by Liz Isaacson
The way his mother glowed meant she was obviously smitten by Barry, and Austin had to admit he couldn’t find anything to dislike. Contentment spread through him. His mom deserved to be happy, to be cherished, to have someone to spend her life with that wouldn’t ruin her.
Once at the church, they joined the streams of people heading inside. He looked around for Shay but couldn’t see her. There were so many people—and more still coming in—the balcony had been opened. She literally could’ve been right in front of him and Austin wouldn’t have seen her.
He managed to squeeze himself against the wall, turning sideways to make room for everyone else along the row. Pastor Gifford looked like someone had put a light bulb in his mouth and turned him on. He glowed as he spoke about the Savior and His birth, encouraged everyone to take the Christmas spirit with them throughout the year, and ended early so “folks can spend time with their families.”
Austin wanted to take this joyful, peaceful feeling and bottle it up. Drink it every time he felt himself slipping into a bad mood or getting frustrated with someone or something. How can I do that?
“You comin’?”
He glanced up to see Shane waiting for him behind the bench, and Austin scrambled to his feet. “Yeah, comin’.”
“You looked lost there.” Shane pinned him with that parental older brother look Austin didn’t appreciate.
“I’m fine.”
“Why don’t you just go talk to Shay?” They inched toward the exit, the crowd making the escape slow and tedious. “See if she’s coming tonight. Put yourself out of your misery.”
“I could, I guess.” Austin stuffed his hands in his pockets and trained his feet on the floor in front of him. “I just don’t want to…crowd her. You know? She said she needed time.”
“It’s been almost two weeks.”
“I know how long it’s been.” Every day, every hour, every second was agony. A moment passed where Austin couldn’t breathe, and then his involuntary functions fired again.
“Think about it.” Shane separated from him once they went outside, and Austin headed back to his mom’s car alone.
Back at the ranch, his mother put everyone to work hanging up a stocking for every ranch hand and everyone who was coming. This was a Royal family tradition, one she’d done on their ranch growing up. Everyone got gifts on Christmas Eve, even the seasonal worker they’d hired the week before.
Once the stockings were all hung, his mother went around humming holiday hymns as she sifted through her bag of socks to find the right pair for the person. She always gave socks on Christmas Eve, saying everyone always needed a new pair of socks.
Throughout the afternoon, everyone managed to bring their gifts and fill the stockings for the ranch hands. Austin had something for Shay, but he didn’t dare put it in her stocking for everyone to see.
It was too personal, and it would probably make her mad now that they weren’t dating anymore. She didn’t wear much jewelry, and he couldn’t very well give her something so impersonal as a gift card to the Soup Kitchen. He’d seen a few mementoes around her house that testified of her love of the ranch and her love of her parents, and he’d taken the photo of her he’d found and had it professionally framed.
Shay was probably eight in the picture, and her mother’s illness and subsequent death still a decade away. She’d clearly won something, as Austin had noticed a ribbon pinned to her shirt that he hadn’t seen the first time he’d found the photo.
The frame was silver—Shay’s preferred metal color—and adored with flowers along the bottom. A rectangle for engraving was there, and Austin had chosen to put the word FAMILY there.
Family was important to Shay. It was what had driven her from the ranch and brought her back. Austin desperately wanted her to feel like part of the family on this ranch, so with only thirty minutes to go until the gift exchange would start, he put his cowboy hat on and caught his brother’s eye.
“I’ll be back.”
“Good luck,” Shane said, nothing else needed.
Austin stepped out through the back door so he wouldn’t have to pass his mother and answer any questions.
He’d rounded the corner of the house and taken four strides when two German shepherds came into view. They saw him and bounded forward, their master down the road a bit and walking with hesitant steps.
“Shay.” The word breathed out of his mouth, but she lifted her head as if she’d heard him. Of course she couldn’t. She was much too far away for that.
But she’d seen him now, and she’d stopped walking altogether. She wore a pair of jeans and a green blouse the exact shade of Christmas. Her cowgirl hat sat on her head perfectly, and she was wearing her glasses today. He wasn’t sure if that was because her eyes hurt, or she was expecting to cry that day, or something else entirely.
A wet nose touched his hand, and he turned his attention to her dogs. “Hey, Lizzy.” Austin scrubbed one dog’s head and then the next. “Molly. What’ve you guys been doin’, huh?” He gave them a good pat each then looked back at Shay. She carried a bag clearly laden with gifts, and he wondered what she’d have for him.
He stood and strode toward her, suddenly wanting to exchange gifts in private. The picture frame was still at his house—along with his father.
“Hey.” He stopped a few paces from her. “I have something for you at my place. I was just goin’ to get it.” Not really true, but not entirely false either. “I was just going to drop it by, since I wasn’t sure if you were coming this evening or not.”
She looked at him with those beautiful caramel-coffee eyes. “I have something for you at my cabin too. I…I didn’t want to give it to you in front of everyone.”
His heart grew wings and lifted into the air, soaring and flying through the clouds. She had a gift for him. Not only that, but a gift she didn’t want to give him in public.
“Should we maybe do our exchange now? Or do you want to wait until after?”
“Now’s fine.” She looked down at the bag she was carrying. “This is chocolate though. Should I put it in the house so it doesn’t melt?”
Though the temperatures weren’t hitting record highs, the sun was warm today. “Sure,” Austin said, reaching for the bag. “I’ll take it and be right back.”
She relinquished the bag to him, and he hurried to put it in the kitchen, near panic that she’d be gone when he returned. He’d felt like this before, and he hated that he didn’t trust her enough to know she’d be standing in the middle of the road, right where he left her.
It felt natural to reach for her hand, pick up right where they left off almost two weeks ago. To keep himself from doing exactly that, he put his hands in his pockets and added a couple of feet of distance between them as they walked back the way she’d come.
An engine filled the air, and Austin searched for the source of it, finding his father’s truck easily. He slowed to a stop, the window already down. “I’m just going over for the gift exchange.”
“Right,” Austin said. “I left something at my place. We’re going to get it, and then we’ll be right there.”
His father flicked his gaze to Shay and back to Austin. “All right.” He continued down the road, and Austin thought it strange he’d driven. It was probably three or four blocks—a ten-minute walk—and the weather was gorgeous.
“I want to see your new place,” she said when they reached the crossroads. “So let me grab your gift, and I’ll meet you over there. Okay?” She didn’t wait for him to answer before she continued east and he had no choice but to go north.
His house smelled muskier than usual, and he hurried to open a window to air the place out. Shay arrived only a few minutes later, and her timid knock on the front door sent his pulse into palpitations.
He opened the door to find her holding a large sugar cookie in the shape of a heart. It had been decorated with soft pink frosting and it had his name elegantly piped onto the front. The clear cellophane bag had been tied with
a red ribbon.
Shay held it up by the top of the bag so that it dangled between them. “I’m giving you my heart.”
Austin’s throat felt so narrow, and his mind so soft. He looked at the cookie and then Shay, searching searching searching for an answer. He didn’t dare hope, and yet that was the dominant emotion cascading through him like river rapids.
“What does—I mean—?”
“I’m in love with you, Austin Royal. And while it terrifies me to no end, I’ve decided I trust you.” She shook the bag slightly. “I spent all morning making this so that it was just right. You better take it—and don’t break it.”
He wasn’t sure if she was literally talking about the heart-shaped cookie, or her actual heart. All he could hear was I’m in love with you, Austin Royal.
He took the cookie, focusing on it until he could think straight. I’m in love with you, Austin Royal.
“Does this mean you want me more than the ranch?”
“I’ve always wanted you more than the ranch,” she said.
He looked up at her, that joy and peace flooding him when he saw how sincere she was. Her hands shook the teensiest bit as she reached for him, and Austin drew her securely into his arms.
“Ah, there you are,” he breathed. “You fit so great right here, close to me.”
“I’ve missed you,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about.” He drew back, gazed down at her, and smiled. “Okay? Not one thing.”
“I’ll still need time.”
“I won’t break your heart.”
Her smile was a little wobbly, but she nodded.
“I won’t,” he repeated. “Because I’m in love with you too.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Shay felt at home in Austin’s cabin, inside his embrace, with his beautiful words filling her ears. He loved her.
And when he kissed her, she could feel it in the tenderness of his touch. Sense it in the way his lips trembled slightly against hers before capturing them more firmly. She believed it in the way he pressed her closer to him, and gave as much as he took.
He pulled away and said, “All I want for Christmas, ever, is you.” It should’ve been cheesy, a line from a song. But he was serious, his blue eyes burning like the hottest part of a fire.
Then he asked, “Can I really not eat that cookie?”
She sucked in a breath and then giggled, the sound turning into a full laugh a few moments later. “Yeah, you can eat it.”
“Let me give you your present first.” He stepped away from her, and she moved all the way into his cabin. He’d bought a set of modern black couches that somehow fit in the rustic cabin. A small dining room table sat in the far corner, with the kitchen opposite it, with three bright blue barstools at the counter.
He picked something up off the table and turned back to her, hiding it behind him. “I didn’t wrap it. I wasn’t sure when I’d give it to you.”
“You just said you were going to drop it off.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t.”
“I probably would’ve eaten that heart for breakfast,” she admitted. “Though I ate about five cookies today already. I’ve been kind of nervous.”
He nodded, like her nervousness was normal. “Me too. I just wasn’t sure if you were coming or not.” He stepped forward, his voice soft when he added, “I’m glad you came.”
“Me too.” Shay really wanted to see what he had behind his back, so she settled onto the loveseat and waited.
“This might not mean much,” he said, joining her but keeping the gift hidden. “But when I saw it, I thought it was perfect. And that you’d want it.” He brought his hands out from behind him to reveal a silver picture frame.
She took it from him, her eyes locked onto the trio the photograph depicted. Tears touched her eyes when she saw the radiant smiles on her parents’ faces. On her own face.
“When was that?” he asked. “I think you’re about eight.”
“I’m nine,” she said. “And I’ve just won the jump roping contest at school.” She glanced up at him, not even caring that she was about to cry. “See that ribbon? First place in the fourth grade Olympics. I was so happy, and my parents took me out to dinner to celebrate. We took this just before we left.”
“That’s what I saw in it,” he said. “Happiness. Family. Joy. Faith. It seemed like everything your childhood was, before your mother died.”
Shay traced her finger over her face, which held more happiness than she’d felt in a long time. “It was all of those things.”
“My brothers and I….” He cleared his throat. “We want all of that for this ranch again. They have someone to help them build it. But I need you.”
I need you.
I love you.
Shay wiped her eyes and looked at Austin, right into the depths of his eyes, all the way into his soul. And she let him all the way into her life, her mind, her soul too. “All right.”
He drew her into his embrace again, the picture getting smashed between them as he kissed her like a man in love. Shay had never been kissed like that, and she wanted to hold onto every last moment of it.
Finally, she said, “Your phone has gone off three times. Everyone is probably wondering where you are.”
He jolted and pulled his phone from his back pocket. “Shoot. We’re late. C’mon.” He extended his hand to her, and Shay had never been happier to slide her fingers through his. He called his brother as they descended the steps and said, “Yeah, those are Shay’s. Can you distribute them? We’re walking back now. Be there in a few minutes.”
He hung up. “Dylan’s handing out your gifts. They’ll wait for us. I guess a couple of the ranch hands haven’t come in from their chores yet either.”
She kept her hand firmly in his as they walked back, and when he led her up the front steps and into the house, Shay finally felt like she was coming home.
The air smelled like pine trees and sugar, and the sight of thirty stockings hung at various heights along the walls met her eyes. She pulled in a breath and pressed one hand over her chest.
“This is beautiful,” she said, gaping at the lit Christmas tree, with pure white lights and dozens of multi-colored ornaments. Another couch had been brought into the room, along with a piano bench and lots of chairs.
Austin’s mother stood from one of the chairs, her eyes taking in everything between Shay and Austin with a single sweep. A smile graced her face, and she said, “Hello, Shay, dear,” before giving Shay a hug.
Shay held on tight, knowing she should let go of the woman before things became too awkward. But she smelled just like Shay’s mother had, and she hadn’t hugged her mother in so, so long. Unexpected tears burned in her eyes and Shay pulled back to look at Alex. “Merry Christmas.” Her voice was little more than a whisper.
“To you too.” Alex stepped back and indicated a very tall, very bald man. “This is my boyfriend, Barry Dalton. Barry, this is Austin’s girlfriend, Shayleigh Hatch.”
Pleasantries were exchanged and the front door opened again, and more ranch hands entered the house.
“All right,” Shane called, and more people entered from the kitchen. Somehow, they all piled into the living room, and every chair got taken. She met the piercing blue eyes of Austin’s father, a man she hadn’t met yet, but he settled near the entryway to the kitchen, out of the way of everyone.
“Welcome to our annual Christmas Eve gift exchange.” Shane smiled at everyone like he was a six-year-old looking at Santa himself. “We’ve got appetizers and finger foods in the kitchen, but we’ll do the gifts first.”
“And dinner tomorrow is at noon,” Dylan said. “My mom is makin’ her famous brown sugar spiced ham, and everyone is invited if you’re not goin’ to visit family or anything.” He looked at Austin, who stood.
“So when we were boys, my mother would hang stockings for everyone on the ranch. She’d add little gifts to them the entire month of December and on Chris
tmas Eve, we’d all gather to open everything inside. So, we wanted to recreate that here at our own ranch, since the one we used to have was…lost.” He swept his eyes past his father, and his face turned the slightest bit pink.
“So anyway. You all have a stocking here. We’ll pass them out, and you can start unpacking them.” He moved to the one closest to him and unpinned it from the wall. He walked over to Oaker and handed it to him.
Giddiness paraded through her, her anticipation high, as she waited for her stocking to be delivered. Austin kept hers in his hand until the very end, then he sat down beside her and handed it over. He flashed her a sexy, handsome smile and then started rummaging through his own presents.
People laughed, offered gratitude, and started eating some of the treats they’d received. Shay pulled out chocolates, peppermint bark, and a sucker with a scorpion in it. She got socks, a bag of hard suckers, and gloves. Each little gift was nothing all that special. They had her name on them and who they were from.
As she looked around the room, a rush of peace and gratitude filled her. This was what Triple Towers Ranch was meant to be. A gathering place for anyone and everyone who came here. A place of refuge from the storms of life. Love, laughter, joy.
She knew she never could’ve brought that to this ranch. But the Royal brothers could. They already had. They’d made a family out of the ranch in just six short months.
And while she’d decided several days ago to try and get Austin back in her life, she still wasn’t one hundred percent sure her reasons were pure.
But she knew now. Looking around at all the smiles, listening to the laughter, and basking in the joy, she knew that Triple Towers Ranch was meant to be theirs. She could only hope and pray that she got to stay here for as long as possible, in whatever capacity the Lord deemed right for her.
The following day, Shay woke with the first rays of dawn. Christmas Day always felt different, for a reason Shay couldn’t quite name. But she felt loved in that moment, and she closed her eyes again and offered a prayer of gratitude for the feeling.
