Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Bell. Belly, Bell, Bell.”
Ichabod heard Allie whispering, and he opened one eye enough to see her in the gloom of the early morning. She had her nose pressed to Ellis’s, and she was shaking his shoulders.
He tried not to snort or snuffle, but the laughter wanted to come.
“There’s something on my face,” Ellis murmured, humor strong in his voice.
“Bell, Santa has been here. Bell, there’s something moving on the porch.
Bell, it’s barking. We have to go see what it is, okay?
Come on, Santa has come.” She stared at him and at Ichabod.
“Daddy, we have to go see. Chrissy’s awake.
So is Michael. The sign on the door says, ‘Don’t go out.
’ He said so. But please. Please there’s something on the porch. I think Mavis might even have to pee.”
Ichabod couldn’t help his laugh for love or money. There was no way. She was so cute and so smart. “All right, give us a second. We’ve got to wait for Zane and Grandpa Joe.”
“Right, Bob-a-Joe. I’ll go get him.” And then she disappeared, bare feet running down the hall.
“Well, I reckon it’s a good thing Dad’s an early riser.” Ellis kissed him before rolling out of bed. “Christ on a sparkly birthday crutch, it’s cold.”
“Mmhmm.” They’d had a great Christmas Eve yesterday—and the puppies and horse were delivered at ten p.m.. They’d been up and down with them all night, but they’d finally gotten the puppies asleep in the warm covered porch around five.
Finally.
Three hours was not enough sleep…
He staggered out of bed, watching Ellis hunt clothes, laughing as his lover hopped around to get pants on.
“Your dangly bits are dangling, love.”
“At least on yours, I would be able to attach a jingle bell on the ring.”
Ichabod cracked up. “Hand me my glasses, you goof. No talking about penises on Christmas morning.”
“You started it!”
“I know!”
Ellis chortled, then came to put cold hands down the pajama pants he had on.
“Holy moly! That is going to make me pee.”
“Da-aaaad! Come on!” That was Michael, right outside their door. “Grandpa Joe is making coffee.”
Ellis looked panicked. “Never let that old cowboy make the coffee.”
“Tell him I’ll be right there. Wake up your brother!”
“He’s awake! Come on, Dad!”
“Coming. Lord have mercy.” He swatted Ellis’s butt. “Go rescue my coffee.”
“You got it.” Ellis stomped into slippers and pulled on a huge sweater that had to be his. “Dad! I’ll make the coffee.”
“Dad! Come on! It’s so cool out here, and there’s something on the porch!”
“I’m coming!” Good lord and butter.
He finally got enough warm clothes on and then ran to the bathroom before heading out. He yawned, but the girls caught his hands as soon as he stepped into the hall, dragging him to the front room.
“Daddy. Daddy, Santa brought puppies. We hear-ed them!”
“PUPPIES!” Chrissy’s eyes were as big as saucers. “Daddy! Sanfa! Bob-a-Joe! Bell! PUPPIES!”
She was going to pee herself, if she wasn’t careful.
“Do you think so? I’m not sure…” He winked at Ellis, who bit back a grin.
“Should we see? If there are puppies, I bet Mavis is with them.” Ellis headed to the front door. He hoped his cowboy had saved the coffee first.
Everyone headed to the door, and both puppies stood there, little tan bodies wiggling and wagging, black muzzles making them seem as if they’d put their lips in ink.
Allie sat down on the floor and Chrissy squealed, Michael stared, and Zane shook his head.
“Dude. Dad. They’re…they’re puppies.”
“They are. Be ready for months of chaos, kiddo.” He winked at Zane, who sighed and grinned at the pups.
“They are cute.”
“Mmm. There’s something out there for you too. Not on the porch, though.”
Ellis nodded. “You boys both have things in the barn.”
Ichabod glanced at Joe. “Do you mind keeping an eye on the girls?”
“Of course not, son. Y’all go on out.”
He pulled on his coat and his wellies, watching Zane stomp into boots in order to race outside. Michael followed more slowly, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.
Ichabod opened the barn door. Michael’s horse was in the barn, and Zane’s car was parked behind the barn.
Michael followed Ellis, while he motioned to Zane. “Come on, you. Come with me.”
“Dad. I don’t want a horse,” Zane murmured under his breath. “I’m sorry, but—”
“Son. Trust me. I know you.”
To Zane’s credit, he nodded and believed, waiting until Ichabod opened the door and he saw the car.
“Dad!” Zane stared at him. “You’re serious?”
“It needs work, but yeah. It’s yours.”
“Holy sh—Moly. It’s amazing! It’s like, an SUV!”
“Yep.” Ellis grinned. “And I got you chains, too. And kitty litter and a shovel.”
“This is amazing!”
“Michael, come see what we got you, son.” He held out his hand to his younger boy.
Michael took his hand, dragging his feet a little bit as he tended to do when he wasn’t sure what was going on. He could feel Michael shivering because it was damn cold out there even though the barn had a couple of heaters for the horses if they needed them.
When Ellis and Ichabod led Michael to the last stall at the end of the row, Michael’s eyes widened at the sight of the chestnut filly who poked her nose over the edge of the stall door.
“Oh my God. She’s so pretty. Is she for me?” Michael’s voice shook, and he thought that was not about the cold. Not one little bit.
“She is. She came from a rescue. Ellis said that she already knows a few manners, and she’s real gentle considering how she was treated.” Ellis dug in his pocket and pulled out a piece of apple to hand to Michael.
Michael held it out on the flat of his hand. “You mean someone was mean to her?”
“Yep, so you’re going to have to be real patient with her, okay buddy?” Ichabod loved the look on Michael’s face; he could tell his son was in love already. “You’ll learn all about saddles and riding together.”
“I promise, Dad. I promise that I’ll be the best…horse dad ever.”
God, that was sweet. Michael had forgotten the word cowboy.
“Ellis, you know me. You know I will love her so much.”
“I know, kiddo. I have no doubt.”
“Does she have a name?”
Ellis nodded, and Ichabod thought there were tears in his lover’s eyes, too. “Honey. Her name is Honeybee.”
“Honey. Honeybee! Hi, Honeybee! I’m Michael, and I’m gonna be the best horse dad ever! I promise to God.”
Zane rolled his eyes, and Ichabod glanced over. Don’t do this, kid, he thought. Please don’t fuck this up for your brother. I would hate to have to kill you now.
Zane’s lips twisted, and he said, “She is pretty, man; like she’s really pretty.”
“She is, isn’t she? Is that your car?” Michael beamed at his brother, and Ichabod winged up a prayer of thanks.
“Yeah.” Zane started smiling again. “It so totally is.”
“That’s so cool. Seriously, I can’t wait to go for a ride with you. I’ll help fix it up. You can show me how.”
“I will. I promise.” Zane beamed and ran his hand over the hood of the car. “It looks clean on the inside, but the paint job could use a little work, and she’s got a dent over here. I can show you how we pull those out. It’ll be great.”
“Okay, boys, let’s go in, have a cup of coffee, open presents, and then everyone can come out here and freeze to their heart’s content.” Ichabod was one hundred percent done with this bitter cold nonsense.
He thought Ellis was too, because his man was stamping those feet and rubbing his arms, his teeth chattering a tiny bit. None of them were dressed for this, after all.
Zane looked at his car with longing clear in every line of his body, but then he nodded. “Of course, Dad. Let’s go do breakfast and presents with the little ones, huh?” Oh, he was so adult now he had a vehicle of his own.
“Sounds great, assuming that your sisters have not both perished from the idea that there are puppies.”
“Who’s going to name them?” Michael asked and Ichabod shook his head.
“Santa brought them for the girls.”
Zane rolled his eyes. “That means that their names are going to be Dora and Bluey.”
“That seems like great names for a couple of black-mouthed curs,” Ellis said. “They’re going to be great ranch dogs, and the girls will be well-protected.”
Ichabod grinned. He trusted Ellis to know what was what with the dogs. After all, Mavis was the girls’ staunchest friend. He took Ellis’ hand as they walked inside, both of them cold as witches’ tits in a brass bra.
He knew there would be cinnamon buns and stockings and then opening presents. And he couldn’t stop grinning because this was more than he’d ever imagined moving to the ranch was going to be.
Ellis bumped shoulders with him. “Happy?”
I am. I am perfectly happy. We’ve got years stretching out in front of us. It’s going to be exactly what it should be.
Life.
Sometimes his pots were beautiful. Sometimes they broke in the kiln. He never knew what he was going to get.
And it was perfect.
Because it was all his.