He brushed a kiss over Wye’s cheek. Her lips. Her chin.
She groaned. “We’re going to start all over again in a minute if you don’t stop that. I can’t get enough of you.”
“I know the feeling. That’s a good thing, right?” he asked.
“Definitely.” Wye wriggled away and sat up, letting the covers fall as she surveyed the room. When she slid off the bed and reached for her robe, desire pulsed through Emerson again. He wondered if his craving for Wye would ever let up. “I want more of that tonight,” she told him as she headed toward the door.
“Every night,” he promised her, wishing he could have her again right now. She paused with a hand on the doorknob and waggled the fingers of her left hand at him. “Look, I’m engaged!”
“Me, too,” he told her and laughed as she slipped out and shut the door behind her, looking giddy as a schoolgirl.
Hell, he was happy, too.
Happier than he’d ever been since he was a kid.
Finally, his life was heading in the right direction. He lay back down and laced his fingers behind his head, breathing out a breath he felt he’d been holding for years. He could barely let himself imagine the future. A home. A wife. Work he could be proud of. Something bigger than himself to belong to.
All of it lay in front of him, a banquet spread for a starving man.
The door burst open. Emerson surged to a sitting position, took in Wyoming’s expression and leaped out of bed, his gut tight.
“What’s wrong?”
She was holding Elise in her arms. “Ward’s gone home. He told Cass it felt weird to be here on Christmas morning. His note says he’ll be back for dinner, but he just doesn’t feel comfortable doing an entire family Christmas with people he doesn’t know. Do you think I should go after him? He shouldn’t be alone today!”
“Why don’t you call and check that he’s okay?”
He took Elise from her arms, his heartbeat slowing again now that he knew no one was in immediate danger, and he realized from now on he’d be on guard to protect Wye. He kept the baby occupied playing peekaboo while Wye made the call.
“Ward? Where are you?” There was a silence as she listened. “You’re not making anything easier; you know I’m going to spend the whole day worrying about you! You should come back.” She was quiet a moment. “Oh, my goodness, no one cares if you don’t have presents for them; they don’t have presents for you, either. And what about Elise? She will notice you’re not here. You’re her father.” Wye sighed. “You’d better be back by dinner. Don’t do something stupid and ruin the holidays for me forever. Yes, I’m talking about suicide.” She listened some more. Emerson was glad she’d brought up the uncomfortable subject. He knew how hard the holidays could be on someone who was alone. What men were capable of when their hearts were broken. “Okay. Be here by four. I need to be able to help Cass, and I can’t do that and watch Elise at the same time. Okay. See you then.”
She hung up, shaking her head. “That man. I swear, it didn’t even occur to him he’d be missed! Or that I’d worry.”
“What did he say?”
“He couldn’t sleep last night. Couldn’t stand to spend the day around happy married couples, either, so he called a few single friends and made plans to hang out with them. He said they were all grateful to get his call. He seemed almost upbeat.”
“He didn’t even ask if you were okay with having Elise today.”
“You’re right; he didn’t ask, but I won’t hold that against him today. I think leaving her here is his way of not dealing with his sadness about spending the holiday without Mindy. I wonder what she’s doing?”
Emerson could only shrug. He reached for his jeans and pulled them on. “I’m going to grab a shower and get dressed.”
“Better hurry. Sounds like people are gathering downstairs ready to open presents.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
As he showered, Emerson couldn’t help but feel bad for Ward, despite the unthinking way he shed his responsibilities onto Wye’s shoulders. Marriage was no guarantee of happiness. Had Ward thought he’d stumbled on a banquet only to discover he’d ended up with a plate full of ashes?
What if his marriage to Wye disintegrated around him in a similar way?
Emerson shook off the dark thoughts, letting the hot water wash them away. Wyoming wouldn’t run away when times got tough. She was the type of woman who saw things through. And he wasn’t Ward, expecting everyone else to pick up the slack.
When he saw his name on a number of packages under the tree downstairs, he was glad he’d found small gifts for everyone. The General was ensconced in an easy chair, almost beaming at the gathering. Everyone else was seated on a couch or the floor, since there were too many of them to fit on the furniture all at once. Cass kept ferrying in mugs of coffee and tea. Elise crawled from person to person, sitting in laps and babbling at them. Emerson took a seat next to Wyoming on the floor, taking her hand in his.
“We’ll eat after the presents,” Cass told him. “Jo? You want to hand them out?”
“Jo always hands them out,” Sadie said. “I don’t think we’ve ever had this many people here at Christmas. Not since Mom’s been gone, anyway.”
All the women turned to the General, who cleared his throat and nodded. “Your mother would love a gathering like this.”
“I wish she was here,” Sadie said.
“We all do,” Cass told her gently and perched on the arm of the sofa.
