High Country Christmas

by Joanna Sims

  “London?” He noticed a suitcase, half-packed, open on the love seat.

  She wasn’t in the bedroom, but the bathroom door was shut and he could see that the light was on.

  “London?” He knocked on the bathroom door. “Are you okay?”

  He heard the toilet flush, heard the faucet turn on. A moment later, London opened the door. Her hair was disheveled, her face ashen. She was wearing an oversize T-shirt and sweatpants. Wordlessly, London went into the bedroom, got into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin.

  Tyler knelt down beside the bed. “What’s wrong?”

  “Morning sickness.” London moaned. “I didn’t have it at all when I was pregnant before.”

  “How long has this been going on?” He checked on her every day—she had never mentioned feeling sick.

  London licked her dry lips. “For about two weeks. I thought it would pass.”

  Tyler went to the kitchenette to get her a glass of water. He needed something to do while he calmed himself down. The last thing he wanted to do right now was fight with London. She didn’t need to be upset and sick at the same time. But he was angry. And hurt. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break through with her. London couldn’t—wouldn’t—trust him.

  “Here...you need to drink this.” Tyler handed her the glass.

  London pushed herself upright. “Thank you.”

  Tyler sat down on the end of the bed. “I see that you’ve started to pack your bags.”

  She nodded as he continued. “London...how do you think that you’re going to be able to go back to school feeling like this? You’re pregnant. You don’t need to be alone right now. You need to be with family.”

  She stared at him with tears forming in her eyes. He was witnessing the moment that London was coming to terms with her own situation.

  He reached for her free hand. “If you don’t want to stay here with us, then let me take you back to your family in Virginia. I want you to be healthy and I want the baby to be healthy. Okay?”

  She put the half-empty glass on the nightstand, covered her face with her hands and bent forward. She was sobbing, quietly, in front of him and he felt his body freeze. He didn’t feel equipped to comfort her. He was about to put his hand on her back when she straightened her body.

  “I can’t go home.” London wiped her tears away with the bedsheet. “I can’t go home, pregnant, without a degree, without a job, barely any money... My mom and my stepfather are already struggling and it’s enough that they’ve been helping with J.T. I deposit the child support into their bank account when I get it, but you know with kids there’s always extra...” She wiped fresh tears from her cheeks. “No. I can’t go home. Not until I figure all of this out.”

  Tyler turned his body toward her. “Then you stay here. With me. With my family. We’ll take care of you. And once you have the baby, you can finish your degree.”

  Instead of responding, London waved her hand for him to get out of the way. She flung the covers aside, jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. When she returned, Tyler helped her get back into bed. He waited for her to get comfortable before he continued their conversation.

  “We’ve been doing things your way, London. Now it’s time for us to do things my way. I’m telling my family about the baby. You’re in the second trimester now. You’re pregnant with my child and I don’t want it to be a secret anymore.”

  London, who typically had a lot to say about every subject, was unusually quiet this time.

  “And you’re moving into my guest room today. I want you close so I can keep an eye on you, make sure you’re feeling okay. If you aren’t better by tomorrow, you’re going to the doctor. That’s it.”

  Tyler picked up his hat off the dresser. “What? No argument?”

  London tugged the covers up to her chin. She felt exhausted and nauseous and starving all at the same time.

  “No.” She needed the help and she knew it.

  Tyler put his hat on and prepared to leave. “I won’t be long. You’ll be okay until I get back?”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said. “Are you going to tell your mom that I’m pregnant?”

  “Yes. I’m going to tell her now. And then I’ll be back to move you into my place. Good thing you already started to pack.”

  * * *

  Tyler found his mother working in the study, which had been used as wedding headquarters for the past year. There were boxes and stacks of presents and envelopes all over the room.

  “Hi, sweetheart.” Barbara Brand smiled fondly at her middle child. “Would you just look at this mess? I don’t even know where to start. And of course I just lost my only helper! Your sister has decided to leave with Logan today and is upstairs packing as we speak. I swear I can’t keep up with all of you...”

  “Mom?”

  “Yes, dear?” His mother tucked a platinum strand of hair behind her ear, revealing one of her signature pearl drop earrings.

  “You may want to sit down.” Tyler took his hat off and put it on the fireplace mantel.

  Barbara stopped surveying the mess in the study and spun around to look at her son. He had her full attention now.

  “Don’t try to soften the blow. Just give it to me straight, Tyler. What now?”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to sit down?”

  “Tyler...” His mother adopted the tone used by mothers universally.

  “London’s pregnant. I’m the father. Since Logan’s moving out today, I’m going to put London in my spare room because she’s been feeling really sick for a couple of weeks.”

  His mother sat down.

  Barbara Brand stared out the window for a minute or two, processing the information he had just shared. When she finally looked at him, her bright blue eyes were filled with disappointment.

  “You were right. I did need to sit down for that,” she said seriously. “Why, Tyler? Why would you get involved with an intern? You could have any girl in the entire state of Montana...and who am I kidding, you probably have already exhausted the pool around here...but why London? You know your father’s rules. The interns are strictly off-limits. Strictly off-limits!”

  “I didn’t set out to get her pregnant, Mom.”

  Barbara stood up, swiped the air with her hand as if she were trying to wipe the news away. “You shouldn’t have been anywhere near her, Tyler. Your father is going to hit the roof when he finds out about this.”

  “I was going to tell him next,” Tyler said, still cringing from the sound of his mother’s disapproval.

  “Oh, no,” his mother told him. “You’d better let me tell him this. This kind of news he needs to hear from me. And don’t you dare move London into your place until I give you the all clear. Is that understood?”

  He was a grown man, but when his mother scolded him the way she was scolding him now, he felt about two inches tall. She could cut him down quick without so much as breaking a sweat.

  “First your sister announces she’s leaving with Logan, now you?” His mother shook her head in wonder. “What is going on with this day?”

  * * *

  He didn’t hear Hank Brand hit the roof when his mother told him about London, but he felt it in his gut. It was right that his mother broke the news—she had a way with Hank. But he couldn’t hide out like a little boy all night. He needed to face his father like a man. Particularly since London, who was feeling better enough to put up a fight, took his mother’s side and refused to move to his cabin unless Hank okayed it first. As was his habit, Hank was out at the fire pit, smoking a cigar that he wasn’t supposed to be smoking.

  “Mind if I join you?” Tyler walked up to the fire pit.

  “Have a seat, Tyler.”

  Tyler sat down on a stump on the other side of the fire pit. They didn’t speak
for a while. They just sat, in silence, listening to the crackling of the fire and the horses whinnying in the distance.

  “Mom told you the news,” Tyler finally said.

  “She did.”

  Tyler watched his father over the flames of the fire. Tonight his father seemed older and the lines in his long, tanned face seemed deeper.

  “You know...” His father stubbed his cigar out on the log he was sitting on. “Your mother is always telling me that I need to get with the times. Modernize. And I suppose she’s got a point. When your sister dropped out of graduate school to pursue painting...when she sold a perfectly good car I had purchased for her and bought that motorcycle...I had to adjust. I didn’t understand it, but I had to accept it. Josephine took off with Logan today. Now, don’t get me wrong. I like Logan. He’s a good man as far as I know. But do I like the idea of them sharing tents and hotel rooms when they aren’t married? No. Hell, no, I don’t. But, again, I have to accept it.”

  Hank stabbed at the fire with a crooked stick before he tossed it to the side and looked directly at his son. “But what you’ve got going on with London... I’m not prepared to accept that.”

  “Dad...”

  Hank interrupted him. “I’m not finished. I don’t care how old you are, you aren’t mature enough in your brains yet to really know how to treat a woman right. I love you, son. I’ve given you a good example of how to be a good husband, but up this point you haven’t shown me or your mother that you’re ready to take on this responsibility. That’s why I told you, and every other man on this ranch, that there was a hands-off policy when it came to the interns. These girls are too good to be notches in some cowboy’s belt.” His father pointed a finger at him. “London’s too good to be a notch in your belt, son. And your mother tells me that you want to move her in with you and the two of you aren’t married? I’m telling you right now that that’s not going to happen. My square isn’t going to bend that far.”

  “I asked her to marry me, Dad. She said no.”

  “Well, of course she did. She’s crazy about you, but she’s not crazy. You’re not husband material right now.”

  Tyler kicked dirt into the fire. “London isn’t crazy about me, Dad, trust me.”

  “Like hell she isn’t. It’s right there for everyone to see whenever she looks at you when she thinks no one is looking. Okay? And you may want to remember that when you’re dealing with her.”

  Neither one of them spoke until Tyler finally said, “I’m sorry, Dad.”

  “What’s done is done.” Hank stood up. “But your mother and I happen to think the world of London and we expect you to do right by her.”

  * * *

  “I hope you’ll be comfortable up here. Josephine changed the sheets before she left, so they’re clean. The bathroom is just next door...” Barbara opened up the shutters in the third-story bedroom of the farmhouse to let the afternoon light into the space.

  London stood in the doorway, hands gripping the handles of her bags tightly. “I still think that I should stay in the barn. I was comfortable there.”

  “Nonsense,” Barb said firmly. “Now, come on. Bring your bags in here so you can get unpacked.”

  London didn’t plan on arguing with Barb. She respected Tyler’s mom and it bothered her that she had let her down.

  “Put your things in the drawers, make yourself at home.” Barb plumped the pillows before she headed to the door.

  In the doorway, Barb paused. “London...”

  “Yes?”

  “I know Tyler has a lot of growing up to do. But if he wants to woo you properly like he should...give him a chance to win you over.”

  “Mrs. Brand...” London said. “I’m already pregnant. Isn’t it a little too late for wooing?”

  “Oh, honey...lesson number one...it’s never too late.”

  * * *

  London had never eaten dinner with the Brand family. She had been invited, but she had never accepted. She had always thought to keep the line clear between her employer and herself, but then she’d sneaked into Tyler’s room and blurred the line beyond recognition. So instead of catching a ride back to Billings with her classmate, as per the plan, she was sitting at the table with Hank, Barb and Tyler. Also present for dinner was Ilsa, the family German shepherd, and Ranger, the family cat.

  “All of that activity for months, and now nothing,” Barb said after she wiped her mouth with a napkin. “It’s so quiet tonight.”

  Hank nodded his head to acknowledge his wife’s comment, but he hadn’t said more than ten words during the entire dinner. Like his father, Tyler wasn’t much in the mood for conversation. It was one of the most uncomfortable dinners London had ever had, and she was relieved to see Barb finish her meal.

  “Did everyone get enough?”

  “Yes,” London said too quickly, too eagerly, not to be noticed. “Thank you. I’m full.” She stood up with her plate in hand. “Let me help you clean up.”

  “Oh, no, honey... I need something to do with my hands tonight.” Barb took her plate. “Why don’t you and Tyler go check on Rising Sun? He’s been off his feed a little bit, hasn’t he?”

  Tyler’s mom was giving them an opportunity to escape and London took it. Tyler did, too. He left the table, handed his plate to his mom and then followed London out the front door, down the porch stairs into the night.

  Halfway to the barn, London started to laugh. “Oh, my stars...that was seriously uncomfortable.”

  “I felt like we were two teenagers who had just gotten grounded!” Tyler agreed. “They took over before we had a chance to think.”

  “They’re pros. I have to give it to them.” London laughed. It felt good to laugh, even if it was at the ridiculousness of their situation. “They have me sequestered up on the third floor of their house.”

  “They are trying to make sure that I can’t get my hands on you again,” Tyler said. “Little do they know that you came to my room, not the other way around!”

  London stopped in her tracks. “Don’t you dare tell them, Tyler!”

  Now Tyler felt like smiling. “I won’t tell under one condition...”

  “Which is?”

  “If you feel up to it, I’d like for you to go for a walk with me tomorrow.”

  “That’s it?”

  “I can be bought for cheap.” Tyler grinned at her. “Do we have a deal?”

  “All right,” London said with a shrug. “It’s a small price to pay for your silence.”

  Chapter Seven

  The next morning, it was strange for London to wake up in the Brands’ farmhouse. It was still dark when she was awakened with a horrible wave of nausea. She fumbled around, found her way to the door and got to the bathroom just in time. It was an hour before she felt safe to go back to bed. And once she was in bed again, she stayed there until well past sunup.

  Tyler’s mom was concerned and attentive, not too pushy about insisting that she eat something for breakfast. London always felt famished now, but the constant feeling of nausea deterred her from wanting to eat. So she skipped breakfast and headed out to the barn. Work seemed like the best remedy. If she was going to have all-day morning sickness, she might as well try to do something she loved in order to keep her mind distracted. Once she arrived at the barn, she checked on all of the horses and then let Easy Does It, the mascot mule, out in the paddock. Then she placed a video call to J.T. Her son loved horses, and she had been regularly sending him pictures of Rising Sun ever since the colt was born.

  “Can you see him?” London held the phone up so the camera was facing the colt lying down in a pile of fresh hay.

  “Yeah—he’s big!”

  J.T.’s love of animals, particularly his love of horses, had always been a bond between them.

  “I know—he’s grown s
o much already. I wish you could be here with me,” London said spontaneously, without any agenda. It was how she felt. She wanted her son with her at the ranch. Every experience she had felt a little hollow without J.T.

  “I wish you were here,” J.T. countered. “Hey—aren’t you supposed to be back at school?”

  London hesitated, her mind searching for something to say that wasn’t a direct lie. “Something came up and...”

  The sound of her stepfather’s voice interrupted the next words that were poised to come out of her mouth.

  “Mom—I gotta go. I forgot I was supposed to be helping Pop in the garage.”

  They said a quick goodbye and just like that, she was off the hook. But trying to skirt the truth with her son was too difficult and it was only going to get harder. Now that she wasn’t going to be taking classes in the fall, she needed to use some of the money she had been saving for tuition to buy a plane ticket and fly back to Virginia to see her son.

  * * *

  Later that day, Tyler joined her near the paddock where Rising Star and her foal were grazing. Rising Sun was trotting in a circle, stubby tail held high, showing off his new sapphire-blue halter.

  “He’s looking good.”

  “We started lead training today,” London told him.

  Tyler had been working all day. He was still wearing his chaps, his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and his tanned forearms and neck were gritty with sweat and dirt. In that moment, London felt a feeling in her gut that had nothing to do with nausea and everything to do with pure physical attraction. Lust. Tyler was everything a woman would find attractive—tall, masculine, strong features, intense blue eyes and a great smile. Plain and simple—he was sexy. He could easily be a cowboy model on a billboard advertising Stetson hats or Wrangler jeans. She had known on the first day they met that it was going to be hard not to fall for him. Looking at him now, with butterflies in her stomach, she wondered how well she had succeeded in her determination not to fall for Tyler Brand.