Mary Jo was right. This was the best Christmas Eve of his life. Of all their lives.
20
Mary Jo woke to find Mack McAfee standing in the doorway of her private hospital room. “Mack,” she whispered. Her heart reacted to the sight of him, pounding extraordinarily hard. She hadn’t been certain she’d ever see him again.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, walking into the room.
“Fine.” Actually, she was sore and tired and eager to get home, to be with her family.
“I brought you something.”
“You did?” She sat up in bed and selfconsciously brushed her fingers through her hair.
Mack produced a bouquet of roses, which he’d been hiding behind his back. “For you, Mary Jo.” He bowed ever so slightly.
“My goodness, where’d you get these on Christmas Day?”
He raised his eyebrows. “I have my ways.”
“Mack.”
“Oh, all right, I got them in the hospital gift shop.”
“They’re open?”
“Sort of…I saw someone I knew who had a key and she let me in.”
Mary Jo brought the fragrant flowers to her nose and breathed in their fresh scent. The vase was lovely, too. “You shouldn’t have, but I’m thrilled you did.”
“I wasn’t sure your brothers would remember to send flowers.”
Her brothers. Just thinking about the three of them, all bumbling and excited, made her want to laugh. They’d practically shoved each other out of the way last night, fussing over her and the baby. They’d been full of tales about their misadventures in Cedar Cove and the people they’d met and their near-arrest. Mel had a few comments about a meat loaf sandwich, too—and then they’d all decided they were hungry again. Their gifts of the gold coin, the perfume and the incense were on the bedside table.
When they’d arrived at the hospital, her brothers wouldn’t let her out of their sight—until the physician came into the room to examine her and then they couldn’t leave fast enough.
They’d returned for a few minutes an hour later—apparently well-fed—to wish her a final good-night and promise to come back Christmas Day. Then they’d all trouped out again.
“I stopped at the nursery to see…” Mack paused. “Do you have a name for her yet?”
Mary Jo nodded. “Noelle Grace.”
“Noelle for the season and Grace after Grace Harding?”
Mary Jo smiled, nodding again.
“I like it,” Mack told her. “The name’s just right. Elegant and appropriate.”
His approval pleased her. She didn’t want to think too closely about how much his opinion meant to her—or why. She understood that they’d shared something very special, something intimate, while she was in labor. But that didn’t mean the bond they’d experienced would last, no matter how much she wanted it to. She had to accept that Mack had come into her life for a brief period. Soon she’d go back to Seattle with her family, and he’d go on living here, in Cedar Cove. It was unlikely that she’d see him again; there was no real reason to. The thought was a painful one.
“Noelle Grace was a joy to behold,” Mack said with a grin.
“Was she asleep?”
“Nope, she was screaming her head off.”
Mary Jo instantly felt guilty. “Oh, the staff should’ve woken me. It’s probably her feeding time.”
Mack pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed. “Nope, she just needed her diaper changed and to be held a little.”
“Did someone hold her?” The nursery was crowded with newborns and there were only a couple of nurses on duty.
“I did,” Mack admitted, somewhat embarrassed.
“You?”