And Everything Nice (Snowed In & Snuggled Up #3)

by Mary Leo

  She turned away from him to pick up the tee he’d placed on the bed.

  “Autumn’s moving. Quick, put your hands right here,” Gaby ordered, showing him the exact location.

  He came up from behind her and did as he was told. Little Autumn cooperated and rolled a leg or her head or an arm under his hand. The sensation of feeling his baby move inside Gaby’s body sent a shiver through Hamilton’s body. Never had he felt so much love in his entire life. He nuzzled Gaby’s neck. She smelled like flowers and cinnamon, her skin felt warm and silky on his lips.

  “You’re amazing. Do you know that? And you’re an incredible mother already. Autumn Grace is one lucky little girl.”

  “I love that you believe in me. It gives me strength.”

  “You know you can lean on me for anything.”

  She leaned against his body, and he folded his arms around her. His warmth surrounding her caused her to wonder what it would be like to truly love and trust him. To allow herself for once in her life, to believe in a man . . . this man . . . Grandpa Win’s grandson.

  ***

  The party had been going on for quite some time when Hamilton carried Gaby outside where everyone was gathered around a large fire pit that was safely set back from the house in a small clearing without any trees. The fire burned bright and lit up the night sky which was filled with stars. Only a few pesky snow clouds still hung around, but Hamilton had heard the forecast called for sunny skies on Thanksgiving.

  Everyone cheered when they spotted Hamilton tucking Gaby into her chaise cocoon, even Maddie’s large German Shepard mix, Mufasa, or Moof, who looked as though he could bite off an arm, expressed his delight. Moof seemed to love to be part of any party, and immediately trotted over to give Gaby a big wet welcome on the side of her face right as Hamilton slipped a couple pillows behind her back.

  When Hamilton finished, he bowed. “Toasted marshmallows for M'lady or would you prefer to go right for the s'mores and some hot chocolate?”

  “All of it,” she said, giggling.

  “At once, M'lady.”

  Then Hamilton went off to do her bidding. In the meantime, Ciara and Maddie were trying to name Thanksgiving songs, but couldn’t come up with one. Hamilton, however, remembered the song he and his brothers used to sing.

  “I’ve got one. We used to sing it right before Grandpa sliced into the turkey. It was our way of speaking up for the mistreated bird.”

  Hamilton, started singing, trying his best to keep a straight face. By the time he got to the chorus, his brothers had joined in.

  “A turkey sat on a backyard fence and he sang this sad, sad song. Thanksgiving Day is coming, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble and I know I’ll be eaten soo-oon! Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, I would like to run aw-aaay! Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, I don’t like Thanksgiving Day!”

  “Repeat,” Scout announced, and everyone joined in while Moof barked and howled his participation.

  Laughter erupted when it was over, and Hamilton reveled at how good it made him feel to be back in the company of his brothers, laughing and telling stories about their past.

  “I don’t believe you guys sang this song at the table. It would have made me cry for the bird,” Maddie said, once the laughter died down.

  “The first time Hamilton could put it all together, that’s exactly what he did,” JT answered as the fire crackled before him. He sat next to Maddie who had just roasted to perfection three marshmallows on a stick. “The little darling cried his eyes out.”

  “Awe,” the women all seemed to say in unison.

  “I was three and traumatized by the whole idea of eating a dead bird,” Hamilton told the group remembering that moment. “I thought Grandpa had killed the turkey I’d fed and followed around the previous day at Bentley Farms. I thought we were about to eat my turkey.”

  “Our mom had to assure him our turkey was from a different farm,” Scout added.

  “But that still didn’t calm me down. It wasn’t until she finally lied and told me our bird wasn’t a turkey at all. It was tofu, made to look like a turkey.”

  “I hate to tell you this little brother,” Scout offered. “But since we’re all being so honest, that was exactly the turkey you followed around.”

  Hamilton turned to Gaby. “See, this is exactly why I’m as screwed up as I am.”

  “Was it really?” JT asked Scout. “I tried to feed that stupid turkey as well.”

  “Hell if I know,” Scout said, “but it could’ve been.”

  Hamilton threw a handful of marshmallows at Scout, while JT lobbed some popcorn.

  The night continued on that way, with the brothers teasing each other, revealing stories about their past. The women chimed in with their own tales until the fire burned down and Gaby started to doze off.

  “I’m calling it a night,” he told everyone, and swooped up Gaby in his arms.

  Everyone exchanged goodnights, and as Hamilton carried Gaby back in the house, she looked up at him, smiled and said, “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For making Autumn Grace and me part of your family.”

  Hamilton pulled her in closer. “Believe me, it was my pleasure.”

  Then they both chuckled as a mischievous little grin lit up Gaby’s beautiful face.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Fortunately, when Hamilton awoke on Thanksgiving morning and checked both the weather and local road closures, he learned that blue skies were expected for the entire day and Avalanche Road had been cleared and was now open.

  Thanksgiving Dinner was on!

  First, on the agenda was getting the monster turkeys in the oven, which he had already done. Then he’d made a cornbread stuffing, an oyster stuffing, and a white bread stuffing. The good news was there were no gluten-free folks coming to dinner, or he’d have to accommodate them as well.

  His mom was bringing the pies, homemade by her two hands. There would be a couple cherry pies, made with her special canned bing cherries, an apple pie made with her canned apples, a pumpkin pie, also made with her own canned pumpkin, and a couple pumpkin cheesecakes. Of course, that would never be enough for Mom. They’d have an assortment of cookies, several kinds of cupcakes for Gaby, and a few sweet breads--their favorite being Mom’s banana chocolate chip.

  No Winchester Thanksgiving would be complete without candied yams with a thick layer of golden marshmallows on top. He’d bought several bags of marshmallows from Artie’s Groceries in town, anticipating the bonfire the previous night, but had hidden a few bags away in his room just in case they all went . . . which they had.

  All-in-all, with his mom’s help, Hamilton anticipated that dinner would go off without a hitch, and everyone would walk away from the table completely satisfied. Plus, it would be the start of a tradition they’d all but given up as a family. Now that Hamilton was going to be a father, he looked at the cabin differently than he had just days ago when his dad had approached him with the idea. It had sounded like a great way for everyone to make a sizeable amount of money. The cabin and the land would sell for well over two million dollars.

  But as the saying goes, the place was indeed priceless to the Winchester family.

  He and his brothers had come to an agreement not to sell.

  Now all he had to do was tell his dad.

  Not something he was looking forward to doing, especially the way he was currently feeling about him. That new information about his dad’s conniving and chilling ways had changed everything and changed not only how he felt about his dad, but how he would deal with him in the future.

  Still, he didn’t have to give his dad their final decision until November thirtieth, so for now, he was going to concentrate on putting a great dinner together and finding a way to convince Gaby to marry him.

  He put in a call to his mom asking if he could have one of Gram’s many gemstone rings, and his mom was thrilled at the idea.

&nbs
p; “Whichever one you want, son. They’re all lovely,” she told him.

  “I’d like the sapphire. It matches Gaby’s eyes.”

  “You got it. Oh, I’m so happy, honey. This is truly a . . . wonderful Thanksgiving.”

  Hamilton could hear the emotion in her voice.

  Gram had had quite a collection of rings. Grandpa had bought her at least two, the sapphire ring for their fiftieth wedding anniversary, and a diamond on their first anniversary. Then she’d inherited Grandpa’s mother’s engagement ring, and her own mother’s engagement ring. They were all equally important to her, and she’d wear them quite often. Hamilton’s favorite had always been the sapphire. He had liked the round shape of it. When he was a kid he thought it looked like a shiny glass ball.

  Knowing how opposed Gaby was to marriage, Hamilton knew that however he approached the subject he’d have to be extra careful to make sure she understood how much he loved her and would always be loyal to her until the end of time.

  Now if only he could figure out a way to say it.

  ***

  Scout and JT had moved the red velvet covered chaise into the dining area so Gaby could participate in the festivities. She helped Hamilton chop the celery, onions and the carrots. Then she helped Maddie and Ciara get the table set by slipping napkin rings around the cloth napkins, polishing Grandma Win’s silverware, and making the final decision on which tablecloth to use.

  Scout took care of the logs for the hearth, and Ciara created the centerpiece for the table out of greens she’d picked outside, small pumpkins and candles she’d found in the china cabinet. Even Moof got into decorating by bringing in a few pinecones he’d found on the ground in front of the cabin.

  The cabin smelled heavenly from the turkey baking in the oven and the logs burning in the hearth. Gaby hadn’t felt this content and this happy in a very long time.

  “How ya’ doin’, babe? Can I get you anything?” Hamilton asked for the millionth time.

  Truth was she’d been experiencing those mini contractions ever since she’d woken up before dawn. She kept thinking they would stop like they had before, but so far they hadn’t. If they got any worse, she would of course tell Hamilton. Although, the idea of ruining everyone’s Thanksgiving when the Winchesters had worked so hard to have everyone together, wasn’t something she would do without being sure she was actually in labor.

  Doc Holiday had told her he thought her doctor in LA had been wrong about the due date, and put the delivery date more like two weeks away rather than four, but she hadn’t told Hamilton about it. Plus, at the time, she thought Doc Holiday was completely off track until she looked up the dates for the Digital Conference in Denver.

  Doc Holiday was spot on. She’d gotten the dates wrong for the conference, so her doctor was off by two weeks.

  With that in mind, Gaby now knew her baby could be born at anytime, which meant she and Hamilton had to come to terms with what his role would be in Autumn’s life. She wanted Autumn Grace to grow up knowing her dad and his family. A long distance dad, like she had, couldn’t be part of the picture. So if she had to move to Denver to have that, so be it. And if Sharon Smith didn’t like it, well then Hamilton would have to deal with her.

  Problem was, she had no idea what she would do for a living in Denver. The only thing Gaby was ever good at was baking, and even that had dropped off in the past few years. She had picked it up while hanging around her dad’s restaurant. She’d get bored and bug the pastry chefs until they’d let her help. Her dad seemed to have a new pastry chef every time she’d visit, and over time she’d gleaned the best recipes and tips out of each of them. Then she’d combine what she learned and came up with her own version of a cookie or cake.

  There was a time in the not so distant past when she’d thought about opening her own Italian pastry shop. She could make a cannoli better than anything even the top Italian pastry chefs could ever whip up, and forget about biscotti. They were her specialty.

  “Some herbal tea might be nice. Thanks. But Hammy, we need to talk.”

  “Yes, we do.”

  Hamilton prepared the tea and brought it over to Gaby, then climbed up on the wide chaise and cuddled up. The rest of the crew was upstairs in the loft watching the football game.

  She took a deep breath and began. “My mom pointed out that on your Facebook page it says you’re in a relationship with Sharon Smith.”

  Hamilton chuckled. “That was a joke. The only person I’m in a relationship with is you, if you’ll let me.”

  “But there are pictures of you two and you certainly look as if you’re dating.”

  “I’m not now, nor have I ever been in a relationship with Sharon. We dated a few times, but that’s all. Let me get my laptop and I’ll show you.”

  Hamilton slipped off the chaise and returned quicker than Gaby had time to process what he’d just said. He took the same position he’d left then brought up pictures of Sharon wearing a white wedding dress. He proceeded to tell Gaby what had really gone on and that he hadn’t even looked at his Facebook page in months.

  “So, you and Sharon Smith aren’t in a relationship?” Gaby asked as she and Hamilton sat side-by-side.

  He shook his head. “Not now or have we ever been in a relationship. She just used me to make the man she loved jealous.”

  He turned his laptop and showed Gaby pictures of a smiling Sharon Smith-Johnson dressed in a white wedding gown kissing her tuxedoed groom. Hamilton scrolled through about ten more pictures of the happy couple.

  Gaby felt like a complete idiot for ever listening to her mom, and not having done a more thorough search on Sharon’s page. If she had, she would have seen that Sharon had started a new page, a Sharon Smith-Johnson page. “I really thought . . . my mom said . . . well, she was obviously lying, and probably lied about a lot of things.”

  “The pictures are right there on Sharon’s new page for everyone to see, but your mom chose not to tell you about them or her new page.”

  “I’m so sorry I doubted you. I guess I just didn’t want to believe my mom could be so cruel.”

  “It’s tough when we learn the truth about the people we love, but ya know, it’s like my dad and everything that JT told me about him today. In the back of my mind, I knew my dad wasn’t a good person. I suspected that he was messing with my brothers and our mom by trying to get their money, but when you’re a kid you have blinders on when it comes to your parents. It’s why children still defend their abusive parents and cry when they’re taken away. It’s why an abused woman stays with the man who beats her. We sometimes don’t want to see the truth, don’t want to admit that the person we love most in the world could be that horrible.”

  Gaby snuggled in closer to Hamilton, feeling safe and loved. “It’s hard to accept that my mom’s only goal in all of this was to get even with my dad.”

  “And it’s hard for me to accept that my dad never loved any of us. All he ever really wanted was money, and he didn’t give a damn how he got it.”

  She looked up at him, and saw the tears in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Hammy. I had no idea.”

  He slipped his hand around her cheek, then pulled her in tight. “It’s in our past now, and we have a sweet little girl to raise and do right by her so she never has to know any of the sorrow and hurt we’ve felt from our parents. We’ll give her all our love, so she can grow up knowing that her parents loved her more than anything.”

  Gaby looked up and when his lips pressed against hers she knew she could finally let go. She could finally love and be loved in return. She was just about to tell him how she felt, but once again they were interrupted by Catherine, who opened the front door and walked right in.

  Only this time, she’d brought along her dad.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Catherine and Henry arrived not only with wine, pies, cookies, and cannoli but with everything Gaby could possibly need for a newborn, including the cradle Catherine had used for all her sons.

  To
say the moment was awkward for Gaby and Hamilton was an understatement.

  “I bought a new mattress, and bedding for the cradle,” Catherine said. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not. It’s beautiful,” Gaby told her, completely taken aback by the outpouring of love from both Catherine and her dad.

  Henry, still in shape, and always dressed in the latest styles, took off his coat and headed straight for Gaby, arms outstretched.

  “Bella Gabriella!” He used her full name whenever he addressed her. Gaby normally liked it, but today she felt as if he was using it to scold her. “Why did you think you should keep such a special moment from your papa? You are so beautiful, my darling.” He palmed his cheek. “Too beautiful for the right words.”

  He turned to Hamilton. “Are you taking good care of my girl?”

  “The best, Papa.” Gaby told him before Hamilton could answer.

  “We brought you everything you need. I have more in the car. I think Catherine bought one of everything in the baby shop.”

  “Well, not everything,” Catherine said, defending herself. “I left a few blankets and hats for the other babies in town.”

  Henry leaned over and kissed Gaby on each cheek. “I made you your favorite pastina soup. I’m gonna make it hot for you right now. It will fix you right up.”

  He went off to the kitchen with Catherine trailing right behind him.

  Hamilton turned to Gaby. “I’m sorry if my mom told your dad. But you’d have to tell him sooner or later anyway.”

  Gaby wanted to tell Hamilton about their engagement, but knew she shouldn’t. “It’s fine. Really.”