Читать книгу Christmas Gifts: Cinderella and the Cowboy / The Boss's Christmas Baby / Their Little Christmas Miracle - Judy Christenberry, Jennifer Taylor - Страница 15

ELIZABETH helped Brady spread red and white icing on a candy cane cookie a few afternoons later when Jack came in from the ranch.

“You’re back early,” she said without looking up.

“It’s turned awfully cold. I need to warm up.” She had her suspicions and looked at him skeptically. Whichever, she cautioned herself to keep her distance.

The second cookie sheet was ready to come out of the oven when Jack joined them.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“That should be obvious, Jack,” Elizabeth said.

Brady immediately piped up. “We’re making Christmas cookies for Santa.”

“You are? Do I get one?”

Brady giggled. “You’re not Santa!”

“No, but I’ve been friends with him a long time.”

“You have?” the little boy asked in amazement.

“Yeah, he and I are old friends.”

“Jack, you’re misleading Brady.”

“Elizabeth, Brady should know that Santa needs help occasionally. He might need help getting Brady’s toys to him.”

“Do you want a cookie?” Elizabeth asked.

“Sure. Warm cookies on a cold afternoon are the best.”

She took the cookies off the cookie sheet. “These will have to cool. You may choose one cookie each and then you may choose another one after we’ve decorated them.”

“Hey, that’s better than I thought,” Jack said.

With Elizabeth’s willing volunteers, she began mixing up more colors for the other cookies. She hadn’t expected to share this moment with Jack, but she supposed he deserved it. He’d been good while Tom and Carol had been gone. Most of the time anyway.

The monitor blared just then with Jenny’s cries. Elizabeth started to go get her, but Jack stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“Let me go get her,” Jack offered.

“But she’ll need her diaper changed.”

“I can do that.”

When Jack came downstairs a few minutes later with a happy Jenny in his arms, Elizabeth decided he’d done a good job.

“Thank you, Jack,” she said. “Brady and I got two cookie sheets ready and in the oven in the meantime.”

Jack grinned. “And Jenny didn’t even complain.”

“Her bottle will be ready in just a minute, if you can hold her,” Elizabeth said.

“Of course I can. Jenny and I are friends. Would you like me to feed her?”

Elizabeth stopped short. “Why should you feed my baby?”

“Because I’m going to be her—Her friend.”

Jack sure was acting strange today, Elizabeth thought. “Aren’t you going back out?”

“No, I think I’ll stay in the rest of the day. The cold is bitter and the kitchen is warm. You and Brady can decorate cookies and I’ll feed Jenny.”

Elizabeth hesitated, but she wanted the experience to be good for Brady, so she agreed.

By the end of the afternoon Brady had made a plateful of unusually decorated cookies. But he thought they were terrific and that was good enough for her. He even took one of them to feed to Jack.

Jack seemed to enjoy the family scene too, which surprised Elizabeth. In fact, she had such a good time she didn’t realize it was past time to make dinner. She hurriedly cleaned up.

“Elizabeth, why don’t we go to a restaurant?” Jack offered. “You’ve been working all day.”

“Jack, that’s ridiculous. It’s my job.”

“I’d like some good Mexican food to warm me up. How about you, Brady? Would you like some Mexican food?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s food that they serve at José’s Bar & Grill in town. It’s really good. Want to go?”

“Jack, you go. It’s too hard for Brady, Jenny and me.”

“No, I refuse to go without you. Just grab your coats and I’ll take care of everything.”

Fifteen minutes later they entered the restaurant, warm and redolent with Mexican spices. Jack settled Jenny’s car seat on an upturned chair and helped Elizabeth off with her coat. “We never did get you a new coat.”

“I’m sure it’s not worth an hour-long drive to Oklahoma City.”

“Well, we do have one store that has coats, but it’s kind of a Western store. I don’t know if you’ll find what you want.”

“We’ll see.”

“Hey, Jack,” a voice called from across the restaurant.

“Hey, Bill,” Jack answered. “Come on over and I’ll introduce you. Elizabeth, this is Bill ‘José’ Metcalf. He’s the owner of this place.”

“Hello, Mr. Metcalf. Do I call you Bill or José?”

“Anything you want, darlin’.”

Jack’s arm came around Elizabeth. “Hands off, pal. This is Reggie’s widow.”

Elizabeth was startled by Jack’s behavior. “Jack, you shouldn’t—I mean, I’m very glad to meet you, Bill.”

Elizabeth met several more people through Jack, and it was a a fun evening away from her responsibilities. Brady loved the Mexican food, especially the chips and queso. In fact he ate so much he fell asleep before it was time to leave.

“It’s a good thing I’m with you,” Jack said. “Otherwise you’d be hard put to get both kids home.”

“I can carry them.”

“Not together you can’t. I’ll take Brady, you take Jenny.”

“But we have to pay.”

“I’ll take care of it. Just a second.”

“No, you can’t pay for us,” Elizabeth protested.

“Honey, it’s too late.”

Before she could ask what he meant, Jack got up. She’d hoped to come again, but not if he was going to insist on paying. Then again, he’d be leaving soon.

Once they were in the truck driving home, both children asleep, Jack asked, “What did you think of José’s?”

“I liked it.”

“Good, we can go eat there again.”

“We?”

“Yeah. Why not?” Jack asked.

“Because I think you’ll be gone.”

“Did you know José’s does Christmas dinner for a lot of people?”

“You think I’m going to eat Christmas dinner at José’s?”

“No, I thought you might volunteer.”

“Volunteer for what?”

“He feeds a lot of people who otherwise couldn’t afford it or who don’t have a place to go for Christmas. A lot of us have gotten together to help him. It’s a nice thing for Christmas.”

Elizabeth didn’t hesitate. “Yes, I’d be willing to help out if you’re sure they’ll welcome me to the group. It will be a nice way to say thank you for all the blessings I’ve received.”

“Good. I’ll let them know. You realize it’s hard work, don’t you?”

“Yes, but I can do hard work.”

“It will be a good way to get to know everyone.”

“Yes, I’m sure you’re right.”

They rode in silence for several minutes. Then Jack asked a question he’d wanted to know the answer to. “Did Reggie come to see you after you found out you were pregnant?”

“With Jenny? No. When I told him I was pregnant, he was furious. He accused me of taking a lover.”

“That must have been difficult.”

“Yes.” She didn’t add anything else. The emotions she’d felt at his response to her pregnancy had destroyed any hope of a marriage between them. Still, she’d held on to hope until Jenny was born. By then, it had been too late.

“Did you ever discuss Jenny’s birth with him after that?”

“No, he didn’t want to listen.”

“I’m glad Jenny doesn’t have to know that.”

“I certainly don’t intend to tell her.”

“Me, neither.”

When he turned the truck into the driveway, Elizabeth glanced ahead at the house. It was brightly lit. But how? She was sure they’d carefully locked up before they’d left. “Jack, did we leave that many lights on when we left?”

He focused on the house. “No, we didn’t.”

“Who could it be? Tom and Carol aren’t due back for another five days!”

“I guess we’ll find out.” He turned to her. “Stay here with the doors locked while I check out the house.”

She didn’t argue, but she stared after him, praying for his safety.

“Mommy?”

“Oh, Brady. I didn’t know you were awake.”

“Why aren’t we getting out?”

“Jack is checking out the house. Some lights were turned on that we thought we’d turned off.”

“Do you think someone is stealing our presents?” Brady asked, his eyes big.

“I don’t know, sweetie.”

Just then Jack came out on the porch and reached for Elizabeth’s door. “We have a surprise. Come on in.”

When he realized Brady was awake, he reached out for the boy. “Come on, little guy. I think you’ll like this surprise.”

That unleashed Brady’s many questions. Elizabeth smiled as she gathered up Jenny and climbed out of the truck.

When she opened the door to the house, she knew at once who had lit up the house. They’d left their suitcases in plain sight. “Brady, you’re going to like this surprise.”

“How do you know, Mommy?”

“I just think you’ll like it,” she said with a smile.

Then the bedroom door opened and Tom stepped out.

“Grandpa! You came back!” Brady exclaimed and launched himself to Tom’s open arms.

“Of course I did, boy. Didn’t you expect me?”

“I don’t know. You were gone a long time.”

“That’s what I told Carol.”

“Didn’t she mind?” Elizabeth asked.

“No, she was ready to come back. She said she was ready to begin her new life as lady of the manor!”

“Tom Ransom, you make it sound like I’ll be a lady of leisure!” Carol protested as she came out of the bedroom.

“Hello, Carol, and welcome home. We’ve missed you.” Elizabeth smiled and held her arms for a hug. “How was Paris?”

“It had lots of museums and places to visit. And the food was good, but we got hungry for our kind of food. It was time to come home.”

“We’re glad you came back,” Elizabeth said. “I’ll pull together a meal.”

“Leftovers will be fine, Elizabeth,” Carol said.

“That’s just it. We ate out this evening. How about hamburgers? That shouldn’t take long.”

“Perfect! That’s what we were thinking of. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.” She set Jenny down and took off her coat. Jack came over and lifted Jenny into his lap.

“Don’t wake her,” Elizabeth said.

“I won’t. I just thought she’d be more comfortable if I held her.” While he was giving his excuse, he was gently rocking Jenny in his arms.

“Likely excuse!” Carol teased.

“You can see through it, can you?” Jack asked, grinning.

“Yes, because I wanted to do the same,” Carol admitted.

“Okay, I’ll let you hold her since you’ve been gone for a few days.”

“Bless you, Jack! That’s so nice of you.”

When Tom came into the kitchen, he found his wife contentedly rocking Jenny. “How did you get that job?”

Carol smiled at him. “Jack volunteered me for it…because he realized I’d missed her.”

“Good for Jack. I swear she would’ve traded me for Jenny several times,” Tom growled.

Elizabeth smiled at Tom. “It’s a deep-seated urge, the need to have children. Jenny is honored to help Carol.”

“Thank you, Elizabeth,” Tom said.

“Hey, I’m the one who gave up Jenny to Carol. I should get some credit.”

“That’s true, Jack.” Elizabeth smiled at him. “Perhaps I’ll let you help with the dishes.”

“Thanks a lot,” Jack said, taking the teasing good-naturedly.

When the burgers were ready, Carol handed Jack the baby and they sat down.

“Grandpa, did you bring me a present?”

Elizabeth jerked her head around. “Brady, what did you say?”

“A boy in Sunday school class said my grandpa would bring me a present from Paris…whatever that is.”

“You do not ask for presents, Brady.”

Tom tried to answer, determined to rescue Brady. But Elizabeth would have none of it. “It’s time for you to go to bed, Brady,” she said sternly.

“Yes, ma’am, Mommy. I’m sorry I got in trouble.”

“I know, sweetie. I’ll be up in a minute to see you.”

“I’ll come help you get ready, Brady,” Jack said.

The little boy extended his hand to the big man and they went up the stairs together.

“He’s a good man, Elizabeth.”

“Yes, he is, and he’ll make some woman a great husband.”

“But not you?”

“No, Tom, not me.”

“Why? Did you love Reggie that much?”

Elizabeth bowed her head. After a moment she said, “No, Tom, unfortunately, I didn’t, but by the time I realized it, it was too late. I already had Brady. I decided to make the best of it, but then Reggie came back and—and we created Jenny.”

“Surely you don’t regret Jenny?” Carol asked.

“No! Never! But I don’t want to risk marriage again, when my judgment is so awful.”

Tom laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Honey, you can blame Reggie for that. He learned to play the role that people wanted to see. You’re not the first one he misled.”

“But I don’t want to run that risk.”