AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maybe we can get a room at that new resort?” She blurted it before she could think it through. “I mean, it’s probably really expensive, but—”
Cole squeezed her hand. “Whatever you want to do,” he said. “We’ll stay wherever you want to.”
She nodded and turned to the window again.
Her eyes took in the giant pine wreaths attached to the light poles, complete with huge red bows, and Amber’s heart raced. A cold sweat pricked at the back of her neck and her hands clenched into fists in her lap. She forced herself to take deep breaths.
“It will be okay.” Cole squeezed her hand again. “I know you’re nervous,” he said calmly. “But they want to meet you.” He sounded so sure of himself, even though there was no way he could know that. Not really. “Chelsea wouldn’t have invited you for Christmas if it wasn’t going to be okay. You know that.”
Shedidknow that. But there’d been so many changes lately.Maybe she shouldn’t have thrown her family into the mix, too. Maybe they should just keep driving and—
Cole pulled the rental truck up in front of a large timber-framed building. A wooden sign declaring it the Grizzly Paw hung out front.
“We’re here.”
ChapterSixteen
As they stepped togetherthrough the massive wooden doors to the Grizzly Paw pub, Amber tightened her grip on Cole’s hand. She was worried. Of course she was worried. Who wouldn’t be?
But as worried as she was, Cole knew logically—just as he was sure she knew—everything would be okay. He’d meant what he’d said in the car. Her sister wouldn’t have invited her if their brothers wouldn’t be welcoming.
Even so, he wasn’t naive enough to think that his words would be enough. Hopefully his support would be.
“You got this,” he whispered into her ear before pressing a small kiss to her cheek.
She offered a small smile in return only moments before a shorter, dark-haired version of Amber descended on them.
Chelsea.
It was easy to see the family resemblance between them, but it only took Cole seconds to notice the one marked difference as Chelsea squealed out a greeting and pulled her sister out of Cole’s grasp and into a tight hug. Chelsea was by far the more outgoing of the sisters. Even if Amber hadn’t told Cole about her little sister’s penchant for making bad choices and being the rebel when they were younger, it would have been easy to see. What was also easy to see was their love for each other.
Her uncertainty was obviously forgotten—at least for the moment—as Amber embraced her sister. They spoke a series of rapid and completely incoherent things at each other and broke out into a mixture of laughter and tears.
There was definitely something about sisters.
A few moments later, the women were joined by two men who jumped straight into the fray and wrapped their arms around the crying, laughing women before squeezing them into a tight bear hug.
Completely abandoned, Cole might have started feeling a little out of place with the mini family reunion, if he wasn’t enjoying it so much. It was yet another side of Amber he hadn’t seen before. And just like everything else he knew about her, he loved it.
“You must be Cole.”
The voice startled him and he turned to see a petite, curvy woman dressed in a long sweater and leggings smiling up at him. She stuck out her hand and grinned. “I’m Milena.” She used her head to nod to the group as Cole shook her hand. “Cal’s fiancée. I’m glad you guys could come for Christmas. I’ve heard so much about…well, I’ve heard a lot about Amber,” she corrected herself, the smile never leaving her face. “But I have to admit, nobody has said much about you.”
“That’s because I’m new.” Cole smiled broadly. “Very new. But I’m really happy to be here. And this…” He shook his head with a smile at the siblings still hugging. “This is pretty awesome to see.”
Milena put her hand on Cole’s arm and together they took a step back. “I think it’s about to get better.” She pointed subtly to two other men who’d approached. The family resemblance was very strong between all the McCormick brothers, and there was no doubt at all that the two men who stood together, looking both hopeful and apprehensive, were Ian and Mitch. The two oldest McCormick brothers. The ones Amber was so nervous about seeing.
Instinctively, Cole took a step forward.To what? Protect her?But that was ridiculous. There was nothing threatening about them. If anything, they looked just as nervous as Amber had been in the car. Possibly more.
Cole stepped back again as one of the men cleared his voice and said, “Amber?”
The hugging and crying in front of them stopped. Slowly, the other siblings moved away and left Amber to face the two oldest brothers alone. Cole crossed his arms over his chest, both to keep himself from going to her as well as in a defensive move. He knew he needed to let Amber handle this, but if either of them hurt her, or made her cry, or…well, they’d have him to deal with.
The shot of protectiveness surprised him because Amber definitely wasn’t the type of woman who needed protecting in any way, and besides his sister when they were kids, Cole had never felt any type of protectiveness toward a woman before. It was unexpected. But it felt right.
He once again took a step forward.
This time, Milena put her hand on his arm and squeezed. “It’s fine,” she said, as if everything Cole was thinking was written on his face. Maybe it was. “I think Mitch and Ian are just as nervous as she is. But they’re also very excited. It’s been a big year around here, and while I don’t know everything about all of this, I can tell you with certainty—they all have huge hearts and everyone is ready to put their father’s choices behind them and move on. Amber was the missing piece.”
