Chapter Fourteen
Diana
“The ham is on fire!” my best friend screamed from the kitchen.
My neck twisted so fast I was sure it was close to snapping.
“What?” I gasped as Mags rose from the couch, grumbling something about getting his gun.
The rest of the house rushed into the kitchen, all of them shouting, demanding answers.
I reached up and snagged the tail end of his flannel. “Mags, don’t.”
He looked down at me, eyes dark as night, a muscle jumping in his cheek. Then his eyes moved to my hand, then back to my face as he stroked his beard. He looked to the ceiling as if seeking patience, mercy, or a little bit of both. “Firefly, he fucked up my ham.”
I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh as the rest of the girls yelled in the kitchen. “That’s not your ham, Mags. Besides, we can find something else to eat, I’m sure—” I was cut off when he grabbed my jaw and leaned down into my space.
“Two things, gorgeous. Number one, you dragged me out here yesterday after telling me I had to share your apple crisp. I only agreed to come because you’re my woman and this is our first Christmas together.
Number two,” he pointed toward the kitchen, “I told that fucker I was going to kill him if he fucked up the ham. I don’t break my promises. You of all people should know that.”
My cheeks heated. “You can’t kill anyone on Christmas,” I whispered. “Someone would sue.”
“Baby, I’m a man. I need food. You’re pregnant with my child. You also need food, and judging by the amount of snow on the ground, we’re going to be here at least two more nights.”
This, I already knew. Val and I had a conversation when I came upstairs this morning.
I found her alone, humming “Blue Christmas” by Elvis as she put the cinnamon rolls in the oven.
Said cinnamon rolls were gone by the time everyone got settled in the living room to open presents.
Mason and Harmony said they still had one more gift to give, but for some reason, they were making everyone wait.
“We’ll get you food. Just don’t kill the poor bastard,” I sighed as he released me, his head snapping up to focus on what was happening behind the couch.
His eyes narrowed. “What the fuck are you smiling for?”
I turned around, grabbing the back of the couch, my eyes landing on a very smug Mason as everyone skirted around him to come back into the living room.
Denver remained by the door, shaking his head.
Valerie looked flustered beside him, both hands in her hair as she stared at the back of Mason’s head with bewilderment.
Beau and Abbie plopped back down on the opposite couch, and the twins took their places on the floor on either side of NJ, who was too engrossed in playing with her new toys to care about anything that was going on.
Jigs chuckled as he took his seat next to me, swiping up his steaming mug of coffee from the coffee table.
“You all keep me young,” he noted proudly.
“Everything’s all right,” Mason announced, a cocky grin on his face. “That was just a test ham. The real ham is on the smoker now and should be done around seven. We got nothing to worry about.”
I glanced at my cowboy, finding his glare still ice cold and his arms folded over his chest. “You bought and prepped two hams because you knew you would fuck up. Is that what I’m hearing?” he asked.
“Mase, just let Denver take over the ham,” Beau groaned.
“My brother has a lot on his plate,” Mason argued. “I can handle it.”
“Looks like I’m only going to have sides on my plate with the way this shit is going,” Denver mumbled.
Valerie came up to Mason’s side. “Look at me,” she demanded. When he did, she stuck a finger in his face. “If you ruin my Christmas dinner, I’m suing you, and Diana will do everything in her power to make sure you land behind bars.”
Mason raised a brow. “Behind bars? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’ve been planning this for months, and for you to burn another ham would be a crime.”
I cleared my throat. “Uh, Val. That’s not the way…” I trailed off, spotting Harmony talking to Denver in the foyer. His brow was furrowed, mouth set, eyes hard…
Oh no.
I knew that look.
Something was wrong.
Valerie followed my gaze, but strangely, Mason looked out the window, inhaling a deep breath through his nose.
Harmony put her hand on Denver’s arm for a moment before breaking away and coming into the living room.
Denver followed, only to pull Valerie away from his brother, backing up until he was sitting on the arm of the couch by Beau with Valerie between his legs.
“What’s going on?” Abbie asked, leaning forward and breaking the silence.
Harmony grabbed her husband’s hand, looking up at him, her blue eyes shining with uncertainty. He nodded, bending his neck to murmur something in her ear. When he pulled back, she gave him a smile before turning her attention to all of us.
“You okay, Harm?” Caleb asked from his chair.
She nodded. “We’re more than okay, bud.”
Mason cleared his throat. “We have an announcement.”
“Well,” Harmony interjected, “it’s everyone’s Christmas gift, actually.”
“What is it?” Lance asked.
“How about you shut the fuck up so they can tell us?” his twin shot back.
Harmony scanned the room, stopping on me.
Love sparkled in her eyes. The kind of love every woman—every mother—experiences.
I felt the tears coming as she opened her mouth.
“Mason and I…” She trailed off, pondering for a moment.
“You know, I’ve been practicing this. I even wrote out a script, but Mase said it was a little ridiculous because you’re our family and we have nothing to worry about. ”
“Because we don’t, Little Song,” he rumbled from beside her, putting his arm around her waist, bringing her close.
She looked up at him, hand on his chest now. “You do it.”
“You sure?” he asked softly.
She nodded rapidly against him, stray red curls sticking to his sweater.
He lifted his head and looked over to his brother. “Harmony and I have a son.”
My lips parted as Mags put his hand on the back of my neck, squeezing once.
Valerie’s gaze dropped to Harmony’s stomach.
Slowly, I turned my head, finding Abbie’s wet eyes. We shared a smile, but it was quickly wiped away when Mason said, “He’ll be here next week.”
“Uh, what?” Beau asked.
Mason was still looking at his brother. “I know Langston blood means something to his ranch, but my son—our son—will not have that.”
“We’re adopting a beautiful baby boy named Micah,” Harmony rasped, looking at everyone. “He’s two months old and by far the most beautiful thing we’ve ever seen.”
No one said anything for a few moments, letting the news settle.
Then Denver broke the silence. “Micah doesn’t need Langston blood to be a Langston,” he pushed out thickly.
“Everyone in this room is family because we chose each other. He’s your son because you chose him, and that’s all that matters. ”
Harmony nodded, sniffling. “We know that this isn’t the traditional way—”
“He’s family,” Valerie cut her off.
A hot tear hit my cheek.
“When is he coming home?”
This question came from my cowboy, the emotion behind it causing me to bring my hand to my mouth.
Harmony’s gaze swung over to him, her bottom lip trembling. “He’ll be here next week.”
“You got everything you need for him? Crib and all that?”
God, my cowboy. He was going to build them something for Micah.
Mason nodded. “Yeah, everything is set.”
“What else do you need?” Beau asked, leaning forward.
“Love. We just need y’all to love him,” Harmony breathed.
“Already done,” Valerie croaked, shooting up and running toward her sister-in-law. They collided with arms around each other, sobbing happily.
Abbie and I could only take a second of it before we joined them.
The cowboys said their congratulations around our huddle, hands slapping together, deep chuckles all around.
It was a beautiful moment. When we broke apart, Harmony started rambling.
“I feel so bad for keeping this a secret from you three for so long. The second we decided to lean toward adoption, I wanted to call. Then, when we put in an application, I wanted to scream it from the top of the world. Then, when they called us saying that Micah was ours, I nearly blabbed it all out during our Wine Wednesday.”
“You don’t owe us an explanation,” I said, Abbie and Valerie nodding in agreement. “We’re just so happy for you.”
Harmony blew out a breath. “It all happened so fast, and then we had to set up the nursery.”
“About that,” a deep voice cut in. Our circle broke apart to let my cowboy butt in. His hand went to my lower back, but his dark eyes were on Harmony. “I’m going to look at the crib. It’s probably not worth shit. I’ll build him a new one.”
“Mags, you don’t have to go through the trouble. He’ll be here next week—”
I smiled at his profile as he leaned in and growled, “I’m making you a new one.”
“Okay,” she squeaked.
He grunted, turned to me, and kissed my cheek. Then he was gone, disappearing into the kitchen.
“When Beau and I decide to start a family, I fully expect the same treatment.”
I giggled. “You’ll get it, I promise. Mags is very protective over you three.”
Valerie snorted. “Yeah, he is.”
“Just because you’re a father now doesn’t mean we won’t beat your ass over this ham,” Lawson clipped from somewhere behind us.
“Well,” I sighed. “Let’s go see if we can save this dinner.”
“I’m fine with just eating sides,” Abbie told us as we began our migration. “I don’t like eating a big old hunk of meat with every meal.”
“Ugh, tell me about it,” Val groaned. “Every meal, Den and Caleb need some form of meat on their plate or they’ll combust and die.”
I hummed. “I could eat buttered noodles for a week and be fine.”
“That’s the best girl dinner, in my opinion.”
We rounded the island, the plan set, and got to cooking while Caleb turned on Christmas Vacation in the living room before running into the kitchen to snag the last two cookies.
“Didn’t your daddy ever teach you to share?” Lance griped. “Give me a cookie.”
“Bite me,” the teenager replied.