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“Please do,” Trask says and smiles at me. “Do you think that you can give a homeless man a place to sleep tonight?” Trask asks. I know we’re moving this too fast. I’m afraid to tell this man no and break this thing that we have going on. “Let me rephrase that. Can I stay at your house tonight? I don’t want to see my family again tonight and I would love to wake up on Christmas morning with you. I can sleep on your sofa. No pressure whatsoever. I just want to wake up in the same house with you on our first Christmas together.” I look at Trask closer and I hope I am using better judgement with Trask than I have with the men before him.
“Alright, I would like that, but my sofa isn’t comfortable. I only have one bed in my house so you can share my bed but no funny stuff. We’re both adults and I trust you or you wouldn’t be staying in my house. Do you need to pick up some clothes or something from your house? I don’t want to go back there, so you can drop me off at home and then go back and get what you need.” I will never enter that house again. Skeeter and Donald both hate me, and they don’t even know me.
“Do you have a washer and dryer?” Trask asks.
“Yes, of course, I do,” I answer.
“I have a gym bag with some gym shorts and t-shirt as well as a shower bag if you don’t mind if I borrow your washer to clean them. I have your Christmas gifts in my back seat, so I am set. Do we need anything else for our Christmas dinner? I think the grocery store is open for another half an hour.” I haven’t had a Christmas dinner with someone in so long. Mom was always hungover on Christmas or strung out and sometimes I was the same way, so we never celebrated. We nursed our hangovers or looked for our next high. I was making up for it this year with a small dinner, but I always fix too much. It’s hard to fix a real meal for one person. I can’t believe I get to share my first celebrated Christmas with Trask.
“I have everything at home for dinner, but I warn you, sometimes my furnace doesn’t work right, and you may get cold. My bedroom ceiling leaks so if it rains, you will hear it leaking into a bucket.” Trask looks at me with concern.
“Doesn’t Mrs. Lamb fix things in the house?” Trask asks with a look of anger on his face.
“She said she’ll get around to it, but I’ll make do until then. The furnace is hit and miss, and I have a fireplace. I also keep an electric heater in the bathroom. The leak is just annoying when it rains hard at night and I need to keep emptying the bucket so the water doesn’t ruin the carpet,” I say embarrassed, but I need to warn him before he stays with me.
“We can deal with this. I’ll start a big fire and bank the coals so a fire in the morning will be easy to start. I’ll look at the furnace, but I don’t know very much about them. I will call a repair man tomorrow and bill it to Mrs. Lamb if you say it is alright.” Trask looks at me and then back to the road. I don’t want to make Mrs. Lamb mad, but it seems only right. “The roof is an easier fix, that I know how to do. It’s not raining tonight but there is supposed to be rain later in the week. I’ll get up there tomorrow and put a tarp over it and then when we have a few dry days, I’ll patch it to get you through until this summer. Mrs. Lamb can get a roofer up there to fix it then.”
“I don’t want you working on Christmas.” Trask laughs.
“Don’t worry about me, darlin’, it seems like a fair trade to me. You fix me dinner and I put a tarp on your roof because you don’t want me in the kitchen helping you. I once burned a boiled egg. It’ll only take a little while to tack a tarp up and it may not stop it completely, but it will slow it down some so you can sleep through the nights it rains. Deal?” I smile at Trask.
“Deal and thank you. I’m not sure how Mrs. Lamb will react to a repair bill for the furnace but it’s in our lease that she is responsible for repairs.” I don’t know if I like Trask fixing things for me—I’m not his responsibility—but isn’t that what you do for people you care about, try to help them. I’ve never been in a healthy relationship, but this feels right. I don’t want Trask to think I expect this of him, or I am using him. I won’t do that. I will never use another person. I am better than that. I want to be better than that. “I don’t expect this of you. I was just warning you before we got back to my house and the house has a chill or it starts to rain.”
“I know you don’t expect it but I do like to help you. It makes me feel all manly.” That makes me laugh and Trask laughs along with me. “Relax, babe, I care, and I want to help. Nothing else to it. Are you always so uptight when someone offers to help you? It’s what we do in this small community. If someone needs help, then we do what we can. I would do it for you anyway, you’re my girl. I don’t want you getting wet and freezing.” I smile at Trask shyly.
“I’m your girl?” I ask. I need to know. My insecurities are always rearing their ugly heads.
“Yes, you’re my girl and I take care of what is mine. Since you are mine, then I am yours. You’re giving me a place to stay tonight so I can calm down and you’re fixing me dinner tomorrow. Otherwise, I would be knocking on Botie and Lyric’s door. I’m sure they would rather have a quiet Christmas together because it will be the last one they will have alone with the baby coming.” Trask seems so sincere. Do I trust this man? Yes, I trust him. I have never hoped so hard that I am doing what is right. I think Kim would like Trask and I think she would approve of me trusting him.
“Okay, you can help me, and I will feed you. This will be the best Christmas I have had, and it’s because I’m spending it with you. Let’s forget tonight ever happened,” I tell Trask and even I can hear the hope in my voice.
“Deal, pinky swear.” I laugh and we hook our pinkies. I know moving to Comfort is the best thing that has ever happened to me. No matter what happened to bring me here, I can never regret any of it or I wouldn’t be here. My life is on a new road and it is full of hope and good things. Christmas miracles do happen.
Chapter Twelve
Skeeter
I can’t believe that Trask had the audacity to bring one of his shameless hussies to our yearly Christmas Eve party. That tart will not get her claws into my son. Trask may not enjoy our A-list friends and he may not like to attend our soirees, but he is still a Stillman and he will not embarrass us again by showing up with that type of woman. He can’t get past the cheap looks that the woman exuded. I am fit to be tied.
Branton may have been intoxicated but so where half our guests by that time. I do say Branton’s comments were completely out of line but at least my youngest son knows that women like Kelly are only good for one thing and one thing only.
It is time for both of my wayward sons to set their goals on finding a suitable mate—one with breeding and old money ties. Donald and I have indulged our sons with both of their womanizing ways but now they both need to produce some heirs so Donald’s bloodline can be carried on for generations to come even if I need to step in and help with the process.
“Donald, we are going to need to take the trash out again. That Kelly woman ruined our holiday party, and I won’t stand for it. She needs to go, and it is time for our sons to step up and do their part to make sure this family’s bloodline continues with a breed of woman that will only strengthen the family,” I say with determination. He will not ignore me this time. He’s let our sons run amuck for too long. We may have come from nothing, but we have a reputation to uphold now. What will people say after seeing Trask with this type of woman? He’s never showed a care in his selections for companions, but up until now, he’s kept his dalliances restricted to one-night stands.
“Skeeter, you need to lower your voice. We still have company in the guest room. We don’t need to air our dirty laundry. Everyone will know you are pissed at Trask.” Donald takes another drink of his bourbon. “I agree with you. I put in a call earlier to that private investigator in Tennessee that helped us out with Branton last spring. He and his cousin found the dirt for us to be able to purchase that tape and that situation was a whole lot more complicated than getting rid of one woman. Everyone has something they want to hide in their life and Sage Mayson will find it for us.” Donald looks out the window. “Branton will marry whoever we decide is a good match for him as long as she also has the looks to go along with her money. But Trask will be difficult, and you know that. If we push him too hard, he will dig in and there is no way he will marry for money. I am almost envious of that boy’s tenacity sometimes.”
“You have made our son too independent while we tended to Branton. The only thing Trask holds dear to his heart is this ranch and in two more years, he becomes the full owner. Then we won’t have a hold on him. Why did your father put that clause in his will?” Donald never listens to me until it’s too late.
“Trask has no idea about his grandfather’s will but the day he turns thirty-two, Mr. Lint will contact him and he will know. There is nothing we can do about it. I inherit most of my father’s money and stocks and then Trask gets this ranch. I agreed to the terms since Dad’s portfolio is much greater than mine, but I thought by the time the boys would inherit that they would fall into line. I should have known that I could never control Trask. Well, everything but the house itself, that we retain. Dad knew that Branton was not a rancher. He inherits Dad’s house and a bundle of cash. Branton will go through it in no time. The boy has no idea how to handle money.” Donald rambles on about things I already know.
“Donald, concentrate on the problem at hand. I won’t have that woman having my grandchildren. Can you imagine someone like her at all our gatherings? I would be too embarrassed to have another party. This will not do. You give that Mayson person double pay to dig something up or we’ll fabricate it. We’ll send this hussy packing right back to where she came from.” I know I am right and one day Trask will thank us for it.
“Skeeter, I know you are right. I’ll call Sage in the morning and let him know I want this a top priority and I want results now,” Donald tells me. I am glad we are now on the same page. “I just hope when this woman goes packing that we don’t lose our son too,” Donald says and then finishes his bourbon.
“Don’t be silly. Trask is a Stillman, and he knows that we are only looking out for him. We’ll play our cards right and he’ll never know that we were behind this. When we pick his perfect match, we’ll make it look like an accidental meeting and he’ll think it is all his idea. It’s the only way to handle Trask.” Mothers always know best. I will always do what is right for my sons even if they can’t see it and they don’t like it.
Chapter Thirteen
