Cowboy Christmas Jubilee

by Dylann Crush

  “Your dad would probably want you to go home with Aunt Darby. Babies can take a while to arrive.” Jinx actually didn’t have a clue as to how long a baby might take to make an appearance, but she needed Kenzie to go with Darby. She couldn’t make a meeting with Wade with a seven-year-old on the back of her bike.

  “That’s right, kiddo.” Darby shifted the toddler on her hip. “Although Charlie does seem to do things her own way, doesn’t she? I wouldn’t be surprised if she had the baby arrive within a prescheduled thirty-minute window.”

  “See, Jinx? It is a window.” Kenzie nodded, sure she’d figured out everything she needed to know about how babies found their way into the world.

  Jinx wasn’t about to start an argument with a seven-year-old. “I rode my bike, so can you take Kenzie home with you?”

  “Sure. Want us to meet you at Cash’s, or should we keep her overnight?” Darby asked.

  “I’ve got something I need to take care of, so if you could have her stay over, that would be great.”

  “No problem. Let me get the rest of the brood gathered up, and we’ll head out.” She turned to start wrangling her kids.

  Jinx dropped down so she was eye to eye with Kenzie. “So I’ve got some things I need to take care of. Will you look after Hendrix for me?”

  “But we’re still making Daddy’s pie tomorrow, right?” Kenzie’s big brown eyes widened.

  Why was this so hard? She should have just walked away, not even bothered trying to hint at goodbye. Cash would understand. But Kenzie wouldn’t. She’d look back on tonight and wonder what she’d done or said that had driven Jinx away. She had to know it wasn’t her fault. Jinx tried again. “I think you might have to wait for your nana to get back to help you with the pie.”

  “But you promised. Nana won’t have time to make it, and we were going to surprise Daddy with his favorite.” Kenzie’s brow furrowed. She looked just like her dad when she got upset—with the clenched jaw and hard glint in her eyes, it was like looking at a miniature Cash.

  “Pie is too…”

  “Too what?”

  How could she explain to a kid that pie was too hard? Pie was a commitment. She didn’t have the skill, the bandwidth, or the emotional capacity to make Cash a pie. Slice-and-bake cookies she could handle. But pie…a pie was something else entirely.

  “Too complicated. Your nana is good with pie. All I’m good for is…”

  “Nothin’.” Kenzie twirled around and stomped off to join her Aunt Darby. Hendrix shot her a disappointed look before turning to follow.

  Jinx hung her head and repeated Kenzie’s last word: “Nothin’.” That about summed it up. Even a kid could see her true colors. She stood to the side of the cafeteria as the rest of the Walkers shuffled through the side door and out into the parking lot.

  She’d left a note in the bunkhouse for Cash, trying to explain herself. He’d be mad, but she hoped he’d understand. She had also told him she left something for Kenzie—Hendrix. It wasn’t fair for him to live in the soft-side carrier on the back of her bike anymore. Kenzie loved the little guy and would take excellent care of him. Maybe someday, a long time from now, Jinx would settle down and be able to handle the commitment to a pet again. Maybe.

  Jinx slung her backpack over her shoulder and waded through the crowd out to the parking lot. She climbed onto her bike, enjoying the rumble as the engine came to life and hummed underneath her. It felt good to be on the move again. At least that’s what she’d keep telling herself. As many times as it would take until she started to believe it.

  * * *

  Cash tried calling Jinx again. It went straight to voicemail. Dammit. His truck sat in the middle of a gridlocked mess of vehicles. The school lot had been full when he arrived, so he’d taken a free spot in front of the church. How was he to know someone had booked both events for the same night? Folks came from miles around to see the live nativity with farm animals, people dressed up as Mary, Joseph, and the three wise men. Funny how neither he nor any of his brothers had ever been tapped for a role in that performance.

  Before he could maneuver through the traffic to get to the curb, he caught sight of Beck’s head bobbing above the crowd. He and Charlie must have seen him in the parking lot. Cash kept sight of them as they weaved their way through the line of cars and trucks. Then Charlie’s head went down. Beck followed. Cash shoved the truck into park and hopped out.

  The guy behind him laid on the horn and shouted out his window, “Hey, you can’t just stop there.”

  Cash flashed his badge. Sometimes the hunk of metal came in handy.

  He’d last seen Beck and Charlie between an oversize SUV and a conversion van. His heart skittered into an erratic beat as he searched for any trace of his sister. Beck emerged from between two cars, Charlie in his arms. Cash glanced back to his truck. They still had to get through the crowd gathered in front of the church and across the lawn to reach his truck on the other side. Beck might need help. Cash broke into a jog, heading toward his sister.

  “Put me down.” Charlie’s voice came from somewhere under a pile of blankets snugged against Beck’s chest. “I can walk, you know.”

  Beck set her down on the pavement. She immediately keeled over, moaning and reaching for something.

  “What do you need?” Beck grasped her hand.

  “I need to get to the hospital.” She glanced up. Pain masked her face.

  Cash had never felt so helpless in his life. “Here, let’s help her walk together.” Cash wrapped an arm around Charlie, and Beck did the same. Together, they hobbled, inch by inch, toward the truck.

  Over the curb and onto the church lawn, the crowd parted for them as they made their way. Fifty yards, then forty-five sat between them and their goal. Charlie gripped his arm tighter than the blood pressure cuff he’d been subjected to at his last physical. Then something shifted.

  “I need to stop.” Charlie’s feet stopped inching forward.

  “We’re almost there. Just a little bit farther.” Cash willed her to keep moving.

  “No. I can’t.” Charlie let go of his arm. “My water just broke. I think I’m having the baby right here.”

  “No, no, no.” Beck tried to scoop her up in his arms. “I’ll carry you the rest of the way.”

  “I can’t.” Charlie sank to her knees. “I’m not having my baby in the back seat of Cash’s truck.”

  “So you’re going to have it on the lawn of the First Baptist Church?” Beck argued.

  Cash knew better than to pick a fight with his sister. Especially when it was clear she’d lost all access to the rational part of her brain. Or at least the most rational section. “What do you need?” His emergency responder training kicked in, and an eerie calm took over.

  “I need to lie down.”

  “Can we get you inside?” He dropped to his knees next to Charlie. Keeping her calm was the most important thing he could do right now.

  “No. I think the baby’s coming. It’s not supposed to go this fast, right? They said I’d have time.” She grimaced as another contraction ripped through her.

  “How long has she been having contractions?” Cash asked Beck.

  Beck didn’t answer. Poor guy appeared to be in shock.

  “Beck!” Cash swatted him across the shin.

  “What?” Beck shook off whatever thought had temporarily paralyzed him and dropped down next to Charlie.

  “How long has she been having contractions? I need to know if we have time to get her somewhere else.”

  “They started this morning. But they were really far apart.” Charlie winced. “I had some stuff I needed to get done around the house, and I didn’t want to—Oh no. Here comes another one!”

  Blankets. He needed blankets and preferably a pair of gloves. “Be right back.” He clamped a hand to Beck’s shoulder in an attempt at offering some reassur
ance, then sprinted toward his truck. Between his emergency first aid kit and the stuff he used for calving, he should be able to come up with something.

  In the three minutes he’d been gone, Beck had managed to get Charlie closer to the makeshift manger and out of the wind. Cash spread a thick blanket out over the straw-covered plywood floor. Darby and Waylon must have seen the commotion from the school parking lot and were shooing people away as they got closer, their brood of kids in tow.

  Waylon’s booming voice could probably be heard all the way back at the ranch. “Nativity’s closed for the night. Go on home.”

  Cash adjusted one of the floodlights to point toward Charlie. He’d helped birth calves and foals before. This couldn’t be much different—except it was his sister, and she was about to give birth in a manger, surrounded by a menagerie of animals: a trio of cows, a handful of goats, and Pork Chop, the pig mascot from the Rambling Rose. Oh, and a couple hundred strangers who, despite Waylon’s best threats, still milled around the lawn.

  One of the goats nibbled on the brim of his hat. “Waylon, can you get these animals out of here?”

  His big brother leaned down. “And where exactly would you like me to put them?”

  “Isn’t there a trailer somewhere?”

  “They usually bring it back later, so it doesn’t take up so much room in the parking lot. What’s Pork Chop doing here anyway? There wasn’t a pig in the manger, was there?”

  “How am I supposed to know?” Cash spread another blanket over the straw. “It’s not like I was there.” What did it matter whether there was a pig in the original nativity? If they were trying to re-create the scene, they were already out of luck. For sure his sister wasn’t there that night, about to give birth.

  “Would you please go make yourself useful?” Darby knelt down next to Charlie. “Call 911. Tell them we have a woman giving birth in a manger.” She focused all her attention on Charlie. “You’ve got this, girl.”

  Charlie nodded as she hoo-hoo-hoo’d through another contraction.

  “Who’s in charge here?” Darby asked.

  Cash glanced from Waylon, who had a kid in each arm, to Beck, whose face was as pale as the full moon that peeked out between the clouds from time to time.

  “Can you do it, Darby?” Cash asked. She’d given birth before. She should be the one to issue orders.

  “I’ve only ever been on the pushing end, not the receiving end of this process. But I can help.”

  “Cash.” Charlie grabbed his hand. He hadn’t decided if he should use the smaller latex gloves or ensure his protection by using the fingertip-to-shoulder ones he’d used for calving. Probably not the most sanitary choice. Then again, what was sanitary when he’d just put a knee into a pile of pig shit?

  “What?”

  “Tell me everything’s going to be okay.” Charlie never seemed to need anything from anyone. But in that moment, she needed his reassurance.

  “Everything’s going to be just fine. I promise. Beck, get down here. I need you to help me deliver your son.”

  “Is it a boy, Daddy?” Kenzie appeared next to him with Hendrix at her side.

  “What are you doing here?” The last thing he needed was his daughter to distract him right now. She wasn’t ready to witness a real live human birth. Where was Jinx? “We don’t know yet, Tadpole. But it’s about to get really messy in here. Can you go find Jinx?”

  “She had to go take care of something.”

  “Had to take care of something? Did she say what?” It was hard to concentrate on Charlie while his mind raced with possibilities of where Jinx might be. He checked his phone. No text from Jinx, but Dan had called twice.

  “Nope. But she’s not helping me make your surprise tomorrow. I’m mad at her.” Kenzie stuck her lower lip out in a pout and tapped her foot on the grass. Hendrix strained at the end of the leash, trying to get to Pork Chop. The lazy pig had zonked out between a bale of hay and a goat that kept trying to nibble on the edge of the blanket.

  “Kenzie, honey, I need you to go help Uncle Waylon, okay?”

  Charlie let out a howl, sending Kenzie scampering to the safety beyond the floodlight. Dammit, wasn’t there a doctor in the crowd? Or at least a vet?

  “It’s coming.” Charlie’s head rolled back against the edge of a bale of hay.

  “Don’t push yet. The ambulance is on its way.” Or at least it better be. He tossed a glove to Beck. “Put this on, and don’t let anything come out.”

  Beck glanced at the small latex glove. “How is this supposed to stop her?”

  Charlie groaned. “This is an exit only. There’s no pushing back in.”

  “Um, Cash?” Beck’s ungloved hand held the blanket up high enough so he could peer underneath it.

  “Waylon, how long until that ambulance gets here?” Cash willed his older brother to come through, but Waylon shook his head.

  “Cash!” Beck nodded toward the mystery under the blanket.

  He didn’t want to look. Charlie was his sister. If he peeked under the blanket, he’d never be able to unsee whatever lurked beneath.

  The damn dog had woken up the pig and they raced around the manger, crashing through bales of hay and taking out the croft where a plastic baby doll rested.

  Cash sensed things were on the verge of crumbling down around him. He needed to do something. And fast.

  Charlie groaned, clearly ignoring his directions not to push. Hell. Here goes nothing. He peered under the blanket. It took him a moment to make sense of what his eyes took in. Hair. Lots of hair. His niece or nephew had a full head of sandy-blond hair and was coming out, whether he was ready or not.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Jinx edged her bike up over the curb and sped past the crowd gathered on the grass for the live nativity. She fought the threat of tears as she made the turn to head out of town. It wouldn’t do any good for Wade to catch her having feelings. He’d only figure out some way to use them against her. How could she have been so stupid as to hand out gift cards like they were Halloween candy? She didn’t know what he’d do when he realized she was short. There wasn’t anyone else to blame for this one. It was all on her.

  She forced thoughts of Cash and Kenzie out of her head. That was the only way to move on. She’d just close the door on the last few months and not look back. It had always worked in the past. No reason why it wouldn’t be the same now.

  She pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned dairy. A light mist had started to fall. Jinx didn’t mind. It matched her mood. A black SUV sat in the far corner. As she brought her bike to a stop, the door opened. The overhead dome light revealed Wade and a passenger. Jinx hadn’t been expecting anyone else. In one of his many texts today, Wade had promised to come alone. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d broken his word.

  He stood next to the door, making no move to come closer. Why did she have to always do everything? She took her time climbing off the bike, then slowly made her way toward him. Her attempt at getting a read on the situation wasn’t working. She wasn’t on her game. With her emotions racing all over the place like some train that had hopped the rails, she couldn’t concentrate.

  Wade took a few steps in her direction as she approached. “Long time no see, eh?”

  “What do you want, Wade?” She thrust her hands in her pockets. Let him do the talking. She’d pressed the record button on her phone, just in case.

  “I want what’s mine. Nobody steals from me.”

  Her teeth ground together. Even the sound of his voice annoyed the hell out of her. “I didn’t steal anything. All I did was take the cash you owed me out of the till.”

  “I don’t give a fuck about the cash. You took off with over twenty thousand dollars in gift cards. Now be a good girl and hand ’em over so things don’t get ugly.”

  “How did you find me?”

  His
lips curled into a sneer. “Your fucking face is plastered all over the internet. You always were a complete klutz. I’ve got that footage of you knocking down that tree playing on a loop at the bar. And who’s the cowboy you’ve been locking lips with? I didn’t think cops were your type.”

  Her stomach rolled. It was all her fault. Why couldn’t she have kept to herself instead of tearing around town? “Who’s that?” Jinx nodded toward the truck.

  “None of your damn business, that’s who.” He took a step to the right, blocking her view of the guy in the front seat.

  “Is that your drug-running buddy? The one you pay in gift cards?”

  “I don’t have all night. Give me the cards, Jinx.”

  “What would you say if I told you I don’t have them anymore?”

  “I’d say you’d better be lying, or I’m going to make you wish you were.” His shoulders bunched toward his ears. He looked like a bull about to charge.

  “I didn’t take any gift cards. They were at the bottom of my bag. I didn’t have anything to do with your side business. And you know I wouldn’t take something that didn’t belong to me.”

  “Yeah, that’s right. You’re destined for the sainthood.” The thick sarcasm rolled off his tongue. “And I wouldn’t have trusted you with anything more than running the bar. You did a piss-poor enough job of that.”

  She didn’t care about the bar, but still, the slam stung. She’d left that place in much better shape than when he’d hired her. It didn’t matter now. “Want to tell me how they got in my bag in the first place?” If she could keep him talking, maybe he’d admit she wasn’t involved. That’s all she wanted—an out from this situation.

  “How the hell do I know? Fuckin’ Geri. She was supposed to put them in the safe. How do you think Josh felt when he showed up to collect and I didn’t have anything to give him?”

  “So that’s Josh in the truck?” Jinx tried to peer around his linebacker shoulders. “Is he the one who’s been bringing you drugs?”