Chapter 37

Caden took her hands, skating beside her. "Jocelyn, you're so easy to skate with, so fluid on the ice. You could have gone to the Olympics." He smiled at a personal memory. "Every time I watched the Olympics, I always wondered if I would see you there one day."
A delicate blush colored her cheeks a light shade of pink. "That's very kind of you to say."
He turned, skating backward and took her hands. "Tell me something. Didn't you ever think of leaving?"
"Christmas Cove?" she asked.
He nodded.
"No, never." She shrugged as she let his hands go and skated to the center of the pond. "I guess I never felt the need." She spun around in a tight spin, going faster until she extended her arms and came to an abrupt stop. "Christmas Cove is my home. I never want to leave."
He nodded, understanding. If he had it to do all over again, he wondered if he would have ever left, too. But then again, he guessed he wouldn't have appreciated it as much as he does now. Caden knew it took moving away before he could come back and call it home.
"What were you thinking just then?" she asked, skating around him and then skating away.
He sighed. "That it took moving away to appreciate Christmas Cove and the people in it."
"Do you regret moving away?" she skated backward beside him.
Caden shook his head. "No, I don't. But I'm glad I'm back."
"Me, too." Jocelyn skated away, zigzagging across the ice in a wide scissor motion.
"What would you like for Christmas?" Caden asked out of the blue.
She looked over at him, her long blonde hair blowing back behind her from under her white knitted toboggan and matching sweater. "I'm not sure." She spun around and then faced him again. "The things I want, you can't buy."
Skating closer, his eyebrows pulled together in concern. "Like what?"
She smiled as a faraway look came into her eyes. "Like the closeness of family."
He skated closer to her and took her hands. "What do you mean? You have Mallory."
"I don't have anyone," she said, but there was no self-pity in her voice. "Mallory and I are as different as night and day and we've never been close." She shrugged and then looked into his eyes and motioned between them. "And now this." She sighed. "You know, I'd never do anything intentionally to hurt her, no matter how she's treated me in the past."
He nodded, understanding. "I know."
"Things were different when my parents were alive. I could pretend a lot better."
Caden's eyebrows pulled together in concern. "What do you mean?"
She shrugged. "I could pretend that Mallory and I were closer than we were, I guess. That we were a real family. But when they died, it just left Mallory and me alone. We had to deal with each other on our own and no longer had Mom or Dad as a buffer between us."
Caden skated closer. "Has it been difficult?"
She nodded, and then skated away, looking at the snow-covered trees. "Yes, it has."
Caden's heart went out to her. He didn't want to be the source of any more contention between them, but he couldn't stay away from Jocelyn, either. He knew he needed to break it off with Mallory soon, before it caused anymore discord between them. "I'm so sorry. But who knows? Maybe you two can patch things up one day."
Jocelyn sighed as she skated back toward him. "No, that's not likely. If she ever really moves away, like she's wanted to do her whole life, then I'll be completely alone."
Caden took her hand and skated beside her. "You'll never be alone- if I have anything to say about it."
Jocelyn looked into his eyes. "Caden, don't make promises you can't keep."
He nodded. At that moment, he knew that Jocelyn was all he never knew he ever wanted.
"Skate with me," she said, her eyes pleading.
"I am skating with you."
She smiled, a devilish look coming into her eyes. "No. Our old routine."
Caden laughed as he rolled his eyes. "We haven't done that in years." He lifted an eyebrow, looking into her eyes. "Are you sure you remember it?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you can still lift me? I was a child back then and I'm not anymore."
"No, you're not." He wrapped one arm around her back, taking her hand and clasped the other hand at her waist in a couple's skate. "I guess we'll find out."
She laughed. "Hey, now! Don't drop me."
"Why not?" he teased. "It'd make it more fun."
"Yeah, for you!" She laughed. "Okay, no lift."
"Yes, we're doing the lift."
"Oh, no we're not."
"Yes, we are." Then he added. "I'm the guy, I do the lift, and I say we are."
"But it's my butt that's on the line- literally."
He looked at her backside. "And what a fine butt it is."
She swatted him playfully on the chest. But all kidding stopped when a moment later, they launched into their routine, falling into step with one another, as if they had always been skating together. As he led her around the pond, his heart went out to her. Never had he felt such a connection with any other woman. Years ago, he had thought he was in love with Mallory, but now he realized that it wasn't even close to what he felt for Jocelyn.
He placed his hand on the back of her head and leaned her back, looking into her eyes as she leaned backward. Then she straightened, and he took her hand as they skated beside each other, gaining speed. Then he took her hands and lifted her over his head in a spin, and then set her down. They circled around and then he lifted her and threw her into the air. She expertly spun into the air three times and then gracefully touched down. Then she skated back to him and he leaned her back across his knee as he slid across the ice, bringing the routine to a close.