Page 36 of Home For Christmas

Derek bent down and scooped his son into his arms in an attempt to quiet him.

“We do still look alike, don’t we?” I responded with a smile. “Katie’s my sister.”

Carter furrowed his brow but nodded, though I knew there’d be questions later.

“You look happy,” Katie said to me after another beat of silence. “I mean, from what I saw. And, um, I hear you’re doing well.” She continued quickly before I could respond. “People talk—it comes back around.” I watched her foot dig into the carpet. “For what it’s worth, I’m happy for you.”

Marla’s hand relaxed more the longer my parents were gone, and as Katie spoke it eventually fell away. “We’re going to go get a table at the restaurant. Come on over when you’re done.”

I nodded. “Sounds good, thanks.”

Marla ushered the entire family out of the store, even taking the stroller with our kids. In their absence, the silence was deafening.

None of us could seem to figure out what to say, but Katie surprised me. “They still blame everyone and anything they can. To them, homosexuality is still a sin.” She shook her head and wiped her hands on her jeans. “I think it boils down to the fact that they’re bitter you’re happier away than you ever were here.”

Jealousy really was a terrible thing.

“I’m not going to hold you back from having dinner with your family. I don’t think I’d want to hold you up anyway—they all looked pretty hesitant to leave you here, but I… I have something for you.”

Ty and I looked at each other quizzically when she disappeared. She was back in less than a minute with an old box covered in dust, which she thrust into my hands. “It’s not much, just some stuff I found at home I thought you might like.” Katie’s smile turned bashful. “Some Christmas ornaments you made, a few trophies, stuff like that. I kept it at home for a while, but when my husband started cleaning stuff out, I brought it here. I guess I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it.”

My smile was genuine. “Thank you, Katie.”

She dropped her eyes for a brief second then looked up. “I know it doesn’t mean much coming from me, but I’m happy you followed your heart.”

I moved the box to the side as I searched for something else to say. “Thanks. It wasn’t easy, but it paid off in spades.” Ty preened beside me, puffing up and wiggling his shoulders like a proud bird, and I had to fight not to laugh. I knew we needed to get going, but I couldn’t figure out how exactly to end the awkward conversation. I finally settled on saying, “Congratulations on the store.”

“Thank you. It’s nice to get out of the house sometimes. The kids keep me busy.” She flushed. “But you know that.”

“We sure do. Thank you for these, Katie, really.”

She nodded and blushed slightly. “You’re welcome. I’m glad I got to give them to you in person.” She hesitated for a brief moment before speaking. “It was good to see you again, Declan. Take care.”

We walked away and my heart was lighter than it had been in years.

“You okay, babe?” Ty asked, hesitation in his voice and worry lines etched in his forehead.

“Better than. Promise.” I squeezed his hand with my free one. “Let’s go have dinner with our family.” I was already bracing myself for Marla hovering over me like a mother hen, but I was okay with that. Brice would nod and study me from afar, watching my body language to see if I was okay. Then at some point that evening, he’d pull me aside and ask me if I was holding up alright, because that was what he did, and that was how he showed us all he cared. Derek would worry more than his mom and Ty combined, and Colt would be tense. Jasper, Harrison, and Greg would try to take my mind off of things. It was the way my family worked, and I knew just how lucky I was.

Ty kissed me right there on the sidewalk as snow began to fall again. I’d worried the rocky plane ride the night before had been a bad omen of how the week was going to go. Fifteen minutes earlier, I’d been ready to believe that the bad luck was going to continue, but walking out, a decade-old weight had been lifted off my shoulders. My biggest fear had come to fruition, and I walked out with a smile on my face, knowing that their approval didn’t matter after all. I had the love and support of the only family that mattered, the family that had accepted me without question, the family I wanted and needed. As we walked hand in hand to the restaurant, I let the stress I always held go and looked forward to the rest of our vacation.

III

Jasper, Harrison, and Greg

Chapter 1

Jasper

December 23rd

I knew that something wasn’t right as soon as I cracked my eyes open. Two firm bodies were pressed against me, the bed was warm, and I could tell the house was too. Given the alarm clock—that read just before six—was working, I knew we still had power, so what was wrong?

I looked around and was startled to find the two windows in our bedroom that overlooked the ranch were completely white. I rubbed my eyes and muttered a curse or two. This was shaping up to be the weirdest Christmas I could remember. The snow kept piling up, a front basically stalling over us days earlier. It had started with the storm when Derek, Colt, and the kids flew in. That day we’d woken up to unseasonably warm temperatures. By the time Derek and Colt flew out of Tennessee, a cold front had pushed in and the temps were dropping rapidly. When Ty and Declan had arrived, we’d all been anxious because the weather had turned from pop-up storms to downright nasty. None of us could believe that they had landed in the mess.

When the storm kicked up that Friday, it was all supposed to blow over quickly. A few days of cold, then back to normal. Except, as the hours went by, the weather got worse, the front grew, and suddenly our normally mild December temperatures had taken an unexpected plummet into the mid-twenties with steady snow. Two days before Greg’s kids and his best friend were due to arrive in Ada for our wedding—and holy shit, I was getting married!—we were looking at a blanket of white.

I debated staying in bed. I didn’t have to go to work that day, ignoring the fact I knew I probably would end up there at some point. The animals weren’t used to the sustained cold and snow, so Harrison and I had spent a lot of time at the barn the last few days. Ty had tagged along, checking the animals over and spending long periods of time with his horse, Tilly, and Tilly’s colt—Aladdin—who was nearly full grown. Naming him had not been easy since Derek and Ty both claimed half ownership of the Arabian Mutt. After weeks of arguments between the two, I finally came up with Aladdin for a boy and Jasmine for a girl. Thankfully, there was enough pizzazz for Ty—especially if the colt had been a girl—and it seemed to satisfy Derek’s need for something that represented him. Cartoons for the win. I was a master negotiator.

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