Page 90 of Second Chance Baby

But his parents wereright there. And I absolutely needed them to be.

He laughed and abided my wishes, rising to give me a kiss worthy of all time before he popped his father’s box to show me my unbelievably lovely rings. The engagement ring was a solitaire diamond surrounded by tiny rubies, my birthstone, shooting off many points of fire. I held out my hand and he slipped it on, lifting it to kiss my knuckles once the diamond was securely in place. I drew back my hand to admire the beautiful ring, and then I threw myself into his arms. “This is the best day of my life, Travis Edmund Masterson.”

“Mine too.” His dimples winked as he moved back a fraction to grin at me. “Shit, that means now I gotta make the wedding even better.” He glanced back at his father. “Any ideas?”

Hank grinned broadly before stepping around his son to draw me into a hug. “Nope. I think you’re off to a great start doing it your way so far, so keep it up.”

Travis laughed. “Why did I know you’d say I was on my own?”

“Nope, you aren’t.” I disentangled myself from his father to go into Travis’s arms once more. My very favorite place to be. “You’ll never be on your own again.”

BRIDGET

We’d been enjoying decoratingas a family for months. We had gone full bore for spooky season, including my Wonder Woman costume and Travis’s vampire one so we could hand out candy on Halloween. Carrington had rocked her beautiful witch costume, and Amerie and Lacey had come over to join us too. They’d been the cutest mouse and a very non-frightening ghost, which had been the quickest costume my older sister could come up with while working a lot of overtime at the Saving Hearts’ foundation’s office.

But now I was studying a brand-new holiday display.

Bright red and white striped candy canes lined the walkway to the front porch, interspersed with twinkling red and green bulbs. I’d done my best to arrange things just so, but even I couldn’t have planned this perfectly Christmassy snowfall to coincide with my display unveiling. The fine dusting layered over all of the decorations, adding just the right touch of holiday goodness. I pulled my Santa jacket into place, adjusting the padding under my coat. Soon, I’d have my very own padding and wouldn’t need any help.

Would I ever.

I tipped back my head as John and Murphy clambered down off the roof after setting into place the sleigh they’d put together, complete with not eight, but nine reindeer, the first of course with a glowing red nose for Rudolph. The extra reindeer was a creative way to announce my fun news, but then, I’d needed a tenth one. Believe me, finding a single reindeer to match had been a merry chase around all the stores in the surrounding area.

Not that I was even the first among the Masterson kids’ spouses to be in this situation,but I could guarantee Travis would be shocked as hell after he touched down from his recent modeling trip.

Quite possibly one of his last ones, considering our news.

We’d already been booked for nearly a dozen shoots during the last two months. That hotel scene had definitely changed our lives in more than one way. Our personal stock had skyrocketed, and so many places had wanted to capitalize on our second chance love affair energy. At least that was what one couples’ resort had called it after hiring us.

They loved us so much they’d offered us an all inclusive honeymoon to Bali as a bonus. We hadn’t found time to take it just yet, but I’d be pushing for that very soon. I only had so long to get my delicious husband naked on a beach before our lives changed again.

We even had a bonus honeymoon I’d already paid for. I was pretty sure we’d definitely need that getaway.

A sweet baby moon perhaps.

Once Travis officially proposed, we’d practically raced to get married. At Cove Falls, no less, the very place Travis had originally wanted to propose to me. But November gifted us with a stretch of surprisingly warm, idyllic weather. And because the Masterson clan was well-versed in weddings at this point, we had even gotten the priest who had married Christian andHoney. It seemed like five minutes later, we were Mr. and Mrs. Masterson.

Unfortunately, our hotel hookup hadn’t ended in a pregnancy. That first negative test had rocked me a little. I’d been so sure I was pregnant.

Then lo and behold, here we were. I cupped my mostly still unchanged belly.

“It looks so festive,” I said mistily as Moose ducked into the garage to flick a switch. It wasn’t quite to the Griswolds’ Christmas madness in scope, and thankfully, there were no mishaps with the wires here. It was simply perfect.

A row of white lights framed the roof and began to blink in time with Frank Sinatra’s “White Christmas,” one of my personal favorite holiday songs currently playing from unseen speakers.

At the same moment, a train that could be a replica of the one fromPolar Expresschugged around the perimeter of the lawn on a track—also put together by John and Moose—and apparently, my husband too.

He’d started all these decorations weeks ago as part of his new sideline business with John and Murphy before taking off for one of his final modeling gigs—Dad Bod Decorations was officially their new super high-end decorating and design company.

From the way Moose’s lips had twitched the whole time he’d spilled the beans about it, I still half believed he was pulling my leg. The echo of a long ago joke from Travis about loving him even with a dad bod had left me giggling as John assured me that it was a real business, incorporated and all.

What a life we were going to have.

Imagining Travis’s expression as he took in all of this made me bury my face in my hands, but I wasn’t crying. I was too overjoyed to cry.

That would probably happen when my daughter, elf-in-training, arrived home from her best friend’s house. She was my partner in crime for this crazy caper.

A few minutes later, Missy’s mom dropped off Carrington. She was already wearing her very festive elf outfit to match my Santa Claus. I hugged her so hard that she started squirming.

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