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His mom rolled her eyes. “Of course I made pies. I remember how your girl liked them. Told me she’d never tasted better.”
Tessa finally spoke, her voice thick with emotion. “You remember? I’ve still never tasted better.”
His mom wrapped her in another hug. “Of course we remember. You’re a special young lady and you were so polite and excited to see how a ranch operated. A little scared of the horses, but up you went anyway.”
Then his mom cupped Tessa's face and her tone changed to serious. “I’m so sorry for all you’ve been through, for all you’ve lost. We all are. But this is a time for celebration and we’re not going to allow sad memories to intrude today. We can do that another time, but today is for happy.”
She kissed both of Tessa’s cheeks, then grinned. “Now, tell me if my boy’s been treating you well. If not, there are always stables that need mucking out.”
“Mom.”
Tessa’s eyes shone with moisture as she laughed. “You raised him well. He’s a perfect gentleman and everything a girl could want.”
Beau and Morgan groaned while his mom puffed up. Flynn was grinning as his dad slapped him on the shoulder with a grin.
His mom wiped away a tear and then flapped her hands at them all. “Now, everyone sit and let me serve up the food. No, you can’t help. Sit. Everyone, just sit.”
Knowing his mom was serious and that Shelley Walker liked nothing more than to fuss over her brood and feed them, he tugged Tessa’s hand and held out a chair for her.
They sat for almost three hours, eating, laughing, and talking. Tessa asked questions about the ranch and their lives. They asked things that wouldn’t cause Tessa any stress.
His mom patted Tessa’s hand. “I know you’ll want to get back to your Midnight Lake, but we’d like to ask you to stay one more day so we can have a family Christmas tomorrow. I know it’s a few days early but we’d love to share an early Christmas with you both.”
Tessa gasped beside him and shook her head. “We don’t have any gifts. We haven’t had time to do any shopping.”
Beau held up a hand. “Stop, before Mom goes into herChristmas isn’t about presents speech. We’re not ten and we don’t need gifts. It’ll just be fun to get together. Say yes before she begs.”
Flynn’s dad reached over and tugged on Tessa’s hair. “It’ll be fun, little Daisy. Or maybe that should be Poinsettia.”
Tessa smiled and her eyes glittered with hope. They left soon afterward with promises to return in the early afternoon for dinner.
As they drove, Tessa worried her bottom lip. “It’s too late to do shopping tonight. We’ll have to go in the morning.”
“You heard them. We don’t need to bring anything.”
The look she shot him was full of horror. “Are you serious? They’re hosting a Christmas dinner for us with one afternoon notice. Of course we need to bring things.”
Her big, worried eyes had Flynn pulling onto a quiet side street and parking the Jeep. “Breathe, Tessa. There aren’t any expectations here. It’s just my family. They want it to be fun, not stressful.”
He reached over and ran his thumb over the lip she kept gnawing on. Stress radiated off her in waves. “What’s going on? What are you thinking?”
She blinked those luminous eyes a few times. “I don’t know how to buy proper gifts. We didn’t exchange gifts when I was a kid. I’ve never bought Christmas presents. I don’t know what to do.”
Flynn tried to keep the shock off his face. No gifts exchanged as a kid. No Christmas memories. With the chaotic frenzy of the Walker family in action, his Christmas memories were full of love and laughter. He might not remember all the gifts, but it was the feeling of family he remembered best.
He wanted her to have that, and she wouldn’t have that if stress got in the way. “Okay. We’ll figure it out. The best gifts make people smile. Any kind of smile, from silly to sappy. I think we should focus on silly for this year. What do you think?”
Her smile made him feel better than any trophy he’d received from his rodeo days. Now to spend time thinking of gifts rather than of making love to this woman.
Sounded like an evening of multi-tasking of the very best kind.
Tessa grinned as Beau and Morgan trash-talked while battling with theirRock ‘Em Sock ‘Emrobots on the coffee table. She and Flynn had spent the morning at the thrift store and the grocery store. They’d laughed their way through learning to make brownies and wrapping gifts.
At the thrift store, they’d bought silly toys for everyone and board games for the afternoon. Clue, dominoes, Scrabble, Hungry Hippos, and Mastermind. They were all new to her and his entire family had cheered when she’d been the first to figure outWho done it?on the second game.
This is what she’d always wanted growing up. Love spilled from the Walkers like water from a fountain. Freely.
When Flynn and Shelley took over the robots, Marty offered to make a batch of hot chocolate for everyone. It was seventy degrees in Texas, but apparently it was a Christmas tradition. And the Walkers were all about traditions.
