Free Unbreakable by Rachel Hanna Page B

but she paused in surprise at the sight of the table before a huge smile spread across her face. “Sophie, did you do all this?”
    “Yes, Aunt Kay. Merry Christmas.” Sophie blushed as her aunt came bustling forward and enveloped her in a tight hug.
    “Philip, get your butt down here right away. There’s a big surprise waiting for you,” her aunt called before surveying the table with pride. “You really outdid yourself, honey. Thank you so much. This all looks amazing!”
    Philip came sauntering into the kitchen and stopped, a wide grin appearing on his face. “Sophie, darlin’, is this your doing?”
    “Yes, Uncle Philip. Merry Christmas.”
    “This smells incredible! Merry Christmas, Sophie, and thank you, sweetheart. Best Christmas present I’ve ever had.” He came up and hugged her as well.
    “Well I’m not so sure about that but you guys should sit and get started before it gets cold. I just hope it doesn’t poison you.” Sophie took a seat in her regular spot and sampled food from her own plate, sighing mentally in relief when it tasted the way it was meant to. Once breakfast was finished, Sophie retrieved the cookies and handed them to her aunt and uncle. “I didn’t have any Christmas presents for you so I decided to make these. I hope you like them but I won’t be offended if they ‘accidentally’ get eaten by Badger or Tilly.”
    Kay and Philip exclaimed in delight at their gifts before opening the packets and trying the cookies. Her uncle took a large bite and closed his eyes, an expression of bliss on his face. Swallowing, he opened his eyes and looked at her. “Sophie, I reckon you should just stay here and make cookies all day because I’m going to suffer without having a regular supply of these.”
    “You really like them?” Sophie sounded unconvinced. “You can tell me the truth.”
    “These are exceptional, Sophie.”
    “I have to agree, honey. I couldn’t have made them better myself.” Her aunt smiled as she clasped Sophie’s hands. “You’ve turned into quite the cook, sweetheart.”
    “Really?” Sophie couldn’t stop herself from breaking into a grin. “I’ll review the situation in twenty-four hours and make sure you’re not both suffering from delayed food poisoning, but I’m so relieved things turned out okay.”
    “Better than okay.” Her aunt poured more tea for Sophie before settling back in her chair. “This has been a real treat not having to cook this morning, honey. I’m really proud of you.”
    “It was nothing, Aunt Kay.”
    “That’s not true. You’ve made incredible progress since you’ve been here.”
    Sophie smiled into her mug as she drank, pleased with the praise. It was nice to do well at something again and be appreciated for her efforts, instead of getting disapproving looks all the time. It gave her a boost to her confidence that she hadn’t realized she’d been lacking for the past few months. The morning passed very pleasantly, with her aunt and uncle telling her stories about previous Christmases on the ranch as they helped each other out with the initial food preparation before everyone moved through to the lounge and presents were exchanged next to the Christmas tree. Sophie received an incredibly soft and warm blanket that her aunt had knitted for her as something cozy and comforting wherever she might find herself in life, and her uncle gave her a framed collage of photographs of herself in various locations around the ranch.
    “When where these taken?” Sophie looked in surprise at the various photographs that ranged from her playing with the dogs in the garden to cooking in the kitchen with her aunt to examining the cattle with her uncle. There was even one of her and Miller together, backs turned to the camera as they leaned on the stall door and stroked Blizzard’s neck.
    “It was a joint effort between your aunt and myself. We’d take photos whenever the opportunity presented itself and then decided on the best