Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

Conner shot his wife a quick look, immediately changing his tune. "See? I told you not to come, but you just had to. And now your sister's kicked you out anyway. You're pregnant, but you're running around like nothing's different. Seriously, who does that? Once we get back, you're checking into the hospital, no arguments."

Annie rolled her eyes. "If you want to stay in the hospital, knock yourself out. I'm going home."

When the weather turned cold, Maja's injured hand ached-sometimes so badly that even holding a pen hurt all the way to the bone.

A few days later, some relatives showed up. "Hey, sis, our sister-in-law sent us to install a space heater for you."

Louisa was always dropping by to check on her oldest daughter, making sure she was warm. She'd have extra-thick blankets stuffed and sent over. Whenever the family made dumplings, she and her husband would drive over with a batch, just

for Maja.

"Mom, Dad, you really don't have to keep coming over. Annie's about to have her baby, and it's so gloomy here. I don't want any bad vibes rubbing off on her," Maja said, gently ushering her parents out.

The sun hadn't even come up yet-past the solstice, winter mornings always dragged.

At Maplewood Estates, Henry was already being pried out of bed.

his eyes closed as his mom wrangled him into his

our little

shrugged. "Let's drop him off with Dad. Maybe Grandpa can teach

more like modern art

as his mom got him dressed. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and just

husband. "Maybe check with your dad first? Older folks are always busy before the holidays. If he's got plans, we

him up. Even on his grouchiest days, a snack would cheer him up. Now that

Andre nodded. "Good idea."

Henry was dressed, he perked up and climbed into Mia's lap. "I wanna go to class

amazed at how little he still seemed. "Mommy has to work today, sweetie.

shoulder, giving his dad a

with Grandpa Hansen, the answer came back: he was busy seeing

no settling him. "He's

sighed. "The hardest part of winter is

layers. In the summer, I could just carry him out in his