“Well, at last!” Santa exclaimed. “I was beginning to think you two were never coming!” He looked from Shea to the baby and then at Jared. “Told you you’d get exactly what you wanted, didn’t I?”
Shea glanced over her shoulder at Jared. He was staring down at Santa as though he’d seen a ghost.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Shea, that’s him,” Jared told her. “From last Christmas. Santa.”
“Really?” Shea asked, handing Erin to Santa. “Molly’s Santa?”
“The one and only,” Santa said, laughing.
“Where’s the store Santa we hired?”
“Must still be on break.” The big, jolly man gave Erin a cuddle and cooed softly to her, and she in turn gurgled and smiled. Then, standing, Santa handed the baby back to Shea. “Good. Now that I’m positive you two will be fine, I’ve got to be going. Lots of people to check on. Busy year.”
Santa hustled down the ramp, leaving Shea feeling as if she’d been hit by a whirlwind. “Uh, Santa, wait a minute.”
The man stopped and looked over his shoulder as Jared slipped an arm around Shea’s waist and squeezed her gently.
“What did Erin ask you to bring her for Christmas?”
Santa’s booming “Ho, ho, ho,” seemed to fill the store, stopping shoppers in their tracks. “How do I know? It’s Jared who can talk to her. I’m just like you—I have to wait until she’s old enough to say people words.” Laughing, he disappeared from sight.
Now what was she supposed to make of that? Shaking her head and chuckling, Shea turned to Jared and handed their daughter to him. “You heard him, you former Santa you. What does your daughter want for Christmas?”
Jared leaned close until his ear was near Erin’s delicate mouth and, for a few seconds, nodded sagely at her every coo. At last, just when Shea thought she could wait no longer, he looked at her and smiled. “Erin says a baby brother, when her mama feels ready.”
Delight spreading through her, Shea took her daughter back in her arms. She had to ask even though she knew the answer. In her heart, she knew. “So, Erin, is that your daddy talking, or you?” Baby Erin gurgled. Lifting her eyes, Shea settled her gaze on her husband, who was grinning. “Okay, wise guy, translate.”
Somehow Jared kept a straight face, but his eyes twinkled with that same look her father got every year around Christmas. “Why would you even ask?”
“And how do you suppose I get this baby brother someone here wants?” she asked.
Sitting down in the Santa chair, Jared reached under it and pulled out the cap Santa had forgotten to take with him. Pulling it on his head, he grinned up at her.
“All you have to do is ask Santa.”
ISBN : 978-1-4592-6657-5
A BABY IN HIS STOCKING
Copyright © 1998 by Florence Moyer
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual knawn or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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A Baby In His Stocking (Harlequin Treasury 1990's) Page 15
