A Port Ranch Christmas (A Christmas Novella)

Chapter 6

ELLA

“Hand the bottle over, Iris.” I held out my hand as I plopped down between my cousin’s Iris and Prue. After dinner, most of the guys headed outside to congregate. Dustin went with them willingly. I guess he had made enough of a good impression on my brothers that he was part of the crew. Uncle Preston started a fire in the family room fireplace and it was the perfect hang out for us gals.

It isn’t typical for these large family get-togethers. While my aunts and uncles all still live around here, my cousins have begun to move around and didn’t come home except for major events. I’m still trying to figure out how bringing a boyfriend home was a life event, but that was neither here nor there. I’ve heard lots of stories about growing up here on the ranch though. When it was just my mom and aunts, they would sit in this same room with Grandma and Grandpa enjoying a fire and the large Christmas tree.

Once they started getting married and having babies the room became filled with baby blankets, bouncers, and swings galore. I was the youngest of my generation, but the gap between my brothers and their wives and the younger cousins like Laney, Landon, Porter, and Iris always seemed so large. That distance was made greater when they started having babies. I love them and I love all of the babies, but I prefer talking about things non-baby related.

“Why do you assume I have anything that I’m hiding?” Iris says with a smirk as she pulls the bottle of Jim Beam out from behind her back and puts it into my hand.

“You’re the worst liar. Plus, I saw you grab it out of the cupboard when I was helping Grandma put away dishes. She saw you too, by the way.”

“Pssh,” Prue waved her hand in the air, “Gram’s don’t give two shits that we’re drinking. She’s the one that bought the margarita mix for us when we celebrated Laney’s birthday.”

While Iris and Prue were old enough to drink, Laney and I were still under twenty-one. This may not be Vegas, but what happened on the ranch tended to stay on the ranch. As long as we weren’t ourselves or anybody else in danger our parents looked in the other direction when it came to us having a drink here and there. It was a rule I appreciated after dinner like tonight.

“Grandpa wasn’t very happy with her after he saw the mess that was left by the four-wheel garage though,” Laney giggled.

“That’s because the three of you can’t hold your liquor very well. Did he make you clean it up?”

“Not just that, but then we had the muck both barns in punishment. Happy Birthday to me.”

“Can’t say I’m sad that I missed out on that.” I take a swig straight from the bottle and cringe slightly at the burn. I’d prefer a beer over hard liquor but beggars can’t be choosers. “I do miss the hell out of this place though.”

“I still can’t believe you left to go to college, especially St. Louis. What were you thinking, Ella?”

“I was thinking that I could get out from under my dad’s thumb for a bit. For the most part, it worked except every time I come back home he forgets that I live an adult life when I’m not here.”

Prue puts her arm around my shoulder to give me a small hug, “That’s the curse of the men around here, girly.”

Laney reaches for the bottle and takes a swig of her own. “Yep, they see us like delicate flowers even when we are grown-ups and self-sufficient. You weren’t around when I came home with my first tattoo last year.”

“Um, your dad is a tattoo artist, Laney.”

“I know!” She throws her hands up in the air. “I was so excited to show him because I drew the design myself. You would have thought I marred my skin based on his reaction. My mom tried to calm him down and he started ranting about being too young to make a lifelong choice.”