Christmas in Three Rivers: Three Rivers Ranch Romance Novella Collection

by Isaacson, Liz

  Instead, he smiled at her mom and apologized for being late. She grinned at him and handed him a bowl of mashed potatoes. Dinner passed, and Tad noticed Sandy’s suffering.

  She finally stood. “Well, I’m going into work early tomorrow. So I’m gonna head out.”

  Her going to work was news to Tad. She’d taken the whole week off—or so he’d thought. Hank apparently thought the same thing, because he pierced her with a glare and then switched his murderous look to Tad.

  Tad shrugged and followed Sandy out into the night. “I’m real sorry I was late.” He didn’t dare touch her—he could barely keep up with her. “What happened in there?”

  She marched to the driver’s side of her car and held out her palm. “Keys, please.”

  “I’ll drive.”

  “I’d rather drive.”

  Tad stopped a few feet away from her and tried to figure out what he’d done wrong. “Sandy, I—”

  “I just want the keys.”

  Determination filled Tad. He lifted his chin. “No.” He tucked the keys in his jacket pocket. “Tell me what happened in there.”

  She met his eye, and though it was mostly dark, a light from the porch illuminated the fear and anger in her expression. “Were you ever going to tell me about Sarah?”

  His heart hammered a couple times before sinking to his shoes. Hank. The scowl made sense now. “Of course,” Tad said. “We haven’t talked about past relationships yet.” It was a painful reminder that he’d been in town for five days, that this relationship wasn’t even a week old yet. “That’s usually several dates in.” He dared to take a step closer. “What did Hank say?”

  “That you were engaged.”

  “True.”

  “That she was pregnant, and when she lost the baby, she broke things off.”

  Shame and regret filled Tad. “Also true.” He took a deep breath. “And I’m not the same person I was back then. Did he tell you this was years and years ago?”

  Sandy nodded. “He did mention it happened right after you first moved to Vegas.”

  “I’m different now.”

  “He also said that you haven’t really seen the need to have anyone in your life since.”

  He swallowed. “Mostly true.”

  “Who?” she asked.

  “Just God.”

  She seemed to deflate with those words, and Tad stepped into her personal space and gathered her into his arms. “Until you, Sandy. Until you.”

  She relaxed into his embrace, and Tad felt the tiniest bit bad about saying such things. He’d been fine alone until the accident. But since then, even God hadn’t been able to soothe him. Nothing had. No one could.

  Until her.

  So he had spoken the truth, maybe just not all of it. “Let me tell you about it,” he said as he unlocked the car and escorted her around to the passenger side. As he moved back to get into the driver’s seat, he prayed for courage and strength.

  And for Sandy to have an understanding heart. Because if she didn’t, he’d find himself on the streets of Three Rivers alone tomorrow, looking for an apartment without the help of the woman he felt himself falling for.

  Sandy woke on Wednesday morning to the sound of knocking. Several moments passed before she realized the noise came from her bedroom door. Flinging off the nightmares of her slumber the same way she did her comforter, she jumped out of bed and hurried to the door.

  Tad stood on the other side, his handsome face bearing the lines of exhaustion. He painted over them with a smile. “Hey, gorgeous.” He hugged her and retreated a few steps. “I thought we were going apartment shopping this morning.”

  The fact that he hadn’t left in the dead of night, that he still wanted to spend time with her, testified of his gentle soul and calm strength. After all, she’d practically poured out every one of her insecurities to him last night as they discussed his past relationships—and hers.

  He waited, his watchful eyes refusing to look anywhere but at her. She noticed the slant of the sunlight as it poured through the sliding glass doors in the kitchen. “What time is it?”

  “Almost noon.”

  “Tad, I’m sorry.” She ran her hand through her hair, panic welling where her pulse should be.

  “Don’t.” He stepped into her and took her hand in his as it fell back to her side. “I wanted you to sleep. We were up way too late last night.”

  She didn’t try to mask the raw fear, the naked need, in her expression when she looked at him. “Did you get any sleep?”

  “A little.” He smiled, and she lost herself in his charms, his exquisite patience, his solid strength holding her up. “I heard you sawing logs this morning, so I know you did.”

  She playfully pushed against his chest, a giggle in her throat. “Let me shower, and we’ll go. I printed some listings.”

  He released her and gestured toward the dining room table. “I got them. I’ll make you some coffee too.”

  She grinned in response and closed the door between them. Leaning against it, she offered a prayer of gratitude that Tad hadn’t left. She was so used to the men in her life doing so, she didn’t quite know what to do with one who didn’t.

  Love him, came into her mind, and she startled away from the door lest he could hear her thoughts. Still, giddiness swept through her. Could she love Tad Jorgensen?

  And even better, could he love her in return?

  As she hurried into the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror, she finally saw a woman who could be loved.

  She’s always been there. The thought came from somewhere outside of Sandy, but she knew it to be true. Tears welled in her eyes. “Maybe I just needed to wait for the right man to come to town.”

  She didn’t wait for confirmation from herself or from the Lord. She turned and got in the shower, at peace in Three Rivers for the first time in her life.

  “I liked that second one the best.” Sandy sighed as she collapsed on a park bench. They’d been apartment hunting for the better part of five hours, and her feet ached. Though she spent a large part of each day walking and standing at work, the emotional toll of finding Tad a place to live weighed much heavier than getting cakes out to table three.

  “Me too.” Tad sat next to her and handed her an all-meat calzone. The sun flirted with the horizon as they ate. With darkness falling and winter winds blowing, the park remained deserted except for them.

  “I want you to meet my parents,” Tad said. He spoke so quietly, Sandy wasn’t sure his whispered words weren’t part of the wind.

  She turned toward him as if encased in quicksand, questions stuck in her throat.

  He didn’t look at her, but studied his hands. “I’m falling in love with you, and I want to take you to Stillwater to meet my parents.” He lifted his head and met her gaze. The penetrating emotion in his dark-diamond eyes amplified what he’d said.

  “You’re falling in love with me?”

  Her first thought was impossible.

  Her second was I’m falling in love with him too.

  “More every day.” He reached for her hand and dropped his eyes back to the ground. “And I know I’ve been in town for five days, and it’s fast and all that. I’m not asking you to marry me. But I feel good about us. I feel the same way about you that I felt about moving here, about starting the boarding stable. And.” He sighed. “I don’t know. I need to go home for a few days anyway, and I thought maybe you’d like to come.”

  “Of course.” The words exploded from her mouth. “Of course I want to meet your parents. I want to see the town where you grew up.”

  Their eyes locked again, and he emitted a nervous chuckle at the same time she released a shaky laugh.

  “Okay, then,” he said. “We can go tomorrow. I have to be back on Monday for those two boarders, and I’ll need a day or so to get the space at Brynn’s ready.”

  “Tomorrow,” Sandy echoed, a sense of wonder floating through her. She actually craved what tomorrow would hold for her, and
she’d never felt like that before.

  Tad felt like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. The flight to Wyoming had only taken a couple of hours, and his mother and father had agreed to pick him up at the airport. He hadn’t told them about bringing home Sandy. He figured his mother’s questions wouldn’t have as much time to accumulate that way.

  Plus, he hadn’t brought a woman home in well, he’d never brought a woman home. Not even Sarah, when she was going to have his child. They hadn’t made it that far before she lost the baby and ran away.

  After that, Tad had doubted if she was pregnant at all, though he’d never told anyone that. No sense in talking bad about the woman, and her departure had made him realize how unprepared he was to be a father, to be married. How stupid his actions had been. Eight years had passed since then, and he’d been flying helicopters and going to church. Both had fulfilled him, until the near-accident.

  “Is that her?” Sandy’s cool voice brought him out of his memories. He looked up to find his mom waving madly from near the baggage claim.

  “That’s her.” He tugged on Sandy’s hand to get her to pause. “I didn’t exactly tell her you were coming.”

  She blinked at him, the shock in her eyes not exactly comforting. Her fingers released his. “Why didn’t you tell her I was coming with you? I thought that was the whole point of giving me less than twelve hours to tie things up with my busy pancake house and pack my bag and get to the airport.” She fell back a step and it felt like a mile to Tad. “I thought you wanted me to meet them.”

  “I did; I do.”

  “But you didn’t tell them I was coming.” She cocked her hip and folded her arms. Tad wished he didn’t find her so adorable when she was angry.

  “I—”

  “C’mon, cowboy.” Her tone could’ve melted metal. “Let’s go meet them.”

  Tad blinked as she stormed away from him, as a squeal erupted from her mouth, as she engulfed his petite mother in a friendly hug. His father stared at the exchange and then switched his eagle eye to Tad. The bewilderment spurred Tad to cross the distance between them and give his dad a quick hug and pat on the back.

  Sandy stepped back from his mom, brushing against his side. She slid her hand into his, a movement Tad felt like everyone in the Casper airport catalogued. His mother certainly did.

  “Mom.” Tad’s voice caught against itself. He hadn’t seen her in a long time, but he knew the emotion spiraling through his body had more to do with Sandy than with his long absence from Wyoming.

  “This is Sandy Keller,” he said, glancing at her. The warm smile that came so easily to his face appeared. “You remember my college roommate, Hank Keller? This is his sister.”

  His mother seemed to have lost her ability to speak, and his dad never had said much. Tad’s mouth dried out as the seconds passed.

  “Tad wanted me to come meet y’all,” Sandy said. “We just have our carry-ons, so we can head to the car.”

  That got his dad’s feet moving, and Tad thanked the stars that Sandy had experience chatting with strangers. She asked his mother about her house, the boarding stable, Tad’s siblings, the horses. With her questions and his mother’s answers, Tad didn’t have to speak until they pulled into Stillwater.

  “Tell me about the town, Tad,” Sandy said, increasing the pressure on his fingers, which he hadn’t let go of once during the hour-long drive from the airport.

  “It’s pretty in the summer,” he said. “The snow makes everything seem dead and deserted.” Tad had always hated Stillwater in the winter, which had prompted him to leave town only a few days after his high school graduation.

  “The snow is pretty,” Sandy said. “You know, I’ve never actually seen it.”

  “You’ve never seen snow?” Tad swung his attention to her. “Well, now I feel like I should’ve made a bigger deal of it when we came out of the airport.” It certainly had blown in his face like it had a personal vendetta against him.

  “This is downtown,” his father said, turning down Main Street. Tad saw familiar shops—the local deli where his high school crush used to work, the movie theater where he’d sneak up to the balcony even when it was closed, the barber shop where his dad probably still got his hair cut.

  Newer additions lined the streets too—a cell phone store, and a fast food restaurant he’d enjoyed in Vegas, and a place where kids could go to jump on trampolines. The street surrounding that establishment was particularly packed.

  “This is cute,” Sandy said. “I can’t believe you didn’t like this place.”

  His mother made a soft huffing sound that Tad chose to ignore. “Snow,” he said instead. “Can you imagine driving to work the morning after you get two feet of snow?”

  “It can’t be that bad.”

  “Sometimes we don’t leave the house for days,” he said. “Because it is that bad.”

  She stared at him, horrified. “He’s lying, right, Brian?”

  “He’s not.” Tad’s father turned to head out to the house.

  “We live on the edge of town,” Tad said. “Literally. Like right on the border of Stillwater. Most of the boarding stable is technically part of the county, not the township.” He did love the drive out to the house. He used to ride his bike down the street, pumping hard to get to town to meet his friends. He’d curse the miles, but when he got home and didn’t have to deal with anything but crickets and the wide open sky, he did like it.

  The miles went by quickly, and soon enough, his dad pulled down the driveway of the ranch home. “Okay, here we are.” A hill of ants crowded into his stomach, and he wasn’t even sure why. Probably because as soon as his mother got him alone, he’d get bombarded with questions. But being alone with Sandy—while usually something Tad craved—wouldn’t be any better. Her social skills had kept her true feelings from surfacing, but she wouldn’t hold back once they could converse privately.

  Tad carried her bag up the shoveled walk, hoping his chivalry would win him some points. By her daggered look, he better prepare for an epic battle.

  The sprawling home boasted red brick and white pillars. Sandy had never seen a home so beautiful, with so much land surrounding it. In the distance to the west, she found the boarding facilities, and she wondered how Tad could recreate in Three Rivers what his father had here. The barns and buildings at the ranch didn’t come close to the operation here.

  A coal burned in her stomach. She couldn’t believe Tad hadn’t told his parents he was bringing her with him. She couldn’t understand why he’d do that, and the negative voice in her head hadn’t stopped shouting once, despite her continued attempts to keep the conversation going.

  Maybe he’s not as serious as he claims to be.

  Maybe he’s embarrassed by you.

  Maybe he’s waiting to see if his mother likes you before committing.

  The maybe’s were endless, and they’d started to make Sandy’s stomach feel like sour soup.

  He led her down the hall. “My mom said you could stay in the guest room. I’ll take the basement.”

  “Is the basement ready for you?” Sandy couldn’t help the bite in her voice.

  “It’ll be okay.”

  “That’s a no, because she didn’t know I was coming.” The end of her sentence came out in a hiss.

  Tad’s stride didn’t falter. “I’m sorry, Sandy. I didn’t realize it would be a big deal.” He entered the room and she followed him, closing the door behind them. A fissure had started at the airport, and she couldn’t figure out how to make it stop cracking.

  She folded her arms in a physical attempt to keep herself from falling apart. She’d already shown him some of her worst insecurities, and she didn’t want to break down now, when this was supposed to be a fun trip to meet her boyfriend’s parents.

  Boyfriend rang in her head. She hadn’t actually said the word out loud, hadn’t acknowledged that coming here made him her boyfriend.

  “Tad.” Her voice broke, and she hated
the weakness in it.

  He gathered her in his arms, his warmth and scent wrapping around her as effortlessly as his arms. “I’m sorry, Sandy.”

  She heard the remorse in his voice, felt it in his gentle touch, but something still wasn’t right.

  “I’m not very good at this,” he said. “I’ve never brought anyone to meet my parents.”

  An alarm rang in her head. “Never?”

  He shook his head, his grip around her firm. “You’re the first. There’s a lot about you that’s a first for me. I don’t know how to deal with it. I’m trying.”

  Panic welled beneath her breastbone. She needed to get away from him, out of the house, so she could think. He let her go when she stepped out of his embrace. “I need to think.” She turned, yanked open the door, and fled.

  “I can’t believe you.” His mother slammed a pot onto the stove. Her method of dealing with her emotions always came down to cooking. That, or scrubbing something really hard. She’d already rubbed the kitchen counter until it gleamed.

  “That poor woman. She looked like you’d dunked her in ice water.” She pulled open the fridge and took out two sticks of butter. “Tad.”

  He looked up, his head almost too heavy to hold up. “What?”

  “You need to go after her.”

  “I don’t think she wants me to.”

  His mother unwrapped the butter and tossed them in the pot before turning to the pantry. “What were you thinking?”

  He set his head back in his arms and moaned. “I don’t know.”

  The smell of brown sugar told him she was making caramel popcorn, but he didn’t look up at the thought of his favorite treat.

  “She probably thinks you’re embarrassed of her,” his mother said, banging around the kitchen. “Or that you thought it was a good idea to introduce us, then panicked about it for some reason.” She continued to muse over how Sandy might feel, but Tad tuned her out. He honestly hadn’t thought it mattered. He’d just been trying to avoid his mother’s questions. But her wrath and suggestions for how he’d hurt Sandy were far worse.