A Snowbound Cowboy Christmas

by Amanda Renee

  “You must be terrified.”

  “I am.” Emma fought back the tears that threatened to break free. “The doctor estimates her at almost five pounds, so that’s good. But her lungs haven’t fully developed yet. Hence the steroids. My baby’s not even born and she’s receiving medical treatment.”

  “Mrs. Slade, we’re ready for you,” a nurse in pink scrubs said to Belle.

  “I’m just having a routine checkup. I shouldn’t be long. Do you want to wait and we can talk?”

  Emma nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

  She sat back in the chair, attempting to remain calm and think logically. How did millions of women give birth every year, just as they had done for thousands of years, without complications? She thought she had done something wrong but the doctor had assured her that snowshoeing and sex weren’t to blame. Neither was her stress. It contributed to her high blood pressure but not the other preterm delivery factors.

  As much as Emma wanted to see her little girl, neither one of them was ready. She hated going through this alone. She wanted to call her mom but she couldn’t stomach one of her what’s going to be is going to be speeches. She knew if she called Jennie, her friend would be on the first flight to Montana and insist on staying with her for the next seven weeks. She was that generous of a friend, and Emma wouldn’t allow her to jeopardize her job because she was scared.

  Belle’s exam had taken less time than Emma had anticipated. Harlan was at work and Ivy was visiting her biological mother for the day, allowing Emma and Belle to have the house to themselves.

  “How about we make a girl’s day out of this?” Belle handed Emma a cup of herbal tea. “We can kick back and watch romantic comedies for the rest of the day.”

  “I don’t think romance is the best thing for me to watch after what happened last night.”

  “Oh, that.” Belle’s eyes widened. “Garrett had mentioned that you and Dylan had an argument over the ranch.”

  “I don’t know who I’m madder at. Dylan or myself.”

  “I don’t really understand what happened. Garrett said Dylan had asked him to become his partner on the ranch and you got upset. Full disclosure, he also asked Harlan and Wes to go in with him. Wes said no, but Harlan hasn’t made up his mind yet. I think it would be a good idea, but maybe there’s something I’m not seeing. Is this about your company not getting the ranch?”

  “Yes and no. While I was trying to convince Dylan to sell to me, I decided I wanted to buy into the ranch. Before I had a chance to tell Dylan, he made the offer to his brothers, which I totally understand. While I can’t help but be annoyed that he won Garrett over with my ideas, I’m crushed that I gave him three chances to tell me he loved me and he didn’t. I told him I thought he would have said the words, and he just stared at me. So, who’s the fool? Me? I feel used. He has everything he wants while I get to go home to a demoted position because once this baby is born, I can no longer afford to travel all over the world. That had been my biggest job requirement. So I’m stuck with a paper-pushing job I hate, at least until I find something else. In the meantime, I’m having my baby in Montana and then I have to move into a smaller apartment when I get back to Chicago. This is not the start to my daughter’s life that I had expected.”

  “So he didn’t say the words?” Belle asked.

  Emma sipped her tea. “The bottom line is, Dylan and I don’t trust each other. That came to a head the night Harlan thought I was going behind Dylan’s back when I was just doing what my boss had instructed me to do.”

  “I was furious with him for getting in the middle of that. I am so sorry for the undue stress that put you through.”

  “I appreciate it, but I understood where Harlan was coming from, too. Dylan had brought me to a particular place on the ranch a few times. A spot Jax had also shown me. The more time I spent there, the more I had envisioned a beautiful open-air wedding chapel where the ranch could provide destination wedding packages.”

  “Dylan was telling us about them last night. They sound wonderful. I would’ve loved something like that. Both of my weddings were completely unconventional, and I wouldn’t mind a third.”

  Emma set her teacup on the end table. “Okay, so all those ideas Dylan told you about last night, they were mine. Some had been a part of my original proposal package and the rest, like the chapel, were all ideas I wanted to actively be a part of. The more I thought about them and talked about them, I saw myself helping Dylan see them come to fruition. Not sit on the sidelines and watch him do it with somebody else. Dylan kept asking me to stay in Montana so I naïvely thought he wanted me to be his partner in every way. When I heard him ask Garrett to be his partner instead and then mentioned Harlan and Wes, I was crushed.”

  Belle patted Emma’s thigh. “You got your feelings hurt.”

  “I sure did. Now that I’ve had a chance to think about it, maybe I overreacted. In the same respect, I don’t know what Dylan expected me to do for work if I said yes and moved to Montana. I’m not the type who would be happy answering phones. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not what I want. I want to be a part of the bigger picture. That has been my job for the last six years. I am a commercial real estate analyst. I make a living looking at the bigger picture. After listening to Dylan, it was obvious he didn’t see me the same way. He said he had at one point, but once he took on partners, things were different.”

  “You wanted to be included.” Elvis jumped on the couch between them, spun around a few times and laid down. “The dog gets it. He wants to be included, too.”

  They both laughed, breaking the tension. Emma scratched the dog behind the ears, only to have him roll over on his back for belly rubs. “I think Dylan believes this is about him not selling the ranch, but it’s not. I knew he was going to be a tough sell going in. He has every right to explore his options and ask his family to join him. Although, he already told me Garrett had turned him down once before. If he had said, ‘I love you,’ I could have overlooked it all. I can’t move sixteen hundred miles away from my life for a man who doesn’t even know if he loves me.”

  “I would probably have felt the same way.”

  Talking to Belle made her feel better. It helped justify her feelings and allowed her to see where she may have been a little too harsh with Dylan. In all actuality, he hadn’t really done anything wrong. He was looking out for his best interests. Their relationship had been far too new for either one of them to consider her involvement in the ranch. If anyone had the clearer head, it had probably been Dylan for realizing that fact. That didn’t make it any easier to accept.

  * * *

  BELLE WAS THE last person Dylan expected to receive a phone call from that evening. After she had filled him in on Emma’s doctor visit, she clarified why Emma was so furious with him. Belle admitted to violating the girl code by telling him all of it, but she felt they both needed to give the other a second chance before giving up completely. Dylan didn’t understand how he could have been so blind.

  He checked his watch. It wasn’t too late to stop by her room. That’s if she would open the door for him. He didn’t think any amount of singing in the hallway would change her mind this time after the way he had completely disregarded her feelings.

  Surprisingly, she answered after the first knock. “Let me guess... Belle.”

  “She felt horrible for breaking your confidence, but she’s worried about you, and so am I. I owe you a huge apology.”

  “Dylan, it seems like that’s all you’ve done since I’ve arrived. No more apologies. We have both made mistakes. I invested too much of my heart into this place and I wasn’t even aware I was doing it. I don’t know if it was you, Jax, Montana or maybe a combination of all of it, but Silver Bells really grabbed ahold of me.”

  “It tends to have that effect on people.”

  “I just wi
sh I had seen it before this visit. Maybe I could have prepared myself better.”

  “The heart wants what the heart wants,” Dylan said. “That’s the lesson I’ve learned since you arrived. I thought I had built up enough resistance to protect myself from ever falling in love again. You can’t protect yourself from that.”

  Dylan noticed her suitcases now sat where the Christmas presents had. He scanned the bed and the dresser. There were no blue and pink bags, no baby clothes lying around, no signs of Emma.

  “Are you leaving?” Belle had told him Emma was prohibited from traveling.

  “I made open-ended reservations in Kalispell. I think it’s best if I put some distance between...us.”

  “I don’t want you to go. And I don’t think you want to, either.”

  “Our relationship happened way too fast. Maybe if time had been on our side and we had met under different circumstances, we may have had a chance. I cannot focus on that or worry about it, anymore. My baby may arrive sooner than later. I need to prepare for the fact I’m having my child in Montana. I don’t have any of the comforts of home and before you offer, no. I can handle this on my own.”

  “What about your job?”

  “I have made peace with the lesser position. It’s relatively stress-free and will allow me to spend more time with my daughter. I have some money to fall back on so we won’t have to move right away, but I will have to move soon. It will all work out in the end. I have a job and a roof over my head, I just need to give birth to a healthy baby.”

  “Emma.” Dylan lifted her hands and held them against his chest. “I understand you not wanting to be with me anymore. But I do love you and I still want to be with you.”

  “Please don’t.” Emma looked up at him. The life and fire he had once seen in her eyes was gone. “You’re only saying that because Belle told you that’s what I wanted to hear.”

  “That’s not true. I mean every word. I don’t want you to give up on us, but I understand. I wish you would at least stay here, where you don’t have to worry about money. It will be one less financial burden. I don’t want you to think of it as a gift, I—”

  Dylan noticed the cradle and rocking horse on the opposite side of the room away from her luggage. “You are taking those with you, right?”

  “Under the circumstances, I don’t think I should. They’re beautiful and I think you should give them to somebody you plan on spending the rest of your life with. You worked hard on them.”

  “I built them for your baby. It doesn’t matter what happens between us now, tomorrow or ten years from now, these are for your daughter. I want her to have them. You don’t have to tell her about me, just...please.”

  Dylan choked back a tear, an emotion he didn’t know he was capable of. He released her hands and stepped away from her. “I will leave you alone now. Just, please, take the cradle and the rocking horse.”

  Dylan couldn’t escape her room fast enough. He ran down the lodge’s stairs and into the cold. He couldn’t bear the thought of Emma leaving or never seeing her child.

  How could he have made so many mistakes?

  Chapter Fifteen

  Emma hadn’t expected saying goodbye would be so difficult the following morning at breakfast. She hated leaving all the wonderful people she’d met and would genuinely miss them. They exchanged numbers and promised to stay in touch. Kalispell wasn’t far, so they could still meet on weekends, providing the butter bean cooperated.

  Emma wondered if she would see Dylan before she left. It would probably be easier on the two of them if they didn’t. She had three and a half hours before her car service arrived. The rental company had already come and picked up her car. In hindsight, she should’ve done that a week ago.

  After breakfast, she headed back to her room. She wished she could have checked into the hotel in Kalispell sooner, but she had to wait until noon.

  “Emma.” One of the older women who had teased her about Dylan only a few days prior stopped her on the staircase. “Why don’t you join us for one last sleigh ride around the ranch before you go? It’s just going to be us girls. We’ve already booked it, and you can be our guest.”

  “Oh I don’t think—”

  “Nonsense.” The woman hooked her arm in Emma’s and steered her back down the stairs. “We have that cowboy hottie, Wes, ready and waiting.”

  “Oh, okay.” Emma allowed the woman to lead her through the lobby. She guessed there wouldn’t be any harm since it wasn’t Dylan. And how bad could a sleigh ride be with a couple of cowboy-crazy rowdy women? It actually sounded like fun.

  The sleigh ride was anything but tame, and Wes egged them on. She had officially heard every dirty joke known to man. Not from Wes. From the women. They even sang dirty songs instead of Christmas carols after stating Christmas was over with and it was time to celebrate being women. Emma began to wonder just how much celebrating they had done before embarking on their little adventure.

  Even though her group of rebels was far from romantic, Emma couldn’t help but think about the many sleigh rides she had taken with Dylan. She missed him already and she hadn’t even stepped foot off the ranch. When Wes reined the sleigh to a stop at the location she and Dylan had made love, Emma thought her heart would shatter into a million pieces.

  In the distance, a single draft horse and sleigh approached. To her surprise, it was Dylan. He stepped out of the sleigh and walked toward her, carrying a bouquet of long-stemmed red roses. Wordlessly, he took her gloved hand, helped her out of the sleigh and led her to the future chapel site. The sound of sleigh bells jingled behind them, as Wes and company drove away.

  “You all had this planned, didn’t you?” Emma asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Dylan tipped his hat. “I couldn’t let you leave without showing you how much you and your baby mean to me. I’ve spent most of my thirty-five years alone. Even though I wanted a family to call my own, I never saw it in my future. And I know your little butter bean isn’t mine biologically, but I have this unexplainable attachment to her mother and that automatically led me to fall in love with her, too.”

  “Dylan, what are you saying?” Emma clutched the roses to her chest.

  “I’m saying I love you, Emma Sheridan. I don’t want to spend another day without you by my side. I have been so stubborn and pigheaded that I haven’t truly seen what is right in front of me. I don’t want you to go to Kalispell today. I don’t want you to go back to Chicago once your daughter is born. I want you to stay. Here. In Montana with me.” Dylan reached into his pocket and knelt in the snow on one knee. “As my wife.” He held a diamond ring in front of him. “Will you marry me?”

  “Dylan, I’m having a baby,” Emma said as tears stung her cheeks.

  “And I want to be a part of her life. I want to raise her as my own.”

  “No.” Emma gripped his shoulder. “I’m having a baby. Now!”

  “Holy crap!” Dylan pocketed the ring and sprang to his feet. He swept her into his arms and carried her to the sleigh, bundling her in blankets before taking the reins. “It’s going to be all right. I’ll take care of you. I promise nothing will happen to you or the butter bean.”

  * * *

  BY THE TIME they reached the hospital, Dylan thought he would have a heart attack.

  “I should have taken Lamaze classes.” Emma said as they wheeled her down the hallway. “I should’ve learned how to breathe properly.” Dylan ran beside her as she squeezed the life out of his hand. “I’m sorry I ruined your proposal.”

  “Don’t worry about that. There can always be another proposal. There’s only one butter bean.”

  “Oh, God!” She screamed as she doubled over in pain. “My baby is coming and I still don’t have a name.” They reached the delivery room and two women in pink scrubs helped her out of the wheelchair and into a gown.<
br />
  “Is the father staying for the delivery?” one of the women asked Emma.

  “Oh, I’m not the father.” As much as he would love to be in the room for the delivery, he didn’t want Emma to feel uncomfortable.

  “Yes, he is.” Emma winced as they eased her onto the bed. “You are her father. I accept your proposal.”

  “You do?” Dylan ran to her side, unfamiliar tears wetting his cheeks. “You just made me the happiest man alive.”

  “Okay, Mr. Happy. We need to get you in a gown, booties and a cap.” Dylan felt himself being spun in multiple directions. He’d never been in a delivery room before, let alone a delivery room where he was about to become a father.

  “Oh, my God, I’m going to be a dad.”

  Emma smiled weakly at him from across the room. “Would you please finish getting dressed and get back over here.” It was more of a demand than a question. And he was more than willing to oblige. Dylan bent down and kissed Emma softly on the forehead. “You’re doing good, honey. You’re about to be a mom.”

  “Are you sure you want this? Are you sure you want this responsibility for the next eighteen years?”

  The idea alone should have terrified him, but he welcomed it. He wanted a family with Emma more than anything else in this world. “There’s no one else I would rather spend my life with.”

  “Okay, Emma,” the doctor said. “This baby is coming quickly. I’m going to need you to give me a couple of good pushes when I say so. Are you ready?”

  “No.” Emma shook her head. “I don’t even have a name for her.”

  The doctor laughed. “You’re not the first person that’s happened to. You’ll figure it out. Now I need you to give me a push on the count of three. One. Two. Push.”

  Emma squeezed Dylan’s hand even tighter as she tried to sit up and push at the same time.