Secret Santa (3 page)

"It's perfect! I know she'll wear it for
Christmas. I'm tempted to give it to her tomorrow so she can wear
it to the party too. I don't know why you volunteered to have the
party here, especially in your state!"

"When the Belles and the Keeneston Ladies
approached me it was early Spring. I didn't count on being
pregnant. But, it'll all work out. The Roses are riding herd over
the Belles to make sure they get everything done so I don't have to
lift a finger. They're coming in today at four to transform the
place into a winter wonderland." Paige rolled her eyes, "I think it
sounds like a bad prom idea, but I don't have a say since I stepped
down from the organizing committee."

"Well, call me if you need anything. I'm
going to go down to the sheriff's office to surprise Marshall. See
you tomorrow!" Katelyn waved as she grabbed the hatbox and headed
out the door.

The small bell over the door tinkled again
and she looked up to see her husband walking in. He took off his
black cowboy hat and hit it against his jeans-clad leg and then ran
his other hand through his black hair. His silver eyes were shining
with the cold and took in every detail.

"Why are you standing up? You should be
sitting down."

Paige let out an exacerbated sigh and placed
her hands on her hips in an act of defiance. She hated being told
what to do.

"Fine, please sit down. I have to show you
what I got the baby!" Cole shrugged out his jacket, exposing a
Glock attached to his hip. His jeans accentuated his strong legs
and his… phew, those pregnancy hormones were something else. Paige
licked her lips and forced her eyes up to the onesie he was holding
up.

"My Daddy Can Arrest Your Daddy," she read.
Her husband had issues. His main one was his obsession with baby
clothes. She had too many onesies to count.

"You like it?" he asked.

"My favorite one so far," she smiled. He was
too cute when he got excited over the baby. "Now, come give me a
kiss."

"Yes ma'am," he grinned a wicked little grin
and eagerly complied.

"Aww, isn't that just so cute you want to
vomit," a sharp voice said, interrupting their kiss.

"Oh, hi Karen. Sorry, I didn't see you come
in. I just can't keep my hands off my wife. There's nothing sexier
than seeing the woman you love carrying your child."

"Kandi! Jesus, my name is Kandi! And get
this mutt away from me!" Chuck sniffed her feet and then shoved his
nose up her skirt. "What is that smell?"

Cole took a sniff and coughed. Chuck had let
one loose. It was the silent ones that were deadly. He watched as
Kandi turned a light shade of green.

"You better step outside. There's usually a
follow up that's way worse. That was just a warning shot," Cole
explained to her.

Kandi gasped for fresh air and stumbled for
the front door. Her mascara started to run down her cheeks as one
fake eyelash began to fall off.

"Merry Christmas Karla!" he called after
her.

Paige smacked him on the shirt and then
laughed. "You're going to run out of names soon."

"Nah. We have that baby book over at the
house. I just need to bring it over here. That was fun. Good boy
Chuck. Come on, it's time to close shop and go home. I heard that
having sex could bring on labor sooner. Wanna find out if that is
true?"

"You bet I do."

Chapter Four

Marshall Davies had always loved Christmas.
That was until he became sheriff. This was his first Christmas as
sheriff and now the holiday season was a curse. He hardly had time
to sit down before someone else needed him.

Just this morning he broke up a fight at the
middle school's Christmas concert when some parents were saving
seats. Then there were the family arguments over the country ham
being too salty or the turkey being too dry. And then there was Old
Man Tabby... Mr. Tabernacle loved wintertime. The second the snow
hit the ground he was out trying to write Tabernacle in the snow.
All across town you'd see a yellow Tabe or Taber, and just this
afternoon on his way back to the office from the middle school
Christmas concert beatdown, he saw that Old Man Tabby set a new
standard writing Taberna in the snow on the sidewalk on Maple
Street.

He pulled into his reserved space and walked
into his version of a nightmare—the Keeneston Belles. They stood
surrounding the front desk in perfect form-fitting clothes, pearls,
French manicures, and pink cowboy boots. And right now they all
looked pissed at Annie Blake Davies, his deputy, gatekeeper, and
sister-in-law. She, on the other hand, looked like a cat toying
with several fancy mice.

"Sheriff! I can't wait to tell you what the
Belles want," Annie managed to tell him through her laughter.
"They're here to meet with you about judging their charity pageant
on the 26th." Annie gave up trying to hold in her laughter and
Marshall watched nervously as Annie's nine-month due-at-any-second
belly bounced.

"Be careful, will you? I don't want to
deliver a baby and if you laugh any harder it's liable to pop
out."

"Sheriff," Jasmine, the current president of
the Belles purred. "It would be such an honor for you to be our
judge at the beauty pageant. Henry Rooney and your brother Pierce
already agreed to be judges. And John Wolfe just signed up, too. In
fact, he recommended you. It is for charity after all." Jasmine
pouted in a pose he was sure she practiced.

Annie slapped her hand against her desk as
she laughed even harder.

Katelyn walked the short way to the
sheriff's office humming to herself. Her father was arriving for
Christmas in just a few hours. She hadn't seen him since the
engagement party. Marshall's parents were coming over to Wyatt
Estate for dinner with her father tonight. She had roasted a
beautiful turkey for the event. The families were getting along
better now that he was taking time to actually get to know Katelyn
as a person, not just the daughter he'd used when he needed to look
good for a business deal. On the other hand, her mother hadn't even
shown up to the engagement party. It hurt, but Marshall made her so
happy and kept her so occupied at night that she just didn't think
about it as much anymore.

She pushed open the door to the office and
gasped. Marshall was pale and standing stock still in place. Annie
was bright red and crying.

"Oh god! Have you called an ambulance? Have
you called Cade?"

"No, no!" Annie shouted. "I'm not in labor.
My doctor said I wasn't due for another week. I just got the best
laugh of my life. Mr. Macho War Hero just got talked into judging
the Keeneston Belle Beauty Pageant. Oh god, it was too funny. His
face, look at his face!" Annie started to laugh again and Katelyn
looked at her husband. He looked shell-shocked. All six-foot plus
of his muscled body stood frozen. His hazel eyes were slightly
widened and had a faraway look to them.

"Come on honey. Let's get you home. I know
women in bathing suits are so scary."

"You'll protect me from the Belles, won't
you? Tell them we're getting married, make them believe it! The
location is booked, the tuxes are ordered, and the honeymoon
reserved..."

"Shh, it's okay honey. Yes, I'll protect you
from the husband hunters. I'll make you a t-shirt with a picture of
our wedding invitation on it if that will make you feel better. If
that fails, just use your pepper spray," Katelyn said as she put
her arm around her fiancé and guided him to the car. After all, he
had had some traumatizing experiences with the Belles recently.

Katelyn and Marshall walked up the steps of
their old farmhouse and opened the front door. They paused and knew
right away that something was wrong. Bob, their rust-colored
vizsla, wasn't dragging a huge stuffed animal in his mouth over to
welcome them home. Ruffles, their white standard poodle, wasn't
sliding on the floor in eagerness to bite at Marshall's pants.

"This isn't good," Marshall whispered.

"No, it's not. Did you put the child lock on
the refrigerator?" Katelyn asked.

"Yes. Did you put the chocolate on the top
shelf in the closet?”

"Yes," she answered as they walked down
hall, the polished hardwood floor echoing their footsteps, as they
headed toward the kitchen.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Marshall gasped as he
came into the kitchen and saw the two dogs stretched out on the
floor.

Katelyn fell to her knees in front of Bob,
the closest one to her. His stomach was distended and he was
lethargic. She palpated his stomach to see if he was bloated. Burp.
Bob thumped his cropped tail and rose up to lick her.

"Eww. Bob!"

Bob thumped his tail against the floor and
then burped again before standing up.

She slid over to Ruffles and found a
blissful look on her face. She pressed on the extended stomach and
heard a similar belch. "I think they overate, but I have no idea
what they could've gotten into."

Marshall looked around the kitchen. There
was nothing out of place. There were no crumbs on the floor. No
scraps giving any indication of what they ate. He opened the
childproof lock on the refrigerator and cursed.

"They ate the turkey you cooked." Marshall
stared at the platter with nothing but bones left on it.

"How? The door was childproof locked!"
Katelyn stood up and looked into the fridge. Nothing was out of
place, but the large platter that held the twenty-pound turkey was
empty.

"BOB!"

Chapter Five

Annie locked the office door and stepped
outside to the parking lot. She looked around and didn't see her
husband's Highlander so she leaned back against the door to wait
for Cade to pick her up. She was way too big to fit behind the
steering wheel and Cade had started driving her to work this last
week.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath
of cold air. She had just finished her last day of work until the
baby was born. Now she had nothing to do but worry. The job kept
her concerns at bay, but now they assaulted her.

What if she turned out like her mother? Of
course she never touched drugs, but what if she was a horrible
mother? She had no point of reference. After being labeled a
"troubled child" she was placed in foster homes with what she would
describe as less-than-stellar parenting. She was only now learning
to cook for crying out loud. How was she going to take care of a
baby? Marcy, her mother-in-law, was the only example she had and
she would lean heavily on her for help.

Annie hated doing it though. She never asked
for help—another side effect of raising oneself. Thank goodness she
had Cade. He couldn’t wait to become a father. He came to every
doctor appointment and helped pick out every piece of furniture,
toy, and clothing for the baby. She took another deep breath and
knew she could do it. Women had been doing it forever, right? And
with Cade by her side she'd have the confidence to jump in with
both feet. She may not be able to teach the baby how to cook, but
she could teach the child how to shoot a gun and how to disarm a
man when being attacked with a knife. You never knew when those
things could come in handy.

She'd leave football up to Cade since he was
the coach and all, but she'd put her tips in at bedtime. Cade had
done great this year. His team had just finished as the state
runners-up a couple of weeks ago. Not too shabby for a second year
coach to have a State Championship and a State Runner Up title. The
best part was that she still got to see the kids from the time she
was undercover at the high school. Part of her job at the Sheriff
Department was the drug counselor for the high school. She made
sure to keep her eyes on the kids in situations like she had been
in or those with the money to afford the big stuff. She got them
involved in sports instead and found most of them turned away from
drugs due to the lack of free time.

Annie smiled and waved as Cade pulled into
the parking space in front of her. She watched as his long legs
swung out the door. His sandy blonde hair had turned a shade darker
during the winter, making him look even more like his brothers than
normal.

"What are you doing standing? You should've
waited for me inside, you could slip!"

"Cade, really? One can stand up, and dare I
say, walk while pregnant."

Annie waited for him to meet her before she
took another step though. Cade leaned down and rubbed her stomach
as he touched his lips to her in a gentle kiss.

"Come on, let's get home before your
stubborn streak shows up."

Cade loved his wife. God, did he love her!
But, stubborn and independent couldn't even begin to describe her.
He'd only seen her cry twice, and once was when his brother
Marshall took her off active duty and placed her behind the desk.
She had been taking down criminals well into her second trimester.
The DEA even borrowed her to go undercover quickly at an OBGYN's
office a couple of weeks ago. It was time for her to take a break.
Cade knew it scared her. She'd never just taken a break before.
But, he had set up a whole list of things for her to do… while she
was sitting down.

He had files of his players to review to
make sure nothing happened to them again. He even had some of the
old players coming by to talk to her while she waited for the baby
to come. He helped her into the SUV and grinned as she slowly
maneuvered herself into the seat. She'd never been sexier to him as
she was now.

When he had been sitting in the mountains of
Afghanistan, he'd daydreamed a lot. But it had never been as good
as reality. Annie challenged him, made him a better person, showed
up at every single one of his games, and even cheered louder than
his sister Paige—which was saying a lot!