Page 36 of Christmas Rings

“What is that?”

“I want a simple life. A family with you. And I’m wondering—what if we moved here? We could be close to your family. Once we have kids, we’ll have them to share the experience with.”

“Move here? But what about work?”

“You could get a teaching job here, couldn’t you? I mean, maybe not right away but eventually.”

“What would we live on?”

He grinned. “I’ve got some money stashed away. A lot, actually.”

“But you love your house.”

“We can find something here that we like just as much. This way, we’ll pick it out together.”

“I’d like to be closer to Mom and Nan. I love the seasons and the beauty.”

“Is that a yes?”

She picked up their glasses and handed one to him. “Yes, Mr. Marsh. Here’s to the future.”

“To you, Mrs. Marsh.”

They clinked glasses but instead of finishing their bottle, they headed for the bedroom.

On the second to the last day of the honeymoon and the last day of the year, Alissa woke feeling slightly nauseous. Her breasts were sore as well. She must be about to have her period. When had she had the last one? She couldn’t remember, given the trauma before the wedding. Since then, she’d been too busy loving on Jed to think of it at all.

Could she be pregnant?

She crept out of the warm bed, leaving Jed to sleep, and wandered out of the bedroom to the bathroom. Normally, coffee sounded good the moment she woke, but for some reason this morning the idea turned her stomach. Could she get into town to buy a test before Jed woke?

She mulled this idea over while brushing her teeth and changing into leggings and a sweater. Yes, she would go into town and get a pregnancy test. She was probably just late because of the stress of the wedding.

After looking in to see that Jed was still asleep, she wrote him a quick note that she was headed into town for a few things. Then, she grabbed his set of keys and crept out of the cabin. As she drove the icy road to town, she went back and forth. Did she want to be pregnant? There was so much uncertainty about their life right now. There was the house to sell back in Seattle. Jed’s job search. Her job search. A new house. Moving.

She took in a deep breath to steady her nerves. If she were pregnant, they would deal with it. Mom would be thrilled. So would Hailey.

Feeling like a teenager, she couldn’t make eye contact with the clerk as she put the test on the counter. Why hadn’t she grabbed a few other items to make it less obvious? She scanned the other people in line, praying none of her sisters were out for an early-morning shopping spree.

All the way back to the cabin, she went back and forth on what Jed would think. By the time she entered the cabin,she’d decided there was no way she was pregnant. They used birth control. She was just late.

Jed was frying up bacon in the small kitchen. “Hey, what did you get? Pancake mix by any chance? I’m craving them.”

“Um, no.” She clutched the paper sack to her chest. The smell of the bacon was making her feel even sicker. Was she going to vomit on her honeymoon?

“What then?” He turned down the burner and strode over to where she was still standing just inside the door. “Are you all right? You have a strange look on your face.”

She dropped the sack and ran for the bathroom, narrowly making it to the toilet before she threw up. When she was done, she flushed the toilet and brushed her teeth. She looked at herself in the mirror. White as a ghost. Maybe she just had the flu.

When she returned to the main room, Jed was standing by the couch with the pregnancy test in his hand. “Alissa?” His eyes were wide and not exactly frightened but nervous. “What’s happening right now?”

“I’m late.”

He took in a deep breath. “Okay, then. So, we might have had a shotgun wedding.”

She nodded. “We might have.”

He came around the couch and thrust the test into her hands. “Do it. We have to know.”

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