A Baby For Christmas

Luke examined the kitten, took in his coal-black fur and his giant golden eyes. Black and gold were Ranger colors. “Ranger.” The name popped out of his mouth, and it seemed to fit.

“Ranger,” Sophia repeated. Daniel had been a ranger in the army. Briefly. “I like it. Daniel would have liked it, too. He loved cats.”

Luke put the kitten on his shoulder. “Yes, he did.” He supposed that was the real reason he had decided to keep the little guy. It’s what Dan would have done.

Luke reached for his cane, accidentally pushed it, and the stupid thing slid down the wall and landed on the ground. Sophia and Luke both eyeballed it. With her hands on her hips, Sophia finally said, “I can get myself down there, but I’m gonna need help getting back up.” She patted her bulging belly with a self-effacing smile. “I’m a little top-heavy nowadays.”

Luke used one hand to hold the kitten on his chest. “I’ll get you back up.”

Sophia tilted her head. “Teamwork, then.” She carefully lowered herself down onto her haunches and picked up the cane. With her other hand she reached out and clasped Luke’s outstretched fingers. Luke braced himself and used the strength of his biceps to bring her up steady and smooth. As he pulled her up, while her eyes were averted, Luke took the opportunity to admire the angles of her beautiful face. How many times had her image kept him company while he was away? He knew her face well. He had memorized every landmark years ago. The slightly upturned tip of her nose, the smattering of freckles across the bridge. The honey tone of her skin that perfectly matched the honey highlights in her long, straight hair. Her full mouth. She had married his brother, but he had seen her first. Fell in love with her on the spot. Had loved her ever since; secretly and from a distance. Always from a distance.

“Here ya go.” Sophia handed the cane over and then scratched the back of Ranger’s neck. “Why don’t you leave him with me while you take a shower? I could use the company.”

Luke had been wondering how the heck he was going to get himself, his bag, and now the kitten all upstairs. Her suggestion sounded like a good one. “What about the whole pregnancy-and-cat thing...”

Sophia waved it off. “Oh, please. We’ll just trim his nails so he won’t accidentally scratch me and you’ll handle all the kitty-box duties. My mom had cats when she was pregnant with me, and I turned out fine. Not to worry...”

“All right.” Luke tried to pull Ranger from his shoulder, but the kitten was determined to stay put. Ranger used his claws to cling to Luke’s overcoat as if it was Velcro.

“Here, let me help you.” Sophia carefully extracted Ranger from Luke’s coat. She held him in the crook of her arm and gave Luke the once-over. She moved her finger up and down. “Why do you still have your coat on, anyway? Here, take it off and I’ll hang it up. No sense in you taking it upstairs.”

Luke shrugged out of the overcoat, glad to have it off, and handed it to Sophia. She nodded her approval and hung it up on the coat rack by the door.

“One more thing,” Luke said with a gruff tone. He checked himself and adjusted his tone. “If you don’t mind.”

“Hmm?”

“Drag my bag over here for me, will ya? I’ll get it on my shoulder from here. I don’t want you lifting it. It’s too heavy.”

“No prob.” Sophia dragged the bag over to Luke. She smiled up at him. “Teamwork!” That smile of hers was rarely aimed his way. It caught him off guard, made his stomach clench in response. Without a word, he bent over at the waist and lifted the bag up with a grunt. Once he hooked it onto his shoulder, he headed up the stairs.

“Take your time,” Sophia called after him. “I’ll just close the door to the kitchen so he has to stay in there with me. We’ll see you when you come down.”

* * *

Luke awakened from his nap, groggy and disoriented. At first he didn’t know exactly where he was; it took him a minute to figure it out. He had no idea how long he had slept. All he knew is that it had been light outside when his head hit the pillow and now it was dark. He reached over and fumbled for the lamp on the bedside table. Then he squinted at his watch. It was still on Afghan time. His fuzzy brain calculated the time difference and figured it was closing in on 9:00 p.m.

He couldn’t believe he had slept so long. Nearly six hours. He had popped a couple of pain pills before he crashed on the bed. Those pills must have done the trick; he usually could sleep for only an hour or two at a time.

Luke hung his legs off the side of the bed for a moment before he slid off the mattress. He stripped off the rest of his clothes, undressed his wound and headed for the shower. He examined the antique claw-foot tub, with unreasonably high sides, and worked out the most practical way to get himself in it. Once in the shower, he pressed his hands against the back of the wall and let the steaming water run down his back. The water stung as it hit the wound, but it was a good pain.

As the water pummeled his skin, Luke’s mind drifted, as it often did, to Sophia. She had surprised him. Honestly, he had expected to find a sniffling, hormonal, wretched woman who spent her waking moments blaming him for Dan’s death. He blamed himself, after all, so why shouldn’t she? If he hadn’t chosen a military life, perhaps Dan wouldn’t have joined the army out of the blue. And if he hadn’t joined, he’d still be alive today.

He’d thought for sure that Sophia would blame him. He had counted on it. Planned for it. But she didn’t seem to. And she certainly wasn’t wallowing and weeping. That was a major relief. There were a lot of things that Luke knew how to do. If he had to jump out of a plane to get the job done, he could do it. If something needed to be blown up, not a problem. But comfort a hysterical female? Not his area of expertise.

Luckily for him, Sophia had her act together. He should have known she would. He had no idea what possessed him to doubt her in the first place. Sophia had always been headstrong, determined and upbeat. In the ten years he had known her, he’d never once seen her let life get her down. It was one of the things he had always loved about her. So had Dan, for that matter. Dan and he had disagreed since they were kids, about everything, all of the time. But they had always agreed about the merits of Sophia.

Out of the shower now, Luke dressed the wound, pulled on jeans and a white undershirt. He was starved. He headed downstairs to raid the fridge and see how Sophia and Ranger were getting on.

Sophia was sitting at the table, writing. Ranger was sitting on the table next to her pad of paper, legs tucked up beneath him, eyes closed. He opened his eyes when he heard the kitchen door open, stood up, stretched into a back arch and then sat down on his haunches.

“Mom would have a fit about that,” Luke said. Sophia knew he meant Ranger sitting on the table.

Sophia wrinkled up her nose. “I know.” She sighed, heavily. “I know. But to tell you the truth, I was so impressed with his determination to get up here, I didn’t have the heart to tell him no.”

Luke remembered Ranger’s valiant escape from the box. He had felt the same way. “He has that effect.” Luke moved to the table and reached out to stroke Ranger’s fur. The minute he touched the little guy, he started to purr.

“How’s your finger?”

Sophia held up her bandaged finger. “Still attached. How’s your leg?”

Luke shot her a wry expression. “Still attached.”

Sophia smiled at him, which made the dimple on her left cheek appear.

“What are you doing?” Luke asked. He picked Ranger up and held him next to his heart.

“Making a list of things to do tomorrow. I swear, these lists are the only thing that’s kept me sane while your family is at your uncle’s for Thanksgiving. He’s in pretty bad shape after that surgery he just had. Did you know about that?”

Luke took a seat at the table. He nodded yes.

Sophia clicked the pen so the tip came in and out. “You know, you should really call your folks and let them know you’re here.”

“I’ll let it be a surprise.”

“Okay,” Sophia replied, skeptically. “If you say so. But you know how your mom is....”

“She’ll be fine.”

Sophia made a noise and went back to her list. After a minute, she slapped the pen down on the paper. “Wow. My brain is really fried. You haven’t eaten.” She pushed herself up. “You’ve gotta be famished.”

“I am.”

Sophia opened the refrigerator. She twisted to the side and looked at him. “Chicken and stuffing okay? I made myself a little impromptu Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Happy belated Thanksgiving, by the way. It’s a bummer you had to spend your holiday traveling.” She paused to take a breath and then continued. “So? Chicken and stuffing okay?”

“That’s fine,” Luke said. You always had to wait for Sophia to come up for air before you spoke. “I can fend for myself, you know. I don’t want you overdoing it on my account. You’re...you know.”

She pulled out some Tupperware. “Pregnant? I know. Kind of obvious. But it’s not like I’m disabled or an invalid.”

Luke’s shoulders stiffened. “Neither am I.”

Ah yes. The infamous Brand family pride. She knew it well. She found it as equally annoying in Luke as she had in Daniel. “You’d think you wouldn’t be so cranky after such a long nap.” Of course, the Brand men were well-known for being impossible to get along with if they were hungry. Sophia stopped what she was doing and leaned back on the counter. “I wasn’t calling you an invalid, but the truth is the truth. Your leg is screwed up. Mine isn’t. So, do you want me to help you out or not?”

The expression on Luke’s face undoubtedly sent his military underlings running for cover. She knew him well enough not to be impressed. “Yes? No? What shall it be, Captain?”

“Do you always have to be so dramatic over every little thing?” Luke answered a question with a question; another Brand family trait.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She popped the lids off the containers and piled food high on a plate.

While Sophia prepared his meal, Luke couldn’t take his eyes off her. Thoughts of her had been his constant companion, but this was the first time he’d ever been alone with her. This was the first time he’d ever had her all to himself. The circumstances weren’t ideal, but having Sophia with him now felt as if the planets had aligned for him. And he was enjoying just sitting back and watching her.

“How are you feeling?” he asked her.

Sophia’s ponytail swung to the side as she spun her head around to look at him over her shoulder. “Honestly, I’ve had a great pregnancy...all things considered. I’ve been exercising, of course, staying active. I have a friend who’s a personal trainer and she helps me choose the right foods, pick safe exercises. I haven’t even been all that tired, until recently.” She shrugged one shoulder. “The worst of it is missing Daniel, wanting him to be here with me. He always used to say that he couldn’t wait to see me pregnant.” Sophia paused for a minute to compose herself. At times, the emotions would well up without warning and she would have to push back the tears. “I suppose we shouldn’t have waited so long to have a family. We were waiting until he finished school and my practice was more stable.” Lower, almost under her breath, she added, “Stupid.”

“You couldn’t have seen this coming, Soph. None of us plan for this sort of thing. No one would get out of bed, if we did,” Luke said in a low, even tone. “But you’re right about one thing, though. He always wanted to see you pregnant. He always thought you’d make a great-looking pregnant woman.” His eyes swept her body unbeknownst to her. “He was right.”

“Thanks,” Sophia said with a small smile. The timer dinged and Sophia pulled the plate out of the microwave. “Of course, my face is puffy, my ankles are swollen and I have to urinate constantly.” She put the plate down in front of him and smiled. “TMI, right?”

Luke shook his head; as she set the plate down, he noticed the simple gold wedding band that still encircled her left ring finger. He wasn’t surprised that she still wore her wedding band; she had always been loyal to Dan. In life, and now in death.

The minute she moved her hand away, he hunched over his plate and started to dig in.

“Something to drink?”

Luke chewed fast, and then swallowed hard before he spoke. “Water’s good.”

She brought a glass of water back to the table with her and then sat down beside him. Ranger had found his way back to the food Sophia had scrounged up for him. The Brand family had taken in so many strays over the years that it was standard operating procedure to have emergency pet supplies on hand.

“The moral of this story is, I feel pretty good and I have to stay active in order to maintain a modicum of sanity out here in the boonies. So, I don’t mind helping you out while you rest your leg a bit...if you can put your male pride aside for a second or two.”

Luke wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying; he was shoveling in his food as if he hadn’t eaten for days. He ate like a man who was used to being surrounded by other men vying for the same food. He protected his food with one arm, leaned forward and got the food to his mouth as quickly as possible.

“Luke,” she asked with surprise, “what happened to your table manners?”

Luke paused from his shoveling for a second, sat up and moved his arms off the table. He glanced up at her. “Better?”

“Much.” She shook her head at him. “I take it you like the food? Or, were you just that hungry?”

Luke gulped the water down before he said, “It was pretty damn good.”

Sophia picked up the plate and rinsed it in the sink. “Glad you liked it.” When she returned to her spot at the table, Luke had Ranger in his lap.

“Find any clippers when you found the cat food?” Luke was examining the kitten’s claws.

“Yes. Finally. I wish your mom would find a different outlet when she’s upset. None of us can ever find anything when she’s done.” Sophia chuckled and shook her head. “I put them over there on the counter.” She made to get up again. Luke’s warm hand on her arm stopped her.

“You sit. I’ll get them.”

She decided to let him win this one and didn’t protest. He returned with the clippers and the kitten. Once seated, he flipped Ranger over on his back and put him down gently on his lap.

“You’ve done this before.”

“Yes, I have,” Luke replied. His mom’s soft spot for animals was well-known in the community; everyone knew where to drop off the strays.

Ranger was crying and squirming on Luke’s lap. “If you steady his hind legs, we’ll get this done quickly.”

She scooted her chair closer and reached out to stop Ranger from kicking his legs, while Luke started to trim his front claws. She was so close to him that the fresh scent of his skin invaded her senses. He smelled just like Daniel when he was straight out of the shower: almonds mixed with the scent of soap. She couldn’t stop herself from taking his scent deeply into her lungs. Her long intake of breath caught Luke’s attention. He looked up from his task, caught her eye and said, “Teamwork.”

Nothing in his face read humor, but she saw a glint of mirth that lurked behind the intense depth of his light blue eyes. She leaned back a bit and resisted the urge to bury her nose in his neck. That’s what she used to do with Daniel. It used to be one of her favorite things to do.

“There you go, little man. All done.” Luke easily turned the kitten upright and let him down on the ground. Ranger hopped forward a couple of steps before he stopped and licked his shoulder to release some of his irritation.

Sophia watched Ranger, glad for the distraction that pulled attention away from the way Luke’s nearness made her heart race. “I was actually starting to think that you were going to sleep through the night.”

“I’m surprised I got any shut-eye at all, to tell you the truth.” Luke leaned back in the chair and stretched out his left leg. He rubbed his hands across his cropped hair. Daniel had always worn his light brown hair shaggy and long. Sophia couldn’t remember the last time she had seen Luke without what she termed “Marine hair.” Looking at him now, she was reminded of the first time she had seen Daniel after he had enlisted in the army; he had looked just like Luke in that moment. When they had made love, conceived the child she was carrying, for a split second, she had thought of Luke.

“What?” Luke asked her, an eyebrow raised in question. She must have been giving him an odd look.

“Just thinking.”

“Anything interesting?”

“No.”

Just remembering that I had thought of you when Daniel and I conceived this child...

Luke was growing a goatee; there was a faint outline of stubble that encircled his mouth. Her fingers had the strangest urge to reach out and follow the goatee trail around his lips, of all the stupid things!

“I think we should put Ranger in the hall bathroom upstairs. What do you think?”

“What?” She hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation; she had been distracted by his lips.

“The hall bathroom. Ranger. The kitty box. What do you think?”

“Oh. Yeah. Makes sense.” Those words were followed by a wide yawn. “I think it’s time for me to start thinking about bed. It’s been a long day.”

It took several slow trips, but between the two of them, they managed to get Ranger, his food and the kitty box upstairs into the hall bathroom. Sophia molded a bed out of towels and turned on a low nightlight before she shut the door. Ranger was hooked up.

Luke and Sophia faced each other outside of their respective bedroom doors. There was an awkward moment of silence before they both finally said good-night. Once inside their rooms, they ran back into each other on their sides of the adjoining bathroom.

Luke held on to his door. “Ladies first.”

Sophia agreed. She stepped into the bathroom. She added, “Make sure you knock, mister. Let’s not have any unfortunate moments.”

He knew what she was getting at. She didn’t want him to accidentally walk in on her while she was naked in the head.

“Understood,” he said before he closed the door firmly shut. He heard the lock click, and that made him smile a bit.

Fifteen minutes later, she knocked on his door. “Okay. Your turn.”

He got himself in and out of the bathroom as fast as possible. He popped a couple of painkillers into his mouth and then waited impatiently for them to knock him out. He tossed and turned; he tried to find a comfortable way to position his leg, but he never found it. Instead, he lay on his back with his hands folded behind his head, and imagined Sophia in her bed. It took all of his willpower not to cross to her room and pull her into his arms.

God, he loved her.

God, he wanted her.

But she loved Dan. In her eyes, he would always be second best to his twin. He knew that. Had always known it. Now, he would just have to continue to live with it.

Sophia wasn’t having any better luck sleeping than Luke. It was almost impossible to find a comfortable position to sleep at this stage of the pregnancy game. She had three pillows jammed along her back for support, and one pillow jammed between her legs to keep her knees from digging into each other. Little Danny had decided, for some unknown reason, to change his position the minute she lay down to go to sleep. He had seemed perfectly content in his original position the entire night, but once she closed her eyes, he stuffed his feet up under her rib cage and started to spin around. It felt as if he was trying to make a break for it!

So, when Ranger started crying at the top of his lungs, she was awake to hear it. She sighed heavily and rolled herself out of bed. The wood floor was cold on her bare feet as she quietly made her way to the door. She opened the door, stepped outside of her room and bumped right into a nearly naked Luke. The only thing the man had on was tight white boxer briefs. She hoped that her expression didn’t change as her eyes flitted up and down the length of him.

The frame was the same as Daniel’s, yes. But this build was all Luke. His body was lean and muscular from years of fighting and surviving. Her eyes settled on the bandage that encircled Luke’s sculpted thigh before she swung them back up to Luke’s face. At that moment, she was genuinely grateful for the dim light in the hall. She had no doubt that her face was stained bright red with a blush.

“I’ll get him,” Luke said. “You go back to bed.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I got it.”

Sophia removed herself quickly back to her room. The racing of her heart, she suspected, had absolutely nothing to do with her husband and everything to do with Luke. And she hated it. What kind of woman would bury her husband, carry his child and then respond physically to another man?

“A seriously disturbed one,” Sophia scolded herself as she pounded the pillows behind her, squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself to fall asleep.

Luke was having his own issues. Ranger was curled up in a ball next to his ear on the pillow, happily purring his fool head off. Luke, on the other hand, was wide awake and fully aroused. Seeing Sophia in her nightgown, her long silky hair spilling over her shoulders and onto her breasts, made blood flow rapidly into parts of his body that had no business waking up. But she had just looked so damned sexy in her modest cotton nightgown with the light from the stairs revealing the outline of her shapely legs. Even the bulge of her pregnant belly was a turn-on.

“God... You’re sick, man,” Luke said to himself. He balled his hands into a fist and waited for the arousal to ebb. He had no business horn-dogging after Sophia. No business at all! Luke felt like hitting something, so he pounded the mattress with his fists. Why hadn’t the pills kicked in? Only sleep would annihilate the vulnerable, sensual image of Sophia fresh out of bed that was now scorched into his brain. Sleep couldn’t get here soon enough. Not by a long shot.

Chapter Three

Luke woke up the next morning feeling hungover from the meds. He had managed to sleep off and on, but for the most part, he had tossed and turned all night. He couldn’t get his leg comfortable and he couldn’t get Sophia out of his mind. Being so close to her, without Dan as a buffer, was not something he had been prepared to handle. She made him feel out of control. He didn’t like it.

“Square yourself away, marine. Real quick,” Luke said to his reflection before he flipped open the hinged bathroom mirror and looked for a razor in the medicine cabinet. He knew he’d find one; his mom was always prepared. What he wasn’t expecting to find was a neatly organized row of Sophia’s favorite fragrances.

The first time he had ever laid eyes on Sophia, she was working behind a fragrance counter in a local department store. She had been talking with a customer, a perfume bottle loosely held in her hand. Her hair was swept up into a haphazard twist and her lovely face was completely devoid of makeup. The sight of her throwing her head back as she laughed stopped him in his tracks. She laughed without reservation; her positive energy sucked him in. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. In an instant, he was crazy, head over heels for her, and he had been ever since.

Luke glanced over at the adjoining bathroom door that led to Sophia’s bedroom. He had heard her moving around a couple of hours ago, so he knew she was already downstairs. He reached over and checked to make sure the door was locked before he pulled the first fragrance bottle down.

“Stalker,” Luke said quietly to himself with a self-effacing half smile. He popped the top off the first bottle and brought it up to his nose. The minute the perfume reached his senses, he thought “Sophia.” To Luke, Sophia always smelled like something he wanted to eat. She never wore the same fragrance two days in a row, but she did have a lineup of favorites, and Luke recognized them all.