“We’ll start with Henry. What’s wrong with him?”
“Nothing. He’s a sweet grandpa who loves Joshua and is lonely for his wife. Christmas was her favorite holiday, so he imagines that she’s here with him all month. He’s not deranged. I hear Drew’s voice in my head too.”
“You and Drew were two peas in a pod. You were almost as connected as me and Leah, so I’m not surprised. Now tell me about Jack,” Debra said.
“Jack reminds me of Daddy. Only without you. His wife left him to raise Lucas all alone. Well, not alone but with the help of Grady and Henry and Hazel. Why are you asking all these questions right now?”
Debra did one of her humphhhs. The one that lasted through a couple of breaths and that irritated the hell out of Natalie. “You’ve always wanted to fix everything. If we would have allowed it, you would have taken in every stray in the whole damn state. It was like you had a sixth sense that beckoned to them. And we won’t even talk about Drew and how you took him under your wings.”
“These are not strays, Momma. Not a one of them is broken. It’s me that’s broke this time, and they are all putting me back together again,” she said.
Was that why animals kept showing up all the time? Was she unwittingly drawing them to her side? Well, if she was, she needed to break the spell because goats on the roof and chickens in the kitchen were not a good thing.
“I should be doing that,” Debra said.
“Sometimes God works in mysterious ways, Momma.”
“Go enjoy your party and promise me again you’ll be home for New Year’s.”
“I promise and I love you, Momma,” Natalie said.
She laid the phone down and looked at her reflection in the cheval mirror in the corner. She’d dressed in her best jeans, boots, and a festive blue Christmas sweater that dipped low in the front. She added a small sapphire pendant on a gold chain that Drew had given her when he came home from Kuwait the first time.
“Oh, Drew, if only you hadn’t been so eager to go back over there. You didn’t have to volunteer for a third tour,” she said.
The living room was buzzing with conversation and no one even noticed when she and Joshua made their appearance. She stayed in the shadows beside the Nativity scene and looked over the crowd. Henry was talking to an older fellow about the wooden angel on the mantel. Jack and Grady were evidently talking bulls by their hand gestures.
Lucas was sitting all alone at the table shoved up in a corner. He caught her eye and patted the chair next to him. She nodded and started that way. She’d only taken two steps when the front door opened and Sonia swept into the room like a prom queen in a bright red velvet dress that stopped at mid-thigh. It had a high neckline with a tight-fitting collar encrusted with big stones of every color ornament on the tree. The flowing chiffon sleeves were gathered up at her wrist with tight cuffs of the same stones. Her blond hair was done up in a crown of curls so that not one sparkle of her dangling diamond earrings would be wasted.
She sent a tight-lipped smile toward Natalie and headed straight for Lucas. Natalie felt underdressed, tall, gangly, and downright plain in all the glitter and glam that paraded into the room.
“Shit!” Natalie mumbled. “Lucas didn’t tell me we were having a prom.”
Sonia leaned down and dropped a quick kiss on Lucas’s forehead. “Lucas, everything is absolutely beautiful. I ordered the snow just for you because I knew that you’d need it after all those months over there in the sand.”
“Well, thank you for doing that. Where is Noah?” Lucas drawled.
“He’s on his way. I told him the girls and I would be arriving together.”
“Okay. Well, if you will excuse me, ladies. Natalie and Joshua have just arrived.”
“Can you believe snow in Savoy?” one of her friends said. “Remember our senior year. It snowed that year for the party, but it hasn’t since then.”
Another giggled. “That was the year that y’all boys took us outside in our pretty dresses and rolled us in the snow. My momma had a fit when I came home in a wet dress.”
“I’m sure we’ve grown up past that,” Lucas said.
The front door opened and half a dozen big cowboys pushed their way inside. They took off their hats, hung them on a long, narrow rack right inside the door, and headed straight for Lucas, circling him and all talking at once.
Sonia sighed. “I wish we didn’t have to. Girls, y’all come over here and let me introduce you to Miss Clampett,” her thin voice singsonged across the room.
Natalie heard her and gritted her teeth, but she made a beeline for the bar instead of even acknowledging the woman. Poor little thing; she didn’t even know how to catfight.
“Miss Clampett, I want you to meet my friends,” Sonia said a few feet to her left.
Natalie turned slightly and smiled. “Well, hello. I didn’t realize you were talking to me. My name is Natalie Clark. Y’all can just call me Natalie since I’m probably younger than any of you. Don’t y’all all look lovely tonight. It’s like prom, isn’t it?”
“We like to dress up for the parties.” Sonia’s gaze dropped to Natalie’s boots and traveled from there up to her hair. “God, you really are tall. You were sitting down last night and I didn’t realize how tall you are.”
“Don’t know how tall God is, but if you are talking about me, I’m probably right at six feet tall with these boots on.”
“Don’t be a smart-ass,” Sonia whispered so low that only Natalie heard it.
Natalie chose to ignore the remark. “What are you drinking? Marvin here can make you whatever you want.”
Sonia snarled her nose at the beer in Natalie’s hand. “We are champagne, chocolate, and roses girls, not beer, bait, and ammo women. We heard you shot a coyote.”
Natalie propped a hip on one of the dozen bar stools. “Got him with one bullet. I’ll take a beer anytime over champagne, love to fish and I bait my own hook, and if I get out my gun, you’d best be runnin’ or sayin’ your prayers.”
Sonia didn’t back down a bit. “Must be why you are so big. You’ve done man things all your life and God just let you keep growing and growing.”
Natalie smiled sweetly. “Never thought of it like that. I just figured God made me tall because both my parents are tall and that He gave me a momma who could teach me to shoot the eyes out of a rattlesnake at fifty yards. You sure have big eyes, Sonia.”
Sonia shivered. “Changing the subject now because I want to talk about Lucas. When did you meet him?” Sonia popped a hip up on a bar stool and the rest of the girls followed her lead.
“About eleven months ago. Did you all graduate with Lucas or go to college with him?” Natalie asked.
As if on cue, Lucas appeared by her side. “I see that Sonia is introducing you to the old cheerleading squad from Savoy High School. You want me to take Josh for a little while, honey? I’d like to introduce him to the guys. Soon as they say hi to Dad, Gramps, and Grady they’ll be heading for the bar.” He reached out and slipped Joshua from her arm into his.
She wondered what he felt like when he carried the baby across the room to introduce him to his friends. Rumor had it that Joshua belonged to him. Would the guys over there think that he looked like Lucas?
“Where did you meet Lucas?” Sonia asked.
“That’s not important. Let’s get you girls something to drink and then you can tell me your names while we find a table.” Natalie motioned for Marvin. “Drinks first and then names. Again, I’m Natalie Clark, not Clampett. Sonia must think I look like Daisy Mae. She’s tall like me, but she’s got blond hair and a helluva lot better build. Lord, I’d kill for that waistline she’s got.”
Sonia flashed another dirty look her way. The woman was crazy if she thought she could scare Natalie with evil looks. Evidently, the way her “girls” adored her, s
he had one side for the people she liked and another for those that she didn’t.
Natalie smiled. “Sonia doesn’t need to introduce herself, but the rest of you I haven’t met.”
Natalie used word association and put an animal with each woman. Lisa was a fox with her sharp nose. Melody was a cardinal with all that red hair. Cassie reminded her of a golden retriever puppy the way she clung to Sonia’s every word. Jolene was definitely a coyote with that hungry look in her eyes. And Franny was a Persian cat with that pug nose. When she got to the end of the line, Natalie realized that the only animal she could think of to put Sonia with was a possum. It pretended to be asleep when all along it was plotting its next move.
“I want an apple martini,” Sonia told the bartender after the introductions. “And I want to know this story about you and Lucas.”
Natalie led them to a table, held up her beer when they were seated, and waved. “It’s nice to meet you all. We’ll have to get together for lunch sometime and you can tell me stories on Lucas. And Sonia, good luck on your wedding. Christmas weddings are so lovely and sweet. I hear a fussy baby. That’s my cue to leave you ladies with your drinks.”
She met Lucas halfway across the room, but he didn’t hold Joshua out to her. He motioned with a nod of his head down the hallway. She followed him, wondering what in the hell he was up to now. He opened the door to the bedroom where she’d been sleeping and closed it when she was inside. He pulled Joshua’s pacifier from his shirt pocket and stuck it in the baby’s mouth. He instantly stopped fretting and made angry sucking noises.
Natalie sat down on the edge of the bed. “He just wanted that thing. Why’d you let him fuss?”
He slumped into a rocking chair, laid the baby on his chest, and set the chair in motion with his boot heel. “Because I had to get out of there for a few minutes. I felt like the walls were closing in on me and all that noise rattled in my head. Even the music grated on my nerves and I love Marty Stuart, but the drums sounded like gunfire. Just a little more than a week ago I was in Kuwait, Natalie. The adjustment is harder than I thought it would be. Drew said that coming back wasn’t as easy as leaving. I wasn’t ready for a crowd, but I couldn’t disappoint Dad and Gramps.”
She sat down on the side of the bed. “Drew had trouble like that too. He didn’t want to go to the movies or anywhere that might have loud noises or too much talking. He said that even the debriefing didn’t get him ready for the home front that first time. He thought it would be easier the second time around, but it wasn’t.”
Lucas nodded.
“Sonia is a piece of work,” she said.
He leaned his head back and shut his eyes. “Always has been.”
She kicked off her boots and stretched out on the bed. “Want to talk?”
“Nope, just want to enjoy the peace. Josh was a big hit with the guys. They all said that he looks just like me. Amazing what a rumor can create and how fast it can travel, isn’t it?” He yawned.
“Are you sure you should let that rumor keep spreading?” she asked.
He didn’t answer because he and Joshua were both asleep.
***
Drew’s job was driving the brass around the base. That morning Lucas was supposed to accompany them and Drew was pushing him to hurry. “Come on, man! Get the lead out of your ass. I’m the driver, so it’s my ass that gets chewed if we’re not on time. And on time means five minutes before the set time,” Drew had said.
Then the lieutenant poked his head in the door and yelled that Allen was to report to the commander’s tent on the double.
“I’m supposed to go out this morning,” Lucas said.
“Not anymore. There’s a big problem and the commander says that he needs you right now,” the lieutenant said.
Drew squeezed his shoulder and jogged out of the tent. Lucas finished tying his boots and had just stepped outside when he heard the explosion. He shaded his eyes with the back of his hand and saw black smoke billowing from light brown sand to pale blue sky.
In his dream, Lucas ran in slow motion in that direction. His feet were like lead, but he had to get to Drew to pull him out of all that smoke. He screamed but nothing came out of his mouth. He kept yelling, “No, no! I can’t tell Natalie!”
He awoke with tears in his eyes and holding a baby in his arms instead of Drew.
“Your dad was a hero,” Lucas whispered to the sleeping baby.
Natalie slept. Her dark hair created a halo around her head and black eyelashes fanned out on her high cheekbones. He laid Joshua in the crib, removed his little boots, and covered him with a light blanket then stared at Natalie.
He reached out to push an errant strand of hair from her cheek, but her eyes popped open before he touched her. She sat up in one fluid movement.
“Good Lord, how long did I sleep? Some hostess I am!”
“Ten minutes at the most. Look at the clock. We came in here at nine and it’s only a quarter past. Not bad at all to get a fussy baby to sleep, is it? You ready to go back out there and face the monsters?”
She raised her hands above her head and rolled the kinks out of her neck. “No, but I suppose it can’t be helped. I feel somewhat like the ugly duckling with all that glam and glitter around me. I’d just as soon stay in here and read a good book, but that would disappoint the guys.”
He leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her lips. “You, darlin’, are the prettiest woman out there. Don’t let Sonia get to you. She’s all fluff and no heart. Most people don’t ever figure that out or if they do, like I finally did, it takes a long time.”
He straightened up to his full height and held out a hand. She put hers into his and picked up the baby monitor with the other one.
“Leave the door ajar. I’ve got the monitor, but I’m more comfortable if the door isn’t shut,” she said.
They’d only taken one step into the noisy party again when Sonia and Noah crossed the room, coming right at them. Poor old Noah looked like he was being pulled by a mule.
“I’ve got a question, darlin’. Is that really your son?”
“Good grief, Sonia!” Noah rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, Lucas. She has trouble holding her liquor, and she’s already had three martinis.”
“I want to know, darlin’.” Sonia weaved slightly and hung on to Noah for support.
Lucas untangled his fingers from Natalie’s and threw his arm around her shoulder. “That’s okay, Noah. And to answer your question, Sonia, that’s mine and Natalie’s business.”
“Going over there changed you, Lucas,” she said.
“Yes, it did,” Lucas said.
“I’m going to the dessert table. My girls are trying to decide between cheesecake and pecan tarts. I may have both.” She winked at Lucas and teetered that way on her spike heels.
Lucas frowned. “She’s trouble, Noah.”
Noah nodded. “The heart wants what it wants and mine wants Sonia.”
“It ain’t goin’ to be easy,” Lucas said.
“Nope, but that’s okay. Easy ain’t never been mine to have anyway. Daddy always said that in our family a man only gives his heart away one time.”
Lucas clamped a hand on Noah’s shoulder. “Gramps says the same thing about a man giving his heart away.”
Noah nodded seriously and left by the front door.
Lucas turned to look at Natalie. “I hate drama. Want to dance?”
“It’s not midnight.”
“There’s more than one dance in the night, darlin’.”
“I’ll be honey, sweet cheeks, or even baby, but I’m not a darlin’. Not after hearing Sonia call you that tonight,” Natalie said.
“Then, sweet cheeks, can I have this dance?” He asked.
She set her beer down and slid off the bar stool. He took a long swig of the
one the bartender had just uncapped before he took her hand in his.
***
They were on their way to the dance floor when someone opened the front door to step out on the porch for a breath of air, and three puppies rushed inside like a hurricane, dashing under tables and around chair legs.
One ran past Sonia’s chair and stopped long enough to slurp a tongue from her knee to her hip, then grabbed the tail of her dress and pulled at it. She slapped at the dog, spilled her martini, and squealed like a cat with its tail caught in a buzz saw.
Her girls ran to her rescue, but the puppy had quickly lapped up the martini and hiked a leg to pee on her shoe.
Natalie bit back a giggle and helped Lucas corral them into the hallway.
So much for an airtight pen, but the whole bunch of pups had redeemed themselves for the chickens and the goats when the feisty one hiked his leg on Sonia. He had just covered a multitude of puppy sins, and she hoped that the martini didn’t make him sick.
Noah came out of the bathroom in time to see what was happening and scooped one pup up in his arms. He grabbed for the second one, but it squirmed out of his hands and pushed right into Natalie’s room.
“I’ll take that critter on outside.” Grady reached for the pup.
Noah shook his head. “I got a good firm grip on him. I’ll meet you at the pens when you catch the other two.”
If that runt woke Joshua, Natalie intended to take back all the redemption she’d given him. And if she really had some kind of sonar brainpower that drew animals to her and disrupted her life, she wished someone would flip the switch and turn the damn thing off. She was missing a sexy dance with Lucas.
She and Lucas tiptoed into the room to find the last two puppies sitting beside the portable crib, wagging their tails and whining. Joshua was smiling even though he was sound asleep.
She and Lucas each picked up a puppy and stared at the baby for a few seconds longer. The smile faded and he slept peacefully.
“Do you think he was dreaming of the future when he can run in the yard and play with puppies? Maybe it was some kind of baby and puppy telepathy that called them in here,” Lucas said.
The Cowboy’s Christmas Baby Page 13