A Texas Soldier's Christmas

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  True, but there were some things she didn’t need to know about. Zane regarded his mother steadily. He knew he was the baby of the family, but she had to let him grow up sometime. “Maybe we should change the topic,” he suggested.

  She watched as he resumed his hammering. “Fine. We’ll talk about all the time you’ve been spending at Laramie Gardens, then. I hear you’re quite popular around there.”

  Grinning, Zane moved his ladder down the porch again. “I like it there. Reminds me of the summers I spent with Grandpa, when I was a kid. Plus I knew a fair number of the residents, like Mr. Pierce, the former owner of the Book Nook, and Miss Mim, the town librarian back then, too.”

  His mother smiled. “So you’re fond of them.”

  Zane nodded. He went back to stringing snowflake lights. “Their various life experiences give them a valuable take on the world. They’re constantly reminding me that life is short. You’ve got to grab it with both hands while you can.”

  “I thought that’s what you’ve been doing with the Special Forces.”

  Zane knew his mom hated what she saw as his way-too-dangerous-occupation. “It is.” But Nora and Liam had been teaching him there was more to life than just protecting and serving their country, too.

  “Is that what you are also back to doing with Liam’s mother, Nora Caldwell? Living in the moment? Grabbing life with both hands?”

  Briefly, Zane dropped his head. “What happened to the ultradiscreet mother I used to have?”

  Lucille got up and walked over to him. “She vanished in the wake of the Lockhart Foundation scandal that rocked Dallas a few years ago.”

  Zane knew that was true. His mother had gone from trusting too much to challenging everything.

  She looked him in the eye. “I’m going to be direct with you, son. You have to quit treating your never-ending love affair with Nora Caldwell like it’s some dirty little secret!”

  Wow. Talk about a shot right to the heart. “Mom! Seriously!”

  Lucille held her ground. “Laramie is a small town. Where everyone knows everyone else, and watches out for everyone else. When your pickup truck is parked in front of her house every night, sometimes all night, like it has been the last few evenings, people notice. Even when the two of you keep declaring to one and all that the two of you are not officially dating.”

  Zane had never liked being backed into a corner. He liked it even less now.

  “It’s none of their business, Mom.” Although he’d made it clear to the matchmaking residents of Laramie Gardens that Nora had won him over long ago.

  “Maybe not, but everyone sees the sparks between the two of you. They have for years now.”

  Zane exhaled roughly. “So?”

  “So the two of you are both thirty years old. Why have you never gotten married or even engaged? Why do the two of you keep pretending to others there is nothing much between you?”

  Because Nora had always wanted it that way. And when it came to public perception of them, he chose to honor her wishes. “It’s complicated.”

  Lucille waited.

  “When we were teenagers there really was nothing to report. We were just very good friends.” Who secretly lusted after each other, yet feared doing anything that would potentially impact their friendship.

  Lucille’s expression gentled. “And when you were in college?”

  Zane went back to stringing lights. “We were thousands of miles apart. Our contact was limited to email, phone, text messaging.” Although they’d both burned up the wires doing that.

  Lucille watched him retrieve an additional strand. “And once you each graduated and went on active duty?”

  Reality and fantasy, want and need, had all begun to blend. “With her in the armed services, too,” Zane reflected, “our relationship became even more complicated.”

  Lucille followed, her high heels tapping across the deck. “Because?”

  Zane paused to remove the new strand from the packaging. “There are military regulations, Mom. Fraternization, especially between nurses and their patients, is frowned upon.”

  “She only cared for you personally once, that time you injured your shoulder on a mission and had to have surgery in Germany.”

  “Yes, but I’ve been in and out of the military hospitals where she’s been on the nursing staff multiple times.”

  “With gunshot and shrapnel wounds,” Lucille recalled with an unhappy shudder. “That one horrible concussion...”

  “It wouldn’t have been appropriate for Nora to care for me.” Because she had been too emotionally involved with him. And he with her.

  “Mmm, hmm.”

  The innuendo in his mother’s low tone prompted him to rush to say, “Plus, Brigadier General Caldwell wouldn’t have approved if it had been anything more.”

  The General had wanted Nora to have only one love—the upward trajectory of her career in the Army. Hence, they’d kept their increasingly intimate on-again, off-again relationship as private as possible.

  “And you know this how?” Lucille demanded.

  Zane looked his mother in the eye. “The same way I know you don’t approve of what is or is not going on with me and Nora right now.”

  “First of all, you don’t know what I approve of or not because we haven’t discussed it. But, you’re right. I am upset to hear via the WTWA grapevine that you’re thinking about becoming Liam’s guardian, when your relationship with Nora is still so...casual.”

  “Backup guardian, Mom,” Zane corrected. “The person who steps in, in the event of an emergency or life-altering circumstance.” Which was why he’d had to go over to the West Texas Warrior Assistance and get information on military benefits for active and separated military. Find out what, if anything, Liam would be eligible for. Answer? The way things stood? Not much. Not that he intended to leave it at that, in any case. “We signed the papers at Nora’s attorney’s office this morning. So it’s already official.”

  “I’m guessing you volunteered for this.”

  Well, he certainly hadn’t been drafted. “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  His mother’s near-constant disapproval rankled. “Because Nora needs me. And so does her son.”

  “If you were seriously dating...or even engaged,” his mother continued, frowning, “it might make sense—”

  “It makes sense now, Mom,” he interjected. “Nora doesn’t have anyone else to call upon to be there for her son.”

  “What about her mother and her sister?”

  He scrubbed a hand across his face, his patience wearing thin. “Davina isn’t the least bit interested in kids. She’s all about her career. As far as her mother, The General wasn’t there for Nora when she was a kid, and she still isn’t.”

  “Are you?” Lucille asked emphatically.

  I’m sure as hell trying to be. As much as she’ll let me. Aware his mother was still watching him carefully, he said, “Liam is special.”

  “I agree.”

  He wondered at the reason behind her disapproval. Usually, his mother was all out when it came to helping others. It was why she and his late father had poured most of their fortune into a charitable foundation. “But...?” Zane prodded.

  “It’s fine to promise Nora all this now, when you are home on leave. But once you’re deployed again, you won’t be available to either her or her son.”

  Except he wasn’t reenlisting. Knowing his mother wouldn’t believe it any more than Nora or his siblings did, however, he merely said, “We’ll make it work, Mom. Now, and in the future. That’s the good thing about both Nora and I. We can adapt.”

  Something akin to respect glimmered in his mother’s eyes. “I can see you’re determined,” she said finally.

  “I am.”

  “Then behave the w
ay you were brought up,” she urged kindly but firmly. “Treat them like the family they are to you. And bring them to dinner at my ranch with the rest of your siblings and their loved ones.”

  And get even more of the third degree? Zane went back to hanging decorations. “Nora’s pretty busy right now.”

  His mother retrieved her car keys from her purse. “I’m sure she can find time before Christmas. I’ll send you a couple of options. If those dates don’t work, tell me which one will. Or we could both call her right now...”

  As if on cue, Zane’s phone went off. It was Nora. Texting SOS—the private code they had used when they were kids. She hadn’t used it in years. And she had never once used it lightly.

  “Thanks for stopping by, Mom, but I’ve got to go.” Zane escorted Lucille to her car, then rushed off.

  Chapter Nine

  Twenty minutes later, Zane strode into Laramie Gardens. Nora met him at the door of her office. “What’s up?” he asked. Definitely something. The normally unflappable woman he adored looked harried and upset.

  She stepped closer and he caught the scent of her lavender perfume. “Mr. Pierce wants you there for his meeting with Dr. Wheeler, the geriatric specialist in charge of his case. Is that going to be okay with you?”

  Zane paused. “Instead of his daughter?” Who could probably be available by conference call or Skype?

  Her delicate hand lightly cupping his elbow, Nora led him down the hall. “Mr. Pierce will explain his reasoning. But if you’re okay with this, I’ll have him sign the necessary privacy forms that will allow you to be informed of his medical issues.”

  “Sure.”

  Zane followed Nora into the conference room. Russell Pierce was sitting across the table from Ron Wheeler, a genial-looking young man not long out of medical school. The two seemed to be in some sort of standoff.

  Zane shook the hands of both men while Nora presented the necessary HIPAA forms to Mr. Pierce, who signed with a shaky hand.

  “Thanks for coming, Zane,” the dapper older man said, as Zane took the seat next to him. “I need someone I can trust to put their emotion aside and help me decide what’s right.”

  Zane nodded his assent. “So what’s the issue?”

  Mr. Pierce pointed at the doctor and nurse on the opposite side of the table. “They want to have hospital tests run on me...”

  “MRI, EEG, CT,” Dr. Wheeler said.

  “It’s all outpatient,” Nora explained, “and could be done over a couple of days.”

  Although time-consuming, none of the tests were painful or invasive. Zane leaned forward intently. “So what’s the issue?”

  Mr. Pierce grimaced. “Say I am in the early stages of a brain tumor or a degenerative disease like Alzheimer’s. At eighty-five, I’m too old and frail to have major surgery. And it’s my understanding the medicines they have for a lot of the more debilitative neurological conditions don’t really work all that well. Bottom line, if there is something really wrong with me, I’m not sure I want to know. Especially at Christmastime.”

  Zane met his glance equably. “I can understand that,” he said. He turned back to Nora, and Dr. Wheeler, lifting a brow in silent inquiry.

  “It’s true—we could get bad news from the tests,” Dr. Wheeler acknowledged. “But we could also get information that would allow us to properly diagnose the reason behind this confusion and disorientation you’re now having most evenings.”

  “Is that guaranteed?” Mr. Pierce persisted.

  “No,” Dr. Wheeler reluctantly admitted.

  “But it’s better than doing nothing, while your symptoms slowly but steadily worsen,” Nora put in.

  Mr. Pierce looked at Zane.

  He had to ask. “Does your daughter, Lynn, know about any of this?” From what he had observed, she was very caring.

  “No,” Mr. Pierce replied stubbornly. “And I don’t want Lynn to be informed right now because she’d put me on a plane back to New York City and have all sorts of doctors doing every test imaginable on me. And I don’t want that. I want to stay here in Texas. Where my home and heart and late wife and friends all are.”

  That made sense, too, Zane noted.

  “So if I were your parent,” Mr. Pierce persisted, looking straight at Zane, “what would you want me to do?”

  He returned the older gentleman’s straightforward look. “I’d want you to find out the truth behind your condition, if you could, via any test that is not too invasive or uncomfortable for you,” he advised kindly.

  “And then...?”

  Zane continued, “Weigh your treatment options against any probability of success. And then concentrate on the quality of life. Because at the end of the day,” he asserted firmly, meeting everyone’s eyes, “if you’re not really present every minute of every day, then you’re not really living.”

  * * *

  GRATEFUL FOR ZANE’S COMPASSIONATE, steady presence, Nora walked Zane out to the front of the building. The cold, crisp winter air was a welcome respite from the sometimes stifling heat of the seniors’ living facility.

  Aware they were being watched by many of their matchmakers, she paused beneath the portico. Keeping a respectful distance from Zane, said, “Thanks for helping out today and volunteering to accompany Mr. Pierce when he goes to the hospital the next couple of days. We could have sent a staff member, but I think he feels more protected, knowing you’re going to be there.”

  Noticing she was beginning to shiver, Zane removed his fleece jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

  The warmth of his body, and his woodsy scent enveloped her as surely as one of his hugs. His glance cut to the ladies swooning behind the glass windows of the community room. He shook his head at the lack of privacy, then returned his attention to her face. “Because I’m part of the Special Forces?”

  “No,” Nora replied, forcing a smile. “Because you’re you.” Suddenly, inexplicably on the verge of tears, she jerked in a bolstering breath and worked to cover the building emotion within her. Try as she might, the worry over what she was going to do, how she was going to cope when Zane left again in a few weeks was always at the back of her mind.

  She whisked an imaginary piece of lint from the hem of her uniform top, teased with a blatant wink. “But you’re right, there is something prestigious about taking you anywhere.”

  He chuckled and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Nice to know, sweetheart.”

  Nora ignored the men now standing at the windows, eating popcorn. It was all she could do not to blush. “Listen. I kind of feel I owe you for this afternoon.” She dared almost asking him for a date. “So if you want to come over for dinner later...”

  Zane hesitated. “I’d love to,” he admitted, his glance drifting affectionately over her face, “but I’ve got some stuff back at the ranch I have to take care of this evening. Particularly if I’m going to be going to the hospital with Mr. Pierce the next three days.”

  Doing her best to hide the hurt of rejection, Nora nodded. “Of course.”

  Had she asked too much? Put too much domestic pressure on Zane? Hard to tell from the suddenly inscrutable expression on his handsome face. Had she somehow made him feel hemmed in, or forced too much upon him, asking him to sit in a hospital for hours on end, cooling his heels when he could be out protecting their country and/or saving the world?

  He reached out and gently took her hand. “But there is something you could do for me in return.”

  “Anything,” she said, swallowing hard.

  “My mother’s having a family dinner on Sunday afternoon. She’d like us both to be there. And of course, she wants you to bring Liam, too.”

  Stepping back out of view of their cheering section, Nora held Zane’s gaze. “What would you like?”

  Understanding precis
ely what she was doing, he moved with her. “To not be put under the familial microscope?”

  Nora laughed, as she knew he meant her to.

  Guaranteed a few seconds of privacy, he brushed the hair from her temple. “Seriously, I know we promised we’d keep it casual and take it day by day while I’m on leave.” A coaxing smile lifted the corners of his sensual lips. “But I’d really like it if you would be my plus one. And Liam my plus two since he is now sort of a member of the Lockhart clan.”

  The thought of having family standing by for them warmed Nora as much as his jacket. Enthusiasm building, she asked, “What time?”

  “I’ll pick you up at four. And Nora—” he hugged her briefly and trailed his lips across her cheek “—thanks for this.”

  * * *

  ZANE WASN’T SURPRISED Nora and Liam both received a warm welcome at the Circle H Ranch that weekend. Although his family had once been as disconnected as Nora’s, his father’s illness and death, coupled with a scandal at the family’s charitable foundation, had not only made them work as a team, but forged close and loving bonds.

  Now, with all four of his siblings married to the loves of their lives and raising families of their own, the pressure was on him to do the same.

  Hence, they barely had their coats off before the subject of his romantic future came up. “I can see why you wanted to be this little guy’s guardian,” his brother Chance remarked, watching as Nora shifted her son to Zane so she could refrigerate the bottles of formula she’d brought.

  “Backup guardian,” Zane corrected, lounging against the counter, Liam cradled snugly in his arms.

  Wyatt and Adelaide grinned at the way Liam was clinging to Zane’s collar and cooing adoringly up at him. Each was holding one of their twin toddlers, and they shifted slightly so Nora could take her place beside Zane. “Doesn’t look like Liam is differentiating,” Wyatt observed.

  Unable to help himself, Zane grinned back down at his tiny charge. Darned if the little guy didn’t feel like his son. Nora, the woman he was meant to spend the rest of his life with...

  Garrett and Hope sauntered over to greet Liam, too, their arms full of their own two boys, almost-two-year-old Max and his newborn brother, Jack. “He definitely seems to know when he’s got it good,” Garrett observed with the gravity of their oldest sibling, as well as the first among them to actually settle down.