Page 26 of I Still Do

“But you had fun. Admit it, you enjoyed your first snowball fight.” He glanced at her profile. Her response shouldn’t matter, but it did. A lot.

“Yeah, I had fun.” She gave him a shy smile.

They clomped up the steps and into the warm cabin. As Grey removed his wet boots, coat, hat, and gloves, he couldn’t believe he’d nearly kissed Cora. The problem was, he couldn’t decide if he was more relieved or disappointed that it’d been interrupted.

~*~

Maria put water to heat over the fire in the main room. Cora happily helped her get mugs of hot chocolate for everyone who wanted some. Anything to get her mind off the fact that Grey had almost kissed her a few minutes ago.

She was going to let him, too. Cora suppressed a groan. Not only was she going to let him, but she was fully prepared to kiss him back.

It was a good thing Zac interrupted them, even if she’d felt a pang of disappointment when Grey had pulled away from her. Kissing Grey would open a whole box of trouble that she wasn’t even willing to examine right now. The least of it was the mess of emotions it was bound to stir up.

Once they distributed the mugs of cocoa, Cora happily accepted one for herself. Everyone else was sitting in the main room, visiting or playing games as Cora and Maria walked in.

Maria gave a happy sigh. “Is it horrible that I don’t even want the electricity to come back on?” She gave a little shrug. “This is just so peaceful. No one’s got their attention on their cell phones or hiding out in front of the TV. For better or worse, we’re forced to interact with each other. It’s nice.”

“It is nice.” Cora took a sip of her hot chocolate. Grey’s eyes searched her face, an unspoken question on his own. There was an open spot next to him. Maria headed that way, so Cora sat on the hearth near Dare.

Cora pointed to the block of wood that Dare was still working on. It took several moments of studying it before she could really see what he was doing. “Wow, that’s incredible.” She reached a hand out. “May I?”

He nodded and gave it to her. He hadn’t done much to the log, but there were little scenes carved into different places. Like windows into a memory. The one he’d already finished showed the fireplace, complete with a pot hanging over the fire and the firewood and poker on the hearth nearby. The scene he was working on now showed a kitchen table. Several types of food had already been added, but Cora suspected there were going to be more. “I don’t know how you use a knife to get that much detail.”

Dare shrugged as if it were no big deal and lowered his voice. “I figured I could make something to give Mom for Christmas. You know, something to remember this trip by.” His ears reddened.

“I think that’s a great idea. She’ll love it.” She handed the log back to him and then watched for a while as he continued to use his knife to carve details into the table.

A strange noise caught Cora’s attention. With so many people in the room, she quickly dismissed it. But a moment later, she heard it again. Grey must have, too, because he stood, his eyes on the front door. He and Flynn exchanged glances.

“What is it, Daddy?” Zac asked.

“Most likely the wind. You just stay here, and we’ll check it out.”

Everyone was curious now as the two men approached the front door. Flynn pulled it open. They must not have seen anything at first because Grey pushed the screen door open. Immediately a mass of golden fur raced through the doorway, snow flying everywhere.

“A doggy!” Zac practically leaped off the floor only to be snatched up by his father.

“We don’t know if the dog’s nice or not, Zac.”

The boy clearly didn’t care. The dog, on the other hand, flew from person to person, tongue lapping at people’s hands and faces as though it hadn’t seen a living soul in weeks.

“Where did he come from?” Maria wondered.

“No clue,” Grey responded, “but it was determined to get inside. The poor thing was probably freezing.”

Cora grabbed the dog’s collar as it bounded by her and pulled it to a stop. She bent down to look at its belly. His belly. “He looks like a full golden retriever, doesn’t he?”

The dog used his front feet to hop up and down in excitement. Dare took his collar so Cora could let him go. “Yes, he does. No tags. What’s your story, big guy?”

The dog woofed once as though answering. Everyone in the room chuckled.

“We can’t let it stay here,” Flynn objected. “What if someone’s looking for it?”

Zac immediately threw his arms around the dog’s neck and hugged it tight.

Flynn might be right, but just thinking about sending the poor guy back into the freezing cold made Cora sad. Who knew what he’d gone through to get to the cabin? “What if he’s lost? No one’s going to find him in this weather.” Or even worse, what if the dog had nowhere to belong? That was a feeling she could certainly relate to at different times in her life.

Zac, at four years of age, already knew who to go to first. “Can he stay, Grandma? Please?”

---