Cowboy Strong - Carolyn Brown Page 0,105

your daddy going to let me take you outside so you can catch some snowflakes on your tongue?”

“Not on your life,” Pax answered him. “It’s a daddy’s job to get to take his son outside to experience his first snow.”

“And of course, he’s your favorite nephew, since he’s your only one. Bridget and Maverick have two girls.” Alana removed the pan of cinnamon rolls from the oven, dumped them upside down on a tray, and then spread butter cream frosting on the top. When she finished, she set the whole thing in the middle of the table.

“I’ll pour coffee for everyone,” Pax said.

Alana patted Lucas on the shoulder as they all took their seats. “Lucas, will you say grace for us?”

All four heads bowed, but Alana didn’t pay much attention to the words. She kept one eye on her son sitting beside her in the same highchair she’d sat in as a baby. When she found out that she was pregnant, she remembered laying her hand on her stomach and promising her unborn child that she would bring her grandfather to life for her through stories—or for him, whichever the case might be.

“Amen,” Lucas said.

“Your grandpa used to say grace for us,” Alana told Tommy as she separated the cinnamon rolls and put them on plates. “He was a lot like your daddy, and you have his smile and his eyes. Your grandma would have loved you so much. She left me a letter to be read on my wedding day. It made me cry a little bit, but it also reminded me what strong parents I had. You’ve got the same, baby boy, and someday you will be like your grandpa and your daddy.”

Landon held out his plate for a cinnamon roll. “I have no doubt about that. I only knew your grandpa for a little while, buddy, but he was a fantastic guy. If you grow up to be half the rancher and cowboy he was, then you’ll do well.”

After breakfast Paxton cleaned Tommy’s face, took him out of the high chair, and carried him into the living room. Pax picked up a picture of Alana, Matt, and himself taken on the wedding day and showed it to the baby.

“Mama, Daddy, and Poppa,” he said as he pointed to the individuals.

“And you were already in Mama’s tummy,” Alana said as she slipped up behind them. Having Pax beside her after losing her father a few weeks after the wedding had softened the sorrow. She and Pax had made an agreement to make sure that Thomas Matthew knew what a great man his grandpa was. Pax had begun showing the baby the pictures from the day he was born.

“Yes, you were,” Pax said.

“So, there’s your whole family right there in the picture,” Landon said.

“Yep, it is.” Lucas nodded.

Pax’s smile lit up the whole room. Alana could read his mind and nodded. After all it was Christmas, and what better time to tell their close friends and family the news.

“It’s not our whole family,” Pax said. “Next Christmas we’ll have a five-month-old baby to add to the family. Alana is pregnant and due in July.”

Lucas had carried his hat into the room, but suddenly it was flying through the air, finally landing on the presents under the tree. “Merry Christmas to us all. That’s the best news ever. I hope we get twin girls.”

Alana air slapped him on the arm. “There’s only going to be seventeen months between Tommy and the new baby. Don’t wish twins on me.”

“I wouldn’t mind one bit.” Pax kissed her on the cheek. “This is a big house, and your dad told me he’d love to see it filled with children.”

“And love,” Alana said. “He said that he wanted lots of love and grandkids in this place.”

“Looks like we’re making his wishes—and mine—come true.” Pax looked up at the ceiling. “So Merry Christmas, Matt and Joy, and”—he slipped his free arm around Alana’s shoulders—“to you, my darlin’. Life with you is the best present ever.”

“Right back at you,” she said. “I love you, Pax.”

“I love you,” he said.

Lucas wiped a tear from his cheek. “Y’all are making me cry.”

Alana blinked away tears of her own as she leaned against Paxton and took Tommy’s hand in hers. What had started out as a farce had sure turned out to be a blessing and a miracle, and she looked forward to fulfilling that dream she’d had—the one where she and Pax were sitting on the porch watching

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