The Maverick's Christmas Countdown
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Heatherly Bell
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Chapter One
“English was my favorite subject in high school,” Allison Taylor said from her stool at the kitchen counter.
On this sunny December day in Bronco, she was helping her niece, Jill Abernathy, with her homework.
“I’m more of a math and science person, and I don’t know what to do with this assignment.” Jill’s big eyes were narrowed in confusion. “I’m supposed to pick a book and then find a parallel to something in my own life.”
Allison rubbed her hands together. “Oooh, it sounds like an essay, my favorite kind of assignment!”
“I wish it were already Christmas break. Then I could have some fun and relax.” Jill’s shoulders slumped. “Would you help me figure this out? I don’t know how a book is anything like real life!”
Allison had been about Jill’s age when her older sister Charlotte and Billy Abernathy had first fallen in love as teenagers. His daughter was now Charlotte’s stepdaughter, and reminded Allison so much of her father as a teen. Same eyes, same easygoing attitude. But, at the moment, she was clearly frustrated, as though there was so much she’d rather do than sit inside with a book. Just like Billy, who’d always preferred to spend his time running the Bonnie B ranch. According to Charlotte, Jill had demonstrated an aptitude in math and science, but she was still finding her way as a fourteen-year-old in her first year of high school. Allison would let her sister encourage all things STEM, but she would do what she could to encourage a love of reading.
“Actually your life is probably a lot more like a Western book.” Allison chuckled.
“Ugh, I’m sick of cowboys. Bronco’s just a boring town full of cowboys.”
“How about a Christmas theme? Then you can tie it into what you’re doing right now. Looking forward to the holiday. Shopping, decorating, gift giving.” Allison couldn’t help but make at least one specific suggestion. “One of my favorite holiday stories is The Gift of the Magi. It’s a classic. You should check it out.”
“Great idea. Thanks, Aunt Allison!” Jill stood and rushed up the steps, past Charlotte, who was slowly coming down them.
Charlotte padded into the kitchen in her robe and slippers, fresh from a nap. She was due soon, a scheduled C-section next month. At thirty-eight, she’d been ordered to take it easy for the rest of the pregnancy.
“You’re so good with her. The boys, too. Face it, you’re good with kids.”
Allison sighed. She didn’t want to dwell on the envy she felt rolling through her every time she looked at Charlotte’s swollen belly or felt the baby’s swift kick against her palm. Her big sister deserved all this joy and happiness and more. Over twenty years ago, she’d been a pregnant teenager with Billy’s child, but had had a devastating miscarriage a few weeks into the pregnancy. Even though they were still to get married, in a rather huge wedding thrown by the Taylors and Abernathys, seventeen-year-old Charlotte had had second thoughts. She’d abandoned Billy at the altar to fulfill her dream of becoming a marine biologist.
She and Billy had spent over two decades apart but were together now, and it was a beautiful thing to watch.
Allison stood to pour hot water from the kettle into a mug. “Maybe it’s because your stepkids are great. Anyway, someday I’ll meet the right man.”
“Whatever happened to that guy you were dating a few months ago? He sounded so promising.”
“Don’t remind me. He was a dud dressed in prince clothing.”
Allison still cringed remembering the way he’d invited her to a fancy dinner just to inform her he worried she was getting way too attached to their relationship.
“I think we might want different things,” he’d said in a patronizing tone that had made her want to down her pricy cocktail as fast as possible. “I’m not ready to settle down, and I can see the eagerness in your eyes. After all, I’m only thirty-eight.”
For the record, there had been no such eagerness on her part.
Charlotte made a face. “I’m sorry. You’ve sure had to kiss a lot of frogs.”
“Look at it this way, thanks partly to him, you now have a built-in babysitter.”
“Except when you’re back in Seattle.”
“Well, I’m here at least until the baby is born.”
Fortunately, Allison had enough vacation time accrued from her job as a human resource specialist to take a month off to be with her older sister and help her family.
“I’m glad you’re here.” Charlotte accepted the mug of hot water and dipped her herbal cinnamon tea bag inside. “But you may have overstepped at Thanksgiving. What are you going to do if Mom and Dad ask to meet this fake boyfriend of yours? You’ve already had him out of the country once.”
Charlotte had asked the question of the year.
Allison would rather not dwell on this unfortunate complication and simply enjoy all the holiday festivities with her sister’s blended family. She wanted to relax and enjoy the most magical time of the year, but Charlotte was correct. She had a teeny problem.
At Thanksgiving dinner with her family last month, she’d lied about having a serious boyfriend. In her defense, her parents had been openly trying to fix her up with Frederick Lloyd Huntington III, one of her father Thaddeus Taylor’s oldest friends and business partners. A man even richer than her father—and at least twenty years her senior.
“It’s time you settled down, young lady,” her father Thaddeus had pronounced just after the turkey had been carved and served. “Frederick is a fine man. He’s expressed interest and I’ve decided he’s worthy.”
“That biological clock is ticking!” Imogen, her mother, had shaken a finger. “You don’t want to wait too long. Look at Charlotte.”
Zero preliminaries. Straight from slicing turkey to slicing into Allison. She hardly needed the memo about her biological clock. It ticked in her ear like a time bomb most days.
“You can all stop worrying about me. I won’t be able to marry Frederick since I’m dating someone new and it’s very serious.”
“Can he support himself?” Thaddeus had snorted. “Or is he an artist?”
“He is, in fact, a doctor. So, yes, he can, in fact, support himself, and quite nicely. The only reason he’s not here with me is because he had a previous commitment to Doctors Without Borders.”
Her sisters Eloise and Charlotte had glanced up in surprise. They’d known she hadn’t been dating anyone since the software engineer who hadn’t worked out. No one had worked out. And, frankly, she was happy enough single. She had friends in Seattle and work that satisfied her. The problem was, in the quiet of the night she had to admit the truth to herself, even if to no one else: she wanted to have children. And she was old-fashioned enough to want it all. Marriage to a wonderful man like the ones her sisters had been lucky enough to find.
“Wonderful!” Imogen had said after a gasp of surprise. “I’m so happy to hear this.”
“Doctors make lousy husbands,” Thaddeus had muttered. “They’re never home.”
She’d apparently never make her father happy, so Allison had long ago stopped trying. The lie had come swiftly and effortlessly because she’d been so tired of hearing about Frederick. Her father thought he could rule her life, which was why she didn’t come home to Montana often. But Charlotte needed her, and she was one person Allison would never disappoint.
“I’ll think of some excuse why the doctor can’t be here,” Allison said now, putting away a clean dish left lying on the counter by one of the kids. “In all fairness, when I lied about my boyfriend—”
“The doctor,” Charlotte interrupted.
“Right. The doctor. I didn’t know I’d be staying with you for the holidays.”
“Hey, don’t blame me. This is what happens when you have a ‘geriatric’ pregnancy.” Charlotte held up air quotes. “Now I have to stay off my feet as much as possible for the rest of the pregnancy.”
“It wasn’t a problem. I usually come out for a few days every Christmas anyway.”
“But this is much longer than you’re used to dealing with Thaddeus, and I appreciate you being here. I know it isn’t easy.”
Charlotte reached across the counter to pat Allison’s hand. She’d had her own struggles with their father.
“Anything for you, sis.”
Truthfully, she would have preferred spending the holidays in her adopted city of Seattle among her good friends and neighbors. But when Charlotte had asked Allison to come and stay a little longer this time, to get her through the end of a difficult pregnancy, Allison hadn’t been able to turn her down.
She might not be able to stand her ruthless father, but her mother was okay. And Allison adored Charlotte, Billy and their family. Now there would be another little one coming along soon. Charlotte and Billy’s only child. Their five-bedroom farmhouse would soon be busting at the seams. Allison was staying in the nursery now, and every morning she woke to a beautiful mural of dolphins and sea life perfect for the daughter of a marine biologist. Charlotte was on maternity leave from her position at Wonderstone Ridge Indoor Theme Park and Aquarium. Because Charlotte had had an amniocentesis, she’d decided to find out the sex of her child. A little girl, though she hadn’t told Billy, who wanted to be surprised. And if Allison knew her sister, the act of keeping such monumental news a secret may have been compromised at some point. So far, Billy seemed clueless so the surprise hadn’t been ruined for him.
Just the idea of a baby girl in the Abernathy household and the sister that Jill would now have thrilled Allison to bits, and all the excitement surrounding the new Abernathy baby had infected her.
“See if this imaginary boyfriend of yours can get you pregnant.” Charlotte echoed Allison’s thoughts. “If you’re not careful, you’ll be like me. A geriatric mother.”
Allison made a face. “You’re not a geriatric mother, you have a geriatric pregnancy.”
“Potato, potahto,” Charlotte said. “I feel so old when I hear the word geriatric in reference to me.”
“Anyway, I don’t care if I wind up like you. I want to be like you. Look at you, you’re doing great. The most important thing is to have a partner who supports you all the way, and you have that. You couldn’t do better than Billy.”
“So true,” Charlotte sighed, no doubt thinking of her handsome rancher husband. “He was worth waiting for. But you’re going to be a great mother. My stepkids already love you probably more than they love me.”
“I doubt that.”
Allison was enjoying spending time with Billy’s children by his first marriage, Nicky and Jill. The oldest, Branson, was away at college for the first time, getting ready to come home for holiday break after finishing his first semester at the University of Montana. He’d wanted to skip higher education and simply be a rancher like his father and hadn’t seen the point of an education. Thankfully, his parents had felt differently. All three of Charlotte’s stepchildren were amazing, but Allison was a little partial to Jill. She was always so clear in her thoughts, holding nothing back. If she was having a bad day, everybody knew it. And with a father like Billy, she obviously felt comfortable expressing her feelings.
Unlike Jill, growing up, Allison had never had an easy time expressing herself in a household where Thaddeus had taken away anything she’d ever cared about. She’d been shipped off to boarding school over her protests. Her punishment because her sister had gotten pregnant before marriage and one evening Thaddeus had overheard Allison talking about the cute new boy at school. “Best to nip that in the bud,” he’d ordered. No more unmarried and pregnant daughters! When Allison had heard about their youngest sister Eloise’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy, even if years later, Allison had had a good laugh.
Because of all this, she’d learned to keep her desires and private thoughts to herself. She hadn’t expected the tendency to spill over into all areas of her life, but now found it second nature to be protective and secretive when she truly wanted something. She was suspicious, as if she might “jinx” something by saying the words out loud.
Even now, Allison had trouble expressing to her own sister how much she wanted a baby of her own. Someday, maybe. If it happened to her sister, it could happen to Allison, who was two years younger. But she better get on that.
“You could always adopt, if it comes to that.” Charlotte stirred organic milk into her tea. “Did you hear about Baby J? He was found at the church, wrapped up in blankets, in a Moses basket. Can you imagine?”
“Have they had any luck finding the mother?”
“Not so far. His mother must have been desperate to abandon her baby, especially like that.”
Allison agreed. “I hope they’re reunited, and soon.”
Charlotte brightened. “Hey, maybe you could adopt him! Would you ever consider adoption?”
Allison would love to adopt, but she could already see the scowl of disapproval on Thaddeus’s face. If she so much as mentioned any interest, too, he’d probably find a way to intervene and make sure it didn’t happen.
“Can you imagine how our parents would react to my adopting a baby without knowing anything about his background?”
Charlotte sighed. “You’re right. Not that I think it matters, you understand. Hopefully, Baby J will be reunited with his mother.”
“That would be the ideal situation.”
Allison was still thinking about the poor baby who’d been abandoned by his mother when her phone rang with a video call.
She glanced to see the caller. “I have to take this.”
Charlotte stretched her arms and yawned. “Go ahead. I think I’ll go lie down. If I fall asleep, wake me when Billy gets here?”
“I would, but he’s the one always running upstairs to wake you.” Allison hustled up the steps to the nursery to answer her phone.
The video call displayed Rowan Scott, her friend and neighbor at her apartment complex in Seattle. She’d asked him to water her plants and bring in the mail while she was gone.
“Hey,” Allison said. “Everything okay? Please don’t tell me I’ve had a flood or some other disaster.”
“Nothing like that.” Rowan turned the screen to show a lineup of her three ferns sitting side by side. “Just checking in. Larry, Mo and Curly are doing fine, as you can see. And, yeah, I’ve named your plants. Hey, also don’t forget that I’m hosting casino night in your apartment every night. Going well so far. I’ll deal you in on the action, not to worry. We’re going to make some serious coin. Sixty/forty, right? It’s your apartment, but I’m doing all the work.”
“Ha, ha. You better not be having fun like that without me.”
She and Rowan had been buddies since the day she’d moved in across the hallway from his apartment and he’d helped carry the heaviest of her boxes. He was just that kind of a guy; always helpful, always seeming to have a smile on his face when she saw him.
“Sorry, I have to joke to mask my true feelings.” He turned the image back on himself and for the first time she noticed the tightness in his mouth, the bags under his eyes.
Rowan was forever cracking jokes and rarely serious. She couldn’t imagine why he’d be sad.
“What’s wrong?”
He worked as a data analyst for a major software firm, a well-paying tech job he did from home and could do from almost anywhere. This made him convenient for plant watering and mail gathering, and she certainly hoped he hadn’t been laid off. Not right before the holidays. As the director of human resources at another software giant, she’d told her HR colleagues before she’d left for her vacation, “Tell all managers: absolutely no layoffs while I’m gone. It’s Christmas!”
“Perri. We broke up again. And without you here to help me drown my sorrows in Pinot Grigio, I’ve had to resort to Three Stooges’ and casino night jokes.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Not again. Who broke things off this time?”
Rowan and his girlfriend broke up every few months and, by Allison’s calculations, this was right on schedule. If it wasn’t her breaking up with him, it was Rowan breaking up with Perri, tired of her drama. Then one or the other would decide to give it another try and the madness would start all over again. It was getting to where Allison could practically set a clock by their breakups.
“She broke up with me this time. Via text message. Classy, right?”
Allison groaned. “That’s a new low.”
“This is it. I can’t keep doing this to myself. I’m moving on. Perri and I are not right for each other. I’ve known it for a while.”
So had Allison, and all of their mutual friends, but even now she refused to say anything. He’d said those very same words to her in the past. She couldn’t trust those two wouldn’t get back together again, especially during the holidays when nostalgia deepened. Take it from her, being single at Christmas was not an ideal situation. She ached for Rowan as the timing couldn’t be much worse.
“What was her reasoning?”
“I’m not serious enough for her.”
“What? You’re a jokester. Fun. That’s your personality.”
“Yeah, well, obviously she doesn’t like my personality.” He shrugged.
“That’s ridiculous. You’ve got a great personality.”
Allison’s mind briefly went to those old lame fix-up jokes. “Let me fix you two up. He’s got a great personality.” This usually implied looks weren’t optimal, which certainly didn’t apply to Rowan. He actually didn’t need a personality with looks like his, but God had thrown it in anyway. Rowan was classic matinee-idol handsome with dark wavy hair, blue eyes and a jaw that could cut glass. His looks and good character were wasted on Perri. Though the woman was beautiful, she had zero personality.
“So, who are you spending the holidays with?”
Rowan held up one of Allison’s plants and winked. “Nothing until Christmas Day with the fam at my brother’s. For now, I’m hanging with my new best friend here and cleaning up at casino night.”
Allison didn’t like the idea of Rowan alone until Christmas. If he were here, she could keep him busy and take his thoughts off Perri. It was what she’d do if she were back home in Seattle. Take him out for a drink, let him unload.
Now that she’d thought of it, having him come to Bronco might not be a bad thing. There was always so much going on in a full household like the Abernathys that even Allison didn’t have time to dwell on her troubles. The fact that she was still single and now faking a relationship was something she could ignore for entire stretches of time between laundry and picking up kids from school. If she were to put him in charge of some of these tasks, he’d soon be too busy to be upset about his breakup.
Allison tipped her head. “Hmm. I have an idea. Can you get Mrs. Havisham in 2C to water my plants?”
Her name wasn’t actually Mrs. Havisham but Allison and Rowan nicknamed her after the Dickens character for fun. Twice, she’d answered her door with only one shoe on, so she’d “walked” right into that one.
“Why?” He glanced sideways at her ferns, still mercifully alive. “Does one of them look sick? I thought green was the only requirement.”
“No, silly! I can’t stand you being alone and feeling sad, and I want you to come to Montana. Spend some time here with me and my family. We’d love to have you.”
“Are you serious?”
“There’s plenty of room at my sister’s place and I could use the help. I’m doing all the cooking, cleaning, decorating and shuttling around of two teenagers.”
“What a nice offer. I look forward to you turning me into Cinderella for the holidays.”
“I promise you’ll have fun. We have so many small-town holiday festivities around here. Have you ever had a down-home Christmas, Montana-style?” Allison happened to know Rowan was born and bred in Washington state.
“You know I haven’t.”
“Then I say it’s time.”
In fact, he’d never visited Allison’s hometown even if she talked about it frequently enough. No one had ever met him. Wait.
No one in her family had ever met Rowan.
Perfect.
This idea was so crazy that it might actually work.
“I take it back. You don’t have to help me with any of the cooking and cleaning. What if you help me in another far more important way? In return, I have one favor to ask of you.”
“What’s that?”
“Pretend to be my boyfriend while you’re here?” She winced. “I’m in trouble. Remember when I lied to my parents at Thanksgiving, said I was dating someone, and it was serious? Well, now that I’m here for a month, they’re bound to press me about my boyfriend. You know, the one that doesn’t exist? And if I tell them some other lie about how he can’t be here, again, they’re definitely never going to believe he exists.”
“Well, so what? He doesn’t exist. You don’t have a boyfriend. It’s not the end of the world.”
“Um, remember Frederick III? He’s conveniently still single. Shocker. And if I’m here, all alone, they’re going to hoist him on me. They won’t stop. It won’t work, of course, which will only make the holidays awkward and difficult to get through. I wanted them to give up trying.”
“I knew you’d get yourself into trouble by lying. But...didn’t you tell them your boyfriend is a doctor?”
“Um, yes. That’s right. It sounded impressive. My father made some snarky remark about a starving artist, and it was the perfect comeback.”
“Not so perfect. I can’t pretend to be a doctor! I can’t even spell Naproxen.”
“You can fake it.”
“Oh sure. I’ll see if I can sign up for an online course somewhere. ‘How to be a doctor in thirty minutes or less.’”
“You’re a data analyst. Do an analysis of doctor personalities and assume one of those identities.”
“That’s...not how this works.” He shook his head and fought a smile.
“Pretty please?” Allison batted her eyelashes. “I miss you. It will be like having a little piece of Seattle with me through the holidays. Best of both worlds for me.”
“All right, fine. I’ll come for a few days, but you owe me for this. Big time. In fact, you might have to put me in your will.”
“Thank you, thank you!” Allison said. “I can’t wait.”
When her parents, especially her mother, got one look at Rowan, they’d know in an instant that Frederick III didn’t stand a chance.
Faking would be easy for her, too, since she already had a wee but harmless crush on Rowan. She would never truly pursue him. Given his history with Perri, it was highly likely the two would be back together before Christmas. He’d go back home to Perri, having done his duty as her fake boyfriend and no one would ever be the wiser.
