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“I thought so, too,” Nessa agreed, and there were tears in her eyes. “She has David’s coloring though.” Her voice cracked a little.
Calen felt a punch of grief for a man he’d never known. A man who would never see his child. And that was no doubt the reason for some of those tears Nessa was fighting. She won the fight, maybe because despite her loss, Nessa knew she still had so much, and thatso muchwas nestled in her arms.
“Now, I just have to come up with a name,” Nessa added. “Something Christmassy. Holly, maybe. Or Noel.”
“Or Eve for Christmas Eve,” Emmy supplied, causing Nessa to both smile and tear up again. “Do you need us to call anyone or get anything for you?”
“I’ll make some calls in the morning, but I might need someone to go to my house and get my suitcase. No hurry on that though since we won’t be going home from the hospital for three days. I can get my boss or one of my friends to bring it.”
Now, this was something Calen could do to help. “I’ve got a four-wheel drive so I can get your keys from you in the morning and drive out then. It’s still snowing, but it’s supposed to stop in a couple of hours.”
Christmas Creek only had one snowplow, which was more than most small central Texas towns had, and the snowplow operator, Elbert Sherman, would be out and about at sunrise. Still, the roads probably wouldn’t be that bad since they were only expecting two inches.
At the mention of the weather, Nessa perked right up again. “Oh, I don’t want to miss seeing the snow. Maybe when they’re done with the tests and such, I’ll be moved to a regular room with a window.”
Calen didn’t mention that it probably hadn’t been a wise thing for her to come to Christmas Creek to see that snow, not when she’d been so close to delivering. But all had worked out, and while this hadn’t been Nessa’s original plan, he was glad to have a chance to spend a little time with the baby and her.
When Nessa yawned, it was their signal to leave so she could get some rest. “Whatever you decide to name her, she’s beautiful,” he murmured to Nessa and brushed a kiss on her forehead.
Emmy did the same to both Nessa and the baby, and they started out, just as a nurse came in. No doubt to do those tests the doctor had mentioned. Calen gave his sister one last glance before Emmy and he left.
“Uncle Calen,” Emmy remarked as they made their way down the hall. “Wow, a lot of changes in the past forty-eight hours.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. When those changes had started, Calen had thought they would bring only gloom and doom, but things had shifted.
“We blew right past the one-year anniversary of the cheaters,” Emmy went on, and they stopped at the ER doors to put on their coats. “I’d steeled myself for a bad one.”
So had he, but despite their earlier run-in with Owen, the cheaters were no longer on his radar. He probably wouldn’t extend an olive branch to Sasha and Owen, but in a weird kind of way, they’d done him a favor. If the engagements and weddings had gone on, he wouldn’t be having this moment now with Emmy.
And it was indeed a moment.
With Emmy warm, smiling, and snuggled against him, they stepped out into the soft snow and the quiet. Everything, including his truck, was white and sparkling, thanks to the streetlights and those lights coiled around the lampposts. Not ordinary lights because this was Christmas Creek, but twinkling holiday ones.
He had to admit it looked magical, and Calen totally got why Nessa hadn’t wanted to miss this.
“Wow,” Emmy muttered. She stopped outside his truck, looked up and let the snowflakes drift onto her face.
Another moment.
Calen had always known she was beautiful, but that beauty skyrocketed tonight because it had been a long time since he’d seen her this happy. There were no shadows from the crap year they’d had. No worried looks about, well, anything. This was just Emmy looking way too good not to kiss.
So, that’s what he did.
There were snowflakes on her lips, but her mouth wasn’t cold. It was soft and warm, and it felt like a Texas-sized invitation for him to take more. He went with that, too. Deepening the kiss, pulling her even closer to him and sinking in. He’d already had one hell of an amazing night, but it just kept on getting better.
He didn’t stop the kiss until oxygen became an issue, and when he eased back so they could take a breath, Emmy was sporting a dreamy smile. And looking at him as if she might give up breathing for another kiss. Calen was right there with her.
“It’ll take me about five minutes to get to your house,” he said, hoping that Emmy took his statement for the invitation it was.
She did. Her smile widened, and Emmy caught onto the front of his shirt to get him moving into the truck.
* * *
Finally!
That was the thought running through Emmy’s head as Calen and she kissed their way to her front porch. Calen certainly wasn’t holding back, but she worried that he might come to his senses and reconsider this.
Emmy didn’t want any reconsidering. She only wanted Calen.
