This Christmas Read Online Free Page A

was nervous about what her parents and her brother would do if they found out. “Bree was the one worried about us being found out. I wasn’t.”
    “So, she was the girl you were so broken up about when Sydney told you she was pregnant? The one you didn’t want to hurt?”
    “The one you told me to make as miserable as possible so she’d hate me and be able to move on? Yeah.”
    “Oh... I...”
    Jake chuckled wryly. “It worked. She must hate me good, because she didn’t tell me about the little girl.”
    He thought about Charlie, a little peanut of a thing with fire in her eyes and wings on her feet. He wondered again, how it had happened? It had happened because he was an idiot. It happened because Jake didn’t follow his heart.
    “Tell me what went on.”
    He returned to his stall and Ryan took a seat next to him. Big and intimidating, Ryan Gervais was loyal to his family and fiercely protective of his little sister, so much so, Jake often wondered if he’d had some kind of death wish pursuing Bree like he did.
    “She found out on Thanksgiving. From what my mother says, she was about two months gone when she took the test.”
    Jake had been out of her life for a month when she found out, which meant, when he was going back to Sydney, and breaking Sabrina’s heart, she was already pregnant.
    “She was miserable, but no matter how many times I asked her, she wouldn’t tell me who the father was. As far as we knew, she hadn’t ever had a serious boyfriend.”
    “It was serious for me,” Jake said. “I know she was young, but I would have married her, pregnant or not.”
    He meant what he said; he loved Sabrina so much it hurt. It killed him to return the engagement ring he’d bought. He’d planned on giving it to her on their first Christmas together, but then the bottom dropped out of... well... it dropped out of everything.
    “I wish she’d said something.”
    “Me too,” Ryan agreed. His friend blew out a long breath. “What are you going to do?”
    Jake didn’t want to wait. He had to talk to her and find out when he could start getting to know his daughter. It didn’t matter how Bree felt about him, he was going to be a father to his child and he had a lot of time to make up. “Does she still live in Holly Point?”
    “Yeah, they live with my parents.”
    That settled it. He started unlacing his skates, because Jake knew what he had to do and he had a long drive ahead of him.
    He remembered the day he told Sabrina he was going back to Sydney like it was yesterday. No matter how hard he’d tried to get Bree out of his head, she’d come back when he’d least expect it. He’d never been more anxious, or more miserable, in his life. Walking away from Sabrina was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
    “You’re going to see her, aren’t you?” Ryan had been watching Jake’s every move, waiting for him to say something.
    Jake dried his skates with a small towel and stored them for the equipment manager. Then he got to the business of changing. “Yup. Anything I should know?”
    “Watch out for my mother. She’ll castrate you if you aren’t careful.”
    Jake figured if he’d escaped a beating from Ryan, he could get around Mrs. Gervais. The one he didn’t know how he was going to deal with was Sabrina. On one hand, he was so pissed he was ready to put a hole in the wall, on the other, he knew how badly he’d hurt her. What had passed between them didn’t have an easy fix.
    “Anything else I should know? The blonde who was with her? One of her posse?”
    “Yeah, that’s Jade. She’s the most reasonable of the bunch. They were all with her when she found out she was pregnant. Be thankful Cass isn’t out there. Or Elena or Kara. They’d be tying boulders to your ankles and tossing you off the end of the dock.”
    Jake had to smile. He remembered Elena with her spiky, pink hair from that summer. The kid was rebelling fifty different ways and gave Sabrina’s mom a run for her