Page 48 of The Cowboy's Christmas Baby
But it wasn’t quite right.
When they returned to the family room to join the others, it was the scene of either happy chaos or a crime, depending on the perspective. Dad and Neil sipped beer while shooting pool and dodging the building blocks littering the floor. His mom protected Iris while Pax entertained them with his new truck. The cornered tree cringed in terror. Sydney, with the exuberance of a five-year-old Mariah Carey super fan but none of the talent, danced around the room, mangling the lyrics to “All I want for Christmas is You.” She had the sentiment down pat, if not the words.
Tate would love this. She thrived on chaos.
And suddenly, Miles knew what he wanted for Christmas. He wasn’t waiting for the day after to get it, either.
He was going to go home and collect it right now.
“I have to make a phone call,” he said.
*
He crossed countylines and drove into Grand a few hours ahead of the storm. Snow had already begun falling as he’d left the airport in Billings, but so far, the ground in Grand remained bare. Weather reports stated that it would be a white Christmas after all.
Leaving Iris in Texas hadn’t been easy, but his mom and his sister had kicked up such a fuss when he said he was taking her with him that he’d given in. Let them have her this once. Next year he’d be properly settled in Grand, and he wasn’t budging.
He stopped at his house to drop off his suitcase and the fixings for tomorrow’s Christmas dinner. While he was there, he wrapped Ford’s gift and slid it under the tree, because both Shannahans were invited. Of course. He’d arranged for Tate’s gift to be delivered to the ranch, which was where he was taking her as soon as he picked her up.
He changed his clothes and got in his truck. When he was a few minutes away, he called her number and drummed his thumb on the steering wheel while he waited for her to answer. Butterflies bucked in his chest.
This had better go over the way he hoped.
*
Tate
The tree lightswere on and a few fat lazy snowflakes fluttered past the living room window. The turkey thawed in the fridge. The trailer was as cozy as Tate could make it and Ford was in an unusually good mood. He’d been gone all morning. This afternoon he was holed up in his bedroom, claiming he had something to wrap, being all mysterious about it.
And yet something was missing.
Two somethings, in fact. A soon-to-be nine-month-old and her daddy.
Tate’s ringtone pealed out “The Rodeo Song,” and her funk disappeared. She answered, anxious to hear how Miles’s trip to Texas was going and if Iris had settled in, determined she wouldn’t ruin things for him by letting on how much she missed them.
“You better watch out, you better not cry… Santa Claus is coming to town,” Miles’s voice boomed in her ear.
Tate collapsed on the sofa in giggles while he sang the whole song.
“You nut,” she gasped out when he was finished.
“Would it be wrong of me to ask what you’re wearing?”
She contemplated her sweatpants and fuzzy slippers. “It wouldn’t be wrong, only disappointing for you.” Someone knocked on the door. She waited to see if Ford would get it, but either he hadn’t heard, or he was too busy. “Hang on a second. There’s someone at the door.”
She scrambled off the sofa and opened the door. She gaped.
It was Santa.
“Ho, ho, ho,” Santa said. He tucked his cell phone in his pocket. “I’m here to find out who’s naughty or nice.”
Tate leaned on the doorframe. “The last Santa who tried that line with me got an answer he didn’t expect.”
Santa waggled his eyebrows in a jolly but un-Christmassy way. “I’m a hot Santa. I’m counting on getting a different reaction.”
“You most definitely are. And you most definitely will.” Tate threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, then scrubbed at her tingling lips with the back of her hand. “The beard tickles, though. You should shave.” She peered past his shoulder and tried to see inside his truck, which already had a light dusting of snow on the hood. “Where’s your elf?”
“I gave her this Christmas Eve off. She’s at the North Pole with her grandma and auntie until the day after tomorrow when you and I go to collect her. I figured she wouldn’t know the difference if Christmas in Grand came a day or two late.”
