A Christmas Miracle for the Rancher: A Historical Western Romance Novel

by Etta Foster

  As he worked, he pondered about what the future might hold in store for them. What could happen moving forward and what he could do about it.

  His parents had raised him to take action. They had said there was always work to be done and matters to take into hand.

  Soon the post was back in the cold, hard ground. Sweat dripped down his nose from the exertion. Jacob was surprised he had managed to do that much within the season.

  For extra measure, he kicked more snow around the post. That would hopefully freeze the ground and keep the post from moving again until spring.

  With any luck, it wouldn’t move again until he wanted it to. He stepped back to admire his accomplished work, breathing hard.

  Wisps of white frosty air appeared before him to remind him of the cold. He would need to slow down for a short while because he was already feeling hot.

  If he grew too warm and damp, his body wouldn’t recognize the chill and he could start to freeze.

  He tugged his hat down over his ears just as he thought he heard his name being called.

  Jacob paused and slowly trampled around to look towards the house.

  Louise was coming toward him.

  She wore two thick coats and a hat that left strings dangling around her chin. Her cheeks were bright red and she had forgotten gloves as she lifted her skirts to hike her way through the snow.

  At least, Jacob noticed, she was wearing boots.

  Even as she stumbled, there was something graceful about the young woman. He watched her curiously as he wondered why she was coming back to him.

  She had changed her mind. Why else would she come out in this weather? Besides, he was far away enough from the house that she would have had to spend some time looking for him.

  Jacob couldn’t help but smirk.

  The young lady couldn’t get enough of him.

  He questioned if he should demand an apology for the earlier slap or just let it slide. He set his tools down at his feet as he waited for her to reach him.

  All the while, he enjoyed watching her come closer and closer.

  “Jacob,” Louise announced breathlessly once she was close enough. She inhaled deeply and glanced around. When her eyelashes fluttered, he could see frost tinging the edges. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  He shrugged. “If I had known, I would have come running.”

  Louise blinked before she pursed her lips. “I’m still upset about that kiss, Jacob. That wasn’t appropriate.”

  The confidence within him melted away little by little. Jacob frowned.

  “Why not? And why else are you trampling around out here coming all the way out to see me?” It didn’t make much sense otherwise.

  If she had only wanted to talk, she could have waited until he returned.

  The young lady straightened her shoulders and crossed her arms. “I came to tell you that you owe me.”

  “I owe you?” His eyes narrowed. He didn’t like the sound of that.

  Being in anyone’s debt left a sour taste on his tongue.

  Just as he was about to argue her point, Louise nodded.

  “Indeed. And I’m calling on you for a favor.”

  Jacob opened his mouth. Then he closed it.

  He wanted to be mad, but the fire in her eyes was something sweet to behold. If he argued too much, then she would leave him again.

  This meant his only options were to turn her away or let her stay.

  If she was truly upset about the kiss, he reasoned to himself, she would still be avoiding him. But there she was, seeking him out in the cold weather.

  This had to mean that he still had a chance. Especially if she wanted something from him. Jacob supposed that meant Richard couldn’t give it to her.

  He opened his mouth again. “What kind of favor?”

  That made her eyes light up. It made Jacob want to explain that he hadn’t said he would do anything, but that seemed pointless. She immediately dove in, taking a step closer to explain.

  “While Richard might be restricted to a chair, it doesn’t mean he must be restricted to the house. There must be something we can do about creating a chair that can work outside as well. With all this snow, perhaps there’s something we can create - that you can create - to allow him to travel outdoors.”

  Jacob’s enthusiasm dampened at the sound of his brother’s name.

  He rubbed the back of his neck and fiddled with the collar again as he glanced around the fields. It gave him a moment to think.

  She was still set on Richard. That much was clear.

  She wanted him to come outside. That sounded ridiculous. It was dangerous as well, surely.

  Though Jacob decided not to concern himself too much with the dangers, only the problem that it presented. Like how he still needed to convince Louise that she didn’t belong with Richard.

  But, he pondered, if he helped her, maybe she would realize how clever he was. By showing his abilities that Richard no longer had, perhaps he could still convince her otherwise.

  Jacob toyed with his options before he found himself wondering what was on her mind.

  “You mean a chair made for the snow? Like a wagon or a sleigh?” He rubbed his numb hands together.

  Nodding, Louise beamed. “Yes. Or - or you mentioned snowshoes. I don’t quite understand those, but - but could those help him?”

  He couldn’t even picture it and so he shook his head. “No, not with the way he has to distribute his weight. Snowshoes are - they’re not made for sliding movement. You need to pick up and move your feet around.

  “It’s a lot of work. Nothing with wheels, either. That won’t travel through the snow.”

  “Do you have a sleigh?” Louise asked after a heartbeat. She bit her lip as she thought about it. “But I don’t want him to feel like he’s in a wagon that much.

  “I can walk, but he needs to be able to move about. Like in the chair, you see, with not too much effort.”

  Jacob paused. “What do you mean, you can walk?”

  “I mean, I can walk beside him as we finish our tour of the ranch,” Louise stated. “I intend to finish it with Richard. However, I want him to be comfortable. And he shouldn’t be restricted merely out of inconvenience. Now, what about a - a small sleigh?”

  She wasn’t even giving him time to slow down and process everything.

  Jacob hesitated as he realized that she was requesting his help to spend more time with Richard.

  While he understood she would desire to be a respectable woman and not turn her attentions away so quickly now that the man she had traveled so far to meet was crippled, she didn’t have to try so hard.

  Jacob shook his head and tried to catch up to where Louise was at.

  “No, just the wagon. A sleigh is different, it doesn’t have wheels.”

  “If anything, that would be easier for Richard. His chair has wheels to move around inside on a solid surface. To go outside, he should probably have flat skis as well. It would help him on top of the snow.

  “But that’s not something he can control.”

  She shrugged. “Why not?”

  Trying not to be exasperated, Jacob sighed. “A sleigh has horses; it needs something to push or pull it. Skis for humans have poles. And going downhill is easier. Richard would need a way to control his movements. Perhaps if someone pulled or pushed him, but that’s a lot of effort. He couldn’t use poles from sitting, he couldn’t get enough leverage.”

  Louise inhaled sharply. “The sleigh. You said sleighs need horses. So Richard can use a horse. Why didn’t I think of that before? Yes, a creature he can still use his reins on in order to turn and stop and move about. That would work, would it not?”

  He closed his eyes in an attempt to imagine it. “I suppose?

  “But a chair would need to be made or altered to work as a sleigh. It would need to be reinforced for the movement. But the horse. If he’s shorter than they are, he can’t see over it and the reins won’t work.”

  “
Then we find a smaller horse,” Louise reasoned. Her eyes were bright as she nodded eagerly. “Yes, a small pony. There must be one we could find for him.”

  She had a point. Jacob nodded slowly as the idea came together.

  He had studied the chair that Doctor Clapton had fixed for Richard. Adding skis to another chair had to be manageable.

  He’d worked with wood enough to have some ideas about making it work. Then purchasing a horse was easy enough.

  Even as Jacob didn’t want to help his brother, he realized that this was allowing him time with Louise.

  If he turned her away, he realized this connection they were building would cease to exist. He wrinkled his nose but forced himself to nod.

  The two of them slowly started back to the house to get warm again.

  As they walked, the two of them made their plans. They could purchase a small pony in town and nail in some skis to a chair. It was going to work, and Louise offered to help.

  That offer made him grin. The more she helped, the more time they would spend together. Certainly, that would be enough to show her that he was the one she should be with - not Richard.

  Chapter 20

  The wind whistled outside of Richard’s window.

  It was Christmas Eve and there he was in his room. All alone as a crippled man.

  Slowly he glanced around his room as though to look for relief. But there was none.

  His bedroom was as it had always been. It carried the necessary furniture, included curtains, and a rug that he no longer could feel beneath his feet.

  He had reached down to feel it the other day with his hands, but he wasn’t interested in doing that again. Though he was closer to the floor on a more frequent basis now, it was a lot harder to get himself up if he had to.

  Everything was a lot harder now. Just putting on clothes was a tiring process. He glanced at the scarf that Mrs. Pennyworth had insisted he wear that morning, claiming he looked cold.

  Richard didn’t feel cold. There was a shadow creeping over him that was taking away all the feelings he had once clung to.

  It was a strange sensation, not feeling anything.

  Slouched in his chair, Richard skirted his gaze back to the window. The wind continued to whistle loudly as though calling for his attention.

  He could almost remember how it felt on his face, harsh and unfriendly.

  He was tired of sitting there and doing nothing. Trapped in a chair, Richard could hardly even provide any help in the kitchen.

  He had attempted to mix the dough ingredients for Mrs. Pennyworth that morning, but it had proven more difficult than expected. He was useless.

  No one would say that out loud, but he could tell they were thinking it. Because he was also thinking it.

  Tired of feeling nothing, his eyes darted around the window as an idea came to mind. He grabbed the wheels of his chair and slowly managed to maneuver himself around in the room.

  There was enough empty space that nothing blocked him as he headed to his door, opened it, and guided himself into the hall.

  “There you are,” Mrs. Pennyworth stepped out of the kitchen. “How would you like to help me prepare supper?”

  Above her smile he could see the pity in her eyes. It immediately annoyed him.

  He was still Richard. He was still the same person.

  He just couldn’t do what he used to do.

  There was no need to offer him chores and responsibilities to make him feel normal again.

  Richard shook his head, not wanting to endure any more time in the kitchen for the day. “No, but thank you. I’m heading out.”

  “Out?” Mrs. Pennyworth couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice. “What? How? I mean, why?”

  Richard kept moving down the hall. He worried that if he delayed, he’d end up stuck there forever. The wind was calling him though as he itched to feel something.

  “I’ll be back soon,” he called over his shoulder and continued tugging himself towards the front door.

  Doors were a lot of work. He had never thought of them before, but now they proved to be inconvenient.

  Not only did he have to get close enough to wrap his hand around the doorknob, which usually meant him banging into the door, but then he had to pull himself back with one arm and open with the other.

  In the hall, he could do it to the side to get into his bedroom.

  But this door started in the narrow hall and forced him to open it however he could.

  Either way, he managed to open it and glanced outside once the door was opened completely.

  The wind welcomed him in a frozen wave of cold air. It hit him sharply in the face, stinging his eyes and burning his lips.

  Richard tugged the scarf tighter around his neck. Then he carefully tugged his wheelchair out into the frosty morning air.

  Richard had always enjoyed their large porch.

  It wrapped around the entire house with posts climbing up to the overhang every couple of feet.

  He remembered using sandpaper on them as a boy, making them as smooth as possible until his mother ran a finger across them and smiled.

  It had been a long time since he had thought about that smile.

  Once, it had been able to warm him to his soul. Richard remembered missing it more than experiencing it. He sighed and set himself beside the rocking chair to admire the view.

  To his left was the grove of trees that his father had planted many years ago. He could see the brown creeping through the blanket of white.

  The trail where he had taken his fall was just a little further on. The barn blocked him from seeing all the way down the lane.

  That building was only a couple hundred yards ahead of him, but now it was practically miles away. Richard gripped the armrests of his seat.

  He thought about his horse and the other animals. He thought about the cattle roundup from the other week.

  Then there was mending the fences, tending the animals, and a hundred other chores he could no longer help out with.

  “It’s a strange place.”

  When he glanced around, Richard realized he wasn’t alone.

  There was Luanne sitting on the rocking chair. His body invariably tensed as he remembered their last conversation.

  She must have followed him out a moment ago when he hadn’t noticed.

  “Call it what you will,” he said after a moment, “it’s home.”

  “Not my home,” she reminded him as she tugged the blanket on her lap closer. “But it looks like my sister and your brother are enjoying it.”

  His eyes flitted up to see what she was talking about. It took him a minute before he found what she was referring to.

  To the right of the barn, half a mile away, two small figures stood together.

  Something dark surged up his spine.

  He recognized his brother’s dark brown jacket. It wouldn’t have been anyone else. Richard squinted with a frown, wondering what was going on.

  They were awfully close.

  He wished they were closer so he could hear what they were talking about. If they were laughing and smiling. His stomach churned and he let out a huff.

  The moment he had turned weak, the young woman turned to someone else. On Christmas Eve, no less.

  He watched the figures move. They walked together towards the barn. Richard grew antsy, finding feeling coming back into his body and mind.

  But he wanted none of it. He was supposed to be the one out there with Louise, not Jacob.

  And yet, he couldn’t be out there. More than anything, Richard realized he was disgusted with himself.

  “I bet they’re talking about you.” Luanne yawned. “Maybe even courting behind your back. My sister certainly received many letters before she came here. Who’s to say they all came from you?”

  “No one,” Richard found himself responding to her question unwillingly.

  The young woman glanced back at him, but he kept his gaze straight ahead. “What a poor fool you are. An
d you almost had her. Oh well. At least Louise has an option now, don’t you think?”

  “Oh?” He bit his tongue.

  She turned to him from the chair, leaning over as though she were about to share a secret.

  But Luanne didn’t whisper as she said loudly, “Yes. Now she has Jacob as an option. No one wants to marry a cripple, after all. Now she can marry a real man.”