A Thigh Hih Christmas (3 page)

The Big Reveal

Fiona heard a tentative knock on her office door. “Come in,” she answered, never taking her eyes from her laptop.

“You sure about that?” came a familiar baritone voice from behind the door.

“Yes, Max. Come in,” Fiona said with a tired sigh.

She’d hated sleeping in their bed alone last night. Nothing was worse than sleeping alone in a marriage bed. As she lay in silence last night, she came to the conclusion that she could have simply waited one more day to see the reasoning behind Max’s actions. One more day wouldn’t have killed them, and she’d broken one rule they’d kept intact for five years.

It had been cold and unfamiliar not knocking into his large frame in the bathroom while getting ready for work. He’d even left before she’d gotten out of the shower, announcing he was dropping off Bella at daycare from the door of the bathroom. She was miserable. She realized she couldn’t go a full twenty-four hours without the security and comfort of her husband.

She watched Max enter and shut the door softly behind him as if he were afraid of startling a skittish doe. He had his hands in his pockets, looking more nervous than she had seen him since the night he proposed.

“I wanted to see if you’d like to go to lunch. I have something I want to show you. It will answer all of the questions you had this last week and explain why I wanted you to have some free time coming up.”

“Sure, baby,” she began, walking around her desk to stand before him. “But I want to say something before we go see this secret. Last night I did some real thinking. There is a difference between blind faith and trust. You asked me repeatedly to trust you over the last few days, and I held so hard to my righteous indignation I lost sight of the fact that you have never done one thing during our life together that would negatively affect our daughter or me. You’ve never done anything other than improve my quality of life. I trust you. Now take me to this important secret.” Fiona held his blue gaze with her soulful brown one, speaking of love and forever in the way only well-matched couples can. She was surprised to see the blue eyes she loved so much shimmer with unshed tears.

“Oh, baby, don’t cry,” she whispered, leaning up to press her full lips to his. “Let’s hurry up and get this over with so we can move on and have a peaceful holiday… Oh, Max!
”

Suddenly, she was lifted off the floor in a mighty hug that left her feet dangling and her arms around his shoulders.

“I love you more than life, wife—know this. Don’t ever ask that I spend another night without you, okay?” Max asked, his eyes pleading.

“Yes, husband, never again.” Fiona laughed. “I have a feeling we have some making up to do, and this surprise is holding us up. Why don’t we make our way to your big reveal, and then we can get to the good stuff.”

“This is the good stuff,” Max whispered in her ear as he lowered her to the ground.

Fiona wrapped her fur-lined winter coat around her as Max rounded the car to open the door. The northeast wind was whipping his wool coat around his body like a referee’s foul flag. She was already cold, and she hadn’t exited the car yet. He had driven them to Boston Harbor Yacht Club, but Fiona was pretty sure no one was going to be in the marina at this time of year. Taking her gloved hand in his, Max walked them down to the a few steps to the dock and turned Fiona’s body toward the water while covering her eyes. Over the whistling winter wind and the sound of the city behind her, Fiona heard Max’s quiet demand.

“Open your eyes, my love. Merry Christmas.”

Fiona blinked against the wind and finally focused on a one-hundred-ten-foot traditional sloop. The regal vessel had a cockpit for the helmsman and a beautiful, low-profile cabin house. From the outside, the forward cockpit looked to hold ten or twelve guests easily, and on both the side and stern of the boat in silver script was
Fiona’s Love.

Fiona could not stop the tears from streaming down her face as Max diligently tried to wipe them from her cheeks.

“I love her, Max!” she exclaimed wildly, hurling herself into his arms.

“You see, Captain Fi, I just wanted to give you more time to enjoy your present. Today is her official birthday. She took exactly eleven months to be born,” Max explained.

Still wrapped in her husband’s embrace Fiona looked up and said in all seriousness, “See, I told you handing over that big account to Bill would be a good idea. We definitely need some more quality time together. What say we go make up on my new boat? My sexy husband got it for me for Christmas.”

Max was already halfway down the slip.

Happy Holidays Everyone!