The Christmas Bouquet by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

got back together after years of being divorced. Even Mom eventually came back to Trace, her own first love.”
    “Are you really wondering if this Noah of yours is your soul mate?” Nell asked gently. “Or if you’re going to be acting too hastily by marrying him just because of the baby?”
    Caitlyn was relieved to have Nell recognize her real worry. “Exactly,” she said.
    “Only you know the answer to that,” Nell said as she diced vegetables and put them into a pot of water on the stove along with various spices. As they began to simmer, filling the air with a wonderfully rich aroma, she sat across from Caitlyn. She took a sip of her tea and waited, then smiled. “Since you haven’t had a word to say to that, I assume you don’t know the answer.”
    Caitlyn shook her head, yet another batch of tears forming in her eyes. At this rate, she’d be dehydrated throughout her pregnancy.
    “I don’t,” she whispered. “I really don’t. It’s disconcerting. It seems as if I’ve always understood what I wanted to do professionally, what I was meant to do, but when it comes to love, I never had a plan at all. I certainly didn’t have any idea how to combine the two.”
    “Then you won’t make a decision until you do. And we’ll all of us wait for that moment, even your grandfather.”
    “Grandpa Mick’s never been very patient,” Caitlyn said with a sniff. “He’s going to push to book the church. You know he is.”
    Nell squeezed her hand. “This time he’ll find a way to wait for your decision, and that’s a promise from me to you.”
    “Thank you.”
    “No thanks necessary,” Nell said. “This is your life to lead as you think best. If you want our guidance, you’ll ask for it. As for our support, that’s a given.”
    Caitlyn looked into her great-grandmother’s blue eyes, faded now with age, and felt better than she had at any time since she’d first read that positive pregnancy test.
    “I love you,” she said, hoping she’d have years and years left to say those words to Nell, praying that her child would have time to get to know this wise and wonderful woman.
    “Now don’t be getting all sentimental on me,” Nell said briskly, though she wiped away a tear of her own. She tapped a finger on the blank page in front of Caitlyn. “Start writing or your second attempt at making traditional Irish stew won’t be any better than the first.”
    Caitlyn pushed aside all other thoughts and started writing down the recipe, just the first of many that would connect her to her Irish roots.
    * * *
    Despite all of his brave declarations about facing the O’Briens at Cait’s side, Noah was decidedly nervous as he drove into Chesapeake Shores and followed her directions to her grandfather’s house on a cliff overlooking the Chesapeake Bay.
    Before he made the turn onto the shoreline road, he caught a glimpse of the town green, which was still bright with the few remaining yellow daffodils in the May sunshine. It was just as Cait had described. There were shouts of childish laughter coming from the colorful playground at one end of the green. He couldn’t help thinking what a wonderful place it would be to raise a child. He doubted, though, that Cait was ready to hear his thoughts on that or on the research he’d done that revealed that the nearest local doctor’s office was miles away.
    As he approached Mick O’Brien’s impressive home a few minutes later, he sucked in a deep breath. Even though Cait had assured him she’d paved the way by speaking to both her grandfather and her stepdad, Noah couldn’t help feeling he was about to walk into the lion’s den, albeit a cozy-looking one with a sprawling front porch crammed with rocking chairs and old-fashioned wicker furniture. Fortunately, it was a little too cool for those chairs to be occupied by shotgun-bearing O’Briens.
    As he pulled to a stop, Cait must have spotted him from inside the house because she emerged and ran across the