CelebrationAfterDarkKobo Read Online Free

of laughter from her. “Sure she does.”
    “Is it over for now?”
    “I think so.”
    “Let’s get you back to bed for a while.” He helped her up and kept his hands on her hips while she brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth. Then he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to bed. That she rested her head on his shoulder rather than protesting him carrying her indicated how lousy she felt.
    He laid her gently on the bed, pulled the comforter up and over her and then got back into bed with her.
    She shivered violently. “Freezing.”
    “Let me warm you up.”
    Maddie curled up to him, and Mac wrapped his arms around her, tucking her in as close to him as he could get her. “I’m sorry you’re suffering so much this time around.”
    “It’s fine. Whatever I have to do.”
    Mac rubbed small circles on her back. “How’re the boobs feeling?”
    “Awful. They’re so sore.”
    He kissed her forehead. “My poor baby.”
    “I refuse to think of myself as anything other than a lucky mommy who’s getting another chance.”
    “Still, it sucks that you feel so crappy.”
    “This too shall pass, and at the end of it, we’ll have a healthy, beautiful baby. I hope.”
    He hated that she felt the need to add those two little words at the end. “Victoria said there’s no reason to believe we have anything to worry about this time.”
    “We didn’t think we had anything to worry about last time, and I went around telling everyone how I didn’t really want to be pregnant, how it was all a big comic accident.”
    “It was a comic accident, and no one thought you wanted to lose him, Maddie. Not for one second did anyone think that.”
    “I like to think I’ve learned my lesson just the same.”
    They were quiet for a long time, with only the pinging of icy snow against the windows marking the silence.
    “Do you think you’ll feel up to going tonight?”
    “Even if I don’t, I’m going. Wouldn’t miss it. Besides, we don’t need everyone speculating as to why I’m sick all the time.”
    In light of what’d happened the last time, they’d agreed to keep the news to themselves for a few months. However, with Maddie so sick, the people closest to them were beginning to wonder what was up. “Let them speculate. We’ll tell them when we’re ready to.”
    “The day he’s born?” she asked with a laugh.
    It was good to hear her laugh, even if she was being sarcastic. “Maybe a little before then.”
    “What’ll we name him?”
    She’d been reluctant to talk too much about the baby that was due next summer, so he took it as a good sign when she asked about a name.  
    “I’m thinking Malcolm John the Third has a nice ring to it.”
    “We can’t call him Mac. We’ve got too many Macs as it is.”
    “A family can never have too many Macs,” he said.
    She rolled her eyes. “That’s what you think.”
    “We’ll call him Malcolm. Why not? It’s a good name. His friends will call him Mal. I like that.”
    “I like it, too. What if he is a she ?”
    “Since there’s no way in hell she’s going to be born during a tropical storm the way Hailey was, we’ll have to come up with something for a girl that isn’t the name of a storm.”
    “We’ve got plenty of time.”
    “Go back to sleep for a while, hon. I’ll get up with the kids.”
    “You’re the best husband I’ve ever had,” she murmured.
    “I’d better be the only husband you ever have, Mrs. McCarthy.”
    “Mmm, no one else but you.”
    That was all he needed to hear. Someday they’d be celebrating their fortieth anniversary. He had absolutely no doubt about that.

    In Providence, Adam McCarthy woke to the sound of sobs coming from the bathroom in the hotel room he’d shared with his fiancée, Abby Callahan. Hearing her heartbroken sounds reminded him of the disastrous day they’d endured yesterday when Abby had been diagnosed with something neither of them had ever heard of—polycystic ovary syndrome.
    At least they