He nibbled a soft kiss on her lips, but before he could deepen the embrace, Lucita pulled her head back and rubbed the tip of her nose to his.
“And tonight I want to make sure that you know how much I love you, Ripp. How much I will always love you.”
A wondrous light glinted in his blue eyes. “Always? That sounds like a forever kind of thing.”
“It is a forever kind of thing. I want to be your wife. That is,” she added provocatively, “if you still want me.”
His hands went still against her back. “Wife.” He repeated the word as though it was the most precious sound he’d ever heard. “Lucita, I thought you needed more time. If you do—”
His words halted as she began to shake her head. “Time is the last thing I need. I had a week and two days to think, Ripp, and that’s all the time I needed to show me what I was doing—running scared, hiding in the past, worrying about the future instead of living it. In the end I was mainly wasting precious days that we could be together. I don’t want to waste any more. Do you?”
Drawing her head back down to his, he whispered against her lips, “No, my love. Our life together—it’ll never be wasted.”
Three months later on a quiet Sunday evening, Lucita stood at a front window of her new home and gazed at the limbs of the Chinese Pistache trees drooping below the eave of the porch roof. Thanksgiving had come and gone and now that Christmas was approaching, the leaves would soon turn a deep scarlet and eventually scatter beneath the cold north wind.
But before that happened the yard would be a glorious blaze of color and she was looking forward to adding even more beauty with strings of Christmas lights edging the roof and a Nativity scene out on the lawn, complete with a manger that Ripp had made himself.
“You’re lost in thought. Thinking this old house needs more space?”
Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled as Ripp walked up behind her and slid his arms around her waist.
“No. I like this house just the way it is, thank you, sir.”
Turning in his arms she pecked a kiss on her husband’s cheek, then pointed to another spot on the living room floor. “What do you think about putting the Christmas tree there? The lights will shine through the window.”
Loving her excitement over the holidays, Ripp grinned indulgently. “I suppose it’s essential for the lights to be seen from the driveway?”
“Of course! Santa needs a guide to the house! How else will he know where to put our gifts?”
“Who says you’re going to get any gifts?” he teased.
She wrinkled her nose impishly at him. “Well, you are. I’ve already got something very special picked out. In fact—” She grabbed his hand, led him out of the living room and down a short hallway until they reached their bedroom. “Since I’ve asked you about where to put the Christmas tree, maybe you can advise me about this.”
Pulling away from him, she went to a corner of the room that wasn’t already taken up with furniture and spread out her arms as though she was measuring space.
“Do you think a crib will fit here? I think it would be a perfect spot. Not too far away from our bed, but not too close, either.”
When he didn’t say anything, she looked around to see he was completely bemused.
“A what?” he finally uttered.
Walking back to him, she took up his hands with hers and squeezed his fingers. “A crib,” she repeated with a patient and very loving smile. “For the baby. Our baby.”
“Baby,” he whispered with awe. “Are you sure?”
Her face glowing, she nodded. “Nicci gave me a very accurate test. I used it this morning after we came home from church. But I didn’t really need it to tell me that I was carrying your child. I could already feel the change in me.”
As Lucita’s announcement sunk in, he tugged her into his arms and held her so tightly that her cheek was smashed against his chest.
“Oh, Lucita, you can’t imagine how happy you’ve made me. Or how much I love you.”
Tears of joy glazed her eyes and spiked her lashes. “I suspect it’s about as much as I love you,” she murmured.
Eventually, he eased his hold on her enough to look down at her face. “What about Marti? How is he going to take this news? I want him to be happy, too.”
She chuckled at the thought of the joyful reaction they were going to get from Marti when they told him about the coming baby.
“As soon as Marti comes home we’ll tell him together. He’s going to be thrilled to have a sibling. And I have a sneaking suspicion that he’s going to want more than one brother or sister.”
“We can handle that,” Ripp said with a sexy chuckle.
“Okay, big guy, can you handle this? I want something special for Christmas. Something only you can give me.”
His brows lifted with wry speculation. “If it’s within my power. I can’t make it snow for you in sixty-degree weather, though.”
She playfully poked a finger in his ribs. “I want you to build a cradle for the baby. One with tiny carved spokes and runners to rock back and forth on. Can you do that for me?”
Hugging her to him, he pressed his cheek against the top of her head. “Honey, it’ll be my greatest pleasure to build you a crib and love you and our children for the rest of our lives.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-1914-8
HER TEXAS LAWMAN
Copyright © 2008 by Stella Bagwell
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