“We had a good talk, I think.”
“I only heard part of the end but it sounded like it.”
“I told you everything was going to be okay. Someday, you’re going to learn to trust me.”
“You think I don’t trust you?” I shake my head. “There’s no one I trust more than you. I chose you, remember?”
“Oh, I remember.” He touches my face. “Your dad still doesn’t know about the baby, though.”
“Not yet. We’ll tell him once he’s out of the hospital.”
“Okay.”
“You need to focus on the playoffs.”
“I will. But we still have a few days until the first round starts, so for now, I just want to focus on you. How about you sleep over with me tonight?”
“I don’t have any of my stuff.”
He hesitates. “Then maybe it’s time for you to just move in. Not completely, since we’re going to start looking for our own place as soon as possible, but keep what you need at my place so you can stay over whenever you need to.”
“All right.” I lean against him. “I can’t believe we’re here. Engaged. Having a baby. Together again—with my dad offering to give you a chance. It feels like a dream sometimes.”
“A good dream, I hope?”
“The best dream.” I look up at him. “You are the best dream—all my dreams-come-true in one sweet, sexy package.”
He smiles. “I love you, baby.”
Those are the sweetest words in the world.
Epilogue
VICTORIA
Two Years Later…
My wedding day.
It feels like it’s been a long time coming but in a good way. Everything I ever dreamed of and more. So much more. A beautiful baby boy named Tanner. The perfect house in an incredible neighborhood. And my better-than-perfect fiancé. Jordan has been the best friend, boyfriend, lover, father, brother-in-law, and uncle. I can’t say enough about the man I’m about to marry.
Staring in the mirror, it’s a little hard to believe the woman staring back at me is…me. Victoria Denali is about to become Victoria Palmer. She’s nothing like the seventeen-year-old high school senior who fell in love with a rookie pro hockey player, but the feelings for Jordan? Those haven’t changed. Not even a little.
I love this man with my whole heart and soul. Our life has been a bit of a fairy tale over the last two years, and never more so than right now.
This isn’t the wedding of my dreams—this is so far beyond anything I imagined as a little girl.
Three hundred guests.
The biggest wedding party I’ve ever seen—twelve guys and twelve girls standing up for us—in addition to Charlie and Tanner co-ring bearers since Tanner is too little to do it on his own, and Jordan’s cousin’s daughter as our flower girl. It’s a lot. Pre-wedding pictures took forever.
But I can’t complain.
I’m wearing a couture gown I designed myself—with the help of Terri and one of my instructors at the Art Institute where I’m getting another degree, this one in fashion design.
“You look beautiful,” Chloe says to me.
She and I are closer than ever, though I have other good friends now too.
