Love Promises (Sully Point, Book 4) (21 page)

"Cute?"

"Cute."

They finished dressing somehow, in between
tickling each other. Eric looked extra delicious she thought, dressed all in
black, hair pulled back to show off that face and those eyes. When they got to
the church, he had to leave her to be with the choir. She found Sam and Anna carrying
a sleeping Joshua, wearing pajamas with feet. Sam gave her a huge hug and
whispered, "You're happy?"

"Yes, very."

"Okay."

"I guess Mom and Dad won't make it in until
tomorrow," she said to him. He winked and said, "You never
know."

And just before everyone settled into their seats,
she saw her mother and father walking down the aisle to sit beside her. She
hugged them both tightly with tears in her eyes. Her world felt complete now.

After a prayer and short sermon, the rest of the
service was given to the choir. They were good, and Maggie enjoyed seeing Eric
up there with them. Then she saw him walk out in front of them and sit on a
high stool, carrying his guitar. What was he up to?

He began to sing, "What child is this, who
lay to rest, on Mary's lap is sleeping..." and she stared with her mouth
open in surprise.

Her mother whispered to her, "Is that
him?"

She nodded.

Her mother said, "Wow."

Eric performed the old
Greensleeves
tune
beautifully, his voice so sure and right for the song, with the choir as back
up on the chorus. Everyone spontaneously applauded when he was done. It had
been the final song of the performance, and Eric walked toward her, having to
stop to shake people's hands.

At last he was by her side. "Mom, Dad, this
is Eric Stanton. Eric this is my mother and my father."

"Finally, we get a chance to meet you. That
was an absolutely lovely rendition of the song at the end there. You have an
outstanding voice. You can call me Sophia." her mother said.

"Call me Ed. Nice to meet you," her
father said, shaking Eric's hand.

"I'm very pleased to meet both of you,"
he said.

"Come on, Mom and Dad, follow us out to the
beach house," Sam said, as he came up to them.

"We wanted to talk to Eric," Sophia
said.

"Tomorrow. You guys have to be exhausted
after that trip. You and Eric are coming over in the morning, right?"

Eric nodded and Maggie said, "Yes. We've got
gifts to bring so we'll get there early."

"Probably not before Joshua wakes us
up," Anna said, bringing Josh to give to her husband.

"Okay, we'll go. See you guys tomorrow,"
Ed said.

Maggie and Eric watched them leave and slowly
walked to the coat room to get his guitar case and coat. "That was over so
fast, I didn't have time to be nervous," Eric said.

"You were wonderful, that song, it was
perfect," she said. "And you don't have to be nervous around my
parents." At least, not since she had reassured her mother over the phone that
Eric wanted the baby.

Once they were home, sitting with hot chocolate in
the kitchen, he said, "Can I ask you something without you getting mad at
me?"

"That isn't the best way to start, but okay,
ask."

"Is it weird, or strange feeling, to know you
have an actual human, a life form growing inside you?"

"Well, it wasn't until you put it that
way!"

He looked horrified, until she laughed.
"Sorry, but your face. I already had that thought yesterday. I realized I
was carrying around this other entity, another living being inside of me that
would grow and grow and grow--and I had a science fiction
I'm-carrying-an-alien-inside-me moment for sure. The idea is a little strange
to me now, but I think once I can feel it move around and it gets really big,
that's when it will be really weird. But don't tell anyone I compared our baby
to an alien. That's not the kind of thing that should be spread around."

He was spluttering between laughs.
"An--alien--our baby--"

"I guess it will take some time for me to get used to the whole idea," she muttered. "And yeah, I can see how my being on your case about the words you used in the beginning was a bit off."

"What's the plan for tomorrow?" he
asked, once he'd stopped laughing.

"We should get to bed now, because we need to
be at Sam and Anna's first thing. Open presents there. Then in the afternoon, I
thought we could drop off presents to the rest of the family. We end up at
Holly and Jason's house for Christmas dinner with everybody."

"What about the two of us? When do we exchange
gifts?"

"You know, I didn't even think of that. Hmm.
What would you say to right now?"

His eyes lit up as he smiled at her. "I'd say
let's do it."

They headed in different directions to get their
gifts out, meeting up in the living room. They sat on the sofa together and she
handed him a small box. He unwrapped it eagerly, to find the silver ring for
his hair. He examined the engraving closely, then turned to her and hugged her
fiercely.

"I love it. I was seriously thinking of
cutting my hair, but I think now I'll leave it alone."

"You'd better not cut it! I love your
hair."

"Your turn. Open this one."

She tore the paper off the outside of a
velvet-covered box. Inside were the diamond and amethyst earrings. "Oh,
Eric, they're beautiful. I'm putting them on right now."

She did and jumped up to look in the mirror.
"They are just the right size for my face."

He came up behind her and looked in the mirror
with her. "I knew those diamonds would twinkle in the light just like your
eyes do."

"Wait. These are diamonds?" she squeaked
in a high voice.

"Of course. I wanted something that would
sparkle like you sparkle. And the amethyst is just the right shade to match
your eyes."

"I'll be afraid to wear them...on the other
hand, Mom always said jewelry was meant to be worn, not looked at in a
box."

"You'd better wear them--that's why I got
them, so I could see them on you."

She turned to kiss him. "Thank you, I love
them."

They returned to the sofa and she handed him
another gift. He unwrapped the decoupage box and sat staring at it, turning it
slowly to see the different photos. "These are all of you?"

"Yes," she said quietly, hoping he liked
it.

"Maggie, darling, you couldn't have given me
a better present. I love this, it's perfect." He opened the box to see the
inside which was covered in black velvet. "I can use this to store the
rings and clips for my hair, or even for picks for my guitar. But the best part
is seeing these pictures of you from childhood to now. I wish I could have made
you something with my own hands as well. Knowing you did, makes it even more
special."

"Good. I'm glad you like it. I wasn't
sure."

"It's great. I have one more present for you
too, but I don't want you to freak out about it."

"That sounds ominous. I'm sure you didn't buy
me a building again. What did you buy?"

"Here." He handed a business card to
her. It said 'Joe Bonaparte - Luxury Cars' and a phone number and address.

"You bought me a car? I like my old car. How
could you buy me a--"

"Hold on now, and listen to me. I didn't buy
you a car. I gave a down payment along with a guarantee to Joe that I would pay
whatever was needed for the car you chose. I knew better than to pick out a car
for you. I know you'll want to choose for yourself. Joe is the guy Sam bought
cars from before and he recommended him."

"But I don't need a new car, Eric," she
said, beginning to feel aggravated.

"You do need one. Maggie, you're pregnant.
You need to drive a safe, really safe, car. And before you know it, you'll be
driving a baby around in a special baby seat in the car. Do you really trust
your old beat-up car with our little alien?"

She let out a short laugh. "You're right,
you're right. I wasn't thinking. Of course we need the safest car possible. I
guess I won't be picking out any sports cars then."

"The only condition I put on Joe was that he
show you the highest safety-rated cars available. Whatever he doesn't have, he
can get. You'll accept the gift then?"

"Absolutely. Thank you for thinking of it.
Although, a decoupage box doesn't really compare to diamonds and a car."

"Ah, but you're giving me the best gift
possible. Our baby." He kissed her gently, while tears made their way down
her face. He really was getting better at knowing the right thing to say.

Chapter 8

Christmas morning dawned with the sun peeking
through flurries of snow. They loaded up the car with gifts, and Eric cleared
off the snow. He'd had chains put on a week before. It wasn't until they were
sitting in the car waiting for it to warm up that he noticed the earrings
flashing in Maggie's ears.

"You're wearing them," he said with a
feeling of immense satisfaction.

"I couldn't resist. And they should be worn.
I see you're wearing your new silver ring to pull your hair back today. Looks
good."

"Who did the engraving? Lucretia?"

"Yeah. And she had no time. I told her we
wanted her to do our wedding rings and she said she would but only if I came to
her after New Year's Day."

Eric started the car rolling and drove slowly down
streets dusted with snow. Even with that, they still got to the beach house while
people were just waking up. When Maggie knocked on the door, Anna answered in
her robe, auburn hair piled up on her head.

"Come on in. Joshua hasn't woken up yet and
neither have your parents. I was just going to take a quick shower. Sam's in
the kitchen making...something. I'm still half-asleep."

They carried their gifts on into the living room
to put around the tree. "I smell coffee," Eric said.

Maggie nodded and they headed for the kitchen. Sam
turned to them with a smile. "Who wants coffee? Not for you of course,
Maggie. How about some hot chocolate or decaf?"

"Hot chocolate, thanks."

Eric looked along the counter and saw a couple of
trays. One was filled with slices of what looked like banana nut bread and
pumpkin bread, along with fruitcake. The other had croissants and danish
pastries.

"Help yourself," Sam said. Then he
peered more closely at Maggie. "Wow. I'm betting those shiny baubles at
your ears are your Christmas present. Right?"

"Yes," Maggie said, looking pleased.
"And I'm getting a new car."

Sam's eyebrows rose and he looked at Eric.
"How did you ever convince her to give up that clunker she drives?"

"The baby." It was all Eric had to say
and Sam got it.

"That's why you wanted Joe's
information."

"Yeah." Eric took a bite of a buttery
almond croissant. It was unbelievably good. He saw that Maggie was looking a
bit wistfully at the trays of food. "Are you feeling okay?"

She shrugged. "I'm afraid to eat. What if it
makes me sick?"

Sam said, "If Anna's experience was any kind
of norm, the nausea will either be there or it won't regardless of what you
eat. If you're hungry you should eat. You don't need to lose any weight."

Eric was grateful for Sam's big brother voice and
advice. Maggie nodded and picked up a piece of banana nut bread.

Sam said, "I'd better go wake up Mom and Dad.
Josh will be up any time now."

He left and Maggie said, "Good bread.
Sometimes I get so hungry. I could eat this whole tray of food."

"You should try a croissant. They're
great."

Right then they heard little feet running down the
hall and Joshua came into the kitchen. "Aunt Mag! It's Santa."

"It's Christmas, that's right. Santa Claus
came last night." She turned to Eric and made picture taking motions. He
brought out his smart phone and clicked a couple of Joshua looking excited, his
hair standing straight up on his head.

"Joshua!" they heard Anna calling.

"In here, in the kitchen," Maggie yelled
back.

Anna came rushing in and picked up her son,
whirling around in a circle. "Merry Christmas!"

Eric took more photos of mother and child, until
Sam arrived with a video camera.

"Are you ready big guy? Let's go see what
Santa brought."

They trooped into the living room with Josh
bouncing in his mother's arms. Once there, she set him down and he ran to the
tree. Eric saw Maggie's parents sitting on the couch, looking sleepy but
smiling at their grandson. It had not occurred to him until that minute that
his child would also be their grandchild. That was a wild thought.
Grandparents. His own grandparents died when he was quite young, so he'd never
had them in his life. His son or daughter would have these two people in their
life, plus his own parents who would become grandparents. The whole thought was
rather staggering to him and he sat down on the couch.

"Are you okay, Eric?" Sophia asked.

"Just thinking about my parents becoming
grandparents. It hadn't crossed my mind until now."

Sophia smiled. "They'll love it. It's the
perfect role in life. All of the fun and love of the children without any of
the hassles of parenthood."

Eric snapped a picture of Maggie as she laughed at
something Joshua did. He caught her eye and grinned at her. She was helping
Josh unwrap the box with her gift in it. As they pulled it out of the tissue
paper, Anna and Sam stopped talking.

"Maggie," Anna said in an awed tone. "That is
absolutely the best one you've ever done."

"You like it?" Maggie asked, looking
proud. "I had fun making it."

Joshua was touching all the appliqued trucks and
cars on the surface of the quilt, wanting them to come off. Anna had the quilt
in her hands, looking at the stitching. "This had to have taken you a very
long time. The stitching is intricate."

"Like I said, it was fun to do."

"I'm putting this up as a wall hanging in his
room."