“What about tonight?” Logan suggested. “We
find somewhere we can stash the costumes and the gifts, and once
the kids have gone to sleep tonight, we bring everything down ready
for Christmas Eve.”
“Good idea.” Garrett looked
thoughtful. He took off his costume and offered it to Alex.
“And why have five different costumes hidden down there when one
will probably do?”
Alex took it off him, and with a smile,
shrugged into the jacket and added the pillow. He fastened
the buttons and turned to his brothers. “What do you think? If it
fits me and Garrett, it will be big enough for the rest of
you.”
Cole, Logan and Mitch took turns trying on
the costume, which also fitted all three of them, including a
pillow stuffed up the front of the jacket.
“There’s only one thing left to do.”
Garrett grinned. “Make sure someone leaves out plenty of milk and
cookies for Santa.”
***
“Now I’ve finished my last landscape
design job for the year, I promised Mitch I’d take it easy until
after the baby is born.” Sophie relaxed on the comfortable sofa,
savoring her time with her sisters-in-law.
All the couples lived in Wyoming apart from
Alex and Laura, who lived in San Diego and visited their ranch in
Wyoming on the weekends. In fact, that’s how Sophie had met Mitch
in the first place; Alex had organized an overhaul of Mitch’s
garden, and Alex and Laura had hired her boss’s firm for the
job.
“Good idea,” Laura wiggled her
toes. “I love the twins but looking after them is a full-time
job.
And
I
have the catering company to manage.” She crinkled her brow.
“I don’t know how Alex manages so many companies at once, when just
one is enough for me.”
“He doesn’t have four-year-old twins to
look after.” Maddie looked at her sympathetically.
“Thank goodness for Edna, my
assistant manager.” Laura took a sip of her coffee, a soft smile
tipping her lips
.
“Alex keeps telling me to hire someone to fill in for me so
I can have more time for myself, but I like working on new menus
for the parties we cater.”
“Do you know who’s taking care of the
Christmas dinner?” Phoebe frowned. “Cole told me not to worry, that
the guys had it under control, but--”
“Alex told me the same thing!” Laura’s
wide-eyed gaze encompassed her four sisters-in-law. “I offered to
organize it, but he told me to relax and enjoy my Christmas
vacation. He said I had enough to do with the twins.”
Laura was a whiz in the kitchen, having
studied at culinary school, as well as helping her parents in their
catering business growing up, and anything she cooked was
delicious. She’d met Alex eight years ago when her struggling
catering company had hosted a business function for him.
“Logan knows his way around the kitchen,”
Ellie offered.
“So does Garrett.” Maddie
nodded.
“And Mitch.”
“Cole’s great at making bacon and eggs but
I don’t know if he’s ever cooked a Christmas dinner,” Phoebe said.
“I looked in the refrigerator when we arrived and there’s not much
in there besides some milk and eggs.”
All five women looked worried.
“Don’t worry,” Sophie said. “At least
there’s plenty of coffee!”
They all laughed, but before they could
discuss the topic further, there was a knock on the front
door.
“Who could that be?” Maddie stood and
headed toward the foyer.
Her sisters-in-law followed, crowding around
her as she opened the front door.
“Tree delivery for Trask.” A balding,
middle-aged man wearing a heavy black coat dusted with snow peered
out from a large pine tree branch.
“Oh! I didn’t order a tree.” Maddie
swiveled to look at the other women. “I totally
forgot.”
“I didn’t either.” Laura shook her
head.
“No.” Phoebe’s eyes widened as she looked
at the massive tree in the doorway.
“Nor me.” Ellie said.
“No.” Sophie was equally
mystified.
“It’s been paid for, ladies. I just need
you to sign that you received it.” The delivery man held out a
clipboard with an invoice.
“I guess.” Maddie grasped the pen attached
to the clipboard and signed her name.
“Where would you like it?” The man hoisted
the tree.
“Great! It’s here!” The five Trask
brothers burst into the foyer.
“Alex, did you organize this?” Laura asked
her husband.
“We all did.” Cole grinned at Phoebe and
her sisters-in-law.
“It’s beautiful.” Sophie smiled at
Mitch.
“What are we going to decorate it with?”
Ellie furrowed her brow.
“That’s taken care of too, sweetheart.”
Logan wrapped his arm around her. “We’ve ordered a ton of
decorations and they should be arriving this
afternoon.”
“Ah-hem.” The delivery man cleared his
throat. “Where do you want me to put this tree?”
“We’ll take it. Thanks.” Garrett grabbed
the trunk. “Come on, guys.”
In a few minutes, the brothers had carried
the tree into the great room and set it up in a large corner of the
room that seemed the perfect place for a Christmas tree.
A baby’s cry echoed down the stairs at the
same time as another knock sounded on the front door.
“I’ll go,” Phoebe told Cole as he started
towards the stairs. She hurried upstairs to tend to their baby
Hailey. When she came back down, everyone was gathered around a
huge open box full to the brim with glittering Christmas tree
ornaments.
“Wow,” she murmured.
“All the kids are going to love decorating
the tree.” Cole held out his hand to Phoebe. “We should wait until
they’re awake. They won’t want to miss out on this.”
***
Later that night, Maddie curled up next to
Garrett in their large bed. After the Christmas decorations had
arrived, the supermarket had delivered a huge array of groceries,
although nothing resembling a Christmas dinner for ten adults, six
children, and a baby.
But Maddie had faith in her husband. She’d
met him when she’d been a runaway bride, stranded on the side of
the highway, wearing her fancy wedding dress and only having twenty
dollars emergency money in her tiny bridal purse. Not only had he
rescued her, but he’d given her a job and a place to live at his
ranch until she could sort out the tangle her life had become. In
the process, she’d fallen in love with him, and although they’d
been married for eight years now, she loved him a little more every
day.
So if Garrett was confident that Christmas
dinner was taken care of, then she believed him.
“This is going to be a great Christmas.”
His clean, warm breath brushed the sensitive skin of her
neck.
“I know.” She snuggled against him, her
hand trailing along the muscled planes of his chest.
“I love you.” His lips caressed hers, and
she melted at his touch. She was confident it would always be like
this between them, even when they were old and gray.
“I love you, too.” She gasped as his mouth
descended lower, then all thought drifted away as she and Garrett
became one.
***
“Did you have a good time with the girls
today?” Alex asked Laura as she pulled back the bed
covers.
“Yes.” The sheets rustled as she scooted
into the king-size bed and leaned over to kiss him softly on the
mouth. “I can’t believe I didn’t even think about a tree. The twins
would have been disappointed if there hadn’t been one.”
“Garrett thought of the tree,” her husband
admitted. “And you’ve been run off your feet lately with the boys
and the catering company. But don’t worry about Christmas dinner.
It’s all taken care of.”
“You know I would have organized
it.”
“You cook for me and the twins
every day,” he said gruffly
.
“I want you to have a proper break while we’re
here.”
“You know I love cooking for you all,” she
reminded him.
“I don’t want you to wear yourself out.”
He tilted her chin and kissed her deeply. “What’s the point of
having all this--” he gestured to the luxuriously appointed
bedroom, “if you don’t have time to enjoy it?”
“You work longer hours than I do,” she
chided him.
“I’ve cut down since Tommy and Tyler were
born,” he protested.
“Uh-huh.” Her tone was
teasing.
“I have.” His lips moved over hers,
demanding total surrender.
Minutes later, Laura looked up at her
husband, her cheeks flushed. About to turn off the bedside light,
her finger stilled on the switch, when he said, “Leave it on. I
want to enjoy your beautiful curves.”
***
“She’s asleep.” Cole gazed down at baby
Hailey.
“So is Phoebe,” Phoebe murmured, padding
into their bedroom and standing beside him. Her heart filled with
love and contentment as she watched her infant daughter’s even
breathing. When she’d been pregnant with their first child, Cole
had insisted on calling her after his wife if it was a girl. When
she’d become pregnant a second time, she’d been the one to choose
the name.
Cole wrapped his arm around Phoebe’s waist.
“Have I told you how much I love you?” Excitement raced down her
spine at his low growl.
“Was it yesterday?” She looked up at him,
a teasing glint in her eye.
“Then I’ve been very remiss.” He pulled
her to him, his hands roving over her curves. “You have no idea how
thankful I am you jumped into my car that day.”
“Yes I do,” she whispered, her arms
stealing around his neck. “Because I have no idea what I would do
without you in my life.”
Eight years ago Phoebe had been on the run
with a criminal on her heels. She’d jumped into Cole’s SUV,
and he’d used his PI skills to assist her on her quest to have a
rare coin valued and returned to its rightful owner. And during
their adventure, they’d fallen in love with each other.
“Sweetheart.” He crushed her to him, his
lips seeking hers.
Phoebe gave herself up to his kiss, her
heart turning over with love for her husband.
***
“Thank you for organizing the tree.” Ellie
smiled at Logan. “Penny loves it.”
“I’m glad.” Logan, clad only in black
pajama bottoms, pulled back the covers. He quirked an eyebrow.
“Coming to bed?”
“In a second.” She ran a brush through her
strawberry-blonde hair, then scooted into the large bed, sighing
with appreciation at her husband’s muscular torso. After nearly
eight years of marriage, the sight never failed to arouse
her. “How are the plans for Christmas dinner
progressing?”
Logan drew her against him. “Alex has
everything under control. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Penny is asleep next door.” She snuggled
against him, her tone inviting.
His eyes smoldered with desire. “I’m sure we
won’t wake her.” He cupped her ample breast through the silk of her
blue nightgown.
Ellie gasped softly as his lips
followed his hand. “
Logan.”
***
Sophie slipped into her silk and lace
nightgown, trying to hide a smile at her husband’s disgruntled
tone.
“And we
all
brought Santa costumes,” Mitch
grumbled.
“So who’s going to be Santa?” she
inquired, tugging him toward the bed.
“All of us.”
“That will be fun.” She kissed him softly
on the lips. “Next year you can be Santa for him or her.” She
placed his hand on her stomach.
“I can’t believe we’re going to be
parents.” Wonder, passion and tenderness gleamed in his eyes. “You
know I’ll be the best dad I can possibly be.” His tone was
fierce.
“I know.” She cupped his cheek. “And I’ll
be the best mother I can be.”
“I know.” He kissed her deeply, his love
for her shining through the touch of his lips on hers, his tender
caresses, and the soft murmur of his voice as he made love to
her.
***
Christmas Eve afternoon
December 24
“What are the plans for tomorrow, guys?”
Logan inquired, grabbing a six-pack of beer from the
fridge.
They’d spent all morning in the snow with
their wives and children, enjoyed lunch at a restaurant with a
decent kids’ menu (luckily the restaurant had had a last minute
cancellation when they’d arrived, hungry and thirsty) and now the
brothers were kicking back in the kitchen and relaxing, while their
wives had claimed the fancy TV room for themselves, planning to
watch a rom-com movie.
The kids had been tired out from their
play-filled morning and napped upstairs.
All five men looked at each other, waiting
for one of them to speak. When no one did, the expressions on their
face were comical.
“I promised Ellie--”