Mistletoe Baby

Rachel handed over her tray of sandwiches. “At least you weren’t planning to do this in the backyard.”

“I’ve cooked out in worse weather,” her husband, Pat, said as he came into the foyer to greet them.

Rolling her eyes, Sandra laughed. “My husband thinks of barbecuing as an extreme sport.”

Pat mock-glared. “Never heard you complain while eating my award-winning brisket.” He reached out and squeezed her shoulder, both of them grinning.

Rachel’s throat constricted-it was just the teasing by-play of two people in love who were comfortable with each other, but it was easy to take for granted until you lost it. She and David hadn’t been comfortable in months; they’d become as hard and fragile as peanut brittle.

“Rachel, David.” Lilah appeared in the archway behind their hosts. “You guys made it! We’re just waiting on Amy and Steve.”

Steve played on Tanner’s softball team, and his wife, Amy, worked in the administration office of the elementary school. Gathered inside the Donavans’ living room already were Lilah’s aunt Shelby and uncle Ray, Vonda Kerrigan and her white-haired boyfriend Peter Joel and Quinn and Ari, who’d jokingly agreed to be each other’s dates since neither of them was currently seeing anyone special. Susan and Zachariah Waide had also been invited, but they were working at the store so their children could all attend. The Christmas season was the busiest time of year in retail.

The party kicked off the way most did in Mistletoe, with small talk while the guests piled their plates with food.

“You sit down. I’ll bring you something,” David instructed Rachel, gesturing toward the mismatched furniture. The Donavans had an adjoining dining room and living room that worked to create one large space; obviously they’d dragged chairs and even a love seat from other areas to accommodate the large number of guests.

She took a spot on a padded bench next to Arianne. The two of them were chatting about some upcoming holiday movies when Rachel realized her husband had returned.

“Thank y-Good heavens.” Rachel stared, trying to decide if this was his idea of a joke.

Even Arianne blinked. “Is that for Rachel and I to share? She can’t possibly eat all that.”

David glanced at the plate that was threatening to bow under the weight of the food he’d heaped on it. “It’s not that… Okay, maybe I got carried away. But-”

“But what?” Arianne asked.

But I’m eating for two now? Was that what David had been thinking? A silly old-time cliche that was hardly applicable in her case since the baby was probably the size of a small lima bean. The baby. Rachel found herself grinning foolishly. Lima bean or not, it was still her baby.

“Rach? David? One of you going to tell me why you’re behaving so strangely?”

“Nothing strange,” Rachel said, her voice breathy. Miraculous, wondrous, unexpected, but not strange. “I just…haven’t had a chance to eat today. Got caught up in that special scrapbooking project, and David’s trying to look out for me.”

“Which my wife,” David intoned, “does not always have the good sense to appreciate.”

She shot him a warning look. “Maybe I’d appreciate it if you trusted me to look out for myself. I might even appreciate looking out for someone else, not that you ever seem to need it.”

He frowned, bemused. “So, what, you’re upset that I’m self-sufficient and successful? I thought women looked for stuff like that in mates. I married a crazy woman.”

“Ummm.” Arianne stood. “I think I’m just gonna go hang out with Vonda.” She crossed the room to where the feisty septuagenarian was entertaining people with tall tales about her father and uncles trying unsuccessfully to brew their own alcohol during Prohibition.

Gesturing toward the spot his sister had just vacated and looking somewhat abashed, David asked, “Mind if I sit there?”

A little, but it wasn’t as if she could make him sit on the floor without it appearing weird. Then again, he’d just called her crazy so maybe she was entitled. “Suit yourself.” They still had a number of prenuptial festivities, a family Christmas and the wedding itself to get through-she could be mature about this. Even if being so close to David exasperated her, aroused her and made her want to cry all at the same time. He’s right. I am a little crazy.

Amy and Steve arrived a few minutes later, and guests went back for second helpings. Thirds, in the case of a few of the guys. Once everyone was stuffed, Amy declared that it was time for the Soon-to-be-Newlywed game and passed out little pads of paper and pencils so that everyone could write down their answers.

Tanner leaned over to Lilah and loudly whispered, “No one told me there would be a quiz!”

She laughed. “You sound like my students.”

Amy explained that she was going to ask each couple the same questions and they would jot down a response, then compare at the end to see which pair had the highest number of matches.

Arianne smirked at Quinn from her folding chair across the room. “How awesome would it be if we won?”

Lilah laughed again. “I’m pretty sure I’d be traumatized to learn that two of my bridesmaids are more compatible than my husband and I.”

“We playin’ for money?” Vonda wanted to know.

Amy shook her head. “Just gloating rights.”

“That works, too,” Vonda said gleefully.

The first question was, Where did you meet? Rachel thought back to the diner where she’d seen David, the memory so vivid she could smell chicken-fried steak cooking. His smile had been bright enough she could practically sunbathe in it. The second question, What’s your song? was more difficult.

She frowned. “What if you don’t have one?”

“Make something up,” Arianne called back. “That’s what I’m doing.”

Lilah giggled. “You’re both lucky. I first fell for Tanner in the era of boy bands and mix tapes. What seemed soulful to me then now seems cheesy enough to serve on crackers.”

“Hey!” Tanner glanced up from his pad of paper, looking offended.

Lilah kissed his cheek. “But I like cheese.”

Rachel continued staring at her own piece of paper. She and David hadn’t dated long enough to go through the courtship rites of stuff like mix tapes. Everything for them had happened quickly. Except getting pregnant. She knew girlfriends in college defined a couple’s song by what had been playing on the radio the first time they had sex, but there hadn’t been music on in the background when she and David made love. It had been at his old apartment, on a rainy afternoon.

In a whisper so faint even she could barely hear it, David murmured, “‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head’?”

Rachel blushed. Somehow knowing that they were both reliving the same interlude was nearly as intimate as the act itself had been.

“Hey,” Steve objected from the other side of the room. “No signaling partners over there.”

Next they had to remember when they last kissed each other. Rachel warmed at the memory of this morning, pressed against the wall of Winnie’s hallway, feeling her body come back to erotic life after numbingly frustrating months of hibernation.

“Can Ari and I be excused from this one?” Quinn asked wryly.

While everyone was chuckling, Rachel stood. “I, ah, just need to borrow your restroom, Sandra, but you guys go ahead and play without me. I’m happy to let someone else win the gloating rights.”

David narrowed his eyes at her. “Quitter.” His tone was light, but she read a wealth of accusation into it.

Had she been wrong to leave? It had seemed so agonizingly clear at the time, but in the wake of this morning’s news and the flood of memories this afternoon, Rachel was confused. She knew that she and David had loved each other, but she also knew that they had problems, not a misunderstanding over whether one of them had flirted with someone else or an argument because one of them never put their socks in the hamper. Could they meet each other’s emotional needs without hurting each other?

Still, it was seductive, the what if? that whispered in her ear as she watched Lilah open presents later that afternoon. Sandra had repeated the old wives’ tale that the number of ribbons the bride broke foretold the number of children the newlyweds would eventually have. At the mention of babies, Rachel found herself unconsciously rubbing her abdomen. If David gave her time and space to figure out what she wanted,