“I’ll drive. We’ll leave my car here, and I’ll have my dad come get it later.”
“Okay.”
“How do you feel?” she asks as we pull into the driveway.
I’m still staring numbly ahead in shock. “Not pregnant.”
“Come on, let’s do this so we can go.”
We quickly unload the bags of groceries from the car to the kitchen and stow away all the food that belongs in the freezer or fridge, and before I know it, we’re back in the car and pulling into a nearby Mexican restaurant.
“We’re getting margaritas.” She grins over at me. “We’ll make yours virgin.”
“Fuck, no alcohol for another year.”
We’re seated, and I greedily dig into the warm basket of tortilla chips and salsa.
“Nothing wrong with your appetite,” Brynna states drily.
“Shut up.” I eat two more chips and take a sip of my virgin margarita. “This is no margarita.”
“So…” Brynna lifts an eyebrow expectantly.
“So what?”
“Don’t be stubborn. Talk.” She takes a bite of a chip and a long sip of her slutty margarita and smiles smugly.
“I hate you right now.”
“No, you don’t.” She waves me off with a flick of the wrist. “How do you feel about the baby?”
“Oh, Sophie’s great. She’s so funny. She just giggles all the time. Here, I’ve got a video on my phone I want to show you…” I look up into Brynna’s wide brown eyes. “What?”
“Stace, are you having a seizure? Do I have to take you back to Dr. Delectable?”
“He’s Dr. Delicious.”
“Whatever, I’ll take you back to Dr. Sex-on-a-Stick if I need to. You do remember that tidbit about you being preggers, right?”
“Oh.” I sit back in the seat, a chip hanging limply between my fingers. “Yeah.”
“Right.”
“I’m pregnant.” I say the words again in my brain, letting them sit there and percolate. “Without meds, or shots in the hip, or being told, month after month, that it didn’t work.”
Holy shit.
“What do you think Isaac will say?” she asks.
I flinch. “Well, coincidentally, we talked about this a few weeks ago. We were gonna wait to have more, but I’m quite sure he’ll be happy once the shock wears off.” I shrug. Yes, Isaac will be great. We’d planned to have a whole houseful of children when we first got married.
“Oh God.” I swallow another chip and take a sip of water.
“What?” Brynna asks.
“I’m going to have two babies under eighteen months old. Two babies in diapers. Two babies…”
Her eyebrows are raised, and she’s grinning. “I wouldn’t know what that’s like at all.”
“Damn, I was not expecting this.” I laugh and take a deep breath. “Sophie’s gonna be a big sister.”
“How are you going to tell him?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It should be something fun.” I clap my hands excitedly.
“I know! Christmas is just a few days away.”
“I like where you’re going with this.” I sip my margarita impostor and lean forward, listening intently.
“Okay, I saw this on Pnterest. Have you seen that site?”
“I’m addicted to that site.” I waste many, many hours on that site.
“Here’s what you’re going to do: Call Natalie first. Then…”
***
“How was your day?” Isaac asks and pulls me in for a kiss. He’s just come in from work and brought Italian with him, God love him.
“It was a good day.” I smile to myself and jump up and down in my head. “Pretty standard.”
“Anything new happen?”
You have no fucking idea, babe.
“Not really.” I shrug and kiss him chastely and then start pulling Styrofoam boxes of delicious food out of a brown paper bag. Isaac walks into the kitchen for plates and silverware and pulls down two wine goblets and a bottle of merlot.
Shit.
“No wine for me, Eyes,” I say as nonchalantly as possible.
“You sure? I know you love this with the chicken parmesan.” He frowns and tilts his head. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m fine.” I wave him off and dish up our plates, smiling over at Sophie, who is sitting in her bouncy seat on the table, blowing raspberries and playing with her feet.
“No more headaches?” he asks and returns the wine and goblets to the kitchen, bringing us each a bottle of water instead.
“No, not in a couple days.” I grin at him. “Definitely no headache tonight.” I wiggle my eyebrows, making him chuckle and doing my best to distract him from talking too much about my day.
“Did the doctor call with the results of yesterday’s tests?” he asks and takes a bite of salad.
So much for that.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.” I can’t look him in the eye now. I hate lying to him, even if it’s to surprise him. And this is a big deal, and I’m so excited! Maybe I should tell him…
“So, the headaches were probably from stress then?” he asks, looking thoughtful while he chews.
“That’s what the doctor thinks.” I take a sip of water and dig back into my saucy pasta. God, it’s good.
“I know you’ve had a lot on your plate, Stace. Maybe you should take a break from the blog for a while.”
Huh?
“Why would I do that?” I ask with a frown.
“Because you obviously have a lot going on, with Sophie and Brynna being home and everything.” He shrugs like this makes perfect sense to him.
“I love my blog. I love to read. The authors depend on me to help them promote their books and write reviews, and I don’t want to take a break from it.”
“I’m not saying you should give it up altogether. Maybe just slow down. It takes up a lot of your time.”
“Are you saying that you don’t want me to keep doing the blog, Isaac?” I put my silverware down and stare at him. He’s never voiced this to me before. He’s always seemed to be so proud of me.
What the hell?
“No.” He frowns at me. “Jesus, I’m not an asshole. If you love it, keep doing it. The doctor said your headaches are caused by stress, and I’m just trying to think of ways to reduce your stress.”
And I’m deliberately trying to start a fight. Great way to reduce stress. I take another drink of water and pull in a deep breath.
“Well, I don’t think the blog is stressing me out,” I reply calmly.
“Okay.” He finishes his pasta and pushes his plate away, watching me closely. “Is anything else going on?”
I shake my head and purse my lips. “No.”
He tilts his head, those ice-blue eyes watching me closely. “If you say so.”
“Did your mom call you today?” I ask, changing the subject as I rise and clear the table.
“No, what’s up?” He stands to help me, and we make quick work of tossing the takeout boxes and loading the dishwasher.
“We’re having Christmas Eve dinner at Luke and Nat’s this year, since they have a bigger living space for all of us.” I turn and lean against the kitchen counter, and smile as Isaac lifts Sophie from her bouncy seat and kisses her little cheek, whispering in her ear, making her giggle.
He is such a good dad. I have to grip the countertop at either side of my hips so I don’t unconsciously rub my hand over my stomach.
All of the Montgomerys usually gather for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but we exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, and I’m so damn glad, because I don’t think I could wait another twelve hours this year.
Not to mention, this way the three of us can have our own private Christmas morning here in our home together.
“Oh, okay. That works. Are you and I exchanging presents there or are we going to wait until Christmas morning here?” He nibbles on Sophie’s fingers, making her laugh some more. “Should we make Mommy wait for her C
hristmas presents, peach?”
“I’d like to give you one gift there, and we can do the rest here the next morning,” I murmur, and his eyes find mine, his head tilting again in thought at the tone of my voice.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. Don’t be a nag, dear,” I reply sarcastically.
“See, there’s that mouth again. Santa can still return all those prettily wrapped presents under the tree, babe.”
I grin sweetly. “I love you.” I bat my eyelashes playfully, and Isaac laughs, causing Sophie to laugh, too.
“Mommy pretends to be a good girl, but she’s naughty, Soph. Don’t let her fool you.” He kisses her cheek again and smiles over at me. “Come here.”
“What?”
“Just come here.”
I walk over to my two favorite people, and he drapes an arm around me, plants his hand at the small of my back and pulls me in for a kiss.
“This is the best Christmas present, right here,” he whispers against my mouth. “Just being with my girls.”
Oh, I think that what I have for you comes close.
I grin up at him and kiss Sophie’s soft cheek.
“It’s going to be a great Christmas,” I murmur.
Epilogue
I squeeze Stacy’s small, smooth hand in mine and kiss her fingers before I leave her with Sophie and join Caleb by the Christmas tree. I nudge my brother’s shoulder and offer him a beer and follow his gaze up the tall evergreen parked in Luke and Nat’s living room.
“Dude, who decorated this tree?” Caleb asks Luke, looking up at the tallest Christmas tree any of us have ever seen in a private home. Luke and Nat went all-out on the décor; the huge tree climbs all the way to the cathedral ceiling and is brightly lit with multicolored lights and draped in bulbs and garland and tinsel. Lights are hung outside as well, and garland with white lights is draped around the entire living space.
It looks like Santa is going to walk through the front door at any moment, kick off his big black boots, and sit in a chair by the fireplace.
“We had it professionally done. There’s no way in hell Nat’s getting on a ladder, pregnant or not.” He rubs her belly and kisses her cheek, making her blush.
We’re all gathered here again, the same crew as at Thanksgiving, adding Caleb, who just got back from a mission God knows where, Brynna and the girls, and Brynna’s parents.
There’s a hell of a lot of us.
Brynna and Matt have their heads together at the kitchen table, talking seriously and quietly, most likely about whatever in the hell the situation was that made her run from Chicago. Matt shakes his head, and Brynna slams her fist on the table in frustration and then stomps away from the table.
Caleb’s head snaps up at the loud sound, and he watches Brynna leave the room, his eyes narrowed and trained on her curvy ass.
Fuck, I’m not getting mixed up in it.
Stacy is sitting in the rocker with Sophie, cooing and laughing at our sweet baby. God, I go all soft when I see them, all soft skin and auburn hair—I swear, Soph’s hair is going to be auburn like Stacy’s. I wander over to them, hand the hot apple cider in my hand to Stacy and lift them both, sit in the chair, and settle them on my lap.
“Wow, Uncle ’Saac is strong! He lifted two people!” Josie exclaims, her sweet dark eyes wide, and I chuckle.
“He is,” Stacey responds and kisses my cheek. Mmm…she smells good. I bury my face in her neck and take a deep breath.
“Let’s go home,” I whisper in her ear, smiling as she shivers.
“We just got here.” She giggles and pushes me playfully away.
“I don’t care.”
“Get your nose out of the poor girl’s ear, Isaac. She’ll go deaf.” Jules is glaring at us, so I decide to taunt her. I am, after all, her big brother. It’s my job.
“Nat?” I ask, not taking my eyes off my gorgeous wife.
“Yeah?” I can hear her smile.
“Take Sophie for a sec?”
“Sure.”
Sophie is lifted out of our laps, and I fold Stace into my arms and look into her sexy hazel eyes. They’re glowing, in that way they do when she’s turned on, and it makes my cock twitch. She gives me a sassy little smirk.
“You love pissing Jules off, don’t you?” she whispers.
I just grin and kiss her, deeply, teasing her lips with my own, dip my tongue in her mouth, and then pull back, kiss her nose and her forehead and settle her against my chest.
“Puke,” Jules mutters.
“What is it with you and PDA?” Brynna asks, walking back into the room from the deck. Matt’s on the phone in the kitchen in the middle of a heated discussion, eyes on Brynna.
I wonder if something’s going on there?
But then Bryn glances at Caleb and flushes pink when he catches her gaze and offers her a grin.
I’m so not getting mixed into that. No fucking way.
“I don’t mind PDA if I’m the one receiving it,” Jules responds casually. “I just don’t need to see my family doing it.”
“Prude,” Nat murmurs and kisses Sophie on the cheek.
“Don’t be a bitch, Nat,” Jules responds.
Natalie sticks her tongue out at her, and everyone chuckles.
“How have you been feeling, Stacy?” my mom asks from the floor, where she’s coloring with the twins. “Isaac mentioned that you’d been having headaches.”
Stacy tenses in my arms, and I feel her inhale sharply.
What the fuck?
“Oh”—she nuzzles my chest with her cheek—“I’m fine. No headaches for a few days now.”
“Good.” Mom nods and goes back to the girls, but I’m not buying it. I grasp Stacy’s chin with my thumb and forefinger and tilt her head back to look at me. She looks a bit apprehensive and bites her delicious bottom lip.
“What?” she asks.
“You and I need to talk,” I mutter and kiss her again.
“Oh, we’ll talk,” she mutters under her breath.
Before I can pick her up and carry her out of the room to demand some answers, dinner is served by the catering crew that Luke hired. He decided, and I agreed, that cooking for this many people was too much to ask of any of our women. They should enjoy the holiday, too, so from here on out, family gatherings will be catered.
Except barbecues in the summer, because my dad would have a stroke if he didn’t man the grill himself.
And I can’t blame him.
Dinner brings more chaos of brothers ragging on each other and stealing each other’s food, kids spilling drinks, and women discussing shopping, spa treatments, movies and fashion. At least, that’s what our women discuss, because the whole lot of them are girlie girls, and honestly, I wouldn’t have them any other way.
Stacy smiles sweetly up at me as I pass her another roll. She likes to dip the bread in her gravy. Fuck, I’ll give her any damn thing she wants. I may not be Luke Williams wealthy, but my girls will never want for anything.
“Stacy, would you like a glass of wine?” Jules asks. “I brought your favorite.”
“Oh, um.” She pauses and wipes her mouth with her green napkin. “No, thanks. I’ll take some more hot cider, though.”
“No wine?” I ask.
She shakes her head.
Huh.
Finally, dinner is done, and everyone moves into the living area to exchange gifts and relax. My mom grabs Soph and settles into the rocker Stacy and I vacated earlier.
I’m so excited for this. I was going to wait to give Stace this gift tomorrow morning at home, for our first Christmas as a family, but I just can’t wait.
“Okay, so I’m the oldest, so I get to give my gift first,” I announce to the room.
“Yeah, you better go first, old man, ’cause in about ten minutes you’ll forget what holiday this is,” Will quips, earning a high-five from Caleb. I glare at them and pull a small box, wrapped in gold with a cream bow, out from under the tree and hand it to my
wife.
“We didn’t bring this from home,” she says with a smile on her pretty lips as she looks down at it.
“Nope,” I respond. “Open it.”
She gently pulls the ribbon off the box and begins to ever so fucking carefully pull the tape off the sides.
“For God’s sake, woman, just open it,” I growl at her, making her laugh. She knows I hate it when she does this.
“I like the paper,” she murmurs.
“I’ll buy you a whole roll of the shit. Open the damn thing!” Will yells from across the room, stuffing more pumpkin pie in his mouth.
“Jesus, man, didn’t you just have two pieces of that?” Caleb asks him.
“Shut up. Christmas,” he mumbles around the food.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” Mom yells at him, and Stacy and I laugh with each other.
Yep, it’s a Montgomery Christmas.
“Open it,” I whisper.
She pulls the paper off and frowns at the soft blue Tiffany box. “Tiffany?” she asks.
“He’s got good taste,” Natalie boasts.
“Yes, he does,” Stacy murmurs and opens the box. Inside is a platinum pendant and chain. The pendant is in the shape of a heart.
She pulls it out and smiles softly.
“Turn it over.”
“What is this?”
“What is it?” Samantha asks. The girls are all straining their necks to see.
“It’s Sophie’s fingerprint.”
Stacy’s hazel eyes meet mine as they fill with tears. “This is her fingerprint?”
“Oh, what a lovely gift,” Luke’s mom sighs.
“Yeah, I thought you’d like to always have a piece of her with you, even if she’s not with you.” I shrug, feeling kind of silly, but she gives me that wide, special smile, and I know that she loves it.
“It’s wonderful! Thank you.”
“Here, Stace.” Nat hands Stacy a box wrapped in silver with a blue bow. It’s the size of a small shirt box.
“We didn’t bring this from home either,” I murmur.
“No, we didn’t.” She fidgets, not looking me in the eye, and looks suddenly very nervous.
“Do I get to open it?” I ask drily.
She glances nervously around the room. Brynna gives her a discreet thumbs-up, and Natalie smiles brightly at her, and now I’m dying to know what’s in this damn box.