the safest driver, or was this another of her “getting to know you” activities?
On the other hand, maybe it would be good for them to spend time together. At least then Katie would see what a great person Dan was and ease up on the questioning. They were going to be related. She loved them both. She wanted them to get along.
She saw her parents climb awkwardly onto a snowmobile, her mother driving, and turned away, intending to ride by herself.
Jordan gestured to her. “Come with me. You look tired. Bad night?”
“Didn’t sleep well.” She strolled across to him, her feet crunching on the snow. “This should wake me up.”
“Maybe you should stay with Dan tonight. We can’t have the bride showing up with dark circles under her eyes.”
“I can’t. I haven’t seen my sister since the summer. I really want to catch up, but last night she was—”
“—like a dog with a bone?”
“I was going to say protective. She wants to know I’m doing the right thing. We need to talk, that’s all.”
“This is your relationship, Rosie, not hers.” He spoke gently. “Your opinion is the only one that matters here. As long as you’re sure you’re doing the right thing, that’s the important thing.”
She was sure. Wasn’t she? Was she sure? She wished people would stop asking her that. The more she thought about it, the less sure she became.
“I’m sure.” Had he sensed her hesitation? What if he said something to Dan? She should be discussing this whole thing with Dan, but she had no idea how to broach it. Plans for the wedding were almost done. In a few days the florists would arrive to transform the dining room of Snowfall Lodge into a magical winter wonderland, fit for a fairy-tale wedding.
Nowhere in that scenario was there room for the bride to have a panic attack.
“Why is your sister riding with Dan?”
“I expect she wants to spend time with him.”
He swung his leg over the snowmobile. “I’ll bring your sister home with me. That way you and Dan can have some time together.”
“Thank you. Did you and she get along okay on the ride from the airport?”
Jordan’s expression didn’t change. “We got along fine, don’t you worry. Now let’s get going before we’re too far behind to catch up.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist as they sped along the snow, following the groomed trail that led through the valley into the mountains, through aspen groves and vast glittering snowfields that in the summer would be meadows splashed with the color of wildflowers.
Today the landscape was a million different shades of white.
The mountains rose up out of forests of spruce and fir, the reflection of the craggy, snow-covered peaks shimmering on the surface of the partially frozen lake.
The cold stung her cheeks and bit through her thick layers of clothing.
They arrived at the lake to find Katie and Dan already sipping mugs of hot chocolate.
“That was incredible.” Katie’s cheeks were flushed, her hands curved around the mug. She looked happy and relaxed for the first time since she’d arrived. “What a perfect place. Dan was telling me he used to come up here before dawn so he could take photos of the sunrise.”
“In summer this place is so crowded it’s hard to find a place to stand on the lakeshore,” Jordan said. “Even at sunrise.”
Catherine was taking photographs, tall and slim in a white winter jacket and black ski pants.
“She already has a thousand,” Dan said. “But still she takes more.”
“I’m doing a wedding here in the spring,” his mother called over her shoulder, bracing her legs as she took a succession of shots.
Rosie glanced around and saw her parents standing a little distance away, facing each other. “What are they doing?”
Katie grinned. “Having a fight. Apparently Mum is a scary driver. Dad told her he’d ridden camels in the desert that were smoother. That didn’t go down well.”
Rosie didn’t want to hear that they were fighting.
She wanted evidence that they were still blissfully happy.
As if on cue, her mother stood on tiptoe to kiss her father. And then pushed a snowball down his neck.
There was a brief moment when her father stood frozen in shock and then he retaliated, scooping up snow where he stood and chasing after Maggie.
She ran, arms windmilling as she struggled through the ankle-deep snow, shrieking like a teenager, trying to protect her head and neck.
“I never knew she could run that fast,” Katie said mildly.