Rancher’s Christmas Storm by Maisey Yates

Ten

When Jericho woke up the next morning, he could see that the sky was clear outside the window.

He was lying on the floor wrapped up in fur and Honey, still feeling the aftereffects of the night before. But he was going to have to check the weather.

He got up and put his pants on, then went out for his coat. He did his best to get out of the house without disturbing Honey. Outside it was completely quiet. Still. The sun was shining now, making it look like diamonds had been scattered across the surface of the undisturbed snow. The only dents had been made by their footprints last night when they went to get the Christmas tree.

It was bright today, and likely it would bring a little bit of snowmelt along with it.

It was Christmas Eve. He wondered if that meant there would be people coming to plow the roads or not.

He hiked out to the road, and there was a snowplow. There were also a few ODOT workers standing around.

“Hey,” Jericho said to the first man, who was wearing a heavy coat and a bright yellow vest. “This is my truck,” he said. “What are the odds that he gets out today?”

“We’ll have this cleared within a couple of hours,” the guy said.

“Thanks. It doesn’t start well. Would I be able to get a tow truck out here you think?”

“Everything is eased up so much, and we’re expecting highs to hit the fifties today. So this should be your window.”

“Thanks,” Jericho said.

He hiked back over to the house, where Honey was just beginning to stir.

“Looks like we’ll be leaving today,” he said.

She looked... Well, she looked stricken. But she didn’t say anything. They started the task of putting everything in the house back the way they’d found it.

Jericho wrote a note with his contact information, asking that the owners tabulate the cost of what they had used and send him a bill. Plus charge whatever occupancy fees they normally did.

They looked at the tree.

“I guess we have to take it down. And put everything back.”

It was a lot less festive than putting it up had been.

But they had everything restored to its rightful place, and he walked back up to the road to find his truck had had the snow cleared out from around it.

They could go.

“You ready?”

She nodded slowly. “Jericho... I’m not going to Lake Oswego.”

He froze.

“All right.”

“I think you already knew that. You know, what with the offer of the winery and all.”

“Well, yeah.”

“But I would like to go to Christmas with you. For... For the Daltons and all that.”

“Oh,” he said. “Well, that’s...good of you.”

“It’s not good of me. I want to go with you. This is going to be super... Super weird for you. Wouldn’t you like to have a friend with you?”

“Yeah,” he said. “A friend.”

Honey was his friend. But the word felt limp in comparison to what they’d been here. Where they were snowbound and hot as fire anyway. Where they’d talked and made love and decorated the first Christmas tree he’d touched since he was sixteen.

A friend.

He supposed that’s how it would have to be explained to Jackson and Creed when it came up. Because it would come up.

As soon as they hit civilization, their phones were going to go crazy.

They’d been out of communication for nearly three days.

It suddenly felt like longer, and a lot less time all at once. It would be like walking through a veil. Where everything changed when they got back to civilization. And she wanted to go with him to see the Daltons.

He helped her carry her bags through the woods, back to the truck.

And when they climbed inside, it all felt a little bit too modern.

She laughed. “I’m not going to know what to do when a heater just comes on.”

It was funny the way her mind tracked with his. For a minute, he wondered if the engine would even turn over, but it did. And it was a strange little string of miracles, if he was honest. From the vacation rental down to this.

I mean, it made him question why they had to be caught in the snowstorm in the first place, but everything that had happened since had a strange sort of charmed feeling to it. He would’ve called it fate if he believed in things like that.

Hell, he couldn’t actually fathom that fate had led him to cozy up with his friends’ sister for a few nights of pleasure. Hell, one night. Hadn’t been enough. But it was done now. It was done now because it had to be.

The heater got going and the only sound was the air, the tires on the newly plowed and graveled road and the engine.

They had talked easily at the vacation rental, but neither of them seemed to know what to say now.

Now it seemed like...

“When do you think we will have service?” She was looking down at her phone.

“I have no idea. I didn’t know there was as big of a dead zone out here as there is.”

“Oh,” she said, tapping her fingers on the door.

“Right.”

“So.”

They said nothing for another whole minute.

“What if... What if we kept on doing it. You know, just while we’re away,” she continued.

He looked over at her, and she was staring fixedly out the window.

“Are you looking for birds out there?”

“No,” she said, looking back at him. “I just... Yeah I... Maybe we should... Keep doing it. Yeah. Don’t you think that would be fun?”

“Fun,” he echoed.

“Yeah. Fun. Real fun.”

“Look,” she said. “If you don’t want to do it.”

“No. I don’t want to make a bigger mess out of this than we already have. At least before we came to the cabin, we would fight when we were sitting together in a car. Now we can barely speak a sentence to each other.”

“That’s a very coherent sentence,” she said.

“Thanks,” he said.

“I mean... I just can’t see being at the Dalton place and not doing it.”

“We should have just gone back.”

“No. Let’s do this.” She slapped her hand on her thighs. “We’re survivalists.”

“Right.”

“We are. And... I still feel bad that I never really... That I didn’t realize what a big thing it was. You finding out that Hank never knew about you. I didn’t really think about it. And I’m embarrassed. And if I can help you through it any way, I want to do that.”

“And you want to get laid,” he said, unable to keep the smile from curving his lips, even though mostly the entire topic wasn’t that amusing to him.

“Well, I’m not dead below the waist. Or anywhere, for that matter. So all right. Maybe I want more.”

More.

More.

He tried not to let that word resonate too much inside of him. Because she meant more sex, and more sex was all it could be. More sex wasn’t what it should be, but still.

More.

More people in his family. And with that, just more complication in general. Yeah, initially he thought he’d show up and flaunt his wealth. His success. And now he was...bringing a girl home to meet his folks. Well, his dad anyway. His father.

Tammy Dalton was not his mother. Tammy Dalton was the reason his life had gone the way that it had.

He wasn’t going to let himself get too bitter about it. Mostly because, even though what Tammy had done was wrong, Hank had committed the first wrong, and he didn’t know if a person was responsible for being perfect in response to something like that.

Still. She was just the woman who had paid his mother off and made her go away. Who had lied to her husband about the extent of his misdeeds for all those years.

“Looks like we’ll make it in time for Christmas Eve dinner.”

The rest... He wasn’t going to think about.

It took another couple of hours to get up to the compound, and by the time they did, they had cell service. He could call and let the Daltons know he was coming, but the idea of speaking to them on the phone felt...wrong somehow. He didn’t want to answer questions about where he’d been. He had directions to the cabin that was his for the next couple of days, and he went straight there.

“I guess dinner is kind of a formal affair,” he said. “I don’t think your lingerie is going to cut it.”

“Oh, I have something,” she said. “I was prepared for the fanciness of Lake Oswego.”

She was a dark horse, was Honey Cooper. And that was for certain.

The cabin itself was small but luxurious compared to where they’d just been. It had all the modern amenities, hypermodern even. A steam shower, not a wood sauna, and towel warmers and lights. There were lights. He may have stopped and flipped the switch off and on a couple of times.

“What are you doing?” Honey asked.

“Aren’t you amazed by the electricity?”

“I’m not that far gone,” she said.

“Have you looked at your phone yet?”

“No,” she said, wincing. “I was expecting to get chewed out by my dad and my brothers for my disappearing act, and that was when I just thought I was going up to Lake Oswego and would be able to contact them that same day. Though I guess... At least... At least I’m not moving.”

“Should we get dressed for dinner?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied.

She disappeared off into one of the other bedrooms, which he thought was interesting, considering she was the one who had suggested they keep things up. Not that he was complaining. And he couldn’t stop himself from imagining her getting undressed now. Peeling her clothes off, revealing her beautiful body.

He gritted his teeth, then went to the other bedroom with his suitcase and took out the suit that he brought for the occasion. He dressed and put a black cowboy hat on his head. And he figured he probably looked more rodeo royalty than Hank Dalton did on a good day.

He went out to the living room, and Honey still hadn’t appeared. He checked his watch, waiting.

And then she emerged, wearing a figure-hugging red dress, her hair spilling over her shoulders in a curled cascade. He couldn’t remember ever seeing Honey in makeup, the effect dramatically highlighting all the things about her that were already beautiful.

“Damn,” he said.

“Do I meet with your approval?”

“Hell yeah,” he responded.

She smiled.

“Is that why you hid from me?”

“Well, yes. I wanted there to be a little bit of a surprise.”

“You are a surprise, Honey. Every day. In a thousand different ways.”

He linked arms with her, and led her out of the cabin. It was dark out, but it was easy to navigate their way from there to the main house, which he knew Hank and the rest of the family were in.

He had been told to just come in when they arrived, so he did. Pushing the door open and revealing a glittering Christmas scene. A huge tree that had to be eighteen feet high at least, stretching up to the top ceiling beam, casting a warm glow over the room. There were garlands and big velvet bows. On the big mezzanine floor that overlooked the living area. No one was here, but he could hear voices coming from what he assumed might be the dining room.

He took Honey’s hand. Without even thinking.

They walked down the short hallway and went to the left, and there it was. There everyone was. The table was massive, laden with food, huge candelabras in the center, along with tiered trays of meats and desserts. It was the gaudiest, tackiest thing he’d ever seen this side of the Harry Potter movies, and it was incredible.

And around that table was... Everyone.

Hank at the head, wearing a white cowboy hat and suit, along with a bolero tie. Tammy at the foot of the table with big hair and a big smile.

And filling in the middle part... His half siblings and their spouses. Everyone went around the table for a quick intro.

West, who he’d met, and his wife, Pansy. Gabe, Jacob and Caleb, with their wives and kids. Logan and his wife, and McKenna, the lone sister, and her husband.

He knew who they all were, but he hadn’t... Had never really thought that he’d be part of the family. Not ever.

But here they were. And here he was.

At a crowded table, and he had the strangest ache at the center of his chest that he ever felt.

“Jericho,” Hank said. “We thought you decided not to come.”

“I got waylaid by the snowstorm. We had to wait it out in a cabin on the way here.”

“No shit,” Hank said, laughing. “That must be quite a story. Pull up a chair. Who is this?”

“Honey,” he said. “She’s a...a family friend.”

“He’s not calling me honey,” she said. “My first name is Honey.”

Hank laughed at that too. “I love it.”

“My parents are...were...are eccentric,” Honey said.

“Eccentric,” he said. “I like it. I can definitely understand eccentric.”

It was Tammy, though, who stood.

There was a strange, soft note in her eyes, and Jericho couldn’t say that he liked it much.

It was too much like pity. Or sorrow.

“I’m glad you could come,” she said, walking forward and reaching her hand out.

It was Honey took it. “Thank you,” she said.

And he realized that Honey was protecting him. That she had sensed his hesitance and put herself right in Tammy’s path.

“Have a seat,” Hank said. “The food’s getting cold.”

“Thanks,” Jericho said.

They added another chair for Honey quickly, and they sat down beside each other. Honey made quick work of putting her plate together, then jumped right into the chatting.

And he had never been more grateful to have someone he knew at his side than he was right at this moment.

Because she was covering the awkwardness with ease, and he had never really thought that Honey was the kind of person who would do that.

“So what is it you do?” This question came from Grant, who he supposed was his half brother-in-law.

“I own Cowboy Wines.”

“Are you familiar with Grassroots Winery?”

“Yeah,” Jericho said.

“That’s my sister-in-law’s. She’s great. If you like to do any kind of collaborating, you should have a chat with Lindy.”

The family connections just kept growing. But he supposed that was the nature of something like this.

He wasn’t clear on everyone’s stories or circumstances, but as the evening wore on, he began to get filled in with bits and pieces of conversation. Grant and McKenna had met and married several years ago when she had come to town looking for Hank. Grant had lost his wife several years before and had never really thought about getting married again.

West was an ex-convict, and as opposite to his wife—a good girl police officer—as it was possible to get.

But they seemed completely crazy about each other.

Gabe Dalton’s wife was a total horse girl, and had plenty in common with Honey, who took up easy chatting with her over dessert.

Jacob and Caleb were married to teachers—who taught at the school for troubled kids that was apparently now on Dalton land. Logan and his wife were ranchers.

They were an interesting group, all with completely different stories. Though loss was something most of them had dealt with in one form or another. McKenna had been abandoned by her mother, while Logan’s had died.

He felt an immediate kinship to him.

He vaguely remembered Logan from high school, though they weren’t in the same year. And he’d been too caught up in his own grief to think about a kid younger than him dealing with anything similar.

The fact was, tragedy was more commonplace than anybody really liked to think.

It made your aches and pains feel like garden-variety stuff, when it felt absolutely significant to you.

He wasn’t sure if it made it worse or better. He had lived in a cloistered version of this experience for most of his life. What he wasn’t used to was having casual conversations about things like this with people he didn’t even really know all that well.

“So she’s a friend?” West asked, looking at him pointedly, then over at Honey, who was chatting with Jamie and Rose.

“Yeah,” he said. “Actually, my friends’ sister...”

At that, Gabe and Logan laughed. They laughed.

“What?”

“Been there,” Logan said.

“Married that,” Gabe added.

“Well, I’m not getting married.”

“Why not?” West asked. “I recommend the institution, actually, and I never did think that I would.”

“Nice for you,” Jericho said. “But...”

“Oh, have you had a hard life?” West asked.

“Too bad,” Logan said.

“Are we talking about hard lives?” McKenna came over to them, hands on her hips. “I’d like to play. Who had ten homes in four years?”

“You win that game,” West said. “I had way less. Well, not way less.”

“But who has the most half siblings?”

“I wouldn’t know,” McKenna said. “Because I don’t know my mom.”

“I only have the one other half sibling that I know of.” West looked at Jericho. “No relation to us. My mom’s kid.”

“Just you people,” Gabe said.

“Same,” Logan added.

“You all seem pretty...relaxed about this.”

“No point getting wound up about it at this point,” Gabe said. “Now, that wasn’t true back when it all first... Back when it all first happened.”

“Yeah, it was not the best when I showed up,” McKenna said. “Everyone was trying to put all the unpleasantness of the past behind them, and there I was, a big reminder of the way things had been before.”

“No one blames you for that,” Gabe said.

“I know you don’t,” McKenna said. “And I’m glad that I came here. If I hadn’t... I wouldn’t have all of you. Or Grant.”

“I think you like Grant best,” Logan said.

“I do,” McKenna said. And that made her brothers laugh.

Her brothers. He supposed they were his brothers. And he was her brother.

Growing up an only child, that was a strange thing to wrap his head around. Sure, he had been brought into the Cooper family, but it wasn’t quite the same. And he’d been sixteen when he had been.

Of course, he was thirty-four now.

“I think you like her,” McKenna said.

“Well, you don’t know me,” Jericho answered.

“Oh good,” McKenna said, smiling. “You have a chip on your shoulder. You really will fit in nicely. I was feral when I first came here.”

“I’m not exactly feral,” he said.

“But not exactly not,” McKenna said.

All right, that was a fair enough characterization of him in the entire situation. But he wasn’t going to let her know.

“Well, it’s getting late.”

“You have to make sure you get back here bright and early,” McKenna said. “They take the present opening very seriously.”

“We do,” said his brother Caleb’s wife, Ellie, holding a baby and hanging on to her seven-year-old, who was looking terribly sleepy.

“Yeah, and Amelia isn’t going to wait,” Caleb said, indicating the child.

He stood up, and Honey stiffened. She wasn’t even looking at him, but she seemed to sense his move to leave. He couldn’t begin to figure out how she was so in tune with him. It was just the strangest thing. The way she seemed to know what he felt. The fact that she was here at all.

“I’m going to head back to the cabin,” Honey said. “I need to call my dad. I’ll see you in, like, ten minutes.”

That surprised him. Because he thought that she had sensed his readiness to leave. But then she was scampering out, saying good-night to everybody, and Hank was looking at him. And he realized she had done that on purpose.

She was sensing things, but she wasn’t on his team.

“Hey there, son,” Hank said. “I wanted to have a talk with you.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t have to do what?”

“Call me son.”

“Maybe I don’t have to. But I want to.”

Maybe I don’t want you to.But he didn’t say that. Because he was here to see Hank, after all, so what was the point of being hostile. At least overtly.

Hank stood, and he followed him out of the room, back into the grand dining room, which was now empty. “Thank you for coming,” he said. “I didn’t think you would. But you know... Whether you believe it or not, I’ve known you were out there for a while. I just didn’t know your name. And her last name made it tricky to track you down. I had never gotten your first name, and your mother, Letty Smith, it was a common name. And when I finally did find her... And I found out she was gone...”

“Yeah. She died when I was sixteen.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“I know you didn’t, Hank.”

“You thought I did though. For your whole life, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. But you know... It’s good to have an enemy. Good to have a bad object that you can fight against. It’s probably why I have been so successful.” There he was, giving him credit for something that he had been bound and determined not to give him credit for. Even if he had said it as a joke, it was closer to acknowledging the role that Hank had played in his life than he wanted.

“Sure,” Hank said. “I know a little something about that. I ran from my demons for a long time. And they took me to dark places. I wasn’t a good husband to Tammy. And I failed a lot of other women as a result too. McKenna is working on teaching me about feminism.”

“Is she?” Jericho asked, and that was truly the funniest thing he’d ever heard.

“Yeah,” he said. “Because of the patriarchy and power imbalances and things, what I did was especially wrong. But at the time it just felt like... I didn’t feel particularly powerful. I felt like a dumb kid that was out of control. I felt like a fool. Someone who didn’t deserve any of the things that he had. Who was just trying to feel alive. But at some point, you have to feel more than alive, and you have to work at feeling more than good. What you have to do is learn to sit on your bad feelings. That’s a hell of a thing.”

“Yeah, I’ve had enough bad feelings to get me through for a long time.”

“I’m not meaning to lecture you. I’m just... I’m glad that you’re here, I hope that I’ll see you past Christmas. I hope that you give this family thing a chance.”

“Then that would give you a happy ending, wouldn’t it? It would make all of it seem like it had a meaning? If you could get all of your wayward kids here and happy to be with you. Everybody forgiving everybody else and getting along. I guess that would go a long way in soothing your guilt.”

Guilt.

He was more familiar with the concept than he’d like.

Especially in regards to Honey.

Not touching her. He couldn’t feel guilty about that.

But because of all he could never give her.

“Sure,” he said. “But you know, it’s a lot of guilt, Jericho. Because McKenna was in foster care for all of her life. And Logan lost his mother. And you lost yours. And you boys were alone. McKenna was alone. There’s a lot of guilt with that. It’s not easy to live with.”

“Well, we’ll see what happens. But whatever happens, I’m not making the decision for the purpose of saving your soul. I enjoyed tonight. But I have a life. I have family.” The Coopers, whom he was drastically betraying with his dalliance with Honey. But he wasn’t going to think about that.

“I wouldn’t ask you to,” Hank said. “I wouldn’t ask you to do anything for the purpose of appeasing me. But sure, the side effect is that it probably will. If that stops you then... Not much I can do about it.”

“Sorry,” Jericho said. “It’s been a hell of a trip up here. It’s been a hell of a few days. I don’t know if I’m coming or going. But I’ll be here for Christmas morning.”

“Merry Christmas,” Hank said. Then as Jericho turned to go, he added, “Son.”

Hank was pushing. Jericho should be furious and yet...

He’d been a boy with no one. When he’d been sixteen and people had complained about annoying parents... He’d been nothing but jealous.

Something in him... Something in him wanted this and he couldn’t deny it, even as the wounded part of him wanted to pull away from it.

Jericho turned. “You couldn’t resist.”

“I couldn’t.”

“You did it because I told you not to.”

“Maybe. Look. I might’ve tried to better myself, but I’m still a no-good jackass. I just keep it managed now.”

“Well, see that you do.”

“Also, I’m going to have to build the bridge between us,” Hank said, his voice full of gravity. “No matter how wide the valley is, I’m committed to it, Jericho, I promise you. But I’m the one that should have to work for it. I’m the one who messed up. I just hope you’ll stick out waiting for me to get to the other side.”

Jericho’s throat went tight. “Yeah. Sure.”

Which wasn’t enough, but there were no other words.

He turned and walked down the long hall, out the front door, managing to slide by everybody without having to say a string of long messy good-nights.

He didn’t think he could face that level of family.

Outside it was crisp and cold and the sky was clear, the stars twinkling above, the trees inky black with spots of white snow a shout in the dark.

He had a family back in that house. A family.

And a woman waiting for him at his cabin.

And suddenly, his life felt fuller than it ever had.