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Bellamy never handled the cold well. His fingertips went numb and his nose wouldn’t stop dripping. He scrunched his neck down so his face burrowed further into his scarf as he watched Echo put the finishing touches on their snowman. He wasn’t really sure what kind of snowman needed a quiver full of arrows or how she managed to get the bow to stay in those flimsy branch arms, but he smiled fondly at it nonetheless.
He felt something bump into his heavily bundled legs.
“Daddy! Daddy! Come look!”
His smile broke into a massive grin and he reached down to scoop up his daughter. “Did Mama finish the snowman?”
“Mhmm,” she nodded, as Bellamy cradled her in his arms. Her clothes were completely covered in powdery white snow and her nose had turned red from the cold. She never seemed to be bothered by the cold though - that was definitely something she got from her mother. Her dark hair was hidden beneath the black and white panda hat Bellamy had made for her and she was smiling up at him, brown eyes sparkling on her freckled face. His heart instantly melted. He would freeze his butt off every day if it meant seeing his little girl happy like this.
“Let’s go see it!” he told her cheerfully.
Bellamy lifted her up and repositioned her so that she was sitting on top of his shoulders. Her little arms wrapped around his head and her hands grabbed onto his ears before settling onto the scarf around his neck. He held onto her legs and walked over to Echo, snow crunching beneath his feet. Echo had just finished putting the final decorations on their snowman and was dusting the snow off her pants while admiring her work.
“Looking good!” Bellamy called. “And the snowman looks great too!”
Echo rolled her eyes at him but that didn’t stop the small smile he loved so much from forming on the edge of her lips. She secretly liked his corny jokes just as much as he did. She turned around to greet him. “I think our snowman is going to win this year. I have a good feeling about it.”
When Bellamy was finally within arm’s reach she leaned over and wrapped her arm around him in a side hug. She rubbed her arm up and down his back to help warm him up, which he greatly appreciated. “Raven hasn’t even started yet and Murphy and Emori’s already fell over,” she continued. They both smirked, Bellamy told Murphy it was a bad idea to have a two-headed snowman.
“Remind me to thank Monty for letting us use the leftovers from his last harvest. No way anyone else’s snowman can compete with that carrot nose,” he said proudly.
She nodded, “We’ll tell him tonight at family dinner.”
Bellamy craned his neck up to look at their daughter and gave her legs a little shake. “You all done playing? Uncle Murphy is making a fresh batch of cider for tonight and I bet if we go visit him and ask really nicely he might make you some hot coco.”
“Yeah!” she said enthusiastically, leaning forward and pressing into Bellamy’s head.
“Alright,” he laughed. “Let’s go! Hold on tight.” He gripped her little legs and started jogging off in the direction of Murphy and Emori’s house. His movement made her bounce up and down on his shoulders as she clung to his head, giggling in delight. Echo watched them with pure adoration on her face. It always made her heart swell to see them together; everyday she loved them more, despite not thinking that was possible.
By the time she caught up with them at Murphy and Emori’s house, they were already inside sitting comfortably on the couch with three steaming mugs resting on the table next to them. Echo carefully stepped over a sad, deflated snowpile and knocked politely on the front door. Emori answered and smiled brightly as she let her in. Echo was instantly greeted with the sweet scent of apples and spices coming from the kitchen.
Echo couldn’t help herself. “That really is a lovely snowman you’ve got out front,” she teased. “I especially like how there’s a scarf crying for help at the bottom. It’s a nice touch.”
“Oh shut up” Emori smiled as she gave Echo a welcome hug. Emori knew their snowman was currently a disaster, but they were hosting family dinner this week and with Murphy busy cooking she figured their snowman was a lost cause this year. Murphy yelled a greeting from the kitchen.
“I believe these belong to you,” Emori said, changing the subject and nodding in Bellamy’s direction. Bellamy smiled sheepishly from behind his mug while their daughter was falling asleep across from him on the couch. “I’m going to help John with dinner,” Emori said as she headed back into the kitchen - which really meant she was going to snack on the food while Murphy did the actual cooking.
“You know,” Bellamy said with a hint of mischief, “this cider is doing a pretty good job of warming me up, but I can think of something else that might help.”
Echo raised an eyebrow in mock skepticism, “Oh yeah? And what could that be?” she asked while shrugging off her jacket.
Bellamy put down his drink and pushed himself off of the couch with a knowing smile on his face as he walked over to Echo and pulled her back onto the couch with him. She giggled as she fell on top of him and he smiled triumphantly. He quickly freed his arm from beneath her and reached over for the big, hand-stitched quilt that was laying on top of the couch and threw it over their legs as they cuddled together in the corner. Bellamy pulled Echo into his lap and wrapped his arms around her before pulling the blanket the rest of the way up around them. Echo leaned her head back to rest in the crook of Bellamy’s neck and he kissed the top of her head before leaning his head to rest on top of hers.
“There we go,” he mumbled, Echo feeling the vibrations of his voice through her hair. He held her tight and pressed his lips to her temple. “Much better.”
Echo smiled and closed her eyes. Dinner wasn’t for a few a hours and she had a feeling they wouldn’t be leaving the couch anytime soon.
Sitting next to the fire, holding the love of his life in his arms, Bellamy started to think the cold wasn’t so bad after all.