Page 23 of Cowboy's Christmas Wife

He was quiet for a long moment after she spoke: he was trying to find the words to tell her just how much he appreciated what she was doing for him and his family. He settled for: “We’ll never be able to repay you for everything you’re doing.”

Laura scoffed. “I’m not doing anything amazing,” she insisted.

Daryl scooted closer to her. “But you are though,” he said. “You’re rescuing us.” He reached out and upped her cheek, brushing his thumb over the apple of her cheek. “Can I kiss you, Laura Jo?” She flushed an alarming shade of red. Taking it as a rejection, he dropped his hand, but she grabbed him and put it back against her cheek. Daryl sighed. “I don’t think—”

“You’re overwhelming sometimes,” she told him, “and sometimes you make me trip all over myself, but please, don’t think for one second that I don’t want you to kiss me.”

He stared, unblinking for a moment, and she let out a frustrated sound before pushing herself into his space. She kissed him, a little uncertain at first but then with more confidence. She nipped at Daryl’s bottom lip, sending a jolt of want through him, and he moved to cup the back of her head, drawing her even closer to him. Laura’s arms wound around his neck, and he wrapped his free arm around her waist to keep her against him.

After several, long, breathless moments, Daryl gentled his kiss and pulled away from her lips, moving over to pepper kisses across her jaw and down her neck. Her fingers tracked into the hair at the base of his neck, and when he bit gently at her earlobe, she moaned and tightened her grip. It was a feedback loop of cause and effect that made his knees feel like jelly.

Daryl pressed her back against the blanket, and she went willingly, arms clutching at him as their mouths met again. He’d just brought his hand up to cup her breast through her soft, gray t-shirt when Lily sneezed in her sleep. She immediately woke up disoriented and started crying. Laura disappeared from beneath him, like magic. He reined in his massive disappointment and sat back on his heels: Laura was cradling the baby in her arms, shushing and humming her to settle her back down. “We should head back,” he told her. “She’s going to be ready for a nap soon, right?”

Laura nodded, though she looked nearly as disappointed as he felt. “Yeah,” she said, voice thick, “we should go.”

THIRTEEN

Laura knew that Thanksgiving was going to be a busy affair, but she had no idea just how loud the day would get. From the moment Georgina, Scott, and their kids stepped through the door, there had been laughing and running in the house. She winced every time Lily made some kind of shriek to imitate the kids around her, but Daryl and his siblings barely flinched. “They’re kids,” Scott told her when she apologized for all of the noise her daughter was adding to the chaos. “The holidays are always this way. It’s what makes them holidays, right?”

She had nodded along with what he said, even though she couldn’t actually relate. Her grandfather would never have tolerated such a racket. Laura found herself inexplicably glad to be with the Rivers family for Lily’s first Thanksgiving. Lily, who was currently enthralled with a hand puppet that Caitlin was playing with, sat on the floor in the living room while Laura was in the kitchen, shoulder-to-shoulder with Georgina as they worked their way through meal preparation. The turkey had gone into the oven that morning, so they were working mostly on sides.

“Should I just make regular sweet potatoes?” Laura asked as Georgina stirred together the base for green bean casserole. She had been planning on the sweet potato souffle, but what if they all hated it?

Georgina studied her for a moment, and then shook her head. “I want those fancy potatoes you talked about before,” she said. “You saw how beautiful the pies turned out, right?” Laura nodded. “Well, let’s just assume you know what you’re talking about, and trust that your potatoes will be amazing.”

Laura was touched. Daryl had told her how much their traditions meant to them, and she loved the way that they always made her feel included in them while never making her feel as if she had to bow to them. They had listened when she’d made suggestions about little changes that they could make, or recipes that she’d like to try. Clark had never even listened, much less agreed with any of her suggestions. “Okay,” she said.

As she whipped up the potatoes, Callie wandered into the kitchen. “Sissy won’t let me play with baby Lily,” she complained. “They’re having fun with the puppets, but there’s not enough for me to have one too.”

“What’s Thomas doing?” Georgina asked.

Callie shrugged. “Watching the Parade with Daddy and Uncle Kyle. He doesn’t want to play with me.”

Laura’s heart ached for the girl. She knew there would be times that Callie wouldn’t have friends to play with because that was just how life worked out. But for a six-year-old who had a twin, a brother, and a baby cousin to have not one person to play with? It made Laura hurt. She would certainly play with the girl as soon as she got the souffle in the oven; she couldn’t stand her little, broken sob that Callie seemed to let out with every exhale. “Why don’t you help me make rolls for everyone?” Georgina asked her daughter with a smile. “I need someone to help me roll the dough into balls.”

Callie’s smile was instantaneous, like it had been waiting for someone to come along and release it from the cellar it was being kept in. “Okay, Mama!”

Of course, once one twin had a job in the kitchen, both Caitlin and Thomas wanted one too. Unphased, Georgina found them things to do that kept them busy and also kept them out of the way, and in less than thirty minutes, everything was either made and setting in the refrigerator, or it was in a dish waiting for space in the oven.They really do need a double oven, she thought and resolved to bring it up with Daryl. They had a big family, and it only made sense to have the kind of cooking space to accommodate that.

Eventually, when the dinner was complete, she and Georgina carried it into the formal dining room and laid it out family-style so that they would have to pass everything around and actually talk to one another. “Y’all come eat dinner!” Georgina shouted, and the room burst into activity.

Laura almost wished that she could be a fly on the wall so that she could witness this moment, but Daryl, coming in with Lily in his arms, grabbed her hand and pulled her along so that she sat right beside him. He deposited Lily in her high chair. Georgina took the seat at the head of the table but deferred to Daryl to carve the turkey. It felt a little like a show—like they’d done it this way for as long as any of them could remember. But the tension of who sat where and did what eased when they dug in to their meal. She put a few soft things on Lily’s high chair tray for her to try and giggled when the baby immediately stuck her hands in the sweet potatoes and scooped them to her mouth. She kissed the baby’s blond head. “Happy Thanksgiving, my love,” she said softly.

“Let’s go around the table and say what we’re most thankful for this year,” Kyle said.

Georgina seemed surprised. “You hate doing that.”

Kyle shrugged. “Lot to be thankful for this year, I guess,” he said, and Georgina smiled kindly and bade him to start. “I’m thankful for this food and for our family and for the ranch that my new sister is helping to put right.”

They were all quiet for a long moment, and then Daryl said, “You stole mine.” They all laughed, but Laura couldn’t stop staring at Kyle.I’m his sister, she thought almost dreamily. Clark’s family had always been very clear on her role as his wife: they tolerated her at family functions, but beyond that, they didn’t really care that she existed. His mother had been upset when she was awarded custody of Lily and messaged Laura sometimes about her rights as a grandmother, but mostly, the rest of his family seemed indifferent to whether they were together or separated. She’d always wondered if it was a class thing—that they thought she was somehow beneath him, despite her grandfather being wealthier just because their family wealth was newer—but she had long since stopped caring about what his family thought. “I’m grateful,” Daryl finally said after the giggling calmed down, “for my family, old and new, and for the opportunities that are ahead of us all.”

“Here, here,” Georgina said and took a drink from the wine glass in front of her. “Laura? Do you want to go next?”

* * *

Daryl had been watching her all day. Even though she had been a little jumpy at times, Laura seemed to be enjoying herself wholly, and that was a good thing to see. He held his breath as he waited for her answer. “I’m grateful for you all,” she said softly. “That you would take me and Lily in like this with open arms.” Her eyes grew a little wet, and she swiped absently at them with the back of her hand.

Daryl put his arm on the back of her chair, pulling her close. She settled into his side, and the baton passed to Scott. Daryl tried to pay attention to what the rest of his family was grateful for, but Laura smelled like the food she’d been cooking and an underlying sweetness that he was having trouble identifying. Maybe it was just her. Ever since their encounter at their picnic, he couldn’t stop thinking about what might have happened if they hadn’t been interrupted. Would he have made love to her right there on that blanket? The gentlemanly part of him said no, he wouldn’t, but the more caveman side of him was disappointed that he hadn’t. He’d never wanted anyone like he wanted Laura.

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