by Mary Leo
The family dogs, two yellow Labs, Dolly and Dora, now slept under the enormous blue spruce that Carson and Travis had carried home in the sleigh, and had secured inside a stand that barely held its girth. Carson had tried to keep the dogs away from the tree, but as soon as he turned his back, they were both lying on either side of it again. He could only hope they didn’t try to stand under it or there was no telling what might happen.
The tree had been decorated with colored lights, Sal’s ornaments and the angel that Carson and his sister Kayla had made when she was five. It looked a little worse for wear with its fading painted face and a dress that was beginning to fray, but Carson loved that she’d brought it. The little angel gave his rented house just the right touch of home.
His sisters drove him a little crazy most of the time. Then, every once in a while, one of them did something wonderful that made him momentarily forget all the reckless stuff.
Kayla’s last two weddings were a prime example of some of that reckless behavior. Truth be told, Carson loved helping out his siblings whenever he could. If he couldn’t get them out of a jam, he was at least always there for moral support, but he held a special place in his heart for his baby sister, Kayla. In his eyes, she was crazier than a loon. A crazy, fun loon that he’d fallen in love with the moment she gave him her very first belly laugh when she was only four months old.
She was his dad’s favorite, as well. Of course, his dad would never admit it, but Carson could tell by the way his dad had always reacted to her. Carson had known from a young age that he and Kayla could do no wrong. They had both taken advantage of their dad’s temperament, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family. Their other three sisters would call their dad out on it, but he’d always deny any favoritism.
“Son, you never cease to amaze me,” his dad said as he draped an arm around Carson’s shoulder. “You always could beat the odds, no matter what. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It’s been one of the best dang birthdays I’ve ever had.”
There were few people in the world whom Carson admired more than his father. Not only was he a force to be reckoned with when he was doing business, but he had never even raised his voice to any of his children. With a firm understanding of the meaning of discipline, he and his mom had managed to nurture five independent adults. Carson knew their way of going about their independence didn’t always make sense to the outside world, but whatever they chose to do, they each did it with unreserved gusto.
“My pleasure, Dad, but we never could have done it without Zoe Smart. She called all the shots. Without Zoe, I don’t think we’d have had much of a party.”
His dad was a true working cowboy and never deviated from the dress code even for a special occasion. He always wore a plaid shirt, a string tie, jeans and boots. Even when he was forced to wear a suit coat for special occasions, he couldn’t be talked out of a new pair of dark blue jeans that Carson’s mom would press with a straight crease, as if that would make them more acceptable in any fancy situation. Tonight was no exception, that crease was as straight as a row of cornstalks.
“Ain’t she the one who planned Kayla’s wedding?”
His dad’s silky gray hair gently touched his forehead and dusted the collar on his flannel shirt, which had also been pressed. A crease ran down both his sleeves.
“The same.”
“Is she still planning yours?”
The question hitched Carson’s breath. He wasn’t comfortable lying to his dad, but didn’t want to get into his wedding plight while his dad’s party was still going on. He thought he could tell him the deeper truth after all the guests had gone home. No need to bring on needless worry.
“Yes, sir, she is.”
No lie there. She was, in fact, planning his wedding, just not with Marilyn Rose was all.
His dad leaned in closer to Carson. “Isn’t she the one they say is—” he lowered his voice under the sounds of laughter, conversation and Christmas music and then wiggled his eyebrows “—‘jinxed’?”
Carson couldn’t believe his dad had succumbed to town gossip. He above anyone else had never given one lick of time to “flapping tongues,” as he liked to refer to it. “Dad, you’re slipping. You know I don’t believe in that kind of talk. That’s just some folks makin’ noise about a few unfortunate circumstances.”
His dad stepped back. “You’re probably right, son. Even though Kayla didn’t go through with her wedding to Jimmy, ain’t no reason to believe Marilyn Rose will do the same to you.”
His dad’s words struck him like a bolt of lightning as doubt singed the corners of his mind. Had Marilyn Rose called off the wedding because of Zoe Smart? Was she jinxed like everyone said she was? Could that be at all possible?
His mind raced with reasons why it couldn’t be true and simultaneously filled with why it possibly could. He hated that he entertained such contradictory thoughts.
His dad continued, “If she does, son, I got me the perfect plan for you.”
Carson perked up. This he had to hear. No matter why Marilyn Rose dumped him, a plan might make his having to tell his family a little easier.
“And what’s that, Dad?”
“Win another championship and nobody will even mention another failed Grant wedding.”
The words felt like a slap upside his head. He didn’t want to be reminded that his dad was waiting for him to get back in that bronc saddle. Carson hated to disappoint his dad, and his indecision about competing just might be one of those times. If his foolish accident had merely injured himself, he wouldn’t think twice about getting back on the circuit, but his real concern was that another person had almost died because of him. Now Carson couldn’t imagine himself on a bronc without a major panic attack.
The memory of his bucking horse planting a rear hoof squarely on Barney’s chest, while Carson rolled out of the way, was almost too much for him to bear. Barney had run in to get the horse under control once it had bucked Carson to the arena floor. Carson had gotten his foot caught in the riggings and couldn’t get it untangled. Barney had yanked and released his foot, but had gotten too close and was knocked over when the horse tried to stand. Carson should have known better than to attempt to ride an uncontrollable horse. The wranglers had warned him not to ride Red Comet. That he was too twitchy that night, but Carson had stubbornly insisted. When the horse fell on its side and almost crushed his leg under its weight, he’d lost consciousness for several seconds. When he came to and was about to get up, Red Comet kicked out his hind legs and landed one hoof on Barney’s chest, crushing several of his ribs, rupturing his spleen and causing a lung to collapse. In the end, Red Comet had to be put down because of his own internal injuries, a loss that Carson had a difficult time dealing with.
“You don’t have to worry, Dad, that won’t be happening.”
“What? That Marilyn Rose won’t stand you up at the altar, or that you won’t win another championship?”
Carson never could put anything past his father. The man had a sixth sense about him when it came to his kids. He probably already knew Carson was second-guessing his career by how long he was taking to recover, not that he could speed up the process if he wanted to. But still, by now he should be getting up on a horse on a daily basis.
The thought clenched his stomach as he favored his injured leg, putting his weight on his good leg and leaning on his cane, which he hadn’t had to use until that very moment.
“You worry too much, Dad. This is your day to celebrate. Aren’t you the one who always says, ‘everything will work out the way it should’? We need to believe that.”
“You seem to be quoting me a lot tonight, son. I don’t rightly know if that’s a good thing or a bad one. Either way, it’ll do for right now. I’m anxious to cut into that there birthday cake. Your cousin Beau mentioned it’s from Holy Rollers and they make some of the best c
akes I ever tasted. Don’t tell that to your mom or she’ll never bake another cake. She can get mighty touchy when she thinks I’m criticizing her, which I most certainly am not.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.”
Carson and his dad hugged, and as they moved apart, Carson spotted Zoe standing just outside the front door talking to someone he hadn’t seen in months. Someone he never thought he’d ever see again. Jimmy Bartley, the man Kayla had stood up at the altar.
“Kayla Grant! You come on out here and talk to me!” Jimmy’s voice boomed through the house. “Kayla! I know you’re in there.”
“What the heck?” Henry said as he turned away from Carson.
“Excuse me, Dad, but I think I need to take care of this,” Carson said as he made his way to the front door. He was not about to allow Jimmy to ruin his dad’s birthday.
“I only want to talk to her,” Jimmy told Zoe as Carson walked out onto the porch beside her. It was snowing again, great big cornflakes of snow slipping down from the dark sky. “She can’t avoid me forever.” He took in a deep breath, then yelled out her name once again. “Kayla!”
“This can’t be happening. Not now. Not during my dad’s party,” Carson whispered to Zoe. “We need to make him leave.”
“This has nothing to do with you, Carson. It’s between me and your sister,” Jimmy said as he tried to get closer to the open doorway. “I didn’t come here to make trouble. I came here to talk to Kayla.”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Carson told him, trying to gain control of an obviously out-of-control Jimmy. He stood between Jimmy and the front door. Jimmy kept trying to look inside, hopping up on his toes as Carson tried to block his view.
Jimmy smirked and Carson caught the glistening tears in his eyes from the white Christmas lights that seemed to be everywhere on his front porch. “She has no choice. I’m here. She’s here. It’s what needs to be done.” Again he yelled out. “Kayla, baby, please come on out!”
“Maybe now isn’t the right time, Jimmy,” Zoe offered, but he was having none of it. His focus remained on that doorway.
“Now is the perfect time,” he said, sounding a lot more determined than Carson expected him to be. Jimmy had always been one of those guys who went along with the program, who didn’t like to cause waves, didn’t like confrontations.
Apparently, he’d undergone a personality change in the past three months.
“You need to go,” Carson demanded. This time he got right in Jimmy’s face.
They stared at each other for an intense moment. Carson wasn’t exactly sure what he would do if Jimmy didn’t back down, but whatever it was, Jimmy would not be allowed into the house. Not like this. Not when Carson knew how much his dad hated public displays of private matters.
Jimmy caved, or at least seemed to cave when he turned and calmly left the porch, but then he proceeded to plant himself in a snowdrift in the front yard, as if preparing himself for the onslaught of threats and warnings that were sure to come his way. Poor guy looked like hell. The whole scene pulled at Carson’s emotions. He knew how much Jimmy had loved Kayla, and seeing him now, Carson realized that despite his sister having humiliated him at the altar, his love for her had never died.
Zoe stepped closer to him, a look of concern clouding her face. “Carson, he says he hired a private plane to fly him here from Boise, and in this weather, it must have been one heck of a ride. We should at least ask Kayla to come on out.”
“She’s told me a thousand times she doesn’t want to speak to him. There’s nothing I can do. Believe me, I’ve tried. We all have.”
Carson was just about to tell Jimmy it was never going to happen when Zoe nodded toward the open doorway behind them, where Kayla stood stock-still, wrapped in a red shawl, searching for Jimmy in the dark night. A lone streetlight illuminated him along with the multicolored twinkling lights that hung from the slanted roof above the porch. Carson had no idea the outside of the house had been decorated along with the inside. He hadn’t paid much attention once he and Travis had dragged in the monster tree. He really appreciated those porch lights at the moment. He could see exactly what Jimmy was up to. The man appeared defeated and miserable. His hair was shaggy long, his normally neat and trendy clothes were a wrinkled mess, he sported an unkempt beard, and despite the bitter cold, Jimmy didn’t wear a coat. Carson’s heart broke just looking at what his baby sister had caused.
It was just then that Carson realized none of those emotions had run through him when Marilyn Rose had called off the wedding. He’d been mad and stormed off, without looking back. He was about to ponder that thought when Kayla stepped onto the porch and leaned on the snowy railing.
“You need to go back where you came from, Jimmy Bartley,” Kayla called out, her voice sounding loud and clear. Thing was, Carson could tell she didn’t mean a word of it. “You’re making a fool of yourself.”
Jimmy spread his arms wide and leaned back. Carson thought for sure he was going to fall backward and hit his head on something, but he caught himself in time and stood up straight. “You’ve already made a fool out of me once before, but I don’t care. I’m still in love with you. I’ll run naked down the street if that’s what you want me to do.”
“Oh, no, you won’t. It’s my dad’s birthday and you’re ruining it,” Kayla told him, her arms crossed over her belly. “You need to go back to Boise, where you belong.”
“Nope. Not going anywhere. Besides, I can’t leave without wishing your dad a happy birthday,” Jimmy said, then he belted out a rendition of “Happy Birthday” to Henry, and by the time he finished everyone had come out onto the porch, including Carson’s other sisters and his mom.
“I always knew that boy would never give up,” Carson’s mom, Mildred, said in that deep rich voice of hers. “He’s been calling the house every night since his attempted wedding to Kayla, and we’ve been having such lovely chats. I hope that doesn’t stop now that he’s made a fool out of himself. I looked forward to those calls. Ended my day on a high note knowing someone loves one of my girls that much.”
She stood next to Carson wearing the frilly apron she’d brought from home, her long hair caught up in a clip, and her blue eyes catching the glow of the porch lights. Carson slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her in tight. He kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry about all this. Dad must be beside himself.”
“He’s too busy eyeing his cake to care,” she said, chuckling. “Besides, nothing this family does is ever easy.”
“Don’t I know it,” Carson told her.
“Somehow I can’t see Marilyn Rose out there, acting the fool, trying to convince Carson she loves him,” his sister Coco said as she meandered up on Carson’s other side. She stood only three inches shorter than her brother, making her an even six feet tall, wore her hair cropped extra short and could ride a bucking horse about as good as Carson. If it wasn’t for the fact she was on her way to becoming a veterinarian with visions of running her own clinic, she would have made one fine cowgirl.
“Nor can I see our dear brother out there screaming for Marilyn Rose,” his sister Kenzie offered. Kenzie was the more serious of his sisters. With an IQ that was off the charts, she’d skipped three grades in elementary school and graduated from high school when she was barely fifteen. She could have gone on to any one of those Ivy League colleges back east with a full scholarship, but instead his down-home sis went off to Texas for two years and picked up a master’s degree in ranch management. Kenzie now ran the family ranch, and ever since she took it over, the family’s yearly income had tripled.
“Maybe it’s because we know where we stand with each other,” Carson said, trying to defend the indefensible.
“And where is that, exactly?” Callaghan, the oldest of his sisters, asked while staring right at him. Callie, who still couldn’t figure out her life’s calling, helped
out on the ranch and was busy writing her third unpublished romance novel. Not that she knew much about romance. At twenty-seven she hadn’t come close to finding her true love. There was one guy she’d seemed serious about in college, but when he abruptly dropped out and left, she hadn’t been too eager to date again. At least not seriously. She was by far the prettiest of his sisters, with her perfect porcelain-colored skin, black hair and bright blue eyes, but every time a guy started to get too close, she’d back off and drop him without much warning.
Callie also had a sixth sense that was sometimes spooky, especially when it came to her siblings.
So, instead of answering her question, he switched his focus to Jimmy. “You sang your song. Now you need to leave,” Carson told him, but he could see Jimmy was determined to get what he wanted.
“I’m staying right here all night long if that’s what it takes to get you to talk to me, Kayla. I love you. That’s all that matters. Our baby needs both parents.”
An audible gasp rose up from every member of the Grant family. Carson went directly to Kayla as the rest of his siblings and mom stood dumbstruck. “Did he just say our baby? What baby? What the heck is he...? You’re not... You wouldn’t walk away when... What?”
Silence. Roaring dead silence surrounded everyone on the porch. Carson swore he could hear the snowflakes hitting the ground the silence was so all consuming. It was as if nothing else breathed or moved in the entire world except for those dang crashing snowflakes.
All eyes were on Kayla as tears spilled onto her rosy cheeks.
“I can’t marry him just because I’m pregnant,” she said as if everyone should already have known this minor fact.
“You’re pregnant?” Henry asked from behind the group.
Kayla turned to her dad. “I didn’t want to ruin your birthday, Dad. I was going to tell you, going to tell everyone, when the time was right.”