by Susan Crosby
He shouted over his shoulder, “Call Jen, will you? Tell her I won’t be home for a while.”
“Okay.”
“What are you trying to prove, old man?” Win asked the open expanse in front of him. He used his walkie-talkie several times, hoping his father had taken his with him, but got no answer. Every once in a while, an echo of one of the ranch hands calling his father’s name reached his ears but got no answering cry.
The only destination of importance on this particular route was the family graveyard. He didn’t consider his father sentimental, but maybe he was feeling vulnerable now, not so invincible. The path got rocky toward the top of the hill. His horse could have slipped or something, his father not strong enough to hold tight with his legs the way he would normally.
“Dad!” he yelled as he started up the path. Again and again he called out. It would be dark before long. He wouldn’t freeze, but if he had fallen and was unconscious or bleeding...
“Don’t go there,” Win muttered. “He’s fine. He’s just being ornery.”
But if he’d done damage and had to go through surgery and rehab again? Win didn’t want to think about it.
“Win? Over.” Carlos shouted into his walkie-talkie.
“I’m here. Over.”
“No sign of him or his horse on the northwest and northeast properties. Over.”
“Thanks. I’m near the graveyard. Will let you know. Over.”
“Ten-four.”
Win scanned the horizon. If his father had been thrown from his horse, he wouldn’t be alone. Zeke was too well trained for that. Seeing a riderless horse would be okay because it meant his father had to be nearby.
He rounded the hill and saw the horse first, then his father, sitting on a log. Win’s tension should’ve lessened but didn’t.
“You okay?” he asked, dismounting. His heart thudded as he checked his father out visually, expecting obstinacy in return.
“Mostly.”
“You fall?”
“Nope. Got down under my own steam. Can’t get back on. Figured you’d find me sooner or later.”
Win sat next to him. “You didn’t take your walkie-talkie or phone?”
“Rose has the phone.” He pointed. “Walkie-talkie’s just over that rise. I dropped it when I got off Zeke, which was kind of a bumpy maneuver. I was gonna try to get it in a few minutes.”
“Are you hurt? Should I send for help?”
“I think between us, we can manage to get me back on Zeke.”
Win lifted his walkie-talkie. “Got him. We’re at the graveyard. I don’t think we’ll need any help, so head on back before it gets dark. I’ll call if I need you here. Over.”
“Dios mio, thank you,” Carlos answered. “Over.”
“Why’d you do it, Dad?”
“Needed to know I could. And I had some things to think over. Don’t need no lectures, either. I took it real easy gettin’ here.” He rubbed his thigh. “Hurts like it does after Ms. Uppity’s done with me. I’ll be fine.”
Win angled his head toward his mother’s headstone. “You been talkin’ to Mom?”
“Yep.”
“Did she answer?”
Shep sort of laughed. “Lorene, she gave me an earful, all right.”
Win waited, hoping the conversation would continue. His father seemed mellow for the first time in, well, ever.
“I heard Jenny came to see you,” Win said.
“You know that term steel magnolia?” Shep asked. “They coined it after her. She gave me hell in the softest, silkiest way a woman could. Threatened to keep my grandchild from me. Now, I know I got others, but since I’ve never seen any of ’em, this one would matter.”
“You could see the others if you’d get in touch with your other sons.”
“I don’t need no reminders of what I should and shouldn’t be doin’, okay?”
“Okay. So is Jenny responsible for you being here today?”
“In a way. And Ms. Uppity.”
“You like her.” A statement, not a question.
“Don’t know why, but I do. Maybe I’m just lonely. But I needed to talk to your mom about her, ask if it was okay if I went on a date.”
“What’d Mom say?”
“What do you think?”
“I imagine she gave a thumbs-up.”
“She said I was too young to be spendin’ my life alone. Hear that? Too young. Told you I wasn’t decrepit.”
“You’re not looking young at the moment.”
He groaned as he tried to move. “Not feelin’ it right now either, but I will once I get back to the house and take a coupla aspirins.”
Win didn’t want the conversation to stop, but he knew they couldn’t linger much longer. “Do you want to try to mount up? We’re losing the light fast.”
“Yeah. I sure don’t like having to lean on you, son.”
“Everyone needs a helping hand now and then. I didn’t tell you before, but two of Jenny’s brothers helped moved the herd the day you had your surgery. They volunteered. I didn’t ask.”
Shep seemed to take that in for a minute. “Jim Ryder’s reached out to me before. I turned my back on him.”
“Well, here’s your chance to change that. Our families are connected now—for life. If you could see fit to smiling now and then, and accepting invitations, maybe you could share in all the big events. Maybe you could even host your own.”
“Maybe. Maybe Ms. Uppity would help.”
“I’ve seen the way she looks at you, Dad. She’s not gonna turn you down.”
His eyes lit up, then his face relaxed with relief. “Okay. Good.”
They managed to get Shep back on his horse and set off for home, taking an easy pace, although Win caught him wincing a lot.
The first one to yell at him was Ms. Upton. “You fool. You damn fool. Get down off that creature and let me check you out, then I’m quitting. For good this time. I mean it.”
“Ms. Uppity,” Shep said, then stopped. “Frannie. I’d be mighty pleased if you’d let me take you to dinner one night soon.”
Her mouth agape, she stared at him. “You’re asking me on a date? In front of all these people? You figure that way I won’t say no?”
“I’m hopin’.”
Win looked at the grinning group, who hadn’t moved an inch but stood there enjoying the floor show. Carlos and all the ranch hands exchanged humorous looks. Rose covered her mouth, her eyes twinkling. Jenny— Jenny was there? And her family. A herd of horses were in the yard. The Ryders had come to help search.
Win caught his father-in-law’s gaze and nodded his thanks. Jim simply touched his hat, as if to say, “No thanks necessary. It’s what we do for each other.”
“All right. Yes,” Ms. Upton said finally, and everyone cheered. “Let’s get you in the house and see how much of my work you’ve undone.”
“Win can help me to my room. Give us a few minutes, please. We’ve got business to attend to.”
We do? Win asked silently, hoping his father had talked to his mother about more than just Ms. Upton.
Shep was helped off his horse, then Rose handed their father his cane. He leaned on it heavily. Win didn’t touch him but was close enough to help should it be necessary. He glanced at Jenny, whose brow was furrowed and hands were clenched, so he stopped next to her for a minute.
“Thanks for enlisting the cavalry,” he said.
“All I did was call. They came on their own.”
He ran a finger down her tight jaw. “We have things to talk about, don’t we?”
Her hesitance to answer cut into him. “Yes,” she said.
“Good or bad?” He wanted to be prepared.
“I don’t know. Could go either way, I guess
.”
That got him worrying a bit.
Win waited for his father to sit before he took a seat himself on the couch.
“Okay, here’s the deal I made with your mom a little while ago,” his father said. “You stay on here, I’ll make you a partner, and I’ll give you the back pay you think you deserve.”
Win’s blood sped through his body, pumping his heart hard and fast. “That I do deserve. As do the others.”
“We’ll figure something out for them. Your job will be to bring the ranch up to speed, modernize it as you called it.”
“You’ll include me in all of the decisions,” Win said. “And my vote will carry weight.”
His father nodded.
“You’ll buy Rose a car of her own.”
“You wanna wipe out my investments in the first week?” He held up his hands. “Okay, okay. So, where do you think you’ll live?”
“I have to talk to my wife about that.”
“You can pick a portion of land to build your own house.”
“Jenny has land, too. We’ll see.” He stood. “What changed your mind?”
“Your wife, for one. But mostly I’m just tired of fightin’ everybody and everything. Not being able to ride for a month showed me what my future could be. I didn’t like it one bit. I probably won’t do as much as I used to, but maybe I’ll have Frannie with me and it won’t be so hard. She keeps talkin’ about all the traveling she plans to do. Can’t say I’m ready for Paris, but maybe Yellowstone.”
For the first time in Win’s memory, he laughed at something his father said. “I’ll send Ms. Upton in. I sure hope you didn’t do any damage to yourself or have a setback that adds months to your recovery.”
Win could hardly contain himself. He’d just been given everything he’d asked for, more than he’d asked for.
Which begged the question of Jenny’s lavender farm. It wasn’t too late to sign the papers. He knew she’d been willing to sacrifice it, but now that their financial situation had changed, she could still do it.
When he reached the front yard he found her family gone.
“He’s ready for you, Ms. Upton,” Win said. “Rose, you and I can go car shopping tomorrow, if you want.”
Rose leaped at him, giving him a big hug.
“Lots of things are going to change,” Win said. “Lots.”
Rose stepped aside and there stood Jenny, his beautiful wife, looking curious. “Shall we go home?” he said.
Soon they pulled into the farm’s yard.
Hungry and dusty, they sat on the porch steps and faced each other.
* * *
Jenny hoped Win would speak first, because she had no idea how to start the important—no, critical—conversation.
“Partly because of you,” Win said, beginning the discussion, “and partly because of his attraction to Ms. Upton, and partly because of his surgery, my father has seen the light.”
“A strobe or a penlight?”
He smiled. “One of those Hollywood searchlights.”
“That bright? You must be shocked and awed.”
Win nodded. “To sum it up, he’s making me a partner and giving me a real voice in the operation and modernization of the ranch. He wants me to choose a piece of property of my own for a house. He wants to be involved in our lives.”
“And apparently he wants Ms. Upton.”
“In a major way.” He reached for Jenny’s hand. “You can have your lavender farm.”
It took her breath away hearing those words but also seeing the look in his eyes, his pride and satisfaction in being able to fulfill her dream. Except—
It was time to lie to him for the last time. Never again after this, but this was a good and important lie.
“I don’t want to create the lavender farm anymore, Win. I told you that.” She did want it—badly—but it wasn’t her time. It was his. He deserved a normal life. They all did.
“That was before my father offered me a partnership. It’ll still be a bit of a struggle financially, but we can do it. I’m sure of it.”
“You’re not hearing me, Win. I don’t want it. My priorities have changed.” She put a hand on her abdomen. “I don’t think this is the time to be attempting something so challenging and potentially ruinous financially. When I came up with the idea I was in a different place than I am now. I’m okay with it, Win. Truly.”
His eyes told the truth. He was relieved and grateful. She’d made the right decision.
“Later on, then,” he said. “When the kids are in school.”
“Kids? Plural?” It was his first mention of more, she realized.
“Do you only want the one?” he asked.
It was the opening she needed. Now or never. “Did you grieve after I miscarried?”
He backed away a little. His face became a mask like she’d never seen before, emotionless and cool.
“I mourned for years,” she said when he didn’t answer.
“You never cried. Not with me. You said things like, ‘It was for the best.’ I thought you were glad.”
“I wanted that baby. And you.” Tears stung her eyes. This time she would let them flow, let him see the truth. “When I lost the baby, I lost you, too. A double blow. I wanted to mourn with you, but I didn’t know how. Didn’t know if you felt the same or were just relieved to have the relationship end. I needed you. I didn’t know how to tell you that.”
The tears fell then, hot and salty, down her cheeks. When she finally looked at him, his eyes were shimmering wet, too.
“I thought you were glad,” he whispered.
She shook her head as she started to sob. They reached for each other at the same time, clung together, grieved together for the first time after four years of holding back. The ache of loss engulfed them, but it was the only way they could heal.
“I put up walls so I wouldn’t feel anything,” he said. “I never dated. I couldn’t. I was a married man.”
“I tried to date,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder, his arms around her. “I never slept with anyone. It was you. Always you. Only you.”
“I love you,” he said. “Always you. Only you.”
“I love you, too.” What a relief to say the words finally. “I love you with all my heart and all my soul.”
“I love you more.”
She laughed, the sound shaky and watery. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“I didn’t understand what love was, not really. I liked you. I wanted you. I even needed you. It wasn’t until we thought you were miscarrying again—and I was afraid that would end our marriage for good if it happened—that I realized what I felt, had always felt, was love. But you’d miscarried right after we’d had sex and I lost you. The thought of losing you forever...” He shook his head. “I knew I would do everything and anything to keep you, wife.”
“I’m not going anywhere, husband. Ever. We belong to each other.”
Epilogue
“Merry Christmas, wife,” Win said, handing Jenny a package with a big red bow.
Jenny basked in his love. They’d given each other gifts for months, whether for the real Christmas or birthdays or other occasions but always wrapped as Christmas presents. “It’s March, husband.”
“The biggest and best Christmas of all.” He leaned over her hospital bed and kissed her, then the forehead of Elizabeth Ryder Morgan, born two hours earlier.
Jenny passed Beth to her daddy, got a lump in her throat at the tender way he looked at their daughter, then she opened the package and found a stack of paperwork.
“I’ll sum it up,” he said. “You and Annie are officially co-owners of Ryder-Morgan Farm, grower of organic produce, table flowers and lavender. Your signature is required about fifty times, then it�
��s yours.”
“Ours.”
He met her gaze and smiled. They shared everything now—a daughter, land and their emotions. Neither held anything back.
“Sit in the rocker,” she said. “Enjoy your daughter for a while. I’ll doze, I think.”
It didn’t take any convincing. He settled in, and Jenny closed her eyes.
What an amazing few months they’d had, she thought as she drifted. Annie had offered to sell them half of her farm, realizing she wanted to be with her children as much as possible. She would be happy splitting her time there, especially with someone who understood her goals. Annie and Jenny could share the time and the work, a bonus for both of them.
Then Win suggested he and Jenny build their family home on her Ryder Ranch property. That way he could choose as his own the Morgan grazing land surrounding Annie’s farm, which expanded that property, and Jenny could plant her lavender. It would be a much larger farm, open to the public now and then, a place to draw tourists but also the local townspeople for U-pick days, too, during berry season and Halloween—and lavender picking.
The Ryders and the Morgans were connected now. Even Win’s father had warmed up. Maybe the word mellow couldn’t be applied to him, but he was going and doing with Frannie, leaving Win to manage independently a lot. Win had come into his own.
As for Jenny, as long as she kept getting Christmas gifts with love and big red bows, she would be a happy woman.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from ’TWAS THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Olivia Miles.
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