This Christmas Read Online Free

about his divorce and the baby belonging to some other guy. All she could think about was that Jake hadn’t come back to her. He’d left to try and do the right thing, she got that, but he didn’t come back when he was free.
    And that was what had driven her decision. She couldn’t want a man who didn’t want her. Who hadn’t come back. Jake would do the “right” thing and ask her to marry him, but she didn’t want to trap him. No. If Jake wanted her, he would have been there on his own.
    “I’d better get Charlie,” she whispered.
    “Can I kick the crap out of him, at least?”
    “No, not that either.”
    Ryan stepped back, and Sabrina could see in Ryan’s eyes that her wonderful big brother was at a loss. He always knew what to do and how to act, but not this time. “I’ll come by the house tomorrow. Are you guys still baking?”
    “You bet. I’ll put some pizzelle aside for you.” Bree knew the waffle-like cookie was his favorite.
    Ryan kissed her on the top of the head and then went back to the crowd of kids who were waiting for autographs. Bree on the other hand, turned toward the dressing room, and her little girl whose life was in for some big changes.

    J ake swallowed hard as he slammed through the dressing room door, trying to wrap his head around what he’d just seen. Was that his daughter? Had Sabrina had a kid and not told him about it? His kid?
    His head was swimming with thoughts and images and his heartbeat kicked up just thinking about Sabrina. Pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes, he saw her in a thousand different ways. Some of the images were from a few seconds ago; others were burned into his memory from ten years before.
    “Holy shit,” he said to no one in particular. The room was empty and he sat down on the bench in front of his stall. “Holy shit,” he whispered again. He’d come to accept losing Sabrina because he’d left her to marry Sydney and take care the child she said was his.
    A child, who, it turned out, didn’t belong to him.
    Sydney had lied, and he’d been forced to face the biggest mistake of his life.
    And if losing Bree wasn’t enough, if the universe hadn’t screwed him over with that decision, he learned today there’d been a little girl without a father he’d never known about.
    Standing, he stalked the room, moving with no particular purpose and suppressing the urge to do real violence. How had this happened? How had he fucked this up so badly? With the pressure building in his chest, he roared before kicking over a small table in the center of the room that had been loaded with stick tape and water bottles, sending everything flying.
    He crouched down in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the colorful tape and plastic bottles, and buried his head in his hands. “Jesus, Bree,” he whispered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Tell me why I shouldn’t give you the beating of your life?”
    Jake picked up his head and saw Ryan standing at the entrance to the room, his gloves off, ready to kick Jake’s ass.
    Jake rose and held his arms wide. “Go ahead. I couldn’t possibly feel worse than I already do.”
    Ryan advanced, both men still in skates, stood their ground. Jake, however, was ready to take Ryan’s best shot.
    “You got my sister pregnant. My baby sister! She was eighteen. What were you thinking?”
    Jake shrugged and raised his hands in surrender. All the fight had left him, all he could see were Charlotte’s eyes staring up at him. “I was thinking about her. I still think about her. Why didn’t she tell me about the baby?”
    Ryan relaxed his stance and shook his head. “She was eighteen.”
    “I know. I should have left her alone, but it just happened.”
    “That kind of stuff doesn’t just happen ,” Ryan snarled. “And on top of everything, you kept her a secret. You didn’t tell anyone.”
    “I didn’t try to keep it secret.” He didn’t. He wanted to take her out places, but she was the one who