March wind nipped its cold teeth at Asher’s face as he waited in the small spectator area at the bottom of the ski run. Maggie, bundled in a down-filled fuchsia parka, snuggled with her back to his front and held Jackson’s loose lead. The dog wore a coat and neoprene booties and eyed the snow suspiciously, as he’d been doing since it started falling in November.
Asher stood with his arms ringed around Maggie—for warmth with the side bonus of getting to hold her. She gripped his forearms. Her mittens covered her scars, which had faded in the months since the fire. He couldn’t tear his gaze off the small, turquoise-clad figure at the top of the run. “Good grief, I think I’m as nervous as she is.”
And not just over Ruth’s race.
“I know you are,” Maggie agreed, turning her head briefly to smile up at him.
You don’t know the full reason. Dipping his head, he kissed the skin right below the rim of her knit hat. The dog twisted around them, never letting them forget who had really brought them together.
Winter had flown by. A lot of time spent helping out the Reids as they rebuilt the barn. And he’d been so damned proud watching Ruth learning how to ski and fully catching the race bug. Caleb and Garnet had surprised them all with an impromptu January wedding, making Asher wish said wedding was his wedding... And every day was made better as he fell further in love with Maggie. He’d even managed to surprise her with a quick trip to see his parents and David a few weekends ago. They’d braved a New York cold snap—Ruth had toured Maggie around all their favorite Brooklyn haunts. Asher had strolled behind them, in his usual state of amazement as the daughter he adored and the woman he loved bonded and shared.
While there, he’d had a capital-T talk with his mom, followed by one with Ruth. And so long as Caleb showed up on time with the sign Ruth had made, he’d be having a capital-T talk with Maggie, too.
“Caleb and Garnet are supposed to be here by now,” he grumbled, nerves panging.
“Ruth’s up next—are they going to make it?” Maggie asked. “Did they text you or anything?”
He scanned the crowd, reluctant to take his eyes off his daughter from her place in the race lineup. He was about to scuttle his plan when he saw Caleb wending his way through the small crowd, holding a sign in one hand and towing Garnet along with the other. Asher waved an arm to get their attention before turning back to Ruth. She’d been living and breathing skiing since the mountain’s season opener. No way was he missing a second of her first race.
Caleb and Garnet caught up to them in a flurry of Gore-Tex and woolen scarves. Garnet readjusted her floppy blue hat and clapped her gloved hands together. “We didn’t miss her, did we?”
“You just made it.” Asher motioned with an arm at the top of the run, where Ruth was lining up her skis and talking to one of her coaches. He put a gloved hand on the dog. Jackson had made enough progress with his anxiety that he was working successfully in Maggie’s literacy program at the library, but still wasn’t a fan of the crowd noise at ski races. They usually left him at home, but it only felt right he be present for the plan Asher and Ruth had cooked up.
“Sorry,” Garnet said. “My morning sickness was heinous today.”
His jaw dropped at the same time Maggie jolted to attention. They both stared at Garnet and Caleb, who were hand in hand, grins brighter than the sun reflecting off the snow.
“Uh, mazel tov,” Asher said, blinking.
“Morning sickness? Are you kidding?” Maggie exclaimed.
“Nope,” Garnet replied. “I would not kid about being sick as a dog. Oh, there goes Ruth! Forget I said anything.”
“Crap!” Maggie whirled, and all attention was back on the dark brown pigtails streaking down the hill.
“Look at our girl go,” Asher said, pride rushing through him. He’d congratulate his brother and sister-in-law with more exuberance as soon as his daughter was no longer careening down a mountain on two waxed planks of fiberglass.
Garnet cupped her hands around her mouth and jumped up and down, shouting encouragement. Asher joined in, yelling Ruth’s name and ringing the cowbell that he’d bought special for the occasion. The dog leaned against Asher, and didn’t jolt too badly.
Ruth skied like she’d been born to do it. Partway down the hill, she caught an edge, and Asher’s heart almost stopped, but she recovered and regained her rhythm, finishing her last couple of turns. She crossed the finish line with a huge grin on her face. She took off her helmet and bounced on her skis, waving her arms in the air at her family.
Asher led the way to the area where the skiers were corralled. His boots crunched on the hardpack, and he squeezed Maggie’s hand. She was right by his side. Just where she should be.
“Dad! Maggie!” Ruth had removed her skis and was jumping up and down. “Look at my time! My personal best. Even though I caught my edge. That was my goal, and I did it.”
He hugged her tight, wincing as the helmet and skis she was carrying thunked into his back. “You did, honey. I’m so proud of you. Way to work hard.”
Everyone else congratulated her, and her smile grew that much wider. And when Maggie and Asher congratulated the parents-to-be again and Ruth deduced in seconds that she was getting a new cousin, Asher thought she’d float up to the clouds.
“Nice sign, Uncle Caleb,” Ruth said slyly.
Caleb held it out to her, the Go, Ruth, Go colored in bright turquoise Sharpie to match her jacket. Garnet’s doing, no doubt. “Want it for a keepsake?”
“I do.” She shoved her skis and helmet into Asher’s hands. Grabbing the sign from her uncle, she shot Asher a conspiratorial look. “But that’s not what I would s—”
He held a finger to his lips and Ruth stopped talking. Maggie, who’d been squealing off to the side with Garnet about the pregnancy announcement, must have noticed the sudden shift in conversation, because she turned her head, expression curious.
“Go for it,” Asher whispered to Ruth. He jammed Ruth’s skis in the snow, hung her helmet over one of the tips with a strap and dug in his pocket for his part of the surprise. Jackson sat obediently next to Ruth, as if he knew what was happening.
Nodding, Ruth opened up the false front of the sign to expose a new message. She held it under her chin and stared at Maggie with pleading eyes. “Will you?”
Maggie gasped. So did Garnet, Caleb and half the nearby crowd, for that matter.
Smiling softly at the shock in the brown eyes he wanted to wake up to for the rest of his life, Asher flicked open the ring box and got down on one knee in front of Maggie, his daughter at his side. “Will you marry me?” he said, in time with Ruth’s, “Will you be my mom?”
Maggie dropped to her knees in front of him and took them both in her embrace. Mischief danced on her lips. “What took you so long to ask?”
Don’t miss the previous titles in Laurel Greer’s Sutter Creek, Montana miniseries:
From Exes to Expecting
A Father for Her Child
Holiday by Candlelight
Their Nine-Month Surprise
Available now from Harlequin Special Edition!
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Slow Burn by Caro Carson.