Cole lifted her off her feet into a crushing hug. “Holy cow, you’re really pregnant?”
That caught Ethan’s attention. He turned the mic on again. “What’s that? We got another baby coming?”
“Sunshine’s pregnant! We’re pregnant!” Cole spun her around and she clung to him, her tears spilling over. She hadn’t known how hard it was to keep her secret until she’d let it go, but as Cole crowed and kissed her again and again, joy filled her heart until she thought it would burst.
“Well, there you have it—another baby!” Ethan said.
Cole finally put her down and planted another kiss on her mouth. “When?”
“July,” she managed to say. “Late July.”
“July,” Ethan echoed. “Anyone else have anything to confess?” When no one spoke up, he went on. “Well, in light of that last surprise announcement, I’m happy to be able to tell you this next bit of news. Cole and Sunshine have set a date—they’re marrying in one week! Everyone free on New Year’s? If not, clear your calendar!”
Cheers and whistles filled the room and Cole ducked down to kiss her again. In the ensuing chaos, Sunshine couldn’t take her eyes off of Cole, even as people on all sides leaned in to give them their congratulations. It took a long time for the room to settle down again. Cole found her a space on one of the comfortable couches and sat next to her, holding her hand. All through the gift exchange, Sunshine found it hard to concentrate, even when she unwrapped a set of porcelain pony candlesticks from Jamie. Cole was going to be her husband. The father of her child. This was where she’d make her life.
It all felt so good.
“And now, I’m very excited to announce that we have a special performance in store for you. Ladies—do you want to take the stage?”
“That’s you.” Cole kissed the top of her head. “Go get ’em.”
Sunshine stood up, reluctant to relinquish their closeness, but as she joined her friends near the massive fireplace and picked up her instrument, her nervousness fell away. Everyone in the audience was a friend—new or old. Besides, surely they couldn’t play any worse than the men could dance.
They plugged in, checked the tuning of their instruments and exchanged a what the heck shrug. Mia lifted her drumsticks in the air and hit them together four times. They launched into a somewhat ragged but rocking rendition of Jingle Bells and Sunshine wished she could take a photo of the grins that spread on every face in front of them.
She thought she mostly hit the right notes, but it didn’t matter; what they lacked in talent they made up in enthusiasm and soon the entire room was singing the words along with Rose and the rest of them on stage. By the time the song was over, Sunshine’s cheeks ached from smiling. They all erupted into cheers and she congratulated her friends, hugging each and every one of them as they placed their instruments back on their stands.
“Well, that was a hell of a song, ladies. Thank you!” Ethan said into his microphone. “And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Gentlemen, it’s our turn to take the stage.”
Sunshine collapsed back onto the couch along with Claire and Autumn as the men trailed up to the front of the room. Ethan fooled around with his cell phone, which he’d set into a combination charging/speaker station. When he found what he wanted he tapped the screen and music started. He hurried to his place in the front row next to Cole. Beside him stood Jamie and Rob. Ned, Jake, Luke, Cab and Evan stood in a row behind them.
They began to dance.
Sunshine let out a whoop of appreciation and was quickly joined by Autumn and Claire. Fila shocked everyone with a ululating trill that cut through the pounding country beat of the song. Jamie lost his place on stage and nearly tripped Rob, but Rob grabbed his arm, shoved him into place and the dance went on.
They were almost as ragged as Sunshine and her friends had been when they’d played Jingle Bells, but that didn’t diminish Sunshine’s admiration for them. They stomped, turned and went heel to toe with their boots as if they were at a country hoe-down. When they spun around in synchronicity the women nearly fell off their seats clapping and cheering.
“Yeah!” Claire yelled. “That’s what we like to see!”
Morgan gave her a high five.
Sunshine cheered along with the rest of them. As far as she was concerned, this was the best Christmas present she’d ever received. When the dance came to the end and the men stood in their final poses, she leapt off the couch, raced across the room and flung herself into Cole’s arm’s.
“Did you like that?” he said, lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist.
“I loved it.”
“Just wait until tomorrow. It only gets better from here.”
Chapter 10
Back in the room where they’d spent their first night in Chance Creek, Cole woke the following morning to find Sunshine smiling at him.
“Hey, there,” he said, running a hand over her silky hair. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas to you, too.” She snuggled closer. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. I’ve got some great surprises for you today.”
“I’ve got some great surprises, too.”
A knock sounded on their door. “Room service,” Autumn trilled. “I’m leaving you a tray out here. Enjoy your morning!”
“Thank you,” Sunshine called. “She is too sweet,” she said to Cole. She slipped out of bed, wrapped a robe around her and padded to the door. Coming back with a tray, she set it on Cole’s lap and climbed back under the covers.
“I could get used to this.” Cole sat back against the headboard and uncovered the plates on the tray. One plate was loaded with pancakes, sausage and hash browns. The other held fruit, a poppy-seed muffin and more hash browns. A delicate card reading “vegan” was attached to it. Sunshine beamed.
“This looks amazing.” She settled in, too, spearing a strawberry with the fork Autumn had provided. “I guess we’d better not get too used to it, though. Next Christmas we’ll be parents.”
“I still can’t wrap my head around that.” Cole sawed through his stack of pancakes and took a bite.
“I can’t, either. It was supposed to be one of your Christmas surprises this morning.”
“That’s okay. I—”
Another knock sounded on the door. “Incoming,” Ethan said. “Hope you’re decent.”
Sunshine scrambled to tug the covers up. The door opened a crack and a big, yellow dog bounded in. He gave a bark and ran in a circle.
Sunshine squealed and scrambled back out of bed, her robe flapping around her. She ran to Duke and dropped to her knees. “Duke! Where’d you come from?”
“Surprise number one,” Cole said. “Bella told me you liked him.”
“Like him? I love him. Don’t I, Duke? Don’t I?” She slipped into a cooing doggy language only she and Duke understood. Cole finished his pancakes, glad his first gift had gone over so well.
When they’d finally finished eating, pulled on some clothes and taken Duke for a short walk, they thanked Autumn for breakfast and loaded the dog into their rental truck.