The Cowboy’s Christmas Baby

by Carolyn Brown

  Lucas nodded again. “Yes, I do, but I’m not going to fight with Hazel when she’s sick. Why would Hazel want her to stay?”

  “You caused it. You told her all about how that you’d found a woman who could cook for the harvest crew, take a tractor engine down to bare bones and put it back together, and who loved basketball as much as you do. It’s come back to bite you square on the ass, son. Hazel thinks she’s just the woman for this ranch and if she hadn’t fallen and hurt her hip, she’d be matchmaking.”

  Grady picked up the remote and then laid it back down. “Hazel is way past eighty, Lucas. She’s been telling me and your dad all year that as soon as she got you home she was going to go live with her daughter in Memphis. Don’t none of us believe it. She’s just fussing and fuming about wanting you to get married to the right woman.”

  Lucas slapped a hand over his eyes. It was too much for one night. First Natalie and a baby, for God’s sake, and now Hazel talking about leaving Cedar Hill. It damn sure wasn’t the homecoming that he’d thought he’d have.

  Hazel had been there when his dad was born. She was older than Henry and was the very fiber of the ranch. She could not leave. He’d hire someone else to do the work, but the ranch needed Hazel. He’d wait on her hand and foot until her hip healed if he had to.

  “Humor her,” Grady said. “It’s just until Christmas. Hell, you could live with any woman in the world that long and it’ll make the transition from here to Memphis easier on her if she stays. I’d bet hundred-dollar bills to wooden nickels that she’s bitchin’ to come home in less than a week. But just in case she doesn’t, she’ll think she had a little bit to do with her replacement.”

  “No one could ever replace Hazel. She’s been like a mother,” Lucas said.

  Jack set his mouth in a firm line and his head bobbed up and down as much as possible from a reclining position. “We all know that and it’s not like she’s leaving forever. She’ll probably get tired of that Memphis shit and come back to the ranch. I give her six weeks at the most. Soon as she gets done with therapy on that hip, she’ll see that she needs somebody to boss bad as we need bossin’.”

  “How’s she gettin’ to Memphis?” Lucas asked.

  “Willa Ruth has a friend who has a little charter plane. He’s flying into Denison to get them soon as they are released. Doctor said he’d let her go tomorrow since Willa Ruth is a retired nurse and knows how to take care of her mother,” Jack said.

  Lucas loved Willa Ruth. She visited Cedar Hill twice a year, at Easter and at Christmas. When her children were young she brought them with her. Two girls just a little older than Lucas, but they were always up for a four-wheeler ride or playing games with him. He looked forward to seeing them every year until they both grew up and got married. Nowadays, they came to see Hazel at least once a year and brought their own kids.

  Grady touched a button on the remote and the weather channel popped up on the television. A cute little woman in a short skirt waved her hands around telling them what to expect as the winter storm really hit north central Texas. Sleet and ice could cause power failures. Roads would be slick and travel was discouraged.

  “And it’s stalling out right over Grayson and Fannin counties, so don’t look for any changes for at least a week. More sleet, intermittent freezing rain, and up to four inches of snow. It’s too early to tell at this time, but we could be in for a white Christmas, folks,” she said.

  “I’m going to the hospital tomorrow. I don’t care how slick the roads are,” Lucas said.

  “Pickup has four-wheel drive, and we got chains in the barn if it gets too deep,” Jack said.

  Lucas uncovered his eyes. “I can’t let her leave without seeing her.”

  “I’m not going to fight with you,” Jack said. “She’d never stop bitchin’ if she didn’t get to see you before she leaves, anyway.”

  The house phone rang beside him and he jumped. Because Hazel said it wasn’t healthy to walk around with a phone stuck to the ear, they’d kept the old rotary phone in the living room just for her. And when her hearing got bad, they’d turned up the volume. When it rang, it could rival a storm siren.

  Lucas reached for it. “Hello.”

  “Is that you, Lucas? Did you talk Natalie into staying? Don’t you be paying her no minimum wage. You give her what it’s worth to have a woman in the house to do your cookin’ and wash your clothes,” Hazel said. “There is gingerbread in the big tin can out in the pantry. I didn’t tell Grady and Jack I made it or they’d eat every damn bit of it up from you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “What’s the matter with you? You sound like hell. Don’t tell me that you are still mad over Natalie not telling you about the baby.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I am and it’s going to be a long time before I’m over it. Aren’t you supposed to be in pain and getting doped up real good?” he asked.

  “Don’t be trying to change the subject. I’m in pain and Willa Ruth went to tell them to bring me another pain pill, but I got to take care of you before that shit knocks me on my ass.”

  Lucas tried to chuckle but it came out a cough. “You don’t worry about me. You take care of you.”

  Hazel moaned. “If you don’t convince her to stay, I’m not going anywhere, and the doctor says if I don’t stay off this hip for a month, it’ll mean surgery and they don’t want to do it at my age. If you don’t talk her into staying, then I’ll die and it’ll be your fault.”

  “Dammit, Hazel!”

  “I’m an old woman layin’ here on what could be her deathbed with only two wishes. One is that I see you before I die and the only other one is that you talk Natalie into staying at Cedar Hill. I’ve taken care of your dad and you all your lives. You can’t even give me my last dying wish? Come on, Lucas, I’d move hell into heaven to give you your last wish. Oh, shit, the pain is coming back. I’m not sure I’ll make it through the night.” Hazel groaned again.

  “I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” he said.

  Her voice was instantly stronger. “Don’t you dare. It’s sleeting and you could wreck. You wait until morning.”

  “What if she doesn’t want to stay?”

  “Convince her.”

  Lucas covered his eyes again. God Almighty, what in the hell had he come home to face?

  “Promise me you will,” Hazel whined.

  “Okay, okay. Y’all all win.” His tone was filled to the brim with exasperation.

  Willa Ruth’s voice came through the line. “Lucas! Welcome home. I had to fight this tough old broad for the phone so they could give her a pain shot.”

  “Tell me the truth. How bad is it?”

  “It’s not broken but it’s bruised all the way to the bone. She won’t be able to walk on it for a few weeks and they suggest therapy. I’m just glad she didn’t break it. It would have been tough on her to endure that kind of surgery at her age. She needs to slow down, Lucas,” Willa Ruth said.

  “You try to slow her down if you think you are big enough,” Lucas said.

  He could hear Hazel in the background. “I’m not old, dammit, and if either one of you think you can tell me what to do, you’ve both got cow shit for brains.”

  Lucas chuckled.

  “Guess you heard that,” Willa Ruth said.

  “Oh, yeah, and it’s music to my ears. You take care of her for a few weeks and then we’ll see what she wants to do.”

  “Momma says she won’t get in the airplane until she’s got your word that Natalie can stay on at Cedar Hill.”

  “I have offered her a job for a month. If she refuses, it won’t be my fault.”

  “Fair enough.” Willa Ruth lowered her voice to a whisper. “And if she doesn’t, don’t tell Momma, okay?”

  “You got it, darlin’.”

  ***

 
Men folks in Natalie’s part of the world liked a big breakfast served before the sun came up. She’d slept poorly the night before and dreaded facing Lucas the next morning. Even worse, she hated the idea of the drive to Conway in bad weather with a baby in the truck. And right up top on the dread list was the next few weeks of withdrawal. She’d talked to Drew every day of her life, or at least since she could remember, right up until he died, and then Lucas had been there. Like an alcoholic, she was drawn to the computer every night at ten o’clock. In Lucas’s world it was six in the morning and he was just getting out of bed. It was going to be a long, long time before she broke the habit of saying good night to someone.

  Joshua had awakened at two and she’d made him a bottle with him cradled in her arms to keep him from waking up the whole house with his hungry squalls. From then on, she’d flipped and flopped from one side of the four-poster bed to the other. She’d balled her pillow up, fluffed it out, and wadded it up again a dozen times from then until five o’clock. Finally, she crawled out of bed, picked up the baby monitor, and carried it to the kitchen.

  She got the iron skillets out of the cabinets and set them on the stovetop, turned on the oven for biscuits, and started breakfast. Cooking always calmed her. In that respect she was more like her Aunt Leah than her mother. The few times Debra had to cook, it looked like the kitchen had been hit by a tornado and her mother had been in a horrible mood for a week.

  Hazel had set up the kitchen pretty close to the way the cook at the Clark ranch kept hers. Skillets and cooking pots were under the cabinets to the right of the stove. Spices and cookbooks were in the upper cabinets on that side. Cups and mugs of every description and size were above the coffeepot. Silverware was in the drawer to the left of the sink with the dishwasher on the right.

  Sausage was sizzling for gravy and she was cutting biscuits with a glass that had been dipped in flour when Jack reached the kitchen. Without a word he went straight for the coffee, poured a cup, and carried it to the table on the other side of the bar.

  A full three minutes passed and the biscuits were in the oven before he said, “Good mornin’, Miz Natalie.”

  She glanced at him and kept working. “Good mornin’, Jack.”

  Grady did exactly the same thing. He poured a mug of coffee, carried it to the table, and drank a fourth of it before he spoke. “Smells good in here. Hazel don’t have nothin’ to worry about, does she, Jack?”

  “Morning, everyone,” Lucas said from the doorway.

  His expression said that he’d just as soon not wish her a good anything, but the gentleman in him had to include her in the mix. He couldn’t feel the wiggling sensation like a bunch of fishing worms in a tin can in his stomach like she did in hers.

  Natalie looked up from the other side of the bar and inhaled deeply. She hoped that no one heard her sudden intake of breath or if they did, hopefully they thought she was sniffing the sausage.

  Why did he have to be so damn sexy? His tight jeans were faded, but they bunched up perfectly over the tops of his boots. Muscles stretched the fabric of a light brown and black plaid flannel shirt. His boots were scuffed and well worn, proof that he was more cowboy than soldier.

  His face registered that he was still on Kuwait time. Over there it would be getting on toward evening. She blinked and looked away before they made eye contact.

  “Jet lag,” he answered before anyone asked. He poured a cup of coffee and added a heaping teaspoon of instant coffee granules to it.

  “Like it a little strong, do you?” Natalie asked.

  “I’ll need it to get through this day,” he answered. He looked at Jack. “Heard from Gramps this morning?”

  “He says wild horses or wild women couldn’t drag his old bones out in this kind of weather. Not even for a look at Natalie or to eat her good cookin’. Says he don’t reckon you’ll be going anywhere, so he’ll see you when this thaws or when you drive back to his place.” Jack chuckled.

  Natalie pulled biscuits from the oven. “Y’all want this on the table or you want to serve yourselves off the bar?”

  “Bar is fine,” Jack said.

  Lucas’s jaw set so tight that it was a wonder it didn’t pop out of place. Evidently he didn’t like breakfast on the bar. Then she looked at Jack, who was shifting his eyes from Lucas to her, and a cold shiver chased down her spine. Her father did that when he wanted one of his children to do something without saying it.

  Jack and Grady were both waiting, plates in hand, when she set the bowl of gravy and the biscuits on the bar. When she turned around to get the scrambled eggs and bacon, Lucas cleared his throat.

  “Hazel says I’m supposed to convince you to stay on the ranch until Christmas,” he said.

  “You don’t have to convince me of jack shit, cowboy. I’m staying. I made up my mind, but it’s not for you. It’s for the guys and for Hazel. I can endure you for a month to make them all happy,” she said.

  “I’ll pay you good,” Lucas said.

  “Yes, you will,” she said.

  Drew’s voice popped into her head again. One month won’t kill you or Joshua, and evidently these folks really want you to stay. Don’t slam the door of opportunity, Nat.

  She wasn’t used to looking up at a man. She stood five feet ten inches in her stocking feet, and lots of men she’d dated had been shorter. She cocked her head to one side and thought of those gorgeous red three-inch high-heeled shoes that she’d bought last Christmas.

  “How much is this going to cost me?” Lucas asked.

  “Sorry. I was woolgathering. Minimum wage,” she said.

  A grin tickled the corners of his mouth.

  “At twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week,” she said.

  He groaned.

  Jack threw back his head and laughed. “We’ll be getting a bargain, son. Sign her on.”

  “God Almighty, Dad!” Lucas said.

  “Yep, He is Almighty, but He ain’t your dad,” Grady said. “Sounds like you’ve met your match, Lucas, my boy.”

  “Okay, okay, but it’ll break the bank,” Lucas said.

  “Hell if it will.” Jack laughed harder. “Only man in the north part of Texas that’s richer than you is Colton Nelson and that’s because he won the damn lottery.”

  Lucas would not be a good poker player. His expression gave away what he was thinking and right then it wasn’t showing good things. Evidently, he thought she was out to take him for a financial roller coaster ride. Hell, she came from a spread that was bigger than Cedar Hill, so she knew it took money to run a ranch.

  “Can’t none of us cook. Grady would burn water if he tried to make oatmeal,” Jack said.

  Grady motioned toward Jack. “And Jack can’t even make coffee with the directions written on the pot. I tell you we’ll all three starve if you don’t stay on the ranch and cook for us.”

  “You can’t leave anyway for a couple of days because the roads are too bad. The ice ain’t melting until the temperatures rise above freezin’, which won’t happen for a while. The storm has stalled out right above us and it’ll be days before the roads are cleared off. In this part of the world, as you know, snow and sleet cripple us,” Lucas said.

  She thought of her father and her brothers and she couldn’t say no. Lord, they couldn’t even make a bologna and cheese sandwich. And they’d run around in God only knew what color underbritches if they had to do laundry.

  “I told Hazel last night that I’d stay and she’s already called four times this morning to make sure I hadn’t changed my mind,” she said.

  “Thank you, sweet Jesus!” Grady looked toward the ceiling. “This ain’t our last decent meal, Jack!”

  “Hey, I know how to make toast, and Jesus didn’t have a thing to do with Natalie staying or going,” Lucas protested.

  “Not without burnin’ t
he hell out of it, and the way you’ve been acting, it took intervention by Jesus Himself to get her to stay,” Grady argued.

  Joshua’s whimpers came through the monitor on the cabinet and all three men stopped arguing and stared at the equipment as if it were a real baby. Natalie quickly turned off all the burners and the oven and made Joshua a bottle. On her way out of the kitchen she snagged a biscuit. She’d signed on to cook and clean and last time she checked, the hired help didn’t eat with the ranch owners.

  Whimpers had turned into demands by the time she reached the bedroom. He was chewing on his fist and kicking his legs in protest.

  “Mommy is here, baby boy,” Natalie crooned as she picked him up out of the portable crib. “Do you feel like you are in prison in that thing? Well, it’s only for a few weeks, sweet baby boy.”

  She unzipped the footed pajamas and changed his diaper. “Your granny would have a fit if she knew we are on a ranch with four men, so we aren’t going to tell her. Now be still and let me get your feet back inside this thing.”

  Joshua smiled at her for the first time and her heart went all gushy inside her chest. “Would you look at that? You remind me of your daddy with a grin like that.”

  She picked up the phone on her way to the rocking chair and called home. When her mother, Debra, answered she squealed. “Joshua just smiled and I’m sure it wasn’t gas this time. I could see it in his eyes. They twinkled just like Shawn’s do when he’s about to get into big trouble.”

  Debra sighed. “And I missed it. Did Leah see it? She’ll gloat and brag and carry on awful if she saw him do something before I did.”

  “Aunt Leah didn’t see it. We’re in the bedroom and he’s having his breakfast bottle right now,” Natalie said. “Aha! There it is again. He’s grinning around the bottle nipple. He’s going to charm the boots right off all the cowgirls in Texas.”