Page 51 of For the Love of the Bull Rider

John sighed and held up a hand. “Look, Matt, I think that’s a bit—”

Matt pounded his fist on the arm of the chair. “They’re not gonna shut me down with their money-grubbin’ greed, so let ‘em have it. I have a good life waitin’ for me, and those two women ain’t gonna get in the way of it.”

The handsome attorney chuckled. “You could make things easier for our case by separating yourself from Tim Moran. Just for right now. If they find out about him, they’ll have a better leg to stand on against us in court, Matt. This is Virginia, and gay men raising children... It’s still a difficult concept for people to accept.”

Matt didn’t hesitate to respond. “Hell, no. Not gonna happen. I’m not givin’ up my son or my man. You gotta find another way, Jon.”

Jon lifted his hand to stop Matt. “Based on the discussion we had with the Colonel after Thanksgiving I think…”

Jon outlined a plan to handle the situation, trying to put a quick end to the problem with Matt’s ex-wife and her mother: Expose them to the Court as the evil people they tried to hide from the world.

Character assassination had the potential to backfire on their case if Tim and Matt’s relationship was used as immorality on their part, but, according to Jon, the two men had many fewer skeletons in their closets than Mona and Bertie.

Their plan had the potential to be successful, but it still had Matt worried. He needed to run it by Tim before he agreed to it, but he wasn’t going to say anything until after Christmas. He still needed to get a gift for the sexy man who occupied most of his waking thoughts. The relationship they were building… the family they were making together… was important to Matt so he was going to make certain his guys had a great Christmas.

Later that evening, Matt was under the tree on his belly, trying to secure the large evergreen into the new tree stand. “How’s that?” He turned to see Ryan sitting on the floor unwinding strands of lights they’d chosen as Tim plugged them into the socket to test for bad bulbs, neither paying any attention to what Matt was doing at all. They had boxes of novelty lights strewn everywhere in the family room, testing them before they were ready to put them on the tree.

As Matt scanned the sets of lights, he grinned at what they’d chosen. There were strands with horses of different breeds. There were miniature cowboy hats and boots, ropes, and barbed wire circles, along with many strands of multicolored lights. He pulled a bag over to see ornaments of all sorts, including glitter-covered horseshoes.

“I like the way this is goin’, guys. Anybody want somethin’ to drink?” Matt placed his hand on Tim’s knee to help himself up from the floor.

Tim looked up and smiled. “I wouldn’t mind a Jack on the rocks.” Matt nodded and turned to his son, who was unfurling a plaid tree skirt to look at it.

“This is so cool. It looks like one of Papa Marty’s cowboy shirts.” The smile on his face had wrapped itself around Matt’s heart. He wasn’t about to let anyone take the boy away from him, and he wasn’t about to hide Tim Moran, either. They were his heart and soul, and last he’d heard, a body couldn’t live without either.

“Yep. You want somethin’? That fancy coffee maker does hot chocolate, too.”

The old coffee maker Matt had at the ranch died in a quasi-questionable short circuit at Tim’s hands, to be replaced by some fancy, single-cup machine Matt had a hard time learning to work. He’d figured it out, but occasionally, he hit the wrong button and ended up with a large cup of watered down coffee, or a small cup of very strong coffee.

“I bought marshmallows at the store.” Tim stood with a strand of multicolored lights draped around his neck and twisted gently in one hand.

“Yummm. That sounds good. Dad, can you look in my mouth? Somethin’ ain’t right.” Ryan walked over to Matt with his mouth wide open.

Matt had noticed the boy picking around at his cheeseburger when they stopped at the diner for dinner. He felt Ryan’s forehead, not finding a fever, which was a relief.

“Sure, little man. Come ‘ere.” He lifted the boy to stand on the arm of the couch and ducked down a little. When Ryan opened his mouth, Matt chuckled to see Ryan working his tongue over a loose, front tooth in the top row.

“Ah, I wondered when this was gonna start. I’m afraid I have some bad news, son. You’re about to become toothless. From now on, we gotta chop up your food in a blender. It’ll be like when Papa got his new dentures.” Matt couldn’t help teasing the boy.

Tim walked over and looked into Ryan’s mouth, smiling. “Aw, now, it’s not so bad. You get money from the tooth fairy.”

Matt snapped his fingers, smiling. “Hey, that’s right! I forgot all about that business. So, I don’t gotta give ya an allowance this week cause you’re gonna get money from the tooth fairy when that tooth falls out. Don’t swallow it or you don’t get nothin’.”

Matt watched his son’s face scrunch up in disagreement, and he couldn’t hold the laugh. Tim joined him because it was too funny not to laugh, but the boy hopped off the couch and stormed into the kitchen.

When they stopped laughing, Tim told him, “We shouldn’t have laughed, but he’s so damn cute when he gets pissed. He’s saving his allowance to buy Christmas gifts for the family, and he wants to get something for Gracie so she doesn’t feel bad. She told him she bought him something, and he was counting on his allowance to get her a bracelet of some sort. I have the impression we shouldn’t tease him about her. He seems really protective of the little girl.”

“What’s her last name?” Matt was kicking himself for not paying closer attention when Ryan talked about school, which was something that needed to change.

“Umm, Long, I think.”

“Hmm. I wonder if she’s related to Ralphie Long?” Matt was once again thinking out loud.

“Who’s he?”

Matt donned a nostalgic smile. “Ralphie was a kid I went to high school with way back when. He and I played football together, and he got me through biology.”

He hadn’t hated high school, and some days, he wished like hell he had a do-over to change a lot of shit that had happened in his life since he’d graduated. Unfortunately, he couldn’t change his association with Bertie, or he wouldn’t have Ryan.Maybe it’s better to leave the past alone?

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