New Beginnings (16 page)

“About two miles down the road. We’ll head out for dinner once we are done here. Our ride should be here soon.”

“Our ride? We aren’t driving?”

He shook his head at me and gave me a secret smile. What the heck was he up to?

As soon as we got back downstairs, he looked out the front window. “Ah, Ms. Martin, your chariot has arrived. Please dress warmly as it is rather cold outside.” He proceeded to make sure I was bundled up in the bulky down jacket he brought, gloves, scarf, and hat that covered my ears. After bundling himself up, he grabbed a tartan blanket before opening the front door with a slight bow.

I stopped dead in my tracks as soon as I walked through the door, causing Xavier to turn and walk right into the back of me. I stumbled forward before he grabbed a hold of me.

“Whoa, sweetness. Weren’t expecting this, were you?” he asked, sounding smug.

“No,” I said, sounding all stunned.

There sat a beautiful, red, horse-drawn carriage waiting to take us into town. A gentleman dressed in a chauffeur-type outfit held his hand out to me in front of a little open door to help me up the two little steps and into the carriage.

Xavier climbed in and snuggled up next to me spreading the blanket out over our legs. I wrapped my gloved hand around his.

“Thank you,” I said sincerely.

“For what?” he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

“For making this weekend so special.”

“Oh, sweetness, it’s only just begun,” he whispered in my ear. “Viscontis, please,” he said to the gentleman as we set out down the road.

Front Street through Leavenworth is a beautiful Bavarian-style strip of buildings completely surrounded by beautiful mountains. Every building was decorated with Christmas lights from blue, white, red, and green. Every tree was completely wrapped with white lights. It all cast such a beautiful glow on the white, glistening snow.

The streets were packed with people. A huge Christmas tree stood lit up next to a gazebo that was strung all in white lights near the center of it all. Children were tubing down a small hill next to the gazebo, and their delighted screams were piercing through the air. I could picture Xavier as a little, beautiful, dark-haired boy tubing down that same hill with his brother. His big, blue eyes twinkling and his cheeks rosy from the cold. I quickly calculated from my due date to next Christmas. Our baby will be about five months old by then. I wonder if Xavier will still want to come here even though he or she will be too little to really enjoy anything.

“What are you thinking about, sweetness?” Xavier asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

“Just how unbelievably wonderful this place is. Scrooge would be in the Christmas spirit within seconds of being here. It’s so beautiful.”

“There will be some festivities tomorrow and Saturday night. I want to walk the street with you, but not tonight. Tonight I want to get you in that hot tub.” He winked at me.

Viscontis was a beautiful Italian restaurant on Front Street. The place seemed rather crowded, but of course there was no wait for Mr. Xavier Hart. A young man quickly escorted us to a table in the back of the restaurant.

Xavier wasted no time ordering some bread and dipping oil and a bottle of the local Sangioviese. Wine. Red wine. Before it could arrive, I excused myself to the ladies room. I locked myself in a stall and immediately went to Google. Ugh, the information was mixed. Yes, it was okay. No, it was not okay. Either way, red wine was the winner if you were going to have wine. Sangioviese is red. One glass should be okay. Once I told Xavier I was pregnant, there would be no other opportunities where this would be a problem.

By the time I got back to the table, the wine was poured and waiting for me. Xavier lifted his glass to me. I scrambled to lift mine. “To many more holidays together. Cheers,” he said as he clinked my glass.

“Cheers,” I said, clinking his glass in return. I took a small sip and placed my glass back down.

Dinner was extraordinary. Xavier enjoyed the chicken parmesan while I downed the veal picatta. In typical fashion, we fed each other from our plates, sharing our meals and moaning appreciatively.

By the time the check arrived, I sensed a bit of urgency from Xavier to get back to the house. Butterflies suddenly assaulted my stomach as the time drew closer at having to reveal the secret of my little mystery guest. Would he be happy about it? Mad that I kept it a secret for almost a week? Guess I would know soon enough.

As soon as we got back to the house, he removed my coat and took my gloves, hat, and scarf from me before he removed his. I stood in the entryway staring him and I started to shake like a leaf.

“Ella, baby, what is it? Are you cold?” he asked, sounding concerned.

“No. I … I … Can you wait here for a moment? I have something for you,” I said nervously.

“Sure. I’ll go get the hot tub started.”

I grabbed his forearm. “No, not yet. Wait until after I give this to you. Okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed, frowning at me.

I headed upstairs to the bedroom where my oversized bag was and dug out the beautifully wrapped little box. He was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs with a concerned look on his face. I took his hand in mine and led him over to the huge leather couch in front of the stone fireplace. I had to sit down for this with how shaky I was.

“An early Christmas present,” I said. I handed him the package shaking almost uncontrollably. “I know it’s ten days before Christmas, but I wanted to give this to you while we were alone.”

He raised his eyebrows at me. “Now I’m intrigued,” he murmured. “What is it? A sexy nighty that’s going to drive me absolutely insane?”

I laughed nervously. “Not exactly.”

He frowned at me for a few seconds before he tore at the paper, opened the box, peeled back the tissue paper, and froze. His breath sucked in quickly as he pulled up the little blue infant onesie that said Handsome As Daddy. He gave me a quizzical look. My stomach roiled. I clasped my hand over my mouth praying I wouldn’t be sick now. He looked back in the box, placed the blue onesie aside, and pulled out the little pink infant onesie that had a little silver crown on it and said Daddy’s Princess. His eyes locked with mine searching for answers. It took me a minute to be able to speak as I tried to calm my stomach down.

“Look under the tissue paper,” I managed to whisper.

He dropped the little pink onesie on top of the blue one and pulled back the tissue paper. He pulled out the test results that confirmed the pregnancy and held it as if it were a fragile piece of glass. The box fell to the floor as he jumped up off the couch. I flinched not expecting him to move so suddenly. He walked over to the fireplace and just studied the piece of paper for several minutes.

I couldn’t gauge his mood. He had his back to me so I couldn’t see his face. I was afraid to speak. All I could do was sit on the couch and continue to shake while I waited for some kind of a response out of him. I held my breath in anticipation.

Finally, he turned toward me. His eyes were glistening. “Ella,” he croaked. He tried to clear his throat. It was thick with emotion. “Ella,” he whispered. “You’re …” His voice trailed off.

“Pregnant.” I finished the sentence for him nodding my head at him.

He exhaled long and loud as if he had been holding his breath since he first opened the box. Setting the piece of paper on the box, he grabbed my hands and pulled me up off the couch and crushed me to his chest.

Minutes later, he cupped his big, warm hands around my face and kissed me long and hard leaving us both breathless. Then he pressed a hand onto my abdomen lovingly but protectively. “Everything is all right?” he asked quietly.

“Yes. I saw the doctor on Monday, and she was able to confirm it. Everything appears to be fine, and I haven’t been having any problems either.”

He smiled widely at me. “Good,” he breathed, sounding a bit relieved.

“I’m sorry, Xavier. I wanted to tell you as soon as I found out, but then I wanted to wait until I had it confirmed with the doctor. But then I was thinking maybe I could wait until Christmas. I mean, what kind of Christmas present could you possibly get the man who already has everything? I’ve never had to Christmas shop for a multi-million billionaire before. It’s not like I could go out and just buy you a tie or something …”

“Hey!” Two strong hands grabbed my upper arms and silenced me. He chuckled as he looked down at me. “You’ve been rambling like crazy woman. Relax. I’m not upset if that’s what you are worried about. My God, Ella, you just told me you are pregnant with our baby. How could I possibly be upset about that?”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“How long have you known?” he asked carefully.

“Not long,” I said cautiously. “I did a home pregnancy test Saturday before the Christmas party and it came out positive.”

“Well, that certainly explains why you didn’t want any alcohol at the party or the night before I left for Vancouver.”

“Yes. I realized I was going to have to tell you before Christmas because it was going to be impossible to avoid the wine with dinner scenario with you.” I smirked at him.

“But you had a glass of wine with dinner tonight,” he said horrified.

“I had a few sips of red wine, Xavier. It’s fine. You realize most women usually drink the first few weeks before they even know they are pregnant. It’ll be okay. I haven’t drank anything excessively, and I don’t plan on having anything more to drink until this baby is born.” He looked relieved. “Besides, Bev figured it out the day you left for Vancouver. I was an emotional mess. She’s been hovering over me ever since. I’m not sure how much longer
she
could keep it a secret.” I chuckled.

He suddenly scooped me up and twirled me around. “The day you said you would marry me I thought was the happiest day of my life, but you just topped it, Ella.” He set me down but didn’t let go of me. “I love you, sweetness,” he said huskily.

“I love you, hotness,” I said playfully.

“Well, no hot tub for you.”

I shook my head as I backed away from him and headed for the stairs. “No, no hot tub.” I climbed the first several stairs and stopped on the landing. Taking off my shirt, I threw it down into his stunned face. “But there is a huge, Jacuzzi tub up here that I’m just dying to try out.” I crooked my finger at him and winked. It took him no time at all to catch up to me. I squealed when he scooped me up and carried me into the master bedroom.

Carefully, he set me down on the bed. I pulled him down to me, but he hesitated. “Xavier, please. I’m not going to break. I’m still the same woman I was last night. Besides, you’d better enjoy me while I still have a flat belly,” I said teasingly.

Later that night when we curled up in bed together, he wrapped his arm around me and rested his hand over my abdomen snugly, protectively like he never had before. I knew in that moment that his efforts to keep me safe were going to increase exponentially especially once Stephen and Carline returned to Seattle.

Sometime during the middle of the night, I woke unable to fall back to sleep. Xavier was snoring softly beside me. I closed my eyes and tried to pace my breathing to his long, relaxing breaths in an attempt to fall back to sleep, but it was futile. Carefully, so as not to wake him, I extracted myself out from under his arm.

He had left the fire burning in the bedroom fireplace. The glowing embers were still emitting warmth into the room, but the hardwood floor was freezing as my warm, bare feet came in contact with it. I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from squealing at the extreme change in temperature.

Sprinting across the cold hardwood, I made my way to the love seat in the loft. Grabbing the chenille blanket off the back of the love seat, I wrapped it around me. I glanced out the windows that faced the front of the house and noticed in the glow of the outside lights that it was snowing.

I quickly abandoned the love seat and blanket and made my way back into the bedroom. Opting to leave on Xavier’s t-shirt, I quickly slipped on a pair of sweats and thick, wooly socks. I made my way downstairs and wrapped myself up in the big, fluffy down jacket, hat, scarf, gloves, and boots in preparation to go outside. Making sure the porch lights were on, I grabbed the tartan blanket Xavier used for our sleigh ride, and made my way outside to the back deck.

The cold air stung my warm cheeks as soon as I stepped outside, and I pulled my scarf up to cover my nose and mouth in an attempt to retain some warmth.

Curling up on a wooden bench under the covered porch, I tucked my legs underneath me and curled up under the tartan blanket. The porch lights helped to light up the beautiful sight before me. The rocks along the shoreline were covered with snow. There were a few rocks that jutted out of the water, just dots of white among the roaring river. The ground was quickly getting covered with a fresh, white blanket of snow. The tops of all the pine tree branches were covered in white as the snow clung to every pine needle. It was white glistening snow on top and deep evergreen poking out underneath. The pine trees truly looked glorious in the snow.