The Stillwell Cowboys Book 3

MIRIAM

I pulled back the heavy drapes.

It was snowing!

On Christmas morning!

Just like in the Hallmark Christmas movies I used to watch with my nanny, when my father wasn’t home.

Fluffy white snowflakes, falling softly from the sky. The dense forest of evergreens collected the snow with their needles, creating the perfect winter scene.

I couldn’t remember the last time we had a white Christmas in Ornate Bay. My father didn’t like warm climates, so we quite often spent the holidays at our house in Aspen, Colorado.

They always had snow there. And great slopes. I loved skiing. It was about the only thing I had in common with my father.

My Christmas honeymoon in the Maldives was my first trip to a tropical destination. I shivered as the unpleasant memories of those two weeks in a secluded villa flashed through my mind.

A light knock on the door yanked me back before I fell too far into my dark thoughts. I crossed the room, grabbing my long red satin robe from the chair.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“Cami.”

I opened the door a crack, glancing down the hall for any sign of Brooks or his brother. They made me nervous when I was fully clothed. I certainly didn’t want to encounter them in my current state of undress.

“I wanted to let you know breakfast will be ready in half an hour,” she said. “We’re going to eat before we open gifts.”

“I’ll just stay in my room,” I said. “I don’t want to intrude on your family time.”

“You have to eat, Miriam.”

“If you leave me a plate, I’ll come out and eat later.”

“I insist you join us. The more, the merrier.”

“Um, okay,” I relented. “I’ll take a quick shower and get dressed.”

***

I picked up my knife, cutting my fatty slice of bacon into bite-sized portions.

“What are you doing?” Cami chuckled.

I glanced at the outspoken young woman sitting across from me. Heat spread up my neck, no doubt staining my cheeks in a crimson hue of embarrassment.

Cami seemed like a very nice girl, but she had some questionable boundaries. No topic was off-limits, and I suspected she said whatever popped into her head, without considering whether it was appropriate or ladylike.

“I’m cutting up my food,” I replied quietly.

I knew why she did it.

“Miriam has manners, Cami,” Pru sighed, shaking her head. “And she’s used to eating lobster frittatas and smoked salmon for breakfast.

“She puts caviar butter on her toast, and her pancakes are not filled with Nestle Toll House chocolate chips. She’s accustomed to Venezuelan chocolate pancakes, not your Betty Crocker specials.”

“I do not use pancake mix,” Cami hissed.

“You missed my entire point, Cami, as usual.”

“Ladies,” Jasper warned. “Let’s not start this morning. It’s Christmas.”

“Cami is an excellent cook, Pru,” Brooks said. “When was the last time you cooked anything?”

“Mama! More!”

“That child is going to weigh five hundred pounds,” Pru snorted when Cami refilled the little boy’s plate with scrambled eggs and tiny pieces of pancake.

“Blaze is a growing boy,” Brooks said. “He needs to eat.”

“Oh, zip it, Brooks,” she scoffed. “You don’t know anything about children. You’re just trying to get under my skin by disagreeing with everything I say.”

“You know where the door is, Pru.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

“I thought I made that pretty clear last night.”

“You did,” Jasper grumbled. “We all heard.”

I was staying in the room next to the master suite, and the walls were pretty thin. Their fight confirmed my suspicion that Pru’s marriage was in trouble.

But I was shocked when they had sex.

And right next to the wall I shared with their bedroom.

It was over so quickly too.

Sometimes, I had that kind of luck with my late husband, especially when his health started to decline.

But in the early days of our marriage, when he wasn’t suffering from a secret terminal cancer, he could last quite a long time.

I eventually learned it was Viagra that was allowing my sixty-five-year-old husband to have sexual intercourse with me multiple times a day.

“I think I’ll pass on the gift opening,” Pru announced, pushing back her chair. “I’m not really feeling very welcome.”

“It’s Christmas,” Cami said. “You shouldn’t be alone. And there’s gifts from the children. They didn’t forget about their Aunt Pru.”

“I’m touched, Cami. That was very thoughtful of you, but I don’t think Brooks wants me here.”

“He doesn’t,” Brooks confirmed.

“Brooks!” Cami cried. “Don’t be like that.”

“She called you a dingbat, Cami.”

“I know. I overheard every word of your fight. But she has called me worse. I know she doesn’t mean it.”

“You know what?” Pru declared. “I think I will join you. It’s Christmas, and I would very much enjoy watching my nephews open their gifts.”

“You don’t give a shit about them,” Brooks scoffed. “And they won’t be your nephews much longer.”

“I care very much about all three of those precious little humans.”

“Oh really?” he snorted. “What are their names?”

“The girl is Sadie, named after your mother.”

“And the boys?”

“The oldest one is Blaze,” she announced triumphantly.

“And the middle child?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she snapped. “Give me a break. I did pretty good.”

“I bet Miriam knows,” Brooks said.

I lifted my head, dark brown eyes penetrating me with an intense stare.

“Leave her alone, Brooks,” Pru warned.

“I’d prefer to stay out of your disagreement,” I said quietly.

“I can respect that,” Brooks said with a kind smile.

I blinked, tearing my eyes from his while I fidgeted in my chair.

“I think it’s time to see what Santa brought!” Jasper announced, breaking the awkward silence in the dining room.

I followed them into the family room, taking a seat next to Pru on the loveseat. She sipped her coffee, browsing through messages on her phone while the children opened their gifts.

Blaze was fifteen months old and no stranger to opening presents. I laughed every time he opened clothes, tossing them aside quickly before moving on to the next gift.

When he found a toy, he would play for a few minutes. But as soon as Wyatt opened something that looked interesting to him, he would try to take it away.

Wyatt was only seven months old. He required time and assistance with each gift. And his big brother was eager to help him.

I cast a furtive glance across the room. Brooks was sitting in a recliner, watching the chaos unfold in front of the Christmas tree while he fed the baby.

Sadie was just three months old. She had no idea what was going on. Next year, she would be down there in the thick of it with her big brothers.

My daughters would be eight months old next Christmas. I had no idea where we’d be living, but I’d make sure there was a tree with lots of gifts to open.

They wouldn’t be expensive gifts though. I’d never waste money on frivolous things. I no longer had that luxury, nor did I want it. A simple life was what I planned to provide for my children.

I realized too late I was staring, those deep brown eyes boring into me, sending my belly into a tailspin of flutters. And not from my babies. They were sound asleep.

I tore my eyes away, my heart galloping with nervous excitement.

Nervous excitement.

An oxymoron.

And an emotion I had rarely experienced in my life up to that point.

I was always nervous. When my life wasn’t my own, and I was trapped in a world controlled by men, fear and uncertainty lurked around every corner. And there was rarely anything to get excited about.

“Merry Christmas, Miriam,” Cami said, startling me back to the present.

I blinked when she set the large gift basket at my feet.

“What’s this?”

“It’s for you,” she laughed. “We didn’t know you were coming, but I had Jasper pick this up yesterday. I figured you’d probably want to use the big tub in the guest suite.”

“Thank you,” I said, my voice trembling. “It wasn’t necessary, but very much appreciated.”

“It’s not quite what you’re accustomed to,” Pru advised. “But Irma Shakely makes her bath products from scratch. All natural ingredients.”

“I love homemade stuff. Thank you, Cami.”

“You’re welcome.”

I glanced at Jasper, swallowing noisily. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” he said.

***

“Peace at last,” Pru declared, settling on the loveseat with a heavy sigh. “The little humans are exhausting. They make so much noise. And I can only take Cami in small doses.”

“You two don’t like each other very much,” I concluded.

“Not especially. We’ve learned to coexist, though. At one time, we couldn’t be in the same room without trading insults.”

“Why?”

“She’s an opportunist.”

“Oh,” I said, wrinkling my brow. “She told me her family owns the ranch next door. I didn’t think she was poor.”

“She’s not,” Pru confirmed. “The Cartwrights have money. Cami has an older brother who runs their large ranching operation now. She has no financial worries.”

“I don’t understand. How is she an opportunist?”

“Cami is a simple girl. She has no aspirations beyond being a rancher’s wife and a baby factory. Her greatest assets are her tits and her womb.”

“Why do you care what she does with her life?”

“I don’t give a fuck about that little twit,” she snorted. “I care about the Stillwells. They’ve been my family for twenty years. My late sister-in-law was a very good friend to me.

“Both she and Huxley’s wife, Suzy, welcomed me here with open arms when I married Brooks. I didn’t fit in, but they accepted me anyway. I know Brooks’s mother didn’t like me, but she always treated me with respect.”

“What happened to your sister-in-law?”

“She died of cancer at thirty-seven.”

“That’s very sad.”

“Yes, it was,” she sighed, staring out the snowy front window with a melancholy expression.

“Lisa was a beautiful person, inside and out. She and Ethan, that’s the youngest brother, were high school sweethearts.

“I remember their wedding like it was yesterday. They were so in love. I was happy for them, and also a bit jealous.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t have the fairy-tale romance that they did. And I didn’t know Lisa well. I hadn’t been here that long. I tried to hate her, but it was impossible. We ended up becoming close friends. I never had a best girlfriend growing up.”

“You didn’t love Brooks?”

“I did. And I still do. But it wasn’t the all-consuming love that Ethan and Lisa had. We were compatible, and we wanted the same things out of life. That worked for a while, but without love, it was bound to fail.”

“When did Lisa die?”

“It will be three years next April.”

“I’m sorry you lost your friend, Pru,” I said. “But where does your dislike of Cami fit in?”

“Cami is the much younger sister of Ethan’s best friend. There is a thirteen-year age difference.

“Cami had her sights set on Ethan since she was a young girl, from what I understand. Lisa was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when she delivered their twins by cesarean.”

“Really?” I gasped.

“That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen to you, Miriam,” she said sternly.

I flinched at her nasty tone, a shiver rippling down my spine when she reminded me of her father for a moment. She sounded just like him when she was being rude.

“Ethan and Lisa hired Cami to be their nanny. Lisa had to travel to Calgary for chemotherapy, and when she was home, she was often quite ill.”

“I have a feeling I know where this is going.”

“Yes. Both Ethan and Cami swear nothing happened between them until long after Lisa passed away, but I don’t believe them. I know he was fucking her while his poor wife was dying.”

“That’s terrible.”

“And now you know why I don’t like her.”

“How did she end up with Jasper?”

“Ethan went to his high school reunion and ended up spending the night with an old classmate. After that night, Jillian went back home to Calgary, and that’s when Ethan started sleeping with Cami, officially.

“But their little affair didn’t last long, because Jillian returned, and she was carrying Ethan’s baby. Cami knew she was going to lose him, so she fished a used condom from the trash, and inseminated herself.”

“No way,” I whispered.

“Yep,” she said, shaking her head. “Ethan dumped Cami. The dimwit took out Lisa’s wild stallion, and ended up getting thrown off.

“She lost the baby. Took the job as Jasper’s nanny, got knocked up again, and here we are.”

“They seem happy.”

“Jasper and Cami?”

“Yes.”

“For now,” she muttered.

“How come you didn’t go to the family dinner with Brooks?”

“He didn’t invite me.”

“I’m sorry, Pru.”

“Are you hungry?”

“I’m always hungry.” I laughed.

“Why don’t I call over to the inn and see if they have an empty table for two for Christmas dinner?”