Page 92 of Her Christmas Wish

And life quickly bottled them.

The oddest part, concerning her brother, was that he didn’t ask if she was okay.

That one she didn’t get.

But didn’t push, either.

She didn’t have an answer to give if he’d asked. She had no idea how she was. Except a mass of emotional confusion. A living, walking dichotomy.

There was so much to do. Thanksgiving on the beach was an easy thing, but Christmas! The lights. Shopping. Gray’s cottage down the road.

Gray’swe need to talkrang in her ears with every step she took. The phrase generally didn’t bode well in relationship-world. But he was right. They did need to have a serious discussion as soon as possible.

She had Leigh to consider. What to tell the little girl. When to tell her.

After she’d been to the doctor, for sure. Had a blood test that would definitively tell her that she was carrying Gray’s child...

Which, with the timing of everything, would happen mid-December. Before Christmas. A family holiday.

As the thought struck, she texted Gray with the time to meet.

An hour after she dropped Leigh off at Scott’s.

No point in putting either of them through what was inevitably going to be a difficult conversation until she knew conclusively that there was a topic for the talk.

Dressed in black jeggings, a white button-down, form-fitting shirt and tennis shoes, Sage went to a twenty-four-hour clinic, got pricked, waited on the results and parked her car behind her own cottage. From there she walked the road to Gray’s new cottage.

Just the thought, Gray’s home...a small thrill went through her as she looked at the old place. She’d seen it a hundred times or more. It had just been dilapidated and sorry-looking.

That Sunday morning, it seemed to glow with possibility.

No matter what the outcome of the upcoming communication, Gray had found something powerful enough on Ocean Breeze to want to settle there.

Even before she’d dropped her bombshell.

He was waiting for her inside. Opened the door to her knock dressed in another pair of his cotton pants—dark ones, with a dark striped shirt with the tails hanging out. He still hadn’t shaved. His hair was mussed and kind of frizzy on the ends like it got right after he dried it.

None of which mattered.

“I just came from the clinic,” she said, as though he’d know which one. The one didn’t matter. She handed him the results.

“You are.”

“Yes.”

That signature nod of his...felt good. In its normalness. Lord knew absolutely nothing else about the moment had a hint of ordinary to it.

Years before, she used to dream about the moment when she’d tell Gray she was expecting their first child.

Never, in any scenario, had she been having her second child at the time. Or not been married to him.

Part of her swelled with excitement as reality set in. But a smaller part. More, she was ravaged for him. And anxious about her own future, too. She’d be fine. She knew that. Just...getting from her current moment to the fine part. There was so much to get through.

Telling her brother. Leigh. Carrying a baby. Keeping it healthy. Having one.

But toughest of all was right there in front of her. Ready to start.

She saw Gray’s look of determination as she stepped into the dusty and otherwise clean front room. Noticed the drywall peeling off walls. A hole in the ceiling with an exposed beam.