The Cowboy’s Christmas Baby

by Carolyn Brown

  Lucas pulled his finger away from Joshua when the baby tried to put it in his mouth. “Go on.”

  “Drew and I made a vow in junior high school that we would never ever date. We were best friends and we didn’t want to ruin that.”

  Lucas nodded. “He told us that when we teased him about being stupid for not dating you.”

  She stopped sifting and their gaze met in the middle of the kitchen. “You did?”

  “Sure we did. Damn, Natalie! You looked like a million bucks on that computer and he declared that you were just his best friend. We wondered for a while there if he was straight.”

  Her laughter didn’t belong to a full-grown woman but a little girl and sounded so innocent that he jerked his head around to see if there was another child in the kitchen.

  “Why is that so funny?”

  “Drew never had a bit of problem finding a woman. Another day, you remind me to tell you the story of the quilt he carried in the trunk of his car,” she said.

  “We found that out pretty quick. They flocked to him like starved women lookin’ at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Tell me about the quilt now,” Lucas said.

  She set the sifter aside and picked up the mixer. “Not today. I’ve got another story to tell you right now. I cried my eyes out the first time he was deployed. It wasn’t so rough the second time because we talked every night no matter where he was. At least it was night in my world. In Drew’s he was just waking up. The third time we had a party and…”

  He waited.

  And waited some more.

  “Well? You had a party and what?” he asked.

  “We drank too much. Way, way too much. The drunker we got, the crazier we got. I made him promise that he’d come home again just like he had the past two times he’d been deployed. He made me promise that I wouldn’t get married while he was gone.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Drew was my person. The one I went to for advice on relationships and who told me I was bitchy when I was and who told me when a man was a bastard and I shouldn’t be dating him.”

  “And you listened to him?”

  “Most of the time. When I didn’t and my relationships went sour, he crowed around like a rooster and told me ‘I told you so’ until I wanted to use that pistol in my room and shoot him.”

  “But you did get into a relationship without him knowing, didn’t you? And that’s why…”

  Natalie held up both palms. “Let me finish. We were throwing back tequila shots and then the clock struck two in the morning and we had to leave because the bar was shutting down. He drove me home and I kissed him good-bye. Remember I said that we were very drunk. Well, he kissed back and it wasn’t like a best friend kiss. And the next morning we woke up in my bed. We’d broken our vow and we were both miserable. Hangovers. Headaches. And I felt like I’d just slept with my brother, which was nauseating as hell. I loved Drew but I damn sure did not intend to have sex with him. He apologized a dozen times, got dressed, and had barely driven away when Momma knocked on my door to tell me to get up for church.”

  “Bet that was the last place you wanted to be that morning,” Lucas said.

  “They sang louder than they’d ever sang before and every coin that dropped into that silver offering plate sounded like a rock band in my head,” she said.

  Lucas looked back at Joshua. It was the cleft in the chin that looked so much like Drew.

  “Did he know?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t know until two months after his funeral. Thought my body was messed up from all the stress of losing him.”

  “You could have told me.”

  “I couldn’t even tell my mother. I was past six months pregnant when she figured it out on her own. When the news hit the gossip queens in Silverton, it was awful. How could I have ever let myself get mixed up with that horrible bad boy? My mother should have put a stop to our friendship years before, and so forth and so on. I held my head up, but even going to the café was a chore. Thank goodness school was out for the summer or they’d have probably fired me on the spot.”

  “Drew was a good man and a great soldier. They shouldn’t have held grudges against him. He was over there protecting their right to gossip,” Lucas said.

  “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you, but I’m not sorry that I have Joshua. A little piece of my best friend lives on in him. Now your turn… what secrets did you keep from me?”

  Lucas brushed imaginary dirt from the legs of his jeans. “What makes you think I have any secrets? I told you all about Hazel raising me after my mother left, my dad and Grady being cousins, and Gramps.”

  “Is that a picture of your dad and mother on the dresser in the room where I’m staying?”

  He nodded. “Yes, it is. The only one ever taken, probably. I’ve never seen any other ones. Granny died when Daddy was a little boy. Hazel was already keeping house and working on the ranch, so she finished helping Gramps raise him. Dad waited until he was almost thirty to get married, but age doesn’t seem to matter much. He married my mother and she hated country life so bad that when I was two she left it and me both, so Hazel raised another kid for the ranch. Our luck ain’t too good when it comes to women in this family.”

  ***

  Natalie cracked an egg on the side of the bowl and turned on the mixer. It required a full minute of high beating after each egg or the pound cake would be heavy and soggy.

  She couldn’t imagine walking away from Joshua and she’d only had him two months. “Why didn’t she take you with her?”

  “She had aspirations about being an actress and a two-year-old doesn’t fit with that image, and besides, Dad said that she was free to go but if she took me away from Cedar Hill, he’d tie up the courts so bad, she’d never even see a settlement. He made her a one-time very generous offer to leave me with him and she took it,” Lucas said.

  “Did she become an actress?”

  “No, but she did find a high-powered business executive and married him a couple of years after she left the ranch,” he said.

  “You ever see her again?”

  “Oh, yes. She comes at Christmas every year. Her folks live over in Bells and she comes home for a couple of days. When I was a little kid, Grady would take me over there for an afternoon. She hasn’t set foot back on the ranch since she left. Nowadays, we usually meet for lunch somewhere in Denison and spend an awkward hour together.”

  What kind of mother only saw her child on Christmas? And why didn’t she come back to the ranch?

  Natalie finished beating the cake mixture and poured it into a loaf pan, slid it into the oven, and refreshed his coffee cup before she sat down at the table. The tension had eased slightly and the feeling between them loosely resembled what they’d had on the Internet.

  “Jack never remarried? Is Grady married?”

  He shook his head. “Neither one. Dad said he learned his lesson and Grady swears he learned from Dad’s mistake. Besides, he always said it took two of them workin’ full time to raise me. An Allen man only gives his heart away one time. Gramps told me that a long time ago along with the lecture that I’d best be damn sure I was giving it to the right woman before I let go of it.”

  His cell phone rang and he dug it out of his shirt pocket.

  “Sure thing. I’ll be right there.” He paused and listened some more, nodding when he agreed and shaking his head when he didn’t.

  “No, sir! She ran me off and they should be in the air by now, maybe even part of the way to Memphis. Give me five minutes to get my coat on and drive down there.”

  He pushed back the chair. “Hold down the fort, Josh. I’ve got to go check on a couple of cows that aren’t acting right. Probably just need warming up in the barn, but if they are ailin’, we’ll need to separate them from the herd.”

 
Natalie held in the excitement, but it wasn’t easy. He’d actually talked to the baby. It was one tiny step in the right direction, and it hadn’t even grated on her nerves that he called the baby Josh instead of Joshua. When she’d had him, she’d declared to her parents and her brothers that he was to be called by his full name, not Josh or a nickname like Buddy or Little Man.

  Lucas opened the back door and two cows were right there. One was on the porch and immediately stuck her head in the door and looked around until she caught sight of Joshua, then be damned if that critter didn’t smile.

  Natalie shooed at it with a tea towel. “What the hell? Do you let cows in the house?”

  “Never known them to do that before.” Lucas grabbed the heifer by the ears and pushed, but the other cow had her head up and was telling the whole world that she was not moving.

  “First dogs and now cows. Are you sure these animals aren’t used to coming in the house?” Natalie asked.

  “Hell, no! Shit, I don’t know what’s wrong with them. Move along now, you stupid…” Lucas yelled.

  He couldn’t get the cows out, but somehow three puppies ran through their legs and into the house, headed straight for Josh, tumbling over their big paws and growling at each other on the way.

  The baby kicked and cooed at them just like the last time, but this time the runt grabbed the toes of one of his socks and pulled until it came off. Joshua wiggled his toes and thought the whole fiasco was something funny.

  Natalie picked up the baby and the puppies stayed so close to her that she had to be careful or she would have tripped.

  “Damn dogs and cows,” Lucas growled. “I wish I was back in Kuwait.”

  “Temper, temper!” Natalie scolded. “Are those old cows that maybe missed you while you were gone? Or else they got into the yard and think this is the barn. And these puppies have taken up with me since I’ve been here. That’s why they keep running toward the house. You just need to get their pen fixed better.”

  “They’re just cows, Natalie. I don’t know why they’re trying to get in the house, but there’s no way they can get any more than their heads through the door. And I may give every one of those pups away to the nearest neighbor whether he wants them or not.”

  Natalie finally reached the door. “Look, baby boy. Grandma never let a cow in the house, but they do here.”

  “I told you…” Lucas started but stopped when the cow sniffed at Joshua and then backed out of the door. She swiftly traded places with the other heifer, which poked her head in the door, sniffed the baby, and then contentedly backed down the steps.

  “I’ll be damned.” Lucas scratched his head.

  “It made Joshua smile and coo. I think he liked the cows. I know he likes the puppies, but you better get them out of here because they’re stealing toys and socks.”

  “Come on, you mangy rascals.” Lucas gathered them all up in his big arms and disappeared out into the snow. “I’ve still got to go see what’s going on in the north pasture. We’ll be in at dinner if not before. Must be this storm that’s got everything spooked,” he said.

  She was folding a load of baby clothes that she’d tossed in the washer after the men had all cleared out that morning when her phone rang. The ring tone said that it was her Aunt Leah, and she answered on the second ring.

  “Are you on the way? Are the roads slick?” Leah asked.

  “No, I’m not on the way. The roads are slick and it’s still coming down. He came home last night.” Natalie put a cup of water into the microwave for hot tea as she talked.

  “And?”

  “It was very awkward.”

  “I told you to tell him about Joshua.”

  “I know, and he was very angry, but we’ve talked today and I’m staying. I promised Hazel that I’d stay until Christmas. How long can you hold off the army?”

  “I don’t know. Debra called all worked up because Joshua really smiled and she didn’t get to see it and she asked me if I’d seen it yet and made me promise to take pictures of the two of you and send to her. Now how are we going to handle that one? If you send photos, she’ll be able to tell from the background that they damn sure aren’t in my house,” Leah said.

  Debra and Leah were twin sisters, born in Goodnight, Texas, and looked the same up until Debra had four kids. Now she was twenty pounds heavier than her sister who’d opted for a career instead of a family. Leah kept her brown hair dyed a rich chestnut. Debra let the tendency toward early graying shine right on through. Leah worked as an economics professor at the college in Conway and lived in a gated community on the south side of town in a new modern home. Debra still lived on the ranch where Jimmy Clark took her as a bride almost thirty years before. And Leah knew all about Lucas and the relationship that had budded over the Internet. Debra didn’t even know that Lucas existed.

  “I’ll handle it,” Natalie said.

  “You’d better tell her pretty soon, girl. She’s going to know something isn’t right and I’ll be the one in the crosshairs.”

  Natalie giggled. “And she don’t waste ammo.”

  “Never has before, so I don’t expect her to start now. So now tell me about him. Is he as handsome as you thought?”

  Natalie swallowed hard. “Yes, he is.”

  She told Leah the whole story about him coming home and finding her with a pistol in her hand and how he had reacted to Joshua. When she hung up, it seemed like she’d talked for an hour, but the clock said it had only been a few minutes.

  She wasn’t sure about the dinner schedule on Cedar Hill compared to the one at her father’s ranch, but at a quarter to noon, Jack, Grady, and Lucas all pushed inside the house. Evidently, they did things the same way her family did. Breakfast by six in the morning. Dinner at noon. Supper at six in the evening.

  “Man, this place smells good,” Grady said. “Is that yeast bread I smell?”

  “Pot roast isn’t worth much if you haven’t got hot bread to eat with it.” She smiled.

  “Give us a few minutes to get washed up,” Jack said.

  When they took their places around the table, Grady and Jack’s hair had been combed back and their faces were shiny clean. Lucas’s big hands were still semi-wet like he’d washed them well and barely touched the towel. He looked at the dinner table like he could hardly believe all the food in front of him.

  Joshua was content in the portable swing she’d set up close to the table. Everything fascinated him and he brought out his big toothless grin when he heard male voices.

  “If the click of the swing is bothersome…” she started.

  “Hey, that ain’t nothing to complain about,” Grady butted in. “Kind of nice to have a baby in the house again. We ain’t had that since Lucas was little. They’ve sure enough come up with fancy things since then. When he was that size, we ate dinner with him sittin’ on Jack’s or my knee.”

  “He going to be smart.” Jack helped his plate and passed bowls to Lucas. “You can tell by his bright eyes. I bet he’s walkin’ a long time before he’s a year old.”

  “I see a pound cake back there on the cabinet,” Grady said.

  Jack nudged Lucas with his elbow. “Had a dinner like this since you left home?”

  Lucas shook his head and piled potatoes and carrots on his plate. “No, and I’m hungry.”

  “You eat all that, you won’t have room for pound cake and peaches,” Jack teased.

  “That means I get his cake, right?” Grady asked.

  “You got that pistol handy, Natalie?” Lucas asked.

  “Keep it ready,” she answered.

  “Anyone touches my cake, you shoot to kill.”

  He had no idea that he had just handed her the moon, the stars, and maybe even the sun. The man that had comforted her after Drew’s death and who’d carried on an Internet relati
onship with her was back.

  “Momma taught me not to waste ammo. I could just break their arms,” she said.

  Jack threw back his head and guffawed. “If that didn’t sound just like Hazel.”

  “Well, thank you,” Natalie said. “I didn’t get to know her, but what little time we visited, I got the impression that she was a pistol.”

  “Oh, honey,” Lucas looked across the table and locked gazes with her, “Hazel ain’t a pistol. She’s a big-assed double-barreled shotgun.”

  The energy between them sizzled so loudly that she wondered if Jack and Grady could hear it too. It had that strange eerie feeling that came five minutes before a tornado hit. Noise was all around them, but they were in a vacuum with no sounds but the flutter of their hearts. His eyes bored into hers and she could hear the storm coming closer and closer. She’d never had a man strip her totally naked just by looking into her eyes.

  She blinked and looked at Joshua. When she chanced a look back at Lucas, he was loading his plate with roast and potatoes.

  Chapter 4

  The hardwood floor in the hallway was cold enough to make Natalie wish she’d dug a pair of socks out of her suitcase. She reached for the old-fashioned glass knob on the bathroom door, but it was locked. She whipped around to do a fast tiptoe back to her room and the door flew open.

  “Next,” Lucas drawled.

  She stopped and looked over her shoulder. The scent of men’s soap, musky shaving lotion, and minty toothpaste all combined and again created that crazy feeling of a storm on the way. Moist, warm air flowed out of the room, but it did little to warm her chilled feet. She had to remember to drag out the fuzzy house shoes or at least put on socks in the morning.

  “Good mornin’,” she said. “I’ll only be a minute.”

  “Doesn’t matter how long you take. Dad’s already been in here and he’s out with Grady doing some early morning chores. So it’s all yours.”

  She shoved her hand into her pocket. Touching the baby monitor should have grounded her back into reality and taken her mind off that dark red towel slung low around his waist and what was beneath it. She should be thinking of Joshua and not wondering what it would be like to run her hands over that acre of bulging muscles on his chest.