Forever Santa

by Leeanna Morgan

She knew Jordan had been intending to propose to Tracey. A saw wouldn’t have come anywhere near his Christmas wish list.

  “Where would I buy a reciprocating saw from?” she asked softly.

  “You could go to Walmart, but I’d head across to Jake’s Hardware. If you don’t like the saw, he’s got a big display of other power tools you could look at. Doris is on wrapping duty, so it will come gift wrapped with a bow.”

  Gracie picked up a fruit tart and carried it across to Jordan. “Thank you. Have another dessert. It won’t help you forget what was on your Santa list, but it might make you feel better.”

  “Do you think your sympathy would extend to a slice of pavlova?”

  Gracie laughed and gave him a quick hug. “No, but nice try. You’ll have to come to your mom’s party for that.”

  Trent took a plate of sandwiches into his mom’s dining room. Her house was bursting at the seams with family and friends. Everyone, including his Aunt Dorothy, had made an effort to be here. All of them looked as though they were enjoying themselves, except Jordan. He’d snuck into the kitchen as soon as they arrived, only coming into the living room to pass platters of finger food around.

  “You can’t hide in here forever.”

  Jordan looked up from the magazine he was flicking through. “Wanna bet?”

  “Mom will be back any minute. She knows what you’ve been doing.”

  “I’ve been keeping food in everyone’s hands.”

  “So you say.” Trent looked around the kitchen and slid a plate of Christmas mince pies across to his brother. “Take this into the dinning room. I’ll be right behind you with the shortbread cookies.”

  “I get why mom wants to do a Christmas dinner this year, but did she need to combine it with her tree trimming party?”

  Trent shrugged his shoulders. Jordan knew two of his Aunts and Uncles weren’t going to be in Montana on Christmas day. They were meeting at their mom’s place for an early Christmas instead. “You know mom. She loves a party and when family’s involved you can’t stop her.”

  Jordan scowled as he moved toward the kitchen door. “Does anything seem a bit weird to you?”

  “You mean, beyond how you normally are?”

  “I’m being serious. It’s the people mom’s invited. Do they seem an odd mix to you?”

  Trent thought about the family and friends standing on the other side of the door. “You think their bodies have been taken over by aliens?”

  Jordan’s blue eyes turned glacial. “Next time you’re out there, count up the number of single females. Mom’s stacked the friend side of the invitation list with women.”

  “Welcome to my world. She spent five years trying to match me up with someone before Gracie came along. Guess it’s your turn now.”

  “Tracey’s only been gone a week.”

  “Don’t moan to me. Tell mom.”

  “As if that will do any good,” Jordan muttered. He disappeared out the door with the pies. Trent almost felt sorry for him. Until he remembered how hilarious his brother had found his mom’s not so subtle prodding in the marriage department.

  Jordan was about to find out just how focused their mom could be. Especially when she was working toward a state of true happiness for one of her sons.

  “What’s Jordan up to?” Gracie moved closer to Trent and pulled him into the hallway. “He’s supposed to have a broken heart, but he’s been flirting with every woman in the room.”

  “Take a closer look. It’s only the single women he’s flirting with.”

  Gracie poked him in the ribs. “If I could see over the top of everyone’s head I might be able to keep an eye on him. Who’s he flirting with now?”

  “Tess.”

  “Is he nuts? Tess won’t be interested. She’s working twelve hour days at the moment. As soon as she closes the cafe she’s got the paperwork to do. She doesn’t have time for anything except work.”

  “That’s why Jordan’s flirting with her. He knows it won’t go anywhere.”

  “I don’t understand?”

  “Reverse psychology, Gracie. Jordan’s worked out a way to beat mom at her own game. I wish I’d thought of it.”

  Gracie peeked back in the living room. “I wondered why Tess and Emily were here. Not that it’s not good to see them, but I did wonder.”

  “You forgot about Becky and Sally. Mom wasn’t leaving anything to chance.”

  “Do you think they know what your mom’s up to?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Gracie hoped they didn’t. It was bad enough that she’d thought something strange was going on. If they realized what was happening they’d be embarrassed, or worse yet, flirt right on back. “I need to stop him.”

  “Gracie…”

  “I won’t be long.” She left Trent standing in the hallway with her glass of eggnog. It took longer than she thought to do a circuit of the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Everyone wanted to know how she was settling into life on the ranch, what she planned on doing for the next twelve months.

  “It’s such a lovely party, isn’t it Gracie?” Trent’s Aunt Dorothy held an unpainted dough decoration toward her. “We’re setting up the craft table. Do you want to paint one of the decorations Karen made?”

  Gracie held the candy cane shape in her hand and smiled. “I’d love to. Have you seen Jordan?”

  “He’s in the garage with the kids.”

  “Thanks. I’ll go and find him before I start on the candy cane.”

  “Take another one for Jordan.” Aunt Dorothy smiled as she handed Gracie a second decoration. She glanced at a man in a red Santa sweater. “I’m going to get Bob to decorate one of these before he empties the punch bowl.” Aunt Dorothy zig-zagged between some of Trent’s cousins and disappeared.

  Gracie headed toward the garage, almost bumping into Jeff Lafferty on the way through the door.

  “Merry Christmas, Gracie. Are you here to rescue your brother-in-law?”

  “Hi, Jeff. Does he need rescuing?”

  Jeff laughed and nodded toward a table sitting in the middle of the garage. “You tell me?”

  Jordan sat on a low chair, teaching about eight kids how to string popcorn together. With the amount of popcorn going into their mouths, Gracie doubted the strings would get more than a couple of feet long.

  Jordan looked up at her and smiled. “You want to come and join us? We’ve got plenty of room. Jeff’s already chickened out.”

  “A planned retreat,” Jeff added. “Karen asked me to bring more chairs into the living room.”

  Jordan shook his head and tutted. “You’re turning into a hen-pecked boyfriend.”

  “Just the way I like it.” Jeff picked up two folding chairs and headed out of the garage.

  Gracie watched Jordan. He was staring down the hall, lost in thought. “He’s a good man.”

  Jordan blinked, then smiled. “He is. Mom’s happy.”

  Gracie walked across to the table and sat on one of the seats. “I want to talk to you.”

  “Sounds serious.” Jordan pushed a bowl of popcorn closer to a little girl with blonde pigtails. “This is Anastasia. She’s seven years old and lives in Great Falls.”

  “We’re cousins,” Anastasia said proudly. Her wide gap-toothed smile made Gracie smile back. “Are you my cousin too?”

  Jordan tweaked one of Anastasia’s pigtails. “Gracie married Trent, so she’s definitely your cousin.”

  “Wow. I like your red hair. You can have my popcorn string if you like? I’m going to find mom.”

  Gracie picked up the needle and started threading popcorn onto Anastasia’s string. “Is everything all right, Jordan?” For a moment his happy-go-lucky mask slipped. He looked tired and sad. And then he smiled, shutting Gracie out of what was really going on in his head.

  “We’re having a great time, aren’t we kids?” A chorus of voices yelled a big, resounding, yes.

  “It’s okay to be you.”

  “Not today it’s not,�
� he muttered. “Have you seen who mom invited?”

  “Most of the single women I know?”

  Jordan groaned. “If you figured it out, then what does everyone else think?”

  “That your heart has bounced back faster than Santa can shimmy down a chimney.”

  “I don’t think he shimmies. It’s more like a magic poof. One minute he’s there and the next he’s not.”

  A little boy beside Jordan raised his head. A lock of jet-black hair fell over his eyes. “You forgot the reindeer. He needs Rudolph to go between houses.”

  An older boy snorted.

  “Jackson,” Jordan said quietly, looking at the older version of the little boy. “Do you need more popcorn?”

  Jackson sighed and shook his head. “Nope.” He looked across the table. “I’m going to look for reindeer poop in the snow.”

  The little boy dropped his popcorn string. “Me, too.”

  “It’s only for big kids. I’m big.” Jackson grinned.

  “I’m big,” the little guy said.

  “No you’re not. You’re six.” Jackson ran toward the door leading into the house.

  Within seconds most of the kids at the table had dropped their popcorn and were running after him.

  Jordan shook his head. “We’ve got a stampede of kids looking for reindeer poop. Their parents are going to kill me.”

  “Only if they make it outside.” Gracie could already hear groans of disappointment coming down the hallway.

  “I should go back to the adults. I won’t get myself into as much trouble.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Gracie muttered. She squared her shoulders and looked Jordan in the eye. “Why are you flirting with my friends?”

  “It keeps mom off my back. If she thinks I’m interested in someone else she’ll stop matchmaking.”

  “But do you have to flirt with everyone?”

  “It’s harmless fun. I see Tess each week at Angel Wings Cafe and I’ve known Becky for most of my life. Have I left anyone out?”

  “Emily.”

  Jordan frowned. “Emily’s as bad as me. They all know what mom’s like. If it makes you happy I’ll apologize to them.”

  “Are you sure they know what you’re up to?”

  “I wouldn’t embarrass them.”

  “I know you wouldn’t.” Gracie sighed and munched on a kernel of popcorn. “Is your mom really that bad?”

  “Trent didn’t tell you?”

  Gracie was beginning to think there were a lot of things her husband hadn’t told her. “He might have skipped a few pertinent facts.”

  Jordan grinned. “It all began the year after his first wife left. It started off small, little hints, things like that. Pretty soon we had a revolving list of dinner guests arriving at the ranch. Single, female dinner guests, if you get my meaning?”

  As if suddenly remembering something vitally important to his mom’s matchmaking plans, Jordan stopped talking. He glanced at two kids sitting at the end of the table, then back at Gracie. “Did Trent tell you about mom’s craft group?”

  Gracie shook her head and pulled the bowl of popcorn closer. It sounded like she could be here for a while.

  Chapter 5

  Gracie yawned as Trent drove into their garage. They’d just dropped Jordan off at the bunkhouse and carefully made their way back to the main homestead.

  It had been snowing while they were in Bozeman. Gracie had been thankful Trent was driving. With snow swirling across the windshield and everything pitch black beyond the beam of the truck’s lights, it was the kind of weather her nightmares were made of.

  “It was a great night,” Trent said softly as he turned off the engine.

  “It was nice seeing all of your relatives again. Jeff’s still smitten with your mom.”

  Trent unclipped his seatbelt and walked to Gracie’s side of the truck. He held the door open as she slid off the seat. “How do you feel about Jeff?” she asked.

  “He’s a nice guy.”

  “But not your dad?”

  “No, not dad. But he doesn’t have to replace him. It’s not like Jordan and I were babies when dad died. We’re grown men. Mom deserves to be happy, and Jeff makes her happy.”

  No matter how happy Jordan and Trent wanted their mom to be, it must have been hard to know she was dating another man. “That’s very mature of you.”

  “That’s me.” Trent grinned and Gracie felt the stirrings of a very happy ending to their night. “There are a lot of good things that come with getting older.”

  He swung her up into his arms and she smiled. “I love you, Trent.”

  “Love you, too, short stuff.” He shouldered his way through the mudroom, stopping in front of a big box on the kitchen counter. “What’s in there?”

  Gracie wiggled until Trent set her on her feet. “It’s not your Christmas present.” She laughed at the pout on his mouth. “Part of your present doesn’t come in a box.”

  “Does it come gift wrapped with a big red ribbon?”

  Gracie felt a blush work its way across her face. “That could be arranged.” She patted the box in front of her. “These are my Christmas decorations from New Zealand. Jordan got them out of the attic this afternoon.”

  Trent looked between Gracie and the brown cardboard box. “Do you want to put them on the tree now?”

  “It’s too late to put them all up, but maybe we could put a few on the lower branches?”

  Trent flipped the flaps open. He carefully unwrapped the top decorations. Two stars, a sparkly Cinderella coach, and a glass slipper stared back at them. “They’re pretty,” he said as he unwrapped another golden star.

  Gracie took a deep breath and watched Trent unwrap another decoration. “Emily’s meeting me in town tomorrow. Our tree’s a lot bigger than the one we had last year, so I’ll buy more decorations and finish off my shopping.”

  “Makes sense to put these up now, then.” Trent kissed the side of her face. Within seconds he had the decorations sitting back in the box. “Come on, Gracie. Let’s create some new Christmas memories.”

  He walked through to the living room and Gracie followed, staring at their beautiful tree. She frowned at the twinkling lights. She was sure she’d turned them off before they’d left. “Trent, did you turn the Christmas tree lights on?”

  “No,” came a deep voice from the sofa. “That was me.”

  “What the…?” The box of decorations rattled in Trent’s arms and Gracie ran across to the light switch.

  She knew who their late night visitor was, and it wasn’t Santa Claus. “Jacob? What are you doing here?”

  Gracie stared at the frown on her half brother’s face. Two years ago she didn’t know she had a brother, let alone two. She’d come to Montana to search for her birth father and found a ready-made family.

  Her dad already had a wife and two sons by the time she’d been born. After she’d found her dad, her new family had welcomed her into their lives with open arms.

  “One of the ranch hands unlocked the back door for me. I got a call from mom and dad.” Jacob looked worried, more worried than Gracie had ever seen him.

  “What’s happened?”

  “It’s Alex.”

  And just like that, her world started spinning out of control. Alex was her other half brother and four months older than Gracie. He was a three time World Bull Riding Champion, and one of the nicest guys she’d ever met.

  “Alex was competing in Vegas at the National Finals. He was bucked off a bull and trampled.”

  Gracie felt her knees wobble. She reached for Trent. He was right behind her, holding her upright. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s in surgery. Dad’s going to call us in the morning after he’s spoken with Alex’s doctor.”

  Trent picked Gracie up and carried her across to the sofa. “How long do they think he’ll be in the hospital?”

  “I don’t know. The bull did a lot of damage. The surgeon’s are screwing his femur together and doi
ng some work on his right hip and knee. It doesn’t sound good.”

  Gracie pushed herself out of the sofa. “I need to go to Las Vegas.”

  Jacob shook his head. “I’ve already tried, Gracie. There aren’t any seats left on the flights heading there before Christmas. The weather has grounded a lot of flights, so the chance of any cancellations coming up are practically non-existent. The best we can do is stay in Montana and wait for dad’s call.”

  “Why did you come all this way to tell me about Alex? It’s a long trip from Great Falls in this weather. You could have had an accident.”

  “I wasn’t in Great Falls. I was at mom and dad’s ranch dropping off Alex’s Christmas present for them. I didn’t want to tell you about him on the phone, so I drove down here as soon as dad called me.”

  Gracie stood beside her brother. “You can stay here, sleep in one of the downstairs bedrooms. Stay for Christmas.”

  “Thanks, Gracie. I’d appreciate a bed to sleep in tonight, but I told dad I’d look after the ranch while he’s in Vegas. If mom and dad don’t look like they’ll be home for Christmas, I’ll come back and stay for a couple of nights.”

  Trent glanced at Jacob’s backpack. “Do you want to borrow any clothes?”

  “I’ve got everything I’ll need.” With a smile he added, “Unlike my sister, I travel light.”

  Gracie decided to ignore his suitcase humor and gave him a hug. “Thank you for coming all this way to tell me.”

  Jacob hugged her tight and kissed the top of her head. “You’re welcome.”

  She took a deep breath and stepped back. “Have you had dinner? Would you like a hot drink?”

  Jacob shook his head. “I’m fine, Gracie. I had something to eat before I left mom and dad’s place. Somewhere to sleep is about the only thing I need at the moment.”

  Gracie held his arm. “You can use one of the bedrooms down here. If dad calls you before I wake up, our room is at the top of the stairs.”

  “I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.”

  Trent gave Jacob a hug as he passed him. “If you need anything, just let me know.”

  “Thanks.”

  Gracie took Jacob to the room with the biggest bed. She might only be five-foot-one, but Jacob was well over six foot tall. She grabbed an extra pillow and blanket out of the closet and left them on the end of the bed. “Next door on the left is the bathroom. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen.”