It Happened at Christmas

by Debbie Mason

  Annie laughed, Skye tried hard not to, and Lily grinned. “It’s okay. You’re really good at decorating gingerbread houses. I’m going to bring it to school on Monday and show my class.”

  “Ah, maybe you could tell them you made it, Lily. I wouldn’t mind if you took the credit, you know.”

  “You should ask your teacher if she wants your uncle Ethan to come in and demonstrate his decorating skills for your class, Lily. You guys have Christmas craft days next week, don’t you?”

  “That’s a great idea. I’ll ask her. And Uncle Ethan doesn’t have a job, so he can come anytime.”

  Skye grinned at him and stuck a candy cane in her mouth.

  * * *

  So far Ethan hadn’t had any luck getting his wife on her own. He didn’t see his chances improving as they headed outside to play in the snow after lunch, especially with the look Skye had just given his sheepskin coat.

  “You’re one to talk,” he said, gesturing to her furry black boots.

  “It’s fake fur,” she said, wrapping a scarf around her neck and zipping her white jacket.

  “I’m on Auntie Skye’s team this time,” Lily said as she knelt in the snow and began rolling a snowball. They were competing to see which team could make the best snowman.

  “We’ve got it in the bag, Annie,” he said, showing her the carrot in his pocket.

  Annie grinned. “You took the last one, didn’t you?”

  “Yep,” he said. “You start rolling, and I’ll hunt down some sticks for his arms.” It took him a while to find what he was looking for. By the time he came back, Lily and Skye were already putting the head on their snowman. “Hey,” he said to Annie, looking at the three tiny balls in the snow. “You traitor, you’re supposed to be on my team.”

  “Losing is good for you, Uncle Eth. You need some humility.”

  “I think I’ve met my quota, don’t you?” he said, referring to his loss at the polls.

  The three of them looked stricken.

  “I’m kidding,” he said, dropping the sticks on the ground. “Don’t count me out yet. It was for best snowman, not fastest snowman makers.”

  Once he finished, he stood back to admire his handiwork. His was twice the size of theirs and looked great in comparison. As a finishing touch, Ethan fitted mittens on the end of the sticks. His snowman looked like he was waving hello. Brushing the snow from his gloves, he laughed when they scowled at him. “Well, ladies, looks like I won again.”

  Skye rolled her eyes, then looked past him, an apprehensive expression crossing her face. “Ethan, I think I saw a wolf.”

  He followed the direction of her gaze and didn’t see anything. To be on the safe side, he said, “Okay, relax. We’ll get the girls inside.”

  “No, you have to shoo it away, my bunny lives under the tree in the back.” Lily’s face crumpled.

  “It’s okay, Lily.” Annie took her sister in her arms and patted her back. “Uncle Eth will make it go away.”

  “Sure I will. Don’t cry, sweetheart. I’ll get your dad’s gun…” He saw Skye’s face and corrected himself, “I’ll go check it out first. You guys get inside.”

  “Okay.” The three of them nodded as he struggled through the knee-high snow toward the back of the house. Jangling the keys in his pocket, he scanned the area for tracks. When he’d visually searched the backyard and checked under the deck, he headed back. He stopped short—the three of them were laughing their heads off. They’d stolen his snowman’s nose and stick arms. “Seriously? Haven’t you heard about the boy who cried wolf? Stop laughing. It’s not funny. And it doesn’t matter, because I still won.”

  “No one likes a sore loser, Ethan,” Skye said, fluttering her lashes at him. “It’s not a good example to set for Lily and Annie.”

  “Sore loser, eh?” he said and bent down to grab a handful of snow. Before he’d formed it into a ball, someone beaned him in the head. He looked up just as Skye’s snowball whizzed through the air and got him in the face. Releasing an exaggerated groan, he fell to his knees and brought his hand to his eye. Skye cried out and ran to his side. “Ethan, I’m so sorry. Let me see,” she said in a panicked tone of voice, cupping his face with her cold, wet gloves.

  “I can’t see. There must have been a stone in the snow.” He groaned again, biding his time until Annie and Lily joined her at his side on their knees, then he lunged. Wrapping his arms around the three of them, he gently took them down. “Uncle Ethan,” the girls yelled between their giggles as he rubbed snow in their faces.

  “That wasn’t…” Skye began, struggling to get out of his arms, shrieking when he shoved snow down her jacket.

  “There, now you know how it feels.” He grinned as he went to stand up.

  “Get him, girls,” Skye yelled, and they tackled him, giving him a taste of his own medicine.

  Ten minutes later, the four of them lay flat on their backs in the snow. The winds picked up and the snow swirled around them. “Come on, I won’t be able to find you soon,” Ethan said. He glanced at Skye, who lay beside him making snow angels with the girls.

  Her face was lit up with laughter as she caught snowflakes on her tongue. An image of her playing with their own child flashed before his eyes. His chest tightened. She was going to be an incredible mother. She’d been right at Thanksgiving when she’d said she wasn’t a silly, spoiled, self-centered…

  Shock reverberated through him as he remembered where he’d heard those words before. Skye had repeated verbatim what Claudia had said about her that night when his team had gathered to deal with Bennett’s smear campaign. Somehow she’d found…

  No, there was only one plausible explanation for how she knew what Claudia had said.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  You were there,” Ethan said from where he lay beside her in the snow.

  Skye turned with her tongue out catching snowflakes, and nearly swallowed it as his hazel eyes went soft and warm. It was a look she saw a lot when they were together. One that made her go all warm and gooey inside. She didn’t appreciate him making her feel that way now.

  Who was she trying to kid? No matter how much she fought against it, Ethan O’Connor would be making her feel warm and gooey until the day she died. She’d just have to get used to it. Once her heart finally stopped its excited pitter-patter, she asked him what he was talking about. Good job, she thought, when her voice didn’t come out all breathy and needy and sad.

  “You were at my mother’s. You heard what Bennett was going to do, and you left because you thought I’d have a chance to win if you weren’t by my side. You left to protect me.” He stood up and took her hand. “Annie and Lily, it’s time to go inside.” He helped Skye to her feet and held her gaze. “And it’s time you and I talked.”

  “We wanna play outside. We’re going to build a fort, right, Lily?” Annie gave her sister a nudge.

  “Oh, yeah, we’re staying outside. You go inside with Uncle Ethan, Auntie Skye,” Lily said with an exaggerated wink at Ethan.

  “Okay, but stay where we can see you,” he agreed as he dragged Skye toward the front steps. Ushering her into the house, he shut the door. “Start talking.”

  “Would you mind if I get my boots and coat off first? Thanks to you, I’m a little cold and wet,” she said, taking off her hat and gloves.

  “Yeah, I remember when I used to make you hot and wet,” he muttered, shoving his jacket into the closet. “Dammit, Skye, because of your misguided attempt to protect me, we’ve lost a month together.”

  “I resent that. It wasn’t misguided,” she said, ignoring her sex-starved body’s response to his “hot and wet” comment as she stripped off her jacket.

  “And I resent you vanishing in the middle of the night, for leaving me a goddamn note”—he backed her against the wall, caging her in—“that broke my heart, for—”

  “I broke your heart?”

  He took her face in his hands, his eyes searching hers. “How can you even ask me that? I loved you,
Skye. I loved you, and you left me.”

  “You didn’t love me. You loved Kendall.”

  His brow furrowed. “What are talking about? You are Kendall.”

  She shook her head and tried to move out from under him, but he wouldn’t let her escape, pressing against her with his hard, warm body. “Yes, you are,” he said.

  “No, I’m not. I pretended to be Kendall because you loved her. It was Kendall you needed, not me. I’m the one who lost the election for you, Ethan. Me, not Kendall.”

  “You should’ve told me how you felt. I loved you, Skye. It was always you I loved.”

  “Whenever you told me you loved me, you called me Kendall, not Skye.”

  “You’re starting to piss me off, cupcake. I—”

  “And that’s another thing—up until today, you haven’t called me cupcake in months. Today was the first time—”

  He cut her off with a frustrated sound in his throat then dipped his head and devoured her mouth. Wrapping his arms around her, he lifted her off her feet, carrying her through the house with his lips fused to hers. Her dreams hadn’t done him justice. Somehow she’d forgotten how he could steal her senses, turning her into a boneless mass of quivering desire with a simple kiss. Actually, it wasn’t so simple. It was a long, hard kiss filled with so much passion her toes curled in her socks.

  She held back a disappointed groan when he lifted his head, pushing something away with his foot. He dropped onto the couch with her sprawled over him. “You. I love you, Skylar Davis O’Connor. You and our baby.” He moved her onto his lap. Once he got her settled, he placed his heavy hand on her stomach. “I missed my wife and our baby.”

  She covered his hand. “You married me because of the baby.”

  “You married me because of Moriarty.”

  “No, not just him. I—”

  “Hold that thought.” He raised his hip to dig his buzzing cell from his jeans pocket. “It’s Gage,” he told her and took the call. He didn’t take his eyes off her while he spoke to his best friend. She skimmed her fingers along his jaw, amazed that only yesterday she thought they were over and now it looked like they had a second chance. If he could forgive her, then maybe they could make this work. She wouldn’t have to worry about being someone she wasn’t, not anymore. There would no longer be supporters and constituents to please and pacify.

  The baby kicked, and Ethan blinked. Skye smiled at the surprise in his eyes. Her smile faltering as she realized it was because of her that he’d missed out on that. Missed seeing the impression of a foot or small fist move across her stomach.

  He lifted his chin as if to say What’s wrong?

  She shook her head, then laid it on his chest, listening to the strong, steady beat of his heart.

  “Don’t worry about us,” he said, stroking her hair. “I’ll have the girls call you when they come inside. Yeah, we’re good. No, we haven’t scarred them by fighting in front of them. Might by making out in front of them.” He laughed. “Yeah, right, as if they haven’t caught the two of you. Okay, we’ll see you in the morning.” He disconnected and leaned over to put his cell on the coffee table. “Roads are bad. They’re holed up in a motel in the next county for the night.”

  She lifted her head and looked out the window at the big, fat flakes falling heavily from the sky. “Maybe we should call the girls in.”

  “Two minutes. I want to know what you were going to say, and I want to kiss you again before they come in.” He slid his hand under her sweater, caressing her stomach as he held her gaze. “But before we do either of those things, tell me about the baby, how you’re feeling.”

  “I’m good. We’re both good. It’s weird, though, every time I lay down, she goes crazy. The only way I can get her to settle down is to sing ‘Wild Horses.’ ”

  “Maybe she knew something was missing. Maybe she missed my hand on your belly when you went to sleep,” he said, stroking her stomach with his long, strong fingers.

  It was true. He’d always slept with Skye tucked against him, his big hand resting on her stomach. A heated shiver quivered up her spine as he continued to stroke and caress her. As though he sensed her reaction, he smiled. “You missed me, too, didn’t you?”

  “Of course I did. I didn’t want to leave, Ethan. I—” She sighed when Lily and Annie called out loudly—“We’re inside now”—and slammed the door.

  “They’re well trained.” Ethan laughed, giving her a quick kiss and gently easing her off his lap. “But don’t worry, cupcake, we’ve got all night to talk.”

  With the heated look he gave her, Skye wondered how much talking he intended to do. But no matter what he planned, no matter how much she wanted the same, they were finishing this conversation tonight. This time, she planned on being totally open and honest.

  * * *

  Ethan O’Connor was one very sneaky man. Somehow, without Lily and Annie noticing, he managed to touch Skye every five minutes and kiss her senseless every chance he got. Now she was thinking that talking was overrated. They were all sitting around in their pajamas—well, Skye and the girls were, at least—watching Jack Frost.

  Ethan had been trying to get them to change the channel for the last thirty minutes. “Seriously, how can this be a Christmas movie? The dad died. All right,” he said when the three of them gave him a look, “I know when I’m not wanted. But you wait, in about ten minutes, you’re going to be very glad I’m here.” He waggled his brows, patted Skye’s thigh, then got up from the couch and walked toward the kitchen.

  Her gaze followed him, unable to take her eyes off his firm behind, the way those well-worn jeans encased his muscular thighs. She turned back to the TV. She had to get a grip or at least distract herself. “Wow, look at him go,” she said as Charlie Frost skated down the ice.

  “I didn’t know you liked hockey, Auntie. Annie loves it now ’cause Trent plays. He has a game on Thursday. You should come with us.”

  Annie released a dramatic sigh. “Lily, I already told you, you can’t come.”

  “You’re not the boss of me, Annie. It’s a free world. I can go if I want. I like hockey, too, you know.”

  “You can come watch me and your dad play, Lily,” Ethan said as he returned to the living room. Skye eyed the marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate bars, and metal skewer he carried with trepidation.

  “That’s not real hockey,” Lily said. “You just play for fun.”

  He set his stash on the fireplace ledge. “What are you talking about? We’re a real league.”

  Annie snorted. “Yeah, an old-timer’s league.”

  “You play hockey?” Skye asked. Though he did have the body of athlete, he seemed more cerebral than athletic. She just thought he’d been blessed with amazing genes.

  “Don’t sound so surprised,” he said as he sat beside the fire, stretching out his long legs. “I was MVP last game.”

  “Jack said it’s ’cause they felt sorry for you.”

  “I scored the winning goal. Jack’s mad we beat his and Sawyer’s team. You know, Sawyer, ex-captain of the Colorado Flurries, a professional hockey team. Yeah, that’s who we beat.” He shook his head while threading marshmallows onto the skewer. “Careful, or I won’t make you a s’more.”

  Annie opened her mouth, and Skye caught her eye, giving her head a subtle shake. He obviously wanted to do something special for the girls, and she didn’t want to disappoint him. They’d have to figure out a way to hide the fact that they would not in this lifetime eat marshmallows.

  “Okay, I’m not going to let your doubts about my athletic prowess stop me from treating you to the best dessert bar none. Get over here.”

  Behind Ethan’s back, the girl’s held out their hands as if to say What do we do now? while Skye silently indicated she’d handle it. “Umm, smells good,” she said, positioning herself a foot or so behind him, waving for the girls to do the same.

  Ethan glanced over his shoulder as he knelt in front of the fireplace, holding the skewered marshmal
lows above the low flame. “You sure I can’t change your mind about chocolate? You don’t know what you’re missing. All right,” he conceded when she shook her head, “I’ll give you extra marshmallows.”

  “Mm, yum,” she said, trying not to gag.

  He grinned, looking so adorably sweet, that she knew she’d made the right decision. She edged the leather magazine holder closer as Ethan gingerly slid the bubbling, browned marshmallows onto the graham crackers he’d prepared beforehand with a piece of milk chocolate. “It’s a little hot, so wait a minute before you eat it, Lily.”

  Lily rubbed her tummy. “It looks so good, Uncle Ethan. Thanks.”

  He smiled and tweaked her ponytail then turned to thread more marshmallows onto the skewer. “You’re next, Annie.”

  “Can’t wait,” she said, putting both hands around her neck, being sure to stay out of Ethan’s line of sight. Lily handed Skye her plate. She dumped the s’more in the magazine holder, covering it with papers as she gave Lily back her empty plate.

  “You can’t be finished already,” Ethan said to Lily as he handed Annie her s’more.

  “Yep, it was the best. Way better than Daddy makes,” Lily said.

  She’s got her uncle’s number, Skye thought.

  Ethan grabbed a couple more marshmallows out of the bag. “Cool. I’ll have to tell him you said so.”

  “Ethan, you have a problem,” Skye said. “You might want to talk to someone about your compulsive need to compete. You’re setting a bad example for the girls. Just remember, Annie and Lily, everyone’s a winner.”

  Annie was about to give Skye her plate, when Ethan turned to them. “Don’t listen to her, girls. She’s living in Fairyland. Competition is a good thing. Without it, we’d be living in the Dark Ages. Nothing better than a little competition to make you aware of your strengths and weaknesses.” He looked at Annie’s plate. “They’re better warm, eat up.”

  She nodded and put it to her mouth, tossing it to Skye as soon as he went back to toasting his marshmallows. “You know…” he began as he turned, then his gaze jerked from Skye to the s’more she was dumping in the magazine holder. “Really… really,” he said, taking the s’mores from underneath the paper, holding them up as if they were evidence in a murder trial. “What the hel… heck? I—”