Page 57 of Unexpected Gifts

“Ah, there you are again,” Luke said softly, his voice dropping to a murmur as he took her hand in his. “I like holding your hand.”

“I like holding your hand.” In fact, her hand fit perfectly in his. The way his thumb gently brushed against her skin gave her tingles up the back of her spine.

Abby looked up at him, their eyes meeting, and for a moment, the world around them seemed to quiet. The music, the laughter, even the cold—they all faded into the background.

Luke turned toward her, slowing down slightly so that they were face-to-face. He took both hands, skating backward. “Blue Christmas” played overhead.

“If we weren’t in public, I’d ask to kiss you,” Luke said.

“I would say yes.”

A lone snowflake landed on Luke’s hat. Then another and another.

“It’s snowing,” Abby said, glancing upward. Several flakes landed on her cheeks, and one caught in her lashes.

“Daddy. Abby. Look at me.” Lily twirled in a circle, her hat wobbling on top of her curls.

Luke chuckled, shaking his head. “She’s kind of a show-off.”

Abby smiled, giving his hand another squeeze as he led her forward. “She knows how loved she is, which makes her free to be herself. She’s lucky to have you.”

“Thanks for saying that. I couldn’t do it without my mother.”

“Divorce must have been really hard, especially with an infant.”

“In hindsight, Sarah and I were never a good match. I didn’t understand that at first. I’m a family guy. She didn’t want children. She hated rural life. Things were always hard betweenus, but I figured if I just worked harder to make her happy then all would be well. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t. Then, when she got pregnant—not planned—I thought she might lose some of her wanderlust. But she kept lamenting that she’d not had enough fun, and she wanted to travel and do things together, and now her life was over. As the days drew closer to her due date, she got nastier and more withdrawn. I had no idea what to do. When Lily finally came, I still had hope that motherhood would change her. But one day, I woke up to a note telling me she was leaving and not coming back.”

“Do you think she meant it? The not coming back part?”

“Yeah, she meant it. I mean, it’s been four years. If she were going to come back, she would have done it already. She gave me full custody and asked for nothing from me. So, no. She’s not a part of our lives. She won’t be.”

That was good to hear. All she needed was to fall in love with Luke Hayes and then have his ex-wife reappear and want her family back.

Luke continued. “She wasn’t happy here. She kept asking me to move away with her. Back to Dallas, where she was from. But I didn’t want to leave my family’s farm, and honestly, it wasn’t an option for me then or now. This farm is part of me. Part of Lily. I’d spent my whole life preparing for the day I’d take over for my dad.”

“How old was Lily when you split?”

“Split’s not the right word. She left me. Lily was only two weeks old.”

Abby didn’t know quite what to say. What sort of person left their baby? It was one thing to leave a relationship that wasn’t working, but to leave your child? She couldn’t understand it. Not for a minute.

“I know, it’s bad,” Luke said. “As bad as you’re imagining right now. My heart was broken and my mind reeling and I hadthis infant. It was completely overwhelming. For six months, I had a recurring nightmare that I’d fallen through the ice on the lake and was drowning.” He shuddered. “That’s when I moved back in with my folks. We’d been renting a place closer to town, but I let it go once Sarah was gone. Like I’ve said, without my mother, I would have been toast.”

“Two weeks old.” Abby shook her head. “I can’t imagine how you did it.”

“Same as you’re doing now. You adjust. You put the child first. You make it work.”

Ahead of them, Lily was now skating in between Jack and Sophie, each of the older children holding one of her hands.

“That’s ridiculously cute,” Abby said.

His voice sounded husky with emotion when he answered. “It truly is.”

They skated in silence for a few minutes, passing a man doubled over in laughter, the pretty dark-haired woman beside him looking much less amused.

“That’s Tag Lawrence,” Luke said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever heard him laugh before. He’s notoriously grumpy.”

“Maybe the magic of this place is working on him too?”

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