All I Want for Christmas: A Kinnison Legacy Holiday novella Read Online Free PDF Page B

shoring it against the wall. He shook his head. “Man, it makes this” --he gestured to the construction mess--“look like a piece of cake.” He eyed Rein. “Caring for someone else’s kid, I can’t imagine what that’s like.”
    “We’ve made some adjustments, but he’s a great little guy,” Rein replied. Cody had indeed been an unexpected addition to their lives at a time when he and Liberty were in the business of trying to have a family. They’d gotten the green light from the doctor after Liberty lost a child at four months. Their hopes had been dashed since with a false positive reading. A believer that practice makes perfect, he and Liberty had become creative with their lovemaking. Hot. Spontaneous. Comparable to the torrid little summer fling they’d engaged in just after her arrival to the ranch a couple of years ago.
    It was tough. But for his wife, he was up for it.
    “True,” Rein said as he removed the wrapping on another cabinet. “But damn, son, if half the fun isn’t getting there. Am I right?”
    Clay chuckled. “I’m trying to remember, dude. About the closest I get to my wife these days is to rub her feet. Sex is out. Twins can come early anyway, I guess. Doc doesn’t want to start any contractions too early.”
    Rein blew out a breath. “What we do to make our wives happy, eh?” He thought about Liberty at home, probably utilizing her quiet time to design the nursery for Clay and Sally. He pushed away the idea that it wasn’t their own nursery, but one of these days it would be. “Come on, with any luck we can get the rest of these cabinets in today. The appliances are coming Monday and we’ll have more help with Dalton, Wyatt, and Tyler next week.”
    Clay nodded. “We may just be able to knock this out for Betty’s holiday opening.”
    Betty walked through the back room with Jerry at her side, leaning heavily on his cane. Thankfully, the mild stroke had only slowed his speech and a bit of dexterity on one side. He suffered only from tired legs if he stood too long. During the design planning, Betty had requested that Rein widen the walkways in the back to accommodate Jerry’s aging. “I don’t know what the future is going to bring,” she’d told him. “But cooking is his life. He loves this café,’ and he’ll be at that griddle until he no longer can be.”
    To help keep Jerry cooking for years to come, Rein had designed and built a new two-level stove top and griddle able to be converted when necessary.
    “It’s looking wonderful. You boys have made my every Christmas wish come true.” Betty swiped at her eyes as she scanned the new bakery’s kitchen.
    “When are your tenants due back home?” Rein asked, pointing to the apartment above the bakery. Clay had gone to pick up Hank a few days ago and they’d been staying out at the Kinnison Last Hope Ranch in one of the cabins until yesterday.
    “Hank took Julie and the boys out to California to see some friends and to finalize a couple of things with the divorce,” Clay said. Clay and Hank, friends since college when the two hung out with Dalton and Rein, had rescued Julie and her two young sons from a dangerous standoff with Julie’s abusive ex. Convincing his sister to move to End of the Line and live on the ranch hadn’t been difficult for Clay. With a relationship blossoming between Julie and Hank and her boys being happy in town, Betty, sensing an opportunity, offered Julie a position as manager of the new bakery. It appeared that his sister and his nephews were ready to put down roots and start a new life in End of the Line. In addition, every weekend since Julie’s arrival, Hank had been bouncing back and forth between his job in Chicago and visits to End of the Line.
    Betty poked her head in the new cabinets, clucking with delight at the progress that had been made.
    “I guess they discussed the possibility of Julie and the boys going to Chicago over the holiday to meet his family,” Clay said as