Christmas with a Cowboy

by Brown, Carolyn

  Could the answer to her turmoil be right up above her? She looked up at the sky. Was it telling her that if she stayed, she could expect gray times and bright times, but when she came to her sunset years, that her life would still be beautiful?

  She was surprised that they’d already made it to town when he nosed the truck into a parking place at the store, and asked, “Do you mind if we make a quick stop for some hot chocolate? And maybe we can also get one little bottle of chocolate milk, since our girl didn’t get to play in the snow a second time? If that’s too much sugar we could mix it half and half with her formula.”

  “Tell her no and then reward her? You are going to be a pushover daddy,” Bridget told him.

  “Going to be?” Maverick wiggled his eyebrows.

  “Let’s bring some for Granny and Wanda too,” Bridget suggested, eager to change the subject.

  “Sure, darlin’. Be right back.”

  He was only gone a couple of minutes and returned with a cardboard cup holder with four hot chocolates and a small brown sack with a bottle of chocolate milk. After he’d settled everything on the floor of the backseat, he handed Bridget a tiny bag of chocolate kisses and a wooden rose.

  “What’s this for?” She was surprised that it smelled like a real rose, and touched that he thought to bring her a present.

  “The kisses are self-explanatory. The rose isn’t real. It’s made of wood and will last forever, like the way I feel about you,” he said.

  She loved chocolate. But it was the beautiful rose, made with layers of shaved wood, and his sweet words that melted her heart.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “You’re beautiful, and it’s beauty from the heart so that makes you even more gorgeous than the women who are just shells.”

  “Shells?” she asked.

  “That means all the beauty is on the outside. You think of others, like suggesting that we take hot chocolate to Granny and Wanda.” He buried his face into her hair.

  “Thank you. It seems like I just keep saying that, but I mean it. This is so sweet of you, Maverick.” She leaned across the console and kissed him on the cheek.

  Iris wasn’t in the waiting room when they got to the rehab center. She was sitting in her chair in her room, and she reached for the baby the moment they walked in. “How’s my sweet baby girl today? Have they been treating you good? Did they let you play in the snow?”

  Laela snuggled down into Iris’s arms like she was about to go to sleep, but then she began to wiggle. “Time for her to explore. By the time I get out of this joint, she’ll have the whole room cased out.”

  “Here, Iris, we brought you some hot chocolate.” Bridget took one of the cups from Maverick and gave it to Iris.

  “Why, how sweet. That’s a lovely treat for this cold day.”

  “Bridget thought you and Wanda might like some,” Maverick chimed in.

  Bridget pulled a chair up close to Iris’s side and pulled out her phone. “I want to show you our pictures from playing in the snow today.”

  Iris had something to say about every single shot and made Bridget go through them a second time. “What I want for Christmas from you two”—she pointed at Maverick and Bridget—“is one of those collage frames that has lots of openings. I want it filled up with pictures of just the three of you, and I want the one of the snow angels to be the one in the middle. That’s your first family picture together, but I also want one of the three of you all dressed up for church on Sunday morning to be in there too.”

  “But then you’ll know what you’re getting,” Maverick objected as he noticed Laela crawling toward the hallway. He brought her back into the room and got out her bowl and spoon from the diaper bag. Then he filled the bowl with a few of her toys.

  “Old people don’t care if they’re surprised or not.” Iris sipped at the hot chocolate. “But I got to admit, I am enjoying this surprise.” She raised her cup. “Now, close the door and pull those two chairs over there around to face me and sit down. I’ve made a decision and you need to hear me out.”

  “A decision about what?” Maverick set up the chairs and waited for Bridget to take a seat before he did.

  “My future and yours,” Iris said. “The ranch has gotten to be too much for me to handle, and I’m tired, Mav. I’m going to spit it out rather than try to explain. I’m going to the assisted living center where Wanda lives.”

  “Granny!” Maverick gasped. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll take care of the place and you too. Callahan Ranch is your home.”

  Bridget’s heart did a nosedive right to the floor. Iris was leaving the ranch, and that meant she no longer had a job. She hadn’t saved nearly enough money to be independent when she got back to Ireland.

  “Yes, I can do that, and I already have. The lady from the assisted living place came today and we got the paperwork started. I’ll have my apartment right next door to Wanda’s. The care center is in Amarillo, and y’all can come and see me whenever you like. I can even leave and spend a weekend on the ranch every now and then. That way, I can see all my church friends on Sunday. But I’ve made up my mind,” Iris said.

  Maverick opened his mouth to say something, but Iris held up a palm.

  “There’s no amount of arguing that will make me change my mind. I put the ranch over in yours and Paxton’s names five years ago. I knew this day would come eventually, but I didn’t want you to come back to a raggedy-ass ranch out of obligation. I wanted it to be because you wanted to live here, not because you had to. I can see that you’re ready now. Paxton can come home when he’s ready. Until he’s living on the place and pulling his weight, it’s yours. When he comes home and starts to put in the sweat and long hours that you do, then y’all will share the profits.” She stopped and took another sip of her hot chocolate.

  Bridget blinked back tears. She wished that Iris would stay at the ranch until she passed away, but that was being selfish. If Iris really wanted to live in an assisted place then it was her decision. She wasn’t ready to leave Texas, not after Maverick’s little declaration about the wooden rose. Just the thought of waving goodbye to him at the airport made her about half nauseated.

  Maverick took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. “I’m ready to take over the ranch, and I’m pretty sure Paxton will come home as soon as he can. But…”

  Iris shook her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “There are no buts. Your grandpa said we were building something for your father, and we did. But he’s gone now, so it goes to his sons. Take it and make it look like it did when Thomas was alive. Bring it back to something we can be proud of.”

  “We can do that.” Maverick’s voice was hoarse with emotion.

  “And now for the rest. Bridget, I’m giving Ducky to you, and Dolly is Laela’s. If you go back to Ireland, and I’m telling you right now, I sure hope you don’t, you have to figure out a way to take them with you,” Iris said.

  “Why would I stay?” Bridget asked. “I was hired to take care of you, and you won’t even be there.”

  “But the house will be, and Mav is going to need help with that part of the business. You need a home. He needs a housekeeper, a cook, and maybe even a secretary to get all those books in order, so you have a job for as long as you want it.” Iris shook her finger at Bridget. “But remember, if you leave, a cat and a dog go with you.”

  Bridget’s mind was reeling. There was no way she could take two animals plus a baby with her on a plane, and yet, she could never disappoint Iris by leaving them behind. “I’ve already agreed to stay a while longer, maybe until spring, so if that’d be all right—”

  “Thank you.” Maverick butted in and turned to face Bridget. “It’ll take me a while to settle all this in my mind. Knowing that you’ll be here to help me means a lot. I’ll talk to Paxton. I think he’ll want to stay in Sunset until fall, but it’s up to him. This is going to take some getting used to, Granny.”

  “Just say that you’ll do your best to make your grandpa
proud,” Iris said. “Now, Bridget, you can go get Wanda. We don’t want her chocolate to get cold.”

  Bridget was still stunned as she walked down the hall toward Wanda’s room. Maverick owned a ranch. She snapped her fingers. Just like that. He and his brother had something that was their very own. It might be in poor repair at the moment, but it was theirs. How did that affect the way Maverick felt about her? With land and a home in his possession, women would be coming out from under what few trees there were in that part of the world to flirt with him. But right now, she truly believed there was something strong and solid between them. Now she had to decide what she wanted to do, or some other woman would step right up and take her place. Like Maverick said a while back, she couldn’t ride two horses with one arse. The bottom line was that she had to decide which horse she wanted to ride for the rest of her life.

  That would be whichever one rides next to the one Maverick is riding, she thought. Or maybe we could just ride double.

  Chapter Twenty

  Maverick awoke before daylight on Thursday morning to find Bridget’s back pressed against his chest. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled. She still smelled like winter, and he loved the delicious vanilla scent of her shampoo. It was the same scent he’d fallen in love with the year before. Why was it that a woman’s hair smelled so different in the winter than it did in the summer? He propped up on an elbow and tried to stare his fill of her but realized that wasn’t possible. When she was ninety and her gorgeous red hair had turned silver, he’d still be trying to drink in all of her sleeping beauty every morning.

  In the twinkling of an eye, things had changed drastically. Now he had a home to call his own, plus land and cattle. He had something to offer her, and it was time for him to tell her how much she meant to him—time to ask her to stay in Texas with him forever.

  She opened her eyes slowly and stretched. “Good morning.”

  “Good mornin’,” he whispered in her ear. “Sleep well?”

  “Yes, I did, but we still need to talk about everything that has happened.” Her eyes widened and she sat up in bed. “Laela? Did she wake up during the night?”

  “She was fussing in her sleep about two thirty, so I made her a bottle and rocked her until she went back to sleep,” he answered.

  “You should’ve wakened me,” she told him.

  “I couldn’t sleep for thinking about what all I need to do on this place, and where to start and how much I’m still in shock.” He slid off the bed and pulled the drapes open. Then he hurried across the floor and slipped back under the covers. Pulling her close again, he kissed her on the forehead. “We can watch our first Texas sunrise together right out that window.”

  “We’ve watched sunrises before.” She snuggled down so close that he could feel her heartbeat.

  “But not in Texas. We’ve shared sunsets a few times, but this is a first one from a ranch that I now own with my brother, and it’s going to be a beautiful one,” he said.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I’m with you,” he answered. “Everything is beautiful when you’re in my arms.”

  Laela started jabbering from across the hall.

  “I think she wants to watch the sunrise with us,” he said as he got out of bed again, pulled on a pair of pajama pants, and padded barefoot on the cold hardwood floor to get her. He returned in a few seconds with her in his arms. Her eyes lit up, and she flashed a bright smile when she saw Bridget.

  “And there’s the magic of Christmas right there,” he said.

  “Where?” Bridget asked. “In the sunrise or in her smile?”

  “Both, but I was looking at your eyes. It’s a magical day for sure. This is the good life. Family all cuddled up together in bed watching the sun come up.” He gave her a sweet kiss and set the baby down between them.

  “Thank you,” she muttered.

  “What for?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “For letting me sleep and taking care of Laela. And for all that you do to make us feel special—like a family,” she answered.

  “No thanks necessary.” Maverick leaned over the baby and kissed Bridget on the cheek. This was what it could be like forever, but he couldn’t rush her. She had to tell him she was ready to stay in Texas forever before he could get down on one knee. If he tried to hurry things, she might have regrets about staying.

  “We should have a celebration this morning. This is your first day to work on your ranch,” Bridget said.

  “But, darlin’, the baby is awake.” Maverick winked.

  She slapped his arm. “I’m talking about food, not sex. What’s your favorite breakfast ever? Tell me, and I’ll make it for you.”

  “Cold pizza is number one, but a big stack of pancakes with butter and syrup melted together comes in a real close second,” he replied.

  “Laela loves pancakes too, so that’s what I will make. Now let’s talk about this thing with me staying. You said once that you didn’t have anything to offer a woman, but now you do. Are you sure you want me to stay until spring?”

  “I want you to stay forever.” He opened his mouth to tell her that he loved her and he wanted her to be in his life permanently, but the words wouldn’t come. He pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and kissed her. “But I realize it’s a big decision, so take your time.”

  “Thank you for not rushing me to make it,” she said.

  “I’m a patient man.” He pointed at the window. “We’re going to have sunshine today. Maybe it will even melt some of the snow.”

  “Not our snowman. We still need someone to take a picture of the three of us with it so we can put it in Iris’s Christmas frame.” She pushed back the covers and wrapped the sheet around her like a toga. “I’ll bring it back later, but it doesn’t seem right to even carry a baby across the hall when I’m naked.”

  “I’ll go make coffee and get the skillet out for pancakes.” He slid off the bed. “We’re settling in to this family thing really good, aren’t we?”

  “I think we just might be.” She picked up Laela and carried her across the hall.

  Maverick was busy getting things out of the cabinet when she walked into the kitchen. She set the baby in her high chair and started making the pancake batter.

  “I’m going to call Alana and set up a shopping date,” she said. “Laela’s outgrowing her clothes. I need to shop for a dress to wear to her New Year’s party, and I haven’t bought a single Christmas present. What’s the first thing on your agenda for this place?”

  “I’m a little overwhelmed,” Maverick admitted. “I’ll get the feeding done this morning, and since the weather is preventing me from doing anything else, I guess I’ll begin sorting the paperwork in Mam’s room. I’m thinking maybe we could move the desk to the living room. Want to help me?”

  “Of course,” she said without hesitation. “I used to help the owner of the pub keep books. I’m sure orders of whiskey and Guinness aren’t the same as feed and hay, but it shouldn’t be all that different. We’ll start getting things organized soon as you get back in the house.” She began to pour perfect circles of batter into the skillet.

  “You are amazing,” he said.

  She did a cute little curtsey and then flipped the pancakes. “Keep tellin’ yourself that, and we’ll get along just fine, darlin’.”

  “Spoken like a true Texan, but I did hear a little Irish sprinkled on the top,” he teased.

  “That will never completely change,” she said. “After more than fifty years in this place, Iris still has a little Irish in her speech.”

  Maverick handed Laela a spoon when she started trying to get out of her high chair. She used it to pound out a tune on the tray.

  “I don’t recognize that song.” Bridget laughed. “It doesn’t sound Irish.”

  “It’s a country music tune called ‘My Baby Don’t Need to Change,’” Maverick teased.

  “Is there really a song called that?” Bridget stacked pancakes onto a platter and
poured four more into the skillet.

  “No, but if there was, I’d buy the first copy that was for sale,” he told her.

  “And I’d buy the second,” she said.

  After they’d eaten and Maverick had his third cup of coffee, he finally pushed back his chair. “I should only be gone about an hour. I’d like to take Laela with me, but it’s too cold. Come spring, she can go take care of feeding chores with me in the mornings.”

  * * *

  “She would probably love that.” Bridget suddenly got a glimpse of what it would truly mean to live on the ranch permanently, and it didn’t terrify her at all. As a matter of fact, she smiled at the picture of Maverick taking Laela out with him to feed the cows.

  “Yep, I do.” Maverick settled his hat on his head and gave Bridget a sweet kiss. “See you in a little while.”

  She stopped herself a split second before she told Laela to tell Daddy goodbye.

  Maverick closed the door, but not before Dolly ran inside. Laela immediately fussed to get out of her high chair, so Bridget washed the baby’s hands and face and set her on the floor. She and the cat met halfway across the room. Dolly rubbed around the baby’s shoulders until Laela sat up, and then the cat curled up in her lap.

  “That animal is almost as big as you.” Bridget laughed. “You play with her while I call Iris.”

  The phone only rang twice before Iris answered, “Hello, darlin’. What’s on your mind?”

  “How did you know that something was bothering me?” Bridget put the phone on speaker and cleaned off the table while she talked.

  “I was like you at one time, remember, and I know you are struggling with the same decisions I did at your age,” Iris said.

  “How did you ever do this? How did you leave your home country? Did you ever regret it?” The words came out so fast that Bridget wondered if Iris even understood her.