The Secret of Santa

by Liz Isaacson

  His birthday would come before summer, and she opened a new note and started a list of things she might be able to give to him. She wasn’t sure she could handle a puppy, but the animal shelter had to have adult dogs that needed a good home. She’d heard of some deaf people getting a hearing dog, and Willa wondered if such a thing was out of her reach.

  Mitch had never been anything but a cheerful, happy child. Even when she’d woken up at the scene of the accident, with pain and panic pouring through her, she’d found Mitchell charming the EMTs who’d arrived while she’d been passed out.

  She toed herself back and forth, using her good right leg, because teaching all day, every day, had really put a strain on her injured body. She front-loaded with painkillers at breakfast, and she took them when Patrick picked her up every afternoon too.

  Her phone chimed, and she swiped on the message that popped up at the top of the screen. Martha Webster, her landlord, had said, We have the doorbell light now. Can we come install it tomorrow?

  Sure, Willa responded. She didn’t anticipate Mitch being home alone very often, but he could easily answer the door when someone came over. The child was very astute, and he responded well to vibration too. His alarm clock vibrated and flashed, and he never tried to stay in bed when he should be up and getting ready for school.

  She knew that would all change in a few years when he hit his teens, and Willa couldn’t wait. She’d missed enough of his life, and she didn’t care if it was hard, easy, or in-between. She wanted to be there.

  Her phone rang this time, and Willa grinned at Cactus’s name. His picture came up too, and it showed a long-haired cowboy she’d never seen before. The Cactus she knew had trim, neat hair and plenty of life in his deep, dark blue eyes.

  She’d have to tell him he needed to update his profile picture, but right now, she just swiped up to connect the call. “Hey, stranger,” she said, wondering if that counted as flirting or not.

  He chuckled. “Would you believe me if I said I may have dropped my wallet at your place?”

  She got to her feet and signaled to Mitch. He sat up and she signed quickly that she needed to run out front for a minute. “Stay here,” she said as she signed.

  “I can go look.” Inside the house, she glanced at their breakfast dishes, deciding to ignore them for the day. “You were only here for a minute.”

  “It’s not in my pocket,” he said. “It’s the only place I can think it would be. I paid for the puppies, and we got in the car. My cousin called about five minutes later, and I came to your house.”

  Willa reached the front door and went back outside. She held onto the railing as she went down the steps, a soft grunt coming from her mouth.

  “How are you feeling?” Cactus asked.

  “I’m a little tired,” she admitted. “Teaching is hard work, and I’m on my feet all day long.”

  “I’ll bet it is hard,” he said. “You need one of those soaker tubs that athletes use.”

  She laughed, because such a thing was laughable. “Right,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. “This house is bigger than my other one, but it’s still only one bathroom. Surprisingly, it doesn’t have a soaker tub.”

  Cactus chuckled too. “Listen, if it looks like Sammy isn’t going to have this baby any time soon, I’ll come get the dogs.”

  “Okay.” Willa walked down the sidewalk, and sure enough, a brown leather wallet sat in the grass. “Your wallet is here.”

  “Perfect,” he said, a measure of relief in his voice. “I’ll come grab that from you at some point too.”

  “All right.” Willa found she didn’t want him to go. “How’s Sammy doing?”

  “They’re not even here yet,” he said with a sigh. “I should’ve just taken the dogs up to the ranch.”

  “It’s fine,” Willa said. “I’m happy to help, Cactus.” She didn’t mention that she technically couldn’t have dogs here. And technically, she didn’t. They weren’t her dogs, and surely she could have friends come visit who owned dogs. “You should see Mitch. He’s in heaven.”

  “He can come see them anytime,” Cactus said. “Or I’ll bring them down to him.”

  Willa made her way back to the steps with his wallet in hand. She sat down, groaning as she did. “You’re learning to sign?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “How?”

  “Believe it or not, I have the Internet up at the ranch.” His voice held plenty of teasing, and Willa sure did like the sound of his voice in her ear. “How did you learn?”

  Willa exhaled and remembered the day she’d learned Mitchell was deaf. “I took a class. A lot of classes.”

  “When did you find out Mitch was deaf?”

  “When he was about three months old,” she said. “I immediately started learning sign language, and as he grew and got older, I was able to teach him.”

  “That’s amazing,” he said. “You know what? I’m going to leave Link here with Aurora and Ollie and come get my wallet and dogs. Sammy’s not going to have the baby in the next hour.”

  “Probably not,” Willa said. “Most births take a little longer than that.”

  “Especially first babies,” he said, and Willa heard something in his voice. Something that said he knew what he was talking about.

  Before she could ask, he said, “I’m on my way, and I think I’m gonna stop at Meat, Pray, Eat. Do you guys want hamburgers for lunch?”

  “Is the sky blue?” she asked with a laugh. “Anything without mushrooms for me,” she said. “Mitch likes cheese and bacon on his. Nothing else.”

  “Nothing? No mayo? Ketchup?”

  “Ketchup,” she said.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Cactus exuded confidence, and Willa did like that. She held her phone in her lap, the wallet on the step beside her, and waited for him to return. She didn’t live that far from the hospital, but she decided to return to the back yard and Mitch. He didn’t usually call if he needed help, though he did have working vocal cords. That was why listening to him laugh brought her such joy.

  He still ran in the back yard, letting the puppies gallop after him, a smile on all of their faces. That made Willa smile, and the wattage of that only increased when she heard Cactus call, “Willa?”

  “On the back porch,” she called back to him, and a few moments later, she heard his footsteps. The sliding screen door screeched as it opened, and she looked over to him. Her pulse started acting erratically, and a man hadn’t affected her like this for many, many years.

  “Hey,” he said gently, and she watched him lace so many things back where he wanted them. She wanted to unravel them one string at a time, and she wondered how hard she’d have to pull. What secrets she’d have to tell. What ghosts he had in his closets.

  “Here’s your wallet,” she said with a smile.

  He came closer and took it from her. “Thank you.” He looked out to Mitch and the dogs. “Oh, he loves them.”

  “He really does,” Willa said.

  “Has he had a dog before?” Cactus asked, barely glancing at her again.

  “No,” she said.

  “You had a dog. Abe. Where is he?” He turned toward her fully, curiosity in his expression.

  “This rental doesn’t allow pets,” she said. “Patrick has Abe.”

  “Oh.”

  “You can sit if you want,” she said, noticing the paper bags of food. “Or should we go inside?”

  “Let’s go inside,” he said, nodding out to the yard. “How do you get his attention?”

  “Stand at the top of the steps there and raise your hand. Wave a little. He’ll see you.”

  Cactus moved over to the top of the steps leading from the deck to the yard and did what she said. Mitch did notice Cactus and came racing toward him. Cactus chuckled as the boy flew up the steps and into Cactus’s arms.

  He might be prickly with his siblings and cousins, but he was nothing but a softie when it came to kids. Just the fact that he’d had Lincoln, as w
ell as Aurora and her boyfriend, with him to pick out his puppies spoke of that.

  They’d probably asked if they could come, and he didn’t have the heart to tell them no. Watching him laugh with her son as he held him made Willa’s heart pinch. She realized what she’d been missing all this time, and she pressed her eyes closed and said a quick prayer that she and Cactus could find their way through the maze in front of them to a happy ending.

  He looked her way, and Willa knew then that she’d have to go backward in order to move forward—and that she’d have to bring Cactus with her.

  “Come on, boy,” he said, looking right at Mitch. “I brought you a hamburger.” He put the boy down and led him inside the house, whistling for the puppies to follow him.

  And of course they did.

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  Read more by Liz Isaacson

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  Love billionaire cowboys? I’ve got you covered! Get the first three Walker brothers - and meet Tripp Walker and his step-son Oliver in the second book - in the SEVEN SONS RANCH boxed set.

  About Liz

  Liz Isaacson is a USA Today bestselling author and a Top 20 Kindle All-Star Author. She is the author of the #1 bestselling Three Rivers Ranch Romance series, the #1 bestselling Horseshoe Home Ranch Romance series, the Brush Creek Brides series, the USA Today bestselling Steeple Ridge Romance series (Buttars Brothers novels), the Grape Seed Falls Romance series, the #1 bestselling Christmas in Coral Canyon Romance series (Whittaker Brothers and Everett Sisters novels), the Quinn Valley Ranch Romance series, the Last Chance Ranch Romance series, and the #1 bestselling Seven Sons Ranch in Three Rivers Romance series (Walker Brothers novels), the Christmas as Whiskey Mountain Lodge Romance series (Hammond Brothers novels), and the Shiloh Ridge Ranch in Three Rivers Romance series (Glover Family novels).

  She writes inspirational romance, usually set in Texas and Montana, or anywhere else horses and cowboys exist. She lives in Utah, where she writes full-time, walks her two dogs, and eats a lot of peanut butter M&Ms.

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  THE SECRET OF SANTA

  Book Four in the Shiloh Ridge Ranch in Three Rivers series

  by Liz Isaacson

  Copyright © 2021 by Elana Johnson, writing as Liz Isaacson

  Published by AEJ Creative Works

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Cover Design by Blue Water Books

  Interior Design by AEJ Creative Works