Jacqui’s laugh broke over the music, lifting his heart with its freedom. “Finn finagled the whole thing, didn’t he?” She turned to challenge him. “He told you about Colin.”
Of course she’d know that. “I got tickets for Dan and your parents too,” he told her. “And Tory and you.”
Her exaggerated huff was all fake outrage. “Does that mean I have to like hockey now?”
“Nope,” he reassured her. “You only have to like me.”
“Hmm.” Her smile held the love he knew to be true. “I guess I can do that.”
A small band led by Finn played, the music filling his house with noise that blended with the conversation and laughter. People were spread across both levels of his house, his teammates and her family seamlessly mixing together like long-time friends.
And not for the first time, he wished everyone was gone. That it was just him and Jacqui nestled on the couch before the fireplace, the quiet surrounding them with its comforting peace.
He kissed her gently, cupped her face and held her as her tongue swept in to play with his. Slow, lazy and tasting of beer and her.
“Hey, Roller. Don’t you know you’re supposed to wait ’til midnight for that?”
Henrik grinned into Jacqui’s mouth before releasing her lips so they could both laugh. He made a quick check for kids and flipped Rylie off. “The big kids know to start early,” he razzed back.
“Oh, trust me.” Rylie grinned, tipping his cowboy hat lower. “I know all about starting early.”
Samantha rolled her eyes and gave him a shove. “It’s a good thing you have me to show you how.”
“Ooh...” He wrapped her up in a hug, grinning down at her. “It sure is.” He kissed her before she could speak, lowering his hat to the side to hide their faces from view.
“Oh my God,” Feeney groaned. “There are kids around.”
“We’ve seen worse,” a boy hollered to the embarrassment of his mother. Henrik was still learning everyone’s names, but he believed they were connected to Jacqui in some second or third cousin way.
This was the family he’d created for himself. One he was finally allowing himself to fully appreciate. His teammates had levied the expected round of digs over his concert performance, but it’d been accompanied with true compliments and sincerity too. They’d respected his talent and what he’d done.
Glaciers Management had opted to keep his retirement quiet for now, and Henrik respected their decision. He wasn’t changing his mind though. It’d taken Jacqui a few weeks to accept that it was his choice to leave hockey, not hers, and that his decision wasn’t influenced by her recent cancer scare. Her stubborn streak was a trait he hoped never changed, no matter how frustrating it could be.
At least she’d finally taken the keyboard out of the box. A friend of Finn’s was playing on it now, but only after Jacqui had leveled numerous warnings about “not screwing it up.” She’d spent many hours working on it now that she’d basically moved in with him. That had happened through a gradual arrival of more of her things and a shifting of drawers and closet space by him, both of which he had plenty of.
Walters was here with Rachel, another trip home for the holidays. He’d put his house up for sale this time, his departure from the area becoming a permanent one. He was moving forward on his hockey training center idea, and Henrik would be one of his first investors when he was ready.
“Thank you,” Jacqui said, resting her head on his shoulder.
“For what?” He rubbed her back, happy to stay on the sidelines.
“The song. Accepting my family. For not letting me run.”
He kissed her temple, hugging her tight. “But you came back to me.”
She smiled up at him before pressing a kiss to his lips. “I would’ve kept running if you hadn’t shown me how to stop.”
His heart had never been fuller nor his happiness more real. “And I wouldn’t have known I was stopped if you hadn’t shown me how to run.”
She was the center of his family and no matter where their future led, he was happy knowing she was there to share every moment with him—good, bad, scary, sad and all the things in between. That was what family did. They stuck together, supported one another, laughed, cried and celebrated.
And right now, he wanted nothing more than to have his own private celebration with Jacqui, but that could wait. They had plenty of time—years—of celebrating ahead of them. Of that, he was very, very certain.