Epilogue

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."—Emily Bront?, Wuthering Heights

Two years later…

Bryson

The office was small and a little cramped, but the view of the forest behind campus through the large picture window was breathtaking.

I sat on the corner of Smitty's desk and admired the natural beauty for a moment before opening one of the boxes we'd schlepped from our house. "Uh…babe? These are cookbooks. Did you mean to bring Julia Child along on your new teaching adventure?"

"Actually, yes, I did, wise guy." Smitty plucked the thick book from my hand and kissed my forehead, perching his sexy ass beside me. The gold band on his left hand caught the light as he thumbed through the pages. "I was thinking that it would be cool to integrate cooking into the whole health and nutrition spiel for the kids next semester. I don't know how I'm going to do that, exactly. I'm not a great cook, but I'm good at the basics and I could bring in experts like JC to give lessons on how to spice things up. In a healthy way."

"That's a great idea. Except Julia uses lots of butter."

"Yeah, yeah. I got a few other books in there. We don't have access to an oven, but we could make salads and healthy shit. They gotta learn how to feed themselves…be independent—no sink or swim necessary. Basic skills we'll absolutely teach our kid someday." He flashed a dopey sideways grin, then opened one of the boxes piled on his chair. "All right, we don't have to do much here. I'll unpack everything in August, put the shelves up for books and trophies, and I'll hang some pics on that wall. What do you think?"

"It's going to look great," I enthused, hopping up to tap the blank wall opposite his desk. "So our supersized wedding photo will go right here where you can gaze at it all day?"

Smitty rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately, there's only one supersized photo, and that's at home. I'll bring the smaller one and put it on my desk like a normal person. But let's be real, the rink is my real office."

True.

With three seasons as the head coach of Elmwood High School's hockey team under his belt, Smitty was the undisputed king of the rink. The first season was the roughest, but the Hawks had improved exponentially every year. In fact, they were reigning champions of the Four Forest league, led by graduating senior, Denny Mellon, who'd just signed on with Jake's agent. According to McD, Denny would be Elmwood's second active NHL star in no time…alongside Jake, of course.

Jake became a Bruin two years ago and was one of the leading scorers in the league. Yeah, he was a star and this town couldn't have been more proud. And me? I was over the moon for him. Worried too 'cause, according to my husband, that was how I rolled. I couldn't help it. His world changed overnight, and that would have been daunting for any young person. Jake was seemingly ready for the spotlight. He relished competition, fought hard, and never backed down. He reminded me a lot of Smitty, who I knew Jake credited for helping him hone his craft.

Smitty and Jake had a nice relationship now. They had hockey in common…and me. Jake had always been my fiercest supporter, and that doubled after Smitty and I made our relationship public knowledge. Sure, we'd expected the press to cover Smitty's coming-out news, but his connection to me through Jake had made it a mini circus. Smitty had been totally unfazed.

I believe his exact words were, "Some people will congratulate us, and others won't. That's life. We're happy, so…fuck 'em."

He was right. We mattered. And after years of worrying about how I was perceived by the outside world, I was ready to let go and embrace my own happiness. And when Smitty asked me to marry him, of course I said yes.

Yep, husbands!

We got hitched in the gardens outside of St. Finbarr's on a beautiful June day in front of our friends and family…and basically the entire town. The reception was held on the patio area at the diner under a thousand fairy lights. It was a gorgeous and heartfelt ceremony followed by a raucous party that lasted till the wee hours of the morning.

Jake was my best man and Smitty's best friend, Jimmy, was his. This was our second chance at forever, and we didn't take our vows lightly. I loved Smitty with all my heart. I wanted to support him and make him happy for the rest of our lives, and I knew he felt the same for me.

Nothing too drastic had changed otherwise. My business was steadily growing, and Smitty coached full time and taught a couple of health and nutrition classes that were such a hit with the kids that they'd given him his own space and hired him to teach a summer course. That would be tricky.

See, we had big plans this summer. Camp began next week, and Smitty was very involved in the program. He'd recruited some of his former players, including Denny and Niall, to help out before they headed off to college.

To kickstart the festivities, we were hosting the second annual Milligan-Paluchek Thin Ice Barbecue at our house tomorrow.

My formerly quiet home was never quiet anymore. We adopted two rescue dogs, ABBA and Ozzie, and a tabby named Princess who had more personality than the average cat. She teased her canine brothers relentlessly—taking over their beds and stealing their toys. Her antics incited mini wars that amused my husband to no end.

Smitty loved a little chaos and noise. Good thing 'cause in six months, our house was about to get a lot noisier.

We were adopting a baby, and we couldn't be more excited. We'd been paired with a teenage mom who was expecting a boy in November. It was a tenuous process and I didn't want to get our hopes up prematurely, but…fingers crossed, we'd be bringing our son home in a few months.

I didn't take this decision lightly. Neither of us did. I'd personally done a lot of soul-searching. I was older now, and I wanted to give this child everything I'd given Jake and still be a good husband to Smitty. It might not always be smooth sailing, but I'd like to think we were ready.

Scratch that, I knew we were ready. Smitty was going to be the best dad in the world. I couldn't wait to begin that journey with him.

But first, we had some grocery shopping to do.

"I hate to break this to you, Coach, but we have to go to the market. We need…everything. Hamburger meat, buns, potato chips, fruit, veggies for the pasta salad, watermelon?—"

"Hot dogs." Smitty looped his arm around my shoulders and motioned for me to step into the hall while he locked his office door.

I made a yuck face. "Meh."

"Meh? To hot dogs? Oh, geez. C'mon, you know my hot dogs are the freaking bomb. Add some chili and relish and?—"

"No, no. I'll have a burger."

"My husband, the anti-hot-dog guy. It ain't right." Smitty linked his fingers with mine, groaning playfully as we headed for the exit.

I chuckled, leaning into his side.

This was a familiar dance. The teasing, the sweetness, the touching, the smiles. This was my happy place. This was the life we'd built together. What began on shaky ground and thin ice was now solid, strong, and beautiful. Every day was a gift, and there was always a reason to look forward to tomorrow with this man at my side.