Free The Night Before Christmas by Mary McNear

“That was quite a kick,” she said. “The baby’s been doing that a lot today.”
    He put his hand, gingerly, back onto her belly. “Remember when the kicks used to be these little fluttery things?” he asked her. “It almost felt like you had butterflies trapped in there.”
    â€œWell, not anymore,” Allie said, nuzzling her cheek against his. “Our baby’s getting stronger. It’s getting ready to be born.”
    â€œIt’s amazing, isn’t it?” he said, rubbing her belly again. “Even after all the books I’ve read, and all the programs we watched about pregnancy, and labor and delivery, the baby still doesn’t seem quite real to me. He, or she, still feels like a stranger to me. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I worry about it as much as I do. I don’t really know who the baby is yet.”
    Allie looked at him thoughtfully. “Would . . . would it feel more real to you, I mean, would the baby feel less like a stranger to you, if you knew its sex?”
    â€œWell, it’s too late for that, isn’t it? We told the ultrasound technician we didn’t want to know.”
    â€œNo, you told the ultrasound technician you didn’t want to know. After the ultrasound was over, and you left the room, I told her I did want to know.”
    He stared at her.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said, suddenly anxious. “Don’t be mad. I know we agreed beforehand we didn’t want to know. But then I was sooo curious. And I was almost positive, too, that I knew the sex from looking at the ultrasound, but then I thought, ‘what if I’m wrong,’ what if I walk around for the next four and a half months thinking it’s one sex and then it turns out to be the other and I feel so . . . disoriented.”
    â€œWell, I guess you can’t help what you saw,” Walker said, absorbing this new information. “Were you, uh, right about the baby?”
    â€œI was. And I thought about telling you, too. But you seemed so set on not knowing that I decided to keep it to myself. Do you . . . want to know now?”
    â€œYou’re damn right I do.”
    She smiled. “You don’t want to be surprised?”
    â€œI will be surprised. As soon as you tell me. Now, what’d you see in that ultrasound?”
    â€œActually, it was what I didn ’t see on that ultrasound.”
    â€œYou mean . . . ?”
    She nodded.
    â€œThere was no . . . ?”
    â€œNope . . . It’s a girl. She’s a girl.”
    â€œShe’s . . . Brooke,” Walker said wonderingly. Brooke was the name they’d chosen for a girl.
    â€œYes, she is,” Allie agreed. “And she’s going to be here before you know it,” she added. His hand was still resting on her belly and now she placed her hand over it in time for both of them to feel another powerful kick. Walker didn’t move his hand away this time, though. He left it right where it was.
    They sat like this in silence for a few minutes, both of them perfectly happy, and then Walker said, “Well, obviously, Wyatt and I are going to have teach her how to fish.”
    â€œObviously,” Allie teased. “But, honey, what if she doesn’t like fishing?”
    â€œI’m not even willing to consider that possibility yet,” he said, pulling her closer.

 
    Chapter Seven
    â€œ W A I T , D O N ’ T G E T out yet,” Jack said. He jumped out of the pickup he’d just parked and ran around to the other side to help first Caroline and then Daisy out. “Careful in those heels,” he reminded Caroline, giving her his arm for support. She was wearing the blue silk high-­heeled shoes she’d had dyed to match the dress she was wearing. She’d almost left the shoes and dress behind in her closet, thinking they’d be too formal for her new, streamlined wedding.