Christmas in Winter Valley

by Jodi Thomas

  Dallas didn’t come in at all. Elliot knew she could take care of herself. She was the only coed who was in her seventh year of college and hadn’t managed to get a degree in anything.

  He remembered those carefree years with Jess by his side. He was happy then. His family was close and what they did here was rewarding. Maybe Jess simply wanted to go back to those days for a night.

  Only life didn’t work that way.

  One question haunted his thoughts: If he’d gone with her into the business world all those years ago, would he be happier now?

  The same answer kept coming back. No. She had to stay with her life plan no matter what it cost her, and he had to do what was right. He had to stay were he belonged.

  Elliot wasn’t sure if he’d gone numb or if he’d fallen asleep, but the blink of a desk lamp in his office woke him.

  Jess was wearing one of her suit coats over her pajamas. She crawled into his desk chair and picked up the landline. For a few minutes she just held the phone, then she dialed.

  “Hello, Dad.”

  Elliot could hear her clearly through the slit of the open window.

  “I know it’s late, Dad, but I wanted to tell you I won’t be home tomorrow. I won’t make the flight to Paris.”

  He watched her rub her forehead and listen for a while.

  “I know it was our plan. I know everyone else is going. But, Dad, I can’t.”

  He could hear her softly crying as she listened for several beats.

  “Dad, it’s over between Richard and me. I tried to tell you before I left. It has been for a long time. I felt like the only reason we were together was so we could take over the firm. Dad, I can’t marry him when I still love another. I want more. I want my lover to be my partner, too.”

  She cried for a few minutes more, then said, “I know I’m throwing away the perfect life, but I’ve decided I don’t want the perfect life. It didn’t work out for you and Mom, and I don’t think it will for me.

  “I know. I will. I’m sure.”

  After a few minutes she put down the phone without saying goodbye, and Elliot wondered if her father had hung up on her. Her father had never visited Jess when they were in college. Always said he didn’t have time. When she planned to go home most of the holidays, her dad would call and tell her to use her time wisely and study.

  Elliot watched her crumble as she gave up on the dream she’d worked toward all her life. But it hadn’t been her dream. Elliot only had to listen to half of the conversation to know that.

  After a few minutes she dialed another number and waited. “Richard, I hate to say this in a voice mail, but it is time to tell our parents there will be no marriage. I can’t pretend anymore, and you have to stop saying I’ll see the light and give in. I’ll give the ring back, so you can give it to whomever you’re sleeping with tonight. There is no need to call. I won’t be changing my mind. I won’t be going with you to Paris. You were right about one thing: getting away did make me see more clearly, only I didn’t have to go to France. I found the truth in Texas.”

  As she hung up, he watched her chin lift just a bit. Jess was a survivor. He wanted to go to her and hold her, but she’d done this alone. She hadn’t mentioned to Richard that she’d found another.

  He sat in the cold night and took on the sorrow that was in them both tonight. Her father didn’t seem too happy with her. She’d lost any chance of becoming a partner and maybe she’d lost her job.

  Where would she go?

  He might not have been the cause of this mess, but he’d been the catalyst. Come morning, she might hate him as much as he hated cheating old Richard.

  A misty rain started falling. Elliot watched as it turned to snow. Tomorrow, Griffin and his family would be home. It’d be two days until Christmas. Neighbors would come over. They’d go to the church service in Crossroads. They’d finish decorating the tree and hand out presents.

  Elliot would live through another Christmas pretending to be happy.

  What do you want for Christmas? the wind seemed to whisper.

  Only one thing came to his mind. He wanted Jess in his life.

  Like a man drunk on sorrow, Elliot stood and went inside. He walked through the big house, feeling so empty inside he wouldn’t be surprised if he collapsed.

  Cooper’s door was open, and he was snoring. Elliot silently closed the door and moved down the hallway to his room.

  He didn’t bother to turn on a light. The glow of a snowy midnight offered him enough light to strip off his clothes and crawl into bed.

  The warmth of another body made him jerk backward. He moved his hand into Jess’s curly blond hair and, as always, the soft curls circled around his fingers.

  “Jess. What are you doing here?”

  “I don’t want to be alone tonight. I want to be with you. Can I just sleep here?”

  He pulled her close. “Of course. Go to sleep. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

  Suddenly the world didn’t seem so black. He rested his forehead on hers.

  After a while, he asked, “Any chance you’d say yes to marrying me?”

  “Yes, there’s a chance. How about we talk about it in the morning? I’m asleep right now.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  December 23

  Maverick Ranch

  TYE SETTLED BACK in his room at the bunkhouse the next morning. The Franklin sisters said he could stay with them as long as he wanted to—with the relative discount, of course—but he wanted to move back to the ranch. He was more comfortable there, where Dani was near.

  Strange how a woman could become part of you so quickly. For years, he hadn’t thought he had enough heart even to love himself, but it turned out his heart was just empty. He didn’t know what the future would bring, but he knew Dani would be in it.

  A laugh rumbled up from deep inside. She was something. That day she was mad at him, throwing plates at him, was tattooed on his memory. He’d decided right then that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. For a man who rode wild horses for a living, Tye didn’t need a sweet, meek woman.

  As he headed toward the main house, he knew he wanted to walk to work every morning and walk back to Dani every night.

  He’d checked on the horses before he’d unpacked. Someday, he’d have an operation like they had here in the white barn. He’d breed fine horses. He’d train them to be gentle. In ten years, he could have a big business.

  When he stepped into the kitchen doorway, Dani was cooking. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her cheeks were red from the heat. He just stood and stared. “I swear, you get prettier every day, darlin’.”

  She laughed. “You’re just hungry.”

  They were alone. He knew it wouldn’t last, but he’d take what time he could steal. He walked up to her and kissed her lightly on the cheek. She pushed him away gently with a promise in her eyes.

  “I want to say one more time that I’m sorry about the plates.”

  “Not necessary.”

  She studied him. “You’re a man who forgives easy.”

  “I decided I don’t mind a woman who gets fired up now and then.”

  “Then you’re going to love me, Tye Franklin.”

  He smiled. “I already do.”

  Voices came from the main part of the house and their moment was over, but he quickly whispered, “Maybe I’ll see some of that fire tonight for other reasons.”

  “I certainly hope so. Now, sit down. You don’t have to worry about my boys. Cooper sent them over to the Kirkland place to wait for Griffin. Kirkland has a bigger airstrip and he lends it to Sunlan so she won’t have to worry about sliding. The way it’s snowing they’d better get in early or the roads between the ranches might be closed.”

  Cooper limped in, laughing, with the doc. Elliot made it in next with Tatum followi
ng a few feet behind. The moment he saw Tye, the boy ran to him and gave Tye a hug.

  Tye wasn’t sure what to do so he patted the boy’s back and said, “If you get time this morning, have Dani drive you over to the barn. I need help with that colt. He doesn’t seem to want anyone to brush him but you.”

  “I will.” Tatum plopped down next to Tye and poured honey on his biscuit.

  Creed blew in with the wind from the open kitchen door.

  As they all took their seats, Tatum asked, “Where is Dallas? She’s going to teach me to dance today.”

  Creed took his coffee from Dani and said simply, “She’s still asleep.”

  No one said a word. They all stared at Creed, but he didn’t look up from his food.

  Tye finally turned to the foreman and suggested they bring the tree inside after breakfast.

  “Good idea,” Creed answered. “We hammered in the boards for the stand yesterday.”

  Suddenly, everyone wanted to talk about the decorations. Creed finished his meal and silently drank his coffee, apparently having said all he’d had to say.

  By midmorning, everyone on the ranch was working on hanging garlands or putting bulbs on the tree. Tye noticed the accountant was helping, instead of bent over her desk working. For once, she seemed happy. Maybe she’d finally finished her work.

  Elliot returned again and again to her side.

  By noon, the air was full of the smells of the holiday. Dani made spiced apple cider and put out a spread of sandwiches with all the trimmings.

  Tye was watching all the chaos when Griffin and his family arrived. The toddler’s hair was white blond, just like her mother’s. She had a funny name, too—Jaci. Who would name a girl Jaci? Probably a mother named Sunlan.

  It was like a three-ring circus had been set up in the great room. Everyone was shouting and hugging and laughing.

  Everyone but Tatum. He sat four steps up on the staircase, watching.

  Tye decided to join him.

  “You all right, son?”

  “I’m fine. I’m just trying to see it all, so I can remember.”

  “I know how you feel. I never had much family.”

  “Me, either.”

  Tye put his arm around the boy and changed the subject. They began comparing all the people to a herd and before long they were laughing. When Dallas wandered in, looking a bit like a stray cat, Tatum was into the game. He decided Dallas looked like a red fox who’d fought her way out of a trap.

  As the women settled on the couches to talk, Tye noticed Elliot draw his brothers into the office. After a few minutes, Griffin stepped out and asked his beautiful wife to join the men.

  Something was going on. A family meeting.

  Sunlan had left the two-year-old with Creed, who did not look happy. As soon as the doors to the office were closed, Jaci began to cry. Creed tried to pass off the toddler to Dallas, but the redhead wouldn’t touch her. She acted like she might catch something if she did. Hayley and Jess were standing on ladders, trying to hang the last of the ornaments, so they were no help.

  Tatum glanced at Tye. “I’ve got to take care of this.”

  “She’s just a newborn in a strange place. You know what to do,” Tye answered.

  Tatum stepped between Creed and Dallas, picked up the baby and sat her on the floor. While she cried, he began drawing circles in the thick rug. After a few minutes she began to watch. Before long her tiny hands were digging through the wool, making her own patterns.

  When the office door opened, little Jaci smiled at her mother.

  Elliot moved to the center of the room and waved Jess and Hayley down from their decorating. “I have an announcement that will not wait.”

  His brothers flanked him and all three looked down at Tatum.

  Tye fought the urge to grab the kid. He knew what the boy was thinking. He remembered being about that age when his mother put him in foster care for the first time. She’d always come back and get him in a few months to take him to a new dump of an apartment to live until the money or the job ran out. Then he was back to being the state’s problem for a while. News—any news—was always bad.

  Elliot began, “We’ve been working with the sheriff and the courts to find the one relative Tatum might have. Yesterday they found her. A half sister of his mother. She’s thirty years old and lives in Oklahoma City.” Before anyone could say anything, he hurried on. “She wishes Tatum well, but said she has more kids than she can handle now. She did, however, give her written permission for Tatum to stay here until his adoption works it way through the courts.”

  “What does that mean?” Tatum sounded angry.

  Cooper crouched down as far as he could with his cast and crutches. “Don’t start packing for the hills, Tatum. It means that in a few months we’d like to change your name to Holloway. This place will always be your home.”

  Tatum shook his head, clearly not believing a word. “Which one of you is adopting me?”

  Griffin lowered to one knee. “We all are. My name will be on the papers because I’m married. The lawyer thinks it would go through faster. But Cooper and Elliot will take care of you here, if you want to stay.”

  Elliot smiled down at the boy, who was starting to consider the idea.

  “I can stay here at the ranch forever.”

  “You’ll grow up here, unless you’d rather not be a Holloway. There will be times you might like to go to the ranch in the mountains of Colorado.”

  Tye watched Tatum study each man. “I’d better stay here. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  A cheer went up in the room, and all at once, everyone was hugging Tatum.

  Dani came in to see what was going on and Tye hugged her right in front of everyone.

  “I do love you, Danielle,” he whispered against her ear. “As soon as I can save up enough to buy a little land, I plan to ask you to marry me. I own a few horses I plan to breed.”

  She studied him. “You own horses?”

  “Twenty-seven, to be exact.”

  She straightened his hair and smiled. “I got land. What are you waiting for, cowboy? You do the asking and I’ll do the saying yes.”

  He grinned. She did have land. She’d told him all about her place. Good water, good pasture. “What about your boys?”

  “Griffin asked them if they’d like to move up to Sunlan’s Colorado place. She said he could use a few men up there. The boys are excited to be traveling, seeing the world.” She grinned. “Or at least another state.”

  No one noticed Tye and Dani slip from the room as they whispered about biscuits.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  December 23

  ELLIOT WALKED THE sleeping house, smiling. He and Jess had never got around to the books today, but he knew neither of them cared. She hadn’t mentioned leaving, either. He’d pulled her away from the crowd a few times, but they hadn’t talked. There wasn’t time; they were both too hungry to touch.

  He had no idea where she was. With no crisis, she probably wasn’t waiting for him in her bedroom on the third floor. He was positive about where they stood: he knew he still loved her, and she still loved him. Maybe that was enough for now.

  When he opened his bedroom door, she was under his covers. When she rose onto her elbow he could see she wasn’t wearing a nightgown.

  “Did we change rooms and you forgot to tell me?”

  “No. I’m sleeping with you tonight, Elliot.” She wiggled her hand, showing off the engagement ring he’d given her in college, the one he hadn’t wanted back. “Unless you’re taking back your proposal, I’d like to sleep with my husband-to-be.”

  Elliot walked to her side of the bed, sat and picked up her left hand. “You kept this? I thought you’d probably tossed it away somewhere years ago.”

  “I locked it away for years, and then, when Richard ask
ed me to marry him, I started wearing it on a chain beneath my blouse.”

  She sat up, seemingly unaware that she had no top on.

  He, on the other hand, had lost the ability to speak.

  “Richard wasn’t the one who wanted me to come here. I was. Part of me still hated you, but somehow I still felt bound to you. Like you said, we were married in our hearts. I told myself I’d see to the books. See how you lived, and finally be able to toss the ring. I came here to prove I no longer had one drop of love for you in me.”

  “And what happened?” He forced himself to stare into her eyes.

  “It didn’t work, so if you agree, I’d say we continue the engagement until the wedding happens.”

  He kissed the ring on the third finger of her left hand. “I meant it when I said I’d love you forever.”

  “And a day,” she said and smiled.

  “And a day,” he answered as he stood, removing his clothes. “Right now, I want to make love to you.”

  She pulled the covers up over her. “Are you sure it’s right?”

  “I’m sure. I can’t even wait one more day.”

  His Jess was laughing. “In one more day, it’ll be Christmas Eve.”

  “I know. It’ll make it easy to remember our anniversary for the next fifty or sixty years.”

  “What makes you think I want to live with you that long?”

  “Because, Jess, we’re already married.”

  For once, she didn’t argue with him.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  December 24

  Maverick Ranch

  HAYLEY WALKED OUT of the front door of headquarters with her bag in her hand and noticed Cooper on the porch.

  He’d been watching the clouds and wondering how long it’d be before he could ride again.

  “I’m heading out,” she said. “One of the Collins mules got in a fight with a pack of coyotes last night.”