High Country Christmas

by Joanna Sims

  * * *

  “Damn it, Ell! When’d you move the chair?” Tyler cursed in the early-morning light.

  London burrowed deeper into the bed and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry! Nesting!”

  Today was a special day—they were going in to Helena to find out the sex of the baby. Tyler had awakened, as usual, before dawn and intended to work on one of the tractors that had been on the blink. She intended to spend some time with Rising Sun, gentling him to a blanket on his back. Besides spending time with Tyler, spending time with the black colt was her happy space. She could lose herself for a whole afternoon with the future champion.

  “How’s the nausea?” Tyler handed her chamomile tea with a little honey.

  London sat upright to take the cup. She blew on the hot drink. “Not bad. Better lately.”

  The horrible all-day sickness during the first trimester and half of the second trimester had slowly begun to subside. It felt as though she was finally settling in to the pregnancy.

  Tyler sat down on the bed next to her and put on his socks before he grabbed a bunched-up T-shirt out of a drawer and pulled it over his head.

  “What’s on your agenda?” Tyler stretched his arms above his head.

  “Rising Sun.”

  Tyler leaned over to give her a quick kiss. “Why am I not surprised? I’m going to grab some coffee up at the main house. Want me to wait for you?”

  “Uh-uh...you get going. I’ll meet you back here at ten thirty?”

  Tyler headed out the door. “Ow! Damn it, Ell!”

  “Watch out for the chair!” she teased him.

  She took her time getting out of bed, enjoyed her tea and then got dressed for barn work. She planned on getting back to the cabin in time to take a shower for her doctor’s appointment. She spent several hours in the barn, working with the colt. She returned to the cabin to get ready for the trip to Helena. Once she was out of the shower and dressed, she couldn’t seem to sit still. She washed the dishes that Tyler had left in the sink, cleaned out some of the old leftovers and contemplated a different furniture arrangement for the living room. She obsessively checked the clock on the stove—Tyler could get lost in his work. Today of all days, she wanted to be on time. As it turned out, Tyler must have felt the same way, because he returned to the cabin early, jumped in the shower and was ready to go by ten. It was smooth sailing all the way to Helena, and they didn’t have to wait long to see the doctor or to get called back for the ultrasound. It felt as if they were completely in the flow.

  “Okay...” London smoothed her hands over her stomach. “Last chance...what’s your gut tellin’ you—girl or boy?”

  Tyler put down the fishing magazine he’d brought with him from the waiting room. “Boy. One hundred percent.”

  London inspected the white ceiling tiles above her head. “I think it’s a Maggie. That’s what I think.”

  She had taken to thinking of their baby as Maggie. In her mind, she called the baby Maggie. Was that wishful thinking or a mother’s instinct? She would find out sooner than later.

  Joy, who had been their technician for every ultrasound appointment, entered the room with a greeting and a smile.

  “Are you ready to find out the sex of the baby today?”

  “More than ready.” London held out her hand to Tyler. “Right?”

  Tyler took her hand. “I’m ready.”

  Joy put the gel on London’s abdomen. “This’ll be a little warm.”

  With the wand, the technician began the ultrasound. “Here’s a face looking at you...and we have a really good view today of the baby’s legs and little bottom...do you remember what to look for to determine the sex?”

  “I think I know...” Tyler said.

  “Is it a girl?” London asked Joy.

  Joy smiled with a nod. “It is a girl.”

  London stared at the image of her daughter on the screen. Her eyes filled with tears. She had wanted a daughter since she was a little girl, but as she approached her thirties without a life partner in sight, she had started to wonder if it was going to happen for her.

  London heard Tyler say, “Maggie...”

  She turned her head to look at Tyler. He had tears in his eyes. She hadn’t expected that.

  “Maggie Brand.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  Tyler hugged her and kissed her.

  “Is that what you’re going to name her? Maggie?” Joy cleaned her abdomen. “Do you have a middle name picked out, too?”

  “No middle name. Just Maggie Brand,” London told her. “My mother’s family doesn’t give middle names. I don’t have a middle name.” She looked at Tyler now. “Is that okay?”

  “It’s okay.” Tyler squeezed her hand. “I’m happy.”

  The two of them walked out of the office, hand in hand, brimming with excitement. Tyler couldn’t wait to tell his family, and she wished that she could share the news with her family. She was five months into the pregnancy and she still hadn’t told her parents or her son. It was easy to put it off when she was so far away. Even when she video chatted with her son regularly, it was easy for her to hide her baby bump. But she knew that she was running out of time.

  “I want to buy something for Maggie before we head home.” Tyler said as he opened up the passenger door for her.

  They headed to a baby store. There was so much stuff for babies that it felt overwhelming.

  “You know that Mom has already bought a truckload of stuff for Maggie, right?”

  “I’ve heard about baby central, but I haven’t actually seen it with my own eyes. I’m a little afraid.” London stopped to look at a little pink flouncy dress with pretty white lace accents. “This is adorable.”

  Tyler picked up the dress, looked at it and smiled. “This is for her first baby picture. We need some shoes, too, don’t we?”

  London pointed to the other side of the store. “Over there.”

  They picked out a little pair of white baby shoes for Maggie before they headed back to the ranch. They agreed to tell the family the news when they all gathered for dinner. Tyler headed back out to get some more work done before sunset. She was left alone in the cabin with a new pink baby dress and her own thoughts.

  London sat down on the edge of the bed she shared with Tyler and held the perfect little dress in her hands. She started to cry again. The tears were a mixture of happiness and fear. She knew that the news was going to be met with mixed emotions by her family. She didn’t want to Maggie to be bad news for anyone, but she would be. Montana had been the fantasy... Virginia was going to be a giant dose of reality.

  Chapter Eleven

  When Tyler returned to the cabin that evening, London was sitting on the couch quietly. Normally, the cabin had life when he returned home—music was playing, the lights were on, the furniture had been repositioned. But today was different. It looked different and it felt different. Tyler felt his gut tighten. He hung his hat on the hook just inside the door and turned on the light.

  “What are you doing sitting in the dark?”

  London blinked her eyes several times until they started to adjust to the light. “Thinking.”

  Tyler sat down next to her. Her body position told a tale—she was sitting on the edge of the couch, elbows on her knees, hands clasped, her head down. Something was wrong and he realized that she had been sitting here, waiting for him, for some time.

  “What’s going on?” he asked her directly.

  A small uncomfortable smile greeted his question, but she didn’t look at him. “Tomorrow’s the big day.”

  “I know.” As the day for her departure drew closer, his fear started to build. What if she didn’t get on the return flight? What would he do then?

  “Are you ready?”

  She finally looked at him
with troubled eyes. “No. I already know how they’re going to react. I’ve been through it once before. Your family has had a chance to adjust to the idea of Maggie. I’m about to blindside mine.”

  Tyler had been careful not to pry about her communication with her family in Virginia, and London had been careful to call them when he wasn’t around. She had always been a private person with a fortress erected protectively around her...but he had to believe that in time he would be able to smash those walls one by one.

  “So...you haven’t even told your folks?”

  “No. This isn’t the kind of news you break over the phone.”

  All day he’d been pushing the thought of London leaving to the back part of his mind. He’d worked long hours and he’d worked hard. But no matter how hard he worked, he couldn’t make the odd feeling in the pit of his stomach subside.

  London and Maggie had become as important as the land beneath his feet. He couldn’t picture a life on the ranch now without them.

  “You’re coming back.” The question he had been wanting to ask ever since she had purchased her plane ticket sounded more like a statement.

  London squeezed his hand reassuringly. “Of course. Of course I’m coming back. You know this is something I need to do, Tyler. I need to go now, before I really start to show.”

  Tyler had tried to be philosophical about her trip. But the idea that she might decide to stay in Virginia once she got there was always a little demon in the back of his mind. The fact remained, London had not said yes to his marriage proposal. He knew that concern for her son’s happiness was at the heart of her refusal to commit to him and to a life on the ranch. It was irrational and misplaced, but he couldn’t stop himself from feeling angry toward J.T. It irked him that his fate was in the hands of a twelve-year-old preadolescent.

  * * *

  The two weeks that Tyler spent alone without London felt like the longest weeks of his life. Every day at the ranch, ever since he was a boy, had been a great day. He loved his life. He loved his work. He loved the land. And the ranch had always been enough. But London and his unborn baby had changed that. Now he discovered that he needed them to complete his life at the ranch. In the evening, instead of returning to the lifeless cabin, he spent his time with Luke at the chapel, working on restoring the interior. He wanted to marry London in this chapel before their child was born. Was that a pipe dream?

  “Hand me that hammer over there, will you?” Luke’s request was the first words they had spoken to each other in nearly an hour.

  Tyler grabbed the hammer and handed it off to his brother. Luke wasn’t much of a talker, and tonight Tyler didn’t feel much like talking. So they worked together in silence, night by night, restoring the floors and the beams and the small altar.

  “What’s on your mind?” Luke asked out of the blue.

  Tyler kept on hand-sanding one of the benches. “Not much.”

  Luke hammered a nail into place. “You’ve got a child on the way. No way you don’t have that on your mind. You plannin’ on marrying her?”

  “That’s my plan.”

  Luke stopped hammering and turned to look at him. “Is it her plan?”

  It wasn’t a barb. Luke wasn’t trying to hurt him. He was making an observation and speaking brother to brother.

  Tyler dropped his head. “Man to man?”

  Luke gave a short nod of agreement. It wouldn’t go farther than the walls of the chapel.

  “She has a son. A biracial son. I don’t care about that, but she’s worried that he won’t be happy here at the ranch...that he won’t fit in. I’ve told her that Brands take care of Brands, but I can’t deny she’s got a right to be worried. She shares custody with the father...but the father has made it clear that he wants full custody, so she’s afraid she’s going to lose her son if she marries me and moves to Montana.” It felt good to get this off his chest. “I think we’d be married already if there wasn’t another child involved.”

  Luke wasn’t one to answer quickly. He was a man who liked to mull things over before he spoke. After a minute or two, he said, “Are you sure that she’s the one you want to marry? Marriage is...” Luke picked up some nails. “Marriage is tough...you got to really love the person, brother. I mean, really love ’em to make it work.”

  “I love her...” Tyler looked his brother straight in the eye. “I saw her and I thought—there’s my woman. That’s my bride. When she got on that plane...” Tyler turned away from Luke so his brother wouldn’t see the moisture gathering in his eyes. “I didn’t know I could hurt that much.”

  * * *

  The day London was scheduled to return home, Tyler arrived at the airport several hours early. He fidgeted and paced and checked the time on his phone religiously. He felt anxious. Nervous. Impatient. But every negative emotion dissolved like snow on a hot day when he saw London coming down the stairs of the plane. Seeing her, with her long blond hair loose and blowing around her shoulders, he knew that she had worn it down for him. She preferred to keep it off her face and out of her way by braiding it in one thick braid down her back.

  When she finally walked through the door and into his arms, Tyler figured out exactly what it meant to be whole. He hadn’t felt like himself when London had been away. Would he ever be able to feel normal without her by his side? Like a vital organ in his body...he needed her.

  London’s heart began to beat wildly in her chest when she spotted Tyler waiting for her in the small airport terminal. It felt as though her heart expanded when she saw him. She had strained to look out the window of the airplane when they landed to try to catch a glimpse of him. And she had stood, impatiently, behind a sweet but slow-moving elderly couple as they tottered slowly toward the exit. It wasn’t her general nature, but she cursed them in her mind. She wanted to get down those stairs and get to Tyler as soon as she could, and they were holding up the line!

  “Oh, my stars...” Tyler held her face in his hands after her kissed her on the lips. “I have missed you.”

  “I missed you,” London said. She was surprised by how forceful her words sounded. But they were true.

  London wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly. She had missed his warmth. She had missed his voice. She had missed his kisses.

  Tyler leaned back a little and looked down at her rounded belly. She had blossomed recently and she was definitely showing. “How’s our girl?”

  “Busy! Very busy.” London linked her arm with his.

  “And your family?”

  London shook her head. “Let’s not talk about that just yet. Okay? I want to enjoy being home with you.”

  The lovemaking that night was slow and tender. They both wanted to savor the reunion...make it last. Afterward, they held each other, grateful to be back together. Unfortunately, the tender moment was interrupted by a horrendous calf cramp.

  “Oooow! Ow! Ow! Ow!” London shot upright and made a grab for her lower leg.

  “What?” Tyler switched on the light.

  “Leg cramp! I can’t reach it. My belly’s in the way!” London tried again to reach it.

  “I got it.” Tyler stood up and took her right leg in his hands. “I got it. Lie back.”

  Tyler’s hands were strong from a lifetime spent on the ranch. He massaged her calf muscle until he felt her begin to relax.

  “Better?” he asked.

  She nodded with relief. “Why are you so good to me?”

  Tyler laughed a small laugh. He lay down in the bed beside her, his head near her feet. He took her bare feet into his hands and began to massage them.

  “One...you deserve it.” He wiggled her little toe. “Two...I love you.” He wiggled another toe. “And three...my mom and sisters would castrate me if I didn’t.”

  He loved the way London laughed and tried to get her to do it as
often as possible. Luckily, she thought he was funny and he could make her laugh easily.

  “Oh!” London put her hand on her rounded abdomen.

  “Too hard?” Tyler stopped massaging her feet.

  “No... Maggie just kicked the bejesus out of me! I hope she doesn’t have my Sasquatch feet!”

  “I like your feet.”

  “Please...” London shook her head with a frown. “I was called Lurch all throughout high school. That made me popular with all the boys.” She held up her hands. “I have man hands.”

  “Well...I think you’re beautiful.”

  “I think you’re handsome.” London returned the compliment.

  They lazed in bed together for another hour until they were driven to the kitchen by their hunger. Tyler had prepared for her return by stocking the refrigerator with her favorite craving foods that didn’t activate her overly sensitive olfactory system. They went out to the deck that overlooked the lake. It was one of their favorite places to be together.

  London hunched her shoulders a little. “The temperature’s actually dropped a little since I’ve been gone.”

  “We’re heading into fall now.” Tyler brought his cup of coffee up to his mouth to blow on the piping-hot liquid.

  She felt as if she was home when she was at Bent Tree. But after the two emotional weeks she had just experienced with her family back east, she couldn’t predict whether or not she had a future on the ranch.

  Tyler had been watching London closely. Her face, such a pretty face to his eyes, had just displayed a myriad of emotions. She hadn’t wanted to talk about her visit home, but he couldn’t wait any longer.

  “What happened when you went home?” When she avoided answering his question about her family at the airport, he knew that it couldn’t be good news. “How did they react?”

  London looked away and tried to suppress a rush of tears.

  “Obviously it didn’t go well...” Tyler added.

  “No...” London crossed her arms in front of her body. “It didn’t go well.”