Merry Christmas, Lincoln (A Take Care, Sara Christmas Novelette) Read Online Free

cartoonish. “What are you doing making her do that in her condition? You should be taking care of her, not having her get rooms set up and whatnot.”
    He frowned. “Her condition? You mean because she’s been sick? She told me she’s better.”
    Brown penciled-in eyebrows lowered. “What are you yapping about?”
    “ Mason and Spencer are waiting for the turkey,” Gracie said, roughly nudging him toward the door.
    Lincoln allowed himself to be pushed forward, halting at the opening of the door. His feet wouldn’t move anymore. As realization hit him, they just stopped . His hands griped the door frame and he stared out the window, gazing unseeingly at the snow-filled sky. The snowflakes fell in slow-motion, which was how his brain worked, apparently.
    Irritable, worried, withdrawn, pale, sick; for months —Sara was pregnant. That had to be it. If she was healthy, and she’d promised she was, it was the only explanation.
    He grabbed his head and squeezed, trying to breathe and struggling to perform something that was normally an unconscious motion. God, he was obtuse. His heartbeat picked up at the same time dizziness slammed into him. Everything inside him froze.
    Sara was pregnant.
    Why didn’t she tell him? How could she have kept something like that from him? Emotions ranging from joy to fear to anger crashed through him.
    Lincoln spun around, his features stiff.
    “Ah, there it is. The epiphany.” Dana cackled. “How’d you get to be so slow-witted?”
    He stared at Gracie and Dana, unable to speak.
    “I thought you knew,” she added, softening her tone, which said a lot for Dana. He wordlessly shook his head. “Hell, I took one look at her and I knew.”
    “ Lincoln—“ Gracie began.
    He sliced his hand through the air, silencing her. Air whooshed through his mouth and into his lungs, over and over, a harsh pounding forming between his temples. Eyes locked on the kitchen set apart from the foyer, Lincoln strode to the place he knew his wife was, ignoring the looks of Gracie and Dana.
    He walked through the doorway, his gaze immediately finding Sara. Her back was to him as she carefully sliced cheese and set it on a tray. She’d straightened her dark hair so it hung in a silky curtain halfway down her back. Her top was red and baggy. He cocked his head. She’d been wearing loose-fitting clothes a lot lately, and moving away when he tried to touch her stomach. Why didn’t she want him to know ? Was she unhappy about it?
    “ Sara.” Her name on his lips was a caress, though it came out sounding severe. His conflicting emotions were responsible for that.
    She dropped the knife as she jumped, whirling around. “You scared me,” Sara accused with a smile on her lips.
    The smile faded and her eyebrows furrowed as she really looked at him. “Lincoln? What’s wrong?”
    “You and me—good or bad—we’re supposed to be in this together.” He swallowed around the lump in his throat.
    Her eyes darkened. She didn’t even pretend she didn’t understand; looking away, a hand protectively resting on her abdomen. “I was going to tell you.”
    “When?” He crossed the room to her, stopping when they were close enough for him to see the flecks of gold in her chocolate eyes. “ When were you going to tell me? Six months from now? When you couldn’t hide it anymore? When you were in labor? When? ” He slapped a hand against the counter top, the stinging sensation in his palm doing nothing to eradicate the hurt and anger stirring inside him.
    “ When I knew everything was okay,” she whispered, her head averted, but not enough for him to miss the trickle of tears making their way down her cheek and dripping from her chin.
    “ So, what—if it wasn’t okay, you were never going to tell me? You were going to carry the burden yourself, deal with the loss and grief on your own? You don’t get to pick what I can deal with. What were you going to do if you lost the baby? Pretend you were never