Page 174

"Jagger stole my baby."

"He's her daddy."

I pour a cup of coffee. "He took her on some mysterious Christmas Eve errand and refuses to tell me where they are."

Mama smiles.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing."

I stare at her suspiciously. "You know something?"

"No. We went through this last night at dinner and while wrapping gifts."

I point at her. "You might be lying."

"Lainey Marie! I don't lie. Neither do Ruby or Jagger's sisters, who you drilled for over an hour yesterday, too. No one knows. But we'll find out later when he's back, I suppose. So get some coffee in you and let's finish these gifts," she orders.

I drop into the chair beside her. "Ugh."

She takes a sip then asks, "Hungry?"

"Not yet." I stare at the wrapping paper, then look at her. I soften my tone. "Merry Christmas Eve!"

"Merry Christmas Eve, sweetie."

"I wish Daddy would come," I add.

Her face falls, then hardens. "Well, you know your daddy. Nothing's getting him off that ranch."

I shrug. "Thought maybe he'd come since it's Charlie's first Christmas."

Irritation fills her expression, but it quickly disappears. She pats my hand. "He wants to be here. Trust me. It's just that he's a stubborn cowboy with too much pride to ask anyone to help."

I take a hot sip, trying not to dwell on the disappointment. When I finish my coffee, I grab wrapping supplies, and Mama and I get to work.

It was hard figuring out what to get the Cartwrights. There are so many of them. After a week of fretting over gifts, I figured it out.

For Ruby, I had an ornament made to look like the Cartwright farmhouse, complete with the porch and tiny Christmas lights.

Evelyn gets one with three little cowboy boots painted with Isabella, Emma, and Jacob Jr.'s names.

Ava's is a tiny stack of books tied with a red bow, since she seems to always be reading.

Willow gets a glass bull with mistletoe around its neck.

And Paisley gets a pink glitter cowboy boot that says "Merry & Unsupervised" across the front.

Mama holds it up. "That might be my favorite."

"It was between that and one that said 'Merry Christmas, Bitches.'"

Mama snorts. "Don't think that would be appropriate for Ruby's tree."

I wrap the kids' presents next. All of their gifts are personalized with their names on them.

I got Alexander's permission for the boys' gifts. Wilder's getting a beautiful bone-handled Case pocketknife. Ace is getting his own BB gun so he can stop whining Wilder never lets him shoot his. And Jacob Jr. is getting a wooden lever-action toy rifle.