Page 40 of The Christmas Eve Delivery

LYDIA

“Miles? Oh, my God, Miles is that you?”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was taking my daily doctor prescribed walk when a car pulled up and he climbed out. I haven’t seen him for months. I honestly never expected to see him again. It had been so long. I ran to him. I wasn’t so pregnant that I waddled, but I didn’t move with anything that could closely resemble grace.

He had a confused smile on his face. He looked me in the eyes, and then he looked down at my stomach, and then he looked back up at my face.

“Lydia? This is unexpected,” he said.

I wrapped my hands around my stomach and grinned. “Yeah, it certainly is. You’ve been gone so long and I didn’t have any way to get in touch with you.”

“Get in touch with me?” he asked. “Why would you need to do that?” His tone was very cautious.

“Because, silly.” I laughed as I rubbed my hand over my belly. “You’re going to be a father.”

The expression of the confusion across his face grew deeper as he tried to understand the words I said. His mouth tried to form words, but he seemed to be struggling when it came to making any sounds. His brows pinched together, relaxed, lifted up almost to his hairline before returning to being slightly pinched in the middle. And he blinked continuously. This news was clearly a bit of a shock for him.

I may not have told anybody else who the father was. It was none of their business. However, this very much was his business.

“Oh, wow, you didn’t say anything the last time I was in town.”

I giggled nervously, questioning whether or not I had actually done the right thing by telling him like this in the middle of the street.

“I didn’t actually know the last time you were here. I didn’t figure it out until a couple of days after you left.”

“You didn’t say anything,” he repeated.

I bit my lip as nervous butterflies danced through my stomach. Or maybe that was the baby deciding it was time to flip around and make its presence known.

“I didn’t have any way of contacting you,” I told him. “I never had your phone number and had no way of contacting you. I didn’t expect you to be gone so long between visits. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have sprung this on you.” I may have taken a step back as I realized I'd messed up.

Miles reached out for me. “No, no. It’s just a bit of a shocker. This is amazing, and it’s mine?”

I nodded.

“This is amazing,” he said again as he stepped in close and pulled me into an embrace. “I never expected this.”

“Me either,” I admitted. Those nervous flutters in my stomach went into overdrive. I really didn’t want this to send him running back to the city, at least not before I got his phone number.

“I thought I was only going to be up here for a couple of days, but with this I don’t know…” It seemed more like he was muttering to himself than speaking to me.

“Are you planning on going back right away?” I asked.

“God, no, Lydia. Why would I do that?”

“Well, I mean, I did kind of drop a baby bomb on you right here in the middle of the street.”

“True, but that means I have to think on my feet. Should you be out walking around?”

“Yes, I should be out walking around. It’s very healthy for me. Where were you headed?” I asked, pointing to his car.

“I was going to the inn,” he admitted.

I couldn’t help but smile. He was coming back to me.

“Where are you going?”

“I was just taking a little walk. Miss Griffin is watching the front desk, and my doctor said I need to make sure I’m exercising every day.”

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