Butcher

Epilogue

BUTCHER

The past six weeks had been like no time had passed between me, Kaylee, and Levi. We spent as much time together as possible. Since Kaylee didn’t have a job, she flew to our away games. It was amazing.

Her boss (or former boss) wasn’t too happy that she didn’t get on the plane and was even more pissed when she quit. I’m sure he would have loved to receive more notice, but Kaylee needed to do what made her happy and I would support her decision no matter what. She talked to Ford and they were in the process of starting their own marketing firm. Their first clients were going to be me, Levi, and Coop, of course.

In addition to all the exciting things happening with Kaylee and Ford, the All-Star team Coop and I were on had won the tournament. And since we were still on break for a few more days, Levi, Kaylee, and I joined Coop and Ford for their trip up north.

They had booked a four-bedroom rental on a lake a few miles from the resort where Kaylee and Ford would go skiing. Since the guys and I still had almost half a season to go, Coop, Levi, and I weren’t going to risk getting injured on a slope.

A light flurry had started to fall when we arrived at the house Coop’s friend Hayden had recommended we book. Coop had mentioned that Hayden and Tyler figured since the house was big enough to accommodate the president’s son and his secret service detail as well as the two of them when they went skiing before, it would work for the five of us.

Coop and Ford were already inside and the first thing I noticed when Kaylee, Levi, and I got out of my Escalade was how quiet it was compared to the hustle and bustle in Boston. We grabbed our bags and walked up the stairs of the front porch. Ford swung the door open, a huge smile on his face.

“Welcome,” he greeted. “How was the drive?”

“It was good,” Kaylee responded. “This house is stunning.”

We entered into an open-concept kitchen that led to a large living room with massive windows overlooking an icy lake.

“Yeah, Hayden did well with his recommendation,” I stated.

“He did,” Coop said, walking into the kitchen. “Why don’t you guys put your stuff upstairs in one of the bedrooms? I’ve got cold beers with all our names on them and just started a fire in the firepit out back.”

“Look at you being a good host,” Levi teased him.

“Nah. Just trying to butter Butch up so he cooks us dinner.” Coop winked at me.

I chuckled. “I already figured I was the chef this trip. I brought food. It’s in a cooler I still need to bring in.”

“We’ll go grab it while you set your stuff down,” Ford offered.

“Thanks, man.” I clapped him on the back and followed Kaylee and Levi up the stairs.

We took the only room with a king-size bed and when we came back downstairs, I realized there was another room with a king on the main floor that Coop and Ford had claimed. They were sitting on the back deck and the three of us snagged beers from the fridge before we joined them around the dancing fire.

“This is breathtaking,” Kaylee stated, looking out at the frozen lake, the snow still falling in a light flurry.

Everything was white for as far as we could see. Even though we had plenty of the icy stuff in Boston, seeing all the pine trees covered in it was beautiful.

“It sure is.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders as we stared out at the lake.

Levi stepped to her other side and took a pull of his beer. “This sure beats the city view from our condos.”

When we had Friendsgiving almost two months ago, I joked about how our condos should have been one giant one. I was serious about it until his mom moved in. It was all good knowing she was no longer in an abusive relationship and her divorce would be finalized before the summer. I planned to cook her any meal she wanted because I was so happy for her.

As for Levi’s dad, he was out on bail and awaiting trial. I was certain we weren’t going to go and would have to rely on the prosecutors to do their jobs with the evidence they had.

Last weekend, Kaylee took Levi and me over to her parents’ place where we were introduced as her boyfriends. Just like my folks, they had been shocked, but then her sister Maggie stated how awesome it was that Kaylee had found two men who loved her more than anything in the world and she was ecstatic for us. Everyone else quickly agreed and that was that.

It was crazy how at one time we were all nervous to be truthful with our friends and family when most of them accepted us without judgment.

As the three of us settled around the fire with Coop and Ford, Coop started to get the plan in motion I’d discussed with him that morning. “Okay, who’s up for some fun? I think it’s time we put that snow to good use.”

“What do you have in mind?” I asked as though I didn’t know.

Coop glanced toward the untouched snow in the yard that led to the lake. “I say we have a snowball fight. It’s not every day we get to play in the fluffy stuff.”

Kaylee jumped to her feet, enthusiasm lighting up her face. “I’m in!”

I smiled, already envisioning the plan coming to fruition. Ford stood with a playful glint in his eye. “You’re going down, Kay.”

Everyone rushed off, getting their heavy jackets and gloves, and then started gathering snow, compacting it into perfectly round projectiles.

“No teaming up on me!” I called out, half-laughing, half-serious.

Kaylee turned to Levi, raising an eyebrow. “Shall we?”

“Absolutely,” he replied.

“Hey.” I chuckled. “I thought you two loved me?”

“We do, but that doesn’t mean we won’t aim at you,” Levi responded.

Before I could even brace myself, Kaylee launched the first snowball, hitting me square in the chest. I looked down, feigning shock before bursting into laughter. “Okay, it’s on!”

Chaos erupted. Snowballs flew in all directions as we ducked and dodged. I found myself laughing harder than I had in ages.

Levi and I quickly teamed up with Kaylee, each of us taking turns throwing snowballs at Coop and Ford.

Ford launched a snowball that narrowly missed me but caught Kaylee off guard. She squealed and retaliated with a perfect throw that hit him right in the face.

While they continued to go to war, I snuck upstairs and grabbed two small boxes from my bag. Hoping they wouldn’t notice me gone, I quickly returned to the fight and threw one, hitting Coop in the back. He turned, and I gave him the signal. Without a word, he grabbed Ford’s hand and whispered into his ear. Kaylee and Levi didn’t notice as they were both gathering more snow to make their snowballs, but when they stood to launch them, Kaylee was the first to spot the gifts in my hands.

“What do you have?” she asked, tilting her head and brushing snow off her shoulders.

Levi stepped closer. “Yeah, what’s that? It’s not Christmas.”

I smiled. “It’s not, but since we never exchanged gifts, even you and I, I figured this was a good time to give you two what I got you.” I handed them the wrapped boxes. Because of everything that went down around Christmas, we were never in the mood to give each other the things we had gotten one another. Just having him with me through everything was all I needed then, but now that things were good between the three of us, there was something I wanted them to know.

They exchanged glances, slipped off their gloves and tore into the red wrapping paper with gold reindeer on it. Inside, they revealed two small velvet ring boxes. Kaylee gasped, and Levi raised an eyebrow. I didn’t get on one knee.

“Go on,” I urged, still standing.

As they opened the lids, I watched Kaylee’s eyes widen when she saw the two-carat purple pear-shaped diamond surrounded by a halo of white round diamonds sitting on an eighteen-karat rose gold ring. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered, covering her mouth as tears glistened in her eyes.

Levi was smiling as he stared at the tungsten band that was plated in rose gold and had purple agate around the outside. A rose gold arrow ran through the center, wrapping around the band. “Austin … Are you …”

I shook my head slightly. “I wanted to make both of you a promise. I know there’s nowhere for us to go to make what we share legal, but I want you to know that I want to spend my life with both of you. The purple diamond symbolizes not just Kaylee’s beauty, but also all of our passion for each other. And this”—I pulled a matching band from my pocket and showed them the arrow—“is a reminder for us to move forward together. It represents our journey and the commitment we have to each other.”

Kaylee’s breath hitched, and Levi looked from the ring to me. “These are incredible. I can’t believe you thought of this.”

“Of course I did,” I replied, my heart swelling. “You two are everything to me.”

Levi’s smile broke through, lighting up his face. “You two are everything to me too.”

“Aw, you guys are making me cry.” Kaylee smiled through her tears.

“Don’t cry, sweetness.” I wrapped her in my arms and then pulled Levi in too.

When we broke apart, I slid the rings onto their fingers and then together they took mine and put it on my left ring finger too.

Coop and Ford joined us again and Coop clapped me on the back, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Dude, you did amazing! I think you just beat out my proposal to Ford.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “Come on. No one can top proposing on the ice after winning the Stanley Cup. But seriously, thanks.”

Ford chimed in, nudging Coop with a playful elbow. “Yeah, Butch that was amazing, but babe, you set the bar pretty high for your other teammates. They’ll never come up with a better plan than yours.”

“Speaking of plans,” Coop said, clearing his throat. “We’ve changed our minds. Ford and I are heading out to grab everyone dinner. We’ll be back in an hour.”

“Wait, what?” I questioned, surprised.

“Yup! We’ll be back,” Ford added, already heading toward the driveway. “Don’t get into too much trouble!”

I chuckled at his innuendo and looked at my boyfriend and girlfriend. “Well, shall we?”

They nodded and both Levi and I laced our fingers with Kaylee’s as she walked in the middle of us. Once inside, we went upstairs, shut the door, and made love, all of us wearing our commitment to each other on our left hands.

The End.