“Well, you certainly did that for her.”
“I hope so.” Dina walked into the back room and flipped on the lights, grabbing a package for Anton she’d hidden in a chest.
“What are you doing?” he called after her.
“You don’t think I’m Scrooge Romano, do you?” she teased, turning off the light and walking back into the showroom where he was standing. “This is for you and don’t throw out the Christmas card without reading it. There’s a little something inside it too.”
He started to open it and she stopped him. “Not here.”
“Really?” he asked and she nodded.
“Now, have an amazing Christmas, and I’ll see you in the New Year.” She gave Anton a quick hug, and he trundled out the door, giving Dina time to reflect quietly on life, which she wasn’t sure she should do.
Dina wandered through the store, straightening a couple Swarovski tiaras and shifting a few jeweled purses on one of the displays as she thought about Sam.
Ever since she confessed to him that she was pregnant, he’d been texting and emailing her ideas for decorating nurseries, clothes, toys, and books they should get. Granted, he found the most adorable ski suit for an infant she’d ever seen. Actually, she’d never seen one before, but it all felt overwhelming.
She thought Sam would be accepting of the baby, but she never quite expected him to be this excited about her pregnancy. When he told her he wanted to go to all of her doctor appointments, she was floored. But it did make it hard not to think of him as something more.
Since she’d gotten home from her trip, life had been a whirlwind of sewing wedding dresses and consultations, and now the day before Christmas Eve, she could finally enjoy the peace silence brought. There were no lingering orders, upcoming consultations, or family guilt, and the last one was what always plagued her most during the holidays.
For years, she never understood why they wouldn’t come out to visit or why they often made excuses as to why she couldn’t come for Christmas. Sometimes it was that her parents were going to be out of town, only to find out they were very much at their house and celebrating with her siblings, or another excuse was that her mother or father had caught the flu, and they didn’t want her to catch it. Most of the excuses were pretty eye-rolling, but Dina played pretend and went along with whatever reason her parents gave. It was easier than coming to grips with the idea that they just didn’t care if she was around.
It had gotten to the point fairly quickly where she realized her parents had no real desire to see her, and in order for her not to tumble into a world of despair or questioning her own self-worth, she created an amazing circle of friends in California and threw herself into her business.
But if Dina were to be completely honest with herself there was always a part of her that felt something was missing from the equation, a reason why her mother and father treated her as an outsider. She had never imagined that her mother was actually her stepmother, and in a normal family that still wouldn’t explain anything because most decent people accept their spouse’s children as their own.
Dina let out a heavy sigh as she thought about the story Dina’s brother had told her. She believed it. There wasn’t any real reason not to, but someday, she wanted to investigate it on her own for accuracy. She had so many questions and really no answers.
Dina’s brother had told her that early on in his parents’ marriage, her father had cheated with Dina’s biological mother, and that her biological mother became pregnant with Dina.
Lois found out and threatened divorce if he ever spoke to Dina’s mother again, which seemed almost fair considering what he’d done.
However, according to her brother, Dina’s mother died unexpectedly, and her father had no choice but to take Dina in as an infant, which infuriated Lois and the kinder her father was to Dina, the angrier Lois got.
Dina realized she’d been staring at the same veil for minutes and shook the thoughts out of her head. She wasn’t going to let her father and Lois hijack her holidays. She had a lot to be thankful for and they weren’t part of it.
She spun on her heels and flipped off the lights before making her way out of her store. She was excited to get home and heat up a casserole she had in her freezer.
As she climbed into her car and backed out of the parking place, one thing became certain, she was starving and couldn’t wait to get home and begin the holidays. She still didn’t know if Sam actually planned on stopping by on Christmas, but she wasn’t totally adverse to it.
By the time she pulled into her driveway, she was almost giddy at the thought. She turned off the ignition and drew a deep breath. Maybe she’d quit fighting the feelings she had for Sam and just see where life took her.
Except now she had a baby to take care of and she didn’t want to complicate things. She let out a groan and made her way to the front door. The one and only thing she was sure of in this world was that she needed to eat and couldn’t wait to get the casserole in the oven.
Dina unlocked the door and walked inside, only to be greeted by someone inside her home. She couldn’t see them, but she could certainly hear them.
Dina’s heart started pounding and her hands began shaking as she heard the shuffling down the hall. A cold sweat swept over Dina’s body as her gaze darted around her living room, and she began to slowly back out of her own home. Whoever was inside didn’t know she’d come home and she wanted to keep it that way.
She very slowly and quietly shut the door and made her way back through the snow and to her car, turning it on and putting it in reverse.
Without hesitation, Dina started driving toward Sam’s house as she called the police, but as the cell rang and rang, she saw Sam barreling down the road in his SUV with Romeo sitting on his lap, looking out the window.
She hung up and quickly flagged him down. He smiled and rolled down his window as he slowed.
“There’s somebody in my house,” Dina said, nearly breathless.
Sam’s gaze quickly turned from jovial to anger as her words sunk in.
“How do you know?” he asked, glancing down the road toward her house.
“I got home, went inside, and I could hear someone down the hall near my bedroom.” Her lips trembled at the thought. What if she hadn’t heard them and had just walked in on the person. Or what if it was more than one person? “Or it could be more than one person inside. I don’t know. It was—” But before she had a chance to finish her sentence, Sam was on his way down the hill to her house.
Dina found a driveway and did a quick turnaround as she attempted to dial the police again. Fear pulsed through her at the thought of Sam barging into her house and disrupting some sort of home invasion. She couldn’t let anything happen to Sam. Just as that thought entered her mind, she tore down the hill after him only to see his SUV already parked outside and the front door wide open.
Her heart was hammering inside her chest as she parked behind Sam and waited for the police to answer. On the third ring, she got out of her car and carefully tiptoed through the snow and up the steps to her house.
She listened carefully and couldn’t hear a thing until she got deeper into her living room, which was right when the dispatcher picked up on the other end of the phone.
At the same time, Sam came thundering down the hall toward her with a huge grin on his face.
“I found the culprit,” his voice bellowed through the silence as the dispatcher repeated his greeting.
“It’s not a bad guy?” Dina whispered.
“Not unless you think an eight-inch-tall critter with a bushy tail suddenly has a way with nunchucks.”
“Ma’am,” the dispatcher repeated.
“Sorry false alarm,” Dina told the operator.
“Always is.” The dispatcher sighed and hung up.
“Nunchucks?” Dina’s brows rose.
“I’d like to tell you that everything is fine back in your bedroom, but I’d be lying, and I’m not very good at that.�
�
Dina’s heart dropped. “What do you mean?”
“The little fella has been trying to get out of your room all day so that’s left most of it torn up pretty badly.”
“Are you serious? How did it even get in?”
“Squirrels can be pretty sneaky.” Sam’s eyes glinted with mischief, which suddenly concerned Dina.
“Really.” She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes on Sam.
“All I know is that it looks like you’re stuck with me for Christmas after all.” Sam smiled and pulled her into a hug. “There’s no way you’ll want to sleep in there until you get it cleaned up. So what time is the doctor’s appointment tomorrow?”
“You’re sure it’s the squirrel that’s sneaky?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The smell of coffee and cinnamon wafted through the air as Dina stretched her arms in bed, but it wasn’t her bed, which made things a little odd. She totally thought Sam was overreacting when he said she could stay with him while her bedroom was fixed up from the rodent mishap.
But that was until she stepped into her bedroom to see the curtains and comforter shredded, clothes in nesting piles, and stains on her bedroom wall that made absolutely no sense. In fact, she refused to think how they got there or what they were.
So, here she was staying at Sam North’s home for the holidays for the second night. There was no denying it. Staying at his house was nice. Really nice. It was almost like a mini-vacation only she was minutes away from her own house.
Dina rubbed her belly and let out a happy sigh. Yesterday at the doctor’s appointment, she’d gotten an ultrasound. They were having a baby girl, and she couldn’t be happier. She’d secretly always wanted a girl, but she knew she’d be happy no matter what.
Dina shoved off the goose down comforter and crawled out of bed, noticing her reflection across the room in a mirror. It was like her belly had suddenly tripled in size. She’d never been a petite girl, but growing a baby really accentuated her curves, and nothing about getting dressed in the morning was easy. It was like she had to shovel her breasts into a bra, either pull up or pull down her underwear over her belly, and then of course, beg and coax any zipper to close and stay closed.
But she wouldn’t change any of it for the world.
Not to mention, she no longer hated avocados. Being in her second trimester made her world a little brighter and a little less nauseating.
“You up?” Sam asked through the door.
She quickly pulled on the bathrobe and didn’t bother trying to tie it up. She’d only be fooling herself if she thought she could do it.
“Sure am.” Dina opened the door to see Sam standing there with a steaming cup of coffee for her. He was dressed in plaid pajama pants and a red thermal, and she swore her heart squeezed a little at the sight.
“Merry Christmas. For you.” He handed her the mug, and she warmed with his kindness, even though she couldn’t accept his caffeinated gift.
“I actually—”
“It’s decaf.” He smiled, and she felt like getting on the ground and bowing down to this amazing man. Smelling the coffee this morning was near torture knowing she couldn’t have one drop. “You don’t think I want to make our baby act like the energizer bunny, do you?”
Dina laughed and took a sip of the liquid gold, loving the way the words sounded.
Our baby.
“I made fresh cinnamon rolls.” Sam smiled and gave her a quick hug before leaning down to her belly. “I hope you’re hungry.”
“The kid is starving.” Dina laughed. “I promise you that. Whatever you see about to go down in the kitchen, just blame your little girl.”
Sam stood back up and smiled a smile Dina had never seen before. It was a mixture of pride, excitement, and contentment, and she realized that Sam wasn’t faking this. He truly wanted this baby as much as she did.
“Are we going to your family’s for Christmas dinner?” Dina asked, following him down the stairs to the kitchen.
“We could or I have a rib roast I could make for the three of us.”
She chuckled, enjoying the fact that she could finally share this experience with someone.
“You didn’t get to see them last night on Christmas Eve. Won’t you miss them tonight?” Dina asked, concerned.
“I want to do whatever will make you the most comfortable.” Sam grabbed two plates and placed a warm, gooey-centered cinnamon roll on each plate. Dina thought about it and wasn’t even sure what she wanted. Decisions were getting more and more difficult to make. She wanted to believe pregnancy brain wasn’t a thing, but it was suddenly not seeming that way.
“I see them more than enough and they know this time is special for us,” he added.
“Us?” Dina asked, swiping her finger along the warm icing and taking a lick.
“Well, I guess you have a point. I never did ask the obvious.” Laughter darted through his gaze as she swatted him with a paper towel. “And you never actually said.”
She chuckled and took a bite of the delicious cinnamon roll. “Is there nothing you can’t do?”
“Apparently not.” A look of satisfaction skated across his expression as he took a bite.
“And yes it is yours,” she teased, knowing full well he already knew. It made things easy when you had dry spells as long as hers.
“Thank God. I was holding my breath.” He took another bite of the roll and looked over Dina’s shoulder. “Should we open presents?”
“Wait. What? I didn’t have time to go shopping for you. I had no idea we—”
He held up his finger and shook his head. “It’s not about that.”
Sam put his empty plate into the sink and grabbed her hand, leading her into the great room.
The moment Dina turned around, she was frozen in place. Underneath the Christmas tree there were glittery and sparkly packages of all sizes. She had absolutely no idea when Sam could have found this many items.
“Sam, this is too—”
“Nothing is too much for the loves of my life,” Sam said, his voice low as he brought her into him.
“Sam…” Dina slowly shook her head, worried that it was only a mix of seeing the ultrasound yesterday and the holidays. “I can’t go there. I don’t want to get hurt and there is more than just me I have to worry about.”
He brushed a piece of hair from her cheek and he smiled, looking into her eyes. “I know and I’m in no hurry. I’ll wait as long as it takes for you to realize I’m not going anywhere.”
“But I don’t want a relationship to happen between us only because of a child.”
“First of all, a child is a good reason to have one.” Sam’s gaze stayed on hers. “But I was falling in love with you even before you couldn’t tolerate guacamole. Having a baby with you is just an added benefit.”
She let out a long sigh and couldn’t help the smile that was coating her lips.
“Sam, even if you’re just the world’s best charmer, you certainly know how to make me feel better about things.”
“Better?” he asked, loosening his grip. “Are you feeling bad?”
“Not bad just unsettled.” She bit her lip and looked away. “I’m only halfway through the pregnancy and yet I want to meet her now. I want to get into my new routine with her in it.”
Sam laughed and nodded. “I know, but you really don’t want to rush things when it comes to labor and delivery.”
Dina chuckled and brought her gaze back to his.
“And in the meantime, why don’t you let me spoil you a little?”
“Me?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
“You don’t think these are all for the baby, do you?”
“I assumed so, yeah.” Her eyes canvassed the pile of presents before returning to Sam. He looked like a little kid on Christmas about to open his presents, only none of these presents were for him.
“You know this is the first Christmas that I didn’t wake up thinking about my family back in Iowa.�
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“Really?” His eyes widened with surprise.
“Yeah. It was really nice.” Dina walked over to the couch as Sam turned on the gas fireplace.
“Since you’re starting your own family and knowing what you do now about your parents, it probably puts a lot of things in perspective and allows the right priorities to take shape.”
“It sure does.” Dina nodded in agreement, watching him pick up a pile of packages and bring them over to her. She felt suddenly shy about all of these things he was surrounding her with. She could certainly afford to buy everything she and the baby needed, but it was the thought that Sam went and did this for her all on his own that warmed her heart.
He might be a bachelor who had enjoyed his single life for years, but he had a kind soul and she couldn’t get past that quality. It figured she’d pick the one wanna-be reformed bachelor to have a one-night stand with, and it would really figure she got pregnant by the same man.
She leaned against the couch and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Sam smiled.
“Just the irony of the situation.”
“Which part?”
“I decide to finally let myself have a one-night stand and I get pregnant.”
“I don’t see it that way.” His lips curled slightly.
He sat down and rubbed her knee, and it was like everywhere he touched left a scorching mark. It was so weird that she was so pregnant but couldn’t stop thinking about sleeping with him again.
“How do you see it?” she asked, as he handed her a package.
“Well, in my mind we were dating.” Sam laughed and rubbed the whiskers on his chin. “Or at least I knew we would be.”
“Must be nice to be so sure of yourself,” Dina teased, sliding her finger along the gift wrap.
“It has its benefits.” He grinned and moved closer to her on the couch, draping his arm around her shoulders. “But since the moment I met you, I just knew you—”
“Make sure you mean what you’re about to say,” Dina interrupted. “Because I’m falling for you too and I don’t want to make a mistake. My life isn’t just about me any more.”
A Little Secret About Love Page 21
