Teacher's Christmas Cowboy (Trinity Falls Sweet Romance - Icicle Christmas #5)

The storm had slowed enough that Cora could see ice covering nearly every surface outside. It was strangely beautiful.

“Good thing I brought the chains for my tires,” Jared said softly.

“Why don’t you stay in his room?” Cora offered. “Sylvester can sleep with me.”

“Really?” Jared whispered.

“Of course,” she told him. “I can’t have you spending the rest of Christmas Eve putting chains on your tires. And even with them, I’d be worried sick over you driving in this.”

That earned her a grateful smile.

“We can go over to my parents’ place together tomorrow,” he said. “It’ll be easier to put them on when it stops storming.”

She led the way up to her room, opening the door and pulling down the comforter and sheets so that Jared could put Sylvester down. He lay the boy down so gently that she felt a tug at her heart again.

When he straightened, it suddenly hit her that they were standing alone in the darkness, in the most intimate space of the house.

But Jared was smiling down at Sylvester’s sweet little face and she had a jolt of realization that their days could always be like this if they were together—having fun, sharing meals, and tucking Sylvester in at night.

“I wish this could be my life every day,” Jared said suddenly, echoing her own thoughts.

She glanced up at him, wondering if he had somehow read her mind.

“Me too,” she said, nodding.

“Do you think you might ever want to be married again someday?” he asked.

The words hung in the air between them for a moment as she took them in. She had never expected to hear those words from Jared, or least not so soon…

“Yes,” she said, surprising herself. “But only if Sylvester felt the same way about the person I did.”

Jared nodded slowly and she could feel his eyes on her in the darkness.

“I guess I’ll head to bed now,” he told her. “Merry Christmas Eve.”

“Merry Christmas Eve,” she replied.

He slipped out the door quietly and she closed it behind him, her mind still on his words. She thought about his question as she brushed her teeth and got ready for bed, and she thought about it as she slipped under the covers with Sylvester, who snuggled right up to her, still half-asleep.

“Mama?” he whispered.

“Jared is going to sleep in your bed, so you’re with me tonight,” she told him. “Is that okay?”

“We’re having a sleepover with Grandma and Jared,” he whispered back sounding excited.

“We sure are,” she told him in a calm voice. “But you’d better get back to sleep so you have lots of energy on Christmas morning.”

“Okay,” he whispered.

He seemed to drift off again quickly, snuggled to her side. But Cora stayed awake for a long time, imagining what it would be like to share their life with someone they both cared about.

Every day wouldn’t be like this, she tried to tell herself. Every day can’t be Christmas Eve and our first date all rolled into one.

But they had already spent so many afternoons together as he worked on the house. She already knew that even an ordinary day with Jared was so much more than the days they had spent without him.

He’s made himself a fixture in our lives, she realized.

A month ago, the thought would have horrified her, or made her feel disloyal to her memories.