“Dad makes the best hot chocolate,” Maisie said, leaning forward. “He puts cinnamon and vanilla in it. And sometimes, if it’s a special occasion, he makes it with real chocolate. Not the powdered kind.”
Holly felt a smile tug at her lips despite everything. “That sounds wonderful.”
“It is,” Daniel confirmed, his deep voice somehow both casual and reassuring. “Family recipe.”
Family. The word hit Holly like a sucker punch. Six hours ago, she’d stood in front of a mirror in her wedding dress, rehearsing vows to the man she thought would father her children. All those carefully laid plans, the future mapped out in her head…gone. Erased by a few handwritten lines on a folded piece of paper that had arrived just in time to save her from making the biggest mistake of her life. Her carefully constructed version of “family”had crumbled with one sharp, ugly truth. And here she was, sitting in the middle of someone else’s.
But she put those thoughts from her mind as the truck turned, headlights sweeping across a snow-covered yard before illuminating a house. “We’re home!” Teddy shouted, already unbuckling his seatbelt.
“Wait for Dad to park properly,” Maisie reminded him with the patient tone of an older sibling who’d said the same words many times before.
With a smile and a glance in the rear-view mirror at his kids, Daniel pulled into the driveway and cut the engine. Within seconds, both children had scrambled out, rushing through the snow toward the front door, excited voices trailing behind them about hot chocolate and showing Holly their Christmas tree. Their joy left a trail through the snow, a living, laughing path she wasn’t sure she deserved to follow.
Holly sat motionless, one hand still clutching her dress. The finality of what had happened hit her square in the gut. The silence inside the truck pressed in, louder than their shrieks outside. There was no going back to the church now, no rewinding to before the letter.
Her old life was over. And she had no idea what her new life looked like.
“Hey,” Daniel’s voice broke through her thoughts. He hadn’t moved to exit the truck yet. “You don’t have to come in if you’re uncomfortable. I can call someone for you, or…”
“No,” Holly said quickly. “Thank you…”
How could she explain she didn’t know who to call? That the people she should have been able to rely on were the ones she was most afraid to face?
“I just...” She swallowed hard. “I don’t know what happens next. Any of it. I’ve never…” Her voice broke.
Runaway from my wedding before, the voice in her head finished. There wasn’t exactly a handbook for this.
His expression softened. “Right now? Hot chocolate happens next. And dry clothes. And maybe some of yesterday’s chicken soup.” He paused, then added, “The rest can wait until you’re ready.”
The simplicity of it—this moment-by-moment approach to a crisis—was so different from how Holly usually lived her life, with five-year plans and carefully plotted trajectories. There was something freeing in his words, something that made her exhale for what felt like the first time all day.
Just this. Just the next small, kind thing. That she could do.
“Okay,” she said, reaching for the door handle. “Hot chocolate first.”
Daniel stepped out and circled around to her door, opening it with a smile that carried no expectations. “Welcome to Brooks’ house,” he said, extending a hand to help her out. “Watch your step…it’s slippery.”
Holly took his hand, the warmth of his palm sending a ripple of awareness up her arm. Her wedding heels sank immediately into the snow, and she stumbled slightly. Daniel’s grip tightened, steadying her without comment. Solid, unflinching, as if catching runaway brides in blizzards was just something he did on Saturdays.
“You can borrow some dry clothes,” he said, his eyes taking in her sodden hemline with practical concern rather than judgment. “We’ll find you some dry clothes, and while you get changed, the kids can help me make hot chocolate.”
“I’ve got fuzzy socks you can borrow!” Maisie called out.
“I have a sweater with a bear on the front!” Teddy chimed in.
“It won’t fit,” Maisie told her brother. “It’ll be too small.”
Daniel chuckled. “But it was a good thought.”
“It was, thank you, Teddy,” Holly said, a smile curving the corners of her lips.
Maybe this was exactly what she needed, a little family time with these guys. A reset. Just a pause. A breath between the life she’d almost stepped into and whatever came next.
“I’ll go grab you something to wear,” Daniel said. “Why don’t you go and make yourself at home?”
“Come on,” Teddy reached for her hand.
“Hey, wait a minute, Teddy. You know the drill. Boots by the door,” Daniel instructed the children, who immediately started shucking their snow gear with practiced efficiency. “Holly, let me take your…” he paused, looking at her with a flicker of uncertainty.
