“Like that?” Nash said.
“Oh, yeah,” Kasey answered. “Have you always liked kids?”
“Love ’em. Someday I want a houseful. If I stay in Happy, I’d like to fill every one of those bedrooms up with them,” he said.
An instant vision of kids popped into his head. They romped through the house and followed him around the place. He held on to it, cherishing the lightheartedness that it created in his chest.
“And if you don’t stay?” Kasey asked.
“Then I’ll lug around a whole van full of army brats wherever I go,” he answered. “How about you? How many would you like to have?”
“Six,” she said quickly.
“Really?” He wasn’t sure he’d heard her right.
“I want some more girls. It’s not fun growing up with no sisters, is it, Emma?”
Emma’s red hair flopped around her face when she shook her head. “I want a sister. I’ll tell Santa.”
Nash chuckled. “Santa might not be too good at makin’ sisters.”
Daisy brought their food and raised an eyebrow at Kasey. “Lila says that you’re stayin’ over at the Texas Star.”
“Yep, I sure am. The doctor says this cowboy ain’t supposed to drive until after Christmas, so the kids and I moved in to help out. Gives Lila and Brody some time to get adjusted to havin’ the ranch to themselves since Jace has been stayin’ with Mama a lot. Her foreman has taken the month off to go visit his kids.”
“Smart move,” Daisy said. “I heard that one of those pups of y’all’s caused him to fall.”
“No, the dog just chased the cat up the tree. A step on the old ladder gave way with me about the time that the kitten clawed me. I should’ve been more careful,” Nash said.
“A knight in shining armor.” Daisy laughed.
Kasey laughed with her. “Or at least a wounded knight in a big black pickup truck.”
Nash chuckled. “Aww, shucks. I’m just a shepherd and a cattleman. I’m not a knight and I wouldn’t trade my truck for a horse and a lance for nothing.”
“What’s a lance?” Emma asked.
“It’s what knights use.”
“Can I see it? Is it in the doghouse?”
Nash shook his head. “No, ma’am.”
“I’m not a ma’am. Ma’am’s is old people like Granny and Grandma.” She blew on a Tater Tot and then popped it into her mouth.
Nash laughed out loud, and it felt wonderful.
* * *
Nash pulled an ancient tree from a box that had more duct tape on it than cardboard. The kids squealed and jumped up and down, declaring it was the prettiest tree they’d ever had.
Even with the color-coded limbs, it took half an hour to get the tree put together, and when they were done, the shortest one in the box was missing. Kasey looked through the box and under the sofa and asked both Rustin and Emma if they’d seen it.
“No, Mama,” they answered in unison and shook their heads.
“Me tree.” Silas peeked out from behind the recliner and held it up high.
“How did it get back there?” Kasey asked.
“Me do it,” he said.
“Well, it’s time to give it to me,” Kasey said.
“No!” Silas stomped his foot. “Me do it.”
“I know you had it but we’ve got to…”
Nash slung an arm around her shoulders. “I think I know what he’s saying.”
He scooped Silas up in his arms and set him on his shoulders.
“Me do it!” Silas said as he poked the limb into place. “Me help.”
“Yes, you did, buddy.” Nash grinned. “And now it’s time for us to put on the lights. You kids can start unwrapping the ornaments from that box over there so we can hang them when it’s time.”
“Oh, no!” Kasey shook her head. “Those things are practically museum quality. What if they break one?”
“It would be an accident,” he answered.
“But they’re priceless,” Kasey whispered. “Maybe we should let them put on icicles like Mama does.”
“Things, like life, should be enjoyed, not worried over constantly,” Nash said. “Lights, garland, and then ornaments?”
He was right. Life should be enjoyed without the burden of guilt and shame, but how to do that was a lesson she hadn’t learned yet.
“Baby Silas can’t do the pretties,” Emma said, seriously.
“Me help more.” He picked a box of icicles.
“That’s right.” Nash nodded. “You sit right there and hold those. That’s an important job. When we get ready you kids can help us hang ornaments and then you get the icicle job to do all by yourselves. But Silas gets to put the star on the tree because our new tradition is that the youngest child in this house does that job,” Nash said.
Silas beamed.
Rustin frowned.
Emma popped her hands on her hips. “Just how’s he gonna get the star up there?”
“I’m going to hold him up,” Nash said.
Silas held up his arms and Nash picked him up. “Not now, buddy, but in a little while.”
Emma leaned back to see all the way to Nash’s face. “You’re so tall. You can make Silas get up there.”
“When I grow up, I’m going to be as tall as you and I’m going to be a cowboy,” Rustin declared.
Nash laid a hand on his shoulder. “Yes, you are.”
“And I’m going to know how to build a doghouse just like the one y’all built today. Will you help me learn that, Nash?”
“I sure will and next spring we’ll put names on the house.”
“Red, pink, and blue,” Emma told him.
“That’s right. Now let’s get this garland on so you kids can help with the ornaments and then we get cookies and hot chocolate, right?” Nash looked over at Kasey.
“Of course. The hot chocolate is already in the slow cooker and the cookies are on the table, but we don’t want to hurry too much,” she answered.
“Not to break the pretties.” Emma’s curls bounced as her head bobbed up and down.
“Music!” Nash set Silas down on the floor, hit a few buttons on his phone, and set it down on the coffee table. “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy” started playing.
Emma danced around the room for a while with Silas right behind her. But Rustin stood still and listened to the words.
“Mama, does Santa really look like Daddy? I thought Santa had a big belly and a white beard. The picture of Daddy in my room don’t look like Santa.”
“It’s just a silly song,” Kasey said.
“Okay.” Rustin joined in the dance, holding his sister’s and brother’s hand.
Dammit! Just when I thought I’d taken a step forward, one little song reminds me again of what this night should be instead of what it is.
“Sorry,” Nash whispered.
“No problem,” she said. “I’ve always kept a picture of Adam in their bedrooms. I don’t want them to ever forget him.”
“That’s good. Don’t ever let them forget that he was a hero and a soldier,” Nash said.
“Thank you for that,” Kasey said.
Dolly Parton’s voice filled the room with “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”
“Listen to this one, kids. It says that he knows who’s been good or bad. And he’s bringin’ lots of presents,” Nash said.
“Three.” Rustin held up two fingers and his thumb fingers.
Emma held up three on one hand and one on the other.
Nash wrapped the garland around his arms and raised an eyebrow toward Kasey.
“Why do we have three presents for each person, Rustin?” she asked.
“Because baby Jesus had three presents,” he said.
“And why only one finger on the other hand, Emma?” she asked.
“This one is from Santa Claus.” She wiggled the finger on her right hand. “Santa is bringin’ me a singin’ machine and a cowgirl outfit.”
“That’s two presents. Which o
ne do you want more?” Kasey asked.
“The singin’ machine,” she answered.
“I like that tradition.” Nash followed Kasey around the tree. “But I do have a question. Is that one thing in each present or can it be two or more as long as it’s three wrapped gifts per child?”
“That’s one thing. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh weren’t all put into one box. Each wise man brought a present,” she answered.
“Is that from both of us, or can we each give them three?” he asked.
“You can’t skirt around this one, Nash Lamont. It’s three presents and one from Santa. We’ll go to my mama’s, the McKays, and Hope Springs on Christmas Eve. Each place they get one thing. That makes a really big Christmas when it’s all added up. They get three here and then Santa will leave them a present under the tree.”
“When do they open our presents?” he asked.
Nash had said our presents as if they were a family, and strangely enough it didn’t seem strange. Our presents, she thought, doesn’t necessarily mean anything beyond friendship.
“Well?” Nash asked.
“Sorry, I was off in la-la land,” she answered. “Christmas morning and then we go to the other places.”
“We follow the star to Nana’s, Grandma’s, and Granny’s,” Rustin explained.
“Star?” Nash asked.
“Pray for a clear night,” Kasey said. “We need a star to follow like the shepherds did on the night when baby Jesus was born.”
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” started playing, and Emma took control of the living room floor. She used a box of icicles for a microphone and belted out the song, sometimes a couple of words behind the singer but she was so danged adorable.
Nash clapped for her when the song ended, and when the next one began he picked her up and danced around the floor to Scotty McCreery singing, “Jingle Bells.”
When that song ended, he set her down and held a hand out to Kasey. “This can be our song.”
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was playing when she walked into his arms and he did a slow waltz around the living room floor with her.
“Listen to the words,” he whispered softly in her ear when the singer talked about them all being together if they could muddle through.
“Ain’t it the truth,” she said.
Emma tugged on the tail of her flannel shirt. “Mama, the pretties for the tree.”
“It says that our troubles will be far away, but I think maybe some of them are right here.” Kasey stepped back. “Thank you for the dance.”
“Three presents can be your tradition. Mine will be that you and the kids come over every year and help me put up my tree and decorations,” he said.
A shiver shot through Kasey’s heart. Had he slipped back into the world where they were still married?
“We’ll probably always be neighbors,” he said quickly. “So you will come over and help me put up my tree, won’t you?”
“I thought you were thinkin’ of going back in the military,” she said.
“That idea is getting dimmer and dimmer. I like the peace here on the ranch, Kasey. I like having you and the kids around. Please say yes,” he said.
“Of course,” she answered. “But that’s a year away. Let’s get this tree finished so we can have hot chocolate and cookies and get these kiddos into bed.”
“And we’ll always have snacks and the night you help me decorate, you and the kids will spend the night so it’s not lonely, right?”
“What if—” she started.
He put a finger on her lips. “Times change. Circumstances change. But Christmas should be the same every year. Traditions, you know.”
There was no denying there was chemistry on his side as well as on hers because his eyes went all dreamy and soft as he looked into her face.
Emma tugged on her shirt again. “Mama!”
“Okay, chère.” Nash dropped his hand and picked up the box with lights written on the side. They’d been wrapped with care around a piece of cardboard. He gently slipped them off and onto his arms. “We’d best get busy, Miz Kasey. These little elves can’t do their job until we get ours done.”
“Me not elves,” Silas declared. “Me cowboy.”
“Yes, you are.” Nash chuckled.
Clipping lights onto the branches might have been an easy job if every time either Nash or Kasey moved, they hadn’t brushed against each other. Elbows set off electricity. Bare hands created bright sparks. Warm breath on her neck sent hot little shivers down her spine.
When they finished to the applause of the children, Kasey had mixed emotions. On one hand she wished they had six more strands of lights to do. On the other, she needed to clear her head of all the images that had played through it in the last half hour.
“Now garland, but it won’t take as long,” Nash told the kids. “I see you’ve got all the ornaments unwrapped and lined up.”
“I fixed them,” Emma said.
“Well, look at you, all organized.” Nash grinned.
That she’d grouped them by color didn’t surprise Kasey. Emma had been doing that for months with blocks, doll clothes, and all her toys.
The garland was burgundy wooden beads made to represent cranberries and only took a few minutes to string around the tree. But even at that, it seemed like with every step, Kasey and Nash managed to brush against each other in some way.
“Yay!” Rustin jumped up from the sofa and clapped his hands. “Now it’s our turn!”
Kasey nodded and started toward the recliner, but Nash laid a hand on her shoulder. “This is a joint venture here. First of all, Emma, you can put this pretty red one on the tree. And every year you can put the first one on the tree since you’re the oldest girl in the family.”
“Rustin, you can hang this green one. You keep your ornaments up higher than Emma’s, since you’re a taller cowboy,” Nash told him. “Kasey, maybe you can put the ornaments up higher than Rustin’s, and Silas and I will do the ones up near the top and then he can put the star on for us.”
A gorgeous blue ornament shaped like an oversize teardrop reminded Kasey of all the tears she’d cried the past two years. She hung it above the section where Rustin was carefully deciding where to put his additions. Maybe all this was an omen that it was time for the tears to end and for life to go on. Even with the chemistry between them, Nash probably would never be interested in a ready-made family, but everything kept saying that it was time for her to get on with her life.
Lord have mercy! There is a spark but it’s not necessarily for Nash personally. It’s just hormones that haven’t been satisfied in more than two years.
She glanced over at Nash hanging a green ornament.
“This one is the color of your pretty eyes,” he said.
The reaction she had to the warmth in his voice and the twinkle in his eyes said that it was so much more than a dose of hormones. But, hey, she had the chicken pox when she was fourteen and she’d gotten over that, so she could damn well get over this, too.
Chapter Ten
Hey, anybody in the kitchen?” Lila yelled that Saturday morning.
“Not now, but I can be. Come on in. I was wondering if y’all had forsaken me. Haven’t seen anyone in a couple of days,” Kasey shouted from the living room, where she’d been picking up toys and tidying up things while the kids were outside with Nash and all three dogs. She tossed the last few wooden blocks into a tote before she rushed off to the kitchen.
Lila handed Kasey a cup of coffee. “I poured for both of us. Granny sent brownies—the kind with pecans that you like. But they’re only a ploy. What I’ve really come to do is spy on you, since no one has heard from you either. What’s been going on?”
Kasey took the mug from her hand and motioned for her to have a seat at the table. “I’m surprised that they waited this long to send over an undercover agent.”
Lila tucked a strand of black hair back up under a ponytail. “Your mama and Gracie
are still pretty angry that you’re staying here. Jace and I have helped Brody to see a little bit of light, and he’s comin’ around. Got to give Granny some credit on that issue. She really fussed at Brody. The townsfolk are split down the middle. Some of them are siding with your mama and thinkin’ that you’re crazy for shackin’ up with a relation of Henry Thomas, since he was a bit of an oddball. The other half are ready to give you a crown for helpin’ out a veteran until he can get his head on straight again. It’s Happy, Texas, so that’s about right for the rumor squad, don’t you think?”
“I thought you were here to check up on me, not give me all the gossip.” Kasey giggled.
“I’m a double agent.” Lila laughed with her. “Now tell me something to take back to them and then tell me the good stuff.”
“So you want two different stories?”
“You got it. I’ll tell them what they need to hear and keep the classified stuff for myself,” Lila answered. “So spill it. What’s been going on over here on the Texas Star?”
Kasey tasted a brownie and then sipped her coffee before she spoke. “Basically, we are settling in. Schedule is pretty much the same as when I was over there, except there’s no computer work. There’s only the sheep, so Nash takes care of that stuff. This is the first day Rustin hasn’t had school since we came over here, so he’s taggin’ around after Nash. All three kids love him. You should’ve seen him when we were putting up the tree.”
“Okay, then, the gossip stuff I tell Hope is that you’re still babysittin’ Nash until he can drive again because Hero is the underlying cause of the problem and you feel obligated. Nothing much changed there. The kids and dogs like him and you are his friend, nothing more,” Lila said.
“Pretty much,” Kasey agreed.
Lila finished off one brownie and helped herself to a second. “Now on to the classified stuff. Spill the beans, girlfriend.”
For the past week Lila had been her sister-in-law, but for the past six months, she’d been her best friend. Still she didn’t know if she could put into words how she felt and describe the turmoil inside her heart—not even to Lila.
Lila lowered her voice. “Has he kissed you again?”
“No.” Kasey sighed.
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