by Debbie Mason
“We didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but we can’t eat them,” Annie said.
He looked at them, lifted the s’more to his mouth, and took a big bite. “These are frigging awesome.” Skye pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. He waved the half-eaten s’more at her. “What are you teaching these girls? This is perfectly—”
Lily grimaced. “Marshmallows are made from the skin and bones of animals.”
He looked from the s’more to Lily. “They are not.”
“Are too,” said Annie.
“All you had to do was tell me you didn’t want them,” he said in a grumpy tone of voice, gathering up the bag of marshmallows. “I wouldn’t have wasted my time.”
“We won’t think worse of you for eating the s’more, Ethan. It’s a personal choice. Here, I’ll clean up. You watch the end of the movie with the girls.” Skye took the bag from him, bending down to pick up the rest. “Honestly, go ahead and eat them,” she said as she straightened, pressing the s’mores into his hand.
He stood up, handed them back to her, and said low enough that only she could hear, “Chance was right. You really are a pain in the ass.”
She went up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “But you love me.”
“Yeah, I do,” he said, lightly swatting her behind as she headed for the kitchen. The warm glow of happiness that enveloped her dissipated a little as she thought back to his earlier comments. She hadn’t realized until today how competitive Ethan was. It’d been amusing earlier when they were competing over gingerbread houses and snowmen. Probably because he’d looked so irresistibly sexy, and it’d been nice to be able to have fun and laugh together again.
But now she realized, as competitive as he was, he wouldn’t give up on his political career. No, he’d regroup and, with Claudia’s help, run again. Skye had been fooling herself. Drying off the skewer, she placed it in the bottom drawer, wondering how she could’ve been so stupid getting her hopes up. There’s no way Ethan would give up on his dream. And with Claudia and Liz egging him on, Skye would be right back where she started.
“Okay, movie’s over. Time for you two to go to bed,” she heard Ethan say.
The moment of reckoning was upon her, she thought, as she headed for the living room. It was now or never. Watching Ethan laugh with Annie and Lily as he carried them to their bedrooms, she wished she could choose never.
“You okay?” Ethan asked Skye after they’d tucked the girls into bed.
“I’m good, just a little cold.” It wasn’t a lie, but she doubted the goose bumps breaking out on her arms had anything to do with the blustery winds and snow battering the living room window.
“We’ll sit by the fire,” he said, grabbing a couple of pillows and the throw off the couch. Once he had them set up and had wrapped Skye in the red plaid blanket, he went to make her a cup of tea.
Christmas carols played on the radio, setting the scene for a perfectly romantic evening. And she was going to ruin it, just like she’d ruined his career. She stared out the window, the snow so heavy she could barely make out the mountains in the distance, wondering if she could let it go. Maybe this wasn’t something they had to talk about now.
“What are you thinking about?” Ethan asked. He handed her a mug as he settled himself in behind her, and drew her into his arms.
She smiled her thanks, then said, “Us. I didn’t expect this. I didn’t think today would turn out this way.”
He brushed his lips across the top of her head, linking his hands over her stomach. “Neither did I, but I’m happy our best friends took matters into their own hands and set us up. But if they hadn’t, I’m pretty sure Nell would have.” He laughed. “She has a book deadline, remember?”
“I thought it was funny when she wrote Maddie’s and Grace’s stories, but I don’t think it’s so funny now.” She put down her mug, tipping her head back. “Ethan, I’m not joking. You have to stop Nell. Send her one of those cease-and-desist letters.”
“Why? I bet our book will outsell Gage’s and Jack’s. We’ve got way more going on than they do.”
She buried her face in her hands and groaned. She couldn’t believe him. “Yeah, Grace and Maddie are normal. You’re the one with the crazy wife. I’ll turn into a joke on late-night television. Everyone will feel sorry for you. The man who married the woman who destroyed his dream.”
“What I have is an incredibly passionate wife who gives a damn and stands up for what she believes in. And, cupcake, you didn’t destroy my dream. If you would’ve given me a chance, we could’ve handled Bennett together. We didn’t lose by much, and we made inroads in what was a predominantly Democrat district.”
“You deserved to win, Ethan. You should’ve won, and if it wasn’t for me, you would have. That’s something I’ll always regret. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. I’m sorry, sorrier than you’ll ever know.”
“If it wasn’t for you busting your butt on the campaign trail, I wouldn’t have had half of those votes. You did that, Skye. You were amazing. You worked as hard as anyone to get me elected, and even though it was unnecessary and somewhat misguided, you made the ultimate sacrifice, and that’s something I’ll never forget.”
“Thank you, but in the end, I’m still responsible. Can you honestly forgive me?”
He sighed, turning her so she faced him with her legs straddling his hips. “I want you to listen to me, okay?” She nodded and he continued, “The only thing that matters to me is that you’re here now. That you love me, and that we’re going to raise our baby together. Having a family was as much my dream as being a senator. All that political stuff, that came from my dad. It was more his dream than mine.”
“I don’t understand. Your mom showed me your scrapbooks. She told me—”
“I know what she told you. She doesn’t know about my last conversation with my dad. She doesn’t know I told him I’d changed my mind.” He stared out the window before returning his gaze to hers. The raw emotion she saw in his eyes took her aback. “I loved my job as ADA. I felt as though I’d found my calling. When I said as much to my dad, he was furious. He told me I was throwing everything he’d worked so hard for away. If I would’ve backed down, given in, he’d be here now. Instead, I told him if he wanted it so badly maybe he should run. He had a fatal heart attack only hours after that call.”
She searched his face and didn’t like what she saw. “Ethan, you’re not responsible for your father’s death. You know that, don’t you?”
He held her gaze. “But I am. He’d never been sick a day in his life.”
“You listen to me, Ethan O’Connor. He had a heart attack. You didn’t cause it. I’m sure if you asked your mother there’d been signs—”
“No, I’m not talking about this with her. It would kill her if she knew. She’d never forgive me.”
“But, Ethan—”
“Skye, I’ve never told anyone about this, not even Gage. I’m trusting you to keep this to yourself. Promise me you won’t say anything to anyone.”
Seeing the pain his guilt caused him, she wasn’t sure it was a promise she could make. “This isn’t healthy. You need to talk to someone. Talk to Paul. Please, he’ll keep your confidence, and he out of anyone will know if your dad had health issues that you were unaware of. Because, Ethan, I’ll guarantee you that he did.”
“No. This goes no further than us.”
“Okay.” She reluctantly gave in, realizing that for now, there was no way she would change his mind. But somehow she had to banish the sorrow from his eyes. She angled her head. “So, what you’re telling me is that I saved you. I saved you from making the biggest mistake of your life.” She gave him a long, passionate—and she hoped—healing kiss, then lifted her head and smiled. “I’m your hero, Ethan O’Connor.”
He shook his head with a laugh. “What you are is a gorgeous fruitcake.”
“Hey.” She lightly swatted his chest. “I’m not a fruitcake.”
“I love frui
tcake, and I love you,” he said, swallowing her “I love you, too” with one of his off-the-charts, toe-curling kisses.
Minutes into their hot and steamy kiss, there was a loud bang. The lights flickered, then went out. “Wow,” Skye said, lifting her head to look around the room. “I’m impressed. I knew your kiss packed a wallop, but I didn’t think it was strong enough to knock out the electricity.”
Once he stopped laughing, he said, “I’m going to make a couple of calls, check to be sure it was the storm that caused the outage. And then, cupcake, I’ll take you to bed and show you just how powerful I am.”
“If we were alone, I’d race you to the bedroom, but we’re not. Annie and Lily—”
“—are asleep, and I’m pretty sure Gage and Madison—”
“Uncle Ethan, Auntie Skye, I can’t see anything. What happened?” they heard Lily call from her bedroom at the same time as a bright flashlight shone in their faces.
“It’s okay, Lily,” Annie said. “I’ll come get you. We’ll camp out by the fire with Auntie Skye and Uncle Eth. They’ve got it all set up.”
Lily yelled “Yay!” at the same time Ethan groaned.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ethan held Skye’s arm as they made their way down the icy driveway to where he’d parked the Escalade. They were headed to Grace and Jack’s for a tree-trimming party. “Thanks,” Skye said when Ethan took the container of food from her hand. She glanced at the pile of snow where her car should have been. “Hey, you guys forgot to shovel me out.”
As soon as Gage and Maddie had arrived home this morning, the two men left to help out the snowed-in residents of Christmas. Skye and Maddie spent the day wrapping presents and cooking for the party.
“We thought it was safer if the egg didn’t hatch until spring.”
“Ha-ha, you’re hilarious.”
He grinned and opened the passenger’s-side door of the Escalade. Once she was settled inside, he handed her the plastic container and kissed her. “You don’t need a car. I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
“That’s going to be a little difficult once you’re working,” she said, then cast him a nervous glance. “You are accepting your old job as ADA, aren’t you?” She’d been over the moon when Ethan told her about Jordan’s offer this morning. And not just because it meant he wasn’t going to run for political office again, though, admittedly, the thought had happily crossed her mind. No, she was thrilled that he’d be doing something he loved, something he was passionate about.
“I am. I’m meeting with him tomorrow morning to firm up the details. He said Sam’s e-mailing you a couple of places to look at. They’re downtown.”
After he’d informed Skye of his decision, they’d discussed living arrangements. They’d stay in Denver during the week and Christmas on the weekend. Which suited Skye just fine, until she realized Ethan meant for her to sell her new house on Sugar Plum Lane. He wanted to spend weekends at the ranch. She knew he loved his mother, but what she also knew, even if he wouldn’t admit it, was that the decision probably had more to do with Ethan’s guilt than love.
And that was something Skye didn’t like. For Ethan’s sake, she had to make him see how detrimental to his well-being it was to hold on to his mistaken belief that he’d killed his father.
Given his reaction last night, it wasn’t something to bring up now. So she took up the conversation where they’d left off. “I like my independence, Ethan, and despite what you think of my car, it’s safe.”
“Wait for us,” Lily yelled, as she and Annie ran down the front steps.
“I love those two, but I was hoping we’d have at least ten minutes on our own. Careful!” he called out as they started down the driveway. Then he said to Skye, “We’ll stay for an hour at the Flahertys’. Make an excuse to leave. Tell them you’re not feeling well.”
Skye had to admit that she felt the same as Ethan. They had a lot of lost time to make up for, and she was looking forward to being alone together. “If I say I’m sick, and Dr. McBride’s there, he’ll probably make me go to the hospital. Why don’t we just tell them the truth?”
“What… that I want to ravish my wife? That I want to get her in my bed and not let her out of it for the next week?”
“Geez, Uncle Eth, TMI,” Annie said, opening the back door.
Ethan’s face reddened, and he gave Skye a you-could’ve-warned-me look.
She’d been too busy staring into her husband’s beautiful eyes to notice anything but the way her body reacted to his heated promise. “I didn’t realize she was there,” Skye said, unable to keep the laughter from her voice. She couldn’t remember seeing the unflappable Ethan O’Connor blush before.
“It’s not funny,” he muttered, closing her door and helping Lily inside before rounding the SUV.
“Put the radio on, and we can sing carols,” Lily said, bouncing in the backseat.
“Someone wanna tell me how we got stuck with you two and not your parents?” he said, doing as Lily asked.
“Mommy has to feed Connor. And you better not be grumpy or Santa won’t give you your present tonight. It’s a really good one.”
“Lily.” Annie elbowed her sister.
“What? I’m not going to tell him.”
“Tell me what?” Ethan asked as he pulled onto the road.
He didn’t get his answer. The girls were too busy singing “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” along with the radio.
“I’m glad you think it’s so funny,” he said to Skye. “You know what they’re doing, don’t you? I’ll guarantee it’s not feeding the baby.”
“You’re just jealous,” she said, then joined in with the girls.
“Yeah, I am,” he agreed, then started singing, too.
As they turned onto Sugar Plum Lane, Lily leaned forward, pointing out the window. “Wow, look at the lights.” The residents on the street had gone all out. Every Victorian, except for Skye’s, was lit up with colorful Christmas lights.
“Did you call the Realtor?” Ethan asked, as they passed the yellow Victorian that only a few days ago Skye thought she’d be making her home.
“No, I’ve decided not to sell. I don’t want to hurt Betty Jean’s feelings.”
Ethan didn’t look happy with her answer. “I thought we’d settled this. I’m sure she’d understand.”
“We did, but it doesn’t mean I have to sell the house. I’ve been thinking we’d run Envirochicks out of it. If the street’s commercially zoned, we could have a storefront.”
“You’re going to be in Denver most of the time. Wouldn’t it be better to set up shop there?”
“No, Betty Jean and I already agreed on Christmas.”
“As long as you don’t think it’s going to be too much for you. I don’t want you running yourself ragged. You’re going to be busy once the baby comes, you know.”
“I know. But I have you to help out. It’s not like I’m raising the baby on my own, right?”
“Okay, you made your point, cupcake. We’ll work it out.” He pulled behind Nell’s truck in front of Jack and Grace’s purple Victorian. They’d decorated the house, trees, and shrubs all in white lights. Paper luminaries lit up the path to the front porch. “Girls, be careful. It’s slippery out there,” he warned Lily and Annie, as they got out of the SUV.
They ignored him, racing each other to the house. Ethan came around to Skye’s side and helped her out of the SUV. He took the container from her and set it on the seat.
“What are—” At the feel of his hot, greedy mouth on hers, she forgot what she was going to ask. She curled her fingers in his jacket, holding on when her knees went weak.
“Get a room,” a deep male voice said. Skye opened her eyes to see Sawyer Anderson laughing as he walked by with a stunning brunette on his arm.
Ethan rested his forehead against hers, his breath a rough rasp. “He’s right. We should just skip the party and go home.”
“We can’t. Grace has been planning the part
y for weeks.” Skye grabbed the container of sugar cookies. “Besides, we have all night to make up for lost time.”
“It’s going to take a lot more than one night,” he said, pressing the Lock button on his keys and taking her hand.
She looked up at him. The Christmas lights cast his face in an ethereal glow. There were times, like now, when she looked at him and couldn’t believe this amazing man was her husband. And how close she’d come to losing him. “Good thing we have forever then.”
* * *
An hour later, the party was in full swing. The Flahertys’ house was overflowing with friends and neighbors. In the living room, Skye looked up from where she sat, by the fire with Grace and Maddie, to see Ethan laughing with Gage, Sawyer, and Jack.
“Now that is some serious eye candy,” Maddie said, following her gaze. “I wonder if we could get them to pose for a Christmas calendar. It would sell like hotcakes.”
“Your brain never stops, does it?” Skye laughed, feeling happier than she had in weeks. It was good to be back in Christmas with her friends. Admittedly, her happiness probably had more to do with the man looking at her from across the room. She smiled at her husband who winked and mouthed Fifteen minutes.
“No way,” Maddie said, catching their exchange. “You can’t leave, not until Santa comes. And the kids are expecting you to read the Sugar Plum Cake Fairy story.”
“Sorry, I think I’m a little too big to fit in the costume.”
“Nell altered it,” Grace said with a smile. “But you can just wear the crown if you don’t feel like getting changed. I like your sweater, by the way.”
Skye wore cream corduroy leggings with a lilac sweater. “Thanks, Betty Jean had it made for me. It’s a new type of acrylic that we’re going to use in our sweaters. It looks like cashmere, doesn’t it?”
Maddie rubbed her arm. “Feels like it, too. I’m proud of you, you know. And I’m very glad you’re setting up shop in Christmas. Ethan will be, too. It’ll be great for the local economy.”