Surprise Christmas Family by Renee Ryan

Author:Renee Ryan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-08-12T20:45:14+00:00

* * *

Hope had lost. Brent was coming home. He hadn’t mentioned anything about next steps once he arrived. He could turn out to be just like her own father. He could choose helping strangers living halfway across the world over raising his own daughters.

Hope allowed herself the luxury of wallowing in a moment of wishful thinking. She hadn’t lost yet. But she wasn’t any closer to winning, either.

“Hope.” She couldn’t look at Walker, not yet. “Stay through the holidays.”

Surprised, she met his gaze and felt his struggle. He, too, wasn’t sure what came next. She told herself not to care that they seemed to be on the same page, but she couldn’t do that.

We’re in this together. In that moment, she realized he cared about the twins as much as she did. And...

He’d been speaking. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I’d like you to consider staying through the holidays. There’s no telling how long it will take Brent to make arrangements to come home. It could take days, or possibly weeks.”

“That long?”

“Depends on whether he’s planning a temporary trip home, or something more permanent.”

A lump lodged in her throat.

“We have a lot of great traditions here in Thunder Ridge. Aside from the Ice Castles, there’s the Tree Lighting Festival, the live Nativity Play, the annual parade on Christmas morning. You get the idea.”

Every one of the events he mentioned sounded amazing. “I can’t think past your brother’s return. If he refuses to step up and be a father to the twins, I will need to—”

“That’s a conversation for later.”

Was it? There were steps Hope needed to consider, decisions to make, whether she went with Plan A or Plan B or Plan C, D or E.

Walker appeared to be thinking through a few plans himself. His next words confirmed her suspicions. “From everything you’ve said, I get the impression Harper and Kennedy haven’t experienced a Christmas like the one Thunder Ridge puts on.”

The twins weren’t the only ones.

Hope smiled politely, ignoring the way Walker was looking at her with that infuriating mix of surety and challenge. “If we stayed—”

“I knew you’d see things my way.”

“If we stayed,” she began again. “That would mean at least three weeks in a hotel. I’m not sure that’s a good idea for the girls.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. There were a lot of other places for the twins to stay besides a hotel. Quinn’s house, for example. Hope should have come up with a better excuse. Now she would be alone for the holidays, or mostly alone, on the outside looking in. It was her childhood all over again.

“I have another idea.”

She just bet he did. But would it include Hope?

“The three of you can move into my house. No, don’t say anything. I’m not through. Let me finish. There’s plenty of room. I live on the lake just two houses down from Quinn, close enough to walk, even in the worst of weather.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

There were so, so many reasons.

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