A Firehouse Christmas Baby

by Teri Wilson

  Listen to me. The three of us belong together. I know we do.

  Those were the words he’d said, and as dreamy and wonderful as that belief seemed, Felicity couldn’t help wondering what might happen if one of them went missing from that equation. He loved that baby down to the deepest part of his soul. She’d seen it in his eyes the moment he’d seen her holding Nick in her arms outside the firehouse. Even before that, she’d known he’d fallen in love with the child everyone in town was celebrating with casseroles and pizza parties. His reluctance to talk about delivering Nick spoke volumes. Some things were just too personal and precious to talk about out loud. Felicity knew that better than anyone.

  She wanted to believe that was why he’d never told her he loved her. Because of all the wonderful things he’d said two night ago, he’d never uttered the three little words that might have convinced her that the beautiful future he described could actually be their destiny. I love you. Maybe if he’d said it, she wouldn’t be standing in the middle of a snowstorm with her face pressed against the window of the Bean, hoping against hope that Brad Walker would be a no-show.

  He wasn’t, of course. He was sitting right there, in the same booth where they’d had coffee a few days ago—right where Wade had interrupted them and dripped all over the floor while he’d stood there hulking over them like a wrench-wielding caveman.

  He’d been jealous. Of course he had. He’d nearly kissed her in the middle of the Bean, while the entire town had watched. And Felicity hadn’t cared a bit, because she’d thought it had meant something. Maybe it had. The handbag certainly made her see things in a whole new light.

  Her breath clouded the window just as Brad glanced at his watch. She was already late by at least ten minutes. It was now or never. Felicity turned around, pressed her back to the window, closed her eyes and counted to ten. After ten steady breaths in and out, she’d go inside. Breathing always calmed her down. Thank you, yoga.

  1, 2...

  Was it crazy that what she wished for most of all in this moment was for some sort of Christmas magic to intervene and show her what to do? Probably, but she wished for it all the same.

  3, 4, 5...

  Seriously, where was Santa or Rudolph or Clarence the angel from It’s a Wonderful Life when someone really needed them?

  6, 7, 8...

  She’d even welcome Bumble, that silly abominable snowman character from that super old, vintage reindeer movie at this point. Anyone, really.

  9...

  Was this what it felt like to lose her mind? It had to be.

  10.

  Her eyes fluttered open, and a stab of disappointment pierced her soul. Of course she hadn’t magically conjured a Christmas character to save her from herself. It was just her on the sidewalk, all alone. She might as well get used to it.

  She straightened, squared her shoulders and turned toward the entrance to the Bean. It was time to quit stalling and make a decision. But just as she grabbed the door handle, she spied something strange through the whirl of snowflakes clouding her vision. Something big and bulky and white. Something that looked an awful lot like...

  “Bumble?” Felicity blinked. Hard.

  No way was she seeing a ridiculous abominable snowman from a stop-motion animation film made before she was born. It just wasn’t possible. Her knees went a little weak as she narrowed her gaze, studying the snowy form as it bent over something on the sidewalk. She spied a flash of silver—a shovel, maybe? And in an instant, the snow monster dug away the mound on the sidewalk until something familiar appeared beneath the layer of frosty white.

  A fire hydrant.

  Felicity gasped, and her mind went completely blank. She forgot all about Brad Walker waiting for her inside the Bean. She forgot about his paperwork, her dwindling savings account and her struggling yoga studio. She even forgot about Duchess the dog’s literal appetite for fine fashion. The bulky white figure just up ahead wasn’t a snow monster—of course it wasn’t. It was a firefighter, braving a Vermont snowstorm to make sure the fire hydrants didn’t get buried. Safety first!

  Wade.

  Felicity’s breath seemed to bottle up in her chest, along with all of her hopes and dreams. It was him. It had to be, and seeing him here, now, when she needed him most, was all the Christmas magic she needed.

  The world around her felt like it was moving in slow motion as she let go of the doorknob to the Bean and started running down the sidewalk. Someone yelled for her to be careful as her ballet flats slid on a patch of ice. Felicity didn’t know who, and for once she didn’t care who was watching. Let all of Lovestruck talk. She was tired of denying the truth and lying to everyone in town. Most of all, she was tired of lying to herself. She wanted to be with Wade, for real. For real and maybe even forever.

  As she drew closer, the firefighter’s uniform slowly began to take shape, barely visible through its heavy layer of snow—the heavy black coat and pants, the yellow reflective stripes around the wrists and ankles of the turnout gear, the helmet pulled down low over his eyes. Eyes that had seen her when no one else had. Eyes that knew her like no one in else in the world.

  He was scraping the ground around the fireplug with his long-handled shovel and glanced up just as she reached him. And when she got her first clear look at him, her legs nearly buckled beneath her from sheer relief. Everything went liquid, like a watercolor painting of a heartwarming Christmas scene as tears swam in her eyes. She’d known it was him! She’d know that beautiful, heroic man anywhere.

  “Felicity?” Wade’s eyes glittered with a breathtaking combination of wonder and happiness. He seemed as surprised to find her there as she’d been to spot him there on Main Street.

  He was absolutely covered in snow. No wonder she’d mistaken him for Bumble.

  “You must be freezing,” she said, teeth chattering.

  “I’m fine.” He dropped his shovel and ran his hands up and down her arms. “But you’re shaking from head to toe. What are you doing out in this mess? Is Nick okay?”

  “Nick is fine. He’s great, actually. He’s at Alice’s, being doted on by her new mothers class. I was on my way to the Bean, but then I saw you out here, and...”

  Her hands found their way to his chest, and before she knew what was happening, she’d wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer and closer...craving his warmth, his charm, his hope. And when his heartbeat crashed against hers, she thought she might just be able to believe the promise he’d tried to make two nights ago.

  It’s all going to be okay. I promise.

  She smiled up at him. “You didn’t tell me the handbag belonged to your mother.”

  His big palms slid up to cup her face, and he brushed the snow flurries from her cheek with a gentle swipe of his thumb. “There’s something I should have told you, too, something more important than a pink handbag.”

  “Says the man who’d never heard of a Birkin until a few days ago,” she said as hope—hope so huge it felt impossible—blossomed inside her.

  “I’m in love with you, sweetheart. I should have told you—”

  She cut him off by rising up on tiptoe and pressing her lips to his. It didn’t matter what either of them should have said or what they should have done. The past was the past, and if Wade was going to be her Christmas future, it was time to leave the past behind. All of it. What mattered most was the here and now, and she wasn’t going to let another second go by without kissing Wade Ericson.

  His mouth was frosty cold from being out in the snowstorm, but as she opened for him and their kiss grew deeper, she was swept up in a lovely wave of crackling heat, like a bonfire shining on a hillside on a cold winter’s night. Wade was warmth and comfort, love and longing. He was everything she’d always wanted, but never imagined she’d find. And maybe, just maybe, he was hers.

  Her head spun so fiercely that she had to pull back for a
second and catch her breath, and when she did, Wade pressed his forehead against hers and grinned at her with that flirty, lopsided grin she’d loved right from the very start. Had she really thought she could stick to their no-romance rule? What a fool she’d been.

  “Felicity Hart, did you just kiss me on Main Street, for all the world to see?” Wade’s hand slid back to cradle her neck, and he pressed a tender, innocent kiss to the corner of her mouth.

  “I think I did,” she murmured.

  “People will talk, you know.” He brushed his lips slowly, reverently, over hers and pressed another gentle kiss to the opposite side of her mouth.

  What was he doing? She was going to melt right at the feet of his snow-covered boots.

  Happiness sparkled inside her, as dazzling as new fallen snow. “Let them. After all, we already have a baby together.”

  The crinkles near the corners of Wade’s eyes vanished, and his eyes turned serious. “Do we?”

  He was asking her again. He was asking her to place her trust in him—to trust in them and the future they could build together with Nick.

  She still wasn’t absolutely sure she could do it. But as long as Wade loved her, she was willing to try. She had to.

  “We do.” She nodded.

  Then Wade let out a whoop as he swept her clear off her feet and spun her around and around. Felicity tipped her head back, closed her eyes and laughed. She was giving him what he wanted most of all—the best Christmas gift either of them could have asked for. And in that snow-swept moment of pure and perfect bliss, Felicity believed.

  She believed in Christmas magic. She believed in new beginnings. She believed in love.

  Chapter Fifteen

  They needed to celebrate. Wade was adamant, and even though Felicity never would have ordinarily agreed to celebrate something that wasn’t yet official, she couldn’t help but acquiesce. His joy was infectious, and even though there was a a tiny voice whispering somewhere in the back of her head that things could still go sideways, she decided to ignore it. Happiness was a choice, after all—a choice she was willing to make, so long as Wade was by her side.

  He had enough hope for the both of them. That’s what he told her again and again when he finally set her back down on the ground and kissed her until she saw stars.

  “You just wait, sweetheart,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m going to sweep you off your feet.”

  She laughed. “I think you just did that.”

  “I mean it. Tonight we’re going on our first real date. Prepare to be romanced.” He took her hand and spun her around like a ballerina. She felt airy and light, like she was part of the “Waltz of the Snowflakes” in The Nutcracker.

  Felicity laughed as he drew her back into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “We have a baby, remember? We can’t go anywhere.”

  “That’s right. We do, don’t we?” He flashed her a wink. “Pizza and champagne by the Christmas tree, then?”

  Felicity had never heard of anything so romantic. She might even have to break down and make him a casserole tomorrow. “I can get on board with that kind of picnic.”

  “Excellent.” He scooped his shovel up off the ground and used it to motion across the street, where Jack stood waving at them. “I should probably get back to work so I don’t leave Jack on his own, like the last time I wanted to kiss you silly.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll pick up Nick from the yarn shop and get things ready at home.” Home. That word had never sounded quite so wonderful.

  He winked at her. “See you tonight, sweetheart.”

  Her heart did a little flip-flop. “It’s a date.”

  * * *

  As Felicity expected, Alice’s crochet class had fallen completely in love with Nick. The new moms had taken turns holding him, and there were even a pair of brand-new knitted baby bootees on his feet when Felicity darted back inside the yarn shop. They were bright red with fuzzy white trim, like tiny little Santa boots. No one would tell her who’d made them, but Felicity’s bets were on Alice.

  Even Toby the dog had become a fast friend, and every time the slender, hairless little pup pranced into view in his fancy snowflake sweater, Nick would let out a gleeful stream of babble. She and Wade were going to have to get him his own puppy someday, weren’t they? Maybe a goofy, affectionate retriever mix, so long as Duchess didn’t mind. If they were going to be a family, they might as well really do it right. What went better with a white picket fence than a boy and his puppy?

  Slow down, she told herself, pressing a hand to her abdomen. Just breathe.

  But everything was suddenly happening so fast. Wade was in love with her, and whenever she was around him, he had a way of truly making her feel like everything would be all right. She just had to hold on to that feeling as hard as she could and let him carry all her doubts and fears on his broad, beautiful shoulders. It was all going to be just fine. Wade and Nick were her Christmas miracle—she could feel it.

  “Thanks so much for watching him for a little while.” Felicity scooped Nick into her arms while he kicked his tiny feet, Santa bootees moving in a happy little blur.

  “Oh, please. It was only a matter of minutes. I’d be happy to watch him anytime,” Alice said as she walked Felicity to the door of the yarn shop. “In fact, I’ve been wanting to talk to you about that very thing.”

  “You’ve been wanting to talk to me about babysitting?”

  “I couldn’t help noticing that the firefighter and knitting club yoga class seems to be the only time that Nama-Stay Awhile is full.” Alice’s kind face curved into a sympathetic smile. “I hope you don’t mind my mentioning it.”

  “Oh.” Felicity shook her head. For a few blissful minutes, she’d forgotten all about her yoga studio. And her checkbook. And Brad Walker, whom she’d just stood up for their meeting at the Bean. “Um, it’s fine. Believe me, I’ve noticed it myself.”

  “Well, I was thinking that what you really need over there is a nursery.”

  Felicity blinked. “A nursery?”

  “For babies and small children. I just know some of the moms in town would come try a class if they could bring their little ones along.” Alice’s gaze darted meaningfully to the group of new moms seated around the craft table in the center of the yarn shop.

  “Alice, you’re a genius.” The sidewalks of Lovestruck were crammed with women in Lululemon leggings pushing baby strollers every morning. Why on earth hadn’t Felicity thought of such an idea herself? Oh, right. Probably because I was too busy trying to hide from those same moms and their precious children. “I’ll need to get some partitions to section off part of the studio to be a nursery area. Baby gates, maybe? And I’ll need some toys, too. A few rocking chairs...”

  It was a lot, but doable. Her savings would be down to zero once she made the necessary changes, but she had a feeling it just might work, apart from one significant detail.

  “I’ll just need to figure out where to find a few babysitters,” Felicity said, running her hand in gentle circles over Nick’s slender back.

  The few times she and Wade had left the baby with anyone else, Alice or Madison and Jack had watched him. Felicity wasn’t sure she’d trust anyone else with him quite yet.

  “That’s the best part.” Alice beamed.

  Felicity felt herself smile. “You don’t mean...”

  “Me!” Alice held her arms open wide. As if on cue, Toby scrambled off his dog bed by the register and came trotting toward them to dance and woof at their feet.

  Felicity couldn’t help but laugh. No one could ask for a better babysitter. It would be like having Mrs. Claus herself run the nursery. The Lovestruck moms would line up around the block to sign up for class.

  “Are you sure you truly want to add part-time babysitter to your list of responsibilities? I’m not sure I could ask you to take that on. It’s sure to be a
lot of work.”

  Alice waved a hand. “Don’t be silly. I’d love it. And I don’t plan on doing it alone. I just know the knitting club ladies would love it. We could take turns and do it in pairs. Some of those women live alone, you know. Ethel’s grandchildren live down in Texas, and Berta just lost her husband last year. You’d be doing them a favor, honestly. They need you as much as you need them.”

  Felicity’s eyes welled up again. How many times was she going to cry today? “I haven’t thought of things that way before.”

  She’d tried so, so hard to keep to herself since moving to Vermont. She’d imagined a calm, quiet life of yoga, covered bridges, fresh maple syrup and really great cheese. But as lovely as it seemed, every time she’d imagined such a life, she’d pictured herself alone. Safe. Content...if not quite happy.

  But no matter how hard she tried, Lovestruck kept working its magic. Slowly but surely the town and its people were making their way into her heart.

  “That’s just how Lovestruck works. It always has, and it always will. We help each other.” Alice reached for one of Nick’s tiny feet and gave it a tender squeeze. “Think about it, and let me know. We’re here for you, dear. All of us.”

  Felicity nodded, blinking back tears. She wanted to say thank you, but she didn’t quite trust herself to speak. And as she made her way back to Wade’s cottage, she couldn’t help feeling that Christmas had come just a few days early. One by one, all her Christmas wishes were coming true.

  Even the wishes she’d tried her best to keep locked away deep inside her heart, too precious and perfect to hope for.

  * * *

  Wade paused at the gate of the white picket fence in front of his cottage, lingering for a moment before opening it and making his way up the final few steps to the porch. The yard was heaped with snow, and a ribbon of smoke curled up from the chimney. Frosted windows glowed gold in the darkness, and beyond the sparkling silhouette of the Christmas tree, he could see stockings hanging from the mantle of the fireplace in a tidy little row—four of them, arranged from biggest to smallest. Wade, Felicity, Nick and, lastly, a tiny stocking for Duchess, decorated with a white felt paw print.