Texas #4_Texas Christmas Read Free

that nothing had changed, and they sat quietly with very little talking for a long time. Jack lost himself in thoughts about Beth and Josh and just how close they all were.
    “You remember when Beth was born?” Josh asked suddenly. Obviously Josh had been thinking on the same lines as Jack.
    “Yeah,” Jack said immediately. He’d been eleven, Josh was thirteen, or near as, damn it. Everything had changed when their squalling sister had arrived at the D. Even at eleven, Jack had the impression Beth was a result of his parents making up after their constant fighting. He wasn’t stupid. He could see that his dad hadn’t been interested in Beth. Not so him and his brother. They doted on her, especially when it was discovered she was ill. She was twenty-four now, a wife and a mother, but he and Josh would forever be the big brothers who watched over her.
    “You remember when she was sick all over your saddle?”
    Jack huffed a laugh. “Only ’cause you fed her an entire package of cookies and she was allergic. Took me ages to get that saddle clean. What about her first boyfriend, he was what, fourteen? We went all Van Damme on his ass.”
    This time it was Josh’s turn to laugh. “We scared the shit out of him.”
    “Only because you told him I was a cowboy with a gun, and I would hunt him down if he hurt Beth.”
    “Well, you were a cowboy with a gun,” Donna interjected. “And I bet you would have hunted him down if he upset Beth.”
    Jack quirked a smile. “I sure would.”
    “Hell, you married a man to save her life,” Riley’s voice came from behind them and held laughter. Jack was never happier to see his husband, especially considering Riley had a tray of Starbucks and Hayley held a box of doughnuts. Jack had no worries about Hayley hearing the soft teasing remark. She knew all about how her daddy had met Pappa . It was never a secret, they’d just played down the whole blackmail thing—they’d explain that later should they need to.
    Riley leaned down and kissed Jack.
    “Was worth it,” Jack said with a grin.
    Riley shook Josh’s hand, then Neil’s, and finally he gathered Donna up in one of the patented Riley hugs. She burrowed into the hug and clung to him fiercely, another tell that she was looking for support.
    “I got doughnuts,” Hayley announced.
    “Have,” Riley, Jack, and Josh all corrected her.
    She pouted and rolled her eyes, which Jack thought still remained cute even though she was twelve. “Whatever,” she said and thrust the doughnuts out to Neil. Then she proceeded to hug Josh and her Gramma , then Neil while at the same time relieving him of one of the sugared goodies.
    Jack ate two and drank real coffee and finally felt more human.
    The door to the delivery suite opened, and a woman in scrubs popped her head out. Jack and Josh immediately stood.
    “Beth is asking for her mom,” the midwife said softly. Donna passed her coffee to Neil and took a moment to straighten her shirt and jeans before inhaling and nodding. “Nothing to worry about,” the midwife added. Jack exchanged glances with Riley. Didn’t matter what the midwife said, Jack would still worry.
    Riley did his bit by keeping the conversation flowing, talking about the twins and Max and oil and what Sandra looked like without her makeup and pearls at six am this morning. Jack simply listened and was never happier than when Hayley sat next to him and leaned against his arm—her presence was another distraction.
    At nine thirty the door opened again. This time Donna came out and she was grinning from ear to ear.
    “A boy, six pounds, eleven ounces. They’re both doing well. We can go in to see her in a while.”
    Jack hugged everyone and when they were finally allowed into the delivery room, he was stunned at how beautiful Beth looked, at peace with a tiny scrap of a baby in her arms and Steve next to her, the proud daddy.
    Neil had a decent camera on his phone and took enough photos to chart every one of the