Page 94 of A Heart Falls Cowboy Christmas

Then they were away, slipping onto the open space that was now the dance floor. The lights had been dimmed a notch or two, and it was family friendly but still intimate in a way.

She was in Logan’s arms, all of Heart Falls watching, and it was right.

Also, thank goodness they’d been practicing their dancing, with Edison giving them lessons and her dad and mom offering tips. So the awkwardness was gone, and now they could sway together on the dance floor without worrying about tripping over each other.

“I was watching you,” Logan confessed, and Jinx nearly tripped anyway. He straightened them both, smoothing the hiccup as if it had never happened. “You look pretty tonight, but it’s not only because of what you’re wearing.”

She knew what he was talking about. “I’m happy,” she shared. She looked him in the eyes, his hands firm yet gentle on her body as they moved together. “It’s been a good year. I’m going on an amazing holiday tomorrow with my family to a tropical paradise. I have a wonderful family at High Water. A dedicated dog who is going to miss me like crazy.”

His lips twitched. “And a dedicated boyfriend who is also going to miss you like crazy, but we’ll both wait for you to return and tell us everything about the island.”

A pang hit, but it was brief. “Maybe you can come along sometime in the future.”

Logan’s smile widened. “I’d like that.”

The music picked up a notch, and Logan swung her into a two-step, so talking was out for a bit.

But that was fine. Being together, a part of the party, and accepted as a couple? For here and now, this was exactly what Jinx had dreamed of when she’d hoped for a brighter future so many years ago.

A place to belong. Someone to be with.

She was happy.

20

How was it possibly Christmas Eve?

As tradition demanded, supper dishes had been cleared away and now they were setting up the tree and decorating the living room. Caleb stood awkwardly, arms thrust forward, grasping the prickly branches of the massive spruce to hold it vertical while Sasha tightened the screws in the tree stand.

No, the real question was, why were they still doing this?

Eventually, the new little ones might appreciate the magic of the house putting on a holiday dressing overnight, but for now it was only Tyler in the main house. He was old enough to know what was going on.

Heck, ten minutes before his bedtime, he’d carried in a pile of presents he’d made and put them on the kitchen table.

“I’ll leave these here so Santa can put them under the tree.” Then he’d given Caleb a kiss goodnight and trotted off to his bedroom.

Tamara trailed after him to tuck him in, offering Caleb an easy shoulder shrug.

The world had changed more than a little over the past year. Caleb was still trying to do more than accept that fact.

“I am all sewed out, but I did it.” Emma slumped into the room and dropped wrapped presents onto the coffee table before collapsing onto the couch. “Eight matching sets of pyjamas for the cousins.”

Sasha offered a hoot. “Woohoo. Good job. We’ll have to get them to put them on right away so we can take pictures all together.”

“That’s going to be the cutest family picture ever,” Emma agreed. She pulled herself to vertical. “What needs decorating? I’m ready to roll again.”

Caleb snorted. “Glad to see that a five second rest is all you need to reboot your batteries.”

“It’s Christmas Eve,” Emma pointed out. “Holiday magic is everywhere.”

Decorations went up. Tamara came back from tucking in Tyler and got busy in the kitchen for a minute. The scent of apples and chocolate rose on the air even as she joined the rest of them in the living room.

Sasha paused, a decoration in the palm of her hand. “It’s funny. I know this decoration, but the memory of it seems blurry. Like I remember it, but it looked different.”

Caleb glanced over, and his heart stuttered.

Sasha held one of the ornaments Tamara had made the first Christmas she’d been in their lives. A shiny thing with a picture of baby Sasha, that was in fact night and day different than the original that had held more pain than pleasure.