Page 38 of His Christmas Gift

“You’re sure?” he asked huskily as he pressed kisses to her flat belly, his eyes claiming every bit of her as she was laid bare on their bed.

“Ten tests all positive in the last three days sure enough for you?” she teased, nodding when sat up a bit, staring at her in surprise. “I was about five days late before I started testing, I wasn’t sure if it was my body going back to being out of whack or if it really was a baby. Once I saw the first test come up, I almost ran straight to the office to tell you, but I wanted to be completely sure, so, I asked Dr. Smythe is she’d do a blood test. She was away until today, so I just kept using the little strips, and about an hour after taking the third one today, she called and said she’d gotten the results of the blood test back and we were really, truly pregnant.”

“You’re the best Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten, princess. Never forget that,” he said, claiming her lips before claiming her body, his heart bursting with the love she always gave him.

Epilogue

Jasper slid through the crowd, his eyes glued to the sight of his stunning wife happily talking with some of their guests, their youngest daughter snug beside her. He couldn’t wait for their guests to leave, letting him spend the rest of the night with Melissa, celebrating their special day. No one else knew it was an anniversary for them. Only they celebrated this day—every year, he wrapped her up in his arms, letting her know he still loved her, adored her even more than the first night he’d kissed her, twenty years ago now.

He didn’t know how he’d been blessed to have not only her, but their four amazing kids as well. Their oldest, Avery—named for him at Melissa’s insistence was now eighteen, a senior in high school and well on his way to take over Hannover Electronics Global-Tech one day. He oversaw things with Melissa’s father still contributing, despite being seventy-five now. His mind was as sharp as ever and Avery loved electronics more than any of their other kids did, even their older daughter Bailey who was fourteen.

Their younger son Miller was sixteen and most definitely their most argumentative child. Thankfully, it wasn’t in a mean way. They all knew he was likely to follow family footsteps and get a law degree. His mind was made for it, but he also loved it. He did mock trails with his classmates every chance he got and was amazing at it. Jasper had no issues with him heading that route if it was what he happily chose.

Just as he wouldn’t have issues if Bailey followed his footsteps and got even more interested in the rest of his business holdings. She might look more like her mother than him—something he didn’t mind because his girls were absolutely gorgeous, but she had his mind, his love of business, and he was certain she’d succeed with ease.

Their youngest, Samantha, was now twelve, and a definite miniature of her mother. She loved helping Melissa plan their events, but she was also a bit shyer than her older siblings, perhaps because they all seemed to excel and live for academics, while Samantha didn’t have that same drive. She still did well in school, but if anything, he could see her becoming a preschool teacher than going into business. He’d taken steps the last year to ensure their little girl knew she didn’t have to be a shark if she didn’t want to be, and there was no shame in wanting a simpler, quieter life.

He now had the best of both because work wound him up in a good way, and then he came home to his family that quieted and soothed him. Spent his nights with the beauty that’d stolen his heart twenty years ago, and he’d never let her slip away from him. Not for anything.

Melissa smiled, dropping a kiss onto Samantha’s head, before glancing across the room, feeling loving eyes on her. Her smile gentled, seeing Jasper staring at them, and she knew tonight was certainly one he’d always remember—just as the one twenty years ago was always in her mind. The way she felt when he kissed her for the first time, promised her that they’d reach this day together.

He’d never broken a promise to her, not once in twenty years. It proved just how much he loved her, because as much as her father did, he’d broken more than one to her through the years, even if it wasn’t on purpose.

She moved through the house, up to the library once everyone was gone, and slid onto Jasper’s lap, curling up underneath the blanket with him as a fire flickered before them.

“Happy anniversary,” she whispered into his ear, smiling as his hand slip up her cheek, brushing the wisps of hair from her eyes.

“Happy anniversary, princess,” he replied, his lips gently teasing hers until she sighed, ready to burst with the news.

Jasper lifted his head, his eyes studying her, and his brow rose a bit, seeing the sparkle in her eyes she’d hidden all night. “Don’t tell me you got me a present. We said no gifts, Missy. We have more than enough.”

“Well, you helped with this one,” she mused, sending his brow a bit higher still. “Twenty years from now, you’ll tell me it was the best anniversary ever, I’m sure.”

His eyes widened a bit at that, and she kissed him softly, nodding at his surprise. “I know, I never say a thing about that far in the future, do I?”

“No, but I’ve always understood,” he promised, and she blinked away the tears that popped up, not about to cry because she was simply too happy for tears—even happy ones.

“Well, that’s actually the reason I can talk about it now with ease,” she said, laughing a bit at his continued confusion. “It’d been on my mind the last month and a half because I’ve been feeling off. Knowing about them and then with the way I was feeling, the worry started to creep in, and I didn’t want to put that on you.”

“Missy, you know that’s not what we do, princess. Ever since the stuff with Callum and the woman that killed him dying of cancer ten months later…we’ve always promised we wouldn’t keep stuff from one another,” he said and she nodded, leaning her cheek against his hand, smiling despite the reminder of the strangest time in their life.

It eventually came out that the woman knew she was dying and was desperate to support her family. She’d accepted an offer from one of the men Callum owed money to, to kill him and in return, her family would receive a hundred thousand dollars. The woman was told that Callum was almost dead as it was, wasn’t expected to survive but the family wouldn’t pull the plug, so-to-say. He’d taken out a life insurance policy on Callum shortly after loaning him the money, or according to the insurance company, he’d taken out a life insurance policy on an employee, so it wasn’t scrutinized until much later. With Callum in jail, he’d get nothing. Dead, he got a million dollars—three times what Callum had borrowed from him to party one more night, to keep Sonya from dumping him.

“I know, I just didn’t want to worry you or have you reassuring me that it’d be fine, and then turn out not to be,” she said, lifting her chin to kiss him, get the frown off his face. It wasn’t allowed. Only happy things tonight. “So, I called for an appointment a couple weeks ago, and they got me in on Friday. She ran tests and everything came back fine, but since I was worried that I was so close to the ages when my mom and grandmas died, she said she’d request family and death records to make sure she didn’t miss anything. I got a call just after you left this morning, with Rachel asking me to come in. I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest on the way there and while waiting for her.

“She came in and let me know that she’d gotten my mom’s autopsy and the death record for my grandma and let me know that they both died from a congenital heart defect. That of course made me worry that it was happening to me too,” she admitted, relaxing into Jasper when he tensed. “But it’s not going to, Jasp. I guess my dad and I are more alike than I realized because he knew what caused Mom’s death, and a couple months after the funeral, he had me tested. I had no idea what the test was for or really remember doing it, but it was in my records. My dad’s signature to do the tests, and the results that I didn’t have any defects detected. She assured me that it wasn’t something that would just suddenly appear and with everything else they ran looking fine, she had them run a dozen other tests to see why I might be experiencing dizziness, nausea, and tiredness.”

“What did she say? You’re far too happy to besicksick, so what is it?” Jasper asked, his eyes gliding over her face for reassurance.

“She asked one of the newer doctors to run whatever tests she’d run if a patient came in with my complaints, without telling her anything of my history and let her test for them. When Rachel said her intern’s first suggestion was to do a pregnancy test I just laughed. I mean, we haven’t used protection since I went off the pill to get pregnant with Avery. Rachel didn’t laugh though and then she asked to do an ultrasound and…” Melissa paused, reaching over to the table, and pulled out the photos she’d hidden there earlier. “She found a ten-week baby perfectly implanted inside me.”

“Missy!” Jasper gasped, his eyes growing larger when she lifted the photos into his line of sight. “Oh princess…everything’s okay with it then? You’re okay?” he added, his eyes returning to her face, a hint of worry there, but the excitement in his eyes matched her own.

“I’m a hint anemic which she suggested iron supplements for, and since I’m over forty it’s considered high risk, but she said everything with me and the baby looked fine. We’re due just after our wedding anniversary, so I’ll be forty-three, but there’s plenty of women my age that have had babies just fine. It’s not like we can’t afford the best doctors for what might come.”

“And twenty years from now, our youngest will be old enough to potentially be starting their own family,” Jasper said, his lips claiming hers, before they slid down to their room, celebrating privately.

Three days before Christmas she and Jasper left the doctor’s office, more ultrasound photos in their hands and a beautifully clean bill of health for their baby based on their amnio. It calmed her heart even more than knowing all four of her older babies had no heart defects as her mother had. Not to mention the apology from her father for not telling her when she was in a place to realize or remember why she’d had medical tests done when she was twelve.

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