A Rancher for Christmas

by Brenda Minton

  It was hard enough that today he’d caught Brody on the computer searching for Sylvia Martin. He’d told his kid brother to let it go. He’d tried to find her once. He’d written her a letter when their father died. She’d responded and told him she was really very sorry and hoped they were all doing well. He tried to write and tell her they were great without her. That letter was returned, undelivered.

  He had to acknowledge that Breezy wasn’t Sylvia. Breezy had come back. As hurt as she was, he knew she would come back to the girls.

  “Jake, you have to find a way to make this work. For the twins.” Marty touched his hand as he pushed the stroller. He stopped pushing and looked at her, trying to find an answer for her and for himself.

  “I will.” Jake let the words out on a sigh. “I made a mistake, but I’m going to fix it.”

  “What mistake? Being attracted to Breezy?” Marty winked as she said that. “I can’t see how you two falling in love is a mistake. Not for you, for her or the twins.”

  “I don’t think I mentioned love,” he said. “I meant I should have told her about the P.I.”

  “Yes, you should have.”

  The band played a few notes, warming up. Jake watched Breezy take her place on the makeshift stage. She stood up there in her long skirt, sweater and boots, blond hair down her back. She belonged. To this town. To him.

  Man, he wanted to push his way through this crowd of people and take her in his arms. But he couldn’t because he didn’t know what he was feeling or what would happen come next week or next month.

  Marty whispered for him to move forward and stop staring because he looked like a fool. He chuckled and shook his head. He pushed the stroller forward, joining the crowds.

  “Lawton wanted us to become a couple,” Jake shared with Marty.

  She laughed. “He was your best friend and he wanted you as happy with his sister as he was with yours. Makes perfect sense to me.”

  “Not to me. Take two people with trust issues, toss them in a situation and see what you get.” He walked around to the front of the stroller and handed Violet the drink she’d asked for.

  He missed his sister at times like this. And he missed Lawton. He pushed his hat back and took in a deep breath and let the pain out on the exhale.

  The music started, giving him a much needed reprieve. Marty was as bad as his brothers these days, wanting to involve herself in his life. His relationships.

  The choir started to sing. “Away in a Manger” came first. They included a choir of children for this song, letting the little ones sing the last verse without the band. The crowd’s silence said everything. Especially since tonight the baby Jesus had been put in the nativity and the star above the little building was lit.

  The last song of the night included Breezy’s solo. He watched as she sang “Mary, Did You Know?” Their gazes locked for an instant, then she glanced away, her eyes widening on something or someone behind him.

  Jake spun around, worried it was Tyler Randall, even though Tyler’s bail was high and Breezy looked thrilled, not upset. A couple approached Jake, and a small boy of about seven walked with them. The woman was tall with long dark hair. The man next to her wore a cowboy hat and a protective glare. Family, Jake guessed.

  The woman walked up to him, pinning him with a look.

  “Jake Martin, I’m Mia McKennon. Breezy’s sister.”

  He must have looked perplexed because the man next to her held out a hand and offered an apologetic look.

  “Slade McKennon, and you’ll have to overlook my wife. She’s retired from the DEA but she hasn’t retired from digging into other people’s business.” He gave his wife a look that Jake couldn’t miss. He brought the boy up to his side. “This is our son, Caleb.”

  “It’s good to meet you.” Jake shook Slade’s hand and then watched as Mia knelt next to the twins, her smile for them a lot different than the one she’d given him.

  “Breezy didn’t know we were coming down,” Slade offered in a way that seemed to be another apology.

  “Didn’t she?” Jake said. Breezy was still on the stage. They were singing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” The crowd sang along.

  After the song ended, Slade McKennon spoke again. “No, she didn’t. Mia talked to her yesterday and said she got a bad feeling. Mia doesn’t ignore her bad feelings. And I guess I’ve learned not to ignore them.”

  “I see,” Jake said. He got the distinct impression they thought he was responsible for those bad feelings in Breezy’s life.

  As he watched Breezy hop down off the trailer, the only thing he could think about was loading her up in his truck and taking her for a drive somewhere, far away from all of these people and their opinions.

  If they drove far enough, maybe they could outrun both of their pasts.

  He’d like to hold her close as they sat on the tailgate of his truck watching stars. It had been a long, long time since he’d done anything like that. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d even wanted to take a woman for a drive down by the creek. He wanted to hold her hand, maybe brush a kiss across her knuckles. He wanted like crazy to tell her that if they could be friends, maybe they could be more.

  But all of those thoughts fled like darkness come sunrise. Breezy’s family had come to check on her, to make sure she was safe. What did they want after that? To take her back to Oklahoma?

  Breezy hurried toward them. When she reached them, she pulled her sister into a hug, reaching for the boy, Caleb, as she did. The two sisters talked, laughed, hugged again.

  Violet started to cry. Breezy broke away from her sister as she gave Violet her attention, leaning down to pick up the little girl who wanted to be held.

  “They’re beautiful,” Mia said. Her hand, probably without her realizing, went to her belly. “I can’t believe that by summer I’ll have a little person like that.”

  “Maybe a little smaller.” Breezy smiled as she said it, holding Violet to her shoulder.

  Rosie, not to be left out, looked at Jake with big tears falling down her cheeks. He picked her up and she immediately reached for Breezy.

  “I think they’ve missed you,” he said.

  “I could take them tonight. If you think...” Breezy shrugged.

  “That would be good.” Jake handed Rosie over. “I have some shopping to do tomorrow. By the way, if you haven’t seen Lilly, she wanted me to let you know the puppy is weaned.”

  “Right, Daisy. I’ll pick her up tomorrow.”

  “I can pick her up on my way home and bring it to your place,” he offered.

  “Okay, thank you, Jake.”

  “Mia and Slade are welcome to stay and join us for Christmas.” He made the offer and Marty nodded her approval, then motioned that she was going to the fellowship hall for cookies.

  Breezy looked at her sister, hopefulness in her expression. He knew she missed Mia. He knew this had been hard for her, being tossed into the lives of strangers.

  “Of course we’re staying,” Slade answered, his arm sliding around his wife’s waist. Caleb moved to the spot in front of his dad and Slade’s hand rested on the boy’s shoulder.

  Jake gave the other man a cursory nod, then he looked at Breezy. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Breezy stepped forward. Her sister had taken Rosie and she had Violet in her left arm. With her free right hand she touched his cheek and then she stood on tiptoe and kissed where she’d touched.

  “I’m sorry, Jake.”

  She really knew how to bring a guy to his knees. He didn’t think she realized how she twisted him inside out. He didn’t think she had a clue that he was fighting the urge to kiss her in a way that would show her that friendship just wasn’t going to work.

  He just stood there, watching as she stepped back, a sweet expression on her face.
/>   “I’m sorry, too,” he said. As soon as he could he would offer a real apology for the private investigator, for not trusting her.

  As he stood there thinking about how to make amends, she walked away with the twins, a boy named Caleb, her sister and her brother-in-law. They looked like family.

  And oddly, he felt like the outsider.

  * * *

  Breezy and Mia stayed up long after the twins, Caleb and Slade went to bed. They curled up on the couch with herbal tea and talked about home. Mia’s home in Dawson, her family the Coopers, the Mad Cow Café where Breezy had worked and all of the other people Breezy had known while living in that small Oklahoma town.

  “Are you homesick?” Mia asked.

  Breezy had to think about that. She missed Dawson. But it would hurt Mia’s feelings to tell her it hadn’t been her home. It had been Mia’s home, Mia’s family and friends. Breezy had felt somewhat settled there.

  “I do miss it,” she admitted. “I miss you and your family.”

  Again, they were Mia’s family.

  “But?” Mia set her cup on the table next to the sofa and pulled an afghan up to her waist.

  “This really does feel like home. I miss you all, but I’m supposed to be here. I’m supposed to raise Rosie and Violet. I keep thinking about how Lawton came into my life when he did. What if he hadn’t found me? What if I’d never known him? I would have missed out on so much.”

  She wouldn’t have known her brother. She would never have known who her father was. She wouldn’t have had the twins. It would have been Jake raising those little girls alone.

  And she missed him so much. Even though she’d just seen him, she missed him.

  “So about your parenting partner,” Mia started with a knowing look, her mouth turning slightly and her eyes twinkling. “He’s easy on the eyes.”

  “Yes, he is.” There was no denying it.

  “And the two of you are close?”

  “Do we have to go there?” Breezy sipped her tea and dragged part of Mia’s afghan to her own feet.

  “Yes, we do. I’m worried about you. I’m worried that he is going to break your heart.”

  “He won’t break my heart. We know what we need to do.”

  “And what’s that, Breezy?” Mia jerked the blanket back to her side and grinned. They had missed out on so many moments like this because Maria had taken Breezy away. They had just found one another, just started to get reacquainted, and then Lawton had found Breezy.

  But their reconnecting didn’t have to end. They could visit, talk on the phone and share pictures. Breezy would definitely be with Mia when she had the baby.

  Mia nudged Breezy with her foot. “Come back to earth.”

  “Jake and I have to be friends for the sake of the twins.”

  Mia barked a laugh and then covered her mouth with her hand. “That’s hilarious. Friends, for the sake of the twins. There’s electricity between the two of you. You look at each other and forests in other states catch fire.”

  “That isn’t true.”

  “Oh, it’s true,” Mia said with a grin. “And if you think you can contain that in a mason jar like a lightning bug, you’re fooling yourself. There’s no lid tight enough to hold in that force. I know because I fought my feelings for Slade for a long, long time.”

  “I know.”

  Slade’s wife, Mia’s best friend, had died in a car accident. It had taken Mia a long time to be okay with what she felt for Slade.

  “I want you to be happy, Breeze. You deserve to be happy. And to have this awesome home. And stuff to fill it with.” Mia grinned and lifted her cup to her lips.

  Breezy looked around the house, at the things she’d bought to make this house her home. She wouldn’t leave it. She wouldn’t take off in the night and leave behind the things she loved, the things she cared about.

  She wouldn’t leave Jake behind. Or the twins. Because when she thought of things she couldn’t leave behind, it wasn’t material things at all. It was the people she loved.

  And she loved Jake Martin.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Christmas morning dawned and Jake was awake. He made coffee before Marty came to the kitchen to start cooking. She kissed his cheek and went to work on the meal that would feed their family. She could have gone to visit family in Austin or San Antonio, but she considered the Martin kids her kids. She had told him last night that she really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

  He was glad she felt that way. He knew without a doubt that they wouldn’t be nearly as functional without her.

  He plugged in the lights on the tree and the lights on the mantel while he waited for everyone else to wake up. And he waited for Breezy, the twins and Breezy’s family. They would be there within the hour.

  “I’m going to run out to the barn to take care of a few things.” Jake walked through the kitchen on his way to the back door.

  “I’ll have breakfast ready when you get back. Over easy?”

  “Yes, thanks,” he called out as he headed out the door.

  When he got to the barn he stopped to check on Breezy’s Christmas gift. He was kind of proud of himself. He hoped Breezy would like it as much as he did. He planned on giving the gift to her here, in the barn. He wanted time to talk to her. Alone. He wanted time to explain that he’d been wrong and he wanted to make things right.

  Her brother-in-law’s truck was in the drive when he got back. He found them all in the kitchen, seated at the bar stools around the counter. Caleb, Slade’s son, was wearing a cowboy hat today and what appeared to be new boots.

  “Nice boots, Caleb.” Jake leaned down to take a look.

  The kid began to tell him all about the boots and how they were the best. Jake tousled his blond hair before stopping to see the twins, who were sitting on Breezy’s lap. They were barely awake. Rosie rubbed a hand over her eyes and smiled up at him. And then she raised her arms in a silent request. He picked her up, holding her close.

  “Have you been in the living room?” he asked.

  Breezy shook her head. “No, we didn’t want to give anything away.”

  “Good. I want to see their faces when they see...”

  Breezy cut him off, a finger to her lips. “Shh, don’t tell them.”

  “You know, it’s all I could do not to come over last night and get them so they could have their gifts,” he admitted.

  Slade laughed at that. “Caleb got a new saddle and we gave it to him two days ago. I couldn’t wait.”

  Mia gave her husband a sweet look. Jake thought that look said it all when it came from a woman like Mia, who appeared able to take down small armies if necessary.

  “We could take them now,” Breezy offered.

  “No,” Marty said in a loud, firm tone. “Breakfast, then gifts. New parents always get ahead of themselves.”

  Jake looked at Breezy and saw it register in her expression. That moment when they realized this was it. They weren’t going to wake up tomorrow and have this all be a dream.

  She reached for his hand. He’d missed her.

  Brody walked into the kitchen a few minutes later, rubbing sleep from his eyes and then smoothing hair down with his hand. He might be an adult but he still looked like a kid who woke up on Christmas morning half-asleep but ready to open gifts.

  “Breakfast,” he muttered.

  Caleb took a long look at him. “You’re a bull rider.”

  Brody narrowed his eyes and looked at Caleb. “Did we get another kid?”

  Caleb laughed at that. “No, I’m Breezy’s nephew. Those are my parents. They kiss a lot. Grown-ups do that when they love each other.”

  He said the last part as if repeating what he had been told often.

  Jake wished the kid would stay around
a little longer.

  Brody looked at Caleb, one eye squinting. “So you’re the new sister’s nephew. I guess you can call me Uncle Brody. And yeah, I used to ride bulls.”

  “You don’t ride bulls anymore?” Caleb continued to quiz even though Mia had put a hand on his arm.

  Jake watched the exchange, interested in things Brody didn’t really say to any of them. And yet he’d tell a kid he barely knew.

  “No, I don’t ride anymore.” Brody grinned. “But I’m finding other things to do.”

  Duke showed up next. Caleb eyed him as he walked through the door. The kid’s eyes widened. Duke poured a cup of coffee and hugged Marty, who handed him a plate of food. Everyone else was eating.

  Everyone but Caleb. He spun in his chair to watch Duke take a seat at the table. “Are you a giant?”

  Duke spooned a mouthful of eggs into his mouth. “Yeah.”

  “Cool.”

  Everyone laughed.

  After breakfast they all walked to the living room. The twins held Jake and Breezy’s fingers. They had been little last year and Christmas hadn’t been like this, filled with awe and wonder.

  Christmas music played on the radio and the smell of ham baking filled the air. Rosie and Violet stopped in the living room, their eyes widening at the sight of the tree and all of the gifts.

  They had put the rocking horses under the tree with ribbons around their necks. Jake had bought some type of scooter for Caleb. It would work great in the driveway, the salesgirl at the toy store had told him. When Caleb saw the scooter he just looked at it.

  Jake grinned at the boy and indicated with a nod that he should head for the tree with the twins. “I think you’ll find something with your name on it, Caleb.”

  Caleb took the twins by the hand and led them over to the tree. The girls climbed on those rocking horses and Caleb pulled the scooter out to give it a thorough look.

  Jake put Brody in charge of handing out the other gifts. As he did, their other guests arrived. Joe, Oregon and Lilly. He watched as Lilly immediately went to Duke, showing him the ring she’d gotten from her mom and telling him how much money she had saved in her piggy bank for a horse.