Christmas with a Cowboy

by Brown, Carolyn

  “That’s one of the barns. There’s another one on the back of the property where we store most of the hay for the winter months,” he answered.

  Laela giggled and reached out for Ducky every time he hung back and got close enough to the stroller. She really got excited when Dolly hopped right up in her lap. She pulled the cat’s ears and tail, but Dolly only purred the louder. Finally, Laela buried her little hands down into the cat’s fur and used her like a muff.

  “I believe they like each other,” Maverick said.

  “Do you think that the animals liked baby Jesus like this?” Bridget asked.

  “Probably so,” Maverick answered. “There’s just something magical about the whole Christmas holiday. I wish Granny was here to see the way Laela loved the tree and the way she’s acting this morning.”

  “Deidre loved Christmas. Maybe she passed that on down to Laela,” Bridget said.

  “Grandpa did, too,” Maverick said. “He passed a lot more than just his love for the holidays down to us boys, though.”

  “Like what?” Bridget asked.

  “Love for the land, how to take care of cattle, and how to treat a woman are just a few of the things,” he said.

  “I’d have liked to have met him,” she said. “He sounds a lot like my dad.”

  “He would have loved having a baby to share with us today.” Maverick kicked a rock out of the way of the stroller wheels.

  “Us?” She shot him a sideways look.

  “She’s ours today. She belongs to you on paper, but she’s on my ranch, so that makes her part mine,” he said.

  “I will remember that next time she needs her nappy changed,” Bridget said.

  “That part is yours. My part is getting to let her hold the ornaments from the tree and tell her stories.” His biceps strained the seams of his jacket when he slid the barn door open. She shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d picked her up that night in her flat in Ireland like she wasn’t anything more than a feather pillow, and he had twirled her around until they were both dizzy.

  Maverick waited until she’d pushed the stroller into the barn, and then knelt so he and the baby were eye to eye. “Welcome to the barn on the Callahan Ranch, princess.”

  Ducky reared up on Maverick’s jean-clad knee and licked him across the face, but Dolly just opened one eye and then closed it.

  “So? Do you like Texas?” he asked the baby, but he’d changed his focus and was looking up at Bridget. A picture of him propped up on an elbow in her bed flashed through her mind. His green eyes had bored into hers that morning just like they were doing now.

  “We’re impressed,” she said, feeling every bit of the heat from his gaze going from her toes to the top of her head. “It’s a bit warmer in here than it is outside. Maybe I should remove my jacket.”

  Maverick stood up and helped her with her coat and then hung it over the back of the stroller handles. “The new calf is this way. Want me to push the stroller for you?”

  “Thank you.” She handed it off to him. “We’re not used to traveling over such rough ground when we go for our strolls.”

  He led them to the first of five stalls and opened the door. The little black calf was lying in a bed of straw, but his head popped up when he realized someone was there.

  Dolly jumped out of the stroller and went to rub around the new calf’s shoulders. Ducky sniffed him from tail to nose and then walked away. Laela wiggled and tried so hard to free herself that Maverick finally picked her up and set her down beside the calf.

  “Would you look at that?” Maverick whispered when the baby laid her head on the black fur and the calf didn’t seem to mind. “She’s definitely special, Bridget. Granny used to say that the angels give some babies a little extra love in their hearts. It sounds crazy but…”

  “Nana said the same thing. It’s an Irish thing, not a crazy one,” Bridget told him.

  * * *

  Maverick leaned his elbows on the top rail. “I’m glad you told Granny you would stay on until she gets out of rehab. Sharing times like this with you is priceless.”

  “Me too,” Bridget said. “These are special moments for me too, Maverick. They’re like healing balm to my heart.”

  Maverick didn’t want the moment to end. If they stayed in that little bubble of time, maybe her heart would magically be whole again. If he could have one Christmas miracle that year, he’d give it to her so that she wouldn’t be sad anymore.

  Laela left the calf, crawled over to the side of the stall, and pulled herself up on the open gate. Holding on with one hand, she reached the other up to Maverick.

  “You ready to go for another ride back to the house, are you?” he asked.

  “We really should. There’s things I should be getting done,” Bridget answered.

  He put the baby into the stroller and kissed her on the forehead. “Sure you don’t want me to push or maybe carry her to the house? She might be tired of sitting in that thing.”

  “She’s fine,” Bridget said. “You have things to do, and I won’t get lost in that short distance. See you at noon, and thanks for the outing. The new calf is beautiful.”

  He took his arm from around her and whistled. Ducky came running from somewhere inside the barn with Dolly right behind him. He waited until both animals were outside the barn and dashing on ahead of Bridget before he closed the door.

  Once in the tack room, he grabbed a broom and swept the floor. Then he began to clean off the worktable. When that was done, he’d have a place to set things from the dusty, dirty shelves. He’d barely gotten the table cleared when he thought he heard the squeak of the barn doors being pulled open. He listened intently but there was no other sound, so he went back to work.

  “Hey, Maverick,” Alana said as she pushed into the tack room. “Bridget said I could find you in here.”

  Alana was a tall blonde who lived on the spread next door. She’d ridden the school bus with Paxton and Maverick when they were kids, and now she helped her dad run their ranch. With her looks and ability to do anything she set her mind to do, she intimidated the hell out of most men.

  “Hello,” Maverick said. “Welcome to the messiest tack room in the world.”

  “I’ve offered to help Iris many times, but you know how independent she is,” Alana said. “I came over to see if you could use some help with anything this next week. Iris called to thank me for helping her at the church and tell me her plans. She said I could visit her on Fridays at the rehab center, and to bring chocolate.”

  “Sounds just like her, giving everyone their orders.” Maverick chuckled. “Thanks for the offer, but I think Bridget and I can handle it for a month.”

  Alana started for the door and then turned back. “We’ve been neighbors and friends our whole lives. I think that gives me the right to get all up in your business. Is that baby yours?” she asked bluntly.

  Maverick shook his head. “No, she is not.”

  “Then what’s the story? Why’s Bridget here?” Alana asked. “Iris could have hired anyone, or hell’s bells, I would have come over and stayed with her for a few weeks.”

  “Bridget is the granddaughter of Granny’s childhood friend who died a few weeks ago. Maybe you’d forgotten that Granny is from Ireland? Anyway, Bridget needed a job and a place to live, so Granny called her and asked her to come to Texas. It was a way to help out her old friend one more time,” Maverick explained.

  “Where’s Bridget’s husband?” Alana asked.

  “No husband, and the baby doesn’t belong…well, she does now…” He went on to explain about Deidre.

  “That’s a lot of sorrow to pile on one person,” Alana said.

  “I know,” Maverick agreed.

  “Thanks for telling me. Can I tell Daddy? We’ve been wondering how all this fit together and why she didn’t call on us for help.”

  “It’s not a secret.” Maverick went back to work.

  “And you’ve only known her a couple of days?” Alana pressed f
or more.

  “That part is a secret.” He grinned.

  “Fair enough.” Alana crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him. “Didn’t know if I should be hugging you anymore if you were in a relationship, but now I guess it’s all right.”

  “You can hug me anytime you want, darlin’. We’re friends.” He kissed her on the forehead without bending. She had always been the tallest kid in his brother’s class until they were sophomores, and Paxton finally grew enough to be two inches taller than she was.

  “Thanks for that, and if you change your mind about help, just holler at me,” she said.

  Maverick draped an arm around her shoulders and walked her out to her truck. “I think between me and Bridget, we can manage, but thanks for the offer.”

  “All you have to do is call if you change your mind,” she said. “And, Maverick, be careful. Bridget is cute and that accent is adorable, but you’re like a brother to me, and I’d hate to see you with a broken heart when she goes back to Ireland,” Alana warned.

  “You’re giving me romantic advice?” he asked.

  They stepped out of the barn, and she wrapped her arms around him. “Honey, I’m the best person in the world to give you advice.”

  “Why’s that?” He hugged her back.

  “Because I’m a woman, and we’re smarter than men when it comes to things of the heart.” She stepped back. “Tell Pax that I asked about him.” She got into her truck and started the engine.

  “Will do,” he said with a wave.

  He went back to the messy tack room and sat down on the barstool beside the work bench. What had changed Granny’s mind about him coming back to West Texas to help her out? She had something up her sleeve for sure. It couldn’t be that she wanted him to be with Bridget. She had no idea about that night in Ireland—hell, he still didn’t even know Bridget’s last name. Granny had been trying to get either him or Pax interested in Alana for years, but to Maverick, kissing her would be like kissing his younger sister.

  On the other hand, kissing Bridget again… Now, that idea sent a tingle down his backbone.

  Chapter Six

  Bridget hurried through removing Laela’s coat and hat and got her situated on a pallet with her toys on the kitchen floor. Then she alternated between watching the baby play and looking out the window above the sink. She wished for a pair of binoculars so she could better see all the way to the barn. Alana, who’d been first to get to Iris when she fell in the church, was out there with Maverick.

  She’d driven up in a fancy, bright red pickup and asked where she could find him. Bridget had directed her to the barn and then almost jogged back to the house. Now, she wondered if Maverick and Alana had something going, either in the past or the present, and a jealous streak shot through her heart.

  It wasn’t long until Alana and Maverick came out of the barn, arm in arm. Then she hugged him for a long time before she got into her truck. He waved and went back inside.

  “I wonder…” Bridget muttered as she watched the vehicle drive right past the house, “if Iris caught the vibes between me and Maverick. Maybe she wants to squash anything between us by matchmaking with him and Alana.”

  Why would she do that? Nana whispered in her ear.

  “Because if something came of this attraction, then he might go to Ireland with me, and she shouldn’t want that,” Bridget muttered.

  The phone rang and she rushed to the living room to answer it, but got there just in time to hear a woman’s voice on the message machine. “This is Retta. I’m callin’ to check on your grandmother and to tell you that you need to come home. You’ve spoiled Annie to the sound of your voice, and she won’t go to sleep without you. Miss you and hope everything is going well.”

  “Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” Bridget threw herself back on the sofa. How many women did this cowboy have?

  Laela crawled from the kitchen to the living room and pulled herself up on the sofa. Bridget picked her up and held her close. “He’s still the wild cowboy I met in Ireland, lassie. But I’m not that free-spirited party girl, and I sure wouldn’t have spent the night with him if I’d known he had a girl back home about to have his baby.”

  The phone rang again, and the only name that came up on the caller ID was Emily. Bridget let it go to voice mail and hoped that it was a neighbor asking about Iris.

  “Maverick, honey, this is Emily. Is Iris in the rehab center yet? I’d like to send her some flowers. And the ultrasound yesterday didn’t let us know if the baby is a boy or a girl. Maybe next month we’ll find out. Know you’ve got your hands full, but call me.”

  Sweet angels in heaven! He had a baby to one woman, had another one pregnant, and a third one had just visited him in the barn! And he’d been flirting with her!

  “He’s got a harem.” Bridget groaned. “But, by damn, I won’t be a part of it. I’ll do my job here and go home to Ireland where I belong.”

  Nana had always told her that work helped relieve a troubled mind, so she took Laela back to the kitchen and put her on the floor with her tote bag full of toys. Bridget whipped up a batch of shortbread cookies with a touch of lemon. She’d put back some of them for the trip to the nursing home on Saturday, would take some to Iris tomorrow, and then put a dozen or so into the cookie jar. While those were baking she made a lovely apple and pear pie from the fruit Iris had canned last summer. After that, she put a nice little chicken pasty in the oven for the noon meal. It had baked and was cooling on the top of the stove when Maverick came in the back door. He hung up his work coat and went straight to the sink to wash up for dinner.

  “Where’s our pretty baby girl?” he asked as he lathered up his hands and forearms.

  Bridget wanted to say that his daughter was wherever Retta lived, but she couldn’t force the words out of her mouth. By then Laela had crawled over to him and pulled herself up on his leg. He dried his hands, picked her up, and twirled her around until she was giggling.

  “Nothing like the sound of a baby’s laughter,” he said.

  “So you like babies, do you?” Bridget asked as she took the meat pie to the table.

  “Love ’em. Always have,” he answered. “But no one has made me ready to settle down yet.”

  Then why did you have a baby with one woman and get another one pregnant? she thought. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask how many babies he intended to have along the way while he looked for the right one. Or maybe if he ever intended to let his legitimate kids know the illegitimate ones.

  “Did Granny call you? I thought for sure she’d already be transferred to rehab, and she said she’d let me know when that happened.” He sat down at the table with Laela in his lap.

  Oh, he was a slick one all right—changing the subject from babies to his grandmother. “No, haven’t heard. I thought I’d call and check on her right after we eat.”

  * * *

  Something wasn’t right.

  Maverick could feel it in his bones as well as in his heart. Out in the barn, they’d been like a couple as they watched Laela with the animals. Now, the whole house felt like the A/C had been turned on right there in December.

  Alana! It hit him like a brick wall—could Bridget be jealous? Had she seen him with Alana earlier at the barn? She would have no idea that their neighbor was like a younger sister.

  Not quite sure how to thaw Bridget out, he talked to the baby instead. “How did you spend your morning, Miz Laela? Did you help make pies, or did you just keep Ducky and Dolly chased out of the kitchen?”

  He thought that Bridget might answer, but she kept her silence, so he tried a different approach. “Did your mommy make cookies? I thought I smelled something lemony when I came inside the house.”

  Still no answer from Bridget. “Well, I had a visitor,” he said. “Our neighbor Alana, who’s been like a little sister to me for years, came over to offer her help if we need her.”

  “I don’t need any help, but if you do, she can help you.” Bridget’s tone had more than
a little ice in it. She put a pie in the middle of the table and set about getting cranberry sauce and sliced cheese from the refrigerator.

  “I don’t think she was talking about the house,” he said. “You’re doing a fine job with it.”

  Don’t be tryin’ to butter me up, boy-o, she thought. I’m not having a baby for you. You’ve already got one and one on the way, and no telling how many more older ones.

  “She was thinking more about the ranch,” Maverick went on. “I had no idea it had gotten in such bad repair, but then, Buster is almost as old as Granny, and between them, they were hardly keeping up, not doing much maintenance. The cattle look great, but the tack room hasn’t been cleaned in years. And don’t get me started on the fences, but Alana has her own place to help take care of, so I’d only call on her if I couldn’t get something done any other way.”

  Bridget nodded, but she still didn’t make eye contact with him. “If you’ll put Laela in her high chair, I’ll get dinner on the table.”

  “Sure thing.” Dammit, anyway! He’d thought this morning that having her and the baby in the house for a whole month would be right nice. But now he wondered if he would survive the chill.

  He opened his mouth to explain further that he and Paxton had grown up with Alana and she was like a sister to him, but he clamped it shut. His grandpa had told him that the first thing to do when you found yourself in a hole was to simply stop digging. Seemed to him like fitting advice at the moment.

  Bridget put the pie in the middle of the table and sat down beside the baby. “Iris always says grace before we eat.”

  Maverick bowed his head and said a simple prayer, then cocked his head sideways at the pie. “We’re having dessert first?”

  “It’s a meat pie. We have biscuits or an apple/pear pie with whipped cream for dessert.” She handed him a spoon. “Dip into it.”

  He put two big scoops on his plate. “Chicken pot pie.” He took the first bite. “Very good, but what is the baby going to eat?”