"Nora Roberts - Christmas at Ardmore" - читать интересную книгу автора (Roberts Nora)

He was turned away when those sleigh bells jingled, so didn't see
who walked in, or his wife's wide, delighted grin. But he heard the
voice pick up the chorus on I'll Be Home For Christmas, and swung
around as Darcy plucked his daughter off his mother's lap.

She set the baby on her hip, started toward the bar. Aidan flipped up
the pass through, met her halfway. Then just lifted her off her feet.

"I was missing you."

"Don't make me cry," she murmured. "I worked forever on my face."

"It's always been beautiful."

She eased back, smiling. "So's yours. I had to come home." She
wrapped her free arm around him, pressed her cheek to his. "I had to
wake up Christmas morning in Ardmore." She grinned fiercely over
his shoulder as Shawn came out of the kitchen.

"Well now, it's about damn time," he said. "These orders aren't going
to serve themselves."

"Pardon me a minute, won't you?" She passed the baby to Aidan. "I
won't feel at home until I've thrown something at Shawn."

Because she didn't have anything handy, she threw herself at him
the minute he stepped around the bar. In minutes, they were
dancing.

"Thanks for bringing her back," Aidan said to Trevor.



"It's where she needed to be." Trevor skimmed a finger over the
baby's cheek as he glanced toward his parents, around the pub to
the people who'd come to mean family to him. "Where we both
needed to be."

Later, when the pub was closed it was the Gallagher house that
strained at the seams with people and with song. A great silver bowl
held the wassail Jude had made herself from Shawn's recipe. Cups
of it were passed lavishly while the Gallaghers, in the Gallagher way,
made music with piano and fiddle, with voice and with squeezebox.

In the front window, the grand tree showered light within and without.
Beneath it, presents were heaped in shiny mountains. Between the
songs, there were stories, and through both there was laughter.

But oddly, Aidan felt there was something yet missing.