It was mid-morning by the time he and Jayden made it back to the house. They parked the snowmobile at the base of the hill and walked the rest of the way. They were both cold and wet, but there was an easiness that hadn’t been there between them. Dane walked with his hand on Jayden’s shoulder as they made their way to the house.
And there was Charlotte, waiting on the front porch for them, a heavy coat thrown over her nightgown and her winter boots laced up tight. She held a steaming cup of coffee in her hands and a thermos sat on the railing in front of her. There was no telling how long she’d been outside waiting for them, probably since he’d left a few hours before.
“Oh, man. She’s going to kill me. I know that look.” Jayden slowed his steps once he got sight of his mother.
“It’s Christmas Day. Maybe we can talk her into going easy on you.”
“You think so?”
“I think we’ll give it our best shot. I’ve got just the thing to distract her.”
By the time they made it halfway to the steps Charlotte was already rushing out to meet them. She dropped to her knees in front of Jayden and pulled him into her arms, hugging him tight.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” she said, not letting him go. “You know better than to go out after dark by yourself. Dane and I were worried sick about you.”
“He found me, Mom. Don’t cry. I’m sorry.” His voice pitched higher as he saw Charlotte’s tears. She hardly ever cried, so when she did it was all the more effective. “Don’t hate me.”
“Oh, baby. I could never hate you. We’re a team, right?”
Dane gave his shoulder a squeeze and said to Charlotte, “It’s all right. We’ve got it all worked out. He won’t do anything like this again. He promised. And a MacKenzie always keeps his word.”
He felt Jayden straighten with pride beneath his hand, and Charlotte pulled back, looking at them both closely. “I feel like I’m missing something important here.”
Jayden gave his mom a quick hug and grinned. “It’s just between us men. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Oh, yeah?” she said, narrowing her eyes.
“Uh, oh. She’s got that look on her face again. You’d better fix it quick.” Jayden pulled out of her embrace and ran toward the house. “Hey! It’s Christmas! I want to see what Santa brought me.”
Dane helped Charlotte to her feet, and they stood arm in arm as Jayden headed toward the screen door. It opened before Jayden got there and Dane’s brothers all stood there to razz him for taking off like he had, though the relief on their faces was plain to see.
Jayden turned back before he went inside and stared at Dane and Charlotte for a long while before he spoke. “Good luck, Dad.” And then he went inside and the screen door slammed behind him.
“Jesus,” Dane said, dropping his head to Charlotte’s shoulder. “I’m going to be crying like a baby here in a second.” In truth, his eyes were already brimming with tears. He never thought he’d hear Jayden call him Dad.
“Merry Christmas,” Charlotte whispered, taking his face between her hands and placing a kiss softly on his lips. “I couldn’t ask for a better one than this. Thank you for bringing him home.”
“We came to an understanding.” His heart felt lighter than it had in months, and he smiled when the snow began to fall again. “He gave me some pretty good advice.”
“Oh, really?”
“He told me you could be pretty stubborn about things and if I wanted you to marry me then I needed to ask you the right way.”
Dane dropped to one knee right there in the snow, and Charlotte let out a startled laugh, covering her mouth with her hands in surprise.
“This was his advice?”
“He’s a sharp kid. He gets that from my side of the family,” he said deadpan.
“What else did he say?”
“That he wants us to be a family. I want to be a family. I love both of you with everything I am.” Dane reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the small black box. “You’ve made me the man I never had the courage to be before.”
Charlotte’s lips trembled at the sight of the box, but her gaze was steady and dry as she looked at him with love.
“I was going to wait and give this to you after you’d set a date for the wedding, but Jayden thought it would be good to give it to you now. As long as you don’t wear it while you’re working on cars.”
She grinned and said, “Good advice.”
“I was foolish to make demands and not give you the romance of it before. You deserve that and more. Marry me, Charlotte. Love me forever. And let me give Jayden my name. Let me give you more children.”
She laughed and dropped to her knees in front of him, kissing him with all the love and passion she had inside of her. “Are you going to show me the ring?”
“Are you going to set a wedding date before we hit retirement age?”
“We’ll definitely be getting married some time before next July. I can promise you that.”
“What happens next July?”
“You said you wanted to give me more children. It looks like you’ve already succeeded.”
Dane dropped the ring box in the snow and grabbed Charlotte by the shoulders. “What? You’re pregnant?”
“Either that or I’ve been having morning sickness for the past month for no reason.”
“Past month? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was just waiting for the right moment. Put the ring on my finger, love, and let’s live happily ever after.”
Dane dug around in the snow until his hand covered the ring box. His eyes were too blurry with tears to see. He didn’t deserve this second chance, but he was going to take it anyway and be grateful.
He opened the box and his hands steadied as he took the ring and placed it on her finger. The sounds of cheers and whoops coming from his brothers and his son made him grin. And then he kissed the woman of his dreams and all was right with the world.