Christmas in Texas (3 page)

Chapter Three

“Comfy?” Seagal asked Capri after he’d taken her home,
given her a scolding in his overbearing I’m-taking-charge-now, I’m-a-cop,
this-is-what-I-do-best tone, and then tucked her in her bed.

Their bed.

She glowered at him. “This isn’t going to work. I want you to
call Kelly and tell her to hire someone to help me. It doesn’t need to be all
the time, for heaven’s sake.”

“For when I’m out of the house.” Seagal nodded as if her
suggestion made sense. “Good idea. I’ll call her now.”

“No,” Capri said, trying not to snap at him. He was just too
big, too good-looking, overpowering the small bedroom where they’d spent many
happy hours.

“I don’t want you here. You’re going to drive me insane.”

“Well, that is a personal problem, I believe,” Seagal said,
dragging one of her pretty upholstered chairs into the bedroom. “I would drive
you insane no matter what, so I might as well go for broke.” He flung himself
into the stuffed, sweetly patterned chair that went with the floral sofa that
had so offended his masculine sensibilities. “You covered these chairs. They
were denim blue. Now they’re—”

“Toile,” Capri said, knowing he wouldn’t know what that meant.
“To go with the floral sofa and the delft-blue paint on the walls, the delicate
gold-foil mirror over the white fireplace mantel, and the special cushions I had
made for the two ladderback chairs. Sort of country-French appeal I call it.”
She smiled at him. “It’s a feminine room. Not a place for hanging deer heads and
hunting rifles.”

“I know.” He grimaced. “And you changed the comforter on the
bed. It’s
lacy.
”

“And white.” Capri enjoyed Seagal’s perplexed expression. “I
gave up the masculine decorating scheme after you left.”

He looked at her. “We’ll discuss that another time. You just
rest right now. You need the rest, and so do my sons. Clearly, you aren’t any
better at obeying doctor’s orders than you are a husband’s.”

She tossed a pillow at him, catching him in the face. “Don’t go
all pigheaded to try to get me off the subject. Call Kelly.”

“You’ll hardly notice I’m here. I’m serving a dual role that
none of your girlfriends can fulfill.”

“Annoying me and wearing out the new furnishings?” She smiled
sweetly. “As I said, this isn’t going to work. You’re too bossy—”

“And you’re stubborn as heck. What woman thinks decorating for
Christmastown is more important than her own babies?” Seagal demanded. “You
always said that my responsible side weighed your flighty side.”

“But I didn’t necessarily mean that it was a good thing.” Capri
thought about it. “To be honest, Dr. Blankenship didn’t say I absolutely had to
go to bed last week, Seagal. He said it would be best, and that he preferred to
err on the side of caution. You know John Blankenship,” she said, trying to make
him see she wasn’t being reckless with her pregnancy. “He advises most of the
town to stay away from the Wedding Happy Bakery because he says the magic in
their secret batters is guaranteed to clog arteries just from looking at the
cookies and cakes. He’s a fine doctor, but he’s been known to be a bit of an
alarmist.”

“Maybe. But not where babies are concerned. He’s seriously
planning to send a nurse out here with a drip if your contractions don’t go
away.” He studied her, not happily. “You’re just going to have to accept the
fact that I’m here for the long haul, babe.”

“I don’t think so,” Capri said, knowing steam was probably
pouring out of her ears. If Seagal thought he was just going to waltz back into
her life and start being an overbearing donkey, he could just go bray elsewhere.
“Hand me the phone.”

He got up, seemed to consider her words, then paced down the
hall. “We’ll continue this discussion in a moment.”

“He acts as if I didn’t take care of myself for the past
several months.” Capri reached for the phone on her bedside table, finally
hooking it with the aid of a slipper she pulled off her foot. She dialed Kelly’s
number.

Kelly’s cheerful voice shouted a hello. Capri switched the
phone to her other ear, hoping the eardrum wasn’t bruised. “I need a favor.”

“What?”

“Doc Blankenship’s put me on bed rest. As in, don’t move a
fingernail.”

“Oh, man. You are going to lose your mind,” Kelly said.

Capri sighed. “I need a personal assistant.”

“Isn’t Seagal in the house with you? Kind of dishy for a
personal assistant. I bet if you put him in an apron—only an apron—he’ll be your
dream come true.”

Capri winced. “I do not want to put Seagal in an apron or
anything else.”

“Don’t share,” Kelly said. “I’m too busy trying to have my own
sweet dreams about his buddy, Jack. Nothing’s happening on that front, but that
doesn’t mean I don’t have my radar trained on him.”

“Kelly,” Capri said, “if you could be here, Seagal and I
wouldn’t be alone together. And then sometimes he’d leave, go do some cop
stuff.”

“Oh.” Kelly was silent for a moment. “I’d love to help you out,
but I can’t. I’d never forgive myself if I messed up this chance for the two of
you to work things out. I owe it to my darling godchildren to help you two
wonderful, well-intentioned but obstinate friends realize that marriage means
two people in the same bed. You are my dearest friend, even if you didn’t tell
me about the twins,” Kelly said.

“I will name a baby after you if you help me.”

“You’re having boys,” Kelly said. “Does Seagal know he’s having
boys?”

“The name Kelly is appropriate for a boy or a girl,” Capri said
with some disgust at her friend’s lack of loyalty. “No, he doesn’t know, and
you’re not telling him. Besides which, it turned out that the early sonograms
were wrong. Baby Snow is having a twin sister.”

“Snow?” Kelly didn’t say anything for a moment. “Does Seagal
know you’re using your maiden name?”

“No.” They were two weeks from a divorce; she had to be
practical.

He was going to hit the roof.

“You’re really not focusing on what’s important. What is
important is that I’m big as a house, I feel stuffed like a Christmas turkey and
I don’t want Seagal sitting here looking at me when I could do stand-ins for the
blueberry girl in
Willy Wonka.
I’m feeling
distinctly unlike my former more slender self,” Capri said.

“It’s all right,” Kelly soothed. “Seagal probably likes a
little more woman than less.”

Capri sighed. “You are not helping. And you’re not going to,
are you?”

“Not the way you want me to,” Kelly said. “But I’ll bring you
some carrot cake from the Wedding Happy Bakery,” she said, her voice
brightening.

“Oh, that’s just what I need—mach-five calories. How’d the
cleanup go, by the way? Did everything get put away properly for next year?
Did—”

“Relax,” Kelly said. “Believe it or not, we took care of
everything even without your capable guidance and your megaphone. Now rest, my
godchildren.”

Kelly hung up, and Seagal walked back in the room, slinging
himself back into the puffy chair. “Your mother brought you a casserole. My
favorite.” He looked pleased, not noticing Capri’s outrage. “I put it in on the
counter. It’s all warm, and she brought nice toasty bread because she heard I
was staying here with you. I always loved your mom,” he said, practically
sighing in anticipation of the meal. “She didn’t want to come in. But she gave
me a very mother-in-lawly hug and said welcome home.”

She glared at her almost-ex. “Seagal, you are not staying
here.”

“It’s either me or Jack.”

“I’ll take Jack,” Capri said definitively.

Seagal looked hurt. “You know he gossips. Like a girl. And if
he’s here, Kelly will be here all the time. I don’t know why he doesn’t get that
she’s crazy about him.”

“I don’t know why men have such thick skulls,” Capri said.
“They just don’t get what females are trying to tell them sometimes.”

“Yeah, I know.” He sighed. “It’s an honest mistake. A
disconnect, even. Excuse me.”

“Where are you going?”

He didn’t answer, strolling down the hall. She heard the front
door open, and Seagal’s voice cheerily greeting someone. Then the door closed
and he made it back to his chair.

“Apple pie,” Seagal announced. “Courtesy of Mrs. Blankenship.
Guess Doc told his wife you were in need of something sweet.”

“Is there a reason the doorbell isn’t ringing?” Capri
asked.

“I disconnected it,” Seagal said, obviously pleased with
himself. “You need to rest. I didn’t want you waking up when my cop buddies drop
by.”

This was one of the problems they’d never been able to
overcome. “There’s that disconnect you were talking about,” Capri said. “That
man-woman disconnect.”

“Well,” Seagal said, “it’s going to be a long couple of months.
You might as well make like a bear and hibernate back here under that lacy
comforter.” He looked longingly at the bed.

She slid the phone under her pillow so he wouldn’t decide to
commandeer that, as well. “Go away, Seagal.”

A snore caught her attention. Just like the old days, Seagal
had dropped off like a tired baby. Even snoring he looked handsome, and she
thought about tossing another pillow at him.

She wished he was sleeping in her bed, as he once had. Most
nights they’d barely moved, completely curled in each other’s arms.

It could
not
be.

She closed her eyes, relaxing now that Seagal wasn’t watching
her. As long as he was sleeping, he wasn’t in her business.

That was good. It was what she wanted. She didn’t want to start
feeling close to Seagal again, not now.

She might be in bed on doctor’s orders, but she wasn’t going to
hand her heart to her husband again—even if it was terribly hard not to remember
that once upon a time he’d meant everything to her.

* * *

“A
T
LEAST
you’re not lonely,” Kelly said, grinning at Capri as she put a
beautiful Christmas-themed bouquet of flowers on the dresser in Capri’s room.
“If you think about it, matters could be a lot worse. I would love to have a
hunky man hanging out in my bedroom.”

Capri looked at her highly energetic friend. “I still say you
only have to ask Jack and you’d probably get your wish.”

Kelly sat down in the chair Seagal had dragged into the room
yesterday, making himself at home in her room between visits and calls from his
buddies and her friends who continuously dropped off food. He hadn’t yet let
anybody past the front door.

“I think Jack’s got his eyes on someone else.”

Capri looked at her friend. Kelly’s hair was pulled up on top
of her head in a flaming-red knot of bouncy fun. Dangling Christmas ornaments
hung from her ears, shiny red-striped balls that screamed festive. Capri did not
feel festive. “Jack never dated much. Who do you think it is?”

“I think Daisy Donovan.” Kelly’s face grew downcast, a
counterpoint to the happy ornaments bobbing at her cheeks. “I saw them hanging
out at the burger joint last night.”

Capri wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think Jack would date a woman
that Seagal was once very serious about.”

“Serious until he fell for you,” Kelly reminded her.

Capri always felt pain at the mention of Daisy. “What happened
was that they dated for a year. It got too serious, and Daisy decided she wanted
to date other people. I jumped on the chance to ask Seagal out.” She shrugged.
“We went out, and I’m not ashamed to say we had a very good time. I wasn’t
trying to steal him from Daisy, but I wasn’t about to leave him in the pond if
she’d decided to cast him back.”

“Point being, he fell for you.” Kelly grinned. “You’re lying in
this bed because he’s crazy about you.”

“That’s the thing,” Capri said, “I’ve always felt like I did
steal him from Daisy. And I think Seagal secretly was still in love with her,
but she kept dating Ryder Holland, and so there I was.”

“Yes,” Kelly said, “there you were. Warm and willing. Always a
smart woman. Valedictorian of our class for a reason.”

Capri moved restlessly, pulling her sheets over her huge
stomach. The babies kicked and she put a hand on them to try to calm them. They
stayed active almost all the time now, trying to claim space, she supposed.
“They would have gotten back together if I hadn’t jumped on Seagal.”

“So?” Kelly laughed. “
If
is the
biggest, most dramatic word in the English language. Anytime you hear someone
say
if,
hang on. There’s a story coming.”

“It’s true. Not that I feel guilty about it. I just feel that I
never had Seagal in the first place.”

“Because you didn’t date that long before he led you to the
altar.” Kelly nodded. “Everybody was amazed at how quick Seagal was to jump to
say ‘I do.’”

“And then he said ‘I don’t.’” Capri frowned, remembering. “We
didn’t think things through before we got married.”

Kelly leaned back in the toile chair, wagging a finger at
Capri. “He’s a man of action. You’re the thinker in the relationship. You want
to plan everything to death. Just for once in your life you let yourself get
swept, and now you want to
overthink it. You’re
going to have to accept that Seagal’s approach to dating was how you won a very
handsome husband. And now you’re having his twins. Nothing like sweet babies to
make a man love a woman even more.”

She wasn’t sure love was what guided Seagal. “He’s been an
absolute general ever since he got back in the house. If he hadn’t needed to
make a run, you wouldn’t even be allowed in here.”

“I bribed him.” Kelly grinned. “I told him I wanted to spend
time with Jack. So here I am.”

“Jack isn’t here.”

“Jack’s skulking around somewhere. He’s your bodyguard, for the
moment.” Kelly waved a languid hand. “Lying low, protecting his best friend’s
girl.”

“This is ridiculous. Nothing’s going to happen to me!” Capri
leaned back against the pillows, annoyed. “I don’t appreciate Seagal taking over
my life like this. He’s going to hear about it, too.” If she had to lock him out
to convince him that no one was coming in and no one was going out—and that
included him—that was what she was going to do. “Go find Jack. Drag him off for
some alone time. Get him out of my bushes or out of my driveway. Seduce him, if
necessary. Please, for my sake.”