Free The Texan's Christmas by Linda Warren

Hardin property.”
    “I told you that.”
    “You did? I forgot.” He waved a hand. “It doesn’tmatter. What I’m trying to tell you is that Kid will be back. That lease is important to the Hardin family.”
    She stood and kissed his cheek. “I know that, too. Now I have to get ready for work. I left a plate of roast and veggies in the refrigerator. Please eat it.”
    “Ah. I’m gonna check on my cows and then watch a John Wayne movie. I probably won’t be hungry.”
    “I’ll call Wilma to come keep you company then. I bet she can get you to eat.”
    “Don’t you dare.”
    Lucky smiled all the way to her bedroom. But her father was right. Kid would come calling again, probably with a chisel in one hand to etch his name on the headstone and the lease in the other. Any way she looked at it, she was going to see Kid one more time. Her insides didn’t cramp up at the thought. She was actually looking forward to it.
     
    K ID DROVE TO THE ONE PLACE that gave him comfort when he was a boy—his aunt and uncle’s house on the High Five ranch. Everything was quiet as he passed the Belle residence. Cooper and Uncle Ru were busy on the ranch and sometimes Sky helped. He got out and went inside the old log cabin. It wasn’t locked. He sat on his bunk in the room they shared as boys. His eyes kept going to the heart on the wall.
    He hadn’t meant to lose his temper with Lucky, but his son deserved his name. Before he did anything drastic, his usual modus operandi, he’d talk to her again.
    “Kid,” Aunt Etta said from the doorway. “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing. Everything.”
    “Oh, your face.”
    “I’m okay,” he tried to reassure her.
    Aunt Etta sat on Cadde’s bunk, facing him. “Since you didn’t come home, I thought you went back to Houston.”
    “I’m sorry. I should have called.” He was a selfish bastard.
    “You’re not a teenager anymore so I didn’t worry, but maybe I should.”
    “Nah. Just got into a fight. Nothing unusual for me.”
    “Kid…”
    “Thanks for all the years you put up with my inconsiderate ways.”
    Etta wiped her hands on her apron. “You’re scaring me. Tell me what has you so down and why you’re fighting.”
    “You don’t want to know. It would change your opinion of me.” God, he sounded whiny.
    “I don’t think so. I was there the day you were born. I changed your diapers, watched you grow, grieve and fight back. I also saw you hide all your pain behind laughter. I know you inside and out and there’s nothing you can say or do that would ever change my love for you.”
    He ran his hands down the thigh of his jeans. “I screwed up…bad.”
    “What’d you do?”
    From somewhere deep inside him he found the strength to tell her about Lucky and the baby. She moved to sit beside him and gave him a hug.
    “I’m so sorry, Cisco.” She touched his bruised face. “Did Lucky hit you?”
    Oh, no. When she called him by his given name he knew a lecture was coming so he braced himself.
    “Ah…no. I made a nuisance of myself at The Beer Joint.”
    “Cisco!”
    “I know I’m too old to fight and I should leave Lucky alone.”
    She hugged him again. “I always felt I should have put a stop to that relationship. You were too young to get that serious.”
    She wouldn’t be Aunt Etta if she didn’t take the blame for his selfish behavior. She was always protecting her nephews. “It wasn’t your fault. I would have found a way to be with Lucky.”
    “Uh-huh. What happened to those feelings once you reached Lubbock?”
    He ran his hands over his face. “I don’t know. I just felt free from all the sadness that lingered here. It was a whole new life and I liked it. I wanted to call Lucky but I kept saying I would call her tomorrow—tomorrow became a week, a month, a year and then I knew it was too late.”
    “And another girl took her place.” Aunt Etta rubbed his shoulder to ease the impact of her words. “You were always too handsome for your own