A Cold Creek Noel (The Cowboys of Cold Creek)

by Thayne, RaeAnne

  “I’m ready now,” Gabi declared.

  “Me too,” Destry chimed in.

  “My grandma let me keep some eye makeup and lip stuff at her house when we lived in California,” Ava said. “I could only put it on while I was there or when we went shopping or out to lunch. I had to wash it off before I left so my dad didn’t freak, which was totally stupid.”

  Destry looked slightly appalled at the idea of keeping makeup—or anything else—from her father. “I could never do that!”

  “My grandma said it was okay.”

  In the mode of adults sticking together, Caidy gave the three girls a mild look. “Here’s a pretty good rule—if you can’t wear it, taste it or say it in front of your dad, you probably shouldn’t wear it, taste it or say it when he’s not there.”

  “Agreed.” Ridge interjected into the conversation. “You hear that, Des?”

  The three girls giggled and started talking about something from school, leaving Caidy’s mind to follow the conversation between the twins and Ben at the other end of the table.

  “So, Dr. Caldwell, how are you finding Pine Gulch?” Trace was asking.

  “Ben. Please, call me Ben. We’re enjoying living here so far. The town seems to be filled with very kind people. For the most part anyway.”

  He didn’t look in her direction when he spoke but she cringed anyway, certain his pointed barb was aimed at her.

  “It’s the least part you have to worry about,” Taft said with a wink. “I could name a few people in town whose bad side you want to stay far clear of. I’m sure Trace knows a few more on the law enforcement side. We’ve got our share of bad customers.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Ben murmured. “Rude, arrogant jerks.”

  “You better believe it,” Taft said.

  Becca quickly cleared her throat. “Uh, can you pass the potatoes?” she asked Ben.

  “Sure, if there are any left.” He picked up the bowl Caidy always served the mashed potatoes in, the flower-lined earthenware that had always been one of her mother’s favorites.

  For the first time since she sat down, he looked in her direction, though his gaze was focused somewhere above her head. “Everything is really delicious,” he said. “Isn’t that right, Ava? Jack?”

  “Supergood,” Jack said. He had a smudge of gravy on his cheek and looked absolutely adorable. “Can I have another roll? Ooh, with jam! I love strawberries.”

  Ben grabbed one of her cloverleaf rolls and spread some of her jam on it. When he handed it to his son, Jack gobbled it in three bites, smearing red along with the gravy. Ben shook his head, picked up his napkin and dabbed at the mess on Jack’s face. She watched out of the corner of her gaze as those big hands that had held her close attended to his child, and something soft and warm unfurled inside her chest.

  He looked up at just that moment and caught her watching. Their gazes held for one long, charged moment while the conversation flowed around them. Then Ridge asked him another question and he looked away, breaking the connection.

  He and his children fit in well with the family. Taft’s stepson, Alex, and Jack seemed like two peas in a proverbial pod, with Maya attending closely to their every word, and Gabi and Des had been quick to absorb Ava into their circle.

  This was only temporary, she reminded herself. After the holidays, he would take his cute kids and his friendly housekeeper and move into the big house he was building. In a matter of days, he would be just a peripheral figure in her world. He wouldn’t even be that if she didn’t need to take one of the dogs for the occasional visit to the veterinarian.

  She should be relieved about that, she told herself. Not glum.

  “I love that painting over the fireplace,” Ben said into a temporary lull of the conversation. “I see the artist’s last name is Bowman. Any relation?”

  The rest of the table fell silent—even the children. Nobody seemed willing to jump in to answer him except Ridge.

  “Yes,” her oldest brother finally said. “She is a relation. She was our mother.”

  Ben glanced around the table, obviously picking up on the sudden shift in mood.

  “I’ll admit, I don’t know much about art, but I find that piece striking. I don’t know if it’s the horses in the foreground or the mountains or the fluttery curtains in the window of the old cabin but every time I look away for a few moments, something draws me back. That’s real talent.”

  Her heart warmed a little at his praise of their mother’s talent. “She was brilliant,” Caidy murmured.

  He looked at her and she saw an unexpected compassion in his eyes. Seeing it made her feel even more guilty. She didn’t deserve compassion from him, not after her mean words.

  “Several of her paintings were stolen eleven years ago,” Trace said. “Since then, we’ve done our best to recover what we can. We’ve had investigators tracking some of them down. This one was located about three years ago in a gallery in the Sonoma area of California.”

  “It was always Caidy’s favorite,” Ridge put in. “Finding it again was something of a miracle.”

  This shifted all attention to her again and she squirmed. Did anybody besides Laura and Becca pick up the tension in the room? She doubted it. Her brothers usually were oblivious to social currents and the kids were too busy eating and talking and having fun. Just as they should be.

  To her relief, Laura—sweet, wonderful Laura—stepped up to deflect attention. “So, Dr. Caldwell, you and your children are coming along on the sleigh ride after dinner, aren’t you?”

  “Sleigh ride!” Jack exclaimed and he and Alex, best buddies now, did a cute little high-five maneuver.

  Ben watched them ruefully. “I don’t know. I kind of feel like we’ve intruded enough on your family.”

  “Oh, you have to come,” Destry exclaimed.

  “Yes!” Gabi joined her. “It’s going to be awesome! We’re going to sing Christmas carols and have hot chocolate and everything. Oh, please, come with us!”

  If things weren’t so funky between them right now, she would have told him he was fighting a losing battle. One man simply couldn’t fight the combined efforts of the Bowmans and their progeny, adopted or otherwise.

  “We’re not going far,” Ridge promised. “Only a couple miles up the canyon. Probably shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

  “Resistance is futile,” Taft said with a grin. “You might as well give in gracefully.”

  Ben laughed. “In that case, sure. Okay.”

  The kids shrieked with excitement. Caidy wished she could share even a tiny smidgen of their enthusiasm. The only bright spot for her in the whole thing was that Ben’s presence probably eliminated the need for her to go along. Ridge couldn’t claim they didn’t have enough adults now. She would just offer an excuse to stay at the house and let the rest of them have all the Christmas fun.

  She was still going to have to figure out a way to apologize to the man, but at this point she would take any reprieve she could find, however temporary.

  Chapter Nine

  After dinner had been cleared, the girls’ other friends began arriving. Caidy threw in the trays of cookies she and Destry had readied, her brothers headed out to hitch up the big draft horses to the hay wagon and everyone else began donning winter gear. After the cookies came out, Caidy walked through the house gathering all the blankets she could find.

  As she headed down the stairs with an armload of blankets, she saw through the big windo
ws that the snow had eased and was only falling now in slow, puffy flakes. Moonlight had peeked behind the storm clouds, turning everything a pearlescent midnight-blue.

  It was stunning enough from here. She could only imagine how beautiful it would be to ride through the night on the wagon, with the cold air in her face and the sound of children’s laughter swirling through the night.

  She was almost sorry she wasn’t going with them. Almost.

  She continued down the stairs, doing her best to avoid making eye contact with Ben, who was helping Jack into his boots.

  “Sleigh ride. Sleigh ride. Sleigh ride,” Maya chanted, wiggling her hips that were bundled up along with the rest of her in a very cute pink snowsuit with splashy orange flowers.

  Caidy couldn’t help laughing. “You’re going to have a wonderful time, little bug,” she said, kissing Maya’s nose. She loved all of the children in her family but sweet, vulnerable Maya held a special place in her heart.

  “You come,” Maya said, reaching for her hand.

  “Oh, honey. I’m not going. I’ll be here when you get back.”

  “What do you mean, you’re not going? You have to come,” Ridge said sternly. “Where’s your coat?”

  “In the closet. Where it’s staying. I figured somebody needs to stay here. Keep the home fire burning and all that.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Becca said from underneath Trace’s arm. “I’ve got that covered.”

  For the first time, Caidy realized her sister-in-law wasn’t wearing a coat either.

  “Why aren’t you going?” Ridge asked, looking even more disgruntled.

  “I’m planning to sit this one out. I have court tomorrow and some work to do before then. And, to be honest, I’m not sure being bounced around on a hay wagon right now would be the best thing for, well, for the baby.”

  For a moment everyone stared at her. Even the girls who had come for Gabi’s little sleigh ride party stopped their giggly chatter.

  “Baby? You’re having a baby?” Laura exclaimed.

  Becca nodded and Trace hugged her more tightly, then kissed the top of her head, clearly a proud papa.

  “When?” Caidy asked, thrilled for both of them.

  “June,” Gabi declared proudly. “I’ve been dying to tell everyone! I kept my mouth shut, see, Trace? You said I couldn’t. Ha!”

  Her brother laughed and grabbed his wife’s sister with his free arm, pulling her into their shared embrace. “You did good, kid. We were going to tell everyone at dinner but the right moment never quite came.”

  “There’s never a wrong moment for that kind of great news,” Ridge said. “Congratulations. Another Bowman. Just what the world needs.”

  The next few moments were spent with hugs and kisses and good wishes all the way around. Even Ben shook both of their hands and kissed Becca’s cheek, though he had just met her that afternoon.

  She suddenly remembered with a pang that he had lost a child when his wife died. Was this spontaneous celebration of impending parenthood difficult for him? If it was, he didn’t show it by his manner.

  Now Maya’s chant changed to “baby, baby, baby,” but she didn’t lose the hip wiggle. Caidy hugged her too. “It’s wonderful news, isn’t it? You’ll have a new cousin.”

  “I like cousins,” Maya said.

  “Me too, bug.”

  When Caidy finally worked her way around the crowd, she hugged Becca. “I can’t wait to be an aunt again. I’m thrilled for both of you.”

  Becca hugged her back. “Thank you, my dear.”

  “All the more reason I should stay here and keep you company, just in case you need anything.”

  Becca gave her a knowing look. “You’re the soul of helpfulness, Caidy. Either that, or you’re trying to avoid a certain rude, arrogant veterinarian.”

  She cringed at the reminder. “Well, there is that.”

  “Sorry, hon. I’d like to help you out but I think Ridge probably needs your help corralling all those kids. Besides that, I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep avoiding him.”

  “Am I that obvious?” she asked ruefully.

  “A little bit. Probably Laura and I were the only ones who picked up on it. And maybe Ben.”

  Caidy blew out a breath. Drat. Becca was right. Ridge probably did need her help. “I hate being a coward,” she murmured.

  “It’s only a sleigh ride. An hour out of your life. You can handle that. You’ve been through much worse.”

  “I don’t want to leave you.”

  “I could use a little quiet, if you want the truth. Go, Caidy.”

  “As exciting as this news is, we need to get this show on the road,” Ridge declared, as if on cue. “Let’s load up.”

  The girls squealed loudly. Maya covered her ears with her mittened hands, wearing a look of alarm.

  Caidy gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about those silly girls. They just want to go have fun.”

  “Me too. You come.”

  She sighed, resigned to her fate. “Yes, Queen Maya.”

  The girl gave her sweet giggle as Caidy grabbed her coat out of the closet and quickly found mittens and a quite fancy chapeau handmade by Emery Kendall Cavazos that she had won in the gift exchange a few weeks earlier at the Friends of the Library Christmas party.

  “Hurry up, Caid,” Taft said. “We don’t have all night. The sooner we go, the sooner we can get it over with and come back to watch the basketball game. Come on, Maya.”

  “I stay with Auntie,” the girl said and Caidy’s heart melted, as it frequently did around her.

  “I’ve got her,” she told her brother.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. We’re coming. I’m almost ready.”

  Taft left and she quickly finished shoving on boots, grabbed Maya’s hand and hurried out to the hay wagon.

  The horses stamped and blew in the cold air, which smelled of woodsmoke and snow. What a beautiful night. Perfect for a sleigh ride. Well, not officially a sleigh ride because the wagon had wheels, not runners, but she didn’t think any of them would quibble.

  Ridge had lined the wagon with straw bales. To her dismay, everyone else was settling as they approached the wagon and the only free space left for her and Maya was near the back of the wagon—right next to Ben. Had her brothers colluded to arrange that? She wouldn’t put it past them.

  Right now, Ben was more likely to throw her over the side than cooperate with any Bowman matchmaking efforts, but her brothers had no way of knowing that—unless Laura or Becca had spilled to their husbands.

  “Auntie, up,” Maya said.

  How was she going to manage this? Maya wasn’t heavy but Caidy didn’t think she could climb the ladder with her in her arms and she wasn’t sure Maya could negotiate them on her own. “If you want to lift her up, I can help her the rest of the way,” Ben said, obviously noticing her predicament.

  Caidy scooped Maya into her arms and held her up for him. Their arms brushed as he easily tugged the girl the rest of the way. Did he feel the sparks between them, or was it just her imagination? Caidy climbed the ladder and stood for a moment, wishing she could squeeze up front with Ridge. Unfortunately, he already had Alex and Jack riding shotgun.

  “Sit down, Caidy, or you’re going to fall over when Ridge takes off,” Taft ordered. Heaven save her from brothers who didn’t think she had a brain in her head.

  Left with no choice, she sat on the same bale as Ben—who looked rugged and mascu
line in a fleece-lined heavy ranch coat the color of dust. At least Maya sat between them, providing some buffer.

  Ridge turned around to make sure all his passengers were settled and then clicked to the big horses. They took off down the driveway, accompanied by the jangle of bells on the harnesses.

  “Go, horsies! Jingle bells, jingle bells!” Maya exclaimed and Caidy smiled at her. When she lifted her gaze, she found Ben smiling down at the girl too. Her heart stuttered a little at the gentleness on his expression. She had called him rude and arrogant, yet here he was treating Maya, with her beautiful smile and Down syndrome features, with breathtaking sweetness.

  She had to say something. Now was the perfect time. She clenched her fingers into her palms inside her mittens and turned to him. “Look, I...I’m sorry about earlier. What I said. It wasn’t true. Not any of it. I was just being stupid.”

  “What?” he yelled, leaning down to hear over the rushing wind and the eight laughing girls.

  “I said I’m sorry.” She spoke more loudly but at that moment all the girls started actually singing “Jingle Bells” in time with the chiming bells from the horses.

  “What?” He leaned his head closer to hers, over Maya’s head, and she didn’t know what else to do but lean in and speak in his ear, though she felt completely ridiculous. She wanted to tell him to just forget the whole thing. She had come this far, though. She might as well finish the thing.

  Up close, he smelled delicious. She couldn’t help noticing that outdoorsy soap she had noticed when they were kissing....

  She dragged her mind away from that and focused on the apology she should be making. “I said I was sorry,” she said in his ear. “For what I said in the kitchen to my sisters-in-law, I mean. They were teasing me, uh, about you...and I was being completely stupid. I’m sorry you overheard. I didn’t mean it.”

  He turned his head until his face was only inches from hers. “Any of it?”