Her Christmas Baby Bump

by Robin Gianna

  “I guess it was my way of helping people make informed decisions, and implant only two eggs to hopefully prevent the kind of overwhelm my mother experienced.” He realized he hadn’t gotten to the most important thing yet. “Hearing about our baby slammed me with a truth I’d refused to admit was a problem, Hope. A truth I finally had to overcome. That in spite of having loving parents, I ran from commitment, never let myself get close to a woman, because I didn’t want to expose myself to abandonment or pain. Pathetic, but true.”

  “Not pathetic.” She held his face between her warm palms. “Not many people have to go through what you did.”

  “Loving you has changed that. Changed me.”

  Tears sprang into her eyes, but she didn’t speak, and that scared the hell out of him. But he kept going because he had to. “I love you, Hope. I love you and I love our child, and all I want is for us to be a family together forever.” He touched his lips to hers, barely able to whisper the next words, afraid to hear her answer. “Will you marry me, Hope? Not because we’re going to have a baby, but because I love you in a way I never knew it was possible to love someone, and I know now that I’ll never be complete without you. I don’t know if you feel the same way but...”

  He found he couldn’t finish the sentence, just stared into her beautiful eyes and willed her to love him back. Which maybe worked, or maybe she really did, because she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

  “I do love you, Aaron Cartwright. So much.” Her voice wobbled and her eyes filled with tears again that, this time, looked like happy ones. “We’ve had the same problem, you know. Until I met you, I thought something was missing inside me. Now I know what was missing was you.”

  Well, damn. He swallowed down the lump that formed in his throat at her words and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. “When I first danced with you, I thought it was fate that the music started back up just at the right time. Guess it really was.”

  “Is it fate that your child is going to grow up in Cambridge, so you can teach him or her how to be punt captain extraordinaire?”

  “Maybe it is. But you’re going to get that title first.” He moved his mouth to her cheek, smiling against its softness. “You haven’t answered my question, though.”

  “Question?”

  “The ‘will you marry me’ question. Might not be important to you, but it’s damned important to me.”

  She pulled back an inch, and as he looked into the blue of her eyes his chest filled with emotion all over again. If she gave him the answer he wanted, he’d get to lose himself in them every single day.

  “Of course I’ll marry you. I’d have to be completely crazy not to marry the world’s most wonderful man.”

  “Can’t claim that title, I know,” he said against her lips. “World’s luckiest man, though? With you in my life, I have that title in the bag.”

  EPILOGUE

  “YOU’RE AT NINE CENTIMETERS, Hope, maybe even a smidge more,” her midwife, Bonnie, said with a smile. “Getting close. I’ll be back in just a bit to check on you.”

  “Doing good, sweetheart,” Aaron said, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “How’s it feel being on the other side of the bed?”

  “Painful.” She squeezed her handsome husband’s hand, still a little in disbelief that he was all hers. “Being pregnant has given me a whole new appreciation for mothers everywhere. Waddling like a duck is no fun, and neither is being round as a beach ball.”

  “But you’re the most beautiful beach-ball-shaped duck in the universe.”

  His eyes crinkled at the corners, until his smile was instantly wiped from his face as a contraction hit her and she moaned.

  “All right. You’re all right. Breathe. Breathe again.”

  When it was over, she let her head drop back against the pillow, and, now that the pain had faded, Aaron’s anxious expression nearly made her laugh. “You’d have made a terrible midwife, and it’s a good thing you became a fertility specialist instead of a practicing obstetrician. This is a normal part of the process.”

  “I know. But that doesn’t mean I can feel blasé about you hurting.” He rested his big hand on her belly and the smile came back to his face. “There’s another kick. Our rugby player wants out of there.”

  “Or our superstar girl football player.”

  “And punt-boat operator. Let’s hope for your sake it’s not born with a pole already in hand.”

  She had to laugh at that horrifying visual, until she had another contraction to get through.

  “These seem to be coming really close together,” Aaron said, that frown dipping even deeper between his brows. “I should go find Bonnie.”

  “I think we can give it a few more minutes,” Hope said, panting, though she had to admit he was right. They were coming fast. “Distract me with some conversation.”

  “Well, I was going to wait until after the baby came, but I guess I’ll tell you now. Your hard work sleuthing through the newly opened California adoption records finally hit pay dirt. The Michael Krieger you thought might be my brother? Believe it or not, he is. He emailed me today.”

  “Oh, Aaron, that’s wonderful! I’m so thrilled for—” A powerful contraction cut off her words and breath, and this one lasted so long, she thought the baby just might pop right on out. “Aaron,” she gasped when she could speak again. “I think you’re right. I think it’s time. I—” She couldn’t control the long moan, and between gasping breaths stared up at her anxious husband. “I have to push. Be ready, in case she’s not back in time.”

  The alarm on his face would have been comical if she hadn’t been hurting and pushing, and she still managed to nearly laugh as she spoke between contractions. “Why...are you looking like that? You’re an OB, not a lawyer, for heaven’s sake. If...the baby comes, you can handle it.”

  “Right.” He practically ran to the sink to wash his hands and snap on gloves before positioning himself between her legs. “All right. I’m ready. Give me another push, sweetheart.”

  She did, and when it was over made a mental note to be even more sympathetic to mothers giving birth, because it hurt a whole lot more than she’d expected.

  “You’re doing great. Wonderful. Another push.”

  “I take back...what I said about you not...being a good midwife,” she gasped.

  “Oh, my God, Hope, it’s crowning! It’s coming! Another big push. You’re amazing. Wonderful. Our baby’s almost here.”

  “Dear me!” Bonnie exclaimed as she ran into the room. “I’m so sorry! I never dreamed you’d go that quick...” She let Aaron continue rather than disrupting the birth, but checked Hope’s vitals and hovered for when Aaron needed her.

  “Oh, Aaron. Is it...?”

  “Coming. Yes. One more big push, honey. I’ve...got it!”

  To her astonishment, he really did. Their baby was actually in his hands, and he brought it wet and wriggling to lie on her chest. “It’s a girl! A beautiful, gorgeous baby girl.”

  “Oh, Aaron. I can’t believe it.” She held her daughter close and stared at her tiny face and body. She thought she’d been awed every time she’d delivered a child? There was no comparison to the instant, soul-drenching love filling her chest. The baby gave a lusty cry that made both of them laugh. “Does she seem...all right?”

  “She looks perfect in every way.” His long fingers gently stroked her cheek. “Just like her mother.”

  “Here, let me take the baby and get her cleaned up, then I’ll take care of you, Hope.”

  Bonnie carried the baby to the warming bassinet as Aaron snapped off his gloves, taking Hope’s hands in his. She tore her gaze from their tiny newborn to look up at her husband, and her heart squeezed even tighter when she saw the tears streaking down his cheeks.

  “Aaron.” She lifted her han
d to his face and gently wiped them away. “We have our miracle. I love you so much.”

  “I love you more than I could ever say, Hope.” He leaned down to press his lips to hers. “Having you in my life is my first miracle. Thank you for that, and for giving me this second miracle, too.”

  She brought his head down to hers for a long kiss, and, when she pulled back, saw Bonnie standing there holding their swaddled blessing. “Who gets her first?”

  “Aaron,” Hope quickly said, wanting him to have that happiness. “He brought her into the world.”

  “And you did all the work the past nine months and today, but I’ll take her anyway.” His cheeks still damp, he grinned and reached for the baby, then perched on the side of the bed.

  “She has your amazing blue eyes,” he said softly.

  “Most newborns have blue eyes.”

  “Not like these.” He turned her a bit so Hope could see her, too, and she couldn’t believe what a vivid blue they were already.

  “Oh, my goodness, I guess you’re right. Her hair is pretty dark, though.” She ran her finger tenderly across her daughter’s downy eyebrows and round cheek, still hardly believing she was really here. “So are you still good with the name we picked?”

  His elated gaze stayed on their baby’s tiny face. “Yes. Caroline Anne is a beautiful name. I know my mothers would have loved her every bit as much as both of us already do.”

  “Yes,” Hope agreed, the love for her daughter practically bursting from her chest the way she’d always dreamed. “They would indeed.”

  * * * * *

  ISBN: 978-1-474-00484-8

  HER CHRISTMAS BABY BUMP

  © 2015 Robin Gianna

  Published in Great Britain 2015

  by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

  All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

  By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

  ® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ®are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

  www.millsandboon.co.uk