“That’s right.”
“I can’t believe you found them. Yes, those were Granny Minnie’s rings. She had to take them off when she got sick because her fingers swelled. You say they were in a boot?” Adelaide asked. “Look on the bottom. Does it have MT scratched into the heel?”
He turned it over. “Yes, it does.”
“I remember when she and Hope’s mama and Rosalie Varner took a ceramic class years and years ago. Granny Minnie made that boot for grandpa’s birthday and he kept it on his desk with pencils in it.”
“Do you want me to send the rings and the boot to you or to Addy?” Nash asked.
“Lord, no! You keep the rings and the boot. Maybe you’ll need those rings someday,” she said.
He could picture her smiling and crossing her fingers.
“Nash.” Emma’s voice floated up from the bottom of the stairs. “Mama says soup is on the table.”
“I heard that,” Naomi said. “If your grandmother and I didn’t have this cruise planned over Christmas I would come to Happy and meet the kids and Kasey.”
“Door is open anytime you want to come,” Nash said.
“I appreciate that. Bye now,” Adelaide said. “And I’m glad you found those rings. I’ve often wondered what happened to them.”
* * *
Kasey hummed a Christmas carol that morning as she pulled a pan of cinnamon rolls from the refrigerator and slipped them into the oven for a special breakfast. Not only was it Christmas morning but it was her last committed day on the ranch. Unless Nash asked her to stay longer, she would be going back to Hope Springs the next day. “Until after Christmas,” she muttered as she put on a pot of coffee and got out juice and milk for the kids.
Would she stay longer if he did mention it?
On the one side, the folks in Happy hadn’t taken her out and stoned her for living with an unmarried man for the past month. Times had changed, and living with a guy wasn’t nearly as big a deal as it had been twenty-five or even ten years ago. But they could always change their minds and gather up the rocks or a length of rope if she continued to stay there, now that he no longer needed her help. But then did she really care what anyone thought?
She set the table with the pretty Christmas dishes from the top cabinet shelf. It would be one thing to date Nash, quite another to live with him in a town the size of Happy. Plus, she had Hope Springs to think about, as well as Prairie Rose. She couldn’t throw away good names and reputations on a whim.
But is it a whim or is there something besides great sex here? she asked herself.
It took only a split second to decide that it was more than sleeping with Nash—a lot more. It was all the kindness and sweetness in that man’s heart. Not all guys would have built a huge doghouse for animals that would only be there three weeks, or a nativity set, or let three kids trail after him anytime they wanted to go with him to the barn. Or help her find closure for Adam. No, whatever it was that she had built with Nash this past month had already grown roots much deeper than the naked eye could see.
She glanced at the tree with the presents under it and the Santa presents displayed out in front. Nash had put together the bicycle for Rustin along with a set of steer horns attached to the front that he’d found in a specialty store, the little red wagon with a bag of cookies that he’d remembered were Silas’s favorites, and had bought a couple of background tapes to lay on the top of Emma’s singing machine. He’d abided by her rule of only having three presents each for the kids and wanted no recognition for the little things he’d done for the Santa presents.
That was father material for sure.
“Merry Christmas.” His arms went around her waist and he buried his face in her hair. “Something smells amazing. The way it’s snowing out there, the kids just might get to build a snowman this afternoon.”
She turned around and slipped her arms around his neck. “Merry Christmas to you. I thought you were still sleeping.”
“I couldn’t sleep after you left our bed, so I got up and did all the morning feeding chores. Now we can enjoy Christmas with the kids without leaving the house.” He brushed a kiss across her lips.
“Mama,” Emma called from the top of the stairs. “Did Santa come? Is it mornin’?”
“Sandy?” Silas yelled.
“Excitement is about to begin.” Nash held her hand, and the two of them went to the bottom of the steps.
“It’s mornin’. Go wake up Rustin and Emma, and Silas, you stay right there until I can change your diaper.”
“I’ll peek and see if Santa has come.” Nash’s tone was even more excited than the kids were.
“You could change the diaper and let me check for Santa,” Kasey teased.
“No problem. I got lots of nieces and nephews, so it wouldn’t be my first turn around a squirmin’ child.” He started up the stairs.
She grabbed him by the belt loop. “I was teasing. I’ll take care of that if you’ll get things all situated to film them with your phone as they go into the living room.”
He stopped on the second step and turned. “Deal, but I do have a really good camera that’ll make a better video.”
She nodded and took the steps two at a time, very aware that he was watching her backside as she did. Rustin and Emma waited on the landing until she got Silas changed and ready, but they were fairly well humming with excitement.
“Did he come, Mama? Did you look and see if he brought us a present?” Rustin asked.
“He did. I know it.” Emma wiggled like she was dancing.
“Sandy come, Mommy?” Silas yawned.
“Don’t know yet, but let’s go see.” When they reached the bottom, she set Silas on the floor. “Emma, honey, you hold Silas’s hand. Nash is taking pictures of y’all so we can show Granny and your uncles, since they aren’t here this morning, okay?”
“Tay.” Silas’s blond curls bounced as he nodded vigorously.
Rustin sniffed the air. “It smells just like Christmas.”
“Cinnamon rolls!” Kasey gasped. “Wait right here until I get them out of the oven.”
They were perfectly browned and slid out of the pan beautifully. She quickly spread a coating of butter cream frosting on the top, left the bowl and spatula on the cabinet, and rushed back to the children. Kasey stopped in the doorway when she realized that Nash was stooped down in the foyer already doing a video.
“Emma, what do you love about Christmas most?” he asked.
“Presents,” she said.
“What about you, Rustin?” he asked.
“This year Mama isn’t cryin’,” Rustin said. “Hi, Mama. I see you back there behind Nash. Can we go see our presents now?”
Kasey swallowed hard three times and nodded. No way could she say a single word after that comment.
“Just one more, please, guys. Silas, what do you like about Christmas?” Nash asked.
“Nashie.” Silas rubbed his eyes with his fists.
The lump in Kasey’s throat doubled in size.
“Okay, Rustin, count to twenty and then y’all can come and look under the tree.” Nash rose up and hurried into the living room, where he switched on the lights and took a knee in the corner to film the kids when they came through the door.
“One, two, three, four,” Rustin counted slowly.
“Ten, eleventeen,” Emma said.
“Twelve, thirteen.” Rustin laughed.
“Tenty!” Silas yelled.
They stopped at the doorway and all three of them clamped their hands over their mouths. Their eyes widened and for a long moment, the whole room was as silent as a tomb. Then Emma’s squeals bounced off the walls, followed by Silas’s and then Rustin’s as they raced across the room to their Santa presents.
“Lookit, Mama, it’s got horns. It’s the best bike in the whole world and I bet I can ride it without the little wheels real soon,” Rustin said.
“I’m a star!” Emma picked up the microphone and hugged it to her chest.
“In just a minute, buddy. But you’ve still got presents to open,” Nash said.
“Do you want to sit down and open your other presents now or have breakfast first?” Kasey asked.
“Can I eat my breakfast on my wild bull bike?” Rustin asked.
“No, you can’t.” Kasey shook her head. “Bulls don’t come to my table.”
“Presents!” Emma said without letting go of the microphone.
The children sat down in a circle and she passed out their three gifts. But when she finished there were six more presents under the tree. Three that she’d slipped in there last night for Nash and three pretty red ones with green bows, all professionally wrapped and shoved toward the back.
“And three for Nash,” she said.
He turned the camera off and joined the kids on the floor. “I’ve had the best Christmas ever just having you and the kids here. I didn’t need presents, too.”
“Can we go now, Mama? Please!”
“Just five seconds.” Nash kissed Kasey on the neck when he reached around behind her to get his camera.
Paper flew everywhere as the children made short order of their presents. Toys were what they always got for Christmas and their birthdays. According to Adam, since they limited the number of gifts, then each one should be something they really wanted and would last, because they did not get toys every time they went to the store. Ice cream was a treat for being good when they had to go shopping with their parents, not toys.
Silas carried each thing to his new wagon as he opened them and set it down gently beside his cookies. When he finished he pulled the wagon over to Nash and crawled into it with his gifts.
“Can you sit right there until Nash opens his presents?” Kasey asked.
“And until Mama opens hers?” Nash said.
“Yep.” Silas’s head bobbed up and down.
“You go first.” Nash scooted over a couple of feet and handed Kasey three gifts.
She found a little gold locket in the first one.
“I saw you admiring the one that your grandmother wears all the time,” he said. “Open it.”
Inside she found a tiny little picture of her three kids with a herd of sheep in the background. “Oh, Nash, it’s beautiful. Put it on me.”
His big hands trembled as he fastened the delicate gold chain around her neck. “You really like it?”
“I love it. Are you aware that the one she wears was given to her for her sixteenth birthday by your uncle Henry?”
“No,” he said.
Kasey fingered the heart-shaped locket that dropped to exactly the right place. “It’s beautiful.”
“Not as much as you are,” he whispered.
Her second present was a lovely wooden picture frame with FAMILY IS THE GREATEST GIFT painted in bright yellow letters. And the third, a blinged-out alarm clock with a crown at the very top of the minute hand.
“For the queen of the Texas Star,” he said.
And he didn’t think he was romantic enough?
“Thank you so much, Nash. You’ve put a lot of thought into these, but when did you…”
“A little online shopping bought some of it and the necklace was when you and Lila were shopping and we watched the kids. Brody and I traded turns with the kids and did some buying of our own.” He grinned. “So you really like them? It was so hard to keep it down to three. You deserve so much more.”
“Mama.” Emma waded through the paper and bows and threw her arms around Kasey’s neck. “My new baby and me is hungry. Can we eat?”
“Nash needs to open his presents first, and I bet that the cinnamon rolls are cooled down by then.”
“No eat. Pay.” Silas had opened up a big blue bucket of blocks and was busy stacking them.
“I’ll try to hurry, princess,” Nash told Emma.
He opened the first one so carefully that the paper didn’t even have a tear in it. “Oh, Kasey, this is so nice. It looks just like the ranch brand.” He held up the bolo tie with a gold star slide. “I know just the special occasion that I’ll wear it first.”
A vision of him wearing nothing but that flashed through her mind and put a scarlet blush on her face.
He was a little less patient with the second one, a fluffy oversize throw the same color as his dark brown eyes. A wicked smile turned up the corners of his mouth. “And I’ve got a picture in my mind for this.”
So did she.
It didn’t involve watching movies with the kids in the room. But rather wrapping up in it after a bout of really hot sex and falling asleep together.
Tucked inside a little tin box with a Christmas tree on the front, the third present was a gift card to a steak house in Amarillo. “Why, Kasey, are you asking me for a date?” He raised his voice over blocks falling, Emma talking baby talk to her new doll, and Rustin making engine noises as he floated his remote-control helicopter over the Christmas tree.
“If I was, what would the answer be?”
“Name the day and we’ll use this card.” He grinned.
Silas left his blocks and crawled into Nash’s lap. “Hun-gee?”
“Yes, I am buddy, and those cinnamon rolls are just like an extra present,” Nash answered. “Ask Mama if we can have breakfast now?” He slipped her hand in his and squeezed gently. “Thank you. I wasn’t expecting presents, but they are all perfect. I can’t tell you…”
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Neither can I. Let’s have breakfast. We’re supposed to be at my mama’s for brunch at nine, then at Gracie and Paul’s for coffee and cookies at ten thirty.”
“And Granny’s?” Emma followed Kasey’s lead and kissed Nash on the other cheek.
“Back to Granny’s at eleven thirty for presents and to help get the family Christmas dinner on the table at two o’clock,” she answered.
“Then home so I can ride my bike?” Rustin asked.
“It’s snowing, buddy,” Nash said. “But we can take it out to the barn and you can ride it up and down the aisles and I bet we can set up a couple of hay bales so you can fight them with the horns.”
“Me, wagon?” Silas asked.
“And I’ll pull you all over the barn.” Before he could say anything else, his phone rang and he mouthed “Uncle Henry” as he answered it.
“Okay, then. We’ll leave the back door unlocked. We’ll be at Hope Springs for Christmas dinner at two o’clock.”
“And you are invited,” Kasey yelled.
“Yes, it’s fine,” Nash said. “We understand, but we hope you change your mind.” He put the phone back in his pocket and shook his head. “He says not to expect him but that he’ll see us this evening. His flight is going to be late, and then there’s the bad weather from Amarillo to here.”
“I’m ready to eat.” Emma smiled.
“Looks like we’ve got a full day.” Nash helped Kasey to her feet.
And then all of this comes to a screeching halt, she thought with a sigh.
* * *
The morning after Christmas, Nash and Kasey took the wagon and the new bike out to the barn to let the kids play with them. Emma, of course, had to take her karaoke machine and sing to the sheep. Then they went back to the house where Kasey made a pot of coffee for her and Nash while the kids played with their other toys.
It was past time for Nash to ask Kasey to stay, way past time to admit to her that he’d flat-out fallen in love with her, but as he sat there across the table from the most beautiful woman in the world, the one who’d stolen his heart, he was tongue-tied that morning.
“Hey, Nash.” Jace burst through the front door. “That ram of yours is out on the road. I was on my way back to my place with a load of feed. Tried to get a lasso on him, but he’s a wily old boy. Maybe you’ll have better luck.”
“You got time to watch the kids, Jace? I’ll go with him and help. The sheep know me pretty good, so
maybe I can sweet-talk him a little,” Kasey asked.
“Sure thing, Sis. But remember, we’re supposed to be at Granny’s for leftover dinner, so hurry up,” Jace answered.
Kasey tossed Nash’s coat across the room. “That’s an hour from now. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
Nash threw on his coat and followed Kasey outside into the blowing snow. “They were all in the barn half an hour ago. I can’t imagine how he got out.”
Kasey was already in the driver’s seat of the van. “Maybe he jumped out of the stall and…”
“Dammit!” Nash slapped his thigh as he buckled up. “I bet I didn’t close the barn door all the way. I was in such a hurry to get the kids back to the house that I might have left it open a little bit.”
“Let’s just hope that none of the others got out.”
“I’m so sorry,” Nash said.
“No problem.”
The north wind whipped the snow across the road in waves and the windshield wipers couldn’t keep up even on the highest speed.
“I don’t want you to leave Texas Star,” he blurted out.
“I don’t want to go, either, but…hey, there he is.” She pointed to the ram, who must’ve gotten turned around. With his head down, he was in the middle of the road coming right toward them. She stomped the brakes and the van fishtailed all over the place before it came to a stop not ten feet in front of the critter.
Nash bailed out of the van and grabbed the animal by the horns. He pulled him off the road and yelled. Kasey rolled down the window. “Did you say something? I can’t hear you above this wind.”
Nash motioned with his hands for her to go back to the ranch. “We can’t put this smelly old sheep in your vehicle.”
She shook her head. In seconds she was beside him, snow collecting on her stocking hat and shoulders. “I’m not leaving you out here in this mess. I’ll toss the kids’ car seats into the back and we’ll put him in the van. It’s not that far from here to the barn.”
Nash pulled on his horns but the crazy thing wouldn’t budge. “What if he…”
“We’ll clean it up.” She threw the words over her shoulder as she hurried back to the vehicle.
He threw the two-hundred-pound ram over his shoulders and carried it to the van. Kasey had already gotten things ready but the animal came alive when he put him inside the warm vehicle. Kasey put her hand on his head and quickly slammed the door shut.
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