Page 29 of Home For Christmas

He hurried toward the door, then stopped and gave me a goofy smile. “I’m so glad you didn’t have to work today. I’d been worried about how I was going to get everything done on my own.”

I felt bad that he’d put that much stress on himself and hadn't told me. “I am too,” I said to his retreating form.

Ty took his time getting ready for the day, probably luxuriating in the fact that he wasn’t trying to keep the kids from destroying the house or rushing while they were napping. We spent the rest of the day getting the kids to take a long nap, cleaning up some, then packing the SUV before it was nearing dinner time. Instead of dirtying more dishes, we took the kids to a drive-through, then to a park to run off energy. With any luck, it would knock them out early and maybe we’d get them to sleep on the plane.

We were halfway through our dinner when our phones started vibrating near constantly. “That’s gotta be your family. They are the only ones that can text that much in a few seconds.”

Derek: Just landed in Ada. Holy fuck it’s cold here.

Colt: Watch your language.

Derek: It’s a text! Easy flight.

“He’s so getting his ass beat tonight.” Ty spoke what I’d been thinking.

Harrison: Ten minutes away, sorry, we lost track of time.

Ty: Suuuuurrrrreeeeeee you did.

Jasper: We really did. We were doing a fence repair.

Brice: You know, the quietest this text ever is is when one set of you is in the air.

Ty: You’re going to be wishing for all these texts in a few hours.

Me: How was the flight in?

Colt: A little bumpy, honestly. There’s some weather moving through the area.

Greg: There’s a front moving through, some storms are popping up. Make sure to bring coats for you guys, it’ll be cold tonight. Possibly for the next week.

Marla: I bought the kids winter coats. It’s hard to find them in California. I’ll send them with Brice when he comes to pick you all up.

I shot Ty an I told you so glance. “Told you she probably had an entire wardrobe for the kids.”

Ty rolled his eyes as he tried to wipe off a wiggling Mason. The kid never stopped moving. Meadow was the complete opposite of her brother, and if hadn’t been for her blond hair and bright blue eyes, people would be hard pressed to believe they were related, much less twins. I wiped Meadow off, who calmly held her hands out to me while I cleaned her, before setting her free on the small jungle gym.

Ty and I cleaned up quickly before placing ourselves on the park bench by the play area. I draped my arm around Ty and he curled into me. “Want to stop by your parents’ place while we’re back?” He asked every time. I think part of Ty hoped that we’d be able to come to an agreement.

“Last I heard, my dad took over Pastor Tom’s position at the church. My dad’s the pastor at the Baptist church that was all too willing to send me to conversion therapy. It’s Christmas time. The last thing on earth I want is to have a dark cloud hanging over my head.” I pressed a kiss to his temple. “Look at us. We’re sitting on a park bench while our kids play in front of us. I’m seriously living my best life. If my parents haven’t come around yet, they aren’t going to. I’ve made peace with that.” What I hadn’t made peace with was the possibility that I’d run into them one day or what would be said between us if it happened. That was always a dark cloud hanging over my head, but I feared that voicing it would bring it to life.

Ty hummed. “I know. I just want you happy.”

And he always would. That was one of the reasons I loved him so much. “I know you do. And babe, I am happy. I’m so happy. This life that we have is so much better than I’d ever expected. I just wish we could talk Dare and Colt into letting us take over the house payments.”

“Now that will be a cold day in hell. Dare was so excited to buy the house for us. I’m not entirely certain how we convinced him to allow us to furnish it.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the memories of buying the house. It had been such a stressful but amazing time in our lives. And life had changed so much since then, but the one thing that remained the same was the Scott family showing us unending love and support. I was looking forward to getting to Oklahoma and spending time with them.

My phone buzzed once, then remained silent, and when Ty’s phone didn’t buzz, I got curious. I pulled it out to see a single message from Oscar.

Oscar: Hey, just a heads up, there’s some insane weather coming this way. Your flight’s probably gonna be bumpy.

Shit, we’d had two SEALs warn us that weather was nasty in Oklahoma. I was going to hope for the best, but I was also trying to figure out how to prepare Ty for the fact that our flight might be rerouted and we wouldn’t make it to Ada that night. He was going to be pissed.

The kids kept us busy for another hour before we finally had to get into the car to head to the airport. The game of how to keep them awake until we got to the airport began. Thankfully, I passed that job to Ty while I focused on driving. Ty was great at entertaining the kids with singing, dancing, and clapping while I tried my best to focus on the road and not my husband’s antics.

Each time we arrived at an airport with the kids, I remembered—sometimes even longed for—the days that Ty and I jumped a flight across country for a week with nothing more than a backpack each. Now we had four full-sized suitcases and four carry-ons, and it was an ordeal from the minute we entered the departure airport until the minute we left the arrival airport. At least we now had the ability to fly into Ada. Five years ago, we would’ve had to fly into a major city and drive over an hour to get to the ranch. We paid more and it was never a direct flight, but it was better than a long car ride after an even longer flight, especially with kids in tow.

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