A Cowboy's Christmas Promise

by Maggie McGinnis

  “Yikes. Of course!” She stood up. “I can be there in ten minutes. Wait. Is—is Evelyn coming over today? I thought you said the girls were doing something in town with her.”

  There was a studied pause at the other end of the line. “No. Evelyn won’t be coming back.”

  “Like…ever? That sounds dire. What happened?”

  He sighed. “Long story I’ll be happy to tell you later. Suffice it to say, today would be a really good day to have a partner to help take the calls. Know anyone who might be interested?”

  “Interested? Always. Capable? Not so much. I thought you were interviewing some people a while back.”

  Please say they were dismally unqualified. Please tell me you didn’t offer anyone the position.

  He sighed, and she could picture him sliding his fingers through that deliciously thick hair of his as he paced the kitchen. “I was. I did. But the whole time, I couldn’t get this one picture out of my head.”

  “Which was?” Her heart beat faster.

  “You.” His voice was quiet. “You sitting in that stall, arms full of newborn foal, looking like you had just won the proverbial lottery.”

  —

  “Okay, girls. Today we’re going to learn to make lasagna.” Later that afternoon, Hayley straightened her spine and pulled ingredients out of a shopping bag.

  “Daddy loves lasagna!” Gracie crowed as she pushed a chair toward the counter.

  “Oh, good. Then it’ll be a nice surprise for him when he gets home.”

  Bryn pushed another chair to the counter and got up on her knees. “Do you have a recipe?”

  “Yes! I looked it up on the computer this morning. It got five stars from everybody, so it has to be good, right?” Both girls shrugged. “It does. Trust me. It will definitely be good.”

  “Daddy said you don’t really like to cook.” Gracie peered into the bag.

  “I like to cook. I’m just not very good at it yet.”

  Bryn looked at the ingredients Hayley had piled all over the counter, and her eyes widened. “This looks like a big recipe.”

  Hayley laughed. “We can do this. It’s going to be awesome.”

  She couldn’t help but see the look that passed between Gracie and Bryn at her overly confident pronouncement, but it just made her want more for this dinner to be a success. Daniel had called at lunchtime to let them know he thought he’d make it home for dinner, so Hayley was good and determined to show that she could damn well cook a man a meal.

  She didn’t want to think too hard about why she was so determined, however.

  An hour later, Gracie ran through the house opening the windows and doors while Hayley dismantled the smoke detector and Bryn cringed and plugged her ears at the counter.

  Gracie returned to the kitchen as Hayley opened the oven and tried to see through the smoke. “What happened?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Her eyes widened. “It grew!”

  Bryn peeked over Hayley’s shoulder. “It ’sploded!”

  Indeed, cheese dripped out all four sides of the casserole pan, sizzling as it dripped onto the bottom of the oven, where it turned into thick, sticky, smelly smoke.

  Hayley put her hands on her hips and stared at the lasagna. “This is not exactly the scent I was hoping your dad would come home to tonight.”

  Gracie shook her head. “Maybe we should do peanut butter sandwiches instead.”

  The phone rang, and Gracie got to it before Hayley could get the oven closed. She picked up the receiver and grinned, pressing the speaker button. “Hi, Daddy!”

  “Hi, munchkin! How are things there?”

  “Smoky!” Gracie laughed, and Hayley put her hand to her forehead.

  “Uh-oh. Did Hayley try to start a fire in the fireplace?”

  “Nope! In the oven!”

  Hayley leaned toward the phone, anxious to salvage at least a shred of her dignity. “We’re making dinner.”

  “I repeat the part about uh-oh.”

  Hayley pressed the speaker button and lifted the receiver to her ear. “How are the horses?”

  “Changing the subject?”

  “You betcha.”

  “Horses are doing okay, which I’m not sure I can confidently say about my house.”

  “It’s just a little smoke. No lasting damage. Didn’t even need the fire extinguisher.” Hayley sighed. “We were just trying to make you a nice dinner. It was a…new recipe.”

  “I appreciate the effort.” He laughed softly. “And the intention. I feel honored.”

  “You wouldn’t if you saw your oven right now.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine. Have you had the radio on? Or the TV?”

  “No. I’m babysitting. One hundred percent attention on the children, right?”

  He laughed again. “That snow isn’t letting up, and the plows haven’t made their way out here.”

  Hayley glanced out the kitchen window, where the clouds hung ominously low and dark. How had she not noticed how hard it was now snowing?

  “Are you saying you’re stuck?”

  “I might be. Think you can handle getting the girls dinner and tuck them in if I can’t get back there in time?”

  “Depends. Do you have any chicken fingers I can feed them?”

  “Always. Top left in the freezer.” He was quiet for a second. “Thanks for making dinner, Hayley. I know it’s not your…thing. I appreciate the thought.”

  “It was a five-star recipe. It was going to be exquisite.”

  “I bet it tastes a lot better than it looks right now.”

  “I’ll try to make the evidence disappear before you get home so you don’t know how wrong you are.” She pulled chicken fingers out of the freezer and found a cookie sheet. “So are you thinking you might have to spend the night out there?”

  “I hope not, but the road’s impassable right now and getting worse. It doesn’t look good.”

  “Is this the part of winter-in-Montana that doesn’t make it onto the postcards?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t have to do a blizzard while you were here.”

  “Well, I’m warm and dry and about to have gourmet chicken fingers, so I’m not sure it’ll get me much mileage.”

  “I appreciate this, Hayley.”

  “It’s okay. I can do this. No problem. We’ll have fun.”

  After she hung up, Hayley pulled the blackened, goopy mess out of the oven and slid in the cookie sheet.

  “Looks like it’s chicken fingers for dinner, girls.”

  “Yay!” Gracie yelled. “Can we have French fries, too?”

  “Why not? And gobs of ketchup, okay?” She got out the ketchup and a gallon of milk. “Oh, and guess what else? We’re going to have a girls’ night! Daddy needs to stay with the sick horses, so we’re going to have a sleepover.”

  Both girls leaped to hug her legs, almost knocking her over. “Really?” Bryn’s eyes were wide as she looked up.

  “Really.”

  Gracie broke free and jumped up and down. “Can we sleep in the living room?”

  “And make forts?”

  “And use our princess sleeping bags?”

  “And have s’mores?”

  Hayley put a hand up, laughing. “Yes to forts and living room and sleeping bags. No to s’mores. Maybe we can have those for breakfast instead.”

  They both hugged her again, and as Hayley put her arms around their little bodies, she was struck by a protectiveness she hadn’t felt in far too long.

  She was even more struck by how much she liked it.

  —

  “So no s’mores for breakfast?” Bryn wrinkled her nose in disappointment as she pulled herself onto a stool at the counter the next morning.

  Hayley shook her head. “As fun as that would be, I think your daddy would be happier if we ate actual food for breakfast.”

  “You said chocolate is food.”

  “This is true, but we still can’t have it for brea
kfast. Let’s check out your cereal collection.”

  While Bryn showed Hayley the cereal cupboard, Gracie studied the front of the fridge, where Daniel kept a well-marked-up calendar. “Hey! Guess what today is?” She pointed at the calendar, a mixture of emotions vying for control of her little face.

  “What’s today?” Hayley moved toward the calendar.

  “It’s Mommy’s birthday.”

  Hayley froze. It was Katie’s birthday? What did that mean, in this house? Did they celebrate it? Do something special?

  Bryn sidled over to the calendar and put her finger on Katie’s name, tracing it slowly. Hayley bit her lip as she watched, feeling like it was her job to do—something, since Daniel wasn’t here.

  She put a hand on each of the girls’ heads. “What do you usually do on your mommy’s birthday?”

  Gracie smiled. “We usually eat her favorite breakfast.”

  Uh-oh. This could involve cooking. “What was her favorite breakfast?”

  “Cocoa Krispies.”

  Hayley laughed in relief. “Seriously?”

  Bryn nodded. “Yup. ’Cause Nana never let her have it when she was a kid, so she said when she was a grown-up she was going to have Cocoa Krispies every single day.”

  “She ate them every day?”

  “Well, almost.” Her voice got quiet. “ ’Til she got sick, and then she couldn’t make them stay in her tummy anymore.”

  Gracie nodded, pulling a box out of the cupboard. “So Daddy says it’s our job to eat them as much as we want because Mommy didn’t get the chance.”

  “All righty, then.” Hayley took a breath. “Let’s get some bowls.”

  When they were seated and the cereal was popping and snapping, Hayley looked from Gracie to Bryn, marveling at how alike they looked, but how different they were from each other. Here they sat in their flannel pajamas, hair a little mussed, eyes a little sleepy, and Hayley felt a sudden, intense pain when she realized it wasn’t supposed to be her sitting here at this table.

  It was supposed to be Katie.

  It was supposed to be Katie building snowmen and braiding their hair, buying them silly boots and making chicken fingers, tucking them in and singing them to sleep.

  It was supposed to be Katie. And Daniel.

  Not her.

  And especially not her and Daniel.

  Chapter 30

  “Hayley? What are we going to do today?” Bryn spooned a mouthful of cereal and crunched as she waited anxiously for an answer.

  Before Hayley could come up with a plan, the phone rang, and Daniel’s tired voice came over the line when she picked up. “Hey. How are things going over there?”

  “All good here. We’re having Cocoa Krispies.”

  “Breakfast of champions.”

  “There’s lots of milk involved.” Hayley grabbed a banana and peeled it quickly, handing half of it to each of the girls. “And bananas. Nutrition is covered.”

  The girls giggled, and she playfully put her index finger to her lips to shush them. “So how are things out there?”

  He sighed. “Not good. We’ve got a couple we’re still watching for infection, and one with a leg that might not make it.”

  “Oh, no.” Hayley glanced around the kitchen. “I can stay as long as you need me to.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “It’s torturous, I’ll admit. But the children have promised to behave like complete angels.” Hayley smiled as the girls beamed up at her. “Right, girls?”

  “Right!”

  “I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

  “I’m sure you’ll think of something, doc.”

  “That sounds like a challenge.”

  “Might be. Depends how tired you are when you get home, I guess.”

  He groaned. “Believe me. I will get there as soon as I possibly can.”

  Late that afternoon, Hayley surveyed the kitchen table, which was covered with three colors of frosting, cupcake liners, and sprinkles galore, and wondered if perhaps she’d over-estimated her abilities once again. “It looks like we had a tornado.”

  The girls giggled as they frosted the last of the cupcakes they’d made. “It’s okay,” Gracie nodded. “We can sweep.”

  “Or vacuum,” Bryn piped up. “But do you know how?”

  “Of course I do!”

  She didn’t look convinced. “Daddy said you have fairies that clean your house.”

  “Oh, he did, did he?”

  “Yup. But he said he doesn’t know how it gets dirty ’cause you don’t have any kids and you don’t cook.”

  “That’s—that’s kind of a good point, I guess.”

  But she’d show him. The house right now might look like an F-5 had just circled through, but by the time he got home later, this place was going to look like a Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot.

  She looked around the kitchen, where cupcake ingredients and lunchtime dishes littered every surface. Okay, so it might take a while.

  “Where should we start?” Gracie looked up, eyebrows raised, frosting on her eyebrow, chin, and ear.

  Hayley laughed. “I think I’m going to start by dumping the two of you in the bathtub!”

  “No!” They both screeched and ran for the living room, where they pulled the remaining cushions off the couch and hid under them.

  She started to pull up a cushion, but was interrupted by the doorbell. She let the cushion drop and headed for the front door, but by the time she registered who was on the other side, it was too late to change out of her pajama pants and tee shirt.

  Or clean up the epic mess behind her.

  “May I come in?” Evelyn’s voice was Popsicle-chilly.

  Hayley looked her up and down, from her crisp salon waves to her designer boots that were a really dumb choice for a blizzard. But she guessed if Evelyn tried to grab the girls and make a run for it, at least she wouldn’t be able to outrun Hayley in those heels.

  They stood awkwardly for another moment, and Hayley finally found her voice. “Come in.” She pulled open the door. “It’s a bit of a disaster because we’ve—well—we haven’t gotten to the cleaning-up portion of the day yet.”

  Evelyn strode through the door and headed to the living room, freezing to survey the mess. Just then, Gracie’s head popped up from her pile of cushions. “If you think this is bad, Nana, you should see the kitchen!”

  “No.” Hayley stepped toward the kitchen doorway to block Evelyn’s view as much as possible. “No, there’s no need for Nana to see the kitchen right now.” She picked up some stuffed animals and tossed them toward the toy box. “Girls? We were just about to clean up, right?”

  “No. You were trying to get us to take a bath.” Gracie’s head bobbled.

  “But we’re hiding.” Bryn’s voice came from under a pile of blankets.

  Evelyn looked from one to the other, and Hayley couldn’t quite read the expression in her eyes. She turned to Hayley. “Where is Daniel?”

  “He’s out on a call.” No need for her to know that the call had started yesterday morning.

  “Hayley had a sleepover with us last night!” Gracie piped up, and Evelyn’s eyes snapped to Hayley’s.

  “Just me and the girls,” Hayley felt compelled to blurt. “He ended up stuck because of the storm.”

  “And has he been back?”

  “Not yet, no.” Why did Hayley feel like she was loading ammunition into a Chanel rifle? “It’s a bad call.”

  “Interesting.” She scanned the living room again, and Hayley saw her lips tighten.

  “He really had no choice. And I’m here, so it all worked out just fine.”

  “Girls? Do you think I could have a word with Hayley?” Bryn and Gracie nodded, but didn’t leave Hayley’s side. “Can you go somewhere and play?”

  The girls looked up at Hayley, unsure of what to do. She crouched down to their level. “I have an idea. How about if you guys go upstairs and get out your new LEGO sets. I’ll come help you in a few min
utes.”

  “No bath?” Bryn’s eyes were hopeful.

  “No bath.”

  Gracie did her patented fist pump. “Yes! Come on, Brynnie. Let’s go build something!”

  Once the girls were upstairs, Hayley perched her butt nervously on the arm of the couch. Evelyn still stood in the same spot, and didn’t look like she was going to move anytime soon.

  Hayley pointed at the ceiling. “Okay, they’re upstairs. What is it you want to talk to me about? Why are you here, Evelyn?”

  “Were you told I wasn’t welcome?”

  Pretty much, yes.

  “I barely had a chance to talk to Daniel before he left.”

  “Well, we shared some words the other night. Not especially pleasant ones.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Evelyn continued, her chin hiking upward as she talked. “I’m sure he’s told you that my husband and I believe the children would be better off living with us in Denver.”

  “You can’t possibly believe that.” Hayley’s voice was quiet, dangerous, even to her own ears.

  “The children were happy in Denver. They belong in Denver. Their mother wanted them raised in Denver.”

  “They belong with their father, Evelyn. There’s no way you’ll ever find a judge who will dispute that.”

  Evelyn smiled. “Well, that’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart. I know Daniel’s doing his best, but I imagine even you can tell it’s more of a struggle than he expected. He’s not holding up well under the strain, and it’s clear that the girls are starting to suffer as well.”

  “I can’t believe you just said that.” Hayley stared hard out the window, looking at a set of snow people the girls had built earlier. “You know what, Evelyn? I think you don’t know your son-in-law nearly as well as you think.”

  “Oh, really.” Her tone dripped more ice crystals. “And after knowing him for, what, a few months, you’re going to educate me?”

  “He’s an excellent father.”

  “I’m sure he would be if he had time.”