In a voice that was barely audible, she said, “I think about it all the time.” He looked like he was trying not to smile again—like a kid who knew that he was going to get his way. “We have to stay in the here and now though. Don’t make any promises to me or to Gabe—”
“I would never,” he said with a grin.
* * *
The Christmas parade was short and sweet with Santa Claus riding in on a trailer full of hay, bringing it to an end. Grant, Jyl, and Gabe were sitting with Kat and Scott and the kids. Grant’s mother and father were volunteering in one of the booths so they watched the parade from there, and Sharla had disappeared into the crowd with King not long after they had arrived.
When the parade was over and Gabe was trying to decide what he wanted to do first, Jyl asked Grant, “Should I worry about Shar?”
He grinned. “No. Kusagra is the biggest man I’ve ever met in my life, but he hasn’t changed much at all since we were kids. His folks had some property on the east side of town. Thankfully it was a lot because there wasn’t a stray dog or a wounded bird that guy didn’t take home. We don’t have a local animal control around here so when someone needs an animal taken off their property they call us at the sheriff’s department. When we need help, we call King. His students love him too. He’s just a big pile of mush.”
She smiled. That made her feel happy for Sharla. A pile of mush was just what her friend needed. “Why isn’t he married?”
“He was … she died.”
“Oh no, the poor thing. What happened to her?”
“She had cancer … a long bout with it. He took care of her the whole time. He was pretty amazing.”
“Wow. I was just reminding myself that you could never tell what someone was going through just by looking at them. That seems truer every day. Can I ask you something else?”
He linked hands with her and said, “Of course.”
“What kind of curse does he think is on your family?”
“My great-grandfather supposedly ‘stole’ King’s great-grandfather’s girlfriend. She turned out to be my great-grandmother. But King’s great-grandfather’s pain was so intense, he placed a curse on the Underwood name. Apparently, he cursed us into only being able to conceive and produce boys.”
She laughed. “Well, I guess if you look at your family that would be an easy one to believe.”
He laughed too. “Yeah, even the ones who have stepchildren—all boys.”
“But according to King you’re supposed to change all of that.”
He leaned in close to her face and said, “We’ll see. …”
“Mom! Grant! Can we go on the hayride?”
She sucked in a shaky breath and composed herself before turning to her son. “Of course we can. I heard that’s where Santa is.”
“I saw him. They have cookies too! And hot chocolate!”
Grant reached down and picked up Gabe. The street was crowded. He swung him up on his shoulders and carried him over to where the hayride wagons were. They had to stand in line for a while. When it was their turn, he lifted Gabe up inside the wagon and then he did the same for Jyl. She remembered how annoyed she’d been with him that first time he lifted her up into his truck. Since then, she’d come to look forward to anything that encouraged him to touch her.
Gabe found a spot near the front and Grant and Jyl sat near the middle. She sank down into the hay, feeling the warmth not only of Grant’s body, but just his presence as well. She was doing her best to stay just in this moment—and moments like this made it easy. She found herself wanting things to slow down so that Christmas didn’t come for a while and times like these didn’t have to end.
After the hayride they went to the diner and ate and then spent some time looking at the booths of handmade items people were selling. They ran across Grant’s parents’ booth after a bit, and they both greeted Jyl and Gabe warmly. Sadie waited until Gabe was otherwise preoccupied and then she whispered, “I heard you had a run-in with that mayor woman yesterday.”
Jyl was beginning to understand why there were some things Grant would like to keep to himself. It seemed that in his family, there were no secrets. “I met her—probably not under the best of circumstances,” she said.
“She’s really something, that one. If I live to be a hundred I will never understand what Grant saw in her.”
“Maybe he sees something in her that we don’t,” Jyl said. She wasn’t sure that she’d ever like Ashley, but after what Grant told her, she’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“Maybe,” Sadie said. She didn’t look like she believed it, but she let it go there for now.
The trio moved on to the next booth and when they were out of his mother’s earshot, Grant said, “I’m sorry about that. Sometimes I think I should tell Mom about Ashley being sick, but I promised her, so I haven’t.”
Jyl stopped walking and asked him, “Why did you tell me?”
He looked around for Gabe. When he saw the little boy’s attentions were focused on a Christmas display with a dancing Santa, he cupped the side of her face in his hand and said, “Because I want to share everything with you.” His eyes were locked on to hers and she had an almost overwhelming desire to kiss him. “Which reminds me … there’s one more thing I have to tell you.”
“What’s that?”
He looked around again to make sure Gabe was out of earshot. Then using his hand to pull her face in toward him, he put his mouth close to her ear and said, “I love you.” She gasped and looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. He reached for one of her hands and she gave it to him. She could feel it trembling against his. She didn’t know what to think or feel. She still thought it was too soon. She still didn’t want to think too far in the future, but his words warmed her from head to toe and she admired his ability to risk his heart like that and say it out loud.
She saw him check on Gabe again—just another reason she found him so incredibly hard to resist. Then he looked back into her eyes and said, “You don’t have to say it back. If it takes you months or years even to get there, I meant what I said before—I’ll wait. I have all the time in the world. I just needed you to know that’s how I feel and that unless you really want me to, I’m not going anywhere.”
She was surprised. Instead of being annoyed that he had gone right where she’d been hoping he wouldn’t go this whole time, happiness flowed through her. It warmed her skin as surely as the rays of the sun and she wanted to let her cautionary smile explode into a radiant one. Something told her at that very moment that everything was going to be okay.
“Mom!”
“Yeah, buddy?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“Can we go talk to Santa again?”
She tore her eyes from Grant’s face. “You’ve already talked to him, buddy. Maybe you should give all of those other kids a chance.”
“I need to talk to him,” he told her.
Grant looked at her and smiled. “The man has something he needs Santa to hear.”
“Okay, buddy, let’s go.” She took her son’s hand, trying to still the shaking she felt in her insides. As she led him over to where Santa was seated on his red throne, and Grant followed, she kept hearing Grant’s words reverberate in her head—”I love you.” They were the three most beautiful and most terrifying words in the world.
The three of them stood in the line, none of them speaking, all caught up in their own thoughts for the moment. When they got close to the front Gabe said, “Can you two wait over there by the Christmas tree?”
She smiled down at him and said, “Trying to get rid of us?”
“I just need some privacy.”
Grant and Jyl laughed. Sometimes she thought her son was four going on forty. Grant took her hand and led her over to the big, flocked tree that marked the exit from Santa’s little village. They could see Gabriel from there, but they couldn’t hear what he was telling Santa Claus. She looked at Grant while his attention was focused on Gabe,
studied his profile, and once again heard his words in her head. He said she didn’t have to say it back, but shouldn’t she know herself if she felt it? She knew she felt desire—as a matter of fact, being so close to him at the ranch every day caused her to be almost consumed by it sometimes.
Gabe was busy with Santa now. Feeling uncharacteristic, she put her hand on the back of Grant’s neck and turned his face toward her. He was looking down at her now, and the emotions from everything that had passed between them since she came here were spiraling together.
“I love you,” she breathed out. His eyes widened, fueling the kiss she could no longer deny herself. She rose up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips into his, scraping her teeth along his bottom lip as she did. He let out a little moan or whimper that came from deep in his chest. His hands tangled into her hair and he pulled her in tighter, deepening the kiss. The smell of his cologne and the taste of chocolate and cinnamon on his lips were enough to seduce every one of her senses.
“Wow! Santa works fast!”
Grant and Jyl pulled apart quickly and still panting they looked down at Gabe. He was grinning from ear to ear.
“I fixed it,” he said.
Grant and Jyl looked at each other and then back at Gabe. “You fixed what, buddy?”
“I changed my wish to Santa,” he said, obviously proud of himself.
“The one where you asked if I could be your daddy?” Grant actually looked hurt.
Gabe didn’t seem to notice; he was still grinning. “Yep!”
“What did you ask for instead, buddy?” Jyl asked him, not sure if she was ready for the answer.
“I told him that he didn’t have to make Grant my daddy because I know now that you have to do that—if you love him. I asked him to make you love Grant, so we can keep him.”
EPILOGUE
TWO YEARS LATER
It was Christmas Eve and Jyl’s water broke at six a.m. that morning.
“So Gabe, what did you ask Santa for this year?”
Gabriel was sitting in the waiting room with Sadie and Kent. Kat had dropped him off earlier. The little boy insisted that he needed to be here when his little brother was born.
“A sister.”
Sadie looked at Kent. Kent looked down at his magazine. She elbowed him with a smile and then looked back at Gabe.
“Sweetness, I don’t think Santa can do that. Your mama is having a boy. They took a little picture of him when he was still in her tummy.”
“I know, that’s why I asked Santa for the sister. Brothers are probably more fun, I think, but Mama wanted a girl. So I thought maybe Santa could help. He did get me what I wanted before, you know.”
Sadie smiled. Grant had told her how Gabe had asked for his mama to fall in love with Grant right before the first time Jyl had said she loved him. Sadie loved the story and she thought it was going to be a great one for Gabe to tell his own kids someday. She was so happy that Grant had found Jyl. The two dated for a year before Grant proposed. It was one of the happiest Christmases Sadie could remember. The two of them were married on the ranch in a small, beautiful ceremony in early April. She’d never seen a kid as happy as Gabe was, and the three of them had been happy ever since, especially in early summer when Jyl found out she was pregnant. Like Gabe, Sadie had secretly hoped for a girl. She wasn’t surprised, however, when the ultrasound showed another boy. She knew he would undoubtedly fit right in with all of the other heathens known as her grandchildren.
She heard the door to the room open and looked up as her son came out dressed in a pair of green paper scrubs. He was radiant and Sadie felt like all of her goals in life were finally accomplished. Both of her boys were happy and loved.
“Is he here?” Gabe asked. Grant stripped off the gown and scooped Gabe up in his arms.
“He is! Wait until you see him.”
“Does he look like me?”
Grant held him back and looked him over. “You know what? He does! Do you want to go see him for yourself? Your mom is asking for you.”
He squealed. “Yes!”
Grant went over and gave his mother a kiss and his dad a hug and said, “I’ll be right back. They said since it’s a birthing room you can all come in. I just want to make sure Jyl’s ready.”
“Of course.”
“Will you call Kat and Sharla for me?”
Sadie smiled. “Yes. Kat should be on her way back soon and King was here a bit ago. He said Sharla’s on her way. But I’ll call. Grant …”
“Yeah, Mom?”
“He’s healthy?”
“He’s perfect.”
“And Jyl?”
Grant winked at his mom. “Perfect too.” He carried Gabriel through the doors like an airplane. Sadie called Kat who didn’t answer, and Sharla said she was just looking for a place to park. By the time Grant came back out, Scott and Kat had walked into the waiting room and Sharla and King were already there.
Sharla looked at him and teased, “I flew in from New York for this so it better be good.”
He laughed. “It’s the best.” He looked like he would bust. Sadie loved seeing him like this.
“So when are you going to thank me?” Kat asked him.
He laughed. “For what?”
“Please! All of that free advice I gave you when you first met Jyl.”
Scott rolled his eyes behind his wife’s back and Grant chuckled and said, “Thank you, Kat—and Kusagra—thank you.” King winked at Grant and everyone else looked confused. Before they had a chance to ask what that was about, Grant said, “Okay, let’s go see my wife and kids.”
“Kids?” Kat said to Sadie.
“Gabriel is back there.”
They followed Grant into the room. Jyl was in the bed with the baby in her arms. She looked as happy as Grant. They were both so luminous that had it been dark, Sadie thought they might just light up the room. The baby in her arms had on a tiny little blue cap, and Gabriel was sitting up next to her, gazing down at his new brother. When he saw them all come in he said, “This is my brother … Christopher Joshua Underwood.”
Jyl had tears in her eyes. She looked up at Sharla and whispered, “Grant named him.”
Sharla looked at Grant with tears in her own eyes. “You were right, this is the best.”
“Wait until you see Noelle!” Gabriel blurted out.
“Noelle? The horse?” Kat asked.
“Noelle, my sister!” he looked at Sadie and added, “I knew Santa Claus wouldn’t let me down.”
Grant turned to a tiny bassinet on the far side of the bed and picked up another baby. This one was swaddled in pink.
“There are two of them?” Sadie mused, looking like she might faint. Grant nodded.
“The doctor said she must have been hiding behind her brother and that’s why they didn’t see her.”
“It’s also why I looked like I swallowed a watermelon,” Jyl exclaimed with a laugh.
Everyone in the room was stunned and in tears or on the verge, except King. He looked at his old friend, “What did I tell you?”
Grant gazed steadily at him while everyone gathered around the unexpected addition. He put his hand on King’s shoulder and said, “Looks like all is forgiven.”
Jyl watched the two men with tears in her eyes and while everyone was occupied with the babies, she whispered softly, “Thank you, Josh, for your love and our son. And thank you for letting my heart open up to this second chance.” She gazed at her oldest son, who was beaming, and wondered how he would ever top his Christmas wish next year.
~ The End ~
I do hope you enjoyed Grant and Jyl’s story. If so, I’d like to ask you to take three. Take three minutes to do three things:
Please leave a review. Oftentimes, purchasing decisions are based on other reader’s reviews.
Please follow me on my blog and Facebook. This way you’ll be the first to know when a new book comes out.
Please give one of my other books a try.
Canton C
ounty Cowboys (Books 1-3)
Cowboys of Courage (Books 1-3)
Cherished Love (Cherished Cowboys Book 1)
~Enjoy and thanks again, Charlene
About the Author
Charlene Bright is the author of several contemporary western romance novels. She’s a lifelong resident of the American South and currently residents in southern Oklahoma on a family-owned cattle ranch. She greets each morning with a hot cup of coffee and an optimistic smile. Traveling to America’s national parks is her favorite pastime. You can find out more about Charlene and her books at Charlene Bright and don’t forget to connect with her on Facebook.
I Saw Mommy Kissing A Cowboy (Cowboy Christmas Romance) Page 16