“We will, my love.”
Oblivious to the other people in the room, Joe reached out and gripped Rachel’s shoulder, because for this he had amazing strength. And he kissed her properly, with everyone watching.
“Oh, Joe, don’t you think there’s something to this Christmas miracle business?” Rachel said unsteadily, her lips close to his.
“Maybe so, my dearest. Maybe so.” And with that, Joe kissed her again.
Epilogue
June, Eighteen Months Later
A slightly pregnant Rachel, with Chrissy straddling her hip, stepped out onto the deck of their new house on the beach, where Joe was finishing a cup of coffee while thumbing through a maintenance report before going to the office.
“Daddy,” said Chrissy, holding out her plump little arms.
Joe set aside the report and reached for her. “How’s my girl?” he said, smoothing Chrissy’s pale bangs back from her face.
“Go bye-bye,” said Chrissy as she bounced on his lap. “See Mimi.”
“Mimi’s baby-sitting this morning while I shop for maternity clothes,” Rachel explained.
“Buy something pretty. I’m taking you out dancing Saturday night,” Joe said, smiling at her.
Rachel smiled back. “Even if I am a little heavy on my feet?” she teased.
He slid an arm around her hips. “You’re as light on your feet as ever, and you’re twice as sexy.”
Rachel knew he loved her rounded look now that she was pregnant; he swore that she’d never been more beautiful than when she was carrying their child. “That’s because I love you. And because you love me.”
“You’re right about that” he said.
“How about meeting for lunch?”
“Gina’s coming to the office at eleven for her summer job interview. After that I’m free. Want to check with me later, see what time I can get away?”
“Sure. Do you think Gina will come by to see Chrissy?”
“I doubt it,” Joe said. He nuzzled the baby’s rosy cheek. “I think Gina wants to put the past behind her as much as possible.”
They’d heard from Gina only sporadically throughout the school year. Still a straight-A student, Gina concentrated on her course work and was still intent on pursuing her MBA. She often asked about Chrissy, but the adoption was final now, and Gina seemed relieved that the baby had a good home. Her role in their lives, as well as in Chrissy’s, was as a family friend, much the way it had been for the many years that the Marzinskis had helped her to pursue her dreams.
“Tell Gina that she’s welcome to come over tomorrow for dinner. We’re grilling steaks out here on the deck, and I’ve invited Mimi and Gladys and Ivan and Ynez.”
“Aren’t Gladys and Ivan leaving soon to spend the summer near her grandchildren in Seattle?”
“They’re going next week. That’s why they want to visit with Chrissy before they go.”
“Are you sure Ynez is coming?”
“Oh, it’ll be hard to tear her away from the new calico kitten that she got to keep her Tabitha company, but she’ll be here. She says she has first dibs at baby-sitting our new baby.”
“Do you think it’s a coincidence that our new little Marzinski is due on Christmas Eve this year?” Joe asked.
Rachel bent down and plucked Chrissy out of his arms. Chrissy grabbed a fistful of Rachel’s hair and gave her a big smacking kiss on the cheek.
“I suppose so. Only—” She disentangled her hair from Chrissy’s fingers.
“Only what?” Joe stood up and put his arms around them.
“Only it seems so strange that I was lonely on Christmas Eve, and the discount-store Santa asked me to make a wish. And I wished that I’d have a reason to celebrate Christmas again, and almost immediately there you were—you and Chrissy. And now, next Christmas Eve, a new baby.”
“Don’t forget Gladys and Ivan’s falling in love. Or Ynez’s renewed interest in life after she realized that she didn’t have to give up because her cat, the only thing that meant anything to her, had died.”
“If all this isn’t enough to make us believe in Christmas miracles, I don’t know what is,” Rachel said. “Not to mention Santa Claus.” But she would always believe, in the depths of her soul, that the real Christmas miracle had been Joe’s healing of her heart so that she could find the courage to love again.
“Oh, after the past year and a half I believe,” said Joe with great conviction. “I definitely believe.”
“How about you, Chrissy?” said Rachel.
But Chrissy didn’t say a word. She only winked one of her eyes, which were the same distinctive almond shape as Gina’s.
And although Rachel thought she heard a distant ho-ho-ho ringing out over the sunny beach with its breaking surf and fringe of sea grapes, she kept it to herself.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-6783-4
BABY CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2000 by Pamela Browning.
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