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“But you love to show off your snowmen to your friends,” Robin said quietly.
“He wasn’t showing them off, Mom. He was making fun of me. He called me a loser, and everyone was laughing. They called me ‘Frosty the Freak’ for the rest of the day.”
Jack choked on the sip of beer he’d just taken and his eyes blazed. “Seriously? Who is this kid?”
“Down, boy.” Robin patted his hand.
Touched as she was that Jack’s protective instincts extended to her daughter, she didn’t want him to make her think he’d embarrass her further by having some kind of intimidating cop-talk with him.
She turned back to Abby. “Honey, kids can be mean. You know this. But you love your snowmen, and all of the adults you’ve shown have been really impressed with your collection. Your real friends love it too. Ignore everyone else.”
“You make it sound so easy,” she mumbled, picking a pepperoni off her pizza and popping it into her mouth.
“It is that easy,” Jack said firmly. He waited until she looked up before he went on. “Never be embarrassed about something you’re passionate about. Do you think I let it bother me when kids made fun of me for wearing a cape to school every day when I was a kid?”
Abby looked at Robin, who shrugged, before turning back to Jack. “Wait, you wore a cape to school every day?”
“Yep. I wanted to be a superhero when I grew up.” He took a sip of his beer.
“But you joined the Marines and then became a cop,” Abby said.
“Close enough, right?” he asked, grinning and holding out his arms. When she laughed, he lowered them again, and his face grew serious. Then he pointed at her. “I mean it though. Be proud of who you are and what you like. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for being yourself.”
Abby nodded, offering Jack the kind of all-better smile that only served to rip Robin’s heart out. She looked between the two of them and sat back in her chair, stunned. She didn’t know how he managed it, but Jack Rhodes had come into their life like he was meant to be there, and Robin had no clue how it’d happened. If she’d thought their first kiss would be the point of no return for them, she was dead wrong.
It wasn’t the kiss. It wasthis.
* * *
The next morning,Robin awoke a lot earlier than she needed to. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t fall back asleep. Giving up, she threw back her floral bedspread and shuffled into the kitchen to put the coffee on.
When she turned to get a mug, something caught her eye out the bay window and made her do a double take.
“What in the world?” she whispered, her eyes flaring wide.
She clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle the half-scream, half-laugh that escaped her. Then she sprinted to Abby’s room and shook her daughter awake.
“Mom? What’s happening?” Abby grumbled, rubbing her eyes.
“You have to get up. Hurry, come look at this!”
Abby tried to roll over and brush her off, but Robin wasn’t having it. She tickled and poked at her daughter until her groans turned into giggles, and when she finally rolled over to get out of bed, Robin pulled her to her feet and tugged her into the living room.
It only took a second for Abby to see what Robin had seen, and she turned to her mom with tears already welling up in her eyes. She ran to the bay window and launched onto the seat, pressing her face to the glass. “Who did this?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the scene before her.
Robin joined her daughter at the window. The snow from the night before had been heavy, and at some point between midnight (when Robin had finally gone to bed) and now, someone had come to their house and built dozens of snowmen in all shapes and sizes.
There were tall and skinny ones, short and fat ones, mini families, and even characters she recognized. Superheroes, too, complete with capes and masks.
Robin shook her head, her heart soaring. “I think I have an idea, but I’m having a little trouble believing it could be true.”
“Who?” Abby asked.
But then their question was answered when Robin saw that one of the snowmen wore what appeared to be an authentic Marine Corps hat on his round white head. Or had Jack once referred to it as a cover? Either way, that could only mean one thing.
Robin pointed to the Marine snowman with her throat working to swallow. “Look at that one.”
Abby gasped. “Jack was a Marine. Do you think it was him?”
