1225 Christmas Tree Lane - Debbie Macomber [36]
“Can we go back to the house soon?” Danielle pleaded.
“I’ll head over there now,” Kent told her. He glanced at Beth and grinned boyishly. “Okay, navigator, which way?”
“Recalculating, recalculating,” she said, using the tinny voice of her car’s navigational system.
Kent laughed and turned the sleigh around when he came to a place where that was possible.
“Do you ever think back to those early years?” he asked with his attention focused on the road ahead. “When we were first married…”
The snow was coming down thicker and faster, making for limited visibility.
“I…try not to, but yes, I do.” She hadn’t wanted to admit that, but it seemed senseless to deny the truth. “You?”
“Sometimes.” He paused. “What happened to us, Beth?”
“I…wish I knew.”
“Me, too.”
“Are we there yet?” Danielle asked plaintively.
A question hovered on the end of Beth’s tongue but she refused to ask it. If Kent was looking for a second wife who was completely her opposite, he’d found that woman in Danielle. She and Beth were about as dissimilar as any two women could be. Perhaps that was what he wanted. The thought depressed her…. Unless he was telling the truth and Danielle really was just a friend. But in that case, why did she stick to Kent like glue? Why had he even brought her to Cedar Cove?
“Mom?” Bailey asked. “My birthday’s in September—when did you get pregnant with me?”
“Bailey!” Beth was shocked that her daughter would ask such a question, especially in front of Danielle.
“Christmas Eve,” Kent answered.
“Really? Wow. You’re sure?”
“Yup.”
“So tonight’s more of a celebration than I realized.”
“What about me?” Sophie wanted to know.
“Easter,” Beth said. “It was an early Easter that year. We were at your parents’. Remember, Kent?”
His eyes widened as the memory drifted back. He caught her eye and they both struggled to contain their amusement. They’d slept in the guest bedroom, which was just down the hall from his parents’ room. Their bed squeaked…so they’d rolled onto the floor and Kent’s foot had become tangled in the lamp cord and the lamp came crashing down on him. On hearing the crash, his mother had knocked on the door to make sure everything was all right. It’d been a comedy of errors.
“What’s so funny?” Danielle demanded.
Beth felt guilty for being so rude as to exclude everyone else from their private conversation. “I apologize, Danielle,” she said, turning around. “Kent and I were…just remembering something that happened years ago.”
“I was the result,” Sophie announced proudly.
“Can we talk about something different?” Danielle said, clearly not amused.
“Of course,” Beth assured her.
“I always wanted a brother,” Bailey said. “An older brother.”
“You got your sister instead.”
“Yeah. And not only that, she’s younger.”
“I never had a sister,” Danielle said. “And my brother was younger and a real nuisance. He used to spy on me and my friends.”
“Sophie used to spy on me.”
“Did not.”
“Did, too.”
“Girls,” Beth said, annoyed by their behavior. “You’re out of grade school. Please act like it.”
They broke into peals of laughter.
“What?” Beth turned again to see what her daughters were laughing about now.
“Mom, you’re so predictable. That’s exactly what we told Danielle you’d say.”
Kent pulled the sleigh over to the shed and handed the reins to Beth while he jumped down. He helped Sophie out first, then Danielle and Bailey.
“I’ll take the sled over to the Nelsons’,” Beth said, but before she could set off, Kent leaped back into place beside her.
“I’ll go with you.”
“That isn’t necessary,” she told him, thinking he’d want to be inside with the others.
“Yes, it is. You aren’t going to argue with me, are you?”
“I…no.”
“Good, because it would be very tempting to stop you the way I used to once upon a time.”
Beth swallowed hard. She’d forgotten. In the early days of their marriage, anytime she disagreed with him, Kent would take her in his arms and kiss her.
Chapter 10
“Honey, can you get the door?” Corrie called from the back bedroom. She