Hannah glanced over at Kelly, who was fighting back tears as she settled on the couch. Clearly, she'd heard her mother's words, but now her son was climbing into her arms, and all her attention was focused on him. Mother and child were finally reunited.
"You came early," Brett said. "Santa was supposed to bring you tomorrow."
Kelly's smile was filled with tenderness as she stroked her little boy's head. "I couldn't wait one more minute to see you."
"I missed you. You took a long time to come back. What happened to your face?"
"I bumped it, but I'm fine," Kelly said. "And I'm here now. I'm not leaving again."
"What about Russ? Is he coming back, too?"
Kelly's lips trembled. "We'll talk about that later. Do you want to say hello to your baby sister?"
At Kelly's words, Hannah took Violet over to the couch, sitting down next to Brett and Kelly.
"Did Santa bring her, too?" Brett asked. "I thought she was coming on Valentine's Day."
"She couldn't wait that long to meet you," Kelly said.
Her mom and Tyler sat down in the chairs across from them. Her mother wiped a tear from her eye, and Tyler gave her an emotional smile.
"You did good, Hannah," Tyler said.
"She did more than good," Kelly said. "She brought Violet into the world, and she saved my life. My little sister is quite amazing."
"I've known that for a long time," Tyler said.
"Me, too," her mother said. "And, Kelly, I'm glad you're finally home."
"Kelly looked at her mother and Tyler with her heart in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mom, Tyler. I have so many regrets."
"No time for those now," Tyler said. "We're all together. That's what counts."
"You're so big now, Ty."
He laughed. "We all grew up."
The doorbell rang, and Hannah got to her feet. She took the baby to her mother. "Want to hold your granddaughter?"
"I can't wait," her mom said. "Thank you for trusting me."
She nodded as she deposited Violet safely in her mother's arms and then went to open the door.
Jake stood on the porch, his face showing the bruises from his fight with Tom, but he'd never looked more handsome. She stepped onto the porch and moved into his arms. "I missed you."
He gave her a loving smile. "I missed you, too. It felt like it took forever to get back here."
"About twelve years, but we finally made it." She gazed into his eyes, knowing she was revealing all the love in her heart. She was completely vulnerable to this man. But she wasn't scared anymore. She trusted him.
"I won't let you down," he said quietly.
"I know you won't. Really, Jake, I know that. I don't want to start the next stage of our lives with you feeling like you have to pay off a debt. We're starting fresh. We're equal. We're zero-zero, at the bottom of the mountain, the start of the game…" she finished with a laugh.
His grin warmed her heart. "I get it, and I like it."
"Good. How was the drive back with your dad?"
"It was fine. That relationship may take a little time, but I'm going to work on it, too, not so much for him, but for my mom and my brother. I realize that our fight has been hurting them, which is the opposite of what I wanted to do. I don't know if he'll tell Mom the truth. I don't really care, actually. I want everyone to be happy."
"We're all on a good path."
He gazed deep into her eyes. "I love you so much, Hannah. There's never been anyone else for me. You asked me before if I'd had a serious relationship, and I made up some lame excuse about traveling too much, but that was never the reason. I just couldn't get over you. That's really why I came home. I had to see you again. I had to find out if there was a way to get you back. I couldn't give up on us."
"I'm sorry I made it so difficult for you."
"No, you're not," he teased. "You wanted me to earn it."
"And you did," she said with a laugh. "But I'm a little sorry, because we wasted so much time. I could never get over you, either. Everyone else seemed boring. I love you, Jake. I fell in love with you the first time we kissed. That's all it took—just one kiss. No one else has ever come close to making me feel the way I feel about you, and it's not just the incredible chemistry we have together, it's everything else. You were always my best friend."
"I want to be your best friend and your lover and everything else. I want to spend every minute of my life with you."
"That could work, except when you're jumping off a mountain," she said with a laugh. "You might have to do that minute alone."
"Or maybe I'll convince you to go with me," he said with a sparkle in his eyes.
"God help me, you probably could."
"But I don't want to take over your life, Hannah, I just want to share it."
"I feel the same way. I do have one important question, however."
"What's that?"
She gave him a happy smile. "Who has the ball now?"
He laughed. "I think I do."
"What are you going to do about it?"
"I have a lot of ideas. None of them involve your whole family, though, so my ideas might have to wait. In fact, I should probably go home and let you have this time with everyone."
"No way. You're not leaving, because you're my family, too."
"Good. Because there is no place I'd rather be." He lowered his head and covered her mouth with his, creating a lovely island of heat and love in the middle of a cold, dark night. But that was Jake. He'd always been able to bring the light into her life. She wanted to do the same for him.
He lifted his head as the bells rang from St.
