Be Mine at Christmas(43)
Author: Brenda Novak

“So you need to spend some time with them. Of course.” She stretched as she turned to face him. “Have fun.”

He wondered what his two daughters would think of Adelaide, but couldn’t imagine that they wouldn’t like her. He was eager to introduce them, to include her in his family. Would they be willing to accept her? “Any chance you can join us for dinner tomorrow night?” he asked.

“Isn’t tomorrow Christmas Eve?”

“Yeah.”

She propped herself up on the pillows. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Positive.” He wasn’t as confident as he sounded. He’d dated since Chloe but not a lot, and he’d never brought a woman home to meet his children. But…he was hopeful they’d be open-minded.

“Okay.”

“But just so you know, the baby’s a secret. For a while.”

“Of course. There’s no hurry to tell anyone. I won’t even start to show for three or four months.” Her eyebrows drew together as she sobered. “But…are you really ready for another woman in your life, Maxim? Are they?”

He smoothed the hair out of her face. “We’re all ready, as long as it’s you.”

She gave him a sexy smile. “I’ll be there.”

“I’m glad.” He bent to kiss her again. “Maybe they’ll go to bed early, and we can see if Santa has a little something for you.”

Laughing, she fought to avoid him as he chafed her neck with his unshaved chin. “Go home,” she complained. “I need sleep. You wore me out last night.”

“Call me when you get up,” he said and left.

He tried to reach Harvey as soon as he walked out of Adelaide’s house, but Harvey wasn’t answering. Maxim called him several times before he left for the airport at noon and tried again while he was on his way home with the girls. He knew he couldn’t talk freely with them in the car, but he could set up a meeting.

“Shit!” he muttered after his sixth failed attempt.

“What’s wrong, Dad?” Callie asked.

Frowning, he hit the off button on his Bluetooth. He hadn’t meant to curse aloud. “Nothing.” With a smile on his face to cover his growing unease, he encouraged them to talk about their classes, their grades, their friends and the boys they were dating. It wasn’t until they got home and Megan and Callie went to unpack that he had a few minutes alone. He used the time to call Harvey again.

Harvey’s voice mail picked up. “Harvey, get in touch with me, damn it,” Maxim said. “I have a proposal for you. I think it’s something you’ll want to hear.” He started to hang up but brought the phone back to his ear. “I don’t care what time of day or night it is,” he added, then disconnected.

“Dad?”

Maxim glanced up to find Megan standing on the stairs. With her auburn hair and greenish eyes, she looked like her mother, but Callie, his younger daughter, resembled him. It made him wonder who his new baby would look like—him or the fair-skinned Adelaide? “What?”

“Where’s the wrapping paper?”

“I don’t know. Did you check with Rosa?” His live-in housekeeper was in the kitchen, cooking one of the girls’ favorite meals.

“She thinks we’re out.” She gave him the smile that told him he was about to do her a favor. “Any chance you’ll go get some more? Or maybe a few gift bags? I’d do it myself, but I’m dying to take a shower and Megan’s busy primping. She said Ryan’s coming by to see her.”

“I thought she told me she and Ryan hardly talk anymore,” he said.

“I guess they talk enough that she’s already told him she’s home.”

Maxim liked Ryan and didn’t want to miss seeing him. But someone had to get the wrapping paper. And maybe Harvey would call while he had some time alone. “Sure,” he said. “Be right back.”

ON THE DAY BEFORE Christmas the weather dropped to forty-three degrees, bitter cold by Sacramento standards, but the extra chill didn’t bother Adelaide. She spent the morning warm and snug in her house, visiting parenting sites on the Internet. She couldn’t believe she was pregnant. Just when she’d been feeling most alone, just when she’d given up the hope of ever having a family, she was expecting.

It was almost too good to be true. But a baby meant she had so many decisions to make. Since their crash in the Sierras, her enthusiasm for winning the nomination and then a seat in the state senate had begun to wane; now it was entirely gone. She wondered if she could keep the people who worked for her on the payroll and have them campaign for Maxim instead.

Maxim… He hadn’t liked Mark and he didn’t pretend otherwise; that wasn’t easy to accept. They’d have to discuss it eventually. But for two people beginning a new relationship, they were dealing with enough challenges. They had the baby coming, the public response to what they’d done, the surprise and possible resistance of Maxim’s children. Best to adjust a little at a time.

Imagining what would happen when word of her condition reached the media, Adelaide cringed. It would be embarrassing. There was no escaping that. But she doubted it would hurt Maxim’s career—especially if she threw her support behind him.

Propping her chin on one hand, she smiled dreamily as she remembered the way he’d reacted to news of the baby. Her life was heading down a path she would’ve considered impossible just ten days earlier, but the baby she was carrying changed everything.

Would they eventually marry? It wasn’t as if she couldn’t love Maxim. She was afraid she already did.

Who would’ve thought—

The ringing of the phone startled her out of her reverie. Reaching for the cordless handset on her desk, she saw M. Donahue on caller ID and smiled as she answered. “Hello?”

“Hey, gorgeous. I’ve got good news.”

“What is it?”

“They were able to recover Mr. Cox’s body yesterday. He’ll be home for Christmas.”

Adelaide wished Cox had made it out alive, but it was a relief to know his family would at least be able to say their goodbyes and lay him to rest. “How’d you find out?”

“The helicopter pilot called me.”

“Why didn’t he call me? I left him several messages.”

“It was only by chance that he returned my calls first. I told him I’d notify you.”