Chapter Six
Abbie
“I take it you and Denver had a conversation,” I said, sneaking a look at Valerie.
She smiled at me, bright and wide. “Yeah, we did.”
When she didn’t give me anything else, I cleared my throat and refocused on the paper chain I’d been making. Denver and Beau were out back, getting more firewood from the shed. Everyone else was on their way, but it would be some time before they arrived because of the snow.
“That’s good…” I trailed off, leaving NJ on the floor.
Val bumped her hip into mine, laughing. “You’re such a journalist.”
That I was. A damn good one too. “Sorry, it’s second nature to me.”
“Always searching for answers and secrets.”
I turned to her, biting the inside of my cheek.
“I just want to know if Denver is cool with everything. Beau said he had a conversation with Mason.” I pressed my tongue into my cheek, knowing damn well Beau, Jigs, and I were the ones who knew the secret.
Mason and Harmony’s secret. Still, we couldn’t say anything.
Even though it was the biggest news Hallow Ranch had had in months, it wasn’t ours to share.
This was about Christmas and what it meant to the Langston brothers.
Valerie put the scissors down on the island. Her eyes moved over to where NJ was in her play area in the living room, a Christmas cartoon playing on the TV above the fireplace. “He thought I was scared of him.”
“What?” I breathed.
Her green eyes met mine then, a sadness lingering within them.
“I know this idea came out of nowhere to you and everyone else, but I’ve been wanting to give this to Denver since the second I realized I was falling for him, and back then, I don’t think either of us knew Mason would ever be back here. ”
“Yeah, what happened between them was…” My words fell off as the memories came back.
“Awful,” she finished for me. I nodded in agreement, pressing my lips together as she continued, picking up the scissors again. “What did Beau say to Mason?”
“Well…”
“He told me to get my head out of my ass and talk to my brother.”
Val and I both whipped our heads around to find the famous bull rider and his wife standing in the foyer, both dusted with snow.
Harmony’s curls looked like something out of a fairy tale, untamed and red.
At the top of her head, the snowflakes had landed in such a way it looked like she was wearing a crown.
Mason, dressed in a thick brown coat and jeans, plucked his hat off and hung it on one of the hooks on the wall.
He ran a hand through his hair, giving me a wink.
“Beau tells you everything, doesn’t he?”
I pursed my lips. “He has no other choice.”
Mason and Valerie laughed, but it was Harmony’s silence that got my attention.
She was staring at me cautiously. Thankfully, the other two didn’t notice.
Mason broke away to find his niece, with Valerie following behind him.
“She just ate a snack, Mase,” she warned him.
“Don’t throw her in the air or anything. ”
“Come on, sis,” he groaned. “When are you going to let me have some fun with her?”
Harmony’s gaze wasn’t just on me. It was like she was looking through me.
“You okay?” I whispered to Harm as Valerie called out, “If she pukes on you or anywhere else, that’ll be your mess to clean up.”
I closed the distance between Harmony and myself, gently putting my hand on her arm. “Hey, did you hear me?”
That seemed to snap her out of her. She blinked and shook her head. “Sorry, I just—” She cut herself off and began to unwrap her scarf. “Mase decided to let me know as we were walking out the door that you and Beau know.”
I felt my shoulders relax. “Ah. I see.”
“Sorry, I didn’t have a chance to process it. He sped the entire way over here.”
I gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry. I promise I wasn’t even digging when Jigs told me.”
Harm smiled, hanging her scarf on top of Mason’s hat. “It’s okay. I’m not mad. It just jarred me a bit. You know my husband.”
My eyes lifted over her shoulder, finding NJ suspended in the air above him, his long arms stretched out, his hands at her round belly. She was giggling and kicking her feet, having the time of her life as he chanted her name, his gray eyes sparkling with love. “That I do,” I muttered.
“So, what’s left to be done?” she asked as Valerie came back through the foyer.
“Are you sure you need him as a husband, Harm?” she asked on a groan. “All he does is throw my kid around and give her sugar.”
“Isn’t that the entire job description of the fun uncle?” I queried, grabbing a new piece of paper to link to the chain.
Harm’s raspy laugh filled the air then.
There she was.
“I didn’t have a fun uncle, so I wouldn’t know,” Val replied dryly.
“I did. Except he was the only one who referred to himself as the fun uncle. I still remember when the sheriff had him arrested for trying to steal fireworks from that stand that used to be off Main,” I rambled, holding the hot glue gun in the air.
“Of course, that was before the last time I saw him. He’s in federal prison now for selling deadly bacteria on the dark web. ”
The silence was deafening, and by the time I lifted my head, realizing what I’d said so casually, both of their mouths were hanging open. Mason was also behind them, jaw on the floor and NJ on his shoulders.
“I didn’t know Gary did all that shit,” he said.
The sound of cowboy boots came down the hall, and then I heard Beau’s smooth voice.
“Gary was a total whacko. He tried selling bubble gum to kids at school after stealing it from the dollar store.” He appeared at the mouth of the hallway then, his arms loaded up with firewood.
“He even tried to convince me that he was my cool uncle one time—in front of Abbie.”
Oh, yeah. I’d forgotten about that.
“Wasn’t Gary the guy who tried to set the football field on fire?” This came from Denver, who also had his arms full of firewood. He followed Beau into the living room as Mason replied, “Wait—what?”
Denver looked at his brother like he’d grown two heads. “You don’t remember that shit?”
“I do,” I chimed in.
The ranch owner shot me a look. “Of course you do, Lois Lane. You remember everything.”
“That she fuckin’ does,” Beau muttered, coming back into the kitchen, wiping his hands. He grinned at Mason. “So, where’s the ham?”
Harmony covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking with laughter.
“Why is everyone on my case about the damn ham?” her husband asked, looking at NJ. “Do you see what I have to deal with in this house?”
“Is the ham in the house?” Beau pressed, moving to me. His hand went to my lower back as I propped my hip against the island. Valerie tucked a lock of her dark hair behind her ear as she bent it, muttering, “I should’ve listened to Mags.”
“What was that?” Mase barked.
Harmony doubled over, howling with laughter as Denver entered. His brows snapped together, his head tilting and he watched his sister-in-law. “I take it, I missed something.”
“Mase, sweetie, just tell them,” Harmony pushed out through her laughter. “It’s okay.”
“There’s nothing to tell, Little Song,” he grumbled. “And why in the hell are you laughing at me?”
Val let out an overdramatic groan as both of her hands went into her hair. “Mase, you told me you could do it!”
“And I will,” he assured as Denver came up to him, eyeing his daughter.
“She just had a snack, you know.”
“I guess the role of the fun uncle just flies out the window every time the princess eats,” he shot back, eyes wide.
“You’re going to be the one flying out the window in a minute if you don’t tell me where the ham is,” Beau drawled from beside me. I put my hand in the back pocket of his jeans, giving his ass a squeeze as I laughed.
The bull rider quirked a brow. “Is that right?”
Beau chuckled. “Been looking forward to this ham for weeks.”
“I would lower your expectations,” Denver deadpanned, causing his little brother to do a double take.
Harmony wiped her eyes before clapping her hands. “Okay, give me the child. I need to hold her before Diana gets here and NJ wants nothing to do with me.”
When Diana was around, NJ stuck to her like glue. It had been like that for a few weeks now, but since I’d moved in with Beau, I noticed Valerie and Denver’s little girl went through phases. At one point, she clung to me, and to be honest, I was still bitter that she had no interest in me anymore.
Mason looked offended. “No,” he told his wife.
Harmony moved closer to him, forcing him to back into the fridge as NJ started clapping. “It’s my turn.”
“And?”
“I’m your wife.”
“You laughed at my ham.”
Denver tipped his head back to the ceiling. “Fuck me. We’re all going to starve tomorrow.”
As I took in the scene before me, I felt Beau’s warm fingers grip my chin. He gently guided me to look at him, those bright blue eyes scanning my face.
“What is it?” I whispered, putting my hand on his chest.
The rest of the Langston kitchen fell away, the sound of Mason and Denver arguing, the women laughing, the smell of Valerie’s cinnamon candle, all of it.
That’s how it was between Beau and me. We got sucked into our own little world, the same one we’d been escaping to since we were just a couple of kids running around the ranch.
“I love you,” he whispered back, his words rumbling up from his chest. “Do you know that?”
My heart skipped a beat. “I know.”
His lips twitched. “Just checkin’.”
“You’ve been weird all day,” I noted, leaning back and looking him up and down. “What’s wrong with you?”
He looked at everyone. “Excuse us,” he announced before grabbing my hand and dragging me down the hall.
I looked over my shoulder to see Valerie grinning at me before she turned back to talk to Harmony.
Beau led me to the end of the hall and into the spacious laundry room.
He released me to shut the door, and I walked over the washer and dryer, searching for the secret box we’d placed on the shelves above over twenty years ago.