He was obviously feeling a pressure she hadn’t known existed.

“I don’t see our relationship as a deal. I see it as a partnership. And all partnerships have highs and lows. Things happen, Seb. Life happens. I know that as well as anyone, and so do you. You lost your mum when you were young. I lost my dad, and then I lost my mother a few years ago—” She swallowed. “We both know life isn’t a fairy tale. All the more reason for us to support each other through the tough times and celebrate the good.”

His jaw tightened. “Maybe, but this isn’t your tough time. It’s my problem, and I’m handling it. You don’t need to worry.”

How did she make him see that his worries were her worries? That they were in this together.

One thing was sure: she wasn’t going to solve this by standing here in a cold, empty cottage exchanging words that shed no light on anything. There was nothing about the current atmosphere that was conducive to intimacy or even proper conversation. Without Holly in the mix, their interaction felt stilted and unnatural. They were like a couple of strangers, stuck in a loop. “Let’s go out.”

“Out?” He frowned. “Out where? It’s eleven in the morning.”

“And the sun is shining. Let’s go for a walk. We rarely have a chance to do that.”

“It’s freezing out there, Christy. They’re forecasting snow.”

“So?” She grabbed her coat, sure it was the right thing to do. Anything had to be better than staying in the unnaturally silent cottage. “We’ll wrap up well. It will be good practice for Lapland.” Would they even be going to Lapland? She’d thought this was about his job, which was bad enough, but now she could see that they had far bigger issues. Like the fact he thought she’d only married him because she was pregnant. Did he really know so little about her feelings for him? What had happened to that incredible connection they’d had that first time they’d met? Within minutes of meeting him she’d felt as if she’d known him forever, something she’d never experienced before with anyone. Maybe she needed to remind him of that. “Remember that walk we had the morning after our first night together?”

“Regent’s Park. It was snowing then, too, and you were so excited.” Finally, he smiled, and the tension eased slightly. “I’d never seen anyone that excited. Everyone I knew always moaned about snow.”

“Good things happen to me when it snows.” She pulled on her boots, relieved to see he was doing the same. “Happy things.”

“Happy things? You mean like broken ankles and frostbite?”

It was good to move away from the serious for a moment. “I mean like building snowmen. Meeting you. Our first real date was in the snow.”

They locked the cottage and walked along the frosty path to the gate that guarded the front of their property.

It creaked as he opened it. “What do you call the night before?”