Christmas Vows Excerpt

Christmas Vows 

Beau sat the container of roofing tacks on the top of the ladder and raised his right foot, the one with the special prosthetic he'd received from Ridge which looked more or less like a climbing club and moved up a step on the ladder of their new home.

"Beau, please be careful," Maddie called from her comfy seat on the lawn chair where she could watch his every move. Well, it was his own damn fault.

He'd wanted her there where he could keep an eye on her. With less than two weeks to D-Day she’d threatened to get down on her hands and knees and dig the old grout out from between the tiles in their entryway and the kitchen of their new house. Before that, he'd caught her scrubbing down the walls and fixtures in the bathroom.

"That's enough, Madeleine." He'd picked her up off the floor and carried her outside to the chaise lounge. Then he'd reached for the pitcher of lemonade from the refrigerator and placed two glasses on a tray. Her look of irritation couldn't hide the look of tired frustration. His Maddie was tired of waiting on the arrival of their baby and she was determined to do whatever she could toward fixing up their fixer-upper, hoping that would bring on that event.

He pressed an index finger lightly on her bottom lip, which showed evidence of a pout.

"No sulking, darling." He poured her a glass of lemonade and instead of drinking it; she held it to her forehead.

Uh-huh. That just proved his point. She was hot and tired. It was early December and the cool Thanksgiving had given over to summer-like conditions — eighty-five degrees and the humidity had returned with a vengeance as well.

The entire family was hoping for a white Christmas or at least a cold one for the big wedding day. It could happen — it had snowed last Christmas. But the odds against it were, well. . .Beau chuckled, he hoped there was a backup plan— snow in Louisiana was scarce. They were more likely to get an ice storm and that would throw a big kink in the works. The entire family could wind up camping out at the Calloway Farm for days. It had already happened twice in his lifetime.

"Beau, what are you doing?"

Oh, right, his lovely pregnant worrywart. He probably shouldn't mention that he'd done a backflip from the ladder while she'd been inside and stuck the landing. Thank you very much.

"Darling. . ." Okay, he'd better change the inflection of his tone. "You do remember I was a stuntman and action hero." Not much better.

Her delicate brown brow rose and those gray eyes bored into his. "Yep." (Emphasis on the "p".) And look how that turned out."

Mmm.  "Low blow, darlin'. The bigger point is I'm completely at home with my new foot and…" He stuck his leg out so she could see.

"Beau!"

The ladder rocked slightly on the uneven ground but he had one hand on the edge of the roof. This was a piece of cake compared to the stunts he'd pulled off in Hollywood. "Ridge gave me this new foot. It's actually for rock climbing. See, it has the gripper on the bottom of the sole."

Okay, she didn't want to hear it. "I'll be down in a few, just got this short stretch to cover."

Maddie sighed and sipped her lemonade. She knew she was being a shrew. Maybe it was a reflex or response to his constant harping, following her around, or she guessed it could be hormones and frustration since she was almost at the end of her pregnancy.

She'd heard, "Should you be doing that? Did the doctor say you could…" Finish that with a dozen tasks that were no big deal. If he had his way she'd be on bed rest, granted on an elegant silk cushioned bed, until the baby was born. She was going to go stir crazy — make that straitjacket material by the time the baby was born; they'd have to peel her out of one.

She knew he meant well, but Maddie decided she was going to have to call in the cavalry. Or talk the doctor into an early delivery.

As if on cue the phone rang. Keeping her eyes on Beau as he finished tacking the shingles down, she pressed her headset to take the call from her future mother-in-law.