I laughed, panting but having a good time. Mason was quieter than his brother, reminding me somewhat of a shark who came out of nowhere to bodycheck me into the boards. As I connected, he shot me a grin that made me suspect he’d been waiting for that since he’d first found out I existed.
Pain shot through my arm to my shoulder, but it wasn’t bad. I gave as good as I got. My lungs burned after a while and my muscles screamed, but it was worth it. I wasn’t about to let Maisie’s brothers just have the win.
By the time we were in our own version of the third period, I was grinning like a lunatic. Sweat was stinging my eyes, but my stick connected with the puck for the winning shot. As I watched, it sailed easily into the net.
I threw my arms up in the air, but they dropped again almost immediately. Panting like I’d just completed a week-long run, I doubled over, bracing my stick against the ice so I had something to lean on. The twins weren’t doing much better, with Mason gasping for breath and Michael cursing as he skated over to his dad and grabbed a bottle of water.
Matthew held up two more and Mason and I followed. Once I’d pulled off my helmet and downed half the bottle, I realized that this was my chance. I’d just won and the twins were too tired to fill every second of silence right now.
“For the record,” I said between labored breaths. “I actually really like your sister. Love her, even. I realize it’s unorthodox what we’re doing, but I’m looking forward to her becoming my wife. I’m going to take great care of her. And of Brody. That’s a vow.”
Three sets of eyebrows jumped up. Complete silence stretched between us. Just as I was starting to worry that I hadn’t made myself clear or that I’d just blurted it out way too randomly, Matthew smiled.
Maybe not a full smile so much as a twitch at the corners of his mouth, but it was something. Michael and Mason exchanged a long look, then shrugged in perfect unison. Michael clapped me on the back hard enough to nearly knock me over.
“Well, at least you can skate,” he said. “We’ll have some fun together.”
Mason chuckled like he hadn’t just tried to break every bone in my body. “Brody wanted to come. We’ll have to bring him back here after Mom’s done with him, but yeah. You’re alright. We’ll keep you.”
Matthew didn’t say anything, leaving the talking to his sons, but as our gazes connected, he lowered his chin in the slightest nod. Just like that, the knots in my chest eased. They might not know me yet, but they were willing to give me a chance, and that was so much better than I’d even dared hope for.
CHAPTER 38
MAISIE
Ipaced between my suitcase and my closet, shoving clothes into piles before deciding against taking most of them and packing them away again. Then I’d realize I might need something in the discarded pile and took it out again.
Every five minutes, I also checked my phone, but there was nothing. I’d been calling Callum all morning, but there was no word from him. Nothing from my mom or Brody using someone’s phone to contact me either.
Last night, I’d received a message from Callum saying they’d arrived safely. He’d even sent me a selfie of him lying in my bed at my parents’ house, which had been surreal—and strangely hot—but I hadn’t heard from him since.
My mom had let Brody use her phone to video call me before he’d gone to bed, but now, my texts to all of them were stacking up like unanswered prayers. Michigan had gone radio silent and it was taking everything in me not to just book the first flight out as worry burrowed deeper and deeper into my being.
When my phone finally buzzed, I dropped the toiletries I’d been carrying right there on my mattress and scrambled to get it. “Callum?”
It wasn’t him. “No, honey. It’s me. Mom. You can relax, though. They’re fine. Just breathe.”
Relief wound its way through my bloodstream, but my heart was still racing. “What’s going on over there? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you people all morning.”
There was a pause. Then the low beep of a notification sounded in my ear. “There you go. Don’t freak out when you see it.”
“Don’t freak out when I see what?” My fingertips went numb, my entire body ice cold. I pulled the phone away from my ear and opened the message she’d just sent me. It turned out to be a picture, of Callum, who was grinning like an idiot, but had a faint black eye. “What the…”
I breathed the words. My heart pounded as I zoomed in on the picture. “Mom, what the heck happened to his face? Is Brody okay? Was it an acci?—”
“Hockey,” she said as if that explained everything, which it kind of did. “Your brothers took Callum to the rink this morning. Brody was with me. I took him to the library for a kids’ arts and crafts session. That’s why I didn’t answer my phone. We were painting. He loved it.”
“Okay, but what did Mason and Michael do to Callum?”
“Boys will be boys, darling.” She laughed. “He beat them, if that makes you feel better. From the sounds of things, it turns out that he can really skate, so he’s earned their respect and they’re all good now.”
Relief swept through me in a dizzying wave and I sank down on the edge of my bed. “So he’s not dead?”
“Nope.” She chuckled. “He’s bruised, but he’s alive. Mason and Mikey are bruised too. It’s not just Callum. It doesn’t sound like any of them took it easy on each other, but it’s nothing too bad. They shouldn’t even have a mark left on them by the time we get to Scotland. There’s enough time for it to fade.”
I swallowed hard, finally letting out a shaky laugh. “Please tell me they’re done on the ice now?”
“They are. Actually, Callum has fallen right in with them and they’re all out getting fitted for tuxes right now. Can you believe it?”
