Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 31777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Cat and Alejandro are hosting Christmas this year and everyone is coming!
Well, except for Isaiah who no one has heard from.
But they’re all still going to try and celebrate the holiday.
Only Cat might be getting coal in her stocking, Maeve isn’t feeling so great, Faith thinks she’s ruined Christmas, and Immy might have run over Rudolph.
Christmas is shaping up to be very interesting this year
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
MAEVE AND GRAY
21st December
Maeve sat back on the bathroom floor, wiping at her mouth shakily.
Oh, this wasn’t good.
Her stomach rolled and she let out a small whimper.
Get it together, girl!
You can’t let Gray see me like this. Get up. Get sorted.
Unfortunately, her little pep talk didn’t immediately have her springing to her feet, ready to take on the day.
Instead, she dragged herself up until she was standing and glanced wearily into the bathroom mirror.
A tired, pale woman with limp hair stared back at her.
This was terrible. As soon as Gray saw her he’d know that something was wrong.
That she was ill.
This wasn’t fair! She was always sick when something important was going on. She’d missed Cat’s wedding because the Surgeon had said she was too ill to travel.
Why the heck Gray trusted a doctor who didn’t even have a proper name, she had no idea.
But the Surgeon wasn’t going to ruin Christmas for her.
Not happening.
They were meant to leave tomorrow morning for Southampton to spend Christmas and the New Year with her family.
And Maeve was determined that nothing would stop her. Certainly not a stomach bug that had appeared out of nowhere.
She had no idea where she could have picked it up. She’d been working nonstop on the large number of doggy outfits her customers had placed for Christmas and had barely left the house. The only people she’d seen lately were Gray, Markovich, Triple-T, Ilya, and Dahlia.
It made zero sense.
Maybe it was something she’d eaten?
That had to be it. She turned on the shower and got in once the water warmed up. Gray wouldn’t be home until this evening so she had some time to get over this.
God, she couldn’t wait until they were on their way.
It felt like ages since she’d seen everyone. She hadn’t even been to Tennessee yet to see the new family compound.
The only dark spot on the holidays, besides her weird stomach bug, was the fact that Isaiah was still missing, and no one knew where he was. He’d disappeared two months ago. Immy had been the last one to see him and she’d said he was tracking wannabe Deity.
A shudder ran through Maeve as she washed herself. The last thing she wanted to think about was the fact that there might be a copycat out there. Someone who was going around pretending they were now the Deity.
No.
She definitely didn’t want to think about him or any of this. After turning off the shower, she dried herself and got dressed in her favorite purple tracksuit with gold and purple striped socks. They were so worn that Gray had threatened to throw them out several times.
That wasn’t happening.
He needed to keep his big paws off her stuff.
Maeve put on a bit of makeup, hoping to hide the paleness of her cheeks. Although she was starting to feel better. Perhaps it had just been something she’d eaten.
Then again, maybe there was another reason for her sudden illness . . . she put her hand over her stomach.
No.
There was no chance. She was on birth control. She’d know if she was pregnant.
That was stupid.
So what if her period was late . . . that didn’t mean anything. She’d been under a lot of stress trying to complete all of her online orders. Dahlia was helping her package and send everything off.
Speaking of which . . .
Maeve heard the front door slam and rushed through the bedroom into the dining area of the cottage they lived in.
Which was also the area she’d set up as her office. They had a spare bedroom, but Maeve preferred to work out here and it was easier for Dahlia to have a table for packaging items.
“Morning!” Dahlia said cheerfully, unwrapping a lumpy, misshapen scarf from around her neck. “Brr, it’s getting so cold out there.”
“Morning!” Maeve said cheerfully.
Maeve was grateful she had a friend close by who could help her when she got busy. It was a bonus that Dahlia was also a Little.
“Did you come over by yourself?”
Dahlia shook her head. “Triple-T walked me over. I’m not to leave without him. Our Daddies just left to go get some stuff done before you guys leave. I am going to miss you!”
“Me too!” Maeve told her, giving her a hug. “Cute scarf by the way.”
It really wasn’t. It was terrible. It looked like a toddler had knitted it. But Maeve would never say that because Dahlia was super proud of her knitting ability.
“Thank you! I knitted something for you and Grumpy Bear.” Dahlia took off her knitted hat, which matched the scarf. They were both red-and-white-striped, but the stripes weren’t of equal thickness and sometimes a red stripe would just end, and a white one would start up. She drew out two items from her oversized tote.
Uh-oh.
Dahlia had once knitted Gray a sweater. It had been yellow with a brown smiley face that had looked more like a weird blob. The arms of the sweater had ended at his elbows and the bottom had only reached his belly button.