Christmas at Colts Creek

by Delores Fossen

  “We’re going to have to do something about this,” he heard himself say.

  Janessa didn’t lift an eyebrow, didn’t question what he meant, but she did remind him of something very important. “I want to do something about it,” she said. “But I’m here for only two more months and one week.”

  Yeah, there was that. For a man who didn’t go looking for temporary, it was an in-his-face reminder that two months and one week qualified as a textbook definition of temporary.

  She looked up at him. “Want to go on another date?” Janessa asked.

  Brody answered that by pulling her to him and kissing that smiling mouth. If he was going to make a mistake, he might as well go all in. Temporary was going to get a whole lot hotter.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “UH, WHAT IS IT?” Teagan asked as she stood back and studied the present she’d just opened.

  Janessa had been going through her emails on her phone while she hung out with Teagan, but she stopped and studied it, too. She had a moment of déjà vu from the scavenger hunt at Millie’s party three days earlier. Not because there was anything about the gift that was blushing material but because she didn’t have a clue what it was. It looked like a jumbled heap of various colored wood.

  “This was for your first Christmas,” Teagan said, reading the tag. “It says to pull the lever.”

  Janessa went closer, looking for a lever, and found a strap of sorts at the bottom. When she pulled it, the jumble started to expand. She kept pulling, it kept expanding, and when she was done, the jumble became like a pop-up version of the grounds of the ranch with the large barn in the center. There were even some wooden horses and cowboys, all grounded into their popped-up place so they couldn’t even be moved.

  This one was much larger than the dollhouse and spread out in a good five-foot square. Like the dollhouse, though, it was in no way an appropriate gift for a baby. It was simply something to look at if you were so inclined to look at a replica instead of going outside or to the window and seeing the real deal.

  That reminded her of Millie’s party, too.

  Or more specifically, a reminder of Brody. The photo of them had been a nicely captured image, but it was nothing compared to the man himself. Which brought on yet another reminder. A man she hoped she’d be seeing soon so they could see where more kissing would take them.

  It was a risk, of course, because her remaining two months and a couple of days were dwindling away, but Janessa was positive she didn’t want to leave Last Ride until she’d had a chance to have more of those nicely captured images with Brody. Now, they just needed to figure out the time for it. Between her work schedule and his business trips, they’d only managed some texts and a few short conversations.

  No kissing involved.

  “Your dad sure liked to flex,” Teagan remarked, and then she flushed a little, probably because she thought flex or showing off was an insult. In Abe’s case, it was the truth.

  “Yes,” Janessa agreed. “Everything I’ve found in my research about him so far says he was indeed flex. But I have to believe he wasn’t always that way or he never would have attracted Darcia, my mother or Margo.”

  “Rowan said something about his mom and Abe hooking up way back when,” Teagan commented.

  Janessa turned from the gift to her. “Rowan talked about that?”

  Teagan shrugged. “He just mentioned it, that’s all, when we were looking at his mom’s pottery pieces at the party.”

  Janessa remembered that Teagan and Rowan had been standing together during the unveiling. Darcia had noticed as well, and she’d given Janessa a little of the stink eye, maybe because she thought her son shouldn’t be talking to a pregnant teenager. She could understand Darcia’s concern to a point, but Janessa doubted that being around Teagan would cause Rowan to go out and knock up some girl.

  “His mom’s pottery was pretty,” Teagan went on, rubbing her back and stretching.

  Janessa made a sound of agreement. Darcia clearly had talent and hers were definitely some of the best pieces in the new exhibit.

  “His mom’s also sort of protective of him,” Teagan added a moment later, and her inflection made it sound as if it were an opening to something else she had to say. But whatever it was, she didn’t spill it.

  “Is something wrong?” Janessa came out and asked. “Did Rowan’s mother say something to you?”

  Teagan’s eyes widened. “No, nothing like that.” She shook her head and turned her attention back to the ranch that was now side by side with the dollhouse. “It’s just it made me think about this baby, that’s all.” She moved her rubbing hands to her stomach.

  Janessa walked closer, moving so she could see the girl’s eyes. “Teagan, are you having second thoughts about going through with the adoption?”

  “No.” She said it fast and with no hesitation. “I’m not going to change my mind. I swear I’m not. I was just thinking about what kind of mom Char will be.”

  Her sister, Air Force Sergeant Charlotte Talley.

  “From everything I researched and learned about Char, she’ll make a great mother,” Janessa said.

  That wasn’t lip service, either. Janessa had had several long conversations with her, and Char had convinced her that she and her husband wanted children that they so far hadn’t been able to have. Char was twenty-eight and had been married for five years, and the marriage seemed rock-solid.

  Teagan nodded. “You’re right, and she’s so excited about the baby. She wishes she could be here for the birth, but I told her you’d be there so it’s okay.”

  Janessa certainly hadn’t forgotten that Teagan wanted her in the delivery room. A first for her. And that first wouldn’t be long now at all. At Teagan’s last appointment, the doctor had told her that she was about thirty-six weeks. So, only one more month to go if the baby arrived on time.

  “Remember, I don’t want to see the baby,” Teagan went on. “I don’t feel as if she’s mine, and I don’t want to start feeling that way.”

  “I understand.” Though it did tug at Janessa’s heart. It was such a grown-up thing to do for someone who barely qualified as a grown-up. “But you’ll probably see the baby at some point, when you visit your sister,” Janessa reminded her.

  Teagan gave another nod. “I won’t visit for a while. Not until the child is older, like two or three. Then, I won’t see him or her as the baby I gave birth to. He or she will be Char’s and her husband’s son or daughter.”

  Again, that was adult logic, and while Janessa didn’t think Teagan would change her mind, those visits wouldn’t be easy.

  They turned at the sound behind them, and Janessa’s heart did a different kind of tug when she saw Brody standing there.

  “Sorry I’m interrupting,” he said, and she thought from his expression that he was uncomfortable at overhearing their conversation.

  Janessa had to stop herself from running to him and kissing him. She’d do that later, she decided.

  “You’re not,” Teagan assured him. “I just opened another of the presents Janessa’s father got for her.”

  “This one was for my first Christmas,” Janessa supplied. “I would have been only a couple of months old.”

  Brody walked closer, stared at it and frowned. “Well, it’s big.” That was possibly the only compliment he could come up with.

  Teagan checked the time on her phone. “I told Miss Velma Sue I’d help her pick out which china and silverware to use for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner, but I’ve got about an hour before that. I can do some more research on your father if you’d like.”

  “Sure. Thanks. You got the copy of the stories my mother gave me?”

  Teagan nodded. “There’s not a lot of detail in them. Just dates and places. But I can add it to the other newspaper articles I found.”

  “Articles?” Brody asked.

/>   “Nothing personal, not really,” Teagan explained. “Just events like the Cattleman’s Ball he attended. There are some stories, too, about his wedding to Janessa’s mom and Miss Margo. I like writing reports so I don’t mind putting it all together.”

  And Janessa was thankful for that since it was somewhat depressing uncovering Abe’s layers.

  “I met Miss Alma Parkman at the party, and she gave me her number so I could call her,” Teagan added as she walked to the door. “She said she had a few stories about Abe I could use.”

  Since Alma was in her eighties, she likely would have a tale or two. Maybe even info about Abe as a child. Alma was president of the Last Ride Society so obviously she was interested in preserving the town’s history. That would include Abe’s, hopefully. Janessa thought she might get in touch with the woman, as well.

  “I haven’t seen you much since the party,” Janessa said, and she leaned in to brush her mouth over his. She got a nice hit of heat for such a quick touch.

  “Always lots to do around here during the holidays. Happy Thanksgiving Eve,” he tacked onto that.

  “Happy Thanksgiving Eve to you.” She gave him another quick kiss. “Velma Sue and the kitchen help are already in full prep mode. You’re sure you won’t join us?” But she knew the answer before he even spoke.

  Brody shook his head. “My mom does a big dinner, and she’ll expect me there.”

  Of course, she would. Sophia wasn’t into cooking so Thanksgiving had never been a huge deal when she’d been growing up, but she suspected it had been for Darcia. Family was important to the woman.

  “I brought some things from Abe’s office to yours this morning, but you weren’t in,” she remarked.

  “I’ve been driving out to look at other ranches and properties for sale around the area,” he answered.

  That stopped her from taking another kiss hit. “For sale?” She was ready to tack on a whole bunch of questions and comments about that, but he continued before she could say anything else.

  “I want to run my own ranch.” His tone was almost matter-of-fact. However, she could see the concern in his eyes. Not concern for himself, though. But for her reaction.

  “You can run this ranch, just as you’ve done for years,” Janessa quickly pointed out.

  “I’ll repeat what I overheard Teagan say about her baby. I don’t want to feel as if this place is mine because it isn’t.”

  Janessa was just as fast with a comeback to that. “But it will be. If it’s anywhere in my power, I’ll give you the ranch.”

  He calmly took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “No, you won’t. If Abe had wanted me to have it, then he would have left it to me. He didn’t. The ranch is yours, and you can decide what to do with it. You just can’t decide to give it to me.”

  No fast comeback this time. Stunned, she stood there and stared at him. “Your home is here.”

  “My house is here,” he corrected. “I own it outright so I’ll sell it and use the money as a down payment on a place with more acreage. Margo has said she’d be interested in buying just an acre of my land and having her house moved there. That way, it won’t matter if someone else takes over the ranch.”

  “You talked to Margo about this,” she muttered. Janessa heard her own voice and decided she sounded as shell-shocked as she felt.

  “I did. I’ve talked to a lot of people,” he continued. “The ranch next to Joe McCann’s is a strong possibility. The owner’s getting on in years, and he’s put out the word that he might be interested in selling.”

  Obviously, he’d given this a lot of thought, along with a lot of talk, and here she hadn’t had a clue. Obviously, the gossip mill was falling down on the job if word of any of this hadn’t gotten back to her.

  “One of the big reasons I stayed in Last Ride was so you and a lot of other people wouldn’t get screwed over with Abe’s will,” Janessa said.

  “I know.” On a sigh, he gave her a quick kiss. “And thank you for that. But I’m giving you an out. Don’t stay for me because no matter what happens, I’ll be moving. If you decide to stay for other reasons, like Margo and the people who work here, then I can help you find another ranch manager, one who’d be amenable to keeping on the present crew. I might even be able to convince my top hand, Clayton Erle, to take over.”

  She took a moment to let that sink in. Then another. It turned out she needed a lot of extra moments. “What brought this on?” she asked.

  “You,” he said without hesitation. “And all this foreplay we’ve been playing around with.”

  Janessa shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  Brody looked her straight in the eyes. “Don’t be insulted by this, but I don’t want you to kill time with me just because you feel you have to be here to save my ass. You can go, and it’ll all work out fine.” He paused, muttered some profanity. “And if you stay, it might work out fine, too. I just want to take Abe and saving my ass out of this particular equation.”

  Janessa knew this wasn’t a light moment, far from it, but she said the first thing that popped into her head. “It’s impossible to leave your ass out of any equation, Brody. Some things are just too noticeable to ignore.”

  The corner of his mouth turned up just a little. “I could say the same for yours.”

  “Oh?” She smiled despite her mind whirling with the news of Brody not staying on at Colts Creek. Later, she’d sit down and give that some thought.

  “Oh,” he verified, and he moved in for what would no doubt be a very satisfying kiss. At least it no doubt would have been had her phone not rang.

  “So help me, if Alisha’s used her curling iron to cook something else, I’m having Kyle confiscate the damn thing,” she muttered.

  But it wasn’t Kyle’s name on the screen. It was a local number. Since she doubted this would be a routine call on Thanksgiving, she answered it right away.

  “Janessa Parkman?” the caller asked. “I’m Dr. Marshall Dayton,” he continued once she’d verified that. “I was your father’s doctor.”

  “Oh,” she muttered, and this time there was nothing remotely light or sexual about it. “I’d left a message with your nurse yesterday, asking if there was anything in my father’s medical records you could go over with me.”

  “Yes, I got the message, and I’m sorry I’m just now getting back to you. And yes, there are some things I can tell you. During your father’s visit to my clinic, which was about a week before he died, he added you as a designated personal representative to his medical records. That gives you access to anything in his files.”

  Abe hadn’t said anything about that in his letter, and it made her wonder why he’d done it. Or why he hadn’t added Brody.

  “Another reason I’m calling is to let you know that I just got Abe’s autopsy results,” the doctor added. “The county coroner is a friend of mine, and he thought the news would be better coming from me.”

  That didn’t help the knot that’d formed in her stomach. Janessa just stayed quiet and waited for him to continue. However, she tried to steel herself up in case the doctor was about to tell her that Abe had been poisoned or had passed away after a secret, painful illness.

  “Abe died from an aneurysm that ruptured in his brain,” Dr. Dayton explained, and he probably heard the loud breath of relief. “I can give you a more detailed explanation if you want.”

  Even though Abe had been dead for weeks, this brought on a sudden wave of grief. He might have been a horrible man, but he was still her father.

  “No,” Janessa said, “but can you tell me if he was in pain?” Because something had caused him to send her that letter.

  “He’d been having headaches,” the doctor said after a long pause. “About a week before he died, he showed up at my office and asked for a script for pain meds. That’s when he made you his designated representative.
At that time, I gave him a small supply of meds with the agreement that he schedule an exam. He balked about that and finally came in the day before he died. I ran a lot of tests but didn’t have the results yet when I got the call that he’d passed away.”

  Janessa had to squeeze her eyes shut a moment, and she felt Brody put his hand on her arm. She hadn’t put the call on Speaker, but obviously he’d heard enough to know what she was feeling.

  “Around the time he came in for that exam, he wrote me a letter, and he said he was dying,” Janessa explained to the doctor. “Had you told him that he might have an aneurysm?”

  “Yes, I did tell him that was a possibility, along with a stroke or an infection. That’s why I wanted the tests. But even if I’d had the results back, it likely wouldn’t have helped. Once this type of aneurysm ruptures, there’s nothing we can do. He could have been in the hospital, and the result would have been the same.”

  Janessa had to swallow hard before she could ask her next question. “Do you think he suffered when he died?”

  “It would have been fast,” the doctor assured her.

  Maybe a lie. The kind of lies medical professionals told to spare the family. Janessa realized she wanted to be spared. She didn’t want to think of Abe suffering.

  “I think Abe might have sensed he was dying,” Dr. Dayton went on. “He said something about trying to make things right, and during the exam, he got a call. Which he took. Since I was standing right there, I heard bits and pieces of the conversation. From what I gathered, the caller was a private investigator, and he was looking into some things that’d happened in Abe’s past. Did Abe mention anything like that in the letter he sent you?”

  “No,” Janessa said, looking up at Brody to see if he knew anything about it. But he only shook his head. “No,” she repeated to Dr. Dayton. “Do you happen to remember the PI’s name?”