23. Winter

TWENTY-THREE

WINTER

" H and me the milk!" I growl at Hunter, who stares at me with amusement.

I'm in the kitchen, wearing entirely too much flour on my clothes, trying to bake a cake for Hunter's thirty-fifth birthday.

"Baby, why are you stressing yourself out making this cake? We could just run to the bakery and get a pre-made one." Hunter leans against the island, carefully avoiding the eggshells near the edge.

Getting a store-bought cake is probably the tastier, more logical solution. For all my gifts, I'm not known for my kitchen skills. I can cook well enough not to starve and be well-nourished, but am I the hostess with the most-ess? Not even close.

"Absolutely not," I say hotly, scrolling on my messy phone to triple-check the amount of milk I need to pour into this damn chocolate cake.

For some wholly irrational and unknown reason, I decided that not only did Hunter need a homemade cake, but one made from scratch. No Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker cake mix here .

"This is our first thing as a..." Family? Couple? Jesus, what the fuck? "Unit," I say to Hunter, stirring the cake batter until smooth.

Why are there still lumps?

He chuckles. "A unit, Sunbeam?"

I throw my hands up, heading to the pantry. "I don't know, Hunter! You tell me what this is." I rummage around the massive walk-in, looking for...something.

The cocoa powder. I see it on the top shelf, and when I reach for it, I'm startled when the door closes behind me.

Hunter is here.

"You need to relax, baby," he says with a serious tone.

"This is the first celebration-type thing we're having with all of us—the first thing we've done with August too. And he's a teenage boy who has just moved in with the dad he's spent very little time with, and now you've brought a girlfriend into the picture. I would expect him to have big feelings about this, H." The words rush out of me, and when I'm finished, I roll my lips inward to stop more from coming out.

"You're afraid he won't like you? August loves you."

"Yeah, as a person he can talk to. As a therapist and friend. Not as his step—" I cut myself off again when I almost say "stepmom."

I'm getting way the fuck ahead of myself.

Hunter crowds me against the shelves, my back pressing against them. He tilts my head up, and then, because he gives me what I need even when I don't know to ask, he kisses me.

I melt as I always do when his lips touch mine.

It's a dirty kiss, and his mouth is hungry against mine. Hunter grinds against me, and the feeling of his hard cock against my stomach signals my lady bits to get wet.

I lean into the kiss. When he ends it, I inhale sharply.

"August loves you. He wants you as a stepmom."

"I don't want him to think I'm trying to erase his mother, but I don't know what I'm doing here. I want him to feel loved and cared for and not edged out."

He smiles down at me, his thumb rubbing against my bottom lip. He gives me a chaste kiss.

"You're amazing. You know that, Sunbeam?" Another kiss. "August and I are so lucky to have you in our lives."

The pre-heated oven beeps, which spurs me into action. I burst out of the pantry with Hunter on my heels in time to see Ella enter the kitchen.

"Did a bomb go off in here?" she asks, taking in the island.

"I just want to make Hunter a chocolate cake." I sniff, rubbing my nose with the back of my hand to stave off the onslaught of tears I feel welling up.

Ella nods slowly. "Uh-huh. And do you, um, enjoy baking?"

I stare at her in the thick silence, and she laughs.

"Move over, girl. Let me help you."

I sag in relief. "You will?"

"Yep. Lucky for you, baking is my specialty. I love sweets if you didn't know. Plus, I've made this cake before." She winks, and I settle in beside her.

Hunter kisses the side of my head and leaves the kitchen.

With him out of the way, I put my hand over my chest, centering myself with a quick breathing exercise. When I'm finished, I feel the anxiety leaving my body.

"You really care about this cake, don't you," Ella says as she greases a parchment-lined baking tin.

"I do. I just want it to be right." I assess the damage I've done to the kitchen island and decide to make myself useful by cleaning while Ella bakes.

"It's already all right," Ella says, giving me a sage nod.

I tilt my head to the side, considering her. "Yeah," I reply. Ella and I haven't spent much time together. Before the abduction, we were starting to get to know each other, but we didn't get to hang out much, as I was there to work with August.

And then, when Hunter and I broke up, I avoided the house altogether.

Since returning, I kept to myself until a few weeks ago. Now it feels like she's the person who is challenging to get ahold of.

"I've never seen my brother so happy," Ella says, breaking through my contemplation. "You're good for him."

"We're good for each other," I reply.

She hums, focusing back on the cake. I count several seconds as I shuffle around the kitchen, cleaning up. When the island is clean and orderly, I put my hands flat on the marble countertop, assessing her.

I realize she's avoiding my gaze.

"Ella," I say softly.

"Hmm?" she asks, casting the sound over her shoulder as she puts the cake in the oven.

"What's up?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" she replies.

She's at least facing me a little, and I wave my hands between our bodies. "With you and me," I say.

"We're good!" she replies brightly, clutching the dirty mixing bowl to her chest and shuffling over to the sink. I walk over to where she stands.

"I don't think so, Ella. I know I've been distant over the past few months since I've been back—" The sound of her dropping the metal bowl in the sink cuts me off.

"It's okay. Sorry, I've been running around between classes and stuff."

"See, case in point. I didn't even know you were in school still."

She rolls her lips inward, and when tears fill her eyes, I reach out and touch her arm. "Hey," I say, my brows knitting together .

"I'm so sorry, Winter!" She covers her face with her wet hands, sobbing.

"What are you sorry for?" I try to keep the confusion out of my voice.

"I'm sorry that my father did this! I'm sorry I defended him for so long and was so wrong."

She stops talking when I pull her into a hug. I had no clue she carried so much of this on her conscience.

"You almost died, and you suffered so much. Hunter won't tell me what happened while you were gone, but I can fucking guess. And my father was the one who orchestrated all this. I just— God !"

She tries to move away, but I hold her through her words, letting her get this out.

Her tears start to slow after a minute, and I release her when she pulls back.

She leans against the island, her eyes fixed on the stone's swirling gray, gold, and white patterns.

"I don't know how you don't hate me. I'm not looking for sympathy—especially not sympathy from you, because you should be the last person to give it. But fuck. "

"Will you look at me, Ella?"

It takes a few seconds, but eventually, she looks up at me.

"The only people who are responsible for what happened are Adam Collins, Benjamin Brigham, and the people he used to hurt me. No one else. Not even you."

Her lips tremble, and she nods slowly. "I'm so sorry about what happened. I'm so glad that you're here."

I smile at her. "Likewise." I grab her hand. "And I'd like us to get closer, you know? To be friends. I don't have very many of them. I mean, actually, Veronica is my only friend. And I guess Hunter, but that's, um...."

"That's different since y'all bang like horny teenagers?"

I laugh, and it's loud, robust. I haven't had many of them over the past several months, but they're coming out more frequently these days.

"I'd love for us to be friends, especially since we're going to be sisters soon," she says with a dangerous twinkle in her eye.

I look down at my left hand. My ringless left hand. The ring Hunter unceremoniously put on my hand before entering Misha Hroshko's home sits next to our bed, and Hunter didn't say anything when I didn't put it on this morning.

It's all confusing as fuck.

"He hasn't asked me to marry him," I say. "Plus, it's probably too soon for all that, anyway."

She blows a raspberry, sticking her tongue out, and I laugh again.

"Bullshit," she drawls. "If he hasn't asked you, it's because there's a specific thing he's waiting for or wants to do. But he's already declared that you're Mrs.Brigham, soooooo." She draws out the word, shrugging her shoulders and lifting her hands as if to say, Well, what can ya do?

"Well, while the Commonwealth of Virginia recognizes common law marriage, I'd really like an official... something before stepping into the title. You know, like a wedding. Or, and I know this sounds crazy, an actual proposal."

She tilts her head from side to side before saying, "I mean, I get it. But also, marriage is a piece of paper, ya know?"

"Ah, but it's an important piece of paper."

She responds by pulling a Blow Pop out of her back pocket.

"You'll understand when you get there," I say.

She startles slightly.

"Are you there with someone?"

"No!" she says quickly.

I quirk an eyebrow. "Methinks the lady doth protesteth too much," I say .

She puts her lollipop in her mouth.

"Ella I-Don't-Know-Your-Middle-Name Brigham. Are you seeing someone seriously?" I try to put on my best maternal voice.

She chokes. "N-not seriously," she says.

"Oh, my God, you so are," I say, leaning in closer to her. "Who is it?" I whisper.

Her face flushes completely. She looks around the room and out in the hallway. Ensuring we're alone, she says, "You can't tell anyone. I'm so serious. Like, this is the sole test of our ability to be friends. If you tell anyone, I'll put superglue in your lip gloss." She holds my hands, whispering back to me frantically.

"Oh Lord, who is it?"

She squeezes my wrists as she quickly shakes my entire forearm with her strong grip. " Promise !"

"I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." She looks at me as if I just stripped off my clothes and started doing the Macarena.

"My bad, that was a millennial moment. Your secret is safe with me. I'm an almost-therapist. I have trained on how to be a vault of secrets." I drop my voice even lower. "Now spill."

She breathes in and out, then says, "It's Leo."

She claps a palm over my mouth at my unrestrained yelp. When she lets my face go, I slap my hand over my mouth.

"Girl, what ?" I say, and if possible, she blushes an even deeper red.

"You cannot freak out, and you absolutely cannot tell Hunter." She looks scared, worried.

So I get nervous.

"You're not—you're okay with this relationship, right? He's not forcing you or?—"

"No! Oh, God, if anything, I was the one forcing—" She drops her head back into her hands again .

Wishing to end her misery, I say, "Hey, it's all cool. Plus, the age gap thing is kinda hot."

She peeks at me between her fingers.

"As long as you're safe and having fun, that's all that matters. No one else gets a say."

She mumbles, "You don't know my brother then."

And I do have to give her that one. If Hunter were to know that his best friend and his barely legal sister are...doing whatever they are doing, he'd probably shoot Leo. But he'd make sure it wasn't fatal just so he could torture him before throwing him in the Potomac.

"I won't tell anyone, especially Hunter," I say, pulling her in for a hug.

The beeping of the oven breaks the moment, and when I see the perfect chocolatey tops of the cakes, I give her a golf clap.

"Mine so wouldn't turn out like this," I say.

"It's okay. It's the thought that counts." She smiles as she puts the cakes on the cooling rack.

"All right, so now to teach you how to make this frosting. It's the hardest part of the whole cake," she says.

When I audibly gulp, she lets out a laugh as big as mine.

It takes us another two hours to let everything cool and apply the frosting, but I reaffirm my initial opinion of Ella. She's a ball of fun. She's funny, intelligent, and wise beyond her years.

Veronica joins us with a sleeping Summer strapped to her chest in a sling carrier as we put the finishing touches on the cake.

"Win, you did this?" Veronica asks, wide-eyed.

All clean after taking a brief break in my room to change clothes and get flour out of my hair, I put the simple cake decorations on with a flourish. I place the three and five candles in the center beneath the arc of candy letters that spell out "Happy Birthday, Hunter. "

"I had help," I say, turning to Ella.

She grins and raises her wine glass in my direction. "The decorations are all Winter, though," Ella adds.

Veronica makes an impressed face.

"Can we please get on with this?" Leo's beleaguered bellow sounds from the great hall where I've stationed him with Hunter and August.

I look at Ella, who wears a startled look on her face, before I call back, "Yep, just a minute!"

I light the candles and take small steps as I move through the house toward the hall. I refuse to let the flames go out, so I hold my breath too.

Once we're right outside the door, I take a deep breath and start a markedly off-key rendition of Happy Birthday .

Hunter looks relaxed when we enter the room, and when his eyes land on me and the cake, his whole face transforms.

The hardness leaves it, and his brows relax. The smile that smooths across his face is gentle.

He looks young.

He looks happy.

"...and many more," I finish singing.

"On channel four..." Veronica adds.

"And Scooby-Doo...."

"On channel two..." she throws back at me, and we both burst into laughter. The rest of the group eyes us like we've lost it.

Stepping closer to Hunter, I place the cake on the gleaming table before him.

"Happy birthday, baby," I utter softly. My words are just for him. His eyes tracked my progress across the room, and now that I stand in front of him, I feel the heat from his gaze.

I feel the love too.

"I love it, baby. Thank you." He kisses my hand.

Ella makes a retching sound from the corner, laughing and smiling brightly to let us know she's just playing with us .

"You are so disgustingly in love with each other. It's cute only because it's you two. But wrap it up so we can get our sugar high," she says, smirking.

I roll my eyes at Ella, sticking my tongue out at her.

"Make a wish first," I add, turning back to Hunter. The corner of his mouth kicks up.

"I already got my wish," he murmurs.

"Oh, God," Leo says, tilting his head back and staring at the ceiling. "Save me from ever falling in love."

I glance over to Ella and frown when I see her face pale.

"Happy birthday, Dad," August says from his spot across from Hunter. At his words, everyone freezes, and as a collective, we hold our breaths.

Hunter stills the most out of all of us, his eyes going wide for a beat before placing his hand on his chest.

He leans forward in his chair—leans closer to August.

August rocks from side to side, but the stim isn't one he uses when he's agitated. It's what he does when he's happy.

With a depth of emotion that feels corporeal, Hunter simply says, "Thank you."

I sniff, biting my lip to prevent myself from crying.

"I've got one," Hunter says. "A wish, that is." He smiles, just the slight uptick of his lips, and closes his eyes for a moment. At a silent count of three, he leans forward to blow out the candles.

"What did you wish for?" I ask him.

"I won't tell you because it won't come true. And I really need this one to come true." He kisses the back of my hand.

"All right, let's cut this cake!" Veronica materializes with the knife, and Ella scoots the small plates further down the table.

And as Hunter cuts his homemade cake, I glance around the room.

Family. This is everything .

And I'll be damned if I ever lose them.

Hunter and August stand shoulder to shoulder, gazes fixed on the sky.

We're all out on the east lawn, a flat parcel of land extending before a dense patch of trees. The yard and the forest cover about fifteen acres, according to Hunter.

I'm surprised that August loved the cake. And by love, he said, "I enjoy the taste and texture of this cake."

Which is phenomenal praise.

Ella, Leo, Veronica, Summer, Kitty, and I sit in Adirondack chairs as August teaches Hunter how to do flips with their new matching SAB Goblin helicopters.

I can tell that Hunter is struggling to keep up with August's instructions, and Hunter has nearly crashed about three times in the last fifteen minutes.

Which is something August finds hilarious .

August mentioned wanting to get Hunter a birthday present, but when he suggested the RC copters, I figured he mainly wanted a gift for himself.

But seeing my two favorite guys standing together with the same look of concentration, it's apparent that the real gift is this moment.

I look at Leo and Ella, who sit in close proximity but don't acknowledge each other at all. They didn't say a word to each other the entire time we were cutting the cake and singing Happy Birthday .

If they're trying to keep their relationship under wraps, they're doing an excellent job.

"Shit!" Hunter groans in frustration. Hunter's helicopter is stuck in one of the trees at the front line of the forest .

"Leo, give me a hand with this," Hunter grumbles as August jumps up and down with amusement.

I've not seen this level of happiness and excitement from August before. It's beautiful to witness.

Leo and Hunter walk off to the tree line when Ella says, "I need to get to studying. Midterms, ya know?" Without further conversation, she walks away.

"I'm going to go inside too," Veronica says. "It's going to get dark soon, and I don't want the baby to get cold."

"Take Kitty with you?" I ask her, and she blows kisses at Kitty to get him to hop down and follow her.

I suppress a laugh as I see Leo kneeling next to Hunter, prompting him to stand on his thigh for more leverage to reach the helicopter.

"Thank you for your help getting the present." I jump out of my daze when August speaks.

"You're welcome, August," I say when he hops in the chair next to me a moment later.

He looks past me, which I've learned is as close to looking me in the eye as August allows. He doesn't say anymore. Instead, he taps his finger on his cheek.

"Is there something on your mind?" I ask him.

He taps a few more times, starting to rock back and forth. Suddenly, he picks up his tablet, and it's a long while before he stops tapping on the screen, writing and erasing and pausing to stim.

"I do not hate my dad anymore."

I give him a soft smile.

"What changed?" I ask him. He taps his cheek a few times but quickly responds.

"You." I raise my eyebrows, but I maintain my silence to give him space to think.

"The stories I heard about my father were not good things. When I came to live here, I was very angry. But you care about me. And you show my dad how to care about me too. "

Tears pop to my waterline. "I do care about you, August. So much. I love you. I hope it's okay for me to say that."

He rocks, and his eyes flick to my face before he looks over my shoulder. He hums for a long moment. It's a happy sound.

"But I didn't have to teach your dad to love you. He already did."

August's physical response doesn't telegraph disbelief as it would have six months ago, but I can tell there's an edge of skepticism in the slant of his shoulders.

"You are not my mother. My mother is dead. But you are like my mother, and I am happy to have you in my life."

"August, I didn't put on my waterproof mascara!"

His brow furrows. "What does makeup have to do with our conversation?"

I smile even brighter and shake my head. "Nothing at all, August."

"Will you marry my father?" he says.

"If he asks me to, yes. How do you feel about that?"

He takes a moment, making happy sounds as he rocks forward and backward with more power.

"That would be okay."

I smile when he lopes off, half skipping, half-running across the field to Hunter and Leo, who give each other a high five while Hunter holds the broken helicopter in his other hand.

When they all return, August takes Hunter's gift without a word before running off to the main house. I'm sure he'll fix it.

"Well, that is enough for today," Hunter says. He reaches out to me, helping me out of the low seat.

I lace my fingers between his, letting out a big yawn.

"Tired, baby?" Hunter asks me, pulling me into his side.

"It's been a long day," I reply. My body is tired down to the bones .

We stroll back into the house, and Hunter detours us into the kitchen to grab two slices of chocolate cake and two glasses of milk before heading toward our bedroom. I hold the milk; he grabs the cakes.

I toe off my shoes as soon as I hit the bedroom and put the glasses on the nightstand. Wordlessly, Hunter hands me a slice, and I dig in immediately.

He doesn't take a bite right away. Instead, he chooses to watch me eat.

"What?" I say with a mouth full of chocolate.

"Thank you, Winter," he says with a soft voice.

"I wish I could have given you something bigger. I'm sure you're used to celebrating your birthday in Ibiza and hitting up Nobu."

The side of his mouth rises in a smirk.

"Actually," he begins, "I haven't celebrated my birthday since my mom died."

The cake turns thick in my mouth. Swallowing, I say, "What? What do you mean?"

He sits next to me, still not touching his cake.

"My mom was the only person who cared enough to throw me a party or even acknowledge my birthday. Ella cared, of course, but she's younger than me, so she wouldn't coordinate something like that."

I put my cake plate on the bed next to us, half-eaten.

"So none of your friends ever..." I ask.

"Nah. I mean, Leo probably would have taken me out if I had ever been around him on my birthday, but I was always off somewhere else, alone."

He blinks a few times, one-two-three, then smiles and looks down at his cake.

"I love this cake," he says finally, taking a big bite. "Thank you for the best birthday."

Taking in my sad face, he leans over and kisses me, the chocolate on our lips sweet on my tongue .

"Next year's will be even better," I whisper against his lips.

He smiles against mine. "As long as you're with me, it will be the best every year."