LITMIR.BIZ

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David wouldn’t be parents by winter after all.

      With the back of her hand, she dashed away a few tears. Even from the driveway, she could hear the dogs barking in greeting. It was best not to leave Hildie inside when she got excited. Besides, the dogs would pitch a fit when David showed up, and Rachel could do without the clamor. Her temples were throbbing.

      By the time David arrived, she’d ushered the dogs into the yard and poured two glasses of tea. It felt strangely formal and a little surreal, her own husband knocking on the front door. She thought briefly of their first date, the way her pulse had jumped when he’d knocked on the door of her hotel room. She’d told him when he asked her to dinner that she wouldn’t be in town long. Then you should definitely have dinner with me, he’d said, undeterred. It’s a limited-time opportunity. He’d been so good-looking.

      He still was. The difference was that, back then, she’d delighted in being swept off her feet with no thought for what would happen once she landed.

      In the kitchen, she handed him a glass. “Sorry it’s so sweet. I wasn’t expecting you when I brewed it.” David liked his iced tea with barely enough sugar to still call himself a Southerner.

      “Thank you.” He studied her face as if searching for clues. Was he trying to decide if she looked pregnant?

      “Or there might be some soda left in the fridge,” she said nervously.

      “Rach, I didn’t come over for the drink.”

      She gripped the back of a kitchen chair. “I know that. I’m just …”

      “Anxious?” He smiled gently.

      “Petrified. You?” In this candid moment in an acquaintance’s kitchen, Rachel felt closer to him than she had during the past three months in their own house. An unspoken truce sheltered them as they teetered on the edge of discovery.

      “I’m not sure,” he admitted.

      She returned his smile. “David Waide is unsure of something? The David Waide?”

      “Yeah, well, we’ll call that big surprise number two of the morning.” He glanced pointedly at the white plastic grocery bag on the counter.

      She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You know that if it turns out … if it had turned out positive, I never would have kept it from you. There didn’t seem like anything to tell yet. I was still—”

      “I get it.” He set his untouched drink on the table. “So.”

      Right. The moment of truth. “Why don’t you, uh, have a seat, and I’ll be right back?”

      “Okay.” He swallowed. “Rach …”

      She looked back over her shoulder.

      “I don’t know. I feel like I should say something.” He flashed a wan smile. “Good luck?”

      A semihysterical laugh burbled out of her. Once upon a time, the only thing she’d ever worried about before a test was whether her parents would be satisfied with an A, in case she fell short of an A-plus.

      She thoroughly read the instructions, even though she’d done this before. After completing the necessary tasks, she decided to rejoin David. Even with the strain between them, she didn’t want to wait by herself for the next three minutes. He was pacing restlessly, but halted when he saw her. The question burned bright in his eyes.

      “We’re supposed to wait now,” she explained.

      “Oh. How long?”

      She glanced at the clock on the microwave. “Probably two more minutes.”

      “Ah.” He resumed pacing.

      “That’s not helping my nerves,” she said without hostility.

      “Actually, it’s not doing much to calm mine, either.” He stopped in midlap, on the opposite side of the kitchen island from her.

      Winnie’s floor plan was so similar to theirs that Rachel could easily envision her own copper-bottom pots hanging above them, could practically hear the ticking of the cuckoo clock they’d bought during a weekend getaway in Helen, Georgia.

      Finding yourself on a blind date with a first cousin was probably less awkward than this. “How’s the store doing?” she asked.

      “Good. You know we hired Chloe to do a Web site? We’ve already filled our first out-of-state orders.” He sounded understandably proud. The supply store had been in the family for generations, and it was still improving and growing. All the Waides were involved to some extent, even Tanner, who ran an independent bookkeeping business.

      Had David planned on raising their own child to take a hand in the business?

      She considered the hypothetical. If it were up to her, she’d encourage the kid to go see more of the world before deciding to settle here. Mistletoe was a lovely community but insulated. Set in its ways. If you didn’t already have an idea of who you were and what you wanted, you might not figure it out here. Instead, you fell into a role other people defined for you. David had put in a good word for her and she’d easily snagged the job with May before their wedding, but she’d never intended to be there five years later. First enjoying the reduced workload and life as a newlywed, later focused on trying to start a family, she’d let her career aspirations fall away. Now there was a distinctly empty place in her life.

      She’d made major decisions at a time when she was upset about her father’s health and uncertain about her own future—moving here, abandoning her career … marrying David. The result was that she’d leaned too much on him and the people she’d met in Mistletoe, too much on their hopes of having a baby. David had seemed to her as chivalrous as a medieval knight rescuing a damsel in distress. He wasn’t to blame for her realization that she didn’t want to be that damsel. He showed his love by coddling, and she was tired of being smothered. He expressed affection by anticipating her needs, and she was tired of someone making decisions for her. Whenever she’d gently tried to protest, he’d been confused and she’d felt ungrateful. Wouldn’t he be better off with someone who fully appreciated his gallantry?

      David cleared his throat. “It’s been two minutes. Do you want me to wait here?” There was that underlying uncertainty in his voice again; it touched her in a way his overbearing confidence never could.

      “Why don’t you come with me?” she offered.

      Together, they padded silently down the hall. Outside the bathroom, David reached for her hand. She didn’t pull away.

      But she did jerk to a stop inches shy of the threshold. “I can’t look. You do it.”

      “You sure?”

      She just couldn’t. Given the timing, it would probably be for the best if she weren’t pregnant, but emotionally, she couldn’t face another negative response. “I’m sure. It’s sitting next to the sink.”

      Closing her eyes, she waited an interminable heartbeat of time, heard him suck in his breath.

      “Oh my God.” His words were a reverent whisper.

      “You’re kidding!” She knew he’d never joke about this. Still, maybe he’d misread the test, or … “Let me see.”

      He moved aside, letting out an earsplitting whoop even as she viewed the proof for herself. “We’re pregnant!”

      Her knees trembled at the sight of the pink plus sign. I’m pregnant?

      I’m pregnant! She was carrying David’s baby. Tears welled in her eyes. Before she could classify them as happy crying or something more bittersweet, David pulled her into his strong arms.

      And kissed her.

      It caught Rachel totally off guard since she’d anticipated a hug of support or mutual joy. But he lowered his dark head, his intent registering a fraction of a second before his

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