Page 66 of Bound by Their Christmas Baby

‘What is it?’ Ivy asked again.

‘It’s a tradition,’ Abby whispered, then smiled brightly, lifting the decoration so Ivy and Holly could see the delicate etchings on each side. It was of the castle, she realised, a single tear running down her cheek.

‘Stop that!’ Holly said with a laugh, dabbing at it with a tissue. ‘You’ll ruin your make-up.’

‘Why do we cry when we’re happy?’ Abby asked with a laugh. ‘Because I am. Happier than I ever thought I’d be.’

‘Just about as happy as you deserve, I’d say,’ Holly said kindly, running a palm over her rounded tummy. ‘Shall I get your father?’

Abby sucked in a deep breath and nodded. ‘Yes. I’m ready.’

‘Come on, you two.’ Holly held her hands out to the children and guided them from the room. Abby wasn’t alone for long. A moment later, Lionel walked in, his expression guarded until he looked at his daughter, properly looked at her, and then was arrested where he stood, unable to keep walking.

‘You look…’ He shook his head. ‘You are so like her,’ he said slowly.

Abby ignored the twisting of her heart, the pain that came from knowing she would always be just a reflection of her mother to him. It was enough that he was there—not because she wouldn’t have been happy to marry without her father’s presence, but because it was yet another proof of the myriad ways in which Gabe loved her. There had been many testaments to that fact over the two years since they’d become engaged, and each reminder of how special she was to him filled her with a rush of pleasure.

‘Shall we?’

Lionel nodded, holding his arm out for Abby. She put her hand in the crook of his arm, took one last look at herself and smiled. ‘Let’s go then.’

They walked towards the stairs of the castle, but at the top, before they came into view of the wedding guests, he paused, turning to face his daughter, a frown on his face.

It was natural for Abby to experience a jolt of anxiety. She didn’t want he

r father to be there to only ruin the day. She waited, her breath held, for what he would say.

‘I do love you, Abby. I know I’m not a good father. After your mother died I just couldn’t be anything to anyone.’ He shook his head. ‘My business was everything. I look at you now and I realise I don’t know anything about the young woman you’ve become.’

Abby expelled a sigh of relief. ‘There’s time to get to know me, Dad. Our door is open to you.’

And tears sparkled in his eyes as he shook his head. ‘That’s better than I deserve.’

Abby tilted her head. ‘Yes,’ she agreed with a teasing smile—the smile of a woman so completely in love and content that nothing could bring her down for long.

They began to walk once more, and halfway down the stairs the makeshift wedding venue came into sight. The foyer had been decorated with another huge tree—their third in the castle—and seats had been set to view it. She couldn’t see her groom yet, though. That moment was reserved for when she and Lionel reached the ground floor and moved forward.

Then Abby’s heart jolted in recognition of her mate, her partner, her purpose.

He stood, tall and handsome, in front of the tree, dressed in a jet-black tuxedo with a crisp white shirt, but it was his eyes that almost felled her. They were boring into her with the intensity that was part and parcel of his love for her.

She smiled at him, a smile of love, of understanding. As the music began to play she walked down the aisle with her father.

Noah stood beside Gabe and, as they got close, Gabe turned to his best friend and nodded at something Noah said. Noah turned to look at his own wife before patting Gabe on the back.

Later, after the ceremony, when they were dancing at the reception, their guests surrounding them with happiness and love, Abby asked her husband what Noah had said.

‘He said we’ve done it.’ Gabe grinned.

‘Done what?’

‘Outgrown our childhoods.’ And for a second he frowned, but it was the work of an instant, then he was her Gabe once more, self-assured, arrogant, perfect.

She lifted onto tiptoe and kissed his lips softly. She would spend the rest of her life trying to erase the pain of his upbringing. Starting now.

‘I sometimes find it hard to imagine Noah ever being like you described. He’s so strong, like you.’

‘He’d been badly hurt,’ Gabe said quietly. ‘And often. There aren’t many people who could weather what he did…’

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