Marie Ferrarella - A Baby For Christmas

“It is only a threat if I do not do it,” Rita said, calling after the departing brothers.

Without missing a beat, the housekeeper turned around to focus her attention on Amy. Seeing that the ranch’s newest houseguest had finished what was on her plate, Rita asked, “Would you like something more to eat?”

Thinking about what Cole had just said, Amy had been caught off guard by Rita’s question. It took her a second to process it.

“Oh no, thank you,” Amy quickly demurred. “I’m so full, if I had one more bite I might just explode. Everything was delicious,” she added, not wanting to somehow offend the woman by forgetting to compliment her efforts.

“Everything was all right,” Rita corrected. “Delicious will be served for dinner,” she informed the young woman with the same straight face she had used to tell Cole that the baby she was holding was her own. Then, giving Amy a penetrating look that seemed to somehow delve into her innermost thoughts, she told her, “It is all right to smile once in a while, Miss Amy. No one will think less of you for it.”

Amy flushed. She didn’t want to come off as some sort of a sourpuss, especially after she’d been taken in the way she had by Connor.

“I’m sorry. It’s just...” Her voice trailed off as she tried to find the right way to say what she was feeling.

Rita seemed to be way ahead of her as she nodded knowingly.

“I know—it is hard to accept that things are not the way you thought they would be and that you need to take the help that is offered to you. But you are not the first to be in this position and you will not be the last. Now,” she told Amy as she began to leave the kitchen, “have another cup of coffee while I go to change your son.”

At the mention of changing Jamie, Amy was on her feet. “I’ll do it.”

Rita gave her a look that forbade her to move. “You will get more coffee and then you will sit and drink that coffee. I will change your son. You can change him the next time he needs it,” she said by way of appeasing what she took to be the young woman’s need to take care of her baby. “There will be many more opportunities for you to do it before he learns to take care of his own needs,” Rita assured her as she left the kitchen.

Because she didn’t want to make waves and cause any further discord, Amy sat down again and savored her second cup of coffee.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that the housekeeper had left the room and Connor was in the attic with Cole, she gathered up both her plate and Connor’s, as well as the utensils they’d used, brought them all over to the sink and then quickly washed them.

It gave her a small sense of satisfaction to be useful, even in such a minor way.

She had just put everything on the rack to dry when Rita returned to the kitchen. Expecting a reprimand, she was surprised when the housekeeper smiled at her.

“You did not have to do that,” Rita told her.

“I wanted to,” Amy answered. “I don’t like being lazy.”

A small laugh escaped Rita’s lips. “You are the mother of a six-month-old. Lazy is not a word that belongs in your world. Here, take your son.” Rita handed the baby over to her. “I have been gone five days and there are many things I need to organize and clean,” she announced.

A thud coming from somewhere on the second floor had Rita glancing up toward the ceiling. “They have brought down the crib. Go and tell them where you want it.”

“Won’t they put it where they usually do?” Amy asked the housekeeper.

She doubted the two brothers would appreciate her ordering them around, especially since this was their ranch house and she was there only as Connor’s guest. If anything, putting in her two cents seemed rather ungrateful to her.

“But that may not suit your needs and you are the baby’s mother. Now go, shoo,” she added for good measure, waving Amy and her baby out of the kitchen.

“Yes, ma’am,” Amy murmured as she quickly left the room.

Turning away, Rita smiled to herself.

“She is learning,” she muttered under her breath, pleased.

* * *

“DID YOU COME here to supervise?” Connor asked as Amy ventured into the room that he and his brother had just brought the crib into.

She didn’t want Connor to think she was willfully trying to get in his way.

“It was Rita’s idea,” Amy said. “She told me to come upstairs to tell you where I wanted the crib.”

“So where do you want it?” Connor asked. He and Cole had just brought the crib in, narrowly negotiating the doorway, which was only a little larger than the width of the crib.

“Anyplace,” Cole panted, putting his end of the crib down.

Connor looked at his brother over his shoulder. “I was asking Amy.”

“Wherever you had it before is fine,” Amy said quickly. “Cole’s face is red,” she noted with concern.

Connor made a dismissive noise. “That’s just for your benefit,” he told her. “He wants you to think that he carried the brunt of the crib coming down the stairs.”

“I did,” Cole declared, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

Connor looked at her and deadpanned, “Cole was actually the runt of the litter.”

“Said the man who’s looking to work the ranch alone for the rest of the month,” Cole concluded, taking in a bracing breath.

Ignoring Connor, Amy shifted Jamie to her other side as she asked the other man, “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Don’t encourage him,” Connor said. “He’ll just go on milking this for hours. He’s actually as strong as an ox.”

Cole gave him a dark look. “A minute ago I was the runt of the litter.”

Connor shrugged, unfazed. “Even oxen have runts,” he quipped.

“Nice save,” Cole commented. “You just don’t want to come off looking like a slave driver in front of Amy and have her thinking badly of you.”

“I’d never think badly of Connor,” Amy told Cole, coming to Connor’s defense. “Your brother is one of the really good guys.”

Cole laughed as he eyed his brother. “You sure we’re talking about the same Connor McCullough?”

Amy smiled. She had no idea where she would have gone if she hadn’t had Connor to turn to. “Very sure,” she replied.

“Well, looks like you’ve got her fooled,” Cole said to his brother.

“Shouldn’t you be getting to work on the stable door?” Connor reminded him. That was the first chore on their list for today.

“Why?” Cole asked, pretending to still recover from bringing the crib down from the attic. The stairs leading from there to the second floor were steep. “It’s not going anywhere.”

“No, but the horses might if that door hinge gets any weaker,” Connor pointed out. It was still in place, but it wouldn’t take all that much for it to come loose.

“All right, all right,” Cole said with a sigh. “Now that we’ve got the crib back in the nursery, I’ll go see about that stable-door hinge.” He paused for half a second just as he walked by Amy. “Like I said, a slave driver,” he told her with a wink.

The give-and-take between the two brothers had left Amy smiling, as well as reminding her of just what she had missed out on by being an only child. It was obvious that the McCulloughs might squabble at times, but the love that was there between them was impossible to miss.

“Now that he’s gone,” Connor said, turning around to face her, “we can get back to fixing up this room. Would you like me to move the crib?”

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