“It used to be, but two years ago—well, you know. That year was really tough, and so was last year. But I’m doin’ better. Got to keep up a good front for the kids.”
“Most kids love the magic of Christmas.”
Kasey finished her cookie and got another one. “Adam loved all of it. The tree, the decorations, all the parties.”
“Most of us military guys do, because it means family. That’s what we miss most. Not so much all the lights and parties but being with the folks we love.” He wished he could give it all back to her, even if it meant him being dead instead of Adam. If only he hadn’t let Adam talk him into riding in the second vehicle that day, his friend and team member would be alive to love Kasey like she deserved and to read bedtime stories to his children.
She nodded seriously. “I think of all those guys who aren’t home with friends and family. I guess it takes someone who’s been in the military, either as a soldier or as a wife, to understand what all that means.”
“Yes, it does.”
She pushed back her chair and carried the dirty cups to the dishwasher. He helped her get the kitchen put to rights. He’d pushed people away for so long that he’d forgotten how great it was to have someone around to share in simple things like visiting over hot chocolate and cookies. But then again, this was Kasey, the woman who’d kept him sane through the first time with memory loss.
His first therapist had said that he’d projected his feelings onto the pictures that Adam had shown him. His way of coping with the guilt and the inability to save that little boy was to think about taking care of Kasey and Rustin, so he’d simply made them his family. It didn’t seem fair that the roles had been reversed and she was now taking care of him.
Chapter Nine
Wednesday was one of those days at the Texas Star. If it could go wrong, it did. If it couldn’t possibly go awry, it did anyway. Rustin whined that he didn’t want to go to school because Nash needed him on the ranch. Emma fussed that she was big enough to go to school, so why couldn’t she? Silas was in a fine mood until he tried to climb the stairs, got about halfway, and slid back to the bottom, causing a bloody nose.
Kasey finally got the bloody nose taken care of and set Silas and Emma in front of the television to watch an animated movie. Rustin kicked the dirt all the way to the school bus, but he did turn around and wave at her. At least she thought it was at her until she glanced over her shoulder to see Nash carrying lumber from the back of his truck.
He’d shed his jacket and had a stack of boards up on one shoulder. His long-sleeved knit shirt hugged his body like a glove and showed every ripple in his abdomen as well as his biceps. The sun was out, but the warm rays weren’t what jacked the temperature up about twenty degrees, making her think she might break out in a sweat any minute.
“Mama, where are you?” Emma singsonged.
“Right here,” Kasey called out as she hurried back inside the house. “Is Silas all right?”
“We want to make cookies,” Emma said. “To eat while we fix our tree.”
“Okay, but is Silas okay?” Kasey hurried across the living room floor to find Silas ignoring the television and stacking blocks. He pushed them all back and stood up. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her toward the kitchen. His grin reminded her so much of Adam that a fresh wave of guilt washed over her. She should be focused on the kids, not on a sexy cowboy who heated up all her hormones.
One who’d—she stopped in her tracks. Nash was not supposed to be driving. Had he driven all the way to Tulia to the lumber yard without telling her?
“Hey, it’s not cold out here. Reckon Emma and Silas would want to come outside and help me build a doghouse? They’ll just need a light jacket.” Nash’s deep voice filled the whole room.
Not ten feet from her, he was standing in the kitchen, a tall silhouette blocking all the light. Silas was going that way with arms uplifted. Emma danced around like a ballerina.
“If you’ve got time”—Nash picked up Silas—“you could come on out and help us, too.”
When he turned so that she could see his features, his gaze caught hers and held. She caught a whiff of his shaving lotion, something slightly woodsy and sexy as the devil. Then she marched right into his space and shook her finger at him.
“You’re not supposed to be driving!”
“Hey, it was only from the barn to the house, I promise.”
“Where did that lumber come from?” she asked.
“It was stacked up behind the barn. I guess Paul was going to use it for fencing, but I figure we need a doghouse worse, with the cold weather coming in. I promise if I need to drive any farther than barn to house, I’ll tell you.” He crossed his heart and then quickly kissed her on the forehead.
“We were going to make cookies,” she said breathlessly. “And I thought you were making a pen, not a doghouse.”
“Ranch dogs need to be able to run free.”
“And ranch cats?” she asked.
“God gave them the ability to climb trees. I’ll make you a deal. Y’all help me with the doghouse this mornin’ and I’ll help make cookies this afternoon.”
“Yes, yes,” Emma squealed.
“Rusty?” Silas asked seriously.
“He can help me with the chores after school and then we’ll get all the Christmas stuff put up and eat our cookies,” Nash said.
Silas pointed to the back door. “Me go out.”
“First shoes and a jacket.” Nash winked at Kasey. “We won’t get many more days like this.”
“You got that right. The weatherman says that a cold front is moving into this area tomorrow and that it’s only the beginning of a long line of blasts between now and Christmas. The old folks are saying that we’ll have a white Christmas again this year. They had a blizzard in this area last year.”
“I wouldn’t mind that.” Nash talked as he put Silas’s boots and jacket on him and then turned around and helped Emma get her arms into her little pink hoodie. “We could build a snowman. We seldom get snow in Louisiana.”
“So what kind of cookies?” His brown eyes twinkled, like they did when he thought they were married.
“What’s your favorite?” she asked.
“All of them.” He straightened up to his full height, removed Kasey’s hooded sweatshirt from the hall tree, and held it out toward her. “But peanut butter is my favorite and then chocolate chip and then sugar with icing and maybe ginger snaps.”
“Then just about all of them?” She slipped her arms into the sleeves.
He pulled it up over her shoulders. “To my way of thinkin’, there isn’t a bad cookie. I’m a lot like Silas in that regard.”
“Thank you,” she said as she zipped the hoodie up and hoped that he hadn’t noticed her shiver from his fingertips touching her neck.
Emma headed toward the door in a run with Silas right behind her. A happy Hero met them on the back porch and bounded from one kid to the other. Nash whipped his camera from his pocket and took a picture of them, then quickly turned around and snapped one of Kasey.
She threw up both palms. “I look horrible. No makeup and my hair is a fright.”
“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and darlin’, you’re model beautiful.”
“You don’t have to use flattery to get me to help build a doghouse for Hero.”
One side of his mouth twitched. “You have no idea how pretty you are, do you?”
And you don’t know that you could have any woman in the state of Texas with your dark eyes and that body, do you? she thought. Come Sunday and we go to church, I’ll take a back pew to all the women who’ll catch your eye.
“We’ve got a doghouse to build. Where do we start?”
“Changing the subject, are you?” He grinned. “I already put the skids on the floor, so we’ll build it up from there.”
“Where are you going to put it?”
“Up near the back porch right here on the Texas Star. Where else would I put it?”
“Well, we will be going back to Hope Springs after Christmas,” she said.
“We’ll move it over there when we need to,” he answered. “For now it’s going close to the back porch.”
She followed him to the pickup. “That close to the house?”
“If it snows, Rustin will appreciate not having to go so far to feed and water his dog. And the house will give it a little protection against the cold wind.”
She lifted her end of the doghouse floor and helped him carry it to the place he’d picked out.
“Mama, where’s Princess?” Emma yelled across the yard.
“She’s just slow movin’ this mornin’, chère,” Nash said. “She’ll be here before long, but right now you have to take care of Hero for Rustin.”
“Can Princess sleep in the doghouse, too?”
Nash and Kasey set the platform on the ground. “Look at this, chère,” he said to the little girl. “It’s going to be big enough for all three dogs. That way they can keep each other warm in the winter.”
“Like when they was puppies?” Emma stepped up on the floor and used a stick for a pretend microphone. “I’m Pistols.”
“Who?” Nash asked.
“Pistol Annies,” Kasey answered.
Emma got the words tumbled as she danced around on her own personal stage. But every time she got to the part about hell on heels it came out loud and clear. By the time she took a bow and left the stage, Nash was laughing and clapping for her.
“She shouldn’t be saying that word,” Kasey said.
“But it’s so danged cute when she strikes a pose and says it. Don’t fuss at her. I haven’t laughed that hard in years.”
“I want a stage like that for Christmas,” Emma said. “And I want it under the tree and a real mike-a-phone and music.”
“Remember that, Kasey, in case I have a relapse. She needs a little stage and a kids’ karaoke.”
Kasey started back to the truck to unload more boards. “And earphones for us, right?”
“No, ma’am. I could sit and watch her all day. I’ll paint it pink and make a little backdrop with her name in glitter.”
“Nash, I’ve already bought all her presents except for her Santa gift. We open up family presents on Christmas Eve night and then Santa brings one gift for each child and it’s under the tree on Christmas morning,” Kasey said.
He stacked four boards in her outstretched arms. “I’ll make her a stage in the spring and she can put it under the pecan tree and we’ll watch her perform.”
Kasey started back toward the porch. “That’s a long time from right now.”
“Then you’ll let me do it?” There was so much excitement in his voice that she couldn’t tell him no. But there was little chance they’d be living there for Emma’s first concert.
“My dad used to do some woodworking and I’d help him out. I miss that,” Nash said wistfully.
“How long has he been gone?”
“He got lung cancer when I was seventeen but he didn’t die until I was discharged. Lost him and grandpa pretty close together. He was proud of me for serving,” Nash said.
“And your grandparents?”
“Dad’s parents were gone before I was born. My granddad on Mama’s side died about the time I was discharged. Addy needed help on her ranch, so I stayed with her for almost two years. She and Mama spend a lot of time together these days. Addy sold the ranch a few weeks ago and moved into town. She should have bought something in Louisiana but she’ll never leave Jefferson. Grandpa is buried there, and it’s where all her friends are located.”
“So you don’t have much family?” she asked. “Are you close to your mother? You talk more about your grandma, Addy.”
“I am closer to Addy than Mama. Don’t know why that is, just that it is,” he answered.
“Not on Mama’s side, but there’s lots on the Lamont side. I’m an only child but I’ve got a whole beaucoup of cousins scattered over Louisiana. My dad had four brothers and three sisters and they took that verse in the good book seriously—the one that talks about going forth and multiplying. Hold this board and I’ll mark it. Once it’s cut off, we’ll set the first corner.”
Nash was proving to be a jack-of-all-trades. He knew enough about cattle to be a rancher. He was a sheepherder, and now he was building a fine doghouse. And he whistled Christmas carols the whole time he worked.
At noon, they both stood back with the two kids beside them and eyed the doghouse. It had three rounded holes in the front to give each dog access and even had shingles on the roof.
“Hero. Princess. Doggy.” Emma marched down the front and pointed out a name for each animal. “Red. Pink. Blue.” She turned around and looked at Nash.
“Hey, now,” Kasey scolded.
“Red for Hero’s name. Pink for Princess’s. Blue for Doggy. Right?” Nash asked.
Emma nodded.
“How about we do that in the spring? Paint has trouble drying in this weather,” he said.
Another nod. “Silas and me is hungry.”
“Y’all have done a fine job of playin’ with those dogs and keepin’ them out of our way all mornin’ so I’m not surprised you’ve worked up an appetite,” Kasey said.
“Let’s go down to that café on Main Street and get us a hamburger and then we’ll come home and make cookies,” Nash suggested.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Emma pumped her fist in the air. “And Tater Tots, too.”
Again, Kasey couldn’t say no, but—and there always seemed to be a but where Nash was concerned—folks in town seeing her with Nash would cause even more rumors when they showed up looking like a family.
*
Nash carried Silas into the café and opened the door for Kasey and Emma with the other one when they reached the Happy Café. He picked up a high chair with one hand and followed Kasey to a booth toward the back.
She had the cutest little sway to her walk and her jeans stretched over her rounded butt, nipping in at a small waist that belied the fact she’d given birth to three children. He could have carried Silas and the high chair across the Sahara desert just to watch her.
“Hey, girl!” Molly came from the back of the café to give her a hug. “Who’s this cowboy you’re runnin’ with?”
“Molly, meet our neighbor, Nash Lamont,” Kasey answered.
Not much taller than Kasey, the woman had gray hair, a round face, clear blue eyes set in a bed of wrinkles, and penciled black eyebrows that made her look either surprised or scared out of her wits. “Well, now, I heard that Henry’s great-nephew had come to Happy. I’m right pleased to meet you, Nash Lamont. I’ve got to get back to the kitchen. We got chicken fried steaks today for the special and they’re keepin’ me hoppin’. Hey, Daisy, look who’s here,” she called out to a couple of ladies on the other side of the café.
“Well, Kasey Dawson, you haven’t been in to see us in weeks. And you brought a friend. Is this Henry’s nephew that we been hearin’ about?” Daisy, Lila’s mother and the owner of the café, talked the whole way across the floor.
“Yes, it is.” Kasey situated Emma into a booster seat and then slid in beside her.
“So, Nash, are you settlin’ in pretty good out on the Texas Star?” Daisy asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Likin’ it better every day,” he answered. “I can’t imagine why Uncle Henry ever left.”
“Have you heard from Henry in a while?” Daisy asked.
“No, ma’am.” Nash got Silas into the high chair and pulled it up to the end of the booth. “Don’t suppose any of y’all have heard about him, have you?”
“Not a peep.”
“This is Lila’s mama. She owns the place, and Molly and Georgia work with her,” Kasey explained.
“Lila looks like you.” Nash smiled.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” A little taller than Lila, she had dark hair with a sprinkling of gray and dark eyes. “Now, what can I get y’all to drink?”
“Coke,” E
mma said.
“Milk for these two.” Kasey shook her head. “I’ll have lemonade.”
“Sweet tea,” Nash said.
“Nice to meet you, Nash. I’ll have those drinks in a minute along with the menus.”
“So Lila’s mama owns this place?”
“Yep. She leased it out to Molly and Georgia for about twelve years and they were talkin’ about buyin’ it, but she decided to come back to Happy at the last minute. Lila helps out when they need her.”
“And she works at the ranch the rest of the time?”
“Oh, yeah. She’s really caught on to the job, just like Granny thought she would. She’s a schoolteacher, and Mama offered her a job here at the school. Mama’s on the school board, but Granny offered her a better job to help Brody and Jace run Hope Springs. She’s good with the book work and loves to be outside with Brody. And she’s a damn fine cook,” Kasey said.
Daisy returned with the iced tea and lemonade and whispered, “White milk or chocolate?”
“They’d probably rather have chocolate,” Kasey said.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Emma clapped her hands. “And Tater Tots. Meat and cheese and ketchup ’burger, too.”
“I like a girl who knows what she wants.” Daisy gave Nash and Kasey each a menu. “And what does the cowboy in the high chair want today?”
“French fries and a burger with meat and cheese only,” Kasey said. “And I want a burger basket. Mustard and no onions.”
“Me, too, only I want mayo and no onions, please.” Nash handed the menu back to Daisy.
This was nice. No, it went way beyond that. It was downright amazing even if it was only having burgers in the local café. Families did things like this and Nash loved the feeling.
Daisy wrote it all down and disappeared behind the counter.
Nash glanced at Emma. “It’s like she’s a teenager and she’s not even four yet.”
“Been like that since her first word. No one could understand Rustin until he was well past three years old, and Silas only says a few words, but not Emma. She says the words plain, but sometimes they don’t quite fit like they should.”
Long, Tall Cowboy Christmas (Happy, Texas Book 2) Page 12
