“All finished?” she asked.
He pushed back the coffee cup. Butterflies the size of half-grown buzzards flittered about in his stomach. It was time.
“Wait right here,” he said.
He disappeared down the hallway and into the spare bedroom where she’d kept all her presents until the night before. When he returned he was carrying something wrapped in an old quilt.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Your Christmas present,” he whispered.
He laid it in her lap, and a little white head and two black hooves shot out from under the quilt. The foal made a noise that reminded her of a baby and looked up at her with big, round black eyes.
“Oh!” Other than one word she was totally speechless.
“His momma died about an hour ago. He’s going to need lots of care to make it. So Merry Christmas, Liz. If he lives, it’ll be because you made a miracle.”
Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
“The first of my own herd. And he’s staying in the bedroom until he’s big enough to go outside in the yard. Did you put some hay in there for him to sleep on?”
Raylen grinned. “Yes, and the quilt which will have to be washed every day. And formula in the refrigerator which will have to be warmed so he can eat every four hours. Momma says she’ll take care of him today and tomorrow morning, but we’re on our own after that.”
“Do I get to name him?”
“He’s your baby,” Raylen said.
“His name is Glorious Christmas Star because of the star on his forehead, and because all winners have to have three names. I’m calling him Star.”
Raylen cocked his head to one side. “Sounds fine to me, but are you sure that’s a star? It looks more like a lightning streak to me.”
“It’s a star that got smeared a little, but it’s still a star.” Her tone left no room for argument.
“You are going to be a fine racer, aren’t you, Star, and we’re going to win the same prize that Danny Boy did. Your momma didn’t die for nothing, darlin’.” She crooned to the foal and used her nose to pet the white splotch on his forehead.
Raylen kissed her on the top of her head and smiled.
She looked up and meant to kiss him on the lips but missed and got the side of his mouth. “Now it’s your turn. I’m going to sit right here and hold Star while you open your presents. The big, round one first with the red paper and gold bow.”
Raylen’s eyes widened. “All of these for me?”
He didn’t have a single present under the tree for her. He should have bought a hundred presents for her to unwrap in addition to the unwrapped ones out in the yard.
He ripped into a box with a brand new Stetson.
She hugged Star and said, “I promise not to stomp it or throw it on the ground.”
The next present was a bottle of Stetson.
“That scent turns me on,” she said with a smile.
He could hardly wait to give her the rest of his Christmas present. Anxiety, hoping that she would like it, made him open faster so he could take her to the backyard and show her how much he loved her.
Liz was suddenly worried that she’d overdone it. He had only given her the horse because the momma died, and he’d think she was smothering him. Dammit!
The last present was a long, black silk scarf.
“It’s actually for me when I dance for you,” she said.
“Very nice,” he mumbled.
How in the devil did she afford all those expensive gifts? She used what she made working at the ranch for Wilma’s salary; she had said so herself. So where did the money come from for a new hat, Stetson aftershave, a hundred-dollar scarf, and all the rest?
But the idea of her finances quickly took a backseat when he thought about what he’d planned for the rest of her Christmas. He was almost giddy with excitement at that point. “Thank you, darlin’. You did way too much, but I love every one of my gifts.”
“So did you. This horse is a son of Glorious Danny Boy. I can’t wait to tell Blaze what I got. Someday when Danny Boy can’t even get it up with Viagra, Star is going to take his place on the ranch.” She smiled.
“Well, darlin’, can Star get back in his baby bed for now? The rest of your presents are outside.” He stood up, bent down, and kissed her hard.
They carried Star back to his room and settled him into the middle of a pile of clean hay as big as a full-sized bed.
“Look, Raylen, he’s happy. Our new baby is happy in his bed,” she whispered.
Raylen slipped his arm around Liz, and they stood there several minutes gazing down at the new baby horse lying in a bed of hay and a frayed old quilt.
Star shut his eyes and sighed.
“Yes, he is. While he’s sleeping, I have a surprise for you, darlin’. Close your eyes,” Raylen said.
She didn’t have to be told twice. She loved surprises. She was so excited she had trouble standing still. “What is it?”
“Santa Claus came last night and left you a present,” he said.
“Is it a new puppy?”
“No, darlin’. I thought about us getting one but I thought you’d want to help me pick him or her out.”
He took her hands in his and pulled her up to a standing position. When they passed the living room, he picked up the folded quilt he’d left on the sofa and fluffed it out.
She heard a snapping noise and felt a whoosh of air. “What was that?”
“You’ll get cold so I’m wrapping you up.” He scooped her up into his arms and carried her out the back door.
When the cold air hit her nose, she cuddled closer to him. “Are you sure it’s not a puppy?”
They didn’t go far before he sat down with her in his lap and suddenly, they were swinging. “Now open your eyes.”
She gasped. “You bought it!”
They were cuddled up together in the swing that she’d coveted on their first real date. And there was the picnic table and two Adirondack chairs to match.
“I can’t believe it. It’s a wonderful, wonderful present. I love it, darlin’. It’s perfect. It means you want me to stay in Ringgold as long as this wood holds up, doesn’t it?” she gushed.
“Longer than that,” Raylen said.
Something a rancher would have. Something a carnie could never, ever tote around, she thought.
“When I went back to get my keys, that old feller told me that you could swing the new babies in it and your grandbabies would eat off that table,” he said.
The idea of having children with Raylen and then grandchildren brought tears to her eyes and put a lump in her throat the size of a grapefruit. It was what she’d said she wanted when she saw Granny and Grandpa together that first Sunday she spent at the O’Donnell’s.
Raylen deposited her on the other side of the swing. He dropped down on one knee in front of her and took her hands in his.
She looked down into his blue eyes and saw her future. Love, fights, makeup sex, horses, kids, and grandkids in a flash. Her heart swelled up so big that she had trouble catching a breath.
Raylen looked up into her black eyes and saw his soul mate looking back at him. “Liz Hanson, I’ve loved you since we were kids. I want to be the father of those babies that you swing in this swing. I want to sit on those two chairs when we are old and watch our grandbabies eat off that table. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she answered without a second’s hesitation, locked her arms around his neck, and pulled his lips up to hers in a sizzling kiss.
***
February is a petulant child in Texas. It can be happy, sunny, bright, and beautiful or it can spend the day pouting in the corner not knowing what it wants. It was a happy-go-lucky kid on the last Saturday of the month. The sun was out and only a few white clouds floated across the sky above Claude, Texas.
The big barn had been cleaned from top to bottom under Poppa and Haskell’s supervision and transformed into a thing of beauty for the weddin
g. The barn was full with the carnival family, the O’Donnells, and all the friends from the Ringgold area that could make the trip. They were seated in folding chairs when the fiddle music began.
Blaze took his place beside the minister. He was the luckiest man in the whole world. Hell, he was even luckier than Dewar and Rye and Poppa, his best men, all supporting him on the most important and most nervous day of his life.
The fiddle music blended together beautifully and Gemma, Jasmine, and Pearl, all dressed in bright red satin, made their way to the front of the barn. Then the fiddles struck the first note of the traditional wedding march, and the bride appeared on her father’s arm at the back of the barn. Everyone stood up, and Blaze’s heart absolutely left his chest in one enormous beat when he saw Colleen in that long, white velvet dress. White roses were scattered in her red hair, and she wore the silver heart necklace he’d bought her on Orcas Island.
When Cash and Colleen reached the front of the barn, Cash put his daughter’s hands in Blaze’s and said, “Be good to her. I’m trustin’ you with my precious daughter, son.”
“You have my promise, sir,” Blaze said.
Colleen took the microphone from the preacher. Liz and Raylen’s bows hit the fiddle strings at the same time and she looked deep into Blaze’s eyes and sang, “Bless the Broken Road,” a song made popular by Rascal Flatts.
Liz locked eyes with Raylen’s as they made the fiddles whine to lyrics saying that every long lost dream led her to where he was and that God blessed the broken road that led her straight to him.
When Colleen finished singing, she handed the microphone back to the preacher. Liz and Raylen laid their fiddles down. Raylen joined the groomsmen, and Liz the bridesmaids. When the ceremony ended, the preacher announced that the wedding party would have a few pictures taken.
“But feel free to partake of the food tables and when the pictures are done, the bride and groom will cut the cake so you can have dessert,” he said.
While the photographer did his job, Liz parked herself in Raylen’s lap on a front row chair and waited for their turn to have pictures with the bride and groom.
“I’m glad we did it different,” she whispered.
“I was sure nervous about giving you an envelope rather than a ring,” he said.
“I loved it. A proposal with a marriage license! Bet no one else has ever got that.” She held up her left hand and admired the wide gold band. A ring for a rancher’s wife who mucked out stalls, saddled up horses, drove a tractor, and hauled hay.
“And I will always love my ring.” She laughed.
Jasmine sat down beside Liz. “It’s a beautiful wedding. I love that it’s in a barn even if this scarcely looks like a barn. Colleen is beautiful and Blaze can’t take his eyes off her. But if I ever get married I’m doing it the way y’all did, Liz. Propose. Get married in an hour. Put on a nice wide gold band and be married. I suppose my mother would throw a hissy if I did. She’s been plannin’ my wedding for years.”
Ace sat down next to Raylen and patted him on the shoulder. “Blaze has been branded. No doubt about it. His prowlin’ days are done. But I got to admit, Raylen, you’re the smart one. You’ll never forget your anniversary. Been meanin’ to ask you, how did you get a judge to marry you on Christmas day? And how did you work up the nerve to give Liz a marriage license instead of an engagement ring?”
“First chance at a horse he wants to buy got the judge. I wanted to be a husband, not a fiancé, and I had a pretty good idea that Liz felt the same way but I got pretty nervous right there at the end.” Raylen smiled.
It was time for Jasmine and Ace to have pictures taken with the bride and groom, so they left and Marva Jo and Tressa sat down beside Raylen and Liz.
“Did you tell him?” Marva Jo whispered.
“I did after we were married. That way it could never be said he married me for my money. I told him all about my inheritance from my father, and I even let him glance at my portfolio and my checkbook.” She laughed.
“I married her for twenty acres, not her bank account,” Raylen teased.
Tressa patted him on the shoulder. “And you got a sassy piece of baggage with it. We leave in a week for the new carnival year. I’ll miss her, but Colleen is a quick study. I swear with that red hair she’s a born gypsy. She can lay out the cards and tell a fortune better than I ever could. Too bad she can’t belly dance.”
“I offered her my costumes, but she turned me down,” Liz said.
“Parents of the groom, please,” the photographer said.
“That’s me. Come on, Marva Jo. You’re going to stand on one side and me the other.” Tressa motioned to Marva Jo.
Lucy sat down beside Liz.
“Wilma is so excited about the move. You are a good woman, Liz,” she said.
“I’m a selfish woman. I don’t want to lose her so I settled her in more permanently. And besides, we had two houses. We decided to live in Raylen’s house and Gemma moved in with Dewar. So one house was empty. We opened the fence and put a cattle guard between the two places so on nice days she can walk from one place to the other. ”
“Well, she’s a happy woman. She’s been telling your Uncle Haskell all about how much she loves Hooter and Blister and how they refused to move with you and I heard her tellin’ him that she’d already bought five used Louis L’Amour books for the bookcases,” Lucy said.
Lucy meandered away and Pearl and Wil settled in beside Liz and Raylen.
“I heard you bought a couple of Gypsy Vanner mares,” Wil said.
Liz nodded. “I sure did. Star needed some company since he’s gotten big enough to go live in the barn.”
Raylen chuckled. “And Dewar spends more time with them than she does.”
Liz smiled. “He’s got more time than I do. When he finds a good woman, the Vanners will take a backseat. Isn’t this pretty close to your first anniversary, Pearl?”
“Wil and I were married a year a couple of weeks ago. Colleen doesn’t know how lucky she has it. Maddie is so laid back and calm about everything. Momma about drove me bonkers on my wedding day. You two did it the right way. Get married and then tell Momma. Only if I’d done that we’d have had a funeral instead of a wedding.”
“Yours or hers?” Liz asked.
Wil patted Pearl on the thigh. “Red’s, to be sure. Her momma was determined to have a wedding.”
Liz pointed at Pearl’s belly and asked, “How are those twins coming along?”
Pearl patted her stomach. “Doc says they’re doin’ fine. Twins. Identical boys. We just found out yesterday. Daddy is ecstatic and so is Wil. I don’t know jack shit about raising boys but I guess I’ll learn. I’m just glad Colleen didn’t wait until June to get married. I’d have had to have Omar the Tentmaker design my dress.”
“And now the whole wedding party,” the photographer said.
“That’s our cue,” Liz said.
Later, after pictures and after the bride and groom had danced to “I Cross My Heart” by George Strait, Raylen and Liz laid down their fiddles, and he led her to the dance floor.
He wrapped his arms around her, letting them rest on the small of her back. “You really aren’t disappointed that you didn’t have all this?”
“Hell, no! Our wedding was perfect and I got exactly what I wanted. A house with no wheels and a sexy cowboy. I had a darn good cowboy Christmas. Now kiss me, please. Weddings, a sexy cowboy, and good fiddlin’ always turn a girl on,” she whispered.
The End
About the Author
Carolyn Brown is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with more than fifty books published. Her books include the cowboy trilogy Lucky in Love, One Lucky Cowboy, and Getting Lucky, the Honky Tonk series, I Love This Bar, Hell Yeah, Honky Tonk Christmas, and My Give a Damn’s Busted, and her new Spikes & Spurs series beginning with Love Drunk Cowboy and Red’s Hot Cowboy. She was born in Texas but grew up in southern Oklahoma where she and her husband, Charles, a retired Eng
lish teacher, make their home. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young.
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