One Tough Christmas Cookie (The Reindeer Wrangler Ranch Christmas Romance Book 1)

by Lucy McConnell

  “She’s not answering.” Doc shoved his phone at Caleb, who fumbled but didn’t drop it. “I messed up big. God’s not gonna be happy with me.”

  Mom sat on the bed next to Doc and took his hand. “Doc, God is forgiving. I’m sure He understands that family relations are difficult.”

  “Bah!” Doc shook off her comforting touch. Mom blinked in surprise.

  Caleb scanned the texts, starting with Doc’s latest begging Faith to call him so he could explain. He offered to share his whole life story with her. He offered her the clinic if she’d just come back. He scrolled up until he got to Faith’s text that said she was leaving town.

  “She left?” He jerked his head up.

  Doc nodded. “That’s why I called Anna to come get me. I needed a ride home.” He choked on the last word, and tears flowed down his wrinkled cheeks. “I’ve lost my girl. The one thing God asked me to do was bring her home, and I failed.” He covered his face with his hands and cried like a little boy.

  Mom’s face filled with compassion, and she rubbed his arm. “Doc, come on. There has to be a way we can fix this. Nothing’s too big of a problem that the family can’t take care of it.”

  Caleb rose to standing and then rose to his full height. “Sorry, Mom, but you’re wrong.”

  “Caleb,” she scolded, darting her eyes to Doc and telling Caleb to be more sensitive to his feelings.

  Caleb shook his head. “This isn’t something the family can fix. But I can.” He strode to the door. “I’m going after Faith, and I’m not coming back unless I have her in the truck.”

  “See!” Doc pointed at him. “That’s the kind of love God wanted me to have.”

  “Love?” Caleb jerked back as if Doc had punched him.

  Mom’s face softened. “Yes, love.”

  “It’s … I’m … huh?” He scratched his head. He hadn’t told Faith he loved her.

  “Caleb.” Mom smiled knowingly. “It’s Christmas Eve. You’re supposed to be Santa in the parade tonight. You’ve been looking forward to this for years.”

  She was right. He’d hoped one day to take over for Dad, but the old man held on to the job as long as his aching back would let him. “It doesn’t matter. I should have gone after Faith last night, but I didn’t, and I need to go right now. Nothing matters except getting to her.”

  “That’s what love is,” Mom insisted.

  Caleb glanced at Doc, who nodded slowly. “I’ve been a fool, but even I can tell you’re head over heels for my girl. Get outta here.” He shoved his hands through the air as if pushing Caleb out the door. “And if you get the chance, tell her I’m an old fool who wishes he was a better man.”

  Caleb pushed his hat lower on his head and nodded. He glanced at the clock. It was early, but he’d have to hurry if he was going to bring Faith back before Christmas. He broke into a run, his boots pounding against the floor.

  Chapter 35

  Faith

  Christmas Eve

  Faith held the fluffy white cat to her chest as she made her way out of the observation room and to the waiting area, where Fluffy’s owner waited to be reunited with her beloved pet. The cat had been hit by a car and sustained a broken leg. Faith was able to set and cast the leg—in bright pink.

  “Fluffy!” Taylor cried, and she rushed across the waiting room to Faith. “She looks sad.” Her fingers brushed the cast and she started to cry.

  Faith glanced at Taylor’s mom before speaking to the little girl. “Fluffy’s going to be okay,” she tried to reassure her. “The cast doesn’t hurt, and she can even walk with it if she feels like it.”

  Taylor sniffed. “I asked Santa to make her better. I wrote the letter and mailed it last night. Brady says Santa isn’t real, and I told him he was and that Fluffy would come home and he’d see.” She burst into a fresh wave of tears and buried her face in her mom’s legs.

  Faith shifted so Fluffy was under one arm. “Hey, hey.” She spoke low and soothing. “Santa is real.” She briefly closed her eyes, unable to believe that she knew the truth about Santa Claus. And the truth would provide a foundation to build upon. Those were Caleb’s encouraging words. “Look. Fluffy is going home with you for Christmas. Just like Santa would want her to. In fact, I’m sure he has something special in his sack for Fluffy.”

  Taylor peeked out at her. “He never brought Fluffy a present before.”

  “Well, Fluffy’s never had a cast before. Santa would want her to feel better soon.”

  Taylor sniffed and glanced up at her mom, who nodded her head. “I’ll bet he has something really special,” she agreed as she handed over Fluffy’s carrying case.

  Faith placed it on the floor and put Fluffy inside. “Now, he needs lots of love and you have to let him sleep as much as he wants too, okay?”

  Taylor nodded.

  “Okay, and don’t forget to put a couple carrots or some oatmeal cookies out for the reindeer tonight. They work hard too.” Faith stood up and found Caleb standing in the doorway, his eyes full of love and his hat in his hands.

  “I won’t.” Taylor took the carrier, and her mom helped her steady it. Faith snagged a cat toy off the display and tucked it into the mom’s purse. Mom winked over her shoulder, and they were off, leaving Faith alone with Caleb.

  He shook his head. “You just told her to feed the reindeer.”

  Faith lifted a shoulder as she spun around to organize the papers on the receptionist desk. Since it was Christmas Eve, she’d sent everyone home and offered to wait for Fluffy’s family on her own. Puttering around the office was better than letting the walls close in on her at her apartment. The place was bare of any Christmas decorations and pretty much the most depressing place on the planet. “It’s the reindeer who have to pull the heavy sleigh. They deserve a treat.”

  One second she was standing there, feeling like an eggshell, she was so fragile. The next, Caleb’s arms wrapped around her from behind, his warmth encircled her, and she could breathe for the first time since she’d left the ranch.

  “You’re one big-hearted woman,” he said into her hair.

  So help her, she didn’t want to lean into him or on him or need him in any way ever again. But his chest was solid behind her, and his arms were real and comforting, and he smelled like outside and body spray and Christmas, and she couldn’t help herself.

  Turning so her face was in his chest and her arms around his middle, she said, “I’m so mad at you.” The effect of her words was somewhat muted by the fabric of his button-up shirt, but he got the point.

  “I know. I’m mad at me too. And Jack. I really mad at Jack.”

  She tipped her head up so she could look at him. “Why Jack?”

  “He told me to give you time to cool off, and like an idiot, I listened. I had no idea you’d drive three hours to get away from me.” He brushed her hair off her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. “I’m so sorry, Faith. You were right. I shouldn’t have withheld anything from you, and I never will again.”

  One side of her mouth ticked up as she fought a smile. “Nothing?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Ever?—Wait, ever? What do you mean by that? And please, take your time explaining, because my brain went in thirteen different directions—twelve of them really good and one I didn’t like so much.” The twelve all had to do with them together—half of those involved mistletoe. But the one was him walking out of her life to save her from himself.

  He rubbed her nose with his. “First off, let me say that I like fighting like this much better than the way we fought last night. Can we agree that this is how we’ll solve our difference from this point forward?”

  Faith giggled. “You have a lot of explaining to do before I agree to anything.”

  He pulled back. “Fair enough.” Glancing around, he found the waiting bench and led her over to it, holding her hands and keeping them as they sat down. “I’ve been watching my parents. They are fiercely loyal to one another—at the expense of other things and even
other people sometimes.”

  “Like when?” She’d noticed something special between Abner and Anna too, and was eager to hear what Caleb saw in their relationship.

  “Well, you know that reindeer in Yellowstone?”

  She gasped. “That’s one of yours? Oh my gosh, I didn’t even think about that until you just said that. Is his name really Dancer? How did he get out? How are you going to get him back?”

  Caleb chuckled. “Her name is Snowflake, and she is wicked fast. We loaned her to one of Santa’s daughters named Stella, and she lost her in Yellowstone.”

  Aha! Wait—Stella was one of Santa’s daughters? Wow! Faith grabbed the front of his shirt. “Caleb! That’s awful. We have to go get her.”

  Caleb placed his hand over hers. “We have a rescue plan already in place, and it starts the day after Christmas.”

  “Why wait?” She couldn’t picture Rudy or one of the other reindeer out there on their own. They were domesticated animals; who knew if they could fend for themselves in the wild?

  “Because family comes first—even before reindeer.” He caught her gaze and held it. “Faith, I want you to be first in my life.”

  Her throat went dry.

  His hand tightened around hers, and he cupped her cheek with the other one. “I want you to be my family.”

  “Caleb,” she whispered, the air rushing from her lungs.

  “Part of the reason I messed up so bad was that I wasn’t clear on what I wanted. We kept saying you were going to leave, and I kept hoping you wouldn’t. But I didn’t feel like I could tell you everything if we were just a holiday fling.”

  She laughed and then sniffed as the dam of emotions broke. “It never felt like a fling to me.”

  “Me either.” His thumb stroked her lower lip, making it tremble. “I’m in it for forever, Faith.”

  She laughed and cried at the same time. “Me too.”

  A slow and sexy smile spread across his lips, and he leaned forward. “Does this mean you’ll come home?”

  She sighed into the word. “Home. I’ve always wanted one of those.”

  He kissed her lightly, testing and teasing all in one brush. “I’ll build us a beautiful home on the ranch. You can have whatever you want.”

  She used her grip on his shirt to pull him closer. “I just want you.”

  He closed the distance between them and kissed her soft and slow. His hands buried in her hair, and she lost all track of time and place. There was only his kiss and the low growl he made when she kissed his jaw.

  Who knew how long they stayed that way? When they pulled apart, her stomach gurgled.

  Caleb laughed. “I think you worked up an appetite.” He rubbed his beard in the crook of her neck, making her giggle.

  “I haven’t eaten since yesterday. I’m starved,” she admitted.

  “Me too. I saw a burger joint down the street. You want to pick something up on our way out of town?”

  She thought about the way she’d left things in Sleigh Bell Country. Caleb was right. Nothing was more important at Christmas than family. “Yeah, I want to grab something for my dad too.”

  Caleb’s warm smile said he knew she was going to talk this out with her old man. “Sounds like a plan.”

  She hurried to shut the clinic down, making the mental shift to moving to Sleigh Bell Country. Johnathan would buy her out in a heartbeat. After the cool reception she’d gotten when she’d come back, it was obvious he was ready to be on his own.

  Which was just fine with her. Her condo would sell, or she could hire someone to rent it out. Either way, it wasn’t an obstacle. She hadn’t even unpacked her bags. They could swing by and be on their way home in fifteen minutes tops.

  Tonight was Christmas Eve, so that meant that … “Oh my gosh! The parade!”

  Caleb’s head came up from where he was scrolling on his phone, waiting for her to do what she needed to.

  “You’re going to miss the parade.” She wilted. “I’m so sorry. I know how much you were looking forward to playing Santa.”

  Caleb tucked his phone away. “Jack wanted to fill in, but I told him to buzz off and passed the suit on to Forest.” He grinned.

  Faith laughed. “One of these days, you’re going to have to forgive Jack for giving you bad advice.”

  “I lost twenty-four hours with the woman I loved—it’s going to take a while to make that up to me.” Caleb offered his hand, and she took it, locking the clinic behind her. He stopped and wrapped her up. “Besides, I’m right where I want to be.”

  Faith lifted to meet his lips with hers and reveled in the knowledge that she was in love. In love with a wrangler who trained flying reindeer for Santa. She burst out laughing in the middle of their kiss.

  “What?” Caleb asked.

  “I just realized that you work for Santa. That makes you an elf.” She poked his arm.

  He lowered his brow. “First off, I’m an independent contractor. Secondly, I’m a wrangler, missy.” He touched his hat brim. “That’s eighty-five percent cowboy, fifteen percent reindeer specialist, and zero percent elf.”

  Hmm, seemed she’d struck a nerve there. “Wrangler … elf.” She held out her hands as if weighing the two of them against one another. “Potato, po-tah-to.”

  He tickled her side.

  She laughed and scooted deeper into her seat. She’d have to drive to her place and then leave her car there. It still wasn’t worthy of Sleigh Bell Country’s winter driving conditions.

  Caleb leaned over the top of her. “I love you, Faith.”

  She buried her fingers in his beard and pulled him closer. “I love you, Caleb.” She kissed him, and her soul filled with music. The kind of music that made her feel things through every fiber of her being. The melody wrapped her up and testified that this was the man she was meant to find. That Dad’s heart attack had happened for a reason—to bring her to Sleigh Bell Country to meet Caleb and to heal their relationship.

  He pulled back, his breath fogging up the windows even with the door hanging open. “Let’s go celebrate Christmas.”

  She smiled and bit her lip. Never had she felt the holiday so deep inside of her. She’d never be alone again. From this moment on, she would hold this feeling close to her heart, and each December she’d reach in there and clasp it tight because Christmas had brought her true love.

  Chapter 36

  Caleb

  Caleb reached for a pumpkin cinnamon roll, his parents’ go-to Christmas morning breakfast. Dad made them the day before and let the dough proof in the fridge. Mom would get up and pop them in the oven and make cream cheese icing. They were just one more example of how his parents were a team, and for that reason, they tasted all that much sweater.

  Because he hasn’t slept much last night, his eyes scratched when he blinked, but he could see that Santa had come during the few hours between dropping Faith off at her dad’s and sunrise. The stockings were stuffed to the brim with goodies and trinkets, while the tree overflowed with gifts. Santa always stopped at Reindeer Wrangler Ranch, no matter how busy her night. It looked like the elves had outdone themselves wrapping—despite Stella missing for part of December. Actually, now that he looked at it, the whole wrapping job looked more like something Robyn would do than what Stella usually ordered. What in the world was going on up there? Whatever it was, it all seemed to work out just fine, as Christmas Eve had gone off without a hitch.

  Forest landed in the chair next to him and swiped a roll for himself. “Mornin’.”

  “Good morning to you.” Caleb laughed at how happy he sounded. Now that everything between him and Faith was fixed and they were talking about a future together, the whole world looked brighter. “How was the parade?”

  “Best one yet.” Forest popped a piece of bread into his mouth and chewed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they asked me to be Santa every year. I had children eating out of my mittened hands.”

  Drake sat down across from them.

  Caleb rolled his ey
es. “You go ahead and enjoy that while I snuggle up to a warm body next Christmas Eve.”

  Drake picked up his plate and went to eat in front of the fire, his ears bright red. Caleb and Jack exchanged looks and then burst out laughing at their little brother’s embarrassment.

  Mom and Dad came in next, wearing matching sweaters Mom had bought online. Dad’s was a little tight around the middle, but he wore the blinking Christmas tree like a badge of honor. Caleb smiled behind his mug of cocoa, already planning sweaters for himself and Faith to wear next Christmas. Life was so good right now.

  His cell phone lit up.

  “Who would call this early on Christmas?” asked Mom as she made her way to the fridge. She put the eggnog in front of Dad’s plate before taking a seat. Dad smiled at her in thanks.

  “Uh-oh.” The caller ID read Robyn Kringle. He flashed the screen at his parents. “It’s the North Pole.”

  “Don’t just sit there—answer it.” Mom waved her fork at him.

  He hurried to push the answer button before the call went to voicemail. Robyn wouldn’t take too kindly to being ghosted. “Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas to you and yours, Caleb. Are you with your family?”

  Jack wandered in from doing chores. He’d drawn the short straw that year and had to get up to feed before breakfast. When they were younger, it had been torture waiting to open gifts. Now that they were all grown up, the process was more organized and a lot less messy. “We’re all assembled.”

  “Can you put me on speakerphone? I need to talk to the troops.”

  That didn’t sound good. He pressed the button. “Okay, we’re all listening.” If she said they needed a reindeer, he was sure he could have Rudy ready by next Christmas Eve. Even sooner if Rudy kept up his training schedule. The reindeer was determined to make it to the North Pole, and it seemed everyone was rooting for him, even the old-timer, Dunder.

  “Last night was … pretty eventful,” she started. Pax got up from the fire and came closer to listen in. “Stella and Kris got married in Vegas.”