The Cowboy’s Christmas Baby by Carolyn Brown

attend with me
     at the local Angus Association.”
    “The what else will cost extra,” she said.
    “Give me a bill before you leave. I can afford it. Look at them. Lord, they’re more
     excited about that child than they are me coming home.”
    She slapped at his arm, missing it by a few inches. “Are you pouting?”
    “Hell, no! I don’t pout. I’m just stating facts.”
    “I promise when we’re gone you can be the glory child again.” She poured egg mixture
     into a cast-iron skillet and deftly whipped up a gorgeous omelet for Henry. She’d
     timed it perfectly so that the waffle iron blinked to the green light right after
     the omelet was on the plate.
    “Still not pouting,” he whispered.
    She ignored him. “Serving up breakfast for Henry. Putting in breakfast for Jack now.
     What does he want on his omelet?”
    “Make Lucas’s first. I’m not through talking to Josh and it’d be a bad example to
     talk to him with food in my mouth. Way Gramps has been pushin’ ahead of me, he won’t
     even know my voice if I don’t put in some time with him,” Jack said.
    “I’ll have sausage and cheese in mine. No onions,” Lucas said.
    “Warm strawberry syrup on the waffles, right?” she asked.
    His brown eyes sparkled. “You remembered.”
    “Of course she remembered. Them computers is good for something. We didn’t have to
     pay to talk to you and we could see you even if your nose did look too big in the
     picture on the screen,” Grady said. “I expect Natalie was shocked when she saw that
     your nose didn’t look like Jimmy Durante’s.”
    “Or Pinocchio’s.” Henry laughed. “This is some good breakfast. Worth every bit of
     the sleet that fell off that tree right down my shirt collar when I was getting in
     my truck.”
    ***
    Natalie would put up with Josh instead of Joshua because it seemed to make the old
     guys happy, but she’d draw the line on Hoss or Buddy or Jay-Man! God, she hated nicknames.
     She didn’t even like it when Drew called her Nat, and he only did it when they argued.
    The phone rang while she was loading the breakfast dishes. She recognized the ring
     tone and said, “Good morning, Aunt Leah.”
    “Your mother is on the warpath. The shit is about to hit the fan, girl, and I’ll be
     damned if I’m in front of it when it does. If you are going to stay in that place
     with your Internet boyfriend, then honey, it’s time to call her. I can’t fend her
     off any longer,” Leah said.
    “But she’s going to have a fit,” Natalie whined.
    “Yes, she is, and she is entitled to a real old-time hissy,” Leah told her. “You should
     have told her ’bout Lucas in the beginning.”
    “I know, but it’s complicated. I mean with the Internet thing. Lord, she would have
     had a heart attack. Everyone here is in love with Joshua and they’re all excited about
     Christmas with a baby in the house. They call him Josh and I haven’t even fussed at
     them for it. They’d be so disappointed if I left and…”
    “And you kissed that cyber cowboy and you liked it, right?”
    Natalie gasped. “How’d you know?”
    “It’s in your voice. It’s high-pitched and squeaky like when you called and told me
     that you were pregnant and the baby belonged to Drew. Only thing that would make it
     go shrill like that is if you’d kissed Lucas. That’s all you did, right? I mean, you’ve
     only been there a couple of days.”
    “Settle down. I inherited my squeaky voice from you, and I only kissed him a little
     while ago.”
    “Call your mother. I’m going to be out of the house all day and I’m turning my phone
     off with the excuse that my students are taking final exams today. Lord, I don’t want
     to deal with the fallout!”
    “I promise I will. But by night you’d better have it turned back on or she’ll be on
     your doorstep as soon as she can get there. It’ll be easier to talk her down on the
     phone than in person,” Natalie said. “Got to go! We are