Christmas Texas Bride (The Brides 0f Bliss Tx. Book 4)

by Katie Lane

  Ryker laughed. “All I’m saying is that if you got me to forgive you, you can get anyone to forgive you. I’d start with Carrie Anne. Christie won’t stand a chance against the two of you.”

  Cord had to admit that was a pretty good idea. “But how will I get Carrie Anne alone to talk with her when Christie has been taking her to the bakery with her every day?”

  Ryker thought for only a moment before his eyes lit up. “Tonight is the dress rehearsal for the church Christmas Pageant and they don’t want parents to see it before Sunday night so Christie won’t be there. I bet you can get Carrie Anne away for a few minutes. Especially when Savannah Arrington is the director.”

  Cord smiled. “Thanks, son.”

  Ryker grinned back. “Anytime, Old Man.”

  It wasn’t Daddy, but it was close enough.

  Not wanting to run into Christie, Cord waited to arrive at the church until the dress rehearsal had already started. He slipped into the back row and watched as Savannah tried to corral the stage full of kids in nativity costumes. She did a pretty good job. Of course, she had some help from her husband. Raff sat in the front row holding Dax, and whenever the kids got too out of hand, all he had to do was stand up to get them to stop.

  Carrie Anne didn’t get out of hand. She stood so still and silent on the top riser behind the stable that Cord began to grow concerned. Did she have stage fright? Or did her broken arm hurt? Her arm was in a glittery gold sling that matched her wings and halo, the cast’s bright pink tape peeking out from the edge.

  Worried that she was scared or in pain, he started to get to his feet. But then it was her turn and she delivered her lines in a clear, booming voice that made Cord proud as hell. The rehearsal continued with only a few hitches. The first wise man dropped his frankincense container and the M&M’s he’d stashed inside spilled out and sent the surrounding kids scrambling for a piece of candy. Dax, who was Baby Jesus, didn’t like lying in the manger and screamed every time Savannah placed him in it. And the donkey lost his tail, which resulted in Savannah calling for a short break so she could look for it.

  Cord got up and made his way through the herd of kids heading to the bathroom or to get a drink. He found Carrie Anne sitting on the risers behind the stable. He climbed up and sat down next to her. She might be dressed like a precious little angel in the white dress and glittery wings, but her expression was as mean as sin.

  “I’m mad at you, Cord Evans,” she grumbled.

  “I know, and you have every right to be. I said some things in the barn that day that weren’t very nice. But have you ever said some things you didn’t really mean?”

  She scrunched up her cute little nose in thought. “Sometimes I get real mad at Mama and say things I don’t mean.”

  Cord nodded. “Well, I was mad at Jasper for pointing out the truth.”

  The grumpy expression faded slightly. “About Ryker not wanting to live with you?”

  Obviously, Carrie Anne had been listening to more of the conversation than Cord had thought. “Yes, and about you and your mama being a gift.”

  “I’m a gift?”

  “You certainly are. You are one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten in my life. You’re my ray of sunshine. You’ve brightened my life with your laughter and chatter. And I’ve missed you something fierce.”

  She smiled, and it did brighten his world. “I’ve missed you too, Cord. And I’ve missed the ranch and Maple. But I’m not gonna try to ride her no more ’cause it really hurt and I cried a lot. And if I broke my other arm, I wouldn’t be able to open presents on Christmas or eat two donuts at the same time or hug you.”

  He put an arm around her and pulled her close. “I would sure miss those hugs. And I understand how you feel. When something hurts you, you don’t want to do it again. But sometimes you have to get back in the saddle and get over your fear.”

  “You mean you want me to get back on Maple?”

  “Yes, but with the proper equipment and with me right there with you making sure you don’t fall. It’s time for me to face my fears too.”

  “What are you scared of?”

  “Becoming a husband and a daddy again. I’m scared I won’t do a good job.”

  She stared at him with big, hopeful eyes. “Maybe you could practice on me and Mama.”

  His heart filled with love for this smart, amazing little angel that God had given him. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. Because I love your mama. And I love you. While Danny Ray will always be your daddy, I hope to be your second daddy.”

  She fell against his chest, her cast pressing into his stomach and her halo bumping against his chin. “I love you too, and if it’s okay, I’m gonna call you Daddy because Danny Ray has already said that he wants me to call him Danny Ray.” She drew back and smiled up at him. “So yes, Daddy, me and Mama will marry you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “I’m sorry, Christie, but I can’t go with you to Austin after all. I have too much baking to do.”

  Christie looked up from the cupcake tins she was filling. “But I thought we were all caught up on the holiday orders.”

  Summer busied herself with wiping off the prep counter. “Umm . . . we are. I just need to do some baking for the big family dinner we’re having at Waylon and Spring’s house on Christmas afternoon.”

  As disappointed as she was, Christie understood. Not only were all the Hadleys coming to Christmas dinner, but all of the Arringtons were too. That was a lot of people to feed.

  “That’s okay,” she said. “I’ll find someone else to drive me.” If her car hadn’t still been in the shop, she would’ve driven herself. But the mechanic at the garage had said that her car wouldn’t be finished for another week. So she was stuck bumming rides.

  After putting the cupcakes in the oven, she walked into the front of the bakery where Autumn, Maverick, and Carrie Anne were sitting at a table eating donuts. When Maverick saw Christie, he waved her closer.

  “Would you stop your sister from tempting me with sweets? I swear she’s trying to fatten me up.”

  Autumn placed a hand on her stomach. “I refuse to be the only one gaining weight. I’m getting as fat as a tick while Spring and Summer don’t look like they’ve gained a pound.”

  Maverick grinned proudly. “When you’re growing the greatest quarterback in the world, you’re bound to gain a little extra weight, honey.”

  “And what makes you so sure our baby is going to be a son?”

  “Did I say son? Who says a girl can’t be the best quarterback in the world?”

  “That’s right,” Carrie Anne piped up. “When I get in high school, Coach Maverick’s gonna let me try out for the team.”

  Christie shot Maverick an annoyed look, and he held up his hands. “She asked, and I have a hard time telling her no. If I have a daughter, I’m in big trouble.”

  “Daddies have to tell kids no.” Carrie Anne continued to munch on her donut. “It’s their job. Cord tells me no all the time.”

  Just the name got Christie’s hackles up. “Cord is not your daddy, Carrie Anne. Danny Ray is.”

  Carrie Anne shrugged. “I know. I was just saying that Cord acts like a good daddy ’cause he won’t let me do things that will get me hurt or eat things that will make me throw up.”

  Christie studied her daughter suspiciously. Carrie Anne hadn’t had anything good to say about Cord for the last few days, and now suddenly she was thinking of him as a good daddy? Something was up. But before she could interrogate her daughter, Autumn cut in.

  “Did you need some help in the kitchen, Christie?”

  Christie turned from her daughter. “Actually, I need a favor. I need someone to drive me to Austin to pick up my grand prize check.”

  “I can do it,” Maverick said. “I need to do some Christmas shopping anyway.”

  Autumn put a hand on his arm. “Sorry, but you can’t take Christie to Austin. I need you to help me at the library.”

  “But I thought Ry
ker was helping you with the library computer system today. And you know that I’m not good at that techy stuff.”

  “I need you to help me unload boxes of books.”

  “But all the books have already—”

  Autumn cut him off. “And before we go to the library, could you run to the diner and get me one of Carly’s blueberry shakes? I’m having a craving for blueberries.”

  Maverick looked down at the half-eaten blueberry donut on his wife’s plate with confusion before he leaned over and gave her a kiss. “Okay, honey, I’ll get you whatever you want.” He got up and glanced at Carrie Anne. “You coming, Squirt?”

  Carrie Anne quickly jumped to her feet. “Beat you there!” She raced out of the bakery, and Maverick had to hustle to catch up with her. When they were gone, Christie turned to Autumn.

  “Okay, what’s going on? Why doesn’t anyone want to take me to Austin?”

  Autumn looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Just as she started to answer, the door opened and Ms. Marble and Granny Bon stepped in. They resembled Christmas elves. Ms. Marble wore a red knit cap and coat and Granny Bon wore green ones.

  “Good mornin’,” Granny Bon said. “Summer just called and said you needed a ride to Austin, Christie. Maybelline and I would be more than happy to drive you. We want to see all the gingerbread houses.”

  The drive to Austin was hair-raising. Granny Bon drove like an Indie racecar driver. Christie sat in the back and kept checking her seatbelt as she listened to Granny Bon and Ms. Marble talk about why people hated fruitcake, how much they were looking forward to the Tender Heart final book release in January, and how wonderful the church Christmas pageant had been this year.

  “Dax was the perfect baby Jesus,” Granny Bon said. “I’m sure Jesus wasn’t too happy about being placed in itchy hay either.”

  “It was a good thing that the Angel of the Lord’s voice had plenty of volume so it could be heard over Dax’s screaming,” Ms. Marble said.

  A little bit too much volume. Carrie Anne’s booming voice had not only scared baby Jesus into silence, but it had also made the baby lambs start to cry. Still, Christie agreed that Carrie Anne had done a great job.

  “I was very proud of her,” she said.

  Granny Bon zipped around a semi truck. “As was the entire family. Of course, we weren’t the only ones proud.” She glanced in the rearview mirror at Christie. “Did you happen to notice Cord Evans sitting in the back row?”

  Christie kept her face expressionless. “No. I didn’t notice him.” It was an out-and-out lie. As soon as Cord had stepped into the church, her heart had felt like it was being squeezed in a cookie press. It had taken a strong will to keep her gaze on the stage.

  “Well, I noticed him,” Ms. Marble said. “And he couldn’t have looked prouder when Carrie Anne said her lines. It’s quite obvious how much he loves your daughter.”

  Christie knew he loved Carrie Anne, but it wasn’t enough. Carrie Anne deserved a daddy who wasn’t struggling with his own demons. And Cord was still struggling with his. As much as that truth hurt, she had accepted the fact that she and Cord weren’t going to live happily ever after.

  “Sometimes love isn’t enough,” she said.

  Ms. Marble and Granny Bon glanced at each other, but neither said a word.

  When they reached the hotel, Granny Bon parked in the underground parking garage and they took the elevator up to the main floor. Before they reached their floor, Ms. Marble took Christie’s hand and pinned her with her piercing eyes.

  “You’re wrong, Christie. Love is always enough. And with love comes forgiveness. Remember that.”

  Before Christie could think of a reply to that, the elevator doors opened.

  Her gingerbread house had been moved from the original spot to a table in the center of the ballroom with the three runners-up. A huge blue ribbon had been attached to the top corner of the boot. The sight made Christie’s bruised ego feel a little better. While Ms. Marble and Granny Bon went to look at her house, she asked one of the hotel staff where she could find Ms. Schemer.

  The young teenager made a call on his radio and Ms. Schemer arrived only moments later with a huge check. With Granny Bon, Ms. Marble, and a group of onlookers watching, Christie stood in front of her gingerbread boot as Ms. Schemer formally presented her with the check and another hotel staffer snapped pictures. When they were finished, Ms. Schemer congratulated her again.

  “You won hands down,” she said. “You captured the spirit of Texas and the warm coziness of the holidays in gingerbread. And the cute little family epitomizes—” She cut off when she glanced down at the house. “What in the world happened to your gingerbread man?”

  Christie followed her gaze. The cowboy gingerbread man was no longer standing by the corral and horses. Someone had eaten off his legs and stuck him in a wad of chewing gum in front of the gingerbread woman.

  Ms. Schemer was as shocked as Christie. “Who would do something like this? And where did that ring come from?”

  Christie had been so appalled to see her precious gingerbread man defiled that she hadn’t even noticed the ring hanging on his arm where a licorice lasso had once been. She removed the ring and studied it. She wasn’t an expert on diamonds, but the three stones that sparkled in the lights of the ballroom looked real. But who would leave a real diamond engagement on her gingerbread—? Before her mind could even finish the thought, her heart began to race.

  Clutching the ring in her hand, she glanced around the ballroom until her gaze landed on a cowboy sitting in the far corner with his hat pulled low. She recognized the hatband. She recognized the shirt. And she recognized the broad shoulders that filled out that shirt.

  “Cord,” the name came out on a whispered breath of disbelief . . . and hope.

  As if he had heard her clear across the room, he rolled to his feet and walked toward her. With each step, she tried to steel herself. She tried to remind herself of all the reasons why she shouldn’t let this man back into her life. But when he was standing right in front of her, with his soft brown eyes looking right through her, all those reasons didn’t seem to matter.

  “Hey,” he said in a voice that caused her tummy to flutter with a thousand butterflies.

  She tried to answer, but she couldn’t get a word out.

  “I take full responsibility for what happened to your gingerbread house, Ms. Buchanan,” Ms. Schemer said. “And I promise we’ll find the culprit once I get a chance to look at the surveillance videos.”

  “Let’s not worry about the culprit,” Granny Bon said. “I think my granddaughter will be quite happy with how things turn out.” She took Ms. Schemer’s arm. “Now why don’t you show me and Ms. Marble some of your favorite gingerbread houses? She is quite the baker herself, you know.”

  After Ms. Marble and Granny Bon led a confused Ms. Schemer away, the other onlookers dispersed, leaving Christie and Cord standing there staring at one another. Cord was the first one to find his voice.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was too stupid to realize what I had until I lost it.”

  She swallowed her emotion. “That seems to be a reoccurring problem of yours.”

  He nodded. “You’re right, but it’s one I’m trying to fix.”

  “By breaking my gingerbread man and placing a diamond ring on his arm? Are you crazy? Someone could’ve stolen it.”

  “That did cross my mind, but you don’t worry about those things when you’re trying to win a woman’s heart.” He looked at the gingerbread man. “Although now that I look closer, it was a pretty pathetic attempt at romance.”

  The winning her heart part pretty much dissolved the last of her anger. She glanced at her kneeling gingerbread man, then back at Cord. “I don’t know about that.”

  His eyes lit up. “Are you saying you accept?”

  “What happened to you being scared of marriage?”

  “I’m still scared. I’m terrified of screwing things up. But I’m more terrified of lo
sing you and Carrie Anne.” He swallowed hard. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. And I figure I’ll make a lot more before it’s over. I’m stubborn and bullheaded and a damned slow learner. But once I learn something, I learn it well. What I’ve learned in the last few days, is that I love you, Christmas Day Buchanan. And I love Carrie Anne. I don’t want to live without either one of you.”

  Her heart melted at his words, but she couldn’t give in that easily. This wasn’t just about her. It was about her daughter. And she wasn’t going to let Carrie Anne get hurt again.

  “What about Ryker? I can’t marry a man who is consumed with his son and fixing his past mistakes. I want a man who can forgive himself and live in the present moment. I want a man who not only loves his son, but also has room in his heart for me and my daughter. And if you can’t be that man, then you’re not the man for me.”

  He took off his cowboy hat and held it over his chest. “I’m that man, Christie. You and Carrie Anne are already in my heart. Ryker is my son and I want a relationship with him. But I’ve realized that he doesn’t have to live with me for us to have that relationship. Which works out good because it looks like my house is going to be crowded enough for the holidays.”

  “No one said I was going to move in with you for the holidays, Cord Evans.” She held up the engagement ring. “This is a beautiful ring, but I won’t be moving in without a wedding band on my finger. I made that mistake once, I won’t do it again.”

  She realized she had just accepted his proposal when he let out a whoop and lifted her off her feet and swung her around.

  After she was dizzy and giggling, he stopped spinning and smiled down at her with twinkling eyes. “Then I guess we better plan our marriage soon because I have a dream of my entire family gathered around a gi-normous tree on Christmas morning.” He hugged her close, and she melted into the strength and love of his embrace.

  Over his arm, she could see her gingerbread boot, the butterscotch windows glowing warmly. The gingerbread girl was happily petting the horses in the corral and the little gingerbread boy was playing in the yard. And the gingerbread man was kneeling and promising to love his gingerbread family forever.