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“Traitor,” Theo whispered to me with a grin. I stuck my tongue out in response.
“Let’s go, let’s go!” Bonnie bounced up and down in the snow, and it was cute to see her so active and excited for the activity. Within moments, both teams split up and began gathering snow. I glanced over at the guys and watched as they immediately fell into some sort of tactical discussion. My heart warmed for each of them in ways I knew I should stop but I couldn’t help myself. Not only had they made me feel amazing, but they also still treated me like a person.
My only experience of such things was with Felix; he had never been kind. He’d certainly never gone down on me with the enthusiasm Jax had, never mind multiple orgasms in multiple sessions. The attraction was settling deep in my chest and was growing with each passing day, blocking out all of Felix’s threats, and I was happy about that. Reality could wait until this holiday was over.
“Come on!” Ava slid a gloved hand into mine and tugged me backward, distracting me from my thoughts. “We need to win!”
“I’m coming,” I laughed softly.
The next hour passed in a flash. Gathering snow and rolling it around into three balls was the biggest workout I’d had in months, as was piling them on top of one another. Kane gathered sticks for arms, Bonnie took stones from an outside planter to use as buttons and a nose, and Ava vanished inside with Tabitha to get a carrot for the nose. By the time Tabitha called out her five-minute warning, our lopsided snowman had the biggest smile and a somewhat disproportioned body, but all in all, he was adorable.
I glanced over my shoulder to see the guys had a much stronger-looking snowman; in fact, the way his body was smoothed together had him looking much more artisanal. Same for the way one of the guys had sculpted his face rather than using stones.
Showoffs.
“Alright! Judge says it’s time to stop so she can go and get started on lunch,” Tabitha said. The children gathered around me next to the snowman and waited with excited panting and wide eyes as Tabitha inspected their snowman, then she wandered over to where the guys were looking almost too proud of themselves. Tabitha remained silent, inspecting carefully, then she returned to the back porch and faced us all.
“Kids win.”
“What?” Jax gaped at us as cheers rose up from the children. “Why?!”
“No carrot nose,” Tabitha stated with a mischievous grin. “Instant fail.”
“What?!” Luke looked ready to burst and he whined dramatically. “I sculpted and everything!”
“We did it!” Bonnie yelled and she began to dance as Ava tugged on my arm.
“We did it, Mom!” Ava squealed, then fell completely silent.
Mom.
Heat rushed over my cheeks, and I stared down at her, stunned. I had no idea what to say and my lips parted, searching for the words. Ava realized what she said a second later, her eyes went wide, and she let go of my hand, sprinting full pelt into the house.
“Ava!” I called after her.
Luke followed quickly without even a glance at me, limping slightly, and my heart plummeted to my gut. What was I supposed to do? What was the right thing here? Tabitha sent me a sympathetic look and waved her hands at Bonnie and Kane.
“Come inside before Jack Frost decides you’ve been outside for too long!”
Oblivious, the other two children raced up the steps with Jax on their heels.
“Don’t worry,” Theo said softly as he appeared beside me. “It happens.”
“What?” I glanced at him, all my thoughts swimming to Ava and the wordMom. “She calls peopleMom?”
“Oh, no,” Theo chuckled softly, and we started walking slowly toward the chalet. “That’s a first but kids can get confused.”
“She seemed so…” I searched for the word.
“Genuine?” Theo offered, and I nodded. “I think she yearns for a mother figure. She’s never really had one beyond Tabitha.”
“Her mother, Flora was it? She isn’t… around?”
“Not even a little,” Theo sighed. “See, Luke and Flora met when they were young and they had a whirlwind romance, at least that’s how Luke saw it. But he’s a gentleman. He moves slowly, and with Helix taking off and being young, he wasn’t ready to settle down. Flora on the other hand was desperate to get married and claimed it was because she loved him so much. Then she fell pregnant with Ava and Luke tried to sort out what it meant to be a father. Only, Flora gradually became colder and colder, so Luke tried harder.”
“Wow,” I murmured under my breath as we climbed the steps, not wanting to interrupt.
“On the night Ava was born, Luke was on his way to the hospital when he was struck by a drunk driver. This asshole just drove through him like he was nothing and left him on the side of the road like trash.” Anger licked into Theo’s words then and he held the door open for me. “Luke doesn’t remember much, but he’s pretty sure he saw an angel that night.”
