So I wrapped my arm around his bicep and leaned my head on his shoulder.
"Are you saying you'll buy me a cookie?"
"Two, in fact. Because Nathan Junior wants a cookie too." His hand rubbed my small baby bump as he guided me toward the bakery.
Inside, the entire place was decked out for Christmas.
Everything looked like a blizzard had hit, frosted glass and fake snow in display cases and string lights wrapped aroundevery surface imaginable while the aromas of gingerbread and pumpkin flooded my senses the second we walked in.
It was sensual overload that had my mouth watering and my stomach growling instantly.
"You find a spot and I'll get some cookies for us," he said, nodding at a table in the corner of the seating area.
While I picked a seat and got comfortable, I felt my phone vibrating inside my coat pocket and pulled it out to see my mother's face on my screen.
I knew before I even answered that this would be the moment I spilled the beans about the baby, and I answered anyway.
I was too happy today to avoid a conversation, and besides, I missed her.
"Hey, Mom, what's up?" I looked up at Nate, who caught my eye from the line and narrowed his eyes at me as if asking who I was talking to. "Mom" I mouthed as mom responded in my ear.
"Amber, honey, I miss you so much." Mom still called me by my given name, which was alright with me.
Now that life had settled down, I had considered changing my name back, but Nate insisted he loved me either way.
"Aw, I miss you too, Mom. I hate that I didn’t get to see you guys at Thanksgiving." I sighed deeply as I thought about everything that had happened in the past few weeks.
Hearthkeeper duties were officially done for the year now, though they had interrupted a lot of important moments I always held dear about the holiday season.
"Well, that's why I'm calling, dear. Dad and I booked out flights, and guess what?"
Mom sounded so excited, I felt confused.
We'd made plans for her to visit, so that wasn't the surprise. I honestly didn't know what to guess. "I'm never good at this game. Just tell me."
"We are going to stay for four days! I'm so excited."
I smiled at Nate as he appeared with cookies and warm milk and sat down next to me. "That's great, Mom."
He set the cookies in front of me and counted them off on his fingers, and I noticed one was a gingerbread woman and the other was a gingerbread elf, which made me roll my eyes at him again. "I have my own little surprise for you too."
"What's that, honey?"
"Well, remember how I told you I'm dating someone?" I hadn't shared explicit details yet, but I had told her a week ago that Nate and I had been dating since July.
"I, uh…" I met Nate's gaze as he took a bite of his cookie and knew the moment felt right. "I'm pregnant, Mom. You'll be a grandma by next Christmas."
"Oh, my gosh! Amber, that's so exciting!" she gushed, then more quietly, "Dear, Amber's having a baby! Oh gosh. Oh, my gosh…"
Then her excitement devolved into tears, which drew my father to the phone for a congratulatory chat briefly before I insisted I had to eat my cookies before they got cold.
Making the happy announcement felt so good, I almost wanted to call Amelia and tell her too, but my time with Nate was still precious to me.
He had a few more days to work before his holiday break and I wanted to soak up every second of it.
"They're happy?" he asked after I put my phone away.
"Thrilled." I chuckled. "And Dad wants to name the baby Elwood, so you have a fight on your hands." I nibbled the gingerbread at first but ended up devouring one whole cookie in only two bites as I realized how hungry I was.
