Page 88 of Banter & Blushes #1

ZAKI

I ’d been harboring a secret for weeks, and as I steered the RV along the winding coastal road in Downeast Maine, the irony of the word made me chuckle. A secret, tucked away like a pearl in its oyster shell, safe and secure in the very place we were headed.

Crane’s Cove in late July stretched before us in all its postcard-perfect glory.

“Postcard perfect” was my fiancée Arwyn’s description, and she was right.

Every vista in the Acadia National Park vicinity was a picture worthy of sending to loved ones.

To my right, the ocean shimmered under the late July sun, its waves rolling lazily toward the cliffs below and breaking gently against the rock face.

The lighthouse on the water appeared to float in the distance, a silent, steadfast guardian anchored to the cove’s seafloor.

To my left, the entrance to the Cliff Walk Resort appeared, a welcome sight after today’s long hours on the road.

I stole a glance at Arwyn, curled up in the passenger seat, her soft smile indicating that she already felt the pull of the seaside town’s salty air.

In the seats behind us, twins Isla and Amelie, dressed in their Elsa and Anna Frozen ballgowns and tiaras, chattered away with their little Westies, Laffy and Vennie, who occasionally yipped in agreement.

My girls had turned six yesterday, and it blew my mind how much they’d developed over the last year.

As they grew, so did my doubts about doing the whole parenting thing wrong.

First the divorce, then sharing custody.

This past year had been the most challenging—being apart from them for half a year when their mother took them back to Montreal last summer.

After that, they were apart from their mother for seven months while she healed after multiple surgeries.

All the back and forth and hurting hearts had been hard, and I knew it would have been so much harder if Arwyn hadn’t come into our lives at just the right time.

I’d fallen for her—hard and fast—and so had the girls.

They were so excited to attend the summer camp the resort offered, and Arwyn and I were excited for some time alone. A week in this charming town to romance her. A week to celebrate Flynn and Meggie’s wedding. A week to—if all went to plan—ask my Wynna-bun to change up our wedding plans.

For the very best reasons.

Even so, I had doubts about that, too. Arwyn hated to be put on the spot.

She was a thoughtful planner by design, and we’d made big, complicated plans that she’d been over and over, constructed and deconstructed and put back together again.

Plans A, B, and C. There were contingency plans for contingency plans.

Breaking my news to her might break her trust. And then what?

But I knew this was one of those times that I had to trust my gut.

I exhaled slowly and turned in to the resort’s entrance.

Over my professional hockey career, I’d played in front of thousands of roaring fans, faced down the toughest players in the league, skated into overtime battles with everything on the line, and pulled off the most epic pranks.

But nothing— nothing —felt as thrilling as what I was about to do tomorrow.

A welcome sign directed me to pull into the main lodge’s circular drive to check in.

When the passenger door aligned with the front doors of the building, I set the RV in park.

Before I could turn the engine off, a sandy-haired man about my age in a well-worn Cliff Walk visor appeared at the side door and knocked.

“Permission to come aboard?” he shouted through the window and grinned. Laffy and Vennie barked a greeting from their crate between the girls’ seats.

I unlocked the doors and lowered Arwyn’s window. “Welcome aboard!”

“Hey, that’s supposed to be my line! Welcome to the CW!”

He opened the door, and I exited my seat, offering my hand as he jogged up the steps. “Zaki Marsch. This is my fiancée, Arwyn, and our girls, Isla with the blond braid and Amelie with the auburn braids.” The pups howled. “Laffy’s the ivory dog, and Vennie’s gray.”

“Call me Wynnie,” Arwyn insisted, unbuckling and turning her chair around to face him. “There will be a test,” she teased.

The man chuckled. “JC Crane, resort manager.” He shook our hands, then turned to the girls. “Pleased to make your acquaintances, your majesties. It’s not often we host royalty here at the Cliff Walk.”

The girls giggled in their booster seats. Their obsession with Disney’s Frozen was going on four years now.

Isla tossed her single braid over her shoulder. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. JC!”

“The pleasure is all mine. You’re going to love our camp. My oldest daughter, Bianca, just turned six, and she can answer any and all of your questions about everything. I often go to her myself for answers.”

Arwyn snorted, and my grin widened. “Oldest daughter?” I asked. “How many do you have?”

“Three. Bianca, Stella, and Lilly. Plus Vera, our snooty cat. I’m tragically and delightfully outnumbered.”

“All designers,” Arwyn observed. “Is your wife in the fashion industry?”

He shook his head. “Caroline is an interior designer and a fashion expert. And she was very against the names I chose if we had boys. Sadly, Nomar, Pedro, and Papi Crane were just not to be.”

I laughed. “All Red Sox players.” I shook my head. “Love it.”

JC adjusted his visor. “Thanks. I appreciate that. And it’s fun being a girl dad. I get three makeovers a week!”

“Girl dads rock!” Amelie bounced. “Are you a good hair-doer, or do you try your best with zip ties like my dad?”

JC laughed. “I’m not allowed to touch my girls’ hair. Stella said I’d need professional lessons before I came near her again with a brush.”

The girls giggled, and JC turned back to Arwyn and me. “We’ve got you all set up in Cabin 21, also known as Salt Mist Cottage, in our new expansion off Blueberry Lane. By Friday, most of the new cabins will be occupied by your teammates and their families. Should be a fun time.”

“Totally. Thanks for putting us all together,” I said.

“Anything for Flynn and Meggie. She’s worked here at the resort since she was a teenager.

They met when his team at the time was playing the Acadia Harbormasters, and it was love at first sight for those two.

That dude was so smitten and didn’t care who knew.

He’d come to town to visit every chance he got, and he’s worked here for a month or so every summer since, in between hockey camps and visiting his family.

Of course, if I was from Vermont, like him, I’d come here every chance I had, too, just sayin’.

” He flashed his wide grin again. “No shade to Vermont. I’m just a coastal guy through and through. ”

Now it was my turn to snort. Flynn had stated on more than one occasion that unless you loved to ski and/or grow your own crops, Vermont probably wasn’t the place you’d want to settle down in.

We planned to make a few stops in the state on our way to Montreal for teddy bears, maple syrup, and cheese.

“He’s a great guy and a heck of a player,” I said. “I haven’t spent much time with Meggie, but she seems like the perfect match for him.”

“For sure,” JC agreed.

“She’s incredible,” Arwyn praised. “And an angel with animals, I hear.”

JC nodded. “She’s been invaluable to my brother Easton as his assistant the past few years. We’re sure going to miss her when she joins Flynn permanently in Colorado.”

“From the way Flynn talks about Crane’s Cove, I have no doubt he’ll retire here,” I said. “I give him eight, maybe ten more years on the ice if he can keep from getting injured. ”

JC grinned. “At least. All right, I won’t keep you all any longer.

” He pointed out the front window. “Follow this driveway back to Cliff Walk Lane and follow that road until you come to the fork at the Fitness Center. Turn right and then take another right onto Blueberry Lane towards the new cabins. Circle around until you find the driveway marked twenty-one. Your key code was texted to you this morning.”

“One-four-three-one-four-three!” Isla blurted.

JC laughed. “You got it. And you can always change it if needed. If you have any trouble, just call the main number and we’ll get it fixed.” He handed Arwyn the folder he’d been carrying. “Here’s your personalized Folder-O-Fun. Camp starts at 9a.m. sharp. Anything else I can do for you?”

Arwyn and I shook our heads. “Nothing I can think of,” I said.

JC saluted us. “Then I’ll leave you to it. Have fun, girls!”

“We will!” Isla and Amelie chimed.

Once he left, I followed his directions to a canopied lane that led to the new cabins.

Flynn had recommended we book our stay in this section of the resort where the cabins were set up in a circle, facing each other wagon-style.

In the center was a playground, a covered pavilion with grills and picnic tables, a grassy area, and a kiddie splash zone.

As we rounded the circle clockwise, Isla read their names. “Sea Glass Haven, The Gull’s Nest, Moss and Moose … What’s a chall-let, Wynnie?”

“It’s pronounced sha-lay,” Arwyn said with a smile.

“Oh!” Amelie exclaimed. “It’s French!”

I grinned. They were fluent speaking their mother’s language. Reading and writing it would come later.

“Driftwood Loft, Tidepool Hollow, Cranberry Knoll. I know it’s knoll and not kah-nole from our fairy house art class!”

“That was so fun!” Amelie agreed. “Are we almost there?”

“Almost,” Arwyn assured her. “According to the map in the folder, it’s almost all the way around.”

“Okay.” Isla sighed. “Blueberry Hill Getaway. Sandpiper Sanctuary. Maine Squeeze Honeymoon Hideaway, Lighthouse Lookout…”

“Here it is, girls!”

“Finally!” Isla huffed. “Oooooh, it’s pretty. Salt Mist Cottage!”

It was. Tucked under branches of tall trees and framed by lush greenery and wildflowers, this place looked like it was pulled right out of a storybook.

The cedar shingles and crisp white trim give it a classic charm, but it was the peace and quiet that hit me first. No cars.

No city hum. Just birdsong and the distant sound of a boat horn.

Any doubts I had about this being the perfect place to spill my secret were completely erased.

I recalled the photos of the property from the website when we booked.

Inside was the perfect mix of cozy and quaint.

A total Pinterest dream, Arwyn called it, with its big windows and throw pillows.

Master bedroom on this level and a cozy loft with bunk beds and a pullout sofa upstairs, which was a step up from the sleeping bag I’d been nesting in during the trip.

Occasionally, we’d stayed overnight at hotels along the way, but like I told Arwyn, I would have slept outside in a tent if she insisted.

“Wynnie, can I have the map later?” Amelie asked. “I want to make a list of all the cabins in my vacation diary.”

Arwyn twisted in her seat to answer Amelie. “Of course. I’ll leave the folder on the kitchen counter. You can look through it whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you!”

I parked the RV in the driveway and hurried outside so I could open the main door on the other side for my ladies and the pups. They greeted me with grins, and after the twins went running off, each holding a Westie on a leash, I held up my hand to block Arwyn’s way.

“Toll, please.” I puckered my lips.

She laughed and leaned down for a kiss.

As our lips met, I caught her around the waist and pirouetted her to the ground in one of those princess lift-and-spin moves my girls loved. Her cheeks pinked as I went in for another kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She smiled and nodded toward the cottage. “Shall we go in?”

“One more kiss. The girls are still walking the dogs.” I spotted them out of the corner of my eye. I’d instructed them earlier to take Laffy and Vennie to the tree line but not go into the woods. “We can let them go in first. More smooch time.”

“I like how you think.” She lifted on her toes, and when our lips connected, a contented sigh rippled through me.

This was going to be the best week ever.