Page 53 of Mountain Men’s Nanny

It was enough to get Gunner going. He smiled as if he knew he was going to win, though there really wasn’t anything to win.

“A challenge?” He winked at me. “I was just thinking of Tobias’s back and your weak knee, but if you’re up for it, let’s get Lexi her tree.”

Tobias took off his coat, folded it carefully, and handed it to me. “My back has never felt better. Stand back, and we’ll see who the old man really is.”

Lexi squealed and circled back to me excitedly. She held my hand and led me to a rock far enough away to be safe, but close enough to watch the men bring down the tree.

“If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have a Christmas,” Lexi said, squeezing my hand. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

I didn’t know what to say. I was glad I had come too, but I had already said that many times before.

“Sometimes my dad forgets to have fun,” she continued.

I watched her little face grow serious. Some parts of her were much older than her years, and those parts were finally agreeing with the parts of her that were just a little girl.

“Sometimes he gets lonely, and I think he misses my mom. But it’s different since you came,” she smiled. “He’s not so worried all the time.”

I sat down on the rock and gestured for Lexi to sit down next to me, and we watched the men work quietly for a while.

“Your dad just needed someone to help him, that’s all. Now that I’m here, he has more time to think up fun adventures for the two of you,” I said.

Lexi twisted her lips in consideration. She weighed my response as she did with a tricky math problem.

“That’s not all,” she said. “I think my dad likes you.”

We shared a smile, and both turned to look at Tobias. He had undone the buttons of his shirt, sweat saturating the front of his vest as he chopped at the tree’s thick trunk with Gideon and Gunner watching and waiting for their turn. Gunner is counting out every swing.

“I’m glad he likes me. We can all be great friends,” I smiled.

We had crossed the perimeters of friendship; we were far more than that, even though I couldn’t find the right label for what we were. Friendship was the best way to describe it to Lexi.

“No,” she giggled. “Gunner and Gideon are my dad’s friends. I mean he likes you, likes you.”

I blushed; I couldn’t help it. My cheeks just flushed, and I felt them warming from the inside. Lexi didn’t skip a beat.

“I think you like him too,” she giggled. “I think you’d both be happy if you stayed. I’d be happy too.”

I hadn’t considered that I’d need Lexi’s approval, but I did, and knowing she approved was a big deal. Little girls read about evil step-mothers, instead of becoming fiercely protective of her father, she was open to letting me in.

“Does that mean you’ll stay?” Lexi looked up at me with her big brown eyes, waiting for an answer.

26

A Lot Like Christmas

~

Gideon

Everyone was tired from our haphazard Christmas planning. We sat around the living room, nursing tots of brandy, admiring the tree. Objectively, it was a glittering mess. Gunner and Lexi made tinsel out of glittered paper. Brie cut out snowflake shapes, and I made a foil-covered star for Lexi to put at the top of the tree. We hung the wooden coasters with our names on them last.

Tobias had the idea of making personalized ornaments like the ones he used to have back home. One for Lexi, one for Gunner, one for himself, and one for me. Not for Brie, though. It hit me like a punch in the gut.

It was our first real Christmas together, but Brie wasn’t here to stay. At the end of winter, she would leave, and I might never see her again.

I’d made my whole life about anticipating the unexpected. I didn’t see her coming, and I sure as hell hadn’t expected her to turn out to be… all of this. Now, I couldn’t imagine this place without her. She had slowly changed everything, including my mind, and made it so that it couldn’t function without her. She was like the nannies in children’s movies—appearing when she was needed and disappearing when she was wanted.

“I hate to break up this Hallmark moment,” Gunner announced, draining his glass. “But the wind is picking up, and if we don’t batten down the cabin now, we’re going to be spending Christmas outside.”