully small object should suffice.

“Coming!” I yell back, tucking the present into the drawer so he doesn’t find it before we go to his parents for dinner.

I hurry down the hall, humming the upbeat Christmas music that plays on the speaker in the kitchen.

Arden stands on the patio with his furry back turned to me, his gaze overlooking the winter wonderland beyond the cabin. Gentle tufts of snow fall in the breeze and the smell of smoke fills the valley.

I take a spare jacket from the hook and open the front door. “What is it?” I whisper in case it’s wildlife.

The other week, Arden put out bird and deer feeders and since then we’ve had countless creatures wandering into the open space between the cabin and the shed. From colorful tits to deer and even a few moose. Arden’s shown me how to read their footprints in the snow and I’m slowly getting better at it.

“No shoes?” His gaze is trained on my socks. Unlike myself, he can wander into the snow without shoes. Which has caused me to pick up the bad habit of constantly forgetting mine.

I turn to go back inside and find a pair when he stops me. “Let me carry you.”

I don’t object. Arden pulls me against his chest, his arm wrapping under my knees as he takes a step off the patio and towards the shed.

“What is it?” I ask again.

His lips quirk around his canines. “A surprise.”

I grunt. I’m not too keen on surprises. But my curiosity gets the better of me so I stay quiet. Snow falls around us, some catches in my hair. Opening my jaw, I stick out my tongue, feeling the icy drops landing against my muscle.

Arden laughs, kissing my temple. “Taste good?”

I nod. “Like the thanksgiving turkey your mom made.”

He gives me a look but says nothing, just shaking his head with a huff. Using his foot to open the door, he carries me into the shed, shutting it behind us.

My eyes scan the room, but nothing out of the ordinary stands out. The snowmobile is in its usual spot and all his tools are organized neatly on the shelves.

“It’s in here?” I ask, turning my sights back to him.

Arden nods, his smile growing bigger. With me still in his arms, he carries me closer to the wall of photos. “I wanted to surprise you because I know it means so much to you.”

My chest tightens. What is he talking about?

My gaze travels along the wall, taking in all the unique frames and memories. Until my gaze lands on one that takes my breath away. Tucked in the center of the lot, a brand-new portrait looks back at me. With a dark polished wooden frame, my mom smiles at me.

“You did this?” I whisper, feeling my eyes sting with tears.

Arden nods. “Dad made the frame and Mom cut the glass. I wanted to be the one to show you. They’d originally planned to give it to you for Christmas, but I wanted you to have some privacy.”

I wipe at my face, feeling my throat tighten up. “Thank you.”

Mom looks so nice on the wall, framed in a handmade frame that’s been made by the people who loved me the moment they met me.