Texas Christmas Read online

  Gabby snagged one of the children and lifted him high, wrapping him in a loving embrace. “Hello, precious!” she said in a silly voice. “I’ve missed you so much! It has been too long!”

  “Gabba Gabba Gabba!” he cheered, sinking his hands into her hair.

  “Okay, let’s try to get everyone to take a breath for a moment,” Cade said in his baritone voice, drawing everyone’s attention.

  Gabby instantly remembered that the intruder was still in their home, and he needed to leave. She turned disapproving eyes on him, and was shocked to see him studying her, watching her with what seemed like fascination.

  Gabby had never been one to hold her tongue or, for that matter, to even think twice before she spoke. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you it is poor manners to stare?” she blurted out and the entire room suddenly went completely silent. Serena’s jaw dropped slightly, then she hastily covered her mouth, obviously trying to hide the smile that threatened to burst through her shocked demeanor.

  “Gabby, we are all very happy to see you and Raphael here,” Grandpa, Abuelo, said with kindness. “And I know you are very...bold...in your speech, but I ask for you to be respectful to our guest.”

  “What guest? We’re all family, here, Abuelo, except for this man who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near Olivia,” she said, her last words directed at Cade who was frowning deeply at her.

  “That’s just it, Gabby,” Angie said.

  “Gabba, Gabba, Gabba!” the toddler in her arms squealed again as Gabby tried to concentrate on what Angie was saying.

  “Meet our special guest for the winter: Doctor Luke Davenport.”

  Chapter Two

  Gabby carefully unpacked her belongings, placing them on the table and shelf she would use as a makeshift armoire. She shivered slightly and rubbed her arms, glancing around at the small cellar that had played a role in their lives in so many different ways.

  Years ago it had served as the place where her uncle and aunt—parents to Olivia, Angie, and Serena—had met to plan their actions as Federalists. It was the movement prior to the full-blown decision to stage a revolution against Mexico. With their deaths, Olivia, then Angie, and then Serena had made the choice to jump into the Texas Revolution. They had utilized the cellar as a place to hide food and items they took to the soldiers camped on the other side of the San Antonio River.

  It was there in the cellar that Olivia and Angie had made plans with Lorenzo on how they could get as many supplies to the Texan Army as possible. None of them would have guessed that Lorenzo and Angie would fall madly in love with each other, and now they had a three-year-old boy who was just as much of a daredevil as both of them.

  Then, as the Mexican Army was camped outside the walls of the Alamo, Olivia had made the decision to rescue a man on the verge of death and save him from the Mexican Leaders hunting an escapee. She hadn’t known it would change her life forever, and bring Cade into their family, along with his young daughter in desperate need of a mother—Annabelle, or Bella as they affectionately called her. Now they had a two-year-old son who enjoyed driving the entire family hysterical with his clownish ways, and their second child together on the way.

  She was closest to Serena, who was the nearest to her age. But sometimes, Gabby felt that, having led her life as a midwife and healer with her mother, she was far older than her prima. But Serena had also found true love, and Gabby wondered if it was ever going to be something she would get to feel. Or would she be the eccentric tía that the family loved, but who never truly fit in anywhere?

  “Is it really that terrible down here? Honestly, Gabby, why won’t you let me move...”

  Gabby spun quickly to the stairs and shook her head vigorously. “No, Serri, no. I’m fine down here. I prefer it, actually. The rest of you have to share your rooms with kids or Abuela and Abuelo, and the men are doubled up as well. This is the best place for me to be.”

  “You should have taken the room Luke offered you. We should have put him down here in the first place. We just weren’t thinking with everything happening so fast and—”

  “Serena, please...please. Listen to me. It is perfectly fine. And I wouldn’t take anything from that pompous know-it-all no matter how kindly he offered. Honestly, what bothers me is that all of you were—are—all right with him treating Olivia. How many ‘doctors’ have we seen come through this town? And how much illness and disease do they leave in their wake?”

  Serena sighed and descended the remainder of the stairs, holding two thick blankets to help keep Gabby warm overnight. She sat down with a huff, peering at Gabby over the blankets, drawing emphasis to her tiny size. “I know you have no respect for doctors. And I totally understand why. But this one seems different.”

  “Why? Because he has that funny accent?”

  “No. Well, partly. He didn’t study with doctors here. He approaches everything so very differently. He’s all about the cleanliness of the environment for a healthy procedure, and isn’t one who believes in cutting off a limb as soon as there’s a problem. He knows real medicine. Even things involving plants.”

  “Hah!” Gabby sat down next to Serena. “Has he shown you any of this? Or has he been all talk?”

  “Well, he hasn’t needed to, yet, thank God.”

  Gabby sighed heavily. “Does he have to stay here?”

  Serena laughed. “Give him time, Gabby. Just give him time. He’s truly a nice man.”

  “Why do I feel like there should be some sort of follow-up to that statement? Such as, ‘He’s truly a nice man, but he can’t see well close up, so pray he doesn’t have to stitch you up?’ Or, ‘He’s truly a nice man, but he forgets where your lungs are located sometimes?’ Or—”

  Serena was already trying to hold back her giggles, but broke out into full-blown laughter. “Enough, Gabby! Enough!”

  “Oh! Here’s the best one yet. ‘He’s truly a nice man, but...”

  Their joined laughter mixed together and traveled up the stairs as they finished unpacking Gabby’s belongings and rejoicing in being together once again.

  Gabby had checked on Olivia multiple times throughout the afternoon, and each time she was sleeping soundly. When she went in late afternoon, Olivia stirred and smiled at her. “So, is the doctor still alive?”

  Gabby smiled at her and sat on the edge of the bed, smoothing Olivia’s shiny black hair away from her face. “Yes, he’s still alive. I wish I had known you were having a hard time with your pregnancy. Why didn’t you send word to me?”

  Olivia closed her eyes and sighed heavily, and her eyes were damp with tears when she opened them. “It has been hard. But I thought it was only because I’m running around behind Doyle and not being as careful as I was when I was pregnant with him.”

  “What’s been happening?” Gabby asked, trying to hide her concern as she took Olivia’s hand in hers and stroked it soothingly.

  “The babe is very strong.” Olivia laughed tearfully. “Cade is certain it is another boy because it kicks and punches me so hard. But I’ve told him that it is a little girl warrior inside me.”

  “Have you bled any?”

  “Only a little yesterday. That’s why I asked Luke...Doctor Davenport to check me. I knew you were already on your way. Honestly, Gabby, I would never try to ask for help without you—”

  “Shh, shh.” Gabby patted her hand, reassuringly. “So it has only been a little blood?”

  “Yes. But it scared me.”

  “What did you tell this doctor?” She had tried to keep the sarcasm from her voice, but could tell it had oozed through by the frown on Olivia’s face.

  “He is a good doctor, Gabby. I think the two of you may actually enjoy sharing your knowledge with one another.”

  “That remains to be seen. So, now, what did you tell this good doctor, and how did he examine you?”

  “I only told him the babe has been kicking very hard and that I was having some pain. He had only begun his examination when you came in.”


  “So you left out the most important piece of information, and you didn’t let your husband know that another man was going to be examining you.”

  Olivia blushed. “Cade is the one who invited him to stay at our home and even commented that he could be a great help should something happen before you arrived.”

  Gabby stood and began to wash at the basin on the dresser. “Exactly why is he here in the first place? Doesn’t the town doctor have his own living quarters?” She turned back to face Olivia, casually drying her hands on the towel.

  “You wouldn’t believe the storm we had only a few nights ago. His living quarters are right above his clinic, and an old tree branch broke under the weight of the ice that had accumulated, and it crashed through there and even into the clinic. Of course, you know how Cade is, taking his role as the Sheriff so seriously, he—wow!”

  “I haven’t hurt you, have I?”

  “No, but your hands are ice! A little warning would have been nice.”

  “If I’d warned you, you wouldn’t have been so relaxed. Now, take a deep breath, and keep telling me about what Cade did. I’m going to press on the babe, and you tell me if anything hurts at all.”

  Olivia nodded and drew a deep breath. “Cade insisted that he stay with us. He wouldn’t let him stay at the hotel, as I would have suggested. Instead, he made sure Luke came to be with us, and he gave Luke—oh!”

  “That hurt?” Gabby’s attention was suddenly focused intently on Olivia’s face.

  “No, no. I just realized that we gave Luke your guest bedroom. Oh, no. Please tell me there wasn’t any problem getting him to move out.”

  Gabby smiled at her and returned to sitting next to her on the bed. “There was no problem at all. Now, here’s what is going on with your babe. You indeed have a feisty fighter in there, whether it is a boy or a girl. And I think your little fighter is trying to send you a message and it took a really good kick, literally, to tell you so. You need to rest, Olivia. I’m here now, so I’ll help with the kitchen.”

  “But, Gabby, you don’t understand. We have so many things to do with Christmas so close!”

  “Las Posadas starts on the sixteenth. It is only the fourteenth. What day do we host?”

  “We host on the twenty-first. That’s only a week to get ready, Gabby. And we haven’t even started on the decorations. Business has been so busy, which is a blessing, but it hasn’t given us the time to make the decorations or to start cooking the food or...”

  Gabby caught Olivia’s hands. “No more. We know what to do, and I’ll bring some of the decorations to you so you can do the work, what little work you’re allowed to, and you know Abuela will take care of everything so that the food is perfect. Don’t worry about it.”

  Olivia sighed heavily and a small tear slid from the corner of her eye. “What would I do without you, Gabby?”

  “You would let a know-it-all ‘doctor’ try to boss you around and only agitate you even more.” Gabby smirked, before Olivia shooed her out of her room in faked annoyance, requesting her husband so she could ease his mind.

  Gabby stepped out of the room and quietly closed the door then sighed heavily and hung her head. “Didn’t go as you’d hoped?”

  Her head snapped up and she was staring at the last face she wanted to see. “Why aren’t you out torturing others in town? Isn’t there someone else who believes in you and has some desire to have you practice your terrible tricks upon them?”

  The doctor leaned a shoulder against a wall in the hallway and crossed his ankles, his hands stuffed into his pockets. With his neatly pressed slacks, pressed shirtwaist with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and suspenders, he was the picture of what she imagined a scholar looked like. But the muscles in his forearms and the signs of exposure to the sun and other elements were a complete contrast to the pale and weak man she had imagined a doctor would be.

  “What is it that you dislike so much about doctors?”

  “The fact that you experiment on innocent people, butcher their lives both literally and figuratively. The fact that you promise cures for people when you don’t know a single thing you could possibly do to help them. Those are just a few of the things that I dislike so much about doctors.”

  “You don’t know me, madam, and yet you say such terrible things. Why don’t you at least let me show you who I am as a doctor?”

  “Trust me, I don’t need, nor do I want, to see.” She began to walk past him in the hall, but his arm snaked out suddenly, his strong hand gripping her upper arm with a surprising speed. Her gaze jerked to his and she suddenly noticed his eyes. They weren’t a deep blue, but more of the blue she saw out in the churning sea waters, and at the moment, his didn’t look very warm.

  “What did you notice when you checked her?” he asked for the second time.

  At first, Gabby was going to protest even telling him. But he seemed just as determined to get his answer. “The babe has yet to turn. That is why the kicks are so incredibly painful.”

  Luke nodded firmly. “And by the size of her belly and when she thought she became pregnant, that babe should be due any day. It must turn.”

  Gabby raised an eyebrow. “Did that fancy school in London teach you all of that? Spend a couple of months with me and you’ll learn far more.”

  A rakish grin crossed his lips, and he winked at her. “I just might take you up on that offer, Miss Torres. I just might.”

  While the women prepared food inside, the men cooked outside, and Luke made it his personal mission to chop enough wood to last them the entire winter. It was the only thing he could do to take his mind off the petite firecracker who had burst into his world that morning.

  He had been startled when she had come into the room, but the fierce protectiveness she had towards her cousin was even more startling to him. He had heard of such loyalty in families, but he had never imagined it truly existed.

  It did indeed exist, and was strong within this family. He brought the axe down on another log, halfway splitting it, then raised it, log and all, and came back down for the final split in half. Yet, it wasn’t just the strength of the loyalty within the family that he was amazed at. They shared everything, helped each other with everything, and rallied behind each other if it was ever needed.

  He had only been with the family a couple of days, but it had shown him more about family dynamics than he had ever imagined. He used his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his brow and went back to the wood stack. But Miss Gabby Torres was the biggest—well—biggest in a small package, surprise he’d ever encountered.

  He smiled to himself as he remembered the look of shocked indignation on her face when he had caught her arm in the hall. For some reason she had a very low opinion of doctors, and he was determined to find out why. But when he had agreed to her suggestion of him following her around for a couple of months, she had flushed a bright red and had eagerly stormed away from him.

  “I’m glad to see that Gabby hasn’t affected you too much,” one of the men said as he approached him, bundled up tightly against the cold, biting wind. “She can be a bit strong at first, but she means well.”

  Luke paused in his chopping and wiped his hand on his trousers before extending it for a handshake. “Luke Davenport.”

  “Raphael Torres. The family speak very highly of you.” Raphael took the axe from Luke and began to chop the wood, giving Luke a brief reprieve.

  “I am grateful for all that your family has given me. I certainly wouldn’t get this experience if I was living at the hotel.”

  Raphael chuckled. “No, you certainly would not. There aren’t many people who would want this kind of experience, though. It is tough work and tough love in the Torres family.”

  Luke nodded, swallowing hard. If only they knew. But he couldn’t let them know. He wouldn’t let them know. Texas was exactly where he belonged. He was needed, and he had no doubt that, soon enough, he would have the family he’d always dreamed of but never thought possible.

&
nbsp; Chapter Three

  The breakfast rush had come and gone, and Gabby was ready to make some magic happen. At least, that’s what she thought decorating was like—making magic. Overnight a hard frost had settled over the land, and anyone who could stay indoors was doing exactly that. But there was a lot of work to be done, and Gabby couldn’t afford the luxury of resting by the fire before the busy lunch rush hit.

  Bundled up in her cloak, scarf, hat, and gloves once again, Gabby headed out to the shed to grab the family wagon. She was concentrating so hard on fastening the harnesses she didn’t hear the crunch on the frozen ground as footsteps approached.

  “I wouldn’t have thought you’d be one to run away so easily.”

  Gabby whirled, holding her revolver low at her hip, having barely had the time to unsheathe it from its place within her cloak. Luke froze in front of her, but she saw something flash across his face, something that both frightened and intrigued her.

  “I knew you were dangerous, but I didn’t think this dangerous.” He lifted his eyes from the gun to her face and raised an eyebrow.

  She frowned at him and turned as she put her gun back in place. “You really shouldn’t sneak up on someone. Especially not in Texas. I don’t know how it was back in London...”

  “So are you leaving?”

  Gabby shot a sideways glare at him for interrupting her. She finished the harness fastenings and the old mule snorted, shaking its head and stomping its feet against the cold. “The short answer, yes, I’m leaving. The long answer is I’m coming back so don’t celebrate too soon.”

  She had snapped the reins on the mule’s back when the doctor quickly hopped up onto the buckboard next to her. At first she was startled at his agility and his height. But then she was angry. “You could have hurt yourself, or worse, been maimed or killed! Do you know how many accidents with mules or horses and wagons kill people? And it is almost always because they do something foolish like you just did.”