Love Promises (Sully Point, Book 4) (19 page)

"I thought so," Anna said. "You two
are going to be okay. Think about it. He could have packed up his car and
driven out of town. You're the only thing keeping him here in Sully Point. The
fact that he mentioned marriage at all in connection with the baby is a good
sign. It's obvious how much he loves you."

Maggie felt the blood drain from her face.
"You don't think he might have left town in the night do you? Because I
told him not to come back?"

"You told him not to come back forever?"

"No, but what if he interpreted it that
way?"

"I would suggest that you don't let yourself
get carried away...again."

A knock on the door interrupted the conversation.
Maggie jumped up and ran to the door. Maybe it was Eric, she thought. But a
stranger was standing at the door, holding out a bouquet of flowers.

"Maggie Carter?" he asked.

"Yes, that's me."

"These are for you, ma'am."

He handed the flowers to her and then took off
down the stairs. She closed the door and carried the flowers into the kitchen.

"How beautiful they are," Anna said.
"From Eric?"

"Wait--here's the card. Actually, it's
several cards. What did he do? Write a book? You hold these while I read it. 'I
didn't know your favorite flower, so I picked out one from every bunch that was
beautiful like you. I love you very much. I hope we can resolve our
differences. I want you to know that I am very happy about the situation. I
would use the right word but it would be all over town. Call me, please, and
tell me you want me back.'"

Maggie felt the tears running down her face.
"I hate all this crying! Did he actually send me flowers asking to
'resolve our differences?' Doesn't that sound weird to you?"

Anna shook her head. "Don't you see what he
was doing? He didn't want to give away that you are pregnant. The gossip would
be all over town by lunchtime."

"Oh! I didn't think of that. Okay."

"Are you going to call him?"

Maggie thought about it, while putting the flowers
in a vase. They were a multi-colored riot of blooms, made up of roses, irises,
gerbera daisies, orchids, mums and more. They looked so unlike what she would
imagine her logical Eric would choose. They looked like her.

"Yes, I'll call him." She turned to face
Anna and placed the vase on the table. "But we still have things to work
out. Flowers don't just make it all okay."

Anna nodded. "Of course. But they are a
lovely start." She gathered up her handbag and put on her coat. "I
think you'll do fine now. I'll leave you alone to call him."

Maggie hugged her and kissed her cheek.
"Thank you once again, for always being there in my hour of need. I'll
call you later."

"Good luck!"

Maggie leaned against the door for a minute after
closing it. Did the flowers and the words on the card mean that they could work
things out? It was time to find out. She took her phone out of her pocket and
called him.

"Maggie! I'm so glad you called. You got my
message then?"

"Yes, at least I think so. You were pretty
good at being circumspect on the wording."

"I figured you didn't want the whole town to
know yet."

"You were right. Did you mean what you said
in the cards?"

"Yes. I love you Maggie, for forever,
remember? I was in shock, stunned, and acted like an idiot. Can we meet to talk
sometime today?"

"You could come by after you're through with
the computers, if you want."

"Okay--no--wait. Tonight is the first night
of caroling."

"Oh."

"But I could come by when we're done. How
does that sound?"

Maggie felt relief. "That sounds good. I'll
see you then."

"I love you."

"Love you, too." She ended the call and
took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He did still love her. That much
at least was right between them. Maybe there was a way for this to turn out
okay.

She went back into the kitchen and cleaned up the
dishes. Then in a flurry of energy, she vacuumed and dusted everywhere in the
apartment. Next up was an optimistic changing of the sheets on the bed. She'd
just finished cleaning the bathroom when she got a call from Cody asking her to
take over at the food drive operation because they were short-handed.

Feeling much more grounded than she had in days,
she changed clothes and headed out. On the drive over to the building they were
using for the food drive, it occurred to her that she had done no work at all
for the past week or so on the Sully Point Project. Realistically, there wasn't
much she could do at this point, especially during the holiday season. After
Christmas she was going to tell everyone that she was out. There were plenty of
good P.R. people in the city that could take over.

Being pregnant, knowing she was experiencing
something truly important, was making her see the world with different eyes.
Eyes that looked honestly at the parts of her life that needed changing. Her
work was the biggest and most obvious one. How could she expend time, energy,
and creativity on work that she didn't have a passion for, a joy in doing?

She was going to be a role model for a child. She
wanted to pass on a joy in life, in everything she did. Yes, sometimes life
requirements meant that a person couldn't work in the field that they cared
most about. But she believed in those cases it was vital to have something
outside of work to bring satisfaction and fulfillment to life. Her arts and
crafts had given her that over the past couple of years.

She parked and went inside the first floor. It was
the building with the loft apartment that so many Graingers had used for one
reason or another. Now they were using it for the organization of the food and
toy giveaway. She walked into chaos. People and boxes, wrapping paper and bows,
a ringing phone, and a radio blaring Christmas music almost overwhelmed her.
But she threw her shoulders back, took a deep breath, and yelled,
"Everybody stop!" Then she whistled loudly with two fingers at her
lips.

The noise abated somewhat and she went to the
radio and turned it off. Everyone seemed to sigh with relief at the silence.
"Let's get organized people. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and our big day.
Any questions, come see me. Also, I want everybody's cell phone set to vibrate,
please. I'll answer the phone line coming into this room. Now, chop, chop, get
to work, elves!"

Laughter filled the room and then a productive
murmur as people returned to their jobs. Five people lined up with questions
for her, which she handled smoothly. Soon she had the room divided into
sections, with about half of it devoted to completed boxes and gifts packaged
to go out on the trucks tomorrow. A double refrigerator sat at the back of the
room, filled with gallons of milk and hams. The delivery plan involved pick-up
trucks and SUVs and plenty of volunteers. If everything worked out, the
computer deliveries and food deliveries would all finish up by late tomorrow
afternoon. Maggie was just glad that Sully Point was a small town. She couldn't
imagine working with one of the big city charities that served so many more
people. At least here, she knew they were helping everyone who needed help. No
one would be overlooked.

By around six that evening, she knew they were all
set for the next day. Every toy had been wrapped and labeled, and every food
package was ready to go. Cody had stopped by and been thrilled to see how
organized it had become.

Maggie was exhausted. She went home and fixed some
vegetable soup from her freezer. After a quick shower, she tumbled into her bed
for a nap. The next thing she knew was Eric kissing her lips.

* * * *

He'd come in and thought the apartment was empty at
first, until he had walked into bedroom to find her there. She looked so peaceful
he didn't want to wake her. But he couldn't resist kissing her softly. Violet
eyes stared into his and then she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him
down to lie beside her.

"Oh Eric, I'm so glad you're here."

"I didn't really mean to wake you up, but I
couldn't keep from kissing you. I missed you."

She smiled at him. "I missed you, too. I'm
sorry I was so mean and awful."

"And I'm sorry I was stupid and
unthinking."

"Okay, at least that's out of the way,"
she said. "Now what?"

He gave her a hug. "Now, we should talk.
About everything. Until we both understand each other and feel like we are in
agreement. I know that we should do that. But all I want is to make love to
you."

"I like that plan," she said, and
proceeded to kiss him thoroughly.

Much later, his stomach rumbled and she heard it.
"Is your stomach growling? Didn't you eat dinner?"

"I was in too big a hurry to get here. Do you
think you can handle my fixing some food? Will it upset your stomach?"

"I have no idea, but let's give it a try. I
could eat something more."

They got out of bed and she put on a robe, while
he tugged on the flannel pajama bottoms he usually wore around the place at
night, with a sweatshirt. He spied the eclairs in the fridge. "All
right!"

"Eric, you are not going to eat all my
eclairs instead of supper. Look, there's some turkey and provolone cheese for
sandwiches and I picked up rolls today from the bakery, so they are nice and
fresh. Mm, mustard. I want lots of mustard on mine."

When he saw her slather mustard all over her
sandwich, he managed not to say anything about how it might be
pregnancy-related. He wolfed down one sandwich, and then made another. She'd
finished hers by the time he polished off his second.

"Now about those eclairs..." he wiggled
his eyebrows at her suggestively.

She giggled. An actual giggle, and somehow that
lifted his heart. "Go ahead," she said with a wave of her hand.

As he ate the pastry that was filled with a
deliciously creamy custard filling, he gazed at Maggie's face. She looked relaxed
and happy, licking some chocolate icing off a fingertip. "You look
beautiful."

She blinked and stared at him.

"Did I say that out loud?"

She smiled and said, "Yes, you did. You're
not so bad yourself."

"I haven't come right out and said it, but I
want you to know that I want this baby," he said, trying to put as much
conviction as possible into his voice. She had to understand.

She looked at him steadily. "But this wasn't
in your plan for our future."

"No, it wasn't. And I was surprised, stunned
actually. And I handled the news badly. I couldn't seem to wrap my head around
something so momentous. But when I had time to think, I realized just how
miraculous and wonderful it is that you're pregnant. This baby is made from our
love, from each of us. How could I not love him or her already?"

Maggie stared at him with wide shining eyes. Then
she got up and walked around the table to him. He turned in his chair to face
her. She placed her hands on his face and kissed him lightly. "That's all
I wanted to hear from the very beginning."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"What about the wedding?" he asked, with
a decent amount of trepidation.

"Don't you want your parents to be there? If
we move the wedding up, they will still be gone."

"I have money. I can send a plane for them or
something. I'm not concerned about what the rest of the world thinks about your
being pregnant. I just thought it would be good for our kid, in case he ever
adds up months and dates. I wouldn't want him to think we had to get married
because of him."

"Oh, I didn't realize that was where you were
coming from. Although, he would still know. You really want to go ahead now?"

He nodded and put an arm around her, and she leaned against
him. "How about we wait and talk to my parents about it? In particular my
mother, since she's the one who has been planning my wedding since I was a
kid."

Eric laughed. "That is an excellent
idea." He thought that he would need all the help he could get when it
came to her parents. Asking for advice from them was a good start.

As for his own parents, he knew they'd be thrilled
he'd found someone. His mother had been worried enough about him not having a
girlfriend that she'd sat him down to have a talk about it. She seemed to feel
that no matter how busy he was, he should still have had someone in his life.
At the time, he totally disagreed with her, believing all his focus should be
on his work. Now, though, he understood what she'd meant. Having someone in his
life did not distract him, but instead, added to his life, making it richer and
fuller.

"My parents are going to be surprised,"
he said. "I sent them a message about us getting engaged. But this they
won't be expecting."

"They'll probably think I did it on purpose
or something like that. It's always the girl's fault." She paused and then
said, "And that's the truth in this case, since I forgot to take the
stupid pill."

"You having our baby--that has nothing to do
with fault. I think it was meant to be. So don't go putting yourself
down."

She sighed and kissed him again. "You really
are good for me." She yawned.

"Tired?"

"Yes, a little bit. Let's go sit in bed and
watch a movie on the laptop."

Eric liked the way she snuggled up next to him in
bed, her head against his chest. He felt so protective of her and the baby.
They watched
Love, Actually
and fell asleep before the end. He woke up
just enough to close the laptop and set it on the floor by the bed. As he slid
down under the covers, he thought drowsily that he would have to send Julia
some flowers too, in thanks.

The morning arrived in loud rock and roll. Eric
raised his head off the pillow in confusion. It was...the Rolling Stones? He
realized the music was coming from the living room and that Maggie was not by
his side. He heard her voice over the top of the music, singing along with
Jumpin'
Jack Flash
.