Then I spot two small faces pressed against the bakery window with excitement and hope.
Lane slips the ring onto my finger—right next to the one that appeared there on New Year’s Eve—and when he stands to kiss me, cheering comes from outside.
Not just the twins, but what sounds like half of Cobbiton.
“I gave Mya and Kai special permission to walk here after school if they promised not to take any detours. Looks like they rounded up a crowd.”
“Those kids are going to be trouble.”
“The best kind of trouble,” Lane agrees. “Looks like we get a happily ever after.”
My heart and smile grow in equal measure. “A family ever after.”
EPILOGUE 1
One YearLater -New Year’s Eve
I’m standing in our kitchen on Sweet Corn Court—Nina’s kitchen that became our kitchen when we stopped pretending this was anything but forever—watching my wife teach Mya how to temper chocolate while we wait for Kai to come back from his youth hockey holiday party.
I peek into the bowl and ask. “Whatcha making?”
“We’re making ‘celebration cookies,’” Nina says.
“Sounds like the opposite of ‘confusion cookies.’”
“We’re definitely not stress-baking.”
“Not when we beat the Mustangs by three points,” Nina says proudly.
“They’re having a rough season,” I mutter, not glad that Dad’s team is down, but not mad that we’re up.
“They should know better than to mess with our Knights,” Mya says before she and Nina break into one of our team chants.
I have to admit, I love and appreciate their allegiance.
Our Knights. Our team, our town, our life. Everything thatseemed so foreign and overwhelming a year ago now feels like it was always meant to be this way.
A warm feeling washes over me, flooding me with gratitude because almost exactly a year ago, I was hiding in the shadows at a Vegas party, convinced my career was over and my life was stuck in neutral. Tonight, we’re hosting our own New Year’s Eve party.
Kai bursts through the back door, still in his hockey gear, his face flushed with excitement and cold. “Coach says I’ll be ready to try out for the tournament team during the summer!”
“That’s incredible, buddy,” I say, pulling him into a hug that reminds me of when I was his age—before I fully understood how much pressure my father put on me. “Do you think that level of competition would be fun?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve been training with LSJ,” he says with the kind of confidence that makes me chuckle.
It’s funny how life works out. When my shoulder finally forced me to reevaluate things, broke up my engagement, and sent me to a new team, I thought it was the end of the line. Turns out it was just the beginning.
Kai doesn’t care about my injury history or his famous grandfather—he just wants to learn how to skate faster and score goals.
I’d braced myself for months of legal warfare, hiring the best family attorney money can buy and preparing to fight tooth and nail for Kai and Mya. Sabrina kept reminding me that sometimes the system works exactly as it should, especially when biological parents make their priorities crystal clear. She was right. When Desi formally relinquished her parental rights via FaceTime from Fiji—more concerned about her tan than her children—and Brock’s attorney contacted us to expedite his surrender of custody because maintaining a daughter interfered with his “lifestyle flexibility,” the judgefast-tracked our petition. Six months later, we had full legal custody.
The media circus died its predictable death when reporters realized there was no scandal here—just two people who accidentally found love and intentionally built a family. Brad’s threats of litigation regarding unauthorized photos of minors sent the paparazzi scurrying. Turns out, the scoop on a hypnotist-wedding leading to genuine happiness doesn’t generate clicks once the novelty wears off.
What does generate lasting interest is watching Kai score his first hat trick and seeing Mya’s artwork displayed in the school hallway, signed with “Sheridan” in swoopy cursive.
That’s the real story—family life together.
Several hours later, we’re at the Busy Bee and have the patio strung with twinkling lights and heat lamps set up.
