Page 6 of A Stag Family Christmas

She doesn't move, but starts mumbling about how she didn't think it would be this way. She says something about Thanksgiving, and I can tell she's spiraling, so I walk over to her and start massaging her temples. "Juniper Jones," I whisper into her ear. "I don't want you to worry about anything. Tell me what you need me to do."

She turns then and buries her face in my shirt, crying a little bit. "What's going to happen if I get elected," she asks. "You're gone half the time and then I'll be gone half the time and I don't even know where you put the laundry. Who is going to buy the bread for Thanksgiving?"

"Won't Alice bake the bread," I ask, trying to soothe her. But this just makes Juniper cry.

"I told her I'd get it," she sobs. "I wanted to feel like I could do this family dinner thing and still contributeandrun a campaignandget the damn tattoo, but I didn't even remember to get cash for the housekeeper."

I bend down and lift her out of her seat. Juniper is a tall woman. She's 5-10, and an athlete, but I'm a professional hockey player. I bench press more than she weighs. I know she loves that I can haul her around like she's weightless. Ok, maybe not weightless, but damn if I'll ever let her hear me struggle to lift her. "What tattoo, babe," I ask, carrying her to our room. I like that she’s tall enough to look me in the eye when we’re dancing.

I place her on the edge of our bed and get to work removing her office wear. She winces again, and I furrow my brow. She looks up at me with those big, brown eyes of hers and I kneel on the ground in front of her as she peels off her blouse. She twists to the side a bit and then I see it. My wife got the same tattoo as me and my brothers.

"Woah," I say. She smiles shyly. "Babe, that's fucking amazing."

"Do you like it? I wanted to feel close to you, especially since I never changed my name."

I kiss her skin all around the tattoo, careful not to touch it directly. "I fucking love it," I tell her. "Now I need one for you." She laughs. "I'm serious. What should I get? I’ll put your face on my other pec.” I tip her back on the bed and she falls asleep plotting out potential designs I could get inked on my chest. I pull out my phone to search for some images, and I remember that I never called Thatcher back.Shit,I think, looking at the screen. I missed about five calls from each of my brothers.

It's past midnight, so I don't bother calling Tim. I wouldn't want to wake up Petey. But Tim picks up when I call Thatcher’s phone.That’s weird,I think. "Hey," Tim says. "We have a situation." I look over at Juniper and, not wanting to wake her, either, I step back into the living room.

"What happened? Why are you answering Thatcher's phone?"

"Emma's pregnant," he says, his voice unreadable, like he's already in lawyer mode.

"Woah! That's amazing! Another nephew for Team Stag. Obviously it’ll be a boy. Fucking awesome," I start celebrating. This isn't like when Tim knocked up Alice after they were only together a few weeks. Emma's been with Thatcher for ages. "Will she have the baby at that midwife center where we were born? Where Alice had Petey?"

"Tyrion, Emma has epilepsy, remember?" And with that, Tim's words bring back the memory of how Emma had a big seizure at a family dinner once. She ended up in the hospital then, although she said that was mainly just a precaution.

"What does that mean? Is everything ok?" Tim explains that they're keeping her for observations, that she hasn't woken up yet from having another big seizure.

"They're going to do an ultrasound and check out the baby, try to figure out how far along she is. Her neurologist has to consult with some of the high-risk obstetricians to figure out a plan…basically they can't do anything until business hours tomorrow."

"Business hours? What is that--a bank? Fuck that shit! Tell them to get in the lab right now.” I look over at Juniper, still sleeping in our bed. "Do you need me to come in there and be famous?"

Tim sighs. "Not tonight, brother. There isn't much they can do until Emma wakes up, anyway. But maybe you can come spell me sitting with Thatcher? Alice and I have to get home and get Petey…when do you leave for Denver?"

"Fuck." My flight leaves in a few hours. NowI'mkicking the couch. My family needs me, my wife needs me. Everything is falling apart.

6

THATCHER

Nicole insists we wait for Emma to wake up before they do the ultrasound, even though the doc says they can roll a cart in here right now and check things out. Nicole gets right up in my face, flaring her nostrils at me, and I'm about to lose my damn mind when Tim and Alice rush into the room.

He puts a hand on my shoulder and I tense my whole body, not sure if I want to punch him just to release all this energy, or collapse against him like I'm ten years old and he's the only one I can lean on.

Tim pulls me into a hug and says, "We are going to figure all this out, Thatcher. All of us. Together." Alice grabs my hand and rubs my thumb and my breathing slows a little bit. I'm not sure how much time passes. Tim and Alice and Nicole cycle in and out, taking turns sitting with me by Emma's bed and I guess camping out in the waiting room. Who even knows.

It feels like one hundred years before Emma groans and opens her eyes, curling up in a ball on her side. "Shhh, Chezz." I put my face next to hers on the bed, my hand stroking her hair. I remember that she had terrible muscle aches the last time she had a seizure and I wonder if I should buzz someone to bring her any pain meds. “Emma, talk to me, please."

Her mouth works up and down, and side to side, before she meets my eyes and says, "Thatcher." A single tear spills out from one eye, and I bite my lip, wanting to take all this away from her and knowing it can't. "I thought I was done having seizures. I thought I was going to be normal." She starts to cry, and I kiss her forehead, trying to soothe her with gentle touches.

"You are perfect, Emma. You know that, right? You're perfect to me. You're my everything." I climb into the bed and try to scoop her into my lap without disrupting her IV, but all the commotion sets off a series of beeps on her IV pole. It's probably just as well, because the nurse comes in so I ask her if there's anything she can give Emma for her aching muscles.

The nurse frowns at me, but I'm not going to leave my Chezz and climb out of this bed without a fight. "Can you go get Dr. Khalsa?" My voice is sharper than I intend, but I've never had a pregnant girlfriend before and fuck everyone standing in the way of me knowing answers.

Emma settles in against my shoulder and asks me what happened. I'm not sure if she remembers the fight we were having before her seizure, but I leave that part out and ensure her I called her doctor right away and drove her here to meet with him. "I actually don't know how long ago that was, Chezz. I think it might be morning by now…"

Nicole and, inexplicably, Ty come into the room just then. "Emma!" Ty crouches by the bed so she doesn't have to look up at his big, tall mug. "Listen. I have to fly out in like fifteen minutes, but I couldn't leave town without coming in to see if you were doing ok."

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