Christopher (Mail-Order Brides For Christmas)

“I’ll try to be a jerk while we’re in there,” he offered with a wink.

I snorted and shook my head. “As if you could ever be mean to me.”

His brown eyes were dead serious as he growled, “Never.”

I watched him as he exited the truck and rounded to my side, knowing he meant that vow with every fiber of his being. Christopher was gruff with just about everyone else, but with me he was sweet as a teddy bear. My very own gentle giant.

After opening my door and unbuckling my seat belt, he lifted me off the passenger seat and carefully set me on the ground. Wrapping my fingers around his wrist, I tugged him toward the building. “C’mon.”

“Patience, sugar,” he murmured as he tugged his hand from my hold. Placing his palm on my lower back, he guided me into the doctor’s office.

We only had to wait about five minutes until a nurse called, “Winter Mistletoe?”

A couple other patients looked around the room, but I ignored them. I was used to how people reacted to my married name since it was so festive. It didn’t bother me, though. I loved my name and what it stood for. Jumping up, I replied, “That’s me!”

Christopher wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we walked back to the exam room, forcing me to keep a slow pace instead of racing into the room. I was impatient as the nurse took my vitals—and was stunned to discover I had already gained four pounds. As soon as the nurse left us alone, I turned to my husband and glared. “You need to stop feeding me all the time. I’m going to be huge by the time I have this baby.”

“That’ll just give me more of you to love.” His lips curved into a smug grin as he stripped me out of my leggings and panties before helping me onto the exam table. After he spread a paper sheet over the bottom half of my body, he pressed a kiss to my stomach. “And the sooner your pregnant belly starts showing, the quicker other guys will see how taken you are.”

“You’re such a Neanderthal.” I lifted my left hand and wiggled my fingers in the air. “You made sure my ring was big enough so that no man is going to miss that I’m married.”

Dr. Jones knocked on the door, interrupting whatever Christopher would have said to explain away his territorial nature. Not that I needed any excuses since I loved how possessive he could be around other men. Or anyone really. Including the doctor.

When she was ready to do the ultrasound and had me lean back and put my legs in the stirrups, I bit back a giggle as he sat next to me and gripped my hand. Having her do a transvaginal ultrasound wasn’t the most comfortable experience, but awkwardness fell to the wayside when an image appeared on the screen. “That’s our baby?”

“It sure is.” Dr. Jones nodded and pointed out a little figure that looked like an oblong bean, explaining which side was the body and head.

When she showed us the baby’s heartbeat, I burst into tears as the sound filled the exam room. While Christopher ran his fingers through my hair and kissed my cheeks, Dr. Jones clicked the mouse a few times before explaining, “Based on these measurements, it looks as though you’re a little further along than we thought. I’m going to move your due date to September 23.”

I squeezed Christopher’s hand and asked, “Is that bad?”

She shook her head, still focused on the screen. “No, not at all. It’s normal for there to be a discrepancy of a few days. Ovulation isn’t a perfect science, but fetuses grow at a consistent rate during the first trimester. We always go by the date obtained from your ultrasound because it’s more accurate.”

I heaved a deep sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”

Dr. Jones glanced up from the screen and smiled. “You must’ve had a very good New Year’s Eve celebration.”

Thinking about the reason we got married and the deadline Christopher and his brothers had to get married to fulfill the archaic law that I owed my happiness to, I giggled. “You can say that again.”

“And a very long one, too,” Christopher murmured.

“That’s not what I meant,” I gasped, shaking my finger at him as my cheeks heated. “It’s just that you went above and beyond the call of duty, saving Snow Valley and knocking me up at the same time.”

Epilogue

Christopher

I groaned at the sound of insistent knocking on the bedroom door. “Go back to bed!” I yelled before drawing my wife’s body closer to mine and burying my face in her neck. I didn’t need to see the clock to know it was barely six in the morning.

Her shoulders shook as she giggled. “When has that ever worked?”