Christmas Catch-Up VIII (River's End Ranch) Read online

  “I didn’t know I was going to run into such a nice bunch of it while I was out. Otherwise, I would have taken you with me.” Wyatt pushed the rest toward the edge of the truck, and Zack and Kevin caught it. “See you at church.”

  “You bet,” Kevin replied, but then his expression froze. “Oh, no.”

  Zack whirled to see what Kevin was looking at. Billy the Goat was eating the mistletoe, his lead chain dangling from his neck like it was made of paper rather than metal.

  “Billy,” Zack growled. He reached down to grab the chain, but the animal darted out of the way, his nimble hooves dancing on the snowy ground. Then he took off, and Zack had no choice but to go after him. If Billy was left to his own devices, he could single-handedly destroy the entire ranch—Zack didn’t doubt that for a minute.

  Jamal wasn’t on the ranch that day. Kerry’s mother wasn’t doing well, and he’d chosen to stay home and be nearby. That wasn’t a big deal—the petting zoo was closed for Christmas Eve. However, as Zack rounded the corner of the bunkhouse and tried to see where Billy had gone, he sure wished Jamal was the one doing the chasing.

  “Are you looking for this?”

  He turned and saw Jaclyn walking toward him, leading a chastened-looking goat. “Yes. Thank you—you’re a lifesaver.”

  “This little boy sure doesn’t want to stay where he’s put, does he?” Jaclyn looked at Billy thoughtfully. “What he needs is a girl goat. There’s nothing to settle a wanderer down like something to go home to.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Zack replied. “I’ll tell Jamal you said that—plus, it would be fun to have some baby goats around here. As long as they don’t take after their father.”

  Jaclyn laughed. “Oh, that would be a mess, wouldn’t it?” Then she turned her contemplative gaze on Zack. “And as for you, how long have you and Andie been engaged now? Isn’t it time you got yourself hitched?”

  “It’s been a little while. We just didn’t want to rush into anything.”

  “Young man, take it from me—life’s short. If there’s something you want to do, do it now or you might not get another chance. You know Andie’s the one—what are you waiting for?” She took a step closer and poked him in the arm. “Why don’t you tie the knot after Pastor Kevin’s sermon tonight? I can’t think of a better time to start your lives together.”

  Zack blinked. “Tonight?”

  “Yes, tonight. It seems to me that I heard something about a marriage license . . .”

  “Yeah, we took care of the paperwork because we were thinking about getting married at the New Year, but then stuff came up, and . . .”

  Jaclyn shook her head. “Stuff came up? What sort of excuse is that? Gracious.” She looked exasperated. “As long as the license hasn’t expired yet, you might as well get some use out of it. I believe you have a thirty-day window, don’t you?”

  “Yeah . . . how did you know that?”

  “Young man, a person does not enter into the field of matchmaking without learning everything one can about it. Now, take this beast, lock him in some sort of titanium-lined cage, and go find Andie. It’s hard to get married without a bride.”

  ***

  “You . . . want to get married tonight?” Andie looked up from the flowers Zack had brought her, not sure if she heard him right.

  “I ran into Jaclyn, and she had some strong opinions on the subject.”

  Andie walked into her kitchen and grabbed a vase, trying to sort through her feelings. “I . . . really don’t know what to say. Yes, I want to marry you, but tonight? With no time to get ready?”

  “I think we can pull it off. The chapel is already being decorated for Christmas Eve, so it will be beautiful, and I talked to Pastor Kevin on the way here, and he’s set to go . . .”

  Andie held up a hand. “You asked him before you asked me?”

  “Well, I needed to find out if it was possible first.”

  She shook her head, but then grinned. “You’re impossible, you know that? One conversation with the fairy lady, and you’re ready to run off and get married?”

  “Oh, I’ve been ready to run off and marry you for a long time,” he said. He came around the counter and took her into his arms. “We’d already talked about New Year’s—this is just a week early.”

  “And we’d changed our minds about New Year’s.”

  “But that’s because we were putting too much pressure on ourselves. We thought we had to have invitations and flowers and food all lined up—let’s just get married, and then take our time planning a nice reception. We can have invitations and food and all the froufrou you want then.”

  She looked up into his eyes. “I guess there’s no law that says we have to have the reception the same day as the ceremony.”

  “No law at all. I have a friend who had his reception a whole month after the wedding because his parents had been traveling around the world or something like that. It worked out great, and he and his wife are still married, wouldn’t you know.”

  “And I can have a dress and everything?”

  “A dress, a cake—everything.” He wrapped his arms a little tighter. “Let’s do this, Andie. I think we’ve waited long enough, and if we keep waiting until everything’s perfect, we’ll never do it because there’s no such thing as perfect. Except for when I’m with you.”

  “Awww. Okay, if you’re going to sweet-talk me. . .” Andie glanced at the clock on the microwave. “Holy cow. We’ve got a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it.”

  Zack grabbed his cell phone and called Jamal, who in turn called Jaclyn, who happily agreed to sit with Rue so Jamal and Kerry could be at the ceremony. They wouldn’t be able to stay for long, though, understandably. Then Zack and Andie each called their loved ones, promising to throw the reception of the century so no one would feel left out. Andie missed her mother keenly in that moment, but knew her friends would do their best to make up for that absence.

  “And now, sir, it’s time for you to leave.” Andie nudged Zack toward the door. “If I’m getting married, I need time to primp.”

  “I thought we were going simple.”

  “We are, but that doesn’t mean I want to show up at the church like this.” She motioned down to her sweatshirt and yoga pants. “Out.”

  He grinned. “All right. I’ll see you at the church.”

  ***

  The Christmas Eve service was beautiful, as it always was, and at the conclusion, Pastor Kevin announced that he would now be performing a wedding ceremony. Some of the people in the congregation hadn’t heard the news yet, and Andie could hear a delighted gasp. She and Zack came to the front, and Pastor Kevin asked them to join hands.

  As she looked around the chapel at the beautiful pine boughs and the candles, she realized that this was her dream wedding. She’d always pictured a huge dress and six bridesmaids and the whole thing, but she had Zack, and apparently they had a flower girl in the form of a bunny rabbit with a basket strapped to her back courtesy of Jaclyn and delivered by Kelsi. Who could want for anything more?

  At the conclusion of the ceremony, when they were invited to kiss as man and wife, Zack gathered her up and whispered in her ear, “Are you sorry we did it this way?”

  “Not in the slightest. I honestly couldn’t be happier.”

  That’s what she thought until he kissed her. And then she was happy all over again.

  Mark and Heidi

  (Santa’s Shopkeeper)

  “Are you serious? You can’t be serious.” Heidi gripped her cell phone so tight, she thought she might crack the screen.

  “I’m very serious, Heidi. Can you and Mark come down to the hospital right now?”

  Heidi glanced around the living room, at the presents they had yet to unwrap. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

  “Wonderful. And Merry Christmas.”

  Mark’s hands had gone motionless, and he held the movie he’d been unwrapping in midair. “What’s going on?” he asked when Heidi couldn’t see
m to speak.

  “We just had a baby,” she said, staring at the phone.

  “We just had a baby?”

  “Yeah. And we need to get down to the hospital.”

  Mark leaped into the shower and was out again in record time. Heidi didn’t even bother—she just pulled her hair up into a ponytail because no one looked perfect on Christmas morning anyway.

  They had been playing the adoption game since January. Interviews, home visits, background checks, financial statements—they’d done it all, and then some. After that was the waiting . . . waiting to hear if a birth mother had chosen them, if they’d finally be able to hold a child in their arms and call it their own. They’d come close twice, but each time, the mother had chosen someone else in the end, and that had been absolutely devastating.

  “Are you sure this one’s going to stick?” Mark asked as they backed out of their driveway. “What did our caseworker say?”

  “She said congratulations, you just had a baby. And then she asked how quickly we could get there.”

  “That’s all?”

  “That’s all. You were sitting right next to me—you heard my side of the conversation.”

  “Yes, but just one side is so … one-sided.” Mark reached out and gave her hand a quick squeeze. “I just don’t know if we can go through that kind of disappointment again.”

  “We’ll go through whatever we have to,” Heidi replied. “Having a family isn’t easy whether you give birth on your own or adopt or have fertility treatments. Nothing about it is easy. We’re not the only ones having a hard time.”

  “I know. I guess I’m just jaded by now. Afraid to hope.”

  “Don’t ever be afraid to hope. That’s what keeps life beautiful.”

  They pulled into the parking lot and sat for a moment before getting out of the car. Heidi grasped Mark’s hands in both of hers and studied his eyes. “Whatever happens, we’re here for each other.”

  “Absolutely,” he replied. “You’re not getting rid of me.”

  “And you’re not getting rid of me. So let’s go do this thing.”

  As the elevator rose to the maternity ward, Heidi honestly thought she might start throwing up. A baby … their baby … was waiting for them. But now Mark’s doubts were trying to creep into her mind, and she had to work extra hard to push them aside. She had to hope. She had to believe. This was the real thing—she clung to that thought as the doors opened.

  And then everything happened all at once.

  The caseworker met them at the nurses’ station and took them back to a small room with a smaller bassinet, and then the world’s tiniest and most perfect baby was placed in Heidi’s arms, and her heart exploded into millions of pieces. She barely even heard what the woman was telling them. All she could see were two eyes as dark as night, rosy little cheeks, itty bitty fingers, and hair so fuzzy, it felt like a peach.

  “She was born just two hours ago.” The caseworker’s voice finally broke through Heidi’s reverie. “The birth mother had been looking at your file last night and had chosen you, but she hadn’t called me yet because it was so late.”

  “So, this is really happening?” Heidi asked. “We can keep her?”

  “She’s all yours. The birth mother signed the papers.”

  It was a good thing that Mark stepped over to guide Heidi to a chair or she might have toppled right onto the floor, baby and all. “I’m sorry. It’s just . . . we’ve been waiting so long. I mean, I know adoptions take a while, and we know that a year isn’t out of the question and lots of people have waited longer, but there was all the time before that, all the times we tried and failed . . . I just don’t know what to think right now.” She took a deep breath, trying to bring her rambling to an end.

  “I’ll give the three of you some time alone,” the caseworker replied, stepping out and closing the door.

  Mark squatted down on the floor next to Heidi, and together, they studied their little baby. She was so very tiny, and Heidi wondered if she was underweight. That was easily fixed with steady nutrition, unless there were other health factors. She’d ask later. Right at that moment, all she cared about were the little eyelashes and the fine hairs that edged the baby’s ears, almost making her look like an elf. A Christmas elf.

  “Do you want to hold her?” she asked Mark.

  He stood up, then carefully scooped the bundle into his arms. “She’s perfect,” he whispered. “I just can’t believe how perfect she is.” As he looked at their daughter, Heidi thought he’d never been so handsome. His face had taken on a whole new look, one she knew she’d never forget.

  Out in the hallway, Heidi heard a group of carolers start to sing, and she went over to the door and opened it. Four men and three women stood by the nurses’ station, singing “What Child is This?” Goose bumps raised on Heidi’s arms as she remembered the Christmas before, when the ache for a child had been so strong in her chest that she thought it just might kill her. She had been comforted by thinking about the Christ Child, and shortly thereafter, she and Mark had finished the adoption paperwork. Was it a coincidence that all this was happening on Christmas Day? She shook her head and laughed a little bit at the irony of it. Giving her a baby on Christmas . . . yes, sometimes it did take something so obvious to get through to her. She was pretty hard-hearted at times.

  They spent the rest of that morning signing their end of the paperwork and asking questions. The baby was all right—she was underweight because the birth mother had been violently ill all during the pregnancy and hadn’t been able to keep anything down, but the doctor felt the child would gain quickly and thrive. As for the birth mother herself, Heidi wanted to meet her and tell her thank you, but the girl had requested a closed adoption. That was disappointing, but Heidi understood. This decision must have been heartbreaking as it was—sometimes closing doors was the only way to survive.

  “Could you please give her a message for us?” Heidi asked the caseworker as they were getting ready to leave. “Could you please tell her how much this means to us, and that we will love and care for this baby with everything inside us forever?”

  “Yes, I’ll tell her,” the caseworker said, her eyes soft.

  And then it was time to go home. Mark buckled the infant car seat into place, they climbed in, and he started the engine. “I keep thinking that someone’s going to come running after us, telling us that it’s all been a mistake and that we have to bring the baby back,” he said. He looked over at Heidi. “But they aren’t, are they? This is really our daughter.”

  Heidi grinned, her chest about to burst. “She really is our daughter.”

  “I can’t wait to get home and start making a million phone calls. We need to have a party, an open house for everyone to come meet her. But they can’t come if they’re sick—this is cold and flu season. Maybe we should wait until the weather is a little warmer, but that will be months. We could—”

  Heidi laughed. “I love you.”

  He blinked. “I’m kind of freaking out, aren’t I?”

  “You are, and it’s adorable. We’ll tell people they can come over a few at a time, if they aren’t sick. Lots of hand sanitizer, and no kissing her.”

  Mark’s eyes grew wide. “That doesn’t apply to us, though, right? Because I kissed her cheek earlier.”

  “So did I. She’ll get used to our germs, though—they’re family germs now.”

  “That’s so awesome. We have family germs.”

  They carried her car seat into the house, and Heidi unbuckled her and took her over next to the Christmas tree. “You’re home, sweetheart,” she whispered. “Welcome home, Aria Noelle.”

  Mark wrapped his arms around both of them, and together they stood, eyes full of tears, celebrating the day when two became three, and their house expanded to hold twelve times the love.

  About Amelia C. Adams

  Amelia C. Adams is a wife, a mother, an eater of tacos, and a taker of naps. She spends her days thinking up stories and her night
s writing them down. Her biggest hero is her husband, and you just might see bits and pieces of him as you read her novels.

  You can reach her at [email protected].

  Please join Amelia on her website to learn more about her, sign up for her newsletter, stay on top of news and upcoming releases, and follow her on Facebook. In fact, you can join her readers’ group by clicking here!

  And if you’ve enjoyed any of her novels, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. It’s much appreciated!

  The Kansas Crossroads Series:

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  A Broken Wing (A Kansas Crossroads novella)

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  Accidental Agent

  Rugged Rockclimber

  Welcome Wagon

  Santa’s Shopkeeper

  Delivering Destiny

  Lucky Lifeguard

  Poinsettia Promises