Chicago was a city that was used to dealing with snow. Despite the wicked Christmas Eve blizzard, things would likely get back to normal pretty easily. If anything was ever normal again. Right now, Lucy wasn’t sure about the definition of that word.

  “You sure you’re okay to drive home?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I’ll be fine, it’s only a couple of miles.”

  He opened her car door for her. It was warm inside; she’d let it idle for a few minutes while they stood outside saying goodbye. Or, not saying goodbye. So far, they’d said anything but.

  She wasn’t sure what she was waiting for him to say. Or if he was waiting, too. Or what either of them could say that would make this all right, make them both understand where they’d been and where they were going.

  In the end, they didn’t say much of anything. Ross simply leaned down and brushed his mouth across hers, their breath mingling in the icy air. Then he whispered, “Merry Christmas, Lucy.”

  She managed a tremulous smile and nodded.

  “Bye, Ross.”

  Her heart was screaming at her to say something else. Her brain was, too. But she couldn’t find the words, didn’t know what he wanted to hear.

  So she simply got in her car, watched him get into his, and then they both drove away.

  AFTER GOING HOME TO CHANGE and shower, and call the hospital to check on Chip—who was going to be all right—Ross headed out to his parents’ place. His family had been holding their celebration until he got there. So he tried to pretend he gave a damn about the holiday and wasn’t utterly miserable.

  He didn’t think he succeeded. His smile was tight, his laughter fake and the strain had to be visible. He couldn’t keep his mind on the games, got lost in the middle of conversations and generally walked around in a daze for most of the afternoon.

  All he could think about was Lucy. The time they’d spent together…and the way they’d parted.

  He just couldn’t understand it, couldn’t begin to comprehend how she could have spent the weekend with him, doing everything they’d done, saying everything they’d said, then casually talk about moving back to New York. It made no sense.

  He would have bet his last dollar that she loved him, that she’d always loved him, as he’d always loved her. But the words had never come out of her mouth, not even when he’d told her how he’d felt about her all those years ago.

  You’re the one who left her. You did the heartbreaking, a voice in his head reminded him. So maybe it wasn’t so surprising that she wasn’t going to just rush right back into this.

  But to rush to the east coast instead? What sense did that make?

  “So, are you going to tell us who she is?”

  Ross jerked his head up when his kid sister Annie—who was no longer a little kid, but instead a college junior—entered the room. “Excuse me?”

  “Come on, everybody can tell you’ve got woman troubles. We haven’t seen you this mopey about a girl since you moved back home from New York after losing that girl…Linda?”

  “Lucy. Her name is Lucy,” he muttered, looking away and frowning.

  Hearing Annie’s surprised gasp, he wished he hadn’t said a word. “Wait, are we talking about Lucy now?”

  “What makes you ask that?”

  “Well, you said her name is Lucy. Plus, the way you say her name, bro. It’s like going back in time six years. I remember exactly how you were when you first got back after Dad got sick. I’ve never seen you so hung up on anyone.”

  There was a good reason for that. He’d never been so hung up on anyone else.

  “So what’s the story? Why didn’t you invite her over for Christmas dinner?”

  “I did. She…doesn’t really like Christmas.” He didn’t want to share any details of Lucy’s private life, but did explain, “She has some pretty bad memories of this time of year.”

  “So where is she? Is she here in Chicago?”

  “Yes, she moved here. She’s home at her apartment now.”

  “Dude! Harsh!”

  He rolled his eyes, still not used to hearing his sister talk like an eighteen-year-old guy, which seemed to be how all young women talked now.

  “You left her sitting at home, alone in her apartment, on Christmas?”

  “Like I said, I asked her to come here. She wanted to go home. Alone.”

  Annie’s eyebrows wagged, which was when he realized he’d slipped up. Again. “Go home, huh? As in, she was with you for the past couple of days during your big trapped-in-the-snow emergency?”

  “Shut up,” he muttered.

  She laughed. “Look, all I gotta say is, if I was seeing someone, and he left me sitting at home all alone on Christmas, I’d feel absolutely sure he didn’t give a damn about me.”

  “You’re not Lucy,” he muttered.

  “Good thing for you,” she said, getting up and sauntering toward the door. “Because if I were, I’d have said later, dude, and made you think I didn’t care any more about you than you did about me.”

  She left the room, leaving Ross sitting there alone. But his sibling’s words remained. In fact, they somehow seemed to get louder…and louder.

  He knew Lucy wasn’t the type to play games. But he also knew she had to be feeling very unsure about them—about him—right now. Considering he’d walked out on her Christmas Day six years ago and had stopped calling her shortly thereafter, why wouldn’t she have doubts? Why wouldn’t she have questions?

  Why wouldn’t she expect that he wouldn’t give a damn if she decided to move back to New York?

  In trying to be calm and rational and fair, had he made her think he didn’t care? Had hiding his fear of losing her again made it that much more likely to happen?

  No. That just wouldn’t do. No way was he going to let her think he didn’t want her. Lucy might want to leave, she might view this great career move as the next logical step in her life. But he wasn’t going to let her make that decision without making sure she knew how he felt.

  Which meant he needed to go talk to her. And this time, there would be nothing left unsaid.

  OF ALL THE sucky Christmases Lucy had ever experienced in her life, this one had to rank right up there among the suckiest.

  Oh, it had started off great. Magically, in fact. She’d awakened this morning in the arms of an amazing man, sure she’d never been happier in her life.

  But since she’d arrived home—alone—and moped around her apartment—alone—and eaten a frozen dinner—alone—Lucy couldn’t find a single positive thing about it.

  She’d tried doing her online shopping—boring. She’d cleaned her apartment—more boring. She’d answered a few emails, checked her appointment book, looked into flights to New York.

  Boring. Boring.

  And heartbreaking.

  Heartbreaking, because she didn’t want to fly to New York. Not under these circumstances, anyway. Not without knowing how Ross felt about it—whether he gave a damn.

  This morning, when she’d first heard the message about the potential job offer, oh, it had been exciting, a great validation. Thinking that a major magazine was seeking her out for her talent was a huge ego boost and a true reinforcement that she’d made the right choice when switching gears in her career.

  But she didn’t particularly want to move back to New York. She liked Chicago. She liked living near her brother again. She liked the people she’d met and the studio she’d rented and the life she was living.

  Most of all, she liked being near the man she loved.

  “Hell,” she whispered that evening as she sat on her couch, listening to Christmas music on an internet radio station.

  She loved him. She loved Ross Marshall. She always had. He’d entered her heart six years ago and had never left it, despite time and distance and other relationships.

  Some people could fall in and out of love. Some loved only once in a lifetime. She suspected she was one of those people. Which would be wonderful, if only she didn’t love a guy who didn’t seem to care if she moved a thousand miles away.

  Feeling truly sorry for herself, she almost didn’t hear the knock. At first, she assumed her neighbors’ kids were banging around with all their new Christmas toys. They’d been filled with joy and laughter all day, and she’d smiled at the sounds coming through the thin walls. But the sound came again, and she realized someone was at her door.

  She glanced at the clock, seeing it was after eight. She’d finally reached Sam this afternoon, and he’d told her he was working all night again. But perhaps he’d managed to swing by on a break or something.

  She went to the door and opened it with a smile. The smile faded when she saw not her brother, but someone she’d never expected to see at her doorstep tonight.

  “Ross?”

  “Can I come in?”

  Stunned, not only because he’d told her he was going out to his family’s, but also because, as far as she knew, he’d had no idea where she lived, she stepped aside and beckoned him in. “How did you…”

  “Stella. She had both your work and your home addresses in her BlackBerry.”

  “Is everything all right? Your family?”

  “Fine. By now they’re probably engaged in the annual Trivial Pursuit Christmas marathon.”

  Still unsure why he’d come, and not knowing what to say, she quickly asked, “And your security guard?”

  “He’s going to pull through,” he said.

  “I’m so glad.” Twisting her hands together, she finally remembered her manners. “Can I take your coat? Would you like to sit down?”

  He took off his coat, but didn’t sit in the chair to which she gestured. Instead, sounding and looking somber, he stared into her eyes and said, “If I ask you a question, will you answer me truthfully?”

  “Of course.”

  “Okay.” Stepping closer, close enough that she smelled his spicy cologne and felt his body’s warmth, he asked, “Do you want to move back to New York?”

  Talk about putting her on the spot. She crossed her arms over her chest, rubbing her hands up and down them and thought about her answer. Her first instinct was to answer his question with a question—do you want me to stay?

  But they’d played enough games, lost enough time dancing around the truth or making decisions for each other without benefit of a real, genuine conversation. So she would be nothing but honest, both with him, and with herself.

  “No. I don’t.”

  He closed his eyes and sighed, so visibly relieved, she almost smiled.

  “My turn to ask you a question,” she countered.

  “Okay.”

  Drawing a deep breath, and hoping her voice wouldn’t quiver, she asked, “Do you want me to stay?”

  He didn’t hesitate, not even for an instant. “Oh, hell yes.”

  Though pleased by his vehemence, she tilted her head in confusion. “Then why did you act like you didn’t care earlier?”

  “Why did you let me think you wanted to go?”

  Neither answered for a second…then they both replied in unison. “Because we’re idiots.”

  Laughter bubbled between them, then Ross stepped closer, dropping his hands to her hips and tugging her to him. She lifted hers to his shoulders and looked up at him, seeing the warmth and the tenderness in his green eyes. Even without the words being said, she knew what he was thinking, what he was feeling. What his heart was telling him.

  Because her heart was telling her the same thing.

  They were meant to be together. They always had been. Time and circumstance had separated them, yes. But, maybe that was how it had to be. They’d been young and impulsive. And she hadn’t truly been ready to accept love and happiness, to offer the kind of trusting, loving relationship Ross deserved.

  Now she was ready. And they’d found their way back to each other. It had taken years, and moving to another city, but their lives had come full circle and this week, they’d recreated the past.

  Only, this time, it would end differently. They weren’t going to let anything come between them.

  This time, they would make it work.

  “I love you,” he said, and her heart sang.

  He lifted a hand to cup her face. “I let you go once. I wasn’t about to make the same mistake again.”

  “What if I had said I wanted to go to New York?”

  “I would have said fine, when do we leave?”

  She started to smile, at least until she saw he meant it. Then she could only stare at him in shock. “Are you serious?”

  “Very serious.”

  “But how—”

  “I talked to my father when I was out at the house today. I told him I had let you get away once, but it wasn’t going to happen again. And that while I’d like to stay at Elite, if it came down to it, I was going to do what was right for me for a change. Live my life for myself, since I’ve been living it for everyone else for the past six years.”

  “How did he react?”

  He looked away. “I think that’s the closest I’ve ever seen my father to tears.”

  She sucked in a breath.

  “Not because he was upset, but because he finally had the chance to tell me how damned grateful he is for everything I’ve done, and how much he wants me to be happy.” Ross shook his head slowly. “To tell you the truth, I couldn’t believe it. He’s never said anything like that to me before.”

  Knowing how much that had to have meant to him, Lucy rose on tiptoe and brushed her mouth against his. “I’m so glad.”

  “Me, too.”

  “But your father doesn’t have anything to worry about, and neither do your shareholders.”

  “We can go if you want to,” he insisted.

  “I don’t,” she insisted back, being completely honest. “I’m finished running off to do new things, in new places, just to avoid having to ever expose myself to pain and hurt again. There’s no love without risk…but there’s no life without love.”

  Then, realizing she had never actually said it, she gave him the most honest, genuine present she could think to give him. “I love you, Ross. I always have, I always will.”

  He smiled tenderly, then bent to kiss her, slowly, lovingly. And having those words on their lips made it taste that much sweeter, made it mean that much more.

  When they finally ended the kiss, they remained locked in each other’s arms, swaying slowly to the holiday music playing softly in the background. “Joy to the World.”

  How fitting. For the first time in what seemed like forever, her life felt filled to the brim with joy. Because Ross was in it. And she knew, deep down to her very soul, that he always would be.

  “Merry Christmas, Lucy,” he whispered against her cheek.

  “Merry Christmas, Ross.”

  She tightened her arms around him, wanting to capture this feeling and imprint it in her mind forever, like a beautiful photograph. The first moment of the rest of their lives.

  There would be many more, she knew. Some beautiful, probably some sad.

  But no matter what, they would all be filled with love.

  Epilogue

  Two Years Later

  CURLED UP TOGETHER on the sofa, Lucy and Ross watched out their front window as the first flakes of Christmas snow began to fall. The weatherman wasn’t predicting a major storm—nothing like the one that had trapped them in Ross’s office building two years earlier—aka the best blizzard of all time. No, this was quiet and sweet, a nighttime snow as gentle and peaceful as the carols playing softly on the stereo behind them.

  Wrapped in the arms of the man she loved, here inside the beautiful home they’d finished building together and had moved into last spring, Lucy didn’t mind if it snowed all night. She had everything—and everyone—she needed, right here within these walls.

  “Here it comes,” he murmured, tightening his arms around her.

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  They remained silent for a moment, watching the white flakes drift down, slowly at first, then more steadily. Lucy suddenly realized, looking out that huge front window that overlooked the water, that this must be what it was like to be inside a snow globe. Perhaps the very one Ross had given her all those years ago, which now had a place of honor on the center of the mantelpiece. She was tucked inside that happy home, with the warm yellow light in the window and the cars in the driveway and the snowy evergreens all around.

  She smiled, loving the image, thinking back to that Christmas Eve. What, she wondered, would that girl, that twenty-two-year-old Lucy, have thought if she could have foreseen this future? She probably wouldn’t have believed it, and it would have scared her to death. But, deep down she knew she would have been very hopeful—because that day had opened her eyes to a world of possibilities.

  All because of the man holding her so tenderly, humming Silent Night as he kissed her temple.

  She looked up at him, so handsome in the glow from the fire, and whispered, “Merry Christmas, Ross.”

  He smiled back and brushed his lips against hers. “Merry Christmas, wife.” No more bah humbug for Lucy. No more building walls against things like memories, and holidays…and love. That part of her life was over.

  Ross stretched a little and chuckled. “Am I rotten for being glad my parents and your brother decided to stay home and come over tomorrow, after they see how much snow falls?”

  She laughed softly, understanding him so well. “Not unless I’m rotten, too, because I feel the same way.”

  It wasn’t that either of them begrudged the visit—she actually adored his family, and her brother’s new girlfriend. They certainly had plenty of room for everyone in the huge house. But she couldn’t deny being happy things had worked out this way. Now they would have tonight and tomorrow morning for themselves, getting a start on creating holiday memories and traditions of their own.

  She was ready for that. Ready to incorporate the ghosts of her Christmases past into her present and her future. Ready to open her heart to the magical season of giving that she’d once loved so very much…and move forward, molding it, changing it, shaping it into something that was just hers, and Ross’s, and their family’s.