A Christmas Surprise Read online

  “How’re you young folks doin’? It’s good to see you again. Your parents called to let us know you’d be visitin’ for the holidays, so I wanted to come by and check on you. I turned the heat up earlier today to make sure the cabin would be warm. The radio issued a freeze warnin’ for tonight, so you want to make sure you get bundled up good.”

  Betsy replied to her old friend, “Merry Christmas to you, Mr. Peters, and thanks for the warning. Think we’ll get any snow this year?”

  “Maybe. We’ve got a forty percent chance, they say. Who knows, the weathermen can’t be trusted even with all of their fancy equipment. Only the good Lord knows what’s gonna happen and He ain’t tellin’.”

  The threesome laughed at Richard Peters’ comment and the unpredictability of the weather.

  Tommy said, “It’s good to see you again. We missed seeing you the last time we were here. How is Mrs. Peters?”

  As the men talked, Betsy’s mind wandered to past vacations and holidays at the cabin. Mr. Peters and his wife were good friends with her parents and looked after the place during their absence. The Peters had been retired and living there for as long as Betsy had known them. She couldn’t remember a single time that Mr. Peters hadn’t come over to visit, and Mrs. Peters often had watched after her and her brother when her parents needed a night without the children. She and Jamie had loved staying at their neighbor’s large house and playing with the many toys and games the Peters had there for their grandchildren.

  After his response, Betsy said, “Please tell her we said hello and we’ll be over tomorrow for a visit. Tonight, we want to rest and celebrate together.”

  “Now, don’t you two go worryin’ about us old folks. You’re young and in love and need time alone; we understand that, trust me. That woman over there with the apron and gray hair makes my world go ‘round. She’s still the most beautiful woman alive to me. Just enjoy the night and we’ll see you sometime tomorrow. We’ll call before we come over,” he said and winked as he turned to head home to his wife.

  Betsy and Tommy watched Richard Peters walk to where he had left his golf cart. She yelled to their neighbor, “Good night, Mr. Peters. Don’t forget to tell your wife we said hello and Merry Christmas!”

  Richard smiled, waved and departed.

  Tommy said, “He’s one of the nicest men I’ve ever met. He’s very understanding of us young folks, too. Hope I’m that way as I get older. Think young, stay young; that’s what I’m going to do.”

  Betsy laughed, then suggested, “We’d better get our suitcases and sacks into the house before it gets dark. It’ll be night soon and the wind is already blowing in some of that cold air. I’ll unpack the groceries while you get a fire going. Are you hungry for anything particular tonight?”

  “I’m always hungry for you, woman. I think I can handle getting a fire started and warming you up.” Tommy hinted, amazed to discover he already wanted his wife again. It had only been a few hours since they left the bed at home, but he felt as if he hadn’t touched her in days. It was as if she had this magical way of consuming his thoughts and inflaming his body.

  Together, they unpacked the car and prepared to settle in for the night.

  As Tommy placed the wood and kindling in the fireplace, his mind drifted to Betsy’s earlier comments and expressions. He sensed something was bothering his wife. Her eyes had not glowed when he’d asked her about school and work. Until today, she’d been so excited about getting started with her new career that her smile had generated considerable wattage every time she talked about it. He recalled they’d had several arguments before she had brought him over to her way of thinking, because he had wanted to start their family immediately. His parents had been considerably older than he was now when he and his brother were born, and he didn’t want that to be the case in his life. At twenty-eight, he wanted to have children while he was young enough to enjoy them as they were growing up and young enough to see them marry and have kids. Sadly, his father had not lived to meet Betsy nor their unborn children, and his mother wouldn’t realize she had grandchildren in her current mental condition.

  He knew Betsy wanted to wait until after she began her new career before she took time out to rear a family. She had witnessed a lot of torment and suffering during her years in the emergency room, and she wanted to do something to help vulnerable victims who believed they had no one to turn to in their distress. His wife wanted to go back to school to learn about the legal system, so she could offer assistance to battered spirits whom she had discovered in her nursing duties. Tommy also surmised she feared childbirth because of certain horrors she had observed in the hospital. He cringed at some of the stories she had told after dinner about her routines at the hospital, not realizing the tales she revealed were as heartrending to him as they were to her. She took her patients’ pain with her, which evoked many sleepless nights. He desperately wanted Betsy to find another avenue to help others without witnessing so much anguish herself.

  Tommy lit the kindling and stoked the infant flames as he continued to recall the events she had been a part of at the hospital. Her brother’s wife had died earlier this year while giving birth to her nephew, and Tommy knew Cathy’s loss had left an indelible scar on her as well. She had been working in the emergency room the day an unconscious Cathy had been brought in by an ambulance. Betsy had done everything in her power to see that her sister-in-law got the best care, but it was too late by the time Cathy got to the hospital to save her life. They were lucky to have been able to save the baby. Betsy helped her brother and her nephew as much as she could as they traveled a new highway alone. She had loved Cathy as if she were a blood sister, so the loss had devastated her for weeks.

  As the flames in the fireplace leapt to life, Tommy thought of Betsy’s eyes which had blazed with the need to do something new with her life as she had become increasingly burned out with the tragedies that she had seen in the hospital, especially after Cathy’s death. He remembered the look of relief that had crossed her face when Mr. Peters had interrupted their conversation and her answers to his questions. Something was definitely going on and he intended to get to the bottom of it and soon.

  BETSY WAS FINISHING with the master bedroom and the bathroom essentials when Tommy joined her.

  “I’ve got a fire started in the other room and enough firewood inside to get us through the weekend, so what can I help you with, Bets?”

  Seeing his sweet smile, she melted again. “Everything’s handled in here. Your things are in the top two drawers and mine are in the bottom two. The rest is hanging in the closet. The bathroom’s ready for later, so that’s all for in here. You can help me with the groceries if you want. I’ve already put the food in the refrigerator, but I haven’t unloaded anything else.”

  “I’d love to help you in the kitchen; it’s my favorite room here.” Tommy winked as he referred to what happened there after he proposed to her two and a half years ago, six months after they met.

  “That’s because you eat like a growing boy. I don’t know how your parents afforded to keep you and your brother fed with the way you two shovel it down. I hope we have girls instead of boys or we won’t be able to feed all of you.” At the mention of children, her heart began to pound. She inhaled deeply, then released the spent air rapidly.

  Tommy thought she noticeably shuddered because of Cathy and the strange mood she had been in all day. They had been unable to make the annual ski trip to Colorado with her parents and brother this year since he and Betsy couldn’t take that much time off from work. It had been impossible to negotiate more than the weekend and they hadn’t wanted to spend most of it in airports and planes. Actually, it was going to be nice to share this holiday with only the two of them, especially after the past year’s trials. They had joined her parents last Christmas and had enjoyed themselves tremendously, but they were looking forward to much needed private time
together. “Let’s get that kitchen straight so we can start cooking. By the way, I’m already hungry again for another kind of snack,” he hinted with a contagious gleam.

  Tommy’s provocative tone, words and mood set Betsy’s heart to thumping. His appetite for her seemed insatiable which made her feel like the sexiest woman on the planet. In the twenty-three months since they had married, he never seemed to tire of touching and caressing her, and always took her in his arms to soothe away her day’s worries. What, she fretted, would she ever do without him? Or him, do without her?

  In the kitchen, Betsy unpacked the treats she had brought for them to snack on during the holidays. Meals, which she had prepared ahead of time, were stored in the refrigerator before she started their dinner.

  Tommy took the coolers outside and dumped ice and water well away from the porch so they wouldn’t freeze and make entry into the house dangerous. He dried and stored them in the hall pantry. Now that they were settled, he decided, he was going to get to the bottom of whatever was troubling her.

  Being lovers and best friends, Betsy knew that Tommy sensed something was wrong. She could tell by the way he was watching her and not teasing her as he usually did. She had to think fast of a way to distract her husband, because she knew she couldn’t lie to him and he was probably getting ready to question her again. “Tommy, I’ve already started the spaghetti to feed one of your ravenous appetites. The sauce is on the back burner and the water is beginning to boil for the noodles. Could you watch them while I run to the restroom?” she asked as he came into the room.

  “Sure, sweetheart. Man, this smells good. You make the best spaghetti in the entire world, you know that? We should market this recipe and make a million bucks. Then again, there are some things I want all to myself. Greedy man you married, Bets. I won’t be able to move after I finish a plateful of this. I don’t suppose you made any of your famous garlic bread?” He posed the question with one of his most engaging grins to relax her.

  “You know I wouldn’t forget the garlic bread, especially since you eat nearly an entire loaf yourself! But you better not fill up too much, because I have a surprise for you after dinner.”

  After she winked at him, Tommy’s lower half felt as if it was sitting on the hot stove instead of the pots and pans. Man, this woman could do amazing things to his mind and body. He didn’t know if he could make it without her, as Jamie was being forced to do without Cathy. His cherished Betsy had helped him through one of the most difficult times of his life and he knew he would be grateful forever that she had wanted to become his wife. She filled him with such joy and passion that he sometimes imagined he would burst from an abundance of these emotions. “I thought we agreed to exchange Christmas gifts tomorrow evening.”

  “I think you’ll want to get this present tonight. You’ll understand my meaning when you see it. Trust me,” Betsy purred, then sent him a sexy grin before she turned and sauntered from the room.

  Tommy knew that “trust me” usually meant something was up, so he hoped he would learn soon what had her so distracted. As he added the pasta to the boiling water, he thought about her strange mood. Cathy’s passing and his mother’s stroke had made it a tough year for both of them. His heart ached every time he went to visit his mother who didn’t appear to recognize him. He hoped somewhere in her subconscious she knew he was there. One of the hardest things he’d ever had to do was place his mother in a nursing home. His father had passed away years ago, so now he was the head of the Reed family. His younger brother, who still had a lot of growing up to do, wasn’t much help with family decisions. Selling his childhood home and most of the Reed belongings to raise enough money to put his mother into a full care facility had added years to his emotional life. Betsy had shared the worst moments with him and held his hand when he needed it. She also had lent her muscles when he needed those to help clean the house and ready it for sale. His wife had sold furniture and belongings, except for those he had chosen to keep for sentimental reasons, as he had found that task extremely difficult.

  “The bread! Hurry! It’ll burn!” he heard Betsy shriek from behind him as she rushed to his side. Tommy grabbed a potholder, yanked open the oven door, and rescued the garlic bread in the nick of time.

  “Sorry. I forgot to tell you it was already in the oven.”

  “Woman, you scared the daylights out of me, coming up behind me like that and shouting in my ear!”

  “I’d better offer a whole dollar instead of a penny for those thoughts!” she joked and grinned at him. “They must have been good, because I’ve been standing in the doorway for several minutes watching you until I remembered the bread.”

  “What were you looking at?”

  “My handsome husband. Well, actually, my handsome husband’s rear-end, if you want the truth. Which is quite a pleasant view, I might add.”

  Tommy turned and sent her a skeptical look, as he had never felt he was “handsome”. Thankfully, his Betsy thought he was nice looking or at least she told him he was. He loved her so much for all of the encouragement she gave him. He couldn’t wait to give her her present tomorrow. And the extra gift he had received today. He hoped she would be as happy about it as he was, as it would require a large commitment from both of them. Before he disclosed his news, he had to relax her and get her in a calm and receptive mood, a state she had lacked since returning home at noon. Something was wrong, unless she was just reacting to vibes of tension from him due to his secrets. It would all be revealed soon, so he’d know afterward if the tangible stress was hers or his. He prayed there was no new hurdle about to be thrust into their young marriage.

  “Bets, I think you’re the most beautiful woman to walk the face of this earth. You should know I mean that because I can’t seem to keep my hands off of you. You have curves in all the right places.”

  “I think I have too many curves. I could stand to lose a few pounds and tighten up my rear end. It’s getting a little heavy lately.”

  “No! I don’t want you losing any weight. You’re the perfect size for me and my hands and my mouth and . . . Well, everything else, too! I don’t want to wrap my arms around a lot of bones. I want to feel a woman’s flesh beneath me in my bed. Yours, Bets.”

  “I could stand to lose a few pounds,” Betsy insisted. “You always comment on the women on TV and in the movies who have the tight bodies and big breasts. I’ve never heard you comment on any woman who was excessively well rounded.”

  “That’s because all they show are either tight bodies or overweight women, not much in between. I think your body is sexier than anybody’s on the tube.”

  “That’s because mine is accessible. Wouldn’t you like for me to have a sexy body like those models or movie stars?” she queried with a twinkle in her eyes.

  “No, because then all the other men would want you and you might turn the other way. I love the way you look. Besides, you’d be able to tell if you didn’t turn me on. It does show on a man better than on a woman.”

  Betsy laughed. “I guess I can’t argue with that logic. I just thought you were always like this,” she murmured as she eyed the bulge in his jeans before her playful gaze met his smoldering one.

  “I am, around you,” Tommy emphasized.

  Betsy felt the heat igniting her body. She walked to the sink and washed the dishes they would need for dinner, as they had been in the cupboards unused for weeks. She knew her parents had the cabin sprayed for bugs and such, but she still performed the task her mother had taught her many years ago. Her husband was the most wonderful man alive, she thought, and always knew the right thing to say to her. She only hoped he would still find her sexy after her body changed. She already had one scar from surgery earlier this year, and perhaps more would be added to it if the tests were right. Would she be undesirable to him after her body changed?

  Tommy kept checking the pasta as he continued t
o watch his wife. She seemed to move as if in a trance when she set the table. Her eyes appeared to glaze over at his last comment. He didn’t want to spoil their dinner, so he decided to wait until afterwards to have a serious talk.

  Husband and wife sat down to dinner and discussed more of the events of the past week, as they had been unable to spend much time together with their hectic schedules.

  “Susan caught her husband with another woman last week: that’s why she hasn’t been at work. I can’t imagine seeing your husband in the arms of another woman. Susan looks awful. She said she hasn’t eaten or slept since she walked in on them.”

  “Don’t look at me like that,” he quipped mirthfully. “I didn’t do anything. Why is it that every time a man cheats on his wife, so many other wives starts looking at their own husbands in suspicion? It’s like that Fatal Attraction movie that everyone was so hyped about. Women everywhere took their spouses to see it just so they could warn: ‘See what could happen if you cheat on your wife? You’d better think hard and long, buster, before you do anything like that.’ Heaven help us men.” Tommy continued, shaking his head and laughing. “Most men never imagined being unfaithful. Thankfully that movie came out before we met or I’m sure you would have kidnapped me and taken me to see it,” he teased.

  “Well, statistics prove it was more than fiction.”

  “Numbers can be manipulated to back up whatever position you hold. Besides, just because someone else jumps off a cliff, I’m not going to be enticed to do it.” Tommy waxed serious, realizing for some inexplicable reason his wife was feeling insecure and needed reassurance of his total devotion and commitment to her. “Betsy, my love, there is no one in this world who would be worth jeopardizing my life with you. I think—if I made a slip—you might be able to forgive me one day, but you surely would never forget such a cruel betrayal, and that would forever change what we have. No, it simply would not be worth it,” Tommy vowed.