Free Colton's Christmas Baby by Karen Whiddon

as she stirred enough to get up and go around shutting off lights and unplugging hair tools, her cell phone rang. It was her mother, inviting her to lunch at the Corner Bar. Since this would offer a respite from going home to her big, empty house and since the Corner Bar also served a mean burger, Eve agreed to meet Bonnie Gene in fifteen minutes.
    Pulling on her down parka, she turned the sign on the door to Closed and went out into the swirling snow flurries. Though the weather wasn’t bad now, with the blizzard in the forecast for that evening, everyone who’d remained in town was rushing around buying staples and trying to Christmas shop while they could.
    The kind of snowfall being forecast could mean a complete shutdown of Honey Creek for a day or two, sometimes more if they lost power.
    Eve wasn’t worried. Even if she had forgotten to stock something at home, her pickup had four-wheel drive and she’d been driving in blizzards all her life.
    Enjoying the pretty curtain of snow, she walked theblock and a half to the Corner Bar. A popular eating spot during the day and watering hole at night, the place was crowded, even for noon. Her family’s barbecue restaurant was equally crowded, but no one in her family liked to go there except on special occasions. And when they did, they tended to close the back room. Otherwise, they were besieged by people wanting the secret recipe for their famous barbecue sauce.
    Inside, she walked up to the hostess and requested a booth. Since they were all taken, she settled on a table near the back and out of the main footpath. She’d ordered a Shirley Temple, glad she got to give the order before her mom arrived. Watching the patterns the swirling fury of the snowfall made outside the windows, she fell into a daydream about decorating a nursery.
    Fifteen minutes came and went. Her stomach rumbled a hungry protest, reminding her she was eating for two. Checking her watch for the third time, she sighed. Her mother was late again, which was a normal occurrence. Even the waitress had expected it and hadn’t bothered her with requests to take her order.
    Life in a small town. As she did every day, Eve reflected on how lucky she was to live here. Although she had enjoyed the cosmopolitan, old-world atmosphere in Europe, Montana would always be her home. She’d never been one of those who wanted to move somewhere else.
    Twenty minutes crept past. Eve had her Shirley Temple refilled. Still no Bonnie Gene. She took to studying the menu, as though she didn’t already have it memorized. Since she’d already decided on a hamburger and fries, she looked at the five different burger variations, trying to decide on which one.
    The front door opened, sending a gust of icy air through the bar before it closed. The steady clatter of plates andglasses and people talking stilled for a second, then resumed again at an even louder roar. Eve glanced up and she felt a jolt go through her like a shockwave. For a second she forgot to breath and her heart skipped a beat.
    Him. Looking as tall, dark and dangerous as a demon straight out of hell, Damien Colton strode into the room, drawing everyone’s stare. He, of course, looked neither left nor right, pushing through the crowd like a broad-shouldered linebacker. For a moment, she thought she’d forgotten their date, but then realized it was far too early in the day for that.
    As she had the night before, she contemplated how he’d changed. Prison had altered him a lot, she supposed. The earlier promise of his sulky beauty had matured, sharpened into a sort of rugged masculinity. He’d beefed up, no doubt from working out while behind bars, and if he’d ever had that prison pallor, the last three months he’d spent working on his family’s cattle ranch had darkened his skin to bronze. Even the overcast skies of winter hadn’t done much to dim his tan.
    He was, she thought, absolutely,