I took a breath. “Because it looks like a snowman.”
“What’s Kelsey’s favorite month?”
“December!” Everett called out, delighted, like this had become trivia night.
“No,” I said, and I could feel the answer settling me down as I said it. “January. Because it gets the most snow and she used to get to spend more time with her parents after the Christmas rush at the store.”
Jules was smiling now.
“And what is her middle name?”
“Noelle.”
“So why, Declan Kingman, would you think that your winter-obsessed fiancée wouldn’t absolutely love the intimate winter wonderland you have planned for her today?”
“She’s going to love it,” I said.
“You’re damn right she will.”
I stood up straight. The dizziness was gone. My sister had relocated my spine and I was grateful for it. I socked her in the arm just so she knew it too.
My dad came marching up the path, holding each of the twins by one arm. Isak trailed behind them filming everything, which he was allowed to do as long as it never saw the internet.
“You boys have something you want to say to your brother?” Dad said, in the voice that meant there was only one right answer.
Flynn looked like a man at his own sentencing. “I’m sorry I lost your reindeer. I really did just think the nose would be cute. I had no idea he was going to freak out like that.”
I looked at Gryff.
“I’m only here because I look like him,” Gryff said. “I had nothing to do with this. I’ve been framed.”
“It’s true,” Flynn said. “This was entirely me.”
Dad released Gryff’s arm immediately. “Sorry, son.”
“It’s fair, Dad.” Gryff straightened his tie. “It usually is both of us.”
“The reindeer trainer’s looking for him now,” Isak said helpfully. “Apparently he has a special horn.”
Jules stepped directly in front of Flynn and made the I’m-watching-you gesture, two fingers to her eyes, two fingers at his.
“I wouldn’t trust my Cheerios for a while if I were you,” Hayes added.
Flynn had genuine fear in his eyes. Smart man.
“Wedding guests start arriving in thirty minutes,” Dad said, turning to me. “You ready, son?”
“Not even a little,” I said. “But only about the wedding. The marriage part is locked. I just hope all of this makes Kelsey happy.”
He looked at me for a long moment. Then he tilted his head toward the path that led away from the lodge, toward the ridge that looked out over the valley. “Walk with me for a minute.”
I followed him.
We walked until the noise of the operation fell away behind us, and there was just the mountain, and the two of us, and the view of Bear Claw Valley spread out below. The ski resort glinted in the sun on the far side. In the middle of the valley, barely visible through the trees, was the roofline of Tex’s hardware store.
Dad stood with his hands in his pockets for a long moment, looking down at it.
“I met your mother right down there,” he said finally. “She came into the hardware store wearing a coat and high heeled boots, that were completely wrong for the weather. She knocked her basket over on my feet and looked up at me like I was the most entertaining thing she’d ever seen.”
