Fire and Ice
Page 17
She had barely made it back to Atlanta in time for their celebration. For the past six months, she and Pam had been traveling between Atlanta and Seattle. Wanda was now the manager of their new office in Seattle. Her sister, Carmen, had recovered fully from pneumonia. Holly, Pam, and Wanda worked hard to make their new business a success. This trip would be Holly's last for a while.
The four-carat diamond pendant that he'd given her draped around her neck and lay on his chest, creating another bond between them. Holly leisurely traced the path of the chain across Mike's warm flesh.
"Mike?"
"Uhm?"
"I didn't give you your anniversary gift." Holly arranged the warm chain around his nipple.
"I thought you gave me my gift earlier." His voice was husky with sleep.
"No." She kissed him again before she sat up. She opened a drawer in the night stand and removed a gaily wrapped box. "This is your gift."
Mike opened his eyes. He looked at the gift, then at his wife. "You didn't have to get me anything. Being married to you is like receiving a gift every day."
Holly felt as if her heart were overflowing with love for him. She swallowed back the tears that threatened to fall. She was too happy to be bothered with tears. She watched as Mike unwrapped the box and lifted the small, silver rattle. He raised his gaze to Holly. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Yes. You've got eight months of practice before our child arrives."
A few weeks later, Mike silently prayed as he sat in the waiting-room of Holly's doctor's office. Her doctor had advised Holly to have an ultrasound.
"Mr. Williams." The nurse that had taken Holly into the office motioned for Mike to follow her. "The doctor wants to see you."
"Is there anything wrong?" he asked nervously.
She smiled at him, "Nothing's wrong. Come inside."
Holly lay on an examination table. Tears flowed down her cheeks when she saw him. She smiled and held out her hand.
"Come and look, Mike," she said, her voice husky from emotion.
Mike went to her side.
"Have you ever seen an ultrasound, Mr. Williams?" Holly's doctor asked.
"No," Mike said, looking at the black and white screen.
"Let me show you your children," the doctor said with amusement.
Mike looked at the doctor, then at Holly, and said in astonishment, "Children?"
"Yes, children. See." The doctor pointed to the screen. "Here's the first, there's the second, and the third."
Mike stared at the screen. "Triplets," he said.
"Triplets," Holly answered.
"Your wife tells me that there is a history of triplets on her father's side of the family."
Holly nodded when Mike looked at her. "Grandma Nola is a triplet."
"Triplets," Mike muttered in shock.
Seven months later, Mike sat in a chair next to the hospital bed where his wife lay, safe and healthy. Yesterday, he hadn't believed that she would survive giving birth to his sons. Hell, he didn't know if he would survive watching her go through labor. But Holly showed more strength than he'd ever seen in anyone.
"This is it, Mike." Holly turned up the volume of the television.
"Holly Williams, wife of late-night talk show host, Mike Williams, gave birth last night in Atlanta. The couple express mailed IE the birth announcements." The leggy blonde smiled into the camera and held up the card. "It reads:
* * *
'MICHAEL AND HOLLY WILLIAMS
ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE
THE BIRTH OF THEIR SONS,
CHRISTOPHER DAVID WILLIAMS,
DOUGLAS STEPHEN WILLIAMS,
EDWARD ROBERT WILLIAMS.
THEY ARRIVED AT 2:00 A.M.,
2:05 A.M., AND 2:10 A.M.
RESPECTIVELY, MAY 16.
MOTHER AND BABIES ARE FINE
FATHER IS STILL IN SHOCK.'
Thank You!
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Also by Carla Fredd
Fire and Ice
If Only You Knew
The Perfect Man
About the Author
Carla Fredd is a Southern girl and tries her best to avoid locations where the local weather forecasters use words like snow, sleet and freezing. She never considered becoming a writer while going to college to become an engineer. Instead, she devoured romance novels between calculus classes. Years later, she tried her hand at writing romances and learned she loved it.
In her spare time, Carla can be found reading or buying books, buying way too much yarn, playing on her computers, eating a lot of chocolate, collecting more office supplies than she really needs, sitting at her sewing machines and drooling over jewelry that costs more than her car.
To date, Carla has written three books and one novella. Her first book, Fire and Ice, was made into a television movie. Carla currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia where she is working on her next project.
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