After agreeing to take the kids, Logan had gone down to the city a couple of times to see André and to meet Angelica, his younger sister, so she wouldn’t feel so completely foisted off on a stranger. He’d submitted to screening questions and a background check by social services, intrusive but understandable. He couldn’t imagine what the children were feeling right now.

He checked his phone, scrolling through the photos on the screen to a shot of the little girl. She was aptly named, completely angelic, as beautiful as her mother, though in a tiny, seven-year-old-missing-two-front-teeth way.

The first time he’d met her, she had sung a song to him—her own rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.” Little kids singing and smiling never failed to tug at the heartstrings. Little kids who had to be taken away from their mothers at Christmas didn’t just tug at the heart. They yanked until that fragile organ broke.

The train arrived, lumbering into the station with a steamy hiss and screech of brakes. Logan’s heart sped up. He wanted this to go well. He prayed the kids wouldn’t cry or worse, burst into hysterics.

He and Maya had a plan. They would drive together up to his new place on the mountain, get the kids settled in and then she’d say goodbye to them there. It seemed the least traumatic way to handle the situation.

The passenger car disgorged an eclectic mix of people—tourists and travelers, everyone bundled up for the cold. He was gratified to see a good number of skiers and snowboarders heading up to Saddle Mountain. The chalet was booked solid through the holidays.

Logan was determined to make not just a success of the resort, but a major success. He wanted to do it for the sake of accomplishing something, and to build something for the future. For Charlie. And yes, he could admit this—to prove to his father that it could be done.

“Well, well,” said a bright, cheery voice. “Now I feel like a VIP. It’s really nice of you to meet my train.”

Logan was amazed to see Darcy Fitzgerald, of all people, pulling a roll-aboard along the platform toward him. What the hell was she doing here?

His heart skipped a beat when she smiled at him. In the space of that one missed heartbeat, everything came back to him—the laughter and fun they’d had last time they were together. Surfing in the Florida sunshine. The beach. The kiss. He had thought about that kiss for days.