Chapter 4
Colt
“Do I get to know where we’re goin’ yet?” my beautiful wife asks as I drive us along the Seaward Highway.
I lift our joined hands to my lips and kiss her knuckles, smiling against her skin. “Nope.”
Her resigned sigh fills the cab of our truck. “I thought as much.”
A chuckle escapes me. “Where’s the fun in ruinin’ the surprise before we get there?”
“You know I hate surprises.”
“Not sure I’ve met a woman that does, to be honest,” I reply.
She giggles at that. “How’d you get so wise to the ways of women?”
“Raised by a wonderful one, then Molly took over, and Sage was never one to shy away from tellin’ me what to do either.”
After the death of first Mom, then Dad, my older sister Molly worked three jobs to keep us siblings together.
Her and I helped raise our youngest brother, Cody, who is six years my junior.
He’s now studying his Master's in Geology in Washington state and thriving.
Our other sister, Sage, is currently studying to be a paramedic.
Before that, she had studied nursing, tried her hand at gold mining up North, and even did a stint with the Coast Guard doing search and rescue in the Bering Sea.
Without Molly, we wouldn’t have met Beau Barnes and his family at Eagle Mountain Ranch. That led me to meeting the woman I’ve pledged my life to when I was twenty and she was sixteen. Thankfully, we reconnected once we had some life under our belts, and now we call Bull Mountain Ranch home.
Which is why we’re currently driving to my surprise Christmas date with Lee, since all of us men at the ranch agreed to this friendly contest to outdo each other. The winner to be determined by the Sunday School Sallies aka Starchild’s grandmother and her friends.
Our date started yesterday when, having surprised Lee with her mom and stepfather arriving on our doorstep to take over babysitting duties, we hit the road to Anchorage. We spent the night in the same Seventies’ Seventies-themed motel we stayed at last time before setting off today.
“Should I ring Mom again?” she asks, holding up her phone.
I chuckle. Given this is the first time we’ve spent a night away from our kids, Lee has been a little anxious about how Nora and Randy are coping.
“How ‘bout you send a text this time? But to answer the question you’re not askin’, I bet they’re all havin’ a blast. And they’ve got everyone else at the ranch to help too. ”
She sighs before relaxing back into her seat. “I know. It’s just…”
“You can’t switch it off, I know. I’m the same.”
I feel her eyes snap my way. “And yet you’re sittin’ there lookin’ all handsome and unaffected.”
I can’t help but laugh again. “Because I know our kids are safe and sound and bein’ looked after—most likely spoiled too.
I’ve managed to score myself a rare trip away with my beautiful wife without the risk of middle-of-the-night wake-ups, or before dawn rise and shine’s, and without someone on the ranch callin’ out to go potty. ”
“Aww, why you gotta call Tobes out like that?” she snickers, making me laugh too.
“All I’m sayin’, Lee, is that this little nugget of time is for us, and I’m excited to give this surprise to you.”
“Maybe if you told me what it was, I could be excited too...?”
A snort escapes me. “Nice try, darlin’ wife. But nope. Just be prepared for the best Christmas date ever.”
“Hmm. That’s a big promise to live up to, dearest husband…”
I flick the indicator on as we come up to our destination, a slow-growing grin curving my mouth. “One I know I can live up to.”
That’s when Lee turns her head and gasps. “No. Way!” Thump. Thump. Thump goes my heart. It never gets old.
“Yes, way,” I reply, pulling the truck to a stop in the parking lot of the wildlife center we’re visiting today. I had Red call in a favor with Justice, his old rodeo friend, to get us some behind-the-scenes access to the center. It helps that Justice is now the head animal keeper for the facility.
“You’re the best husband I’ve ever had,” she says, her lips twitching.
“Considerin’ I’m the only husband you have and ever will have, I don’t know how to take that,” I deadpan.
Lee snorts. “Pfft. OK, let’s go. I don’t know how anyone is goin’ to top this date, but I always knew you would pull out all the stops. Thank you.”
I reach over to undo her seatbelt and tug her toward me, not wasting any time to kiss her the way I’ve been wanting to ever since we left the motel this morning. “Anythin’ and everythin’ for you, Lee. Now let’s go. Justice is waitin’.”
“Reindeers?” Lee shrieks, looking between me and Justice in disbelief. “I’ve never had a chance to treat one. This is amazin’.” She jumps up and down against me. “Best. Husband. Ever.”
Justice chuckles and glances my way. “You were right.”
“Always am when it comes to my One,” I reply.
Justice smirks. “He told me out of all the animals we’ve got here, you’d want to see the rescue reindeer herd. I think I was somethin’ to the effect of ‘she’ll probably want to take one home’.”
Lee turns her gorgeous green eyes to me. I can already see the clogs turning. “That’s an option?” she asks, her voice tilting up.
“No,” I say quickly before she bats her lashes at me again. “No, Lee. We can’t take a reindeer home. The bulls would have a conniption. Horses too.”
“They’d be friends,” she says, wrapping her arms around my back and melting into me, her cheeks turning rosy in the cold. “It would make this the best date ever. Don’t you want to win, husband of mine?”
I chuckle, not falling for her well-meaning, well-executed attempt at pulling at my heartstrings.
“I do,” I reply. “And I can win this thing without havin’ to haul Rudolph to Bull Mountain.
Now, do you want to get on with our behind-the-scenes tour so you can see the beloved reindeer, or are you goin’ to stand here tryin’ to talk me into adoptin’ animals we got no business rehomin’? ”
She pouts and I don’t even try to resist kissing her pliant again. Once I’m done, I look over her shoulder to where Justice is grinning. “Are we ready now?” his deep rumbling voice asks.
Lee sighs, resigned to her fate of not owning a reindeer–for today, at least–and turns around to face our guide for the day. “Yep. Let’s go.”
After leading us outside the visitor’s center for the rescue, Justice hands us each a visitor's badge before we go through a few staff-only doors and into a small barn. The smell of dirt, dust, and wood fills the air, along with the expected and somewhat comforting scent of animal musk and hay.
There are about ten reindeer in here, almost all of them with their hairy snouts buried in their feed troughs. Though Justice tells us there are two larger herds in open field enclosures elsewhere on the property.
“We brought these ones in this mornin’ for general health checks,” Justice explains, tilting his head Lee’s way. “Figured the vet here would like to–”
“Um, yes,” she says before he’s even finished speaking, making me laugh. “I’d like to do that very much.”
I stand back as Lee instantly slips into vet-mode, donning gloves and a suede apron over her clothes before walking from stall to stall, petting each animal and listening carefully to Justice, checking their condition, taking vitals, and falling in love with every single one.
Once they’ve finished their checks, Lee and Justice walk over to the far end of the barn building and open the gates to let the herd make their way back outside when they’re ready.
When Lee eventually reaches my side again, I tuck her in against me. “Thought you were gonna be off duty today?”
Leah laughs as she shrugs. “You knew exactly what would happen when you brought me here, Colt.”
“I’d like to think I know you better than anyone by now, sweetheart.”
“You do. It was the best surprise ever,” she replies with a beaming grin.
That’s when I know it’s time to pull out my trump card. “I think I can still make it better.”
“Sounds like my cue,” Justice says, coming up to join us. “Follow me.”
We end up back inside the visitors centre, standing at the front desk as Justice places a contract and a brochure in front of us. “Lee, though I have to side with your husband when it comes to not takin’ our rescue reindeer home ith y’all, there is somethin’ you can do.”
Lee smirks. “You’re goin’ to steal me away from Bull Mountain so I can be your reindeer vet?”
“Say the word, doll, and I’ll have another sort of contract in the mail,” he says with a wink, “though I suspect Red Greyson and especially your husband might have somethin’ to say about that.”
“You’d be right,” I say, wrapping an arm around my wife’s waist from behind, shrouding her back with my front. “Let’s just go ahead with this offer, shall we?”
Lee leans forward to read the paper, her body stilling as the words obviously sink in. With a shaky breath, she looks back at Justice. "No way!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with disbelief and joy.
“We can’t take a reindeer,” I say.
She looks up at me with amused eyes. “We can take all of them?”
I choke, my gaze widening on hers. “Ah…” When a giggle escapes her, I shake my head.
“We may not be able to adopt them, but that doesn’t mean we can’t sponsor them.
I checked with Red and the other owners before we left yesterday, and they’ve agreed with Bull Mountain Ranch and Stud sponsorin’ the reindeer rescue program here for the next year. ”
Her eyes fill with happy tears. “Really?”
I dip my head and brush my lips to hers. “Merry Christmas, Lee.”
She tackle hugs me before climbing me like a tree and kissing me long and hard. It’s probably a little too much for the reception area of an animal rescue center, but I’m definitely not complaining.
Justice stands back and laughs, his eyes still dancing by the time Lee finally puts her feet back on the ground and searches the desk for a pen.
“I think I already know the answer, but do you want to name the newest baby you saw in the barn? They were a surprise birth we weren’t expectin’.
” His gaze shifts over Lee’s shoulder to meet mine.
“Surely this will take you to the top of the contest ladder?”
“Oh, Colt’s my winner. That’s all that matters,” Lee boasts, and I can’t help but puff my chest out a little. “But duh, of course I’ll name the baby reindeer. In fact, I already know what to call her.”
“What’s that?” I ask, my curiosity piqued. “Colt Junior?”
She snorts. “Nope. It’s Snowflake. She’s got white markin’s on one of her eyes that look like one.” She shrugs. “I figure the name fits.”
I nod. “I like it.”
“I do too,” she says, lifting on her toes to quickly kiss me before turning back to Justice. “Where do I sign?”
Thirty minutes later, we bid farewell to Justice, promising to come back soon and bring the kids with us next time.
It’s not like it will be a hard sell considering Lee stopped by the gift shop as we were leaving and bought stuffed reindeer for everyone back home to commemorate the furry friends we’re now sponsoring.
I open the passenger door to help my wife into her seat but stop when Lee steps in front of me, throws the bag of wrapped toys into the back seat, then spins to face me.
She slides her hands up to rest over my heart, the organ thumping hard and fast against my ribs like it has always done when she’s around. Hell, I just have to think of her to get palpitations.
“Thank you for today. You put so much thought into this date and surprisin’ me when I thought there was no way for you to ever top everythin’ you’ve already done for me.”
“All I ever wanna do is make you happy, Lee. From the day I met you, that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“You do,” she says quietly before we meet in the middle and cement the moment with a kiss. “I’ve gotta warn you though, you’ve created a monster now.”
“Why’s that?” I ask, my lips twitching as I grab her hips and lift her up into the truck, loving the way her body still makes me burn hot after all these years together.
“The reindeer adoption. I’m goin’ to make it happen, one way or another.”
“I don’t doubt it for a second, darling wife. But it’s not me you have to persuade…”
She frowns. “No?”
I shake my head. “Nope. It’s Red. We’ve got a menace duck, a wayward goat, a people-pleaser pig, and a dog resigned to supervisin’ them all. Not sure he wants to tempt fate and add reindeer to the mix too.”
She ponders that for a moment before she shrugs, a renewed look of determination taking over her features. “Oh well, I’ll wear him down. Just like I’ll wear you down.”
My brows jump sky high. “Not in the same way, I hope.”
“Nope. Yours will be much more enjoyable.” That gets my attention.
“Oh really?”
“Yep,” she says, popping the p. “And if you hurry up and get in the truck, we can get back to the hotel and I can commence Operation ‘Get My Husband to Buy Me A Reindeer.”
I can’t help but laugh. “God, I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now, let’s go. I need to start persusadin’ you, and I think it might take a while.”
I lean in and touch my lips to hers as I stare at her close up. “I like the sound of that.”
She smiles. “I thought you might.”