A Touch of Christmas Magic (Peppermint Hollow #2)

Epilogue

COLBY

Christmas Morning – One Year Later

We lay plastered together, our breaths coming hard and heavy as we came down from earth-shattering orgasms. We’d quickly discovered that moving Elsie to her own room, locking our door, and keeping the monitor close by had been the perfect combination when it came to sexy time for dads of a toddler.

“I say she’s awake in under ten minutes,” Kai mumbled against my arm.

“Or less. She was hyped about Santa last night.”

Elsie was just under a year and a half. She’d hit pretty much every single milestone and flew past them with flying colors. Our little girl was a talker, curious almost to a fault, and had a creative streak we planned to nurture.

She didn’t completely get the whole idea of Santa—and let’s be honest, it’s not exactly an easy thing to wrap your brain around seeing as how it’s pretty much just a lie, but I digress…but on Christmas Eve she’d eaten too many of Emory’s cookies, laughed herself silly with her best buddy Magic, and chattered the entire way home about Ho-Ho coming to her house.

As if on cue, Elsie started gabbing to herself as she did most mornings. She could climb out of her bed, but she usually stayed put as long as we got to her fairly quickly.

“Dada!”

Kai smiled against my arm.

“Da-dee!”

God, what that baby girl could do to my heart.

We rolled out of bed, and wiped ourselves down knowing we’d have to shower quickly later so we weren’t late for the big day.

With Kai taking care of a quick diaper change, I made my way downstairs to make sure the living room was set up perfectly. We’d gone with the same decorations as last year. Those damn stockings had disappeared the day after Christmas and shown up out of nowhere again this year. When one lived in Peppermint Hollow, one learned to just take shit like that with the flow.

When I suggested maybe we should try to find more round ornaments to match the three we had, Kai was adamant we keep them the same. “They’re the three of us. A touch of magic or not, they’re perfect. If we want a different theme, we can do another tree. Maybe in the dining room; a bit more formal if you want.”

I’d kissed him and told him our tree was perfect, just like our little family.

We’d continued reading parenting articles online and recently they’d come through for us with gift suggestions for kids Elsie’s age for Christmas. She absolutely loved the books, the wobble rocker toy, and the wooden garden shape sorter we got her.

We took pictures and sent them to Carl and Lea before struggling through breakfast with a toddler who would rather play than eat.

Things with Sasha’s parents had been easy and good. We sent them pictures on a fun little digital frame at least once a month. They mailed letters and cards to Elsie for us to keep in a safe place until she was older. About every other month, an outfit and a toy would show up at the house, and we’d video call them so they could see Elsie in the clothes and playing with the toy. They were good people, despite the screw-up, and I didn’t regret them getting to know Elsie.

Sasha hadn’t made a peep. Part of me feared she’d gone too far and hadn’t been able to make it back from the edge this time. The other part figured she was just too caught up in her own survival to worry about Elsie. Sometimes that made me angry, but mostly I appreciated Sasha’s understanding of herself and her troubles to give Elsie to me before anything got ugly.

Our attorney and the Klein’s attorney had both filed suit against Frederick Earnst. There had been enough complaints against him that an official investigation had been opened. The situation wouldn’t be resolved for quite some time, but Earnst had lost his license, already paid some hefty fines, and would spend the next few years drowning in lawsuits and court cases.

“I still can’t believe they decided to get married on Christmas day,” Kai said later that morning as he donned his tie in front of the mirror in the dining room.

Elsie screamed and ran in circles in her pretty flower girl dress as I shrugged into my suit jacket.

“I mean, I know we opted for a Friday at the courthouse, but that was because we wanted the reception to be Saturday with all our friends,” he went on. “Plus, we picked a nice fall day with pretty leaves and decent temps.”

“It was a really nice wedding,” I said, recalling our short and sweet ceremony surrounded by our parents and friends. We’d exchanged vows and promised to love each other forever—as if we hadn’t known we’d do that with or without rings and a piece of paper.

“We did a good job,” Kai said with a smile before kissing me. “I’m sure today will be just as nice. Colder, but nice.”

“It’s their day and we just need to be there for them,” I said even though I wasn’t sure I’d want to get married in the snow.

Trevor and Blake had opted for a tiny wedding in their backyard. Trevor had moved into Blake’s house over the summer, and their decision to get married had come quickly, but not as a surprise.

“I’m just shocked they beat Ivy and Emory to it,” Kai said.

“Ivy for sure won’t be doing anything anyone expects.”

Snatching Elsie up, we worked to get her into a little fur stole that matched her dress, the latch silver just like her shoes.

Once out the back door, I couldn’t help the sad, fond smile as I let my eyes wander to Francis’s old home. Our backyard neighbor hadn’t returned from his niece’s last year. She’d contacted us to let us know Francis had passed peacefully in his sleep.

“He spoke so very highly of you both,” she’d said when she called. “He was so happy to know you ended up together. I know he’s with his dear Sammy now.”

Francis had left a sizeable sum of money to his niece’s children and Elsie in his will. That beautiful girl with the two amazing daddies will one day take on the world. I know she’ll do great things and I know CoJack will be there watching every step of the way.

The family who’d moved into Francis’s house were colleagues of Blake’s at the physical therapy center. Their son, Zechariah, was just a few months older than Elsie. He was the ring bearer in the wedding.

Emory had deemed Elsie and Zechariah the next great love story.

“They’ll be playmates. They’ll grow up together, get married, have babies.”

Ivy had laughed at my frown over that part.

“And they’ll name their little boy Garrison after his grandpa Colby, and their little girl will be named Ivy since Elsie is Ivy’s biggest fan.”

It was true, aside from Elsie’s love of Magic and her daddies, she thought the sun rose and set on Ivy. It was cute how Emory and Elsie shared the same abject adoration for the guy.

Over the next hour, our tiny group of friends and family gathered under outdoor heaters to witness Blake and Trevor pledge their lives to each other as big, fluffy flakes of snow danced through the crisp, cold air.

Elsie, Zechariah, and Magic were all absolutely adorable as they made their way down the makeshift aisle.

Trevor and Blake would have made a heart of ice melt as they swore to love each other until the end of time.

When a chorus of tiny bells rang out, Emory snuggled closer to Ivy and mouthed, “Magic,” to me.

No bells were to be seen but they made their music all the same, and snow fell to blanket the ground like the most perfect made-for-TV holiday romance.

Kai knelt next to Elsie and handed her an envelope. “Wanna give this to Dada?”

I dropped to a crouch and held my arms out for Elsie as she beelined toward me. “What’s this?” I asked in the voice I reserved just for her. “Is it from Daddy?” Elsie giggled and flailed the envelope.

With my eyes locked on my husband, his lip caught between his teeth, I tore into the envelope. I scanned the paper once.

Twice.

As my eyes filled with tears, I read it a third time.

“Is this…” My words caught.

Emory, Ivy, Blake, and Trevor stood behind Kai. Our parents stood next to me. Elsie kissed Magic’s head between us.

“It’s a petition to file for adoption,” Kai answered. “I want it official if it’s okay with you.”

I scooped Elsie up and took a step to pull Kai in for a long kiss. “She’s been yours since the first time you held her and nothing will ever change that. But I want it on paper that she’s legally Elsie Mae Jackson-Burke.”

We pressed kisses to Elsie’s pretty little head, laughing when she squealed and wanted down. Second place to Magic, as usual.

“Maybe it’s just a touch of magic,” Kai murmured as we watched our daughter lift her face to the sky and stick out her tongue. Tiny snow crystals caught on her thick, black lashes, and Magic chomped at falling flakes by her side.

I pressed a kiss to his temple, my heart a full three sizes too big with love for my daughter and my Kai. “Maybe, but who needs magic when we’ve got CoJack?”

“Forever.”

~The End~