High Country Christmas

by Joanna Sims

  “Mom!” J.T. shouted at her with a wave.

  She walked over to her ecstatic son. “This is quite a gift.”

  “It’s the best Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten!” J.T. said with amazement.

  “You’d better say thank-you to Hank and Barb,” she told him.

  Instead of just saying thank-you like she expected, J.T. got off the snowmobile and threw his arms around Hank’s tall, lanky frame.

  That was the moment. That was it. Standing outside on a snowy day, her breath forming willowy white curls in the air, the cold skin of her face wet with fresh flakes of snow, she saw her son embrace the Brand family. Yes, he embraced Hank with that hug. But she knew her son and now she was certain, beyond any reasonable doubt, that J.T. could, would be happy at Bent Tree Ranch. So, despite all of her reservations regarding the snowmobile...she couldn’t take it away from him. The shiny red snowmobile with the big white bow and J.T. written on the card had to stay.

  After the snowmobile reveal, everyone hurried back to the house to get warmed up and clean up the wrapping paper and box mess in the family room. Tyler retired his Santa costume until next Christmas and when he returned from the cabin, he found London sitting in front of the fire. He sat down next to her, his arm resting on the back of the couch.

  “How’s your first Christmas at Bent Tree?”

  She sent him a soft smile, her eyes full of love and gratitude. “What you did...what your family did for my son is...”

  She didn’t have the words. She simply did not have the words.

  “We all—Mom, Dad, Luke, Sophia—we all wanted J.T. to feel like he was at home here.” Tyler took her hand in his. “We did this for you. This is how we show our love for you.”

  “Thank you.” She squeezed his fingers. “Seeing J.T. so happy makes me happy.”

  Tyler rubbed his finger over the stone of her engagement ring. “Seeing you happy makes me happy.”

  She put her hand on his cheek and then kissed him lightly on the lips. “I love you, Tyler.”

  “I love you.” He pulled her closer into his body. “I want to go into town tomorrow and apply for a marriage license.”

  “Okay.”

  “I want to get married, in the chapel, before J.T. leaves for Virginia.”

  London spun her head around and looked up into his face. “That only gives us less than three weeks!”

  “I know.” Tyler nodded. “So we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  “But...Barb and Sophia are already planning for Danny’s birthday party. We don’t want our wedding to interfere with his birthday.”

  “It won’t.” He got up to stoke the fire.

  “And who will perform the ceremony? Will we be able to get someone on such short notice?”

  “Dad can marry us.”

  “Hank’s a justice of the peace?”

  Tyler nodded, sat back down. “He doesn’t like to do it, but we may be able to talk him into it.”

  “And I don’t have anything to wear,” she worried out loud. She hadn’t even considered getting married before she gave birth.

  “Look...” Tyler cut her off. “Do you want to be my wife or not?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then let’s just strike while the iron’s hot. J.T. picked out that ring you’re wearing. He’s given us his blessing. If we get this done before he leaves, he can be the one to walk you down the aisle.”

  Tyler was right. Walking her down the aisle was something that J.T. would like to do. He was that kind of kid. It would be meaningful to him.

  “Okay,” London agreed. “What day do you want to get married?”

  Tyler took out a little black appointment book he always carried in his front pocket. He turned to January.

  “How about two weeks from today?” he asked.

  “Two weeks from today?” She smiled at him.

  “Two weeks from today.”

  She teased him by pretending she had to think about it. Then she hooked her arm through his with a nod. “All right, cowboy. Let’s get married.”

  * * *

  “How’s it going in there, London?” Barbara Brand asked.

  “Do you need some help?” Sophia’s voice was the second she heard.

  How was it going? Did she need some help?

  London had known that wedding-dress shopping was going to be a challenge this far along in her pregnancy. It was not going well and she did need help, but the kind of help she needed had to come directly from the divine.

  “I’ll be out in just a minute...” London called out to her soon-to-be mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

  To Sarah the wedding dress specialist, she asked, “Can you actually get this one zipped?”

  They had been in the dressing room for at least thirty minutes and hadn’t shown Barb or Sophia one dress. There were several she couldn’t get over her head because she couldn’t squeeze them over her breasts. There were several that she couldn’t get up over her hips. She actually got into one dress that she loved and then realized that she looked like a giant sausage stuffed unflatteringly into ruched satin. And like just about everything she tried on, the length was too short for her height, six feet in bare feet. The very last option, and her least favorite by far, was an off-white chiffon gown with an empire waist, ruched bodice and spaghetti straps.

  “It’s zipped!” Sarah said with just a little bit too much enthusiasm. The bar for success in the appointment had been lowered way down—if something zipped up, it got a cheer.

  London turned around to look in the full-length mirror. The top of the dress was too small for her overinflated pregnancy breasts and the flowing chiffon resembled a tent.

  “And it’s long enough,” Sarah commented cheerfully. “Let’s show them.”

  Sarah opened the curtain and revealed London as if she were introducing the Princess of Wales. London had to give it to the clerk...she had a flair for the dramatic, even under the worst of circumstances.

  London stepped up onto the pedestal surrounded by three-way mirrors. Now that she could see herself multiplied times three, she knew that her only real dress option was not an option.

  “There are way too many of me right now.” London ran her hand over the flowing chiffon.

  “I don’t believe that’s going to work.” Barbara was a Chicago woman and highly fashionable... She saw exactly what London saw in the mirror.

  “Let’s not dismiss it too quickly, Mom.” Sweet Sophia stood up and walked over to where she was standing.

  “No...I agree with Barb...this isn’t going to work.”

  “What don’t you like about it?” Sophia asked. “That way we know what to avoid when we look for more dresses.”

  “Everything.”

  “No...really,” Sophia pressed her. “What don’t you like about it?”

  “Besides everything?” London asked facetiously. “I hate the top part... I never wear strapless and I look like I have one gigantic boob up here. This chiffon reminds me of my mom’s wedding dress from the ’70s and it makes me look like the Goodyear blimp came to town early...”

  “That’s not nice to say.” Sophia shook her head with a frown.

  “The only thing nice I have to say about this entire getup is that it’s long enough,” she said to Sarah, who had been fluffing the skirt of the gown and trying to present the dress in its best light. “Can you get me out of this now?”

  She came out of the dressing room in her own clothing.

  “Are you done trying on for the day?” Barb asked her.

  “I think I’m done for forever,” London told her. “I’m too tall and too pregnant and it’s too short notice to get a wedding dress.”

  “Then what are you going to wear?” Sophia was the most disappointed.

>   “I don’t know.” London put on her winter coat. “I just want to feel like myself when I marry Tyler.”

  “And what does feeling like yourself entail?” Barb asked.

  It was a good question. “Jeans. Boots. A man’s button-down.”

  “We could work with that theme.” Barb’s wheels were already turning. “This is the first wedding now that the inside of the chapel has been refurbished. Why not make it casual country chic?”

  “I like the sound of that. Country chic.” London felt like smiling for the first time that morning.

  “We can dress it up a little with some accessories,” Sophia added. “It will be perfect.”

  London climbed into the front seat of Barb’s Range Rover, glad to be heading back to the ranch. She buckled her seat belt then turned to look at Sophia in the backseat.

  “Any day that I get to marry Tyler will be a perfect day.”

  “Aw...” Sophia instinctively reached forward to squeeze her arm. “You’re such a sweetheart.”

  On the drive home, the three of them used the time to make plans for a quick, casual country-chic wedding. Barb had a lot of friends who would be willing to pitch in to get the wedding organized quickly. They already had the venue, and now that London had decided that jeans and boots were going to be the dress code, outfits weren’t going to be a concern.

  “You know, London,” Barb said. “I’ve seen a big change in Tyler since you’ve been in his life.”

  “I have, too,” Sophia agreed.

  “Really?” London looked at both Barb and Sophia in turn.

  “He’s turned into a genuine grown-up, don’t you think?” Sophia laughed. “I personally thought that we had another George Clooney on our hands. A bachelor until he was in his fifties.”

  “I certainly didn’t have any hopes of grandchildren from Tyler in this decade,” Barb told London. “And the fact that he’s so excited about being a father... I didn’t expect that from Tyler. I honestly thought if he ever did settle down that he’d be much more hands-off.”

  “He’s wanted to go to every appointment...be a part of everything,” London agreed. “I’ve been completely surprised by him. He’s got that cowboy swagger going on...”

  “Honestly,” Sophia added. “I’ve only ever seen him get this excited over livestock, horseflesh and Ranger. You’ve brought out a whole different side of Tyler that none of us have ever seen.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  London looked at her reflection in the mirror and she actually liked what she saw. She was wearing comfortable jeans that had an elastic band built in to accommodate her belly. Sophia had helped her find a pretty white cotton top with long sleeves and just enough feminine touches to make her feel like a bride. She wore her hair down, straight and long, because Tyler loved it that way.

  She turned away from her reflection when she heard a knock at the door. “Come in.”

  J.T. opened the door and poked his head inside.

  “Hey...where have you been?” she asked.

  He came into the bedroom. “I had to feed Jasmine.” Her son sat down on the bed. “Tyler said that she’s mine, so she’ll still be at the ranch when I get back.”

  “What are you going to do with a full-grown cow, J.T.?”

  “I don’t know,” her son said. “But she’s not going to end up on someone’s plate.”

  London turned to give her son a look. “Was it necessary to go there?”

  “I’m just saying...”

  London fidgeted with her top a little more. “Okay...how do I look?”

  J.T. examined her seriously. “You look pretty.”

  “Do I look like a bride?”

  Her son thought some more. “I’m not sure. But pretty.”

  “All right,” she said. “I’ll take pretty. Did you talk to your father?”

  J.T. nodded with a frown. “He sounded mad. I thought he’d be happy for you or something...”

  London hugged her son. She leaned back but kept her hands on his shoulders. “That’s adult stuff. That’s not for you to worry about. Okay?”

  “Okay...” He nodded. “I wish Gram and Pop were going to be here.”

  Her mom couldn’t get off work, but she didn’t like to fly anyway, and her stepfather wouldn’t come without her. Her biological father wasn’t interested in her wedding plans, so she hadn’t invited him to the wedding. He would just find a way to sour the day, and that was the sad truth. She didn’t have a whole lot of family, but after today she would have the Brand family to call her own.

  “I’m going to head up to the chapel now,” her son told her.

  “Well, wait a minute.” She waved her hand. “Don’t I even get a hug?”

  Her son let her hug him and he hugged her back. After the hug, they held hands, face-to-face.

  “Ever since the first day I found out I was pregnant with you, we were in this thing together. Do you know that? You and me. We’re a team. No matter what. And today we’re going to join the Brand family...together. It doesn’t work unless you’re with me. You got that?”

  J.T. nodded and gave her a little smile. It was enough.

  Then she was alone again. Everyone would be up at the chapel now. Tyler’s sisters, Jordan and Josephine, were upset that they couldn’t get home on such short notice. But they understood that having J.T. walk her down the aisle before he went back to Virginia was more important.

  A knock on the door sent her heart racing. This was it. Today she would become a bride... Tyler Brand’s bride.

  “Are you ready?” Hank Brand opened the front door of the cabin.

  She nodded and followed him out to the horse-drawn buggy. Hank looked dapper in his dark-washed jeans, white shirt, black hat and black jacket. He helped her into the buggy and they took off up the hill for the chapel. The ride was a bit bumpy with all the divots dug into the dirt road by the melting and refreezing of the snow. It wasn’t the most romantic thought to have as she approached the chapel, but she hoped—prayed—that her bladder would hold throughout the ceremony. The chapel didn’t have a place for a pit stop and the baby seemed to be parked right on top of her bladder.

  J.T. was waiting for her outside the chapel. He helped her down out of the buggy. Hank parked the horses so he could take his seat inside. Hank had refused to marry them, no matter how many times or ways Tyler tried to get him to agree. It turned out that the one couple Hank had married was divorced now and he didn’t want to jinx the whole deal. Luckily, the priest who had married Tyler’s sister Jordan and her husband, Ian, made himself available to the family.

  Once Hank had taken his place at the front of the chapel next to his wife, J.T. offered her his arm and they walked up the old stone steps together. Luke closed the doors behind them to keep the frigid winter air out. It was still cold in the chapel—she noticed that right away. The chapel was more than one hundred years old and didn’t have modern amenities. Previous work on the chapel had required power, so at least the family had been able to bring in some space heaters to cut the harsh chill. But it was still cold. She could see her breath as she walked down the aisle toward Tyler with her son.

  There wasn’t any music. Only silence. It seemed more reverent, perhaps even a little more special, without the music. The only thing she really heard was the sound of her own heartbeat pounding in her ears. She was staring at Tyler, her cowboy...the man who would be her husband and the father of her first daughter. He was so handsome. So handsome to her eyes. He was tall and lanky like his father, with sandy hair from his mother’s side and those incredible bright blue Brand eyes. He was, quite simply, the perfect man for her. A match.

  “Who gives this woman to this man?” the priest asked when they reached the end of the short aisle.

  “I do,” J.T. said. He seemed so grown to her. It had hap
pened so fast...right under her nose.

  “We do, too!” The few family members who were able to attend the wedding had to add their two cents to the ceremony. And why not? She had wanted a casual, country-chic wedding, after all.

  Tyler held out his hand to her. She kissed her son on the cheek before she took the last couple of steps to Tyler on her own.

  Hand in hand, they faced each other. They stared intently into each other’s eyes, unafraid of what they saw inside the other while the priest walked them through their vows. One at a time, they slipped simple gold bands on to their ring fingers. And then at last, at long last, the priest said the words they had both been waiting to hear.

  “I am happy to pronounce Tyler Brand and London Davenport Brand husband and wife. Tyler...you may now kiss your bride.”

  Right there in front of God, his family and her son, Tyler grabbed her, dipped her and then kissed her on the lips. When he brought her back up, he had a trace of Mostly Mauve lipstick on his lips. The family cheered for them, and with a happy laugh, London wiped the lipstick off her husband’s lips.

  “Can we get the heck out of here now?” she asked Tyler. “I’m freezing my pregnant butt off!”

  After the ceremony, they all returned to the main house to celebrate. Barb had baked her famous three-layer chocolate cake, Tyler’s favorite, for the wedding and she’d promised to let Hank cheat on his diet just for the day.

  “I am so sorry the twins started to cry during the ceremony.” Sophia approached her. “I really thought about getting someone to watch them.”

  “It wouldn’t have been the same without them.” London shook her head.

  In fact, the ceremony, the wedding, had been perfect. The chapel was old and drafty, the twins had cried, and Danny playing with his trains on the floor so close to the podium had distracted the priest from his routine. The priest had kept on talking louder and louder to drown out the sound of the little plastic wheels running over uneven wooden floors. At one point, the priest was nearly shouting at them. And halfway through the ceremony, her fear became reality and her bladder started to hurt. By the time they got the kiss, she felt as though her bladder was going to burst. But it was their wedding. It was their day. So it was perfect.