Snow Going Back

Chapter 48

Hours later, after signing and sealing all the paperwork with each new owner to make it official, Kate made her way over to Cora’s house. Or rather Sam’s , as it was now. She paused on the porch and knocked, no longer being a resident with the right to use a key. He opened it almost instantly and led the way inside to the lounge.

‘Drink?’ he asked.

‘Er, no. Thanks,’ she replied, trying to decide how to start what she wanted to say.

When Sam had revealed the will, he’d explained that the reason he hadn’t shared it was because Cora had told him about the old contract. She’d told him the newer will left it all to him and suggested that if he didn’t want it, to let the original fall into play. He’d assumed Kate would figure out who to give it to herself but hadn’t realised exactly how much she would be up against in her attempts to do so.

Aubrey knew about the more recent will after eavesdropping on a conversation years before, and she’d worked out it would be in her favour for Sam to keep it to herself. She’d simply been checking in to see if he was still staying quiet. What Kate had missed was Sam telling her very plainly never to corner him into meeting like that again.

Kate had been annoyed with him over the will at first but had grudgingly understood his actions after she’d calmed down. And she’d felt a deep relief when she learned the truth about Aubrey. Relief that her instinct to trust Sam hadn’t been off. That she hadn’t been played so easily, after all. She’d felt a little guilty about jumping to conclusions, too. But there had been no time to deal with that. She’d been against a ticking time bomb and had needed to get all her ducks lined up before the date of the court case. Now though, it was all finally over. Which meant now she had time to talk to him for her own reasons. She fiddled with her bracelet, suddenly feeling nervous. All the fires around them had been put out and the obstacles removed, meaning there were no distractions to escape to or walls to hide behind. All that was left were the two of them.

The fire behind Sam crackled as the silence stretched on, and she glanced at the flames, finding them easier to hold than his eye as she began to speak.

‘You, er, you asked me the other night why I wasn’t back home getting married.’ She swallowed. ‘I called it off. The whole thing.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he replied levelly.

‘Don’t be,’ Kate told him. ‘You were right. He wasn’t the right person for me. And I wasn’t the right person for him, either.’

She fiddled with the bracelet and walked over to the window, looking out at the falling snow. ‘I realised a while ago that I wasn’t happy with my life, but it took me a long time to figure out the reasons why. And it wasn’t just Lance.’ She turned back to face him now. ‘The main reason is that I haven’t been living for myself. Somewhere along the way, I started living for everyone else, fitting into their idea of who I should be, putting their needs of me before my own.’

She shook her head with a small shrug. ‘I’ve always wanted to use my skills to help people. I want to make a difference, and I want to travel the world. But so far I haven’t really done either. I got stuck in that rut of pleasing people rather than helping them and forgot what I wanted from life. But I’ve remembered now. I woke up. And that’s mostly down to you and your aunt, actually. And after I realised what I wanted…’ She blew out a long breath through her cheeks with a small smile. ‘Well, I just went and turned my entire life upside down and changed absolutely everything to make sure I started living my life for me .’

‘Oh?’ Sam asked, his eyes sparking with interest.

Kate nodded, taking a few hesitant steps towards him. ‘I asked my boss in Boston to let me set up a non-profit sector of the business. It’s a decent tax break for them, and it gives me the backing I need to do some real good in the world. They agreed.’

Sam’s eyebrows shot up, and he gave her a slow nod of approval. ‘That’s amazing. Where you setting up – in London?’

‘Somewhere over here, actually, in Vermont,’ she told him, walking towards him until she was just one step away. ‘I’ve grown kind of fond of this part of the world. It’s beautiful. And it’s a good base to jet out on adventures from.’ She looked up into his eyes as he leaned a little closer. ‘I don’t know exactly where this idea of mine will lead yet, but I’m really excited about it. And it’s the first time I’ve been able to say that about something in far too long.’

His gaze locked with hers, warmed by his smile, and Kate smiled right back, feeling their connection ignite. It was still there. That pull. That feeling of live energy between them like a pulse that couldn’t be stilled.

‘Yeah,’ he said huskily. ‘I know what you mean.’

Biting his lip, Sam drew back and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the box she’d left on her bed. ‘I found this, after you’d left. I thought you might like it back.’ He held it out.

Kate nodded. ‘I would,’ she replied. ‘But only if you come with it.’ She reached out and touched the front of his shirt, hooking her fingers in between two buttons. ‘Adventures are always better with the right person beside you. And I think my right person is you, Sam Langston.’

Sam’s mouth curled up in a slow grin, and he wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her close. ‘And what else do you want, Kate Hunter? I want to know. Tell me.’ He leaned closer, his breath warm on her face, and it took all her self-discipline not to melt right into him there and then.

‘I want you to take me as I am,’ she answered, her voice barely more than a whisper as their lips hovered achingly close to each other’s. ‘I want you to live in the moment with me and make every one of them count. And I want you to keep being you, exactly as you are. Because you’re incredible and inspiring, and you make every day a little brighter just by being in it.’ Kate’s heart sang like a bird as she finally declared her feelings out loud. ‘All in all, I guess what I’m saying is that I’m pretty mad about you. Utterly crazy for you, in fact, despite all my best attempts not to be.’

Sam smiled, his face lighting up as his eyes roamed her face and drank her in. ‘Well then, yes, I do come with the necklace,’ he confirmed, reaching one hand up to stroke her face. ‘And I’m crazy about you, too. But you’re the inspiring one, Kate. From the moment you arrived here, you tore up this town in all the right ways, and your passion lit up the dark in this house like a blazing inferno.’ He looked down at her hand on his shirt and took it in his. ‘You lit up the dark in me , too.’ He fell silent for a moment, a mixture of emotions playing out on his face. ‘I’m yours, Kate,’ he told her simply. ‘Completely, fully yours. I think I have been since the moment you flashed me those murder eyes of yours the day I drank your milk.’

‘ What ?’ Kate laughed, and he joined her before pulling her in towards him.

‘Not really,’ he admitted, his easy smile still warming his face. ‘I just really like to see you laugh.’

And it was in that exact moment that Kate felt her heart surrender to him completely. She smiled, looking back to those early days of furious pranks with a quiet sound of amusement. ‘They really were murder eyes, you know,’ she told him. ‘I genuinely considered murdering you that day. Just for a millisecond, but it was definitely there.’

Sam threw back his head and laughed as she shrugged, then he looked back down at her with a bright twinkle in his eye. ‘Well, life with you is always an adventure, Kate Hunter. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.’

Unable to resist him a moment longer, Kate pushed up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. Sparks flew as they connected, and as Sam took her in his arms and kissed her even deeper, pure, unharnessed bliss flowed through her veins like it was a fluid mix of magic and silk and the joy of every Christmas she’d ever known combined. The world around them slipped away. The fire, the tree, the falling snow outside, all of it. And there in that perfect moment, as her heart soared and her soul sang, Kate knew that whatever happened now, whatever life may throw at her, spectacular things were ahead.

Because she’d done it. She’d let her heart lead her forward in all parts of her life, with nothing but hope and blind faith to guide her. And taking those leaps, those paths not yet tried and tested, was what made life an adventure. That was how all those tiny fragments of her big picture would be coloured with joy and fulfilment. It was what would make Kate feel truly free and alive.

And that, at the end of the day, was what made a life truly worth living.

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