Christmas Catch-Up IV (River's End Ranch Book 39) Read online

  Sadie put down the bowl of cookie dough she’d been mixing, and turned slightly in Shawn’s hold to smile up at him. His hair was still slightly too long, and he still sported a short beard, but there was a light in his eyes and a spring in his step which hadn’t been there a year ago.

  “Hmmmm. I think we could manage that.” Stretching on her tiptoes—she was short and plump and about to get plumper—Sadie offered her husband a kiss.

  “Gak!”

  From the other side of the small apartment’s kitchen. Violet made the retching noises she did whenever her parents kissed in front of her, and Shawn pulled away with a laugh. Releasing Sadie, he lunged for his daughter, and lifted her squealing into the air.

  “Ho, ho, ho!” He threw the girl over his shoulder like a sack of toys, and lowered his voice comically. “I’ve got a special delivery here.” He swung around to face Sadie, nearly smacking his daughter—who was still giggling helplessly—into the fridge. “Do you know anyone who’s been a good girl?”

  Sadie pushed aside the cookie dough and pretended to think while she untied her apron. “I guess I’ve been a good girl. But good enough for a Violet? Do you think I deserve a present that special?”

  From atop her father’s shoulders, Violet made a noise somewhere between exasperation and laughter. “No one is good enough to deserve me! I’m awesome!”

  Shawn swatted her rear end playfully. “And so modest!”

  All three of them were laughing when Sadie herded her family into the small living room. They’d moved into her one-bedroom apartment—after selling Shawn’s RV— last year and had been discussing the feasibility of moving into a larger one in the same complex. Since the summer camps at River’s End Ranch—which Shawn had been in charge of putting together and running—had been so successful, and since the new carousel had brought in so much more business to her ice cream and coffee shop, they could afford to move. Besides, they would need the extra space.

  Still, if this was going to be their last Christmas in this cozy little apartment, Sadie wanted it to be special. And that included the Christmas Eve tradition of opening one present—something she’d done as a child, and which Violet had enthusiastically embraced.

  “Shawn,” she began sternly, “Put my daughter down carefully, please. Santa is watching, after all.”

  “Yeah, Dad!” Violet snorted with laughter. “Santa’s checking his list!”

  The two people who held Sadie’s heart collapsed onto the sofa. She was smiling when she pulled out the two special presents she’d set aside for Violet under the tree, and presented them to her daughter.

  “Open the flat one first,” Sadie instructed.

  A huge smile of anticipation on her face, Violet tore into the box. “New PJs! Thank you!”

  “What else is in there?” Shawn prompted.

  “Popcorn…and hot cocoa mix?” The little girl held up the two envelopes in confusion.

  Sadie nodded to the box. “They’re for tonight, and our new tradition.”

  “A movie!” Violet pulled out the last gift, a DVD. “Eloise at Christmastime,” she read.

  “That’s my all-time favorite Christmas movie,” Sadie said as she joined her little family on the sofa. “I’d love to share it with you tonight.”

  “Isn’t it a book too? I thought I saw Mrs. Shulman checking in an Eloise book a few months ago.”

  “I think you’re right. We should check the catalog—maybe we could read them together!”

  Violet grinned. “Cool!”

  “Ahem,” Shawn cleared his throat. “Before my two favorite ladies start nerding out over their books, I have a present for Violet.”

  Sadie elbowed him playfully. “We have a present.”

  He caught her hand and brought it to his lips. “We have a present.”

  “Gah, you’re not going to start kissing again, are you?”

  Ignoring his daughter for a moment, Shawn raised his brow at Sadie. “’Gah’? She gets that from you, you know.”

  Sadie stuck her tongue out at her husband, and dropped the last present onto Violet’s lap.

  The little girl ripped the tissue paper out of the gift bag, then grabbed a handful of material and pulled it out. “More PJs?” she asked, confused.

  “Check it out, Sprout,” Shawn prompted.

  Violet held up the pink T-shirt, and Sadie saw the moment the girl read and understood the words printed in glitter across the chest.

  “World’s Best Big Sister?” Violet read in a whisper, her eyes round when they met her parents’. “Does this mean what I think it means?”

  When Shawn nodded, Violet squealed and threw herself into their laps, and Sadie closed her eyes and inhaled her daughter’s precious joy. Because as much as this hug meant to her, she didn’t think she’d ever forget the look of absolute wonder that she’d seen on Violet’s face a moment before.

  They’d been so worried how Violet would react to the news. Well, actually, Shawn had insisted Violet was mature enough to be excited about the idea of a baby sister or brother, but Sadie had been more nervous. Add to that the terrible morning sickness of the last month that had prevented her from experimenting with new ice cream flavors, and she’d been just one big bundle of nerves.

  “Can I have a baby sister, please?” Violet was asking, her voice muffled against her father’s chest.

  Shawn chuckled, and wrapped his free arm around Sadie. “I don’t think we can take orders, Sprout. The baby’s in there already, and we’ll get to find out soon enough. Mommy’s got an appointment for the blood work next week, and we thought we’d see if you wanted to go, since school is out.”

  Her little nose wrinkled. “Bloodwork? I dunno, sounds yucky. But I can go and hold your hand, if you’d like.”

  “I’d like that a lot, Sprout.” Sadie smiled fondly. “But only if you want to. If you do, you’re welcome to come look at some pictures of the baby too.”

  Violet lifted her feet into Sadie’s lap, so they were all squished together. It might not be possible to sit like this for much longer, but for now, Sadie cherished the moment.

  “Hmmm,” the little girl hummed thoughtfully. “Pictures, huh? Are there any books I could read on the subject?”

  Sadie burst into laughter, thinking about the way she’d rushed out to buy three different books on fetal development when she’d found out she was pregnant. “There are! We could read those together, too.”

  “Promise?”

  Her daughter’s seriousness sobered Sadie as suddenly as the laughter had burst forth. “I promise, Sprout. What’s wrong?”

  “Things are going to change, aren’t they?”

  Shawn’s arms tightened around both of them. “They are. We’re talking about moving into a bigger apartment upstairs. And we’ll all have different jobs, different roles in our family. And our schedules might have to change, as we each help out with the baby. But we’re still going to love each other just as much, because we’re a team.”

  When he dropped a kiss to his daughter’s head, Violet’s eyes met Sadie’s. “Promise, Mommy?”

  And the tears in Sadie’s eyes were partly from joy, partly from the realization Violet was growing up. “Pinky promise.”

  Violet nodded, and her smile bloomed again. “Merry Christmas, Mommy.”

  “Merry Christmas, my loves.”

  You can find all of the River’s End Ranch books here.

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  ACKNLOWEDGEMENTS

  Back in May of 2016 I had the utter pleasure of meeting Kirsten Osbourne, Pamela Kelley, and Cindy Caldwell in Chicago during a conference. Soon after, they invited me to be part of this delightful world they were creating, and introduced me to the wonderful Amelia Adams. I was thrilled to join their team, and have had hours and hours of fun, playing via our imaginations at River’s End Ranch.

  Thank you, ladies, for letting me be a part of the magic.

  And thank you to Alyssa, to my beta readers and Cohort members, to our continuity reader Amy, and to CM Wright, my awesome editor.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Caroline Lee has been reading romance for so long that her fourth-grade teacher used to make her cover her books with paper jackets. But it wasn't until she (mostly) grew up that she realized she could write it too. So she did.

  Caroline is living her own little Happily Ever After in NC with her husband, sons, and brand-new daughter, Princess Wiggles. And while she doesn't so much "suffer" from Pittakionophobia as think that all you people who enjoy touching Band-Aids and stickers are the real weirdos, she does adore rodents, and never met a wine she didn't like. Caroline was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2006 and is really quite funny in person. Promise.

  You can find her at www.CarolineLeeRomance.com.

  Other works by Caroline Lee

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