“It is rather good, eh?” I kissed the side of her head.
We were both avoiding the impending discussion. She would be leaving for the USA very soon, and I wouldn’t see her until the February half-term break. It was only a matter of a couple of months, but it was far too long. Thinking about that made sadness wash over me again, and I decided to bite the bullet. I had to do something positive. I clambered to my feet and informed her, “Be back in a sec.”
I placed my champagne flute on the mantel and dashed upstairs to retrieve the box from under the bed. When I returned to the living room, Lily was cuddling Monty, who was laid on his back with his tongue lolling out as normal.
“I have an extra gift for you. It’s not much. Just a… just a wee bit of something that I hope you’ll like.”
She sat bolt upright with a wide smile. “Oooh, you bloody dark horse. Now you’re making me look bad, pee-pants.”
I stuck out my tongue and scrunched my nose at her nick name for me. “Oh, shut up and open it, cheesy.” I handed her the gold box tied up with green ribbon and sat down beside her.
She grinned up at me as she held the unopened gift. “Thank you.”
“You haven’t even opened it yet.” I laughed.
“I know… but… well, thank you anyway.”
A lump lodged in my throat as I tried to read between the lines and to understand what was showing in her eyes. But she lowered her gaze and untied the ribbon. Slowly and tentatively she removed the lid.
“It’s not one of those boxes where a snake jumps out, you know.” I tried to make light of the situation in spite of the turmoil raging beneath my skin.
Her hand covered her mouth and a sob left her throat as she lifted the little heart-shaped plaque from the box. “Does this mean what I think it means?”
Unable to form any words, I simply nodded.
“Tak me wi you, wherever ye go.” She read the words aloud twice more and glanced up at me, tears leaving damp trails down her flushed cheeks. “You want to come with me? To America?”
Again I nodded and cleared my throat. I scooted closer to her and took her hand. “Lily, I’m nothing without you. I don’t want to be without you ever. And if that means following you across the Atlantic, then so be it. Let’s face it, there isn’t a bridge long enough to get me to you, and I need to be where you are. My home is wherever you are. And… and if that means we’re together in America, then… that’s our home. So… what do you say?”
She leapt into my arms and covered my damp face in kisses. But she didn’t answer me. I was on the verge of presuming it was a yes, but I had been burned by that fire before.
“Is that a yes?” I laughed nervously as she continued her kissing assault. She hadn’t answered me with words after all. And I’m a man. I needed it spelled out.
“No, Adam. It’s a no.”
Chapter 12
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)—Michael Bublé
Adam
I pulled away from her, mouth agape. What the hell? My heart sank and I felt sure I was about to lose the contents of my stomach.
“Y-you don’t want me to go to America?”
She slowly shook her head and wiped at the tears staining her cheeks.
My heart pounded at my chest. And panic set in along with confusion. This was what she had wanted, so what the hell had changed? I dragged my hands back through my hair and searched my brain for the right words. “I’m telling you I want to go. No, I need to go with you, Lil. I don’t get why… I don’t get what’s changed. Tell me what’s changed. You haven’t forced me, so don’t think that, okay? I want to go with you.” I wasn’t going to give up. Not without a bloody fight.
“No. You’re not going,” she whispered.
I flopped back onto my arse with a thud as I tried to come to terms with what she was saying. I was willing to give up everything and move across the Atlantic for her. With her. But she was saying no?
She held up her hand. “One minute.” She stood from the rug and smiled sadly down at me where I sat, crumpled on the rug in a defeated heap. In the background, the final bars of “Lonely This Christmas” faded out and I snorted at the irony.
I heard the loo flush and then a few moments later Lily returned with a large silver box. Like a shoebox but big enough for a pair of boots.
She sat down on the rug before me again. “In this box are all the reasons I love you. And all the reasons you can’t go to America.”
With another sad smile, she handed me the box. I removed the lid.
Inside were photographs of us as children. Ticket stubs from the cinema from when we had been with our parents. The wrapping paper from the first Christmas gift I had ever given her. The crisp packet from the very first time I stuck up for her at school and gave her my snack. A photo of us outside the Jekyll and Hyde bar in Edinburgh one Halloween dressed as zombies. A photo of us from graduation with Eve at one side and Lily at my other. A CD marked Adam Songs. A Post-it note with a cartoon drawing of Lily and the words My best mate Cheesy in my scrawly adolescent handwriting. A strip of black-and-white photo booth pictures from when we were fourteen. Another photo, this one of me with Monty when he was a pup. There were birthday cards I had sent to her over the years. Silly notes we had passed back and forth in class. Her wedding garter. A pressed flower from her bouquet. A card from flowers I had sent her on our honeymoon…
On and on it went. So many memories of our time together. There was so much love contained inside that box. And as I glanced up through my own tear fogged eyes to see the same wistful expression I had seen before, the thought of her going to America without me almost broke me in two.
The box was our history. Our story. So why was she telling me no?
I shook my head in the hope that things would become clearer. “Lily… I still don’t… Please just—”
“Keep looking.” She nodded toward the box, and so I rummaged deeper still and found another box in the bottom. It was the box from a pen I had given her when we were ten that said “Best Friend” and I couldn’t believe she still had it after all these years.
I removed the lid. When I saw the contents, I sucked in a sharp breath. The larger box fell from my lap as I held the pen in my hand. Except it wasn’t a pen.
It was a pregnancy test.
A positive pregnancy test.
My mouth fell open and I lifted my gaze to meet hers.
This time she was smiling madly, as though she’d been holding it back for ages and could finally let it out.
“You’re not going to America, Adders, because you would be bloody lonely if you did. You see… I’m staying here to have our baby. I’m kind of hoping you might stick around too.”
I glanced at the hearth and noticed her untouched glass of champagne. Why hadn’t that registered before when I had topped my own glass up? No bloody wonder I was feeling dizzy. I snapped my focus back to her. “But… your dream… you said…”
“My original dream was to be with you, Adam. Remember? And I guess I just got my dreams a bit mixed up.” She placed her hand on her flat belly. “And this dream is one we get to fulfil together. So what do you say? Fancy staying in Edinburgh and making a family, pee-pants?”
I was still kneeling by the hearth, and so I crawled across the rug to my beautiful, sexy wife. Tears of joy silently slipped down my stubbled cheeks, but I didn’t care. “On one condition,” I told her.
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh? And what’s that?”
“You find another nickname for me. Pee-pants isn’t very befitting of a new father.”
“Deal,” she replied as my mouth crashed into hers. “And merry Christmas.”
The end
About the Author
Lisa was born in Yorkshire, England. Her passion for writing began at a young age when she started to pen stories and poetry whilst at school. Nowadays she can be found tapping away at her laptop almost full time. When she takes a break from writing she spends time looking after her daugh
ter and husband or walking her two canine companions.
After relocating with her family to Southern Scotland in 2012 she began to write her Scotland based debut novel, Bridge Over the Atlantic (published 2013). In 2014 the novel was shortlisted in the Contemporary Romance category of the Romantic Novelists Association RoNAs. This meant a trip to London for an awards ceremony where she had the opportunity to meet her favourite authors—some of whom were also shortlisted in the same category.
Three years after beginning her writing career in earnest Lisa now has a total of ten contemporary romance novels published—several of which have become bestsellers on Amazon, iTunes and Barnes & Noble—and three erotic romances under the pen name Lissa Jay. Her erotic debut, Bad Company also hit the bestselling eBook charts in the USA and the UK on Amazon and iTunes.
Being a crafty and creative person, Lisa spends any spare time singing in a trio with a guitarist and drummer or making book related items to give away to her readers via her Facebook page.
Other titles by this author
Bridge Over the Atlantic
Through the Glass
Bridge of Hope
Christmas Presence
The Girl Before Eve
Reasons to Leave
Reasons to Stay
The Worst of Me
In His Place
Duplicity
A Seaside Escape
Last Christmas: A The Girl Before Eve Christmas Novella Page 6
