A Very Merry Hockey Holiday (Assassins #6.5)(7)

“Night, Daddy,” she said before kissing the camera and then Audrey.

“I’ll be up in a few minutes, okay? Tuck in all your dolls,” she said and Tate chuckled.

Bedtime was a long, drawn-out process in the Odder household. It took Penelope at least ten minutes to tuck in all her dolls and then another ten minutes of a story before either Audrey or he had to lie with her, talking about their day. She hated to sleep and they didn’t mind catering to her needs. The perks of being the princess in the house.

Once Penelope hopped away, Audrey looked at the screen and tried to smile. “I figure when you get home, we’ll decorate. Christmas is right around the corner.”

He nodded. They had three weeks, but it was coming up quick. “Yeah, usually we are set up after Thanksgiving.”

She shrugged. “Yeah. Just haven’t been in the mood.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, and then he decided he didn’t like this. “Audrey,” he said since she was looking down, picking at her nails.

She glanced up. “Yeah?”

He was tired of it all. If she wouldn’t do what needed to be done, he was going to do it. He was going to make her happy.

“Make an appointment.”

“Huh?” she asked, perplexed.

“Make an appointment for the in vitro. You want a baby; then we’ll get one.”

“Okay,” she answered and his brows came up.

That was entirely too easy.

“What?”

She smiled. “I already made the appointment yesterday. I just didn’t know if I should tell you because what if it doesn’t stick?”

His brows came together. “So you weren’t going to tell me?”

She shook her head. “I’ve already disappointed you enough.”

Letting out a long breath, he swore he was going to have words with his wife. “I am going to shake you, woman.”

She smiled. “Oh really?”

“Yes,” he said with a nod but without conviction. He wouldn’t lay a hand on her, but he wanted her to know he was annoyed. “You’ve not, in any way, disappointed me, my love. You have been a perfect wife. Great lover and the best mother imaginable.”

Her lips curved as she shook her head. “I’ve only given you one baby.”

“And she is enough, Audrey, honestly. You have made my life twenty times better. I was lost without you. So please, don’t ever say anything like that again, and also don’t hide things from me. I don’t like that.”

“I just want to make you happy,” she said, her eyes clouding with tears. He wanted to be there; he wanted to hold her and reassure her.

Clearing his throat, he smiled. “Audrey, baby, just looking at you makes me happy. You are my everything, baby.”

She smiled as she nodded. “You’re mine.”

“Good, now when is the appointment?”

“Tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there.”

“You have a game.”

“I’ll fly in and fly back out. What time?”

“Eight thirty. Piper is getting Pennyloo and taking her to school since Fallon just had Emery and all.”

He nodded and then promised, “I’ll be there.”

Her face lit up. “That would be awesome. I’m scared.”

“Don’t be,” he said with a crooked grin. “I’ll be right beside you.”

“I love you,” she said, and as he watched a tear slowly roll down her face, his heart broke a little bit in his chest.

“I love you, baby,” he promised and he always would. “And, babe?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s going to work. I can feel it in my bones.”

Another tear fell as she nodded. “I hope so.”

“It will,” he promised. “And what you want will be in your belly instead of under the tree.”

She let out a sob as she nodded, and he knew in his heart that this was going to work. It had to.

It just did.



All Audrey wanted for Christmas was to get pregnant.

It was actually on her list of things she wanted for Christmas. It also included a new pair of Louis Vuitton heels and maybe a purse. Oh, and she would really like a locket from Tiffany’s with Tate and Penelope’s picture in it. It was a short list, but at the top was having a baby. Which was really a gift for Tate.

He constantly reminded her that Penelope and she were enough, but she could see it in his eyes. He wanted what everyone else had and that was a lot of damn kids. She wanted that too. She had always wanted kids, but when she learned she couldn’t have them, she let it go. But then she got pregnant by the grace of God, and for the last five years, all she’d wanted was for it to happen again.

Not saying that Penelope wasn’t her world, because she was. Her sweet baby was everything she could ever have wished for. She was her mini me, but Audrey really did want to have another. Just one more. She wanted a sibling for Penelope. Maybe a sister like she had or even a brother. She didn’t care. She just wanted someone for Penelope to grow up with, but most of all, she wanted to be a complete woman.

Someone who could provide Tate with everything he wanted.

“You’re shaking,” he informed her, kissing her temple. She was lying on her back, her legs up in stirrups, waiting for the longest thirty minutes of her life to end. The doctor had just inserted the embryos into her, and she was praying to God one of them stuck. She’d had spent many sleepless nights researching this process and had driven herself mad with worry, but she had to believe in this for it to work. She had been sad for far too long, and if it didn’t work, then she would pick a surrogate.