The Cowboy's Christmas Surprise Read online

  She’d understand better afterwards, he decided. “Why don’t we get back to that later?”

  “Okay,” she agreed, convinced that when “later” came, he will have forgotten all about it, which would have been typical Ray. Charmingly absentminded.

  It wasn’t that he was deliberately telling a lie, he just wasn’t able to keep track of everything that he’d said. That was part of who he was and she accepted that, accepted it all, just as long as she could have these precious moments with him to savor and relive later in her mind until she had worn off all the edges on her memories.

  I’m never going to forget any of this, God. Thank You, she thought.

  “It’s almost Christmas Day,” Ray told her, as if searching for the words that he needed.

  “I know,” she told him quietly. “I pointed that out to you. That’s why I need to get home.”

  “You don’t open presents until it’s Christmas Day, right?” he asked her out of the blue.

  “It’s a tradition,” she explained. “When you don’t have much, you like to stretch out the drama a little, stare at your gift and imagine what it could be.” She wondered if he was asking why her mother had told Molly to put his gift under the tree rather than allowing her to open it right then and there. “Mom and I both spoil Molly, but it won’t hurt her to wait a bit, the way I did.”

  “I never realized that you were actually poor,” he confessed.

  “I didn’t feel poor,” she told him quickly, not wanting him to think this was some sort of a ploy for sympathy. “It was just in hindsight, looking back over everything, that I realized I didn’t have as much—materially speaking—as some of the other kids. But on the plus side,” she added, because she always tried to find the positive in any situation, “it made me stronger and less materialistic.”

  “So presents don’t matter?” he asked her innocently.

  She laughed. If there was one thing Ray wasn’t, it was innocent.

  “Now, I didn’t say that. They matter,” she admitted freely. “Because I’m not expecting them and because no one has an obligation to give me anything.” There was something in his eyes she couldn’t fathom. She didn’t like not being able to read him. “What’s all this talk about gifts?” she asked despite herself. The right thing would have been to allow him to talk and then drop the subject when he stopped. But her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

  What if he’s feeling you out and wants your advice about giving some girl a gift at midnight? An important gift at midnight?

  Rather than answer, he went on dancing with her, raising his eyes to the old clock that was mounted on the back wall of the ranch house as they spun by.

  The music ended just as the clock struck twelve.

  “It’s midnight,” she told him needlessly.

  He glanced over his shoulder at the clock out of habit. “Yes, it is.”

  “Now can I go home?” she pressed. As much as she loved being in his arms, dancing like this, she had to tear herself away—before she couldn’t.

  “In a minute,” he told her. “I need to show you something.”

  Holly struggled to suppress the sigh that rose within her of its own accord.

  She was right.

  He had a gift for some other girl and wanted her opinion on it. She needed to leave. Why hadn’t he shown it to her earlier?

  Seriously? Is that what you would have really wanted? To spend the entire evening knowing that he was here with you like this just out of friendship, and the woman he really wanted to spend time with was going to get a special Christmas gift while you found your own way home?

  “Where are we going?” she asked as he walked beyond the canopies. Within moments, they had left the reception behind them.

  He wanted to keep going until they were all alone. But then they would also run out of light because, as star filled as the sky was, it still didn’t afford that much actual light. And he wanted her to be able to see what he had to show her—as well as wanting to see her expression when she saw it.

  He hoped to God that he wasn’t going to regret this.

  “Here,” he told her, stopping. “We’re going here.”

  She looked around. They were practically out in the open field. She looked back at him uncertainly. “What’s here?” she asked.

  “We’re here,” he told her simply.

  “I kind of figured that part out,” she told him, waiting to hear just what was going on. When he hesitated, she looked at him with concern. He’d never had trouble telling her anything before.

  Was this going to hit her hard? she suddenly wondered, bracing herself. Whatever it was, anticipation was making it far worse. She wanted to get it over with, like ripping a Band-Aid off an open wound.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked, her throat so dry she was having trouble talking.

  “Well,” he said slowly, “that all depends.”

  “On what?” she asked him, surprised that she could actually get the words out despite the fact that they were sticking to the inside of her throat.

  His eyes held hers. Time seemed to stand still, he noticed. “On what you say.”

  She stared at him. Since when did her opinion matter that much? Oh, he usually asked her what she thought, but the truth was he was his own man and did whatever he wanted to in the end.

  Her saying no wasn’t going to matter, so why was he going through this charade?

  But she played along. “Okay,” she told him gamely. “I’m ready.”

  “I hope so,” he replied, only managing to compound her confusion.

  Before she could ask him what that was supposed to mean, he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out something small. “Here,” he said, thrusting out his hand and opening it.

  She stared at the small square velvet box in the palm of his hand.

  “Here what?” she whispered. She willed herself not to cry, but even now she could feel her eyes sting. Having her approve a ring for someone else was downright cruel.

  “Here,” he repeated more urgently. “Open it.”

  She felt her heart plummet to her toes. Her moment with him was over. She wasn’t ready for it to be over, but it was. Just like that.

  Forcing herself to take the ring box from him, she opened it. Inside was the most beautiful diamond ring she’d ever seen. It managed to capture the moonlight, defusing it through the cluster of small diamonds, bouncing it off the large marquis shape in the middle.

  “Well?” he asked impatiently. It clearly had taken her breath away. Why wasn’t she saying anything?

  “It’s beautiful,” she whispered in a very shaky voice.

  “But?” he asked, hearing the slight note of hesitation in her voice.

  She looked at him, mystified. “But nothing. It’s beautiful,” she repeated. Taking a long breath, she raised her eyes to his again. “Who’s it for?”

  His jaw almost dropped open. “You’re serious?” he asked, stunned.

  Her eyes were stinging more than ever. It was only a matter of time before the tears began falling. She needed to be out of his sight by then.

  “Please don’t play games with me, Ray. Yes, I’m serious. Who’s it for?”

  “You, you idiot.” How could she not get that? he couldn’t help wondering.

  “I’m not being an idiot,” Holly shot back indignantly. “I’m— Me?” she cried as his words suddenly registered and sank in. She stared at him, her jaw slack. “You’re giving me the ring?”

  Why did she think he’d handed it to her? “Yes,” he insisted.

  Anyone else would have been jumping up and down for joy, assuming that the ring was for them—but she wasn’t anyone else, and neither was Ray. Everything needed to be spelled out before she allowed any of her feelings to emerge.


  “Why?”

  She still needed explanations? This was harder than he’d thought—but then, Holly was worth it. “Because I thought you’d want to be traditional about this.”

  “This?” she asked, still refusing to embrace the obvious out of fear of being humiliated and hurt.

  Ray could only stare at her. He wasn’t being vague— Why was she giving him so much flack?

  “Why are you making this so difficult?” he asked. “I’m asking you to marry me.”

  She almost lost the ability to talk just then—but then it came back to her. “No, you’re not. What you are is confusing me. There’s been no mention of marriage.” Her head began to spin wildly as her heart beat so hard, she thought she was just going to pass out. “You’re actually asking me to marry you?”

  “Yes!” he shouted. “Finally!” he added with relief. He was beginning to think she was never going to get his meaning.

  “Why?”

  The question was almost as bad as her not getting it. “What do you mean why?”

  “Why?” she repeated. “It’s a perfectly clear three-letter word. Why are you asking me to marry you?” she asked. “Did you have too much to drink, or do you have some kind of bet going that you could get married at midnight, or—”

  “It’s because I love you, damn it,” he shouted at her. “I love you and I realized these past couple of weeks that I’ve been wasting my time, going from woman to woman when I’ve got all the woman I’ll ever need right here next to me.”

  He held her gaze for a moment, his eyes searching hers, looking for some sort of a sign of commitment, a note of validation.

  “You’re my best friend and I can’t stop thinking about you. I don’t want to stop thinking about you. Ever,” he emphasized. “Marry me, Holly.”

  He was asking her to marry him. He was really asking her to marry him. This wasn’t a dream. “When?” she asked.

  “Whenever you’re ready. Now, if you want me to go get the preacher,” he told her eagerly, ready to pull the man out of his home behind the church.

  “Wait, wait, this is going too fast.” Part of her still expected to wake up at any second. “At the risk of ruining something I’ve wanted ever since I first saw you, I have to tell you something.” She took a breath before adding, “You need to know that you’re not just marrying me.”

  “I’m not?” Just exactly what was she getting at?

  “No. I’ve got responsibilities, Ray. I’ve got Molly to take care of. I can’t just turn my back on her.”

  Was that all? He got a kick out of the little girl. For one thing, he could talk to her. That wasn’t always the case with kids Molly’s age. “Not asking you to.”

  “And then there’s my mother,” Holly went on nervously. She didn’t want to chase him away, but her responsibilities were what they were. “She’s independent and stubborn, but I can’t just leave her on her own.”

  “I know that.” He grinned. “I like your mother. I know that she kind of likes me, too. And she said you’d be stubborn about this, but to keep after you until I wore you down.”

  “Wait.” Something wasn’t making sense here. “You talked to my mother about this?” she asked, stunned.

  “Yeah.” The conversation had been lengthy. “Why do you think she didn’t come to the wedding? She didn’t want you distracted, taking care of her, looking after Molly. I’ve got her blessing, by the way,” he told her. “What I need now is yours.”

  Did he really think he had to ask? “You’ve had that all along,” she told him. Without a need to restrain them, her tears fell freely.

  “You’re not supposed to cry when you say yes,” he told her.

  “Says who?” she sniffed.

  “I don’t know. Sounds like a good rule, though.” He took her into his arms. “You’re my everything, Holly, and I’m finally smart enough to realize that.” It damn well took him long enough, he thought.

  “If you’re so smart, why haven’t you shut up and kissed me yet?” she asked, challenging him.

  “Just getting to the good part,” he told her, bringing his mouth down to hers.

  And it was the good part. The very best part of all. And he vowed that it would always remain that way.

  Epilogue

  Holly couldn’t wait to tell them.

  Couldn’t wait to get home and tell her mother and Molly that she was going to marry the man she’d dreamed about marrying for most of her life.

  Of course, there was a part of Holly that wanted to walk into her house and pretend that she’d decided to turn him down as a way of making her mother pay for having kept Ray’s pending proposal a secret from her.

  Her mother should have told her the second she knew.

  But then she supposed she could see the argument for allowing Ray to be the one who actually asked her face-to-face. After all, it was his question, so he had to be the one who got to surprise her.

  Hearing it come from his lips had kind of made the proposal rather perfect, Holly decided.

  So she abandoned the idea of getting back at her mother by pretending that she had turned Ray down. For one thing, she truly doubted that she could fool her mother. She really wasn’t that good an actress, especially not when her mother knew just how crazy she was, and always had been, about Ray.

  Because she wanted to tell both her mother and Molly at the same time, Holly knew that meant she needed to get home fairly early.

  When she broached the matter to Ray to get his input, she was surprised by what he said.

  “We don’t have to leave the reception,” Ray told her. “At least, not permanently, not if you don’t want to.”

  “You mean, we should wait until morning to tell Mom and Molly?” she asked.

  “No, I mean we can leave the reception temporarily. Take a break, like commercials being shown during some episode on TV. Just a quick break. It’s not like we have to cross the state line to see your family.”

  Holly still hesitated for a moment, torn. After all, this was Ray’s brother’s wedding and she didn’t want to seem rude or run the risk of offending anyone in his family. “You don’t mind?”

  “I don’t mind anything that makes you happy,” he told her simply.

  Now that he had admitted to loving her, part of Ray couldn’t help wondering what had taken him so long to come to his senses. What had taken him so long to see what was right in front of him.

  He supposed that he should stop beating himself up about it and just be glad that he finally saw the light. End of story.

  Or maybe, he couldn’t help thinking with a grin, just the beginning of a new story.

  “And your family won’t mind?” she wanted to know.

  “My family loves you, remember? You’re the hero who brought Alma’s twins into the world. You can do no wrong in their eyes.”

  He’d convinced her. “Okay,” she said, taking Ray’s hand in hers and leading him out toward where he’d parked his car. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  HER HEART RODE shotgun in her throat all the way to her house, even though the trip seemed to be over in the blink of an eye.

  The second Holly put her key into the front-door lock, it swung open. Martha was on the other side of it, her eyes bright, her expression a portrait of anticipation.

  “Well?” Martha demanded, looking from one to the other expectantly. “Did you say yes?”

  “Yes to what?” Molly wanted to know, hanging on to one of the wheelchair handles and attempting to swing herself to and fro. She was just small enough in weight and stature not to throw Martha off balance.

  “You mean you don’t know?” Holly asked with a laugh, stroking the little girl’s hair.

  “Uh-uh,” Molly confirmed, then started chanting, “Tell me, tell me, te
ll me.”

  She told Molly gladly. With only minor coaxing, she would have yelled it out on a rooftop. “Ray and I are getting married.”

  The little girl surprised them all by looking very quietly and very solemnly from Holly to Ray, as if actually weighing what she’d just been told and subjecting that information to a number of criteria that she kept in her little head.

  “Do you want to?” she finally asked Holly.

  “Yes, I do. Very much,” Holly told her niece.

  Molly then looked at the man standing beside her aunt and rather than ask the same question, asked instead, “Are you going to be moving in with us?”

  “Looks that way. Is that okay with you?” he asked her, one adult to another, an attitude that Molly greatly appreciated.

  When he asked her about her feelings on the matter, that was when her smile finally came out, a smile as big as a sunburst.

  A smile that closely resembled the one he’d seen time and time again on Holly’s lips.

  “Yes!” Molly declared. “’Cause I really like my room and it would make me sad to leave it behind if I had to move away.”

  Ray dropped down to one knee to be on Molly’s level. “Well, you’re not going to be sad because we’re not moving.”

  “Yeah!” Molly cried as she enthusiastically threw her arms around Ray’s neck. “Can you marry us tomorrow?” she asked, turning it entirely into a family affair.

  “It doesn’t work that fast,” he explained to Molly, talking to her as if he was talking to an adult. “But as soon as I can, I will.”

  Molly’s eyes were shining as she nodded her approval. At the same time, she struggled to stifle a yawn. She was unsuccessful in the latter.

  “Time for you to go to bed, young lady,” Martha told her granddaughter. Just before she started to herd Molly from the room, using her wheelchair as effectively as any cowboy used his cattle pony, Martha glanced over at her daughter and her future son-in-law. “And why don’t you two get out from underfoot and make yourselves scarce?” she ordered with a broad wink.

  Ray took Holly’s hand in his again. “I believe we’ve got a wedding reception to get back to,” he said to her.