Page 86 of Her Christmas Wish

It was a bombshell she needed to work through before it became anything.

If it ever became anything.

With her time with Scott at the park that morning, and then the zoo during the afternoon and evening, Leigh practically slept through her bath, and was out before Sage had a chance to grab a book and sit down to read a good-night story. As Leigh called them.

Sage’s heart filled to the brim, spilling over into a few tears, as she leaned down, kissed the little girl’s cheek and pulled her covers up to her chin.

After turning on the baby monitor, and the night-light, she closed the door behind her.

Got herself a wine cooler from the top shelf of the refrigerator—the one Leigh couldn’t reach—and thought about pulling the phone out of the pocket of her jeans.

She made a trip to the bathroom instead.

The bleeding that had purported the end to any pregnancy possibilities hadn’t gone past the light flow that signified the beginning of her cycle. By the time Scott had brought Leigh home, it had stopped completely.

She’d left the office to buy the test earlier in the week. Had hidden it at the top of the linen closet in the bathroom.

And as she sat and watched lines on a piece of disposable paraphernalia, her life spun on a dime once again.

She sat there...stunned. Heart pounding.

Phone firmly in her pocket. Never coming out again.

And heard a knock on her sliding glass door.

Scott.She hadn’t called to let him know she was back.

Didn’t dawn on her until she was already in the kitchen, staring at the visitor on the other side of the door, that her brother would have just called her. If he hadn’t seen her car in her spot, or lights on in her cottage...

Her heart rate, already accelerated, went into high speed, and she trembled as she pulled open the door.

Funny how fate had brought the man there right as her weaker self had been hoping to never see him again.

She slid open the door. Thinking she had to tell him what she’d just done. Overridden with anxiety as she contemplated the task.

His “Don’t you ever answer your phone anymore?” gave her a shove back into reality. “Or return calls?”

Gray...at her door? He never...

“What’s wrong?” she asked, feeling ashen, weak as she stared. “Is it Scott?”

He shook his head. Stood on the porch, leaning on the hand he had shoved up against the outside of her cottage. “Nothing’s wrong,” he said, more quietly. “I apologize for the drama.”

That was new. Gray with drama. She’d thought he was there with urgent news.

And if he wasn’t...

She needed to sit down. Went for the wine cooler she’d left on the kitchen counter. And turned before she got there.

For a few reasons. Most prominent, in that moment, was the no drinking with Gray rule she’d given herself after the disaster her libating had caused two weeks before.

Grabbing the baby monitor off the counter instead, she headed back to the door, and motioning Gray to back up, stepped outside with him.

Sat in her chair, pulling her feet up to her butt, as though she hadn’t a care in the world.

He’d come with a purpose.

Something must have gone very wrong at one of the sites. Which explained his current upset.