Delivering His Gifts: A Mountain Man's Baby Christmas Romance (Mountain Men of Liberty)

by K. C. Crowne

  We still had a little work to do.

  Calvin walked in and was already petting Oscar. I’d released him and he was sitting at the man’s feet, staring up at him with such big, sweet eyes. I couldn’t help but smile, and I had to admit, the tears started welling in my eyes. Stupid pregnancy hormones.

  Mason followed Calvin but didn’t meet my gaze at first. We’d had a few words recently. Mostly that I wasn’t going to allow him to pay off my place, and he kept insisting he was going to help me. I thought I’d made it clear to him that I wasn’t going to accept a handout. He was the father of my child, but what he wanted to do was far and above any obligations he had to the child. Besides, I’d heard from the insurance company and had good news.

  But even with everything going well, there was a nagging feeling inside me. Something wasn’t right. The last few weeks with Greg, his calls were growing more and more erratic, and he believed nothing I told him. I had my suspicions, ever since the night he called about Mason comforting me, that Greg was watching me.

  “Calvin, are you okay with Oscar?”

  I knew the answer to the question, but I was being polite. Calvin and Oscar were best buds already. They enjoyed their time together.

  “Of course,” the old man said.

  “Thank you. Mason, can I speak to you for a moment?”

  “Sure,” he said, his hands tucked in his pockets. “Lead the way.”

  He followed me through the house, and I felt like there was nowhere we could slip away and talk without being heard. Call me paranoid, but I no longer trusted my own home. So, I decided to step outside instead.

  We walked a good distance from the house, tucked away amongst the trees. I wrapped my arms around myself as if I were cold even though it was still late summer.

  Mason gave me a strange look, cocking his head to the side questioningly, but he didn’t ask why we walked this far from the house. Perhaps he, too, had his suspicions.

  “Could you do me a favor?” I asked, nibbling on my thumb nail.

  “Anything,” he said without hesitation.

  “I’m probably just paranoid, but I think Greg might have cameras around my house,” I said, speaking softly just in case a camera could pick up on it. “He just seems to know all kinds of things - like how you were here after Jim came by. And he’s increasingly accusing me of sleeping around and being a whore, and I just— maybe that’s him being an asshole, but I fear he knows about the baby. Skyler insists she hasn’t mentioned it to him, but something tells me he knows.” The words just came out, and once I started talking, I couldn’t stop. The tears also began flowing. I felt like my entire world was out of control.

  Mason reached out to me, placing a hand on my arm. I knew the offer was there to get closer, to have those strong arms wrapped around me if I wanted to, but I kept my distance. After all, I had no idea who was watching.

  “I’ll have a look around, and I’ll try not to make it obvious. I’ll act like I’m doing some repairs, perhaps?”

  I nodded. “That sounds good. Thank you, Mason. I appreciate it so much.”

  “You know, he has no right to talk to you the way he does,” Mason said.

  “I know, and I’m keeping record of all of it because I plan on getting a lawyer and fighting for full custody. But I need to get my head above water first. He’s got a lot more money than I do.”

  “Maybe, but I have money too,” he said.

  I cringed. “No, you can’t help me with that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Mason, do we really have to keep having this argument? I will take a reasonable amount for child support for our child, but that is it. I am not going to take any more money from you. I don’t want to pay off one man who owns me only to be in debt to another - no offense.”

  “I’m not like him, Danielle. You won’t owe me shit.”

  I held a hand up to stop him. I couldn’t handle another argument right now. So I changed the subject. “In a few weeks, I’ll have my first ultrasound,” I said. “I wanted to invite you, if you’d like to come.”

  “Of course I do. Just tell me when and where,” he said. “You know I want to be there for you and our child.”

  “I know, and I appreciate it. I’ll text you the date once we get back inside,” I said. “Speaking of which, I really should head back.”

  “Go on,” he said, stuffing his hands back in his pockets.

  He didn’t look at me, and I was grateful for that. I had a hard time looking away from his gaze when he did. Almost like I wanted to trust him. Hell, I did trust him, what was I saying?

  Still, I couldn’t let my guard down.

  I walked to the house, not looking back at Mason. He said he would take a look around, make it look natural. I’d let him do his thing.

  “Where’d Mason run off to?” Calvin asked with a grin.

  “He’s doing some repairs on the property,” I said, trying to make the lie as believable as possible in case there was a listening device somewhere in my home.

  I shut the front door and stared out at the window. Mason was already near the house, walking around the perimeter, away from the front door. His tight ass in those jeans was a hell of a sight to behold, and I’ll admit, I stared a bit longer than I should have.

  “You two make a cute couple,” Calvin said.

  I swiveled, surprised, my cheeks flushed bright red. “We’re not a couple,” I stated.

  My eyes darted around the room. I’d already looked for cameras and hadn’t found any, but it still felt like someone was watching us, or at the very least, listening in. I had no idea what to look for, but Mason owned a security company - surely he knew all the tricks in the books.

  “Well if you’re not a couple now, you should be soon enough. Mason is a good man, you know,” Calvin said from the couch.

  Oscar was sitting next to him, completely on the couch with him, his head resting in Calvin’s lap. Calvin said he didn’t mind his dogs getting up on the furniture - and he liked sharing his bed with them - so I didn’t bother to train that out of Oscar. It was adorable seeing the two of them cozy together, the old man’s hand lazily petting Oscar’s grey fur.

  I moved toward the chair and sat down. “I know Mason is a good man. I haven’t felt this safe with anyone in a very long time,” I admitted. Realizing how serious it sounded, I added a little humor, “Besides my dogs, that is.”

  “Well, I can see why you feel safe with them. You raise them well,” he said, rubbing Oscar’s ears. “You’re a good mother too, and I know you’ll do what’s best for this baby.”

  My eyes fell to the ground, and my heart raced. I’d already talked about the baby here, in this space, but for some reason, the idea of doing it now filled me with dread. If the room were bugged, Greg knew already. And if it wasn’t, well, Calvin’s words wouldn’t affect anything.

  Greg would know one way or another soon, though, that much was certain. My belly was growing fast, and it was hard to hide the roundness these days. I couldn’t recall getting this big with Skyler. I actually hadn’t put on much weight at all with her. Since I was already a curvy woman anyway, I didn’t start really showing until the second trimester. By my doctor’s estimation, I was almost three months pregnant. My first trimester, and I was already ballooning.

  I muttered a simple, “Thank you,” to Calvin and focused on my work with Oscar instead. I’d been working with him for twenty minutes or so, when there was a knock on the front door. My heart skipped a beat.

  “It’s me,” Mason called from the other side.

  “Come in,” I said, not wanting to get up off the floor. “It’s unlocked.”

  When Mason stepped into the house, I couldn’t help but check him out. He stared back at me, but he was clearly not amused.

  “So I found the problem, and you were right,” he said, looking at me in a way that said he was speaking in coded language. He paused to let that sink in. “There is an electrical issue. I need to take a look around the inside
of the house, to find a source for the problem.”

  “Go right ahead,” I said, understanding his meaning. “If you need me to help you, just let me know.”

  Mason nodded and began walking around the living room. I had already looked around the house myself, but he was lifting vents and searching behind the photos on the wall, even checking out the nails holding the photos.

  I watched him, lost in thought and forgetting about the reason for him and Calvin being here in the first place.

  “Is everything okay?” Calvin asked, his brow furrowed.

  I wasn’t sure what to say; I needed an explanation that made sense. Mason had it covered for me, however.

  “Nothing serious,” he said, moving around the room without looking at us. “Just a possible short in the electrical wires within the walls. It’s causing some of the lights and the smoke detector to short out.” While speaking, Mason reached for the smoke detector and pulled it apart in his hands.

  “Sounds serious to me,” Calvin said.

  “No, it’s no big deal,” I said, waving it off. “I’m probably imagining things anyway.”

  “Do you ever hear anything?” Mason asked me.

  “Hear anything?”

  “Yeah, like buzzing. It could be from electrical interference.”

  “Uhh, well, this place is almost always noisy, so it’s hard to say.”

  Mason nodded and continued the sweep of the room. I tried to focus on Oscar and Calvin, but my attention was diverted to Mason. Not only because I was interested in what he was doing, but it was hard not to look at him.

  The pregnancy hormones made me horny as hell, and I had to cross my legs just to quell the ache in my groin.

  Mason eventually left the room, and it became easier to focus. But it didn’t feel like he was gone very long. He didn’t say anything, and had I not been staring at him when he came into the room, I wouldn’t have noticed his hand motion.

  Follow me, he mouthed as he walked to the door.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said to Calvin, using the chair nearby to push me up to my feet. The old man offered me a hand, but I refused. He was weaker than me; I’d likely have just pulled him down onto the floor with me. Mason crossed the room and took my arm instead, helping me get steady on my feet.

  Three months. Only three months. I felt like I was carrying a litter, not just one baby.

  Mason and I walked outside, and he took me around past the backyard.

  “There’s no cameras here, as far as I can tell,” he said, speaking low. “But yeah, your entire house is bugged.”

  The hair on my arms stood on end and ice water ran through my veins. “You’re sure?” I choked out.

  “Yeah, unfortunately so.”

  “So he knows everything,” I muttered. He had to already know about Mason and me hooking up, the baby, everything. That’s why he was growing angrier with me by the day. Because he knew.

  “I would assume so, yes.” Mason ran a hand through his hair and stared at me with his dark eyes.

  “I can’t stay here. I need to do something,” I said.

  “I agree. We need to get you out of here. Where’s Skyler?”

  “She’s on a playdate with a friend,” I said. “She gets back in an hour.”

  “We need to act normal for now,” he said, speaking slowly. He placed his hands on my shoulders as if to help me keep standing. I was thankful for that gesture, as my knees were beginning to tremble. “I’ll find you an alternate place to stay in the meantime. I’ll pick you and Skyler up later tonight.”

  “But where can we go? I have the dogs, all the animals—”

  “We’ll figure something out, don’t worry. And as soon as I know you and Skyler are safe, I’ll come back here and document and destroy all that equipment. I’ll keep it so you have physical evidence, just render it useless. It’s illegal for him to record you in your home without your knowledge. It’s invasion of privacy and you can use that against him in court.”

  He gave my shoulders a squeeze, and when I met his gaze, I felt myself relax. He was telling me everything would be okay, and while I was never one to fully trust anyone but myself - I found myself trusting him.

  “Well if that’s the case, can’t you just do that now and we won’t have to leave?”

  Mason shook his head. “No, I don’t like the idea of you being in that house under constant surveillance for one minute more than you have to. Besides, once I start dismantling his system, Greg will know it. And I don’t want him coming here to confront you. I want you and Sky somewhere he can’t get to you.”

  I thought over his words and nodded. It made the most sense.

  “Let me take Calvin home,” he said. “And we can figure out the rest from there.”

  I nodded, feeling like my eyes were going to explode with tears. I wasn’t sad, however. I was angry.

  “Thank you, Mason.”

  “It’s going to be okay, Danielle. Trust me.”

  I did.

  Mason

  “Looks like you’re getting Oscar a little earlier than expected,” I told Calvin as we packed up to head home.

  “He’s more than ready, and I’m just a phone call away if he becomes a problem,” Danielle said.

  “Oh, he could never be a problem. Could you, big boy?” Calvin stroked the top of the Great Dane’s head. If dogs could smile, I would have bet my life on him grinning like a fool. His tongue was lazily hanging from his mouth as he stared up at Calvin with such love in his eyes.

  Calvin took the leash from Danielle. I knew this moment was hard for her, but Oscar was ready and so was Calvin. There were still things they could work on, but she could do it with visits to his place. We’d decided this would be the best plan of action so we had one less giant dog to consider in getting her out of her house.

  Calvin and I walked to the truck. I opened the door of the extended cab and patted the seat, and Oscar was able to hop right in. He seemed excited to be going for a car ride.

  Calvin got in the front seat, and as soon as we were on the road, he asked me, “So what’s really going on back there?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Come on, son. I wasn’t born yesterday,” he scoffed. “There was no electrical issue; you were looking in the damned curtains and in the picture frames. You were clearly looking for something. And then the announcement that Oscar would come home with me earlier than expected? Something’s up, I can feel it in my bones.”

  I glanced at the old man. I could trust him, though mostly I didn’t want to burden him with our issues.

  “Danielle’s ex is a problem. We found cameras and bugs around the house and the property.” I glanced at him, noting his jaw clenched. “He’s been spying on her. We’re getting her out of there but needed to make everything look natural.”

  “Damn. It’s a good thing she’s got you then.”

  I frowned. I’d promised her I would figure something out. I was so confident back there because I’d had to be. I had to keep her calm. But the truth was, I had no idea what we were doing, and I had an hour to figure it out.

  “I just hope I don’t let her down.”

  “You won’t. It’s not in your DNA to let the people you love down.” I flinched, and Calvin picked up on what I was thinking. “Son, what happened with Katie was not your fault, as I’ve said a thousand times. You’re not psychic. You couldn’t have known that the base would be attacked.” he said sternly. “You didn’t even know Katie would need you. You know Danielle needs you. You can help her. That’s the difference.”

  I wanted to believe him, but seeds of doubt were already planted in my brain.

  What if I let her and Skyler down? What if they got hurt because I didn’t do what was needed? What if I was wrong to leave her just now and he came by?

  My head was spinning with every way this could go wrong. I’d acted the way I had based on what I knew at the moment, but what if I was wrong? What if Greg saw past our little “electrical pr
oblem” act?

  “Stop beating yourself up, Mason. You’ve got this,” Calvin said.

  “I sure hope so,” I said, pulling up to the curb outside of his place. I unbuckled my seat belt, ready to help him inside, but he stopped me.

  “I can do this. Go on, save your lady,” he said.

  “You need help getting inside,” I argued.

  “I’ve got Oscar now. And besides, I manage to walk inside by myself most days. You’re wasting time arguing with me when you really need to worry about Danielle.”

  I suspected a major reason for him arguing with me was because of his pride.

  “Alright. Take care, old man,” I said.

  Calvin was able to get out of the truck, though I could only breathe once he was on solid ground with Oscar at his side. He waved as he walked up the path to his home. I started the engine, but I waited until he disappeared into his house. For his age, even with a prosthetic, he could get around pretty well.

  I drove toward home, hoping maybe some of my contacts would be able to help us with Danielle. But as soon as I stepped into the living room, I regretted the decision. Eli was standing there, as if waiting for me.

  “Where were you? We have a job in twenty minutes. We need to leave now.”

  Dammit. We were doing security for a local politician speaking in Sunville. How could I have forgotten?

  “I can’t right now, Eli. I’m sorry.”

  I pushed past my brother, but he grabbed my arm. I yanked myself free and took the stairs two at a time.

  “What is so damned important that you’re willing to throw away the family business over it?”

  I turned on my heels. “You wouldn’t understand, Eli.”

  My brother had his arms crossed in front of him, staring up at me with a face filled with rage. If his eyes could shoot lasers, he would have sliced me right in half.