The Cowboy’s Christmas Baby

by Carolyn Brown

  He helped by putting socks on Josh and then he picked him up. “Come on, cowboy. Your fan club is waiting for you. I’d love to go with you, but I’ve got too much going on here to get away until after the holiday. I’m glad I’ve got all my shopping done.”

  “So how do we do our presents? Hazel told me how y’all do all the other ones,” she asked.

  He stopped at the door. “It’s our first Christmas together. I think we should open our presents on Christmas Eve night so that it’s just us. That work for you?”

  “I like that idea,” she said.

  The words our first Christmas together ran through her mind in a continuous loop. Did that mean that he was planning on a second, third, or more? He’d told her that he loved her that one time but hadn’t mentioned it again. And he hadn’t mentioned plans after Christmas, either.

  She’d counted the presents under the tree that had her name on them. She needed to buy two more small gifts for Lucas so that he’d have the same amount, and that was the real reason she and Josh were shopping again that day.

  So far, she hadn’t bought him a book, so she planned to go to the bookstore first, and after that, she intended to buy the biggest bottle of Stetson that she could find. Walking past him in the hallway after he’d shaved set her hormones into something between a whine and a hum. By late evening when they crawled into bed together, sometimes for a bout of steamy hot sex, sometimes just to cuddle, she could still catch a whiff of the remnants of Stetson if she nuzzled his neck. And her reaction was always the same.

  Hazel had made waffles that morning with melted butter and warmed maple syrup. Natalie didn’t touch the bacon or sausage but had two helpings of waffles. She’d never had a problem with any foods when she was pregnant with Josh, so it must be the aftereffects of that violent stomach flu.

  “Weatherman says that north Texas is going to have a white Christmas. We’re due for about five inches of snow on Christmas Eve. But then it’s supposed to warm up the day after Christmas and kick back up into the forties by New Year’s Eve,” Henry said.

  “Then I guess it’s a good thing Josh and I are going to town today. When is it supposed to start?” Natalie asked.

  “It’s already dumping a load out in the western part of the state,” Grady said.

  “Probably be here by tomorrow night and when we get up Christmas morning we’ll have that five inches,” Jack said.

  “Well, that don’t mean our plans will change. We got four-wheel drive trucks and chains,” Hazel said. “I’m kind of lookin’ forward to it. We ain’t seen a white Christmas since Lucas was about ten years old.”

  “Nine,” Lucas said. “Noah and I built a snowman. He was seven and we thought it was the grandest thing ever. Lookin’ back, it was only about three feet tall.”

  “More’n twenty years ago then,” Hazel said. “Natalie, I’ll watch over the baby while you shop. You can do it in half the time if you don’t have to get him in and out. Besides, after you and Lucas both being sick yesterday, I don’t think he ought to be out amongst sick people. They’ll be coughing and sneezing on him.”

  It wasn’t until Natalie was halfway to Sherman that she realized how much control she’d lost with Joshua when she came to Cedar Hill. Her mother didn’t tell her what to do the way Hazel did. There wasn’t a cowboy on the whole ranch in Silverton who could waltz into her bedroom and carry the baby out to breakfast. Even her grandpa didn’t tell her that she was going to help with chores while he read books to the baby.

  She slapped the steering wheel. “Dammit!”

  She parked in front of the bookstore and braced herself against the bitter north wind. The sun was shining but the rays couldn’t do a thing to warm her as she put her head down and jogged from the truck to the store.

  The clerk looked up from straightening an aisle where children had evidently been and raised an eyebrow.

  “Mysteries?”

  “One aisle over from romance.” She pointed.

  She picked up the newest James Lee Burke and a John Sandford and wandered into the romance section. Several caught her eye but she never bought for herself in December. Her brothers, her Aunt Leah, and her mother always put them in her stocking. She picked up one with a bright yellow cover and hoped one of them bought it. She loved Shana Galen’s writing and that one looked so good.

  Then she saw the display with the little coupon books and stopped in her tracks. The one about kisses would be a wonderful present for Lucas. She especially liked the coupon that said they’d spend the day together and no matter what they were doing or where they were they would stop to kiss each other every thirty minutes.

  “What a wonderful way to watch the clock,” she muttered. “But this would make too many presents.”

  “Put them all in one box,” the sales clerk said behind her. “I gave my boyfriend one of those coupon books for his birthday last week. We can’t wait until this bad weather goes away so we can see the stars. Look at the next one in the book. It says it’s good for a long and wonderful kiss under the stars.”

  “Great idea,” Natalie said.

  She made a quick trip through the Western-wear store and picked up a big bottle of Stetson and was blowing warm air on her hands in her truck when her phone rang. She looked at the ID and took a deep breath.

  “Hello, Daddy,” she said.

  “Are you in love with that cowboy? Really, really in love with him?” Jimmy Clark’s deep voice boomed.

  She took a deep breath.

  “Yes or no? It’s not a discussion, just a question, Natalie.”

  “Yes, I am,” she said.

  “I don’t like that you didn’t tell us about him, but I can live with it. With all this damn tomfoolery technology these days…”

  “Daddy, if it wasn’t for technology we’d still be picking cotton by hand and sowing wheat by broadcasting,” she reminded him.

  “Don’t you interrupt me, young lady,” he said. “I’ve thought about this a lot these past few days. I was mad as hell at first, but your momma said I couldn’t come out there and get you and Joshua. I had to let you stand or fall on your face all by yourself since you made the decision without talkin’ to us about it.”

  She waited.

  “Well?” Jimmy asked.

  “You said not to interrupt you.”

  “Now you can talk,” he said.

  She smiled. “I loved him before I even came out here, but I just didn’t know how much. He’s my soul mate, Daddy.”

  “Did he ask you to marry him?”

  “Not yet,” she said.

  “Well, if he doesn’t by Christmas then you come on home and he can court you by coming out here. Will you promise me you’ll do that?”

  “I promise,” she said.

  “Okay, then, I’ll see you at New Year’s, and I miss you, kiddo!”

  Tears welled up in her eyes when he called her that. To him she’d always be his little girl just like to her, Josh would always be her baby boy.

  “Miss you too, Daddy.”

  “Where are you? I don’t hear Joshua.”

  “Sitting in my truck. I came to Sherman to finish up some shopping. I’m on my way to…”

  “Walmart,” he finished for her. “Woman ain’t been to town unless she goes to Walmart.”

  “You got that right,” she said. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she was going to buy a pregnancy test.

  “Love you, kiddo,” he said.

  “Love you too, Daddy. And you’re really going to like Lucas. He’s rancher from the heart out.”

  “Thought he was a soldier.”

  “Not anymore. He’s all rancher.”

  “Well, that makes me feel a little bit better, but I’ll save judgment until I meet the fellow. He comes from good stock, I’
ll give him that much. His granddaddy and my folks were good friends when they were all young. Now I got to go. Your momma don’t know I’m calling you. We might keep it that way.”

  “Why?”

  “When you have a daughter, you’ll understand.” He chuckled. “Bye, now!”

  The parking lot was so full that she had to park halfway to Dallas. At least it seemed that way when she ducked her head against the north wind that tried to push her all the way to Houston. Finally, she made it into the Walmart store and snagged the last shopping cart available. She braced herself for the crowd and headed straight for the side with the cosmetics, vitamins, and beauty supplies.

  She tossed a pregnancy test in the cart along with two cans of hair spray, a bottle of shampoo and one of conditioner, and a big bottle of baby lotion for Josh. When she reached the end of the aisle she saw a display of lotions and bubble bath and remembered that she hadn’t gotten Hazel anything. So she picked out a complete set that smelled like warm vanilla sugar and headed back through the store to look for a pretty scarf and maybe a nice brooch from the jewelry section.

  She decided on a brooch in the shape of a star encrusted in tiny seed pearls with a tiny diamond in the middle, but the scarf that took her eye was bright green and red Christmas plaid. She contemplated going back to the jewelry counter and buying Hazel an initial brooch with red stones.

  “Well, hello,” Melody said at her elbow.

  Natalie looked down at the pregnancy kit shining right there for the whole world to see and flipped the scarf over it without a second thought.

  “Are you out doing some last-minute shopping too? My oldest son, the little drummer boy from the Christmas program, told Santa at school that he wanted a red wagon for Christmas, but he didn’t tell me until this morning.” She smiled.

  Natalie smiled back. “I always think I’ve got it covered and then remember one more thing.”

  “Me too. Hey, us girls are getting together for a girls’ lunch to celebrate still having our sanity sometime between Christmas and New Year’s. Nothing fancy. Maybe at my house for sandwiches and soup. You should come,” Melody said. “Oh, did you hear about Sonia? She took a job in Dallas and she’s not even coming home for Christmas. She said that seeing Noah would hurt too bad, but—” Melody smiled and whispered, “I think she’s already dating someone.”

  “Well, I hope she’s happy in her new place,” Natalie said. “Can I get back with you on that lunch?”

  “Sure. Just give me a call, and if you can’t make it this time, we’ll do it again. I’m kind of glad that she and Noah didn’t get married. We love Sonia because she’s our friend, but they made the most unlikely pair in the whole state,” Melody said. “Well, I’m off to find a red wagon. Santa better dang sure appreciate me for doing his work.”

  Natalie pushed her cart around the next corner and checked to make sure that the pregnancy box was covered.

  ***

  Lucas took advantage of Natalie being gone and helped the guys move all the furniture out of the new nursery room. They’d stripped all the paint from the bed the day before and had stained the oak a rich brown. Grady worked at putting a coat of urethane on it that was guaranteed to be all right for baby furniture while Jack touched up the rocking horse and the chair.

  When the room was totally empty, he locked the outside door. Natalie seldom ever went in there, but he had the perfect excuse if she tried to open it. He’d simply tell her that her Christmas present was too big to wrap and he was hiding it in the bedroom until Christmas Eve. It wasn’t really a lie because there wasn’t a box big enough in the whole world to wrap up the future.

  She opened the back door at exactly noon and went straight to her room with a couple of bags. When she returned she’d changed clothes and wore a pair of faded jeans, a plaid flannel shirt, and her work boots. He thought she was absolutely stunning.

  “Get it all done?” Hazel asked.

  “I did. I’ll set the table and pour the tea. That soup smells wonderful. What is it?” Natalie asked.

  “Kidney bean soup. It’s a good heavy soup that goes well with crusty bread and sliced sharp cheese on a cold day,” Hazel said. “So get bowls and saucers. We won’t need big plates.”

  Lucas walked up behind her and slipped his hands around her waist. “I missed you,” he whispered for her ears only. “Want to go to bed and let me warm you up?”

  She blushed. “Shhh…”

  “You two better stop whispering or I’ll think something is going on.” Hazel giggled.

  “I’m trying to talk her into telling me what she got you for Christmas,” Lucas said.

  “Boy, I don’t buy that brand of bullshit,” Hazel said. “Go get that baby. He might not be old enough to eat big people food, but I like it when he joins us at the table.”

  “Later,” Lucas whispered and then kissed Natalie right below her ear. “And, sweet cheeks, you sure are cute when you blush.”

  Chapter 21

  A thousand butterflies flittered about in Natalie’s stomach on Christmas Eve morning. More than the usual holiday excitement had filled the house the past four days. The evening before, Hazel had insisted that she and Josh take her home to see her Christmas tree. When they got there Hazel had cookies ready and she made coffee and it was way past dark when Natalie got back home.

  Home.

  The word created another hundred butterflies. Was it home? Or was she fooling herself? She was so damned much in love that she wallowed in the present rather than being wise about the future.

  She awoke to dead silence. Lucas wasn’t even breathing on the pillow next to hers. She sat straight up and stared at the empty bed. No noise came from the kitchen, and she couldn’t even smell coffee. Dear Lord, had Hazel fallen again and this time really broken her hip? She bailed out of bed, grabbed her pajama bottoms, and was pulling them up when Lucas appeared in the doorway.

  “Is Hazel all right?” she asked.

  “Sure, she is. It’s Christmas Eve,” he said.

  “I know that but…” She stopped in the middle of the sentence. He was holding Josh in one hand and a camera in the other. The baby was dressed in a bright red outfit with Rudolph on the front that she’d never seen before.

  “It’s my first Christmas present for him,” Lucas said. “And Hazel doesn’t cook here on Christmas Eve. She’s too busy getting dinner ready at her house for tomorrow. She usually leaves something for us to heat up for dinner and supper or we just have sandwiches.”

  “You could have told me,” Natalie grumbled.

  “It’s time for Josh to see his big present. Next year he’ll have to wait until Christmas morning for his Santa Claus, but I’m so damned excited, I can’t wait.” Lucas tried to stay serious so she wouldn’t guess the surprise, but he couldn’t keep a smile from covering his face.

  “Dear Lord, don’t tell me you brought a pony into the house.” Natalie finished dressing.

  Lucas motioned for her to follow him. “Didn’t think of that, but I wouldn’t put it past Dad to do it.”

  Something was missing. He was sexy as hell even in red and green plaid flannel lounging pants and a long-sleeved red thermal knit shirt, but something wasn’t right. She scanned him from socks to drawstring on the pants, upward to… there it was—or wasn’t. The dog tags were gone. He hadn’t removed them one time since he got home, not even to shower, and now they were gone.

  “Can I please make a side trip to the bathroom before Santa Claus?” she asked.

  “Sure. Me and Josh will go get his morning bottle ready,” he said.

  She ducked into the bathroom, fished the pregnancy test out of the hiding place back behind the toilet paper on the first shelf of the cabinet behind the toilet, and read the instructions.

  She simply had to know right then. She followed the instructions to the lette
r and paced from one end of the bathroom to the other while she waited. Every time she passed the stick lying on the cabinet she shut her eyes. Maybe she should just toss the damn thing in the trash and buy a second one after the holidays. She could go two more days without knowing, couldn’t she?

  The second hand on the clock dragged on like a slow-witted turtle, each click taking a full hour. Finally, it was time to look, and she couldn’t make herself do it. She put the lid down on the potty and her head in her hands. She wasn’t sick anymore. She couldn’t eat bacon or sausage in the morning but had no trouble with ham or roast for dinner or even rigatoni for supper.

  “Hey, we’re waiting.” Lucas knocked on the bathroom door. “You don’t have to put on makeup for the pictures. You are beautiful just the way you are, sweet cheeks.”

  “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” started playing on the other side of the bathroom door. She opened the door just a crack and peeked out. Joshua was sitting in his infant seat in the middle of the hallway, and the bedroom door across from the bathroom was thrown wide open.

  “You’re pale. Are you sick again?” Lucas had a worried expression on his face.

  She glanced down at the stick. Holy Mary, mother of Jesus! The line was practically screaming out the word pregnant.

  “Are you okay? You look like you’re about to faint,” Lucas said.

  “I’m fine. Where’s that music coming from?” she asked.

  Lucas pointed across the hall. “It’s Josh’s Christmas. I snuck in there and turned it on so it would be playing for him when we take him into his own brand-new nursery.”

  She swung the door open and watched Lucas proudly pick up the baby. He looped his arm around her waist and together they entered the nursery.

  “Oh, my!” she gasped.

  “It’s old but it belonged to Gramps and then to Dad and finally to me, until today. Now it is Josh’s new crib. The rocking chair is what Granny rocked Dad in and what Hazel rocked me in until I was too big to sit in her lap, and the rest of it was mine.” He laid the baby in the crib.