The Cowboy’s Christmas Baby (16 page)

“Sounds like a doable plan to me,” Mary said.

“Oh, all right,” Sonia said coldly.

Lord, why didn’t she pack her pistol in the diaper bag instead of a hairbrush and
compact mirror? She’d known that Sonia would be there that morning. That wild night
of sex had addled her brain and kept her from using the good old common sense that
she’d been blessed with.

She turned around and there was Sonia in a flowing white angel robe. It nipped into
her tiny waist with gold Christmas tree tinsel that matched the halo floating three
inches above all that big blond hair. Big white fluffy wings shot out from her back
and it took a trained eye to see the elastic bands holding them onto Sonia’s petite
body.

“Well?” Sonia did a slow three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn.

“You look lovely just like you do every year,” Melody said from the doorway.

Sonia looked at Natalie.

Natalie smiled sweetly. “Your black bra strap is showing and I can see a fine black
line where your thong rests. When the lights come on, it’ll shine. I used to tell
my basketball girls to never wear black underwear under their white uniforms.”

“Shit!” Sonia gasped. “Melody, trade with me.”

“Honey, I wear granny panties and my bra would go around you twice. You are on your
own this time.” Melody laughed.

“Don’t you dare laugh at me. Go out there and tell Noah to hurry back to his house
and get a white set,” Sonia hissed.

“Sure thing. Be right back. Good thing that we got here early, isn’t it?”

“If I undo the belt, I think I can make the change without taking everything off,”
Sonia said. “What is Hawaii like anyway?”

Natalie frowned. “Why are you asking?”

“That is where you got pregnant with that kid, isn’t it? Noah said that Lucas got
a couple of days of R and R in Hawaii. You met Lucas there, right? So what’s it like
at Christmastime? I heard it never snows there.” Sonia checked her reflection in the
mirror and applied more pale pink lipstick while she waited.

“It’s complicated,” Natalie said.

“I imagine it is.” Sonia laughed. “I bet he told you he couldn’t make babies, didn’t
he?”

“That’s personal,” Natalie said.

Melody rushed back inside and tossed a white bra and pair of silk bikinis on a table.
“Noah said that you left these in the pickup last night, so he didn’t have to go all
the way home.”

Sonia did a half giggle, but she didn’t blush.

Melody tossed her blue velvet dress over the back of a chair and donned her angel
robe. She was a bottle blond just like Sonia, but her hair was cut in a bob that brushed
her jawbones. She was a couple of inches taller and several pounds heavier than Sonia.

“Why would he tell her he couldn’t make babies? You know Lucas has always said he
was going to outdo me when it came to kids.” She adjusted the robe, belted it, and
then set the halo on her head.

“It’s complicated.” Sonia’s laugh was brittle.

Cold chill bumps played hopscotch down Natalie’s backbone.

“Well, I ain’t got time to listen to a long-winded story right now. I’ve got to go
take care of Tommy. His daddy won’t ever get him lookin’ right. That’s my oldest son
who is playing the little drummer boy today. I’ve got four boys,” she explained to
Natalie as she slipped out the door.

“Bad as I hate to do it, I’ll give this pretty boy back to you. I’ve got to go get
ready for my place.” Mary Alice handed Joshua off and left Sonia and Natalie alone
in the room.

“I kind of lied to him one time.” Sonia did another turn and looked at Natalie. “Can
you see my underwear now?”

“No, you look like an angel, but then looks can be deceiving. What did you lie to
him about? I can’t believe you are an angel, but that doesn’t have anything to do
with you lying, does it?”

Sonia shrugged and then had to adjust one of her wings. “I didn’t want kids. My brother
has this mental issue and I told Lucas that I didn’t want to take a chance on bringing
a baby into the world like that. We went to have tests run and when they came back,
I lied to him about the results. He didn’t ask to see them, so it…” Sonia waved her
hands in the air as she talked.

“What did you tell him?” Natalie asked.

“I hated the idea of my waist getting all fat like Melody’s and my boobs sagging and
those horrible marks on my stomach,” Sonia said.

Angels weren’t supposed to lie. But then a woman who had a child without a marriage
license and who had had sex the night before with a man who wasn’t the baby’s father
didn’t have much room to judge wayward angels.

“I might as well come clean about it all since you already know,” Sonia said.

“Know what?”

“That he
can
make babies. I told him that the test said his swimmers were weak and that the doctor
said it would take a miracle for him to ever produce a child. I was afraid he’d ask
to see the report or want to go to the doctor with me, but I lucked out on that,”
she said.

“My God,” Natalie whispered. She was as fertile as a bunny rabbit if she got pregnant
from that one time with Drew. And the night before was right in the middle of her
cycle when ovulation would be at the highest.

Was it a mortal sin to kill an angel in the Sunday school room? Maybe God would even
give her a medal for strangling a lying angel so that He wouldn’t have to kick the
bitch out of heaven.

“Guess you done figured that out, right?” Sonia looked at Joshua.

Natalie couldn’t even nod.

“I hear the music. That’s the cue for the choir to take your places and for me to
get into my place too.” Sonia disappeared out of the room in a whirlwind of white.

Complicated just shot up to a whole new level. Surely she wouldn’t get pregnant a
second time as the result of a one-night stand. She held Joshua tightly to her chest
and looked up to see Lucas standing in the doorway.

“I told Sonia that I was sitting beside you so I can help with Joshua. Here, I’ll
carry him. Just think, this is his first time to sing in the church choir,” Lucas
said.

He carried the baby with one arm and held Natalie’s hand. They filed into the choir
loft and sat down together on the far end of the first row. Joshua’s bright eyes took
in everything and he smiled at two live white lambs tied to the wooden manger.

There was a tense moment when Sonia picked up the microphone and led the choir in
“Silent Night.” The loud music made him jump and for a second Natalie thought he was
going to set up a howl, but the music quieted and he went back to staring at the lights.

Would Sonia’s horns pop out of that blond hair if Natalie choked her skinny neck until
she turned blue? Knowing that Lucas could produce his own children changed everything.
Jack, Grady, and Henry would not be so hell-bent on pushing them together if they
were aware that he could populate Cedar Hill with little dark-haired real Allen boys
or even girls.

When the song ended, Noah stepped up to the pulpit and read a scripture verse about
the wise men coming from afar. He was dressed in a robe just like the rest of the
choir. Evidently at the church in Savoy, Texas, all real angels were female and there
were only three of them.

His voice was deep and booming and commanded attention. He and Sonia would make pretty
babies. Both of them were blond and had gorgeous eyes, but Natalie was glad that Sonia
didn’t want kids. It would just be her luck that Joshua would grow up and fall in
love with their daughter.

She felt a movement and glanced up to see Henry wink at her from beneath a tinsel
crown. His cape was scarlet and no matter how he tried to keep it pulled together,
his boots and jeans still showed. Jack wore a brilliant blue robe and Grady’s was
gold. They bowed to the baby doll and laid their brightly wrapped presents beside
the manger.

Noah led the men in the choir in “We Three Kings.” All during the song, Joshua cooed
and smiled at the wise men and from the expressions on their faces, they were not
only wise but very happy.

The two live lambs moved as far as their ropes would allow and kept their heads turned
toward Joshua. If they’d thought to put some lamb feed in the manger, maybe the congregation
would have seen more than their little short wiggling tails during the whole production.

Natalie wondered how Mary and Joseph handled the issue of Jesus not really belonging
to Joseph when they had other children. They should’ve let a woman write at least
one book in the New Testament so that important details would have been recorded.

Another man from the choir read more scripture and then Sonia and Melody sang “What
Child Is This?” with no background music and with only a few choir members humming
along. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sound, but Natalie still wanted to snatch
the woman bald headed and then slap her for not having hair.

Then the preacher took the pulpit and reminded everyone that there was a potluck dinner
in the reception hall. Other than the angels removing their wings, everyone who’d
played a part should stay in costume.

“Yes, you choir members can hang your robes back up.” He smiled.

He made a few more announcements. Two different families had added a baby to their
families during the past week. One elderly lady from the nursing home had passed and
her funeral would be held Tuesday.

The Hanging of the Green ceremony would take place on the next Sunday morning. “And
I’m reminding everyone again that Sonia and Noah will be married right here in this
church on Christmas Day at eight o’clock in the evening. Most of the festivities surrounding
your family affairs will be over by then, so plan to wind up the day by attending
their wedding. Now if Henry will dismiss us in a word of prayer, we’ll all go on to
the fellowship hall.”

Natalie decided that the place to tell Lucas about the big fat lie Sonia had told
him was not in church.

Lucas talked to Joshua when the prayer ended. “You were a good boy for a whole hour,
but I see that your fist is about to be chewed plumb off. You think we’d best hurry
on to the Sunday school room and get a bottle made up for you?”

People stopped them every two steps to get a glimpse of the baby. They didn’t fool
Natalie one bit. Silverton wasn’t much bigger than Savoy and the reason they were
flocking to their sides was more than just welcoming Lucas home. They wanted to see
if Joshua looked like Lucas.

One elderly man poked Lucas in the ribs. “You kinda snuck that little fellow in on
us, didn’t you?”

Lucas smiled down at the old guy. “Guess I did. And now I’m going to have to sneak
him on out of here or you’re going to see him throw a real Allen fit.”

He laced his fingers in Natalie’s. She hadn’t been blessed with tiny, little delicate
hands. Not at her height. But they felt small in his as they left the sanctuary.

“The truth will come out,” she whispered.

“Maybe I don’t want it to come out,” he said from the side of his mouth.

Henry came up behind them and laid a hand on Natalie’s shoulder. “Mighty fine job
y’all did.”

“All we did was sing. It was y’all who did a fantastic job,” she said.

“Well, that’s all we did too, but Joshua made it worthwhile. He grinned right at me.
Did you see it?” Henry asked.

“Joshua thought the gold you gave baby Jesus was shiny and pretty,” Natalie teased.

“Gold-covered chocolates.” Henry chuckled. “I got so hungry standin’ up there like
a statue while Noah sang that song. Lord, it went on forever, didn’t it? Anyway, I
started to sneak a couple of them chocolates out and eat them right there. But I didn’t
want to go temptin’ God.”

Henry took a breath and went on, “Now we can go eat brisket and ribs. If I’d had your
big breakfast instead of one of them cardboard things that pop up out of the toaster,
my stomach wouldn’t have thought my throat had been cut.”

“Well, don’t be goin’ without a good breakfast again,” Natalie said.

“I won’t. Believe me, after wonderin’ if I’d pass plumb out from hunger up there when
I was a wise man, you can bet I won’t. I’ll be there every morning from now on, darlin’.
Now y’all get whatever you need for Josh, and we’ll meet you in there.” He left them
in the hall and disappeared inside the door where all the good smells were coming
from.

Natalie changed Joshua’s diaper while Lucas added scoops of dry powder to the water
already in the bottle. He put the cap on and shook it well then grimaced.

“What?” Natalie asked.

“Poor little fellow. All he gets is old dried milk shook up in water and we’re about
to dine on the best beef brisket and ribs that Cedar Hill can produce.”

“He thinks he’s getting steak and potatoes. Don’t tell him any different,” she whispered.

She redressed him in a navy blue knit outfit with feet built into it, put a bib around
his neck, and held him close to her face. “You did so good on your choir singing,
sweet boy. Someday you can be the little drummer boy. I feel bad, Lucas. I didn’t
know there was going to be a potluck or I would’ve brought something. Hey, I didn’t
think boys and girls could be in the same choir room?”

He shook his head slowly. “No, ma’am. You can’t feel bad. We supply all the meat for
this shindig every year. The ranch hands smoke it a few days before and freeze it,
then all the ladies heat it up in the oven. I could smell it while we were out there
in the sanctuary. And about being in the same choir room, I’ll just leave my robe
hangin’ on the outside of the door. They’ll all know I wanted to help with the baby.”

Natalie had caught a whiff of the smoke too, but she’d figured it was the devil scorching
Sonia’s wings. Natalie would gladly fan the blazes if he had.

Noah was the first person they passed when they opened the doors into the long dining
room. He stuck out a hand toward Lucas and said, “The little fellow did good in the
choir. I remember when Melody used to hold her babies while she sang. It does them
good to grow up in church. Y’all will come to the wedding, right?”