Page 72 of Texas Splendor
He couldn’t remember what she thought their baby was going to be this week, but whether it was a boy or a girl, he wanted it to have the one thing he’d grown up without: the comfort of a mother. And he knew beyond a doubt that with Loree, his children would have the best.
“When is Uncle Cameron going to get here?” Maggie asked as she plucked a pecan out of a bright red bowl and popped it into her mouth.
Dee stilled, the dish of applesauce halfway to the table. She cast a furtive glance at Austin before answering. “He’s not going to celebrate Christmas with us this year.”
A look of horror swept over Maggie’s face. “But what about the special reindeer hay?”
Clearing her throat, Dee set the dish on the table between pumpkin pies and candles that smelled of einnamon. “I’m sure Santa Claus will come even if we don’t have the hay.”
“No, he won’t,” Maggie said as she crossed her arms over her chest and pushed out her lower lip.
“Somebody ought to tell her the truth: There ain’t no Santa Claus,” Rawley whispered beside Austin.
Austin watched Rawley saunter to Maggie and put his hand on her shoulder. He didn’t know if he could stand to watch the disappointment reshape Maggie’s face when she heard the truth.
“Hey, Brat, we could probably use some of the hay from the barn,” Rawley told her in a comforting voice.
Maggie wrinkled her nose. “It’s not reindeer hay. What if it gives them a belly ache?”
“Then we’d know for sure there’s a Santa Claus.”
Maggie laughed, her green eyes sparkling like the candles lit upon the evergreen tree that stood in the corner of the front parlor. Rawley shoved on her shoulder. “Come on. Maybe we can find some that’ll work.”
“Get your jackets,” Dee ordered as she headed back to the kitchen.
As they walked toward the door, Faith scrambled to her feet and raced after them. “Wawley, I wanna go, too.”
“Come on then, Shorty.”
She squealed as he swung her up into his arms.
“It’s a wonder that girl ever learned to walk,” Amelia said as she came to stand beside Austin. “The way her brother carts her around.”
He shifted his gaze and found Amelia studying him. “Don’t look at me like that,” he ordered.
“Like what?” she asked, her green eyes containing an innocence he didn’t believe.
“Like you know what I’m thinking. It’s damn aggravating when you do that, and you’ve done it for as long as I’ve known you. Hell, you probably figured out that I lied about Houston’s horse breaking its leg all those years ago.”
She smiled at him the way he supposed mothers smiled at their errant children. “I suspected it at the time.”
“Then why didn’t you say something back then?”
“Because I figured it was a dilemma you needed to work out for yourself—just like now.” She patted his shoulder before taking her daughter from Loree.
Austin spun on his heel and caught up with the children as they were shoving their arms into the sleeves of their coats. He opened the door and followed them outside, leaned against the veranda beam, and watched them trudge into the barn. The cold wind whipping around him felt warmer than his heart.
He heard the door open quietly and glanced over his shoulder. The woman had a way of walking into his life when he needed her the most. Reaching out, he grabbed Loree’s hand and pulled her against his side, her arms forming a cocoon around his chest.
“Special hay for reindeer.” He snorted. “Where did Cameron come up with that?” Although she held her silence while he stared at the barn, he felt her scrutinizing gaze delving clear into his soul.
“I love those children,” he finally managed to force past the knot that had risen in his throat. “I’d do anything for them.” He shifted his gaze to her, taking his time, needing to gauge her reaction in order to find the truth. “I won’t go into town and get Cameron and his family if it’ll hurt you to have them here.”
Warmth and reassurance caused the gold of her eyes to glisten like a miner’s treasure as she rose up on her toes. He dipped his head, welcoming the light brush of her lips over his.
“I’ll get your jacket,” she said, stepping away from him.
He drew her back into his arms, lowered his mouth to hers, and kissed her like a man who had lived too long in the bowels of hell and was only just beginning to see a glimpse of heaven.
