Just For Christmas. Stella Bagwell

placed her hand on his forearm. It had been too long since she’d touched him, and the feel of her left him trembling inside.

      “It’s December, Drake. Christmas is coming. You know how important that is to a child.”

      As a young boy, Drake remembered it being a special time for his friends. But not for him. He’d dreaded the holidays. His parents had never failed to fill the house with people he didn’t know. He was relegated to his room upstairs while the parties went on and on. Christmas morning, he and his sister were given a generous hour downstairs to open their gifts, and then the two of them were packed up to their rooms to spend the rest of the day with their nanny. But somehow the worst for Drake had been when he returned to boarding school and heard the stories of his friends’ holidays. Their fathers had played football with them, or taken them fishing and horseback riding. Their mothers had let them help bake Christmas cookies and decorate the tree. Drake hadn’t known what any of that was like, and he’d felt an outsider.

      The bitterness of those memories was reflected in his voice when he spoke. “I’m not the right person for the job, Hope. I’d end up making the kid more miserable than he already is.”

      Her fingers tightened on his arm as she shook her head. “If I believed that, I wouldn’t be up here right now. I wouldn’t be asking for your help.”

      It amazed Drake that even after this separation, she still believed he could be a father. She was like a blue heeler who wouldn’t give up until the last cow was penned. And suddenly he wondered if a month with the three of them together was exactly what Hope needed to make her see just what a rotten father he would make. Maybe then she would realize their marriage could and would survive only if she put the idea of having a child behind her.

      “If you’re worried I’ll try to keep you there once Stevie goes back to boarding school, I won’t,” she hurriedly promised. “You can return to your apartment and everything can go back to the way things are now.”

      “When is Stevie coming?” Drake asked.

      Something in his voice sent hope flickering through her heart. “I have to pick him up at the airport in the morning. Tess is going to run the gift shop for me tomorrow.”

      Today was Thursday. He had one more day of work before the weekend. But Drake made his own hours, which were usually far more than what the Maitlands expected of him. He could take off long enough to go to the airport with her.

      “I’ll move my things back tonight. Will you be home?”

      Hope was suddenly so weak with relief, her legs threatened to give way. “Yes,” she said, then in spite of everything, she had to smile at the small miracle that had just happened. “I’ll be home.”

      The joy on her face stabbed Drake right through the heart. Making his wife happy was all he’d ever wanted to do, and he’d tried hard to see that she’d had everything she needed or wanted. But it hadn’t been enough. He hadn’t been enough. And he’d be a stupid man to believe the smile on her face was because of him.

      “I’ll be there,” he said, then pulling his arm free of her fingers, he stepped around her and headed out the door.

      CHAPTER TWO

      LATER THAT EVENING, on her way home, Hope decided at the last minute to stop by Austin Eats Diner. After her meeting with Drake, she’d been too stirred up to eat lunch, and her stomach was gnawing in protest.

      Since the diner was on the street corner right next to the clinic, it was often filled with Maitland Maternity staff. Thankfully, Drake wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but she quickly spotted a woman with dark hair in a booth by the window.

      Hope made her way through the bustling diner and slid into the seat across from her friend Abby Maitland.

      “I stopped by your office before I left the building,” Hope told her. “I was surprised to find you’d already left.”

      Abby was the chief ob/gyn at Maitland. It was her mother, Megan, who had founded the clinic twenty-five years ago with her late husband and was still Maitland Maternity’s CEO. The same age as Hope, Abby had been her personal physician and dear friend for many years. Recently, she had become engaged to Kyle McDermott, a local businessman, and their wedding was only a week away. Hope was one of Abby’s bridesmaids. Along with her mother and twin sisters, Beth and Ellie, Abby had been frantically planning the details of the ceremony, which would no doubt be a major social event. Nothing about the Maitland family went unnoticed in Austin, especially of late.

      “I had a couple of last-minute cancellations so my schedule ended up being light today,” Abby explained. Then with a bright smile, she asked, “What’s up?”

      Hope’s expression turned sly. “Maybe I should ask you that. I heard through the clinic grapevine today that your younger brother Jake was on his way home. Is his return to Austin for your wedding? Or do you think he really might be Cody’s father?”

      Groaning, Abby rolled her eyes. “I honestly don’t know what to think anymore. With all the women who’ve shown up at the clinic swearing to be the baby’s mother, you’d think the Maitland men had made love to half the female population of Texas.” She shook her head with disgust. “But as for Jake, none of us really know where he’s been or what he’s been doing. I guess it’s possible he might be the father. I just wish the whole thing would get resolved. The publicity is really wearing on Mother.”

      Almost four months ago, Abby, her mother, Megan, brother R.J., and sister Ellie had discovered an abandoned baby boy in a basket at the back of Maitland Maternity. The only clue to the infant’s identity was a note pinned to his diaper, which read, “Dear Megan Maitland, This baby is a Maitland. Please take care of him until I can again.”

      “Your mother is a strong woman, Abby. Otherwise, she would have cracked under the pressure she’s had piled on her these past few months.”

      The corners of Abby’s lips turned downward and concern shadowed her blue eyes. “That’s true, Hope. But everybody has a breaking point. Every day I wonder just how close my mother is to reaching hers.”

      Hope shook her head. “Something will happen to resolve this thing soon. It has to. And in the meantime, Megan has your wedding to look forward to. I know that seeing you married to the man you love is going to make her very happy.”

      Appreciation warmed Abby’s eyes. “I needed to hear that, dear friend. Thanks for saying it.”

      Before Hope could make any sort of reply, a waitress stopped beside their booth. Everyone called the young, blue-eyed blonde Sara, but no one knew her real name. She’d wandered into a local shelter a few months ago, suffering from amnesia, and still hadn’t regained her memory. Nor had anyone recognized her.

      “Hi, Ms. Logan. Can I get you something this evening?”

      “A Reuben sandwich and coffee will be fine, Sara. Thanks.”

      The pretty waitress scratched the order on her pad, then hurried away. Hope turned her attention to Abby, who was staring thoughtfully after the young woman.

      “Has anyone figured out who she is?”

      Abby shook her head. “I don’t think so. There wasn’t much information for the authorities to go on. I guess the only thing anyone can do now is pray her memory returns.”

      Hope glanced across the room to where the young waitress was serving coffee. “Isn’t there something medically that could be done for her? Some sort of drug or psychoanalysis?”

      “Generally doctors like to let amnesiacs heal on their own. It’s not good to try to force a memory.”

      The same way it wasn’t good for Hope to try to force Drake into trying for another baby. That was why she hadn’t fought him when he’d announced he wanted to move out of the house. She didn’t want to beg or cajole or demand anything from him. If he ever decided to give her another chance to have a child, she wanted him to do it willingly. A baby should be something