Forever Santa by Leeanna Morgan Read Free Book Online Page B

stool and stared at the phone. “It’s okay, dad. Jacob’s going to spend Christmas with us. We can have dinner together when Alex gets home.”
    “I’m looking forward to it, Gracie.”
    “Have the doctor’s told you when Alex will be able to come back to Bozeman?” Jacob asked.
    “Not yet, but I don’t expect it to be soon. He’s pretty beat up.”
    Gracie leaned against the counter. “Do you need anything, dad?”
    “Not at the moment. Kristina said she’ll buy whatever we need later today.” Her dad hesitated before continuing. “Alex hasn’t been injured like this before. The reporters and television crews are standing around like vultures waiting for information. I’ll be pleased when we can bring him home.”
    “So will we, dad.” Gracie left Jacob to talk about the ranch with their dad. She walked back into the living room and stared at the Christmas tree. Everything was changing so fast.
    One minute they’d been about to hang decorations and the next minute Jacob was telling them Alex had been seriously injured. And then there was Jordan, his broken heart, the barn conversion, and a new business.
    “He’ll be okay.” Trent walked into the living room and gave her a hug.
    Gracie held on tight, needing the quiet strength that only her husband could give her. “I’ll be happier when I hear Alex’s voice.” She took a deep breath and kissed Trent’s chin. “We’ve got some tree trimming to do. I’m supposed to meet Emily in a couple of hours.”
    “You’re still going shopping?”
    “I might as well. I can’t do anything for Alex and I really need to go into town.” She picked up the cardboard box full of decorations and sat on the floor. “Can I pass them to you and you hang them?”
    “You mean you trust me to put them in the right place?”
    The grin on Trent’s face made Gracie smile. “No place is wrong. Once we’ve got the decorations on the tree I’ll know how many more I need to buy.”
    “I’ll space them out then.”
    Gracie laughed. “And we may just have enough.”
    “Maybe, but I’m sure you’ll find room for one or two new decorations.”
    Gracie looked at the tree and sighed. After today it might not just be new decorations they had to make room for.
     
    ***
    Gracie had never lied to Trent. Except when she’d told him she didn’t love him. But that didn’t count because he’d gone and married her anyway. The drive-through Elvis Chapel might have made some women’s hearts sing, but it had left her hunting for a divorce on the streets of Vegas, too tired, grouchy and hung-over to appreciate the man that had become her husband.
    This time her little white lie was different, although someone else might have called it a great big whopper. She was doing more than meeting Emily in town. She’d made an appointment to see Doc Johnson at the hospital.
    For the last three weeks she’d felt tired. The kind of bone deep tiredness that comes with the flu or a good dose of something else that she hadn’t considered until this week. She couldn’t drink coffee, had trouble eating anything that had four legs and went moo, and had thrown up by mid-morning most days this week.
    She didn’t need to think too hard about what might be causing all of her problems. And that was why she was here, outside Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, shivering in the cold.
    Someone tooted their horn and she started walking toward the entrance. She didn’t know what she thought about being a mom, and she didn’t want to think about it in case she wasn’t pregnant.
    Trent had told her he wanted children. It was the main reason he wanted to marry someone in the first place. But there was a big difference between wanting children and knowing one was on the way.
    They hadn’t planned this baby. She hadn’t taken any of the pre-natal vitamins that all of the Internet sites said were crucial. She hadn’t prepared her body as ‘the vessel of new life’ that one website talked about. She’d