Honky Tonk Christmas

by Carolyn Brown

  ***

  Holt laced his hands behind his head and stared at the bizarre patterns on the wall and ceiling created by moonlight drifting into the room through lace curtains. It had been a strange day with Sharlene finally coming clean with her parents and two of the brothers being hauled home by their wives. He remembered family life when his sister and parents were alive and missed it. Not that they’d ever had the big booming family with kids and food everywhere but it was exactly the atmosphere he’d always wanted when he was a child. If he had the privilege of choosing a family for Judd and Waylon, he would pick one exactly like the Waverly bunch. Grandparents who cared about their children and grandchildren; lots of kids to play and argue with at family gatherings; aunts and uncles who weren’t perfect but had love in their hearts.

  He shut his eyes tightly to force sleep but it didn’t work. He kept seeing Sharlene in those tight jeans and boots stomping out across the pasture toward the barn; in the hayloft with a good dose of mad all over her; sitting in his lap and sharing those hot, passionate kisses.

  Finally, he crawled out of bed, checked the kids, and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. He caught a movement out in the yard while he was standing at the sink. One glance told him it was Sharlene on the swings. It was barely eleven o’clock and she wasn’t used to finishing up her night until two and then there was wind-down time before she could sleep.

  He eased out the back door and pulled up a chair not far from her. The moonlight framed her in silhouette against a sky of sparkling stars. If a painter could catch a woman’s profile on a child’s swing with a big lover’s moon hanging in the sky he would have a true masterpiece. It was a good thing an artist didn’t create a picture like that because if they did, Holt would have to own it and it would bankrupt him.

  The stars were just beyond her reach when she was on the swing. She was a little girl again with no worries about relationships or problems. She caught a movement off to her left and felt someone watching her. She stuck her bare foot down and skidded to a stop with her heel. The same feeling that she had in Iraq when the enemy was close behind her flooded over her. She turned slowly and saw Holt sitting not ten feet away in one of the folding chairs they’d used around the tables.

  “You scared me,” she said.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “What are you doing out here? You don’t usually stay up until two in the morning like I do,” she asked.

  “Strange bed, maybe. Too many things on my mind. Want to take a walk and talk where we don’t have to whisper?”

  “In our bare feet? There’s goat heads out there in the pasture,” she said.

  “Then let’s go back in and get our boots,” he said.

  She hopped out of the swing. “All right. You want a shirt?”

  “No, I’m all right.”

  But I’m not. That broad chest and knowing there’s probably nothing under those knit pajama bottoms is giving me hives.

  She tiptoed to her bedroom and slipped her boots on without socks. His were sitting beside his bed when she peeked in the door. She checked on the kids one more time. They were both still covered and sleeping soundly. She could hear Claud snoring as she passed her parent’s bedroom door.

  Holt startled her when she opened the kitchen door and found him waiting on the porch. “Don’t sneak up on me. It scares the devil out of me.”

  “I wasn’t sneaking. I thought maybe you’d had a change of heart,” he said.

  She handed him the boots and he jammed his feet down into them.

  “Which way?” he asked.

  “Out toward the barn where the kittens are. That should be far enough that we won’t have to whisper,” she answered.

  His hand brushed against hers and he laced his fingers through hers. She led him to the fence where she opened the gate. The metal was still warm from the sun that afternoon but it wasn’t nearly as hot as the hand that Holt held.

  “You think it’s all right to leave the kids? What if they wake up?” he asked.

  “I’ll be surprised if they even turn over as tired as they are. They’ve run all afternoon. Judd almost went to sleep in the bathtub,” she said.

  Sharlene used her free hand to point. “Look.”

  The mother cat came out of the barn with a kitten in her mouth. She moved past them to the wood shed and went back again to fetch another baby.

  “Guess she got tired of little girls handling her litter,” Sharlene said.

  “She’d better hide them very good. Judd loves kittens,” Holt said.

  “Tasha will turn the farm upside down looking for them.” Sharlene sat down on a hay bale just inside the door.

  Holt let go of her hand and sat down beside her. He looked down at Sharlene at the same time she looked up at him. Their eyes locked and the world disappeared. The barn was the Garden of Eden. Holt and Sharlene were the only two people in it but there was a serpent. Only he wasn’t interested in pushing his apple tree; he had something far more exciting than a Red Delicious in mind.

  Holt ran the back of his hand down her jaw. No makeup, bedroom hair, a sprinkling of light freckles across her pert nose, and a cute little nightshirt and cowboy boots. Yet, the fire in his gut and the ache in his heart said that she was absolutely stunning. He cupped her face in both his palms and leaned forward.

  The soft touch of his rough hands on her face caused emotions deep inside her to quiver. His bare muscular chest, his broad callused hands, his square jaw with dark scruff created even deeper shivers but it was his lips that she focused on. Then suddenly, their lips were so close that she barely had time to shut her eyes before they met in a clash of passion.

  The ever loquacious Sharlene Waverly had no words when he broke away and moved his hands from her face to hug her tightly. Face against bare chest made every nerve ending in her body hum with desire. She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled in closer, listening to his speeding heart for the second time that day.

  “You are lovely in that getup, madam,” he whispered.

  “Flattery will get you in trouble,” she mumbled.

  He tipped her chin back up for another hard kiss that was as earth shattering as the first and held her close to his chest when it ended. “We’d better stop there or there’s no telling where we’ll wind up.”

  The fast beat of his heart was like a drum beat in her ear. “You are so right. This is too fast, Holt. But I’m not ready to go back inside. Let’s go up in the hayloft and watch the moon come up out the loft doors.”

  He nodded and started up the ladder with her right behind him.

  She sat down where she could get a good view and he settled in a few inches from her. “Talk to me,” he said.

  “About what?”

  “Just talk. I love the sound of your voice and the way you put words together.”

  “I talk too much,” she said.

  “Not to me.”

  She threw herself backward and looked at the moon hanging in the sky like a fancy queen with the stars as her subjects. “So what do you think of the Waverly clan?”

  “It’s been a wonderful day. I’ve never seen Judd and Waylon so happy.”

  “And you? Are you happy today, Holt?” she asked.

  He stretched out beside her. “Today, I’m happy. You have a gold mine here, Sharlene. Don’t forget to visit it often and take a few nuggets home.”

  She yawned. “I’m sorry. That looks like you are boring me and you aren’t. I can’t sleep in the house and can’t keep my eyes open in a hay barn. Something must be the matter with me.”

  He slipped an arm under her and pulled her to his side. “It’s been a physically exhausting day having to get up that early. And it’s been an emotional upheaval what with telling your folks about the secrets. Take a nap. I won’t let you sleep but a little while.”

  She pressed her whole body close to his and looped an arm around his neck, bringing his lips to hers for a kiss that created a delicious oozy warmth in the core of
her body. “I couldn’t actually sleep right now. If it meant sleep or firing squad, I have to shut my eyes and get ready for a bullet.”

  He chuckled and kissed her again. So much for stopping. His hand slid up her inner thigh, setting fires all the way to her underpants. His tongue danced with hers in a sensuous mating ritual that lit up the whole hayloft in sparkling fireworks.

  She was entertaining thoughts of kicking her panties over in the corner and letting nature take its course when a rat the size of a baby possum ran across her bare legs, up her chest, and looked her in the eye before it disappeared in a flash into a pile of loose hay.

  She jumped up and did a dance, wiping at her legs and arms, trying to get the feel of the nasty critter from her body. “Dammit all to hell and back. If it’s not kids it’s rats. I swear my mother sent that damn rat out here.”

  Holt laughed. “Guess it’s an omen. We are not supposed to make out or make love in the hayloft on the Waverly property. Maybe someone is watching out after us.”

  “I wish they’d stop,” she mumbled.

  “Lie down beside me and take a nap. I’ll watch for rats,” he said.

  “They’ll crucify you if they find us in here in our pajamas in the morning. So you’d better wake up in time to get us back in the house before daybreak.” She yawned and settled back down beside him.

  “Trust me,” he said.

  She wiped a hand across her neck one more time. Trust wasn’t something she did very well. And it was something he wouldn’t do when and if he read the classified file on Specialist Fourth Class Sharlene Waverly. Maybe there was a higher being watching out for them. It would be so much harder to watch him leave when the job was finished if they’d had sex.

  She didn’t intend to go to sleep at all because she didn’t want to wake up all wild-eyed after one of her famous nightmares. But she did and she did not dream about bombed out shells where buildings used to stand, people who didn’t want the U.S. military in their country, and secret assignments.

  Instead her dreams were filled with sunshine, fields of wild yellow daisies, and Judd and Waylon chasing butterflies. She could hear Holt’s deep Texas drawl behind her and feel his strong arms slipping around her waist as he called out to the children not to go too far. Then he kissed her on the neck and told her she was beautiful.

  Chapter 9

  Sharlene rolled over, stretched, and reached for Holt, but he wasn’t there. She was in her bed in the house. Her boots were sitting beside the door and she was wearing her nightshirt and underpants. That was a good thing because if he was beside her, Molly would make Claud load the shotgun and the Waverly brothers force Holt to marry her on the spot. She touched her forehead where he’d kissed her when he carried her into the house and laid her on the bed.

  Molly poked her head inside the door. “You going to sleep all day? Holt and the kids have already had breakfast. Bart and Fiona are on their way and Judd and Waylon are waiting for their kids on the front porch.”

  “What time is it?” Sharlene asked.

  “Ten o’clock. Figured I’d let you sleep in since you had a hard day yesterday,” Molly said.

  Sharlene jumped out of bed, grabbed her duffle bag, and headed toward the bathroom. “Bart and Fiona get things settled? I’ll be on the porch by the time they arrive. I’m starving. Did they leave anything on the back burner for me for breakfast?”

  “Fiona said things were back to normal. There are some sausage and biscuits still on the back of the stove. All the gravy is gone and there’s no more pancakes. I could mix up another batch,” Molly offered.

  “That’s all right. Don’t make anymore gravy. I’ll stuff sausage and grape jelly in a biscuit and call it breakfast. Be there in five minutes.”

  Sharlene shut the door to the bathroom and checked her reflection in the mirror. She still looked the same as she had the day before. Unruly red curls, green eyes, a few freckles that she could erase with makeup. She tilted her head to one side and then the other. There was something else; a glow or a glitter in the eyes, something that hadn’t been in the mirror the day before. She hoped her mother hadn’t picked up on the difference.

  Fiona and Bart were getting out of the truck when she stepped out on the porch in her denim miniskirt, boots, and a bright orange tank top. Fiona walked with her head held high and the old determination in her step. If a bouquet of roses or daisies or whatever Bart had been fool enough to send to the hot little teller woke them both up, then they were worth the price and the fight.

  Tasha and four-year-old Betsy grabbed Judd’s hand and away they went toward the barn where the kittens would not be hiding. Their boys, Dylan and Tyler, asked Waylon if he’d like to toss a football around. Bart kissed Fiona on the forehead and headed to the backyard where Holt and Claud were firing up the grill and setting up more tables.

  “So?” Sharlene followed Fiona into the kitchen.

  “It’s finished and it won’t happen again, believe me.”

  “If it does, you call me and I’ll bring an extra shovel. Even if he is my brother, I’ll help you bury his body so deep that the coyotes won’t even smell him,” Sharlene said.

  “Who are we burying?” Molly asked from the stove where she was stirring a pot of pinto beans.

  “Any fool husband who sends flowers to another woman,” Sharlene answered.

  “Add a shovel to the list,” Molly said without hesitation.

  “Thank you, but it really is over. We got it straightened out.” Fiona set a lemon layered cake on the table. “I’ve got a cobbler and potato casserole in the truck. Come help me bring them in, Sharlene. By the way, you look cute today. Something is different about you. Must’ve done you good to ’fess up to your evil deeds yesterday.”

  “Does everyone good to come clean,” Molly said.

  “Amen to that,” Fiona agreed.

  Sharlene kept her mouth shut. She wanted to slip around to the backyard and see if Holt had a different expression than he’d had yesterday. But common sense told her to steer clear of him for fear that everyone in the family would see the invisible sparks and aura that surrounded them. She followed Fiona to the truck and picked up the long glass pan containing hash brown casserole.

  “Y’all need some help?” Bart and Holt jogged from around the house.

  Bart took the cobbler from Fiona and said, “I’ll carry that. You got anything more in there?”

  Sharlene handed the casserole off to Holt. “This.”

  Their hands brushed in the transfer and she felt a tingle down to her toes. She hadn’t set out to be more than friends with Holt Jackson but those kisses the day and night before had nixed that idea. Her mind argued with her heart and everything went in circles as she tried to hang onto a single decision about Holt. It might have helped if the sparks between them didn’t keep heating up her body hotter than the hot tin roof of a barn that was in blazes.

  “Did you sleep well?” Holt whispered.

  “Wonderful well,” she smiled.

  “I didn’t.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. It was worth it. Rat and all.”

  She giggled.

  “What’s so funny?” Fiona asked.

  Jenny and Miles drove up before Sharlene could answer and two kids were out of the truck and running toward the backyard before Sharlene could turn around.

  “Hey, you two without something in your hands, come and help me,” Jenny called out to Sharlene and Fiona.

  Miles had a sack of ice in each hand. “I’m taking these in before they melt,” he said.

  Jenny pointed to several covered dishes in two cardboard boxes located in the bed of the truck. She and Fiona each grabbed the edge of one box and Sharlene picked up the last dish from the remaining box.

  “What’s in this?” she asked.

  “It’s corn salad. We’ll put the corn chips on top just before we serve it. Got the recipe at Dolly Benton’s funeral last week. No cooking to it. Just mix up cheese and corn and th
e rest of the ingredients, then you add chili flavored corn chips to it right at the end so they’ll stay crispy,” she answered.

  “Sounds like it would go wonderful with cold beer,” Sharlene said.

  “It does, but don’t tell Momma I said that,” Fiona whispered.

  “My lips are sealed,” Sharlene said. “How’d things go last night with you? Did Matthew about come unglued at the hinges?”

  Fiona laughed.

  “No, he grinned and strutted around like a stud horse. I expected him to beat on his chest like Tarzan before the night was over. You’d think it was some kind of powerful thing that proves he’s still a man or something,” Jenny said. “He wouldn’t feel so cocky if he had to throw up everything but his toenails every morning. And just once I’d like to see a man go through labor. Not all of it and not delivery. God, they’d all die. But just the last five minutes they could take on the pains and do the pushing for us. That sounds fair, doesn’t it? I’m sorry. Here I am bitching and I didn’t even ask about you and Bart.”

  “We worked it out. I talked and he listened and swore nothing had happened and would never happen. He apologized and promised. I believed him but if I catch wind of it again, it’s going to be a different story,” Fiona said.

  Sharlene raised an eyebrow.

  Fiona jutted her chin out and said, “Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, I’ll go to Mingus and become a bartender.”

  Holt held the door for the other five and heard the last comment Fiona made. Evidently Bart and Fiona straightened out their problem but Bart was skating on thin ice until he proved himself. And the Waverly women didn’t mess around giving second chances. He followed them to the kitchen where the women were bustling around arranging food on the buffet table. Miles pulled two ice chests from the back porch, filled them with two bags of ice, and then went to the coffee pot. He poured two cups and put sugar and cream in one and carried it to Jenny before he and the other men headed to the backyard.