‘Well, then, this is just for you.’ She chuckled, infected by his air of excitement, grabbed hold of the wrapping paper in both hands and pulled.
He groaned as the contents of the parcel flew in two directions and he had to retrieve them one by one.
‘These first,’ he directed. ‘I took that packet of ugly harvest festivals back and swapped them for the sexiest ones I could find,’ he said with a grin, and waggled his eyebrows when she blinked at just how risqué the delicate lingerie was.
‘Harvest festivals?’ she repeated with warmth in her cheeks, remembering the vastly oversized knickers she’d bought to fit over her cast and then never worn.
‘My grandmother used to call them that,’ he said with a laugh. ‘She said it was because they were so all-encompassing that they reminded her of that hymn that’s always sung at harvest festivals, “All is safely gathered in”.’
‘Well, if they were harvest festivals, what are these?’ She was almost embarrassed to look at them while he was watching for her reaction. She’d worn that thong out of sheer necessity when she’d first broken her leg, but these definitely had a different purpose if his expression was anything to go by. There was absolutely nothing utilitarian about them.
‘Those are definitely Mardi Gras, or even Copacabana,’ he suggested, ‘and I can’t wait to see you modelling them.’
The heat in his eyes was enough to send her temperature and pulse soaring and it wasn’t something she was used to from Dan. While they had their agreement to wait until he was finally free of his marriage to Zara, she’d recognised that he’d been walking a torturous tightrope. On the one hand he’d been at great pains to make sure that she knew just how sexy he found her ripening body and how much he desired her while preventing the situation getting out of hand.
This, today, was so out of character that she scarcely …
‘And this is the other “Happy Christmas” present we’re going to share,’ he said, more seriously this time, as he handed her the other half of the parcel. It was a bulky envelope and looked quite official … almost like …
‘The decree absolute,’ she whispered, hardly able to believe what she was seeing when she slid the document out. ‘Oh, Dan, you’re free.’
‘Exactly,’ he said with delight, flinging both arms around her. ‘And tomorrow morning we’re both going to present ourselves with all our relevant documents and information and we’re going to book our wedding for twenty-one days later.’
‘Twenty-one days?’ she repeated, quite shocked that everything suddenly seemed to be moving so fast. ‘But that’s so close to Christmas and … and … Dan, you’ve been crossing off the days until you’d be free. Don’t you want a little while to get used to the idea that you’re not married to Zara before you tie yourself to—?’
‘Sara, my love,’ he said as he tightened his arms around her and settled her head on his shoulder, where it belonged, ‘there’s only one reason why I’ve been counting every last second until I could get this decree in my hand, and that’s because I can’t wait to be married to you.’
‘But …’
He stopped her speaking with a hungry kiss, although that was becoming more difficult without some careful positioning as her bump grew ever larger.
‘And don’t you start trying to come up with all sorts of ulterior motives, such as “he’s only doing it so fast because he wants to be married before the babies arrive to make sure they have his name.” I can tell you categorically that, while it would cut down on a bit of paperwork, I’d be in just as much of a hurry to marry you if you weren’t pregnant at all.’
He gave her another kiss that went a long way to convincing her just how much he desired her, then cupped her face in his hands and drew back, but only far enough for her to focus on green eyes that now blazed with all the love she could ever want. He drew in a noticeably shaky breath then declared fiercely, ‘Sara, I just can’t wait to be able to tell the world how I feel … that the woman I love to distraction has given me the best Christmas gift in the world and is finally my wife.’
In the end, it hadn’t mattered in the least that she’d been feeling as if she was the size of a small house, because Dan had been right—all that mattered was that they were married at last, and there wasn’t a dry eye.
With so few days to go before Christmas there was evidence everywhere from the beautiful display of scarlet and green poinsettia around the room to the fine streamers of red and green ribbon spiralling down from Sara’s bouquet of Christmas roses.
Sara suspected that her mother probably hadn’t been able to resist comparing this small gathering in the nearest registry office with Zara’s elegant ceremony. No doubt she was regretting that neither she nor Dan had been willing to give her the chance to arrange something similar for them.
This was far more intimate and more meaningful, with just their closest friends in attendance to wish them well; and she didn’t have to look much further than Sean O’Malley to guess who had suggested that they should all celebrate the unique time of year by wearing red or green.
But there was no way that even Audrey could miss the loving way Dan had ushered her into the room or the supportive arm that had encircled her throughout the proceedings.
Even the registrar had looked ecstatic when she declared them husband and wife, but that was probably because the poor woman was so relieved that she hadn’t had to witness a precipitate delivery all over her brightly polished floor.
‘Still, it’s a bit of a shame,’ Sean teased when he came up to congratulate them. ‘It would have been so handy for registering the birth.’
Sara was the only one who didn’t laugh.
All morning she had been feeling ominous tightenings and Dan hadn’t completely been able to convince her that it was just more Braxton-Hicks’ contractions. She’d been horribly certain that she would never get this far before going into labour.
‘I told you it would be all right,’ he murmured smugly when their little gathering had filed out of the office to make way for the next couple. He stroked a loving hand over her ivory silk-draped bump. ‘I had a little word with these two in here and told them we had big plans for today, so they were to stay put just a little bit longer.’
‘Dan? Sara?’ said a hesitant voice behind them, and there was Zara, looking almost unrecognisable from the sickly person Sara had last seen in a hospital bed. For just a moment the sight of her sister looking so vibrant and healthy reminded Sara all too forcibly that she must look like a hippo draped in a marquee by comparison, and her hand tightened reflexively on Dan’s arm.
It only took one glance from those deep green eyes to restore her confidence that he was finally married to the twin he loved.
Standing beside Zara was a man at least twenty years her senior and not nearly as handsome as Dan, but it was obvious from the way he looked at her sister that he was completely besotted.
‘This is Zach,’ she said, almost shyly, and this new side to her otherwise confident sister took Sara by surprise.
‘I’m the guy who’s putting the finance together for Zara’s
