Close Range Christmas by Nicole Helm (ebook reader for laptop TXT) 📗

of the man who’d shot at them, Brady and Tucker drove out to the reservation to pick up Cecilia.

There was no more arguing, and no one tried to go off on their own. The aftermath was subdued.

Sarah was dead on her feet, and she knew she should go upstairs and sleep while she could. But she couldn’t make herself leave the kitchen when Dev and Jamison hadn’t come inside yet.

“They’ll be in soon enough,” Duke said gruffly from where he sat next to Grandma Pauline, working on a puzzle. They both had their reading glasses on and Sarah wanted to be amused, to feel cozily, Christmasy happy.

Instead she was jittery and anxious and...

She heard the outer door creak open, followed by the sound of stomping feet. When Dev and Jamison stepped inside, they’d shed their coats, but snowflakes still clung to their hair and Dev’s beard.

Dev frowned at her. “I sure hope you’re planning on cooking that baby a while longer. Roads are going to be a mess tonight.”

“That is the plan.”

“If Brady doesn’t get back, you’re full out of luck on the emergency medical personnel.”

“I wasn’t really planning on your brother delivering my baby, EMT training or no. And if you’re trying to make some point about me staying in town—”

“I’m not trying to make any points. I’m just saying,” he grumbled.

The kitchen descended into an uncomfortable silence. All eyes were on them and Sarah felt suddenly...see-through. Which was silly. They were always bickering. There was nothing weird about this to garner looks.

“I’m going to run through the shower,” Dev muttered, moving into the hallway back to his room. Sarah watched him go until Jamison cleared his throat.

“Police took everything they could find. They’ll be investigating. We’ve got an unmarked car on the road watching, but that’s all they could spare. I know him though. We’ll still want to have lookouts all night. A lot of ways to get on the ranch without using the road.”

“Felicity came up with a schedule, but I don’t think anyone will be sleeping until Brady, Cecilia and Tucker are back. Except this one here.” Grandma Pauline pointed to Sarah.

“Go to bed, Sarah. Get some sleep,” Jamison said gently. “We’ve got plenty of lookouts.”

She should. She was exhausted. These were the last few days of having the luxury of just going to sleep when she wanted. “All right,” she said, even though her easy agreement clearly shocked everyone in the kitchen. She gave Duke a hug and Grandma Pauline a shoulder squeeze and left the kitchen.

Much like earlier in the day, when she got to the stairs, she stood at the bottom and dreaded the uncomfortable climb. She could hear the shuffle of feet upstairs, the hushed murmurs of parents hoping their children were asleep.

She looked down the hall. She was going to be that parent soon enough. Whether the danger was over or it kept going for weeks. She was still going to be mom. And Dev wanted to be a father.

It was a huge step. One she should be happy about—satisfied with. But Sarah didn’t know how to sit back and accept when there was so much more to have.

So, why stop now? Danger or no, life didn’t stop. Maybe it had to pause for horrible threatening notes and gunshots, but she didn’t have to let that stop her completely. Besides, what if something terrible did happen and she hadn’t gone after everything?

She marched down the hall. She could hear the sound of the shower running in the tiny closet of a bathroom closest to Dev’s room. She passed that door then stepped into Dev’s bedroom.

It was also tiny. Sparse.

Grandma Pauline had groused about giving the dog special treatment, but she’d relented...and even let Brownie join Cash inside. Brownie was probably up in the girls’ room being petted into oblivion. But Cash had settled onto Dev’s bed and thumped his tail happily as Sarah walked in.

Sarah settled herself on the bed in the most comfortable sitting position she could manage. Cash put his head in her lap and she stroked his ears. It was calming, to the point she found herself nodding off. Every time her head drooped, she jerked back awake.

After who knew how many times of that, she jerked awake and Dev was standing in the doorway in sweatpants and a T-shirt. His feet were bare and his hair was wet and he was still holding a towel. He was staring at her with his perpetual scowl.

Her heart stumbled in her chest the way it always did when he caught her off guard.

“What are you doing?” he demanded gruffly.

Sarah stifled a yawn and sat up straighter. “Waiting for you.”

He scrubbed the towel against his wet hair. “Why?”

“We didn’t finish our conversation earlier.”

There was a slight pause before he stepped fully into the room. “We did finish it. I told you I’d be involved with the baby. The end.” He stalked over to his dresser and jerked open a drawer.

“That’s one part of it.”

He pulled out a sweatshirt. “It’s all parts of it.”

“What I’ll never understand about you, Dev, is you thinking I’m ever going to sit back and agree with your gruff declarations when I feel differently. You know I’m going to sit right here and poke at you until you have the conversation I want to have.”

He stood completely still and didn’t say anything, his back to her. She supposed because he knew she was right. She was who she was, and that wasn’t a pushover or someone afraid to speak her mind.

If he didn’t like that about her he was just going to have to come out and tell her point blank.

He dropped the towel in a laundry basket and pulled the sweatshirt over his head in quick, jerky movements. “I don’t know what you’re trying to get at. You wanted me to be involved, with the baby or...didn’t care if I was or whatever—”

“I wanted you to be,” Sarah said, all those emotions crashing around inside of