EPILOGUE
Abigail
*
ONE YEAR LATER
The secret woke Abigail early. She’d felt it, these last few days, a newness, a strange new adventure growing inside her. But until now, she hadn’t known what it was.
Wonder filled her. She allowed herself a private, amazed smile, letting joy flow through her veins as she stretched sleepily in her and Jasper’s massive bed.
Love flowed back to her through the mate bond. Jasper had felt her wake up. She rolled over, ready to share her news.
And found the bed empty.
Abigail pushed herself up on her elbows, frowning. Where was he? This was Christmas morning— their second ever, the first since that wonderful first Christmas she had spent with her mate. Her husband. She looked at the rings on her finger. They had done things the wrong way around; her engagement ring was the plain gold ring Jasper had made for her last Christmas, with its inscribed dragon twining around her finger. The second was gold set with glittering jewels: one for each of the dates they had been on before Jasper claimed her as his own. One diamond for the terrible egg nog. One for the ice-skating, one for the dog-sledding. He’d even convinced her to include one for the night she almost lost him, their adventure up into Santa’s belly.
And the biggest stone wasn’t really for a date. It was for their first Christmas Eve together, and the moment they had chosen one another forever.
It was a jasper. Of course. Red and gold and almost as shining as her gorgeous husband’s eyes.
Warmth blossomed inside her and she sent it down the mate bond. This wasn’t as selfless as it sounded; as a human, she couldn’t sense the mate bond with as much finesse as Jasper could. If he wanted to know where she was, all he had to do was think it. If she wanted to know where he was, she needed to flood the chain that connected them with overwhelming emotion.
Luckily, when it came to her and Jasper, that wasn’t hard to come by.
Jasper was in the kitchen.
Any other morning, she could have forgiven him for that. But this morning, she had the secret. The best sort of news.
Abigail slipped out of bed, pulled on a silky dressing gown, and padded through to the kitchen.
Déjà vu caught her as she saw Jasper brewing coffee. They were in his cottage, of course. Just like last year. And they’d spent the previous night… well, very much like last year.
She crept up to Jasper on tip-toe, even though she knew she could never sneak up on him. He sighed with happiness as she wrapped her arms around him from behind.
“Awake already? I was going to surprise you with breakfast.” Strangely enough, he didn’t sound disappointed, especially after he turned around and snuck his hands under her silky robe. “But if you’re awake…”
“Jasper, wait!” Abigail batted his hands away, laughing. He stopped at once, looking contrite.
“Of course. You need coffee first.”
“I think you’re going to need the coffee, actually.” She smiled at his confused frown, and let him to the small kitchen table. “Sit down.”
“All right…” Jasper’s eyes narrowed. Abigail bit back a grin. He knew nothing was wrong; the mate bond would tell him if she was unhappy, or if the news she had for him was bad. But that was all he knew.
Much as she loved the magic that connected her to her mate, she was glad. She wanted to tell him herself.
Jasper sat down and she stood in front of him, feeling like her whole body was glowing with the secret.
“Sweetheart, what is it?”
“Something new. Or…” She took his hand and pressed it over her abdomen. “Someone new.”
Jasper’s eyes went wide. She felt his shock through the mate bond— and then his happiness, wild and pure and true. “Someone?”
Abigail held his happiness inside herself and then sent it back, overlaid with her own surprise and joy. “We’re going to have a baby. Don’t ask me how I know. When I woke up just now… it’s like she had woken up, too, for the first time.”
“She?” Jasper’s eyes softened. “We’re going to have a daughter?”
“A baby girl.” Abigail laughed. She flung her arms around Jasper’s neck and collapsed onto his lap, pressing herself against him. He stroked her belly. She knew she wasn’t showing yet; it was too early for that. Too early for anything but the mate-bond magic to reveal her body’s wonderful secret.
“I can feel her, Jasper. It’s amazing. Like I can feel you.”
Jasper bit his lower lip. A surge of warmth flowed through Abigail. He’d started doing that, this last year, and she knew he’d caught it from her. She felt the particular singing of the mate-bond inside her that meant her mate was focused entirely on her.
“I feel her, too,” he whispered, his voice hushed with wonder. “Our daughter.”
Happiness bubbled out of Abigail and she laughed out loud. “Oh, my darling,” she cried out, pulling Jasper into a kiss.
“Merry Christmas, Jasper,” she whispered. “Just think. Next year, she’ll be here. Our first family Christmas.”
She rested her forehead against his. A year ago, would she ever have imagined she could be this happy? But here she was, with everything she had never dared believe she truly wanted.
Every Christmas she was with Jasper, she found some new joy in life. She couldn’t wait to discover what the next year brought them.