With Sam’s hand in mine, we walked into the house. “It smells good,” he complimented, making me beam at him. “God, it’s weird to think this is it. This is me coming home to you forever,” he said, shaking his head. He gave my hand a squeeze. “It’s good, though. You’re worth an early retirement. You and the baby.”
“I think it’s weirder for you than for me,” I admitted. “You’re giving up the NHL! That’s a big deal. I’m just giving up long flights and late-night phone calls. And having an NHL boyfriend.”
For me, Sam coming home was nothing but positive. I understood that it was different for him. “Me and the baby will make it worth it, I promise,” I teased. Sam had always wanted to be a dad. There was no doubt in my mind that as soon as he had a baby in his arms, he’d adjust to the change in his lifestyle.
“For right now, we can just do the things we’d do if you were home for the summer,” I suggested. “And baby stuff. We’ve got a doctor’s appointment next week!” I was excited for Sam to get to come with me. It would make the baby real for him the way it already was for me.
Sam laughed at my proposal but he didn’t object to it. “I look forward to doing all the baby stuff with you,” he promised with a wide smile. I knew it was true. We’d planned this baby. It wasn’t ideal when we weren’t married, but I had a plan for that, too.
Oblivious to my thoughts, Sam sat us both down on the couch. We’d picked that together. Some of the things in the house had been picked by us together, most had been my choice. It wasn’t that Sam didn’t care to decorate with me, but there had been a limit to the number of framed hockey posters that I was willing to display.
Reaching out, he rested one of his big hands against my belly. At five months, it was noticeable but not huge. I was certainly glad that Sam was home to help me out when I did get big!
“You already make it worth it,” he told me gently. “You’ve always made everything worth it, Helena.”
Again, I felt my eyes well with tears. Sam might discount my pregnancy hormones, but I couldn’t help but notice how every emotion felt closer to the surface. It was intriguing, in a way. And around Sam, I felt safe enough not to try to hide it.
“You’re so sweet to me,” I whispered, laying my hand on top of his. “You always know the right thing to say.”
Sam was glad to come home to me. I knew it deep in my bones. But even so, I’d worried a little about being the reason he retired early. What if he resented me?
Looking at the expression on his face, there was no room left for those worries in my heart. Sam was delighted to be home, amazed by the prospect of a family.
“It’s pizza for dinner, obviously,” I informed Sam. “Charlotte promised me that slow-cooker pizza is a thing. If it’s terrible, we’ll just order in.” Lunengrove might not have as many delivery food options as Salt Lake City, but there was good pizza right around the corner!
Sam looked at me about as skeptically as I had at Charlotte when informed about the existence of slow-cooker pizza. Still, like I said, the worst that would happen would be us ordering in.
“Well, I guess, I am all for taking risks with you,” he decided, making me laugh. Of all the different risks we had taken together, pizza in a slow-cooker seemed pretty mild. But since we’d managed to make a long-distance relationship work for seven years, we could probably make a slow-cooker pizza work. It would very much pale in comparison to our biggest challenge.
A challenge we would no longer face! This was it, this was Sam coming home to me forever.
“What are you smiling about?” Sam asked, nudging my foot with his.
Ignoring my misty eyes, I smiled. “Oh, everything! You being home, us starting a family, introducing our kid to pizza and hockey.” It felt like I was living inside a dream. There was only one way to make it better.
Reaching for my handbag, I tugged it up onto my lap. Sam raised an eyebrow, which I ignored as I rummaged through the contents.
It took a moment before my fingers curved around the smooth surface I was looking for.
Turning to Sam, I presented him with the hockey puck he’d given me all those years ago, the one still bearing the words ‘I promise to mary you, Helena Worth.’
My eyes twinkled as he realized what he was holding. “Is this still valid?”
From the way Sam’s eyes widened, I could tell that he hadn’t expected me to still have this. I couldn’t exactly blame him; it had been almost twenty years since he’d given the puck to me. His promise to marry me, especially with how he’d misspelled it, had always meant so much to me. Even after we’d broken up. And then especially so when we’d gotten back together.
Reaching for the puck, Sam slid his thumb over the writing. “I misspelled ‘marry’,” he observed. It startled a laugh from me. It had never occurred to me, in all these years, that Sam didn’t know he had misspelled it.
“I could buy you a ring,” he pointed out, looking up from the puck with a wide smile. “But yeah,
