A Cowboy's Christmas Carol

by Brenda Harlen

  He didn’t give any of the smaller dogs more than a cursory glance, but he did linger for a moment in front of Sully’s enclosure. She suspected he might have asked about the blue labradoodle—a breed known to be friendly and intelligent—if not for the pink bow Samantha had affixed to the top of Sully’s head. Instead, he moved on, turning his attention to Boo, the three-year-old German shepherd. The dog was big and strong and had lots of energy, and Daphne had no doubt Boo would be happy at Taylor Ranch.

  Still, she wasn’t going to make it too easy for her father to get what he wanted. “He’s going to cost you a thousand dollars.”

  He immediately pulled out his checkbook and pen. “I assume I make it payable to Happy Hearts?”

  She nodded, but her conscience kicked in as he filled in the name on the check. “But I was kidding about the amount. The adoption fee is a hundred dollars, not a thousand.”

  He shrugged and continued writing. “The money will go to help the animals, right?”

  “Of course,” she said.

  “Then a thousand dollars doesn’t seem like too much,” he said, tearing the check out of the book. “Besides, it likely would have cost me more than that if Jessica had decided to get a dog from a breeder.”

  Because he was right, she felt no guilt when she took the check and slid it into her deposit envelope. “Congratulations on the new addition to your family.”

  * * *

  Evan felt as if he’d been put through an emotional wringer, but apparently his nightmare had only just begun, because Alice had no sooner faded away than another woman took her place. This one he recognized immediately, even if he’d never seen her dressed as she was now, in a dark green velvet dress with a crown of flowers on her head and a glowing torch in her hand, perusing a buffet table set with heavy platters of food and punch bowls filled with drink.

  “Are you the Ghost of Christmas Present?” he asked Brittany Brandt Dubois.

  His former employee laughed. “Of course not. I’d have to be dead to be a ghost, and I’ve never felt more alive—or been happier.”

  “Then why are you here?” he asked.

  “I’m your Guide of Christmas Present,” she told him.

  He closed his eyes. “This is a dream. It has to be a dream. No, a nightmare,” he decided. “And when I open my eyes, you’re going to be gone and I’m going to be home in my bed.”

  He cautiously lifted one eyelid, just far enough to peek through and see that Brittany was still there, smirking at him.

  “You’re not at home,” she pointed out. “You were on your way to Happy Hearts when your car went off the road.”

  “That’s right,” he remembered. “There was a sudden snow squall and—” He broke off to swallow the panic that rose up inside him. “Maybe I am dead.”

  “Though some would question whether you even have a heart, I assure you, it’s still pumping blood through your veins,” Brittany said.

  “Have you always been this sarcastic?”

  “Yes, but you wouldn’t know, because you don’t pay any attention to your employees except to bark orders at them.”

  “I don’t bark,” he denied. “And how would you possibly know anything about what’s been going on with my business—or in my life—since you quit your job nine months ago?”

  “I made the choice that was best for me and I don’t have any regrets. But if you don’t start showing some appreciation for the people who work for you, you’re going to have trouble holding on to employees.”

  “Callie seems to be working out pretty well.”

  “Don’t you mean Kelly?”

  Damn it. Was it Kelly? Or—

  The smirk on her face clued him in to the fact that she was messing with him.

  “No, I mean Callie,” he said.

  “Well, good for you for knowing the name of the woman who’s been at your beck and call for the past five weeks.”

  She waved her hand then, and suddenly they were in the hayloft at Happy Hearts Animal Sanctuary, watching from above as he walked into the barn to meet Daphne for the first time.

  He experienced the same range of emotions now that he’d felt then. Annoyance that he was on time and no one was there to meet him. Surprise that the stable boy mucking out stalls turned out to be a woman—a very attractive woman. And a deeper emotion, one he wasn’t willing to name, that spread warmth through his chest.

  “There was something there, the first moment you met her,” Brittany noted.

  “The physical attraction between a man and a woman is hardly a mystery.”

  “The mystery was that she liked you, too,” his guide teased.

  The scene shifted from their introduction to the tour of Happy Hearts, then his return for the Yuletide Ghost Tour, followed by Christmas at the Farm and their first kiss.

  “You’ve got some decent moves,” Brittany said approvingly.

  “If I’d known my technique was going to be scored, I would have practiced,” he replied dryly.

  His guide only grinned.

  Then she waved her arms again, like a conductor leading an orchestra, and a montage of clips from the last few weeks played out: brief scenes of everything from decorating Daphne’s Christmas tree to Evan bottle-feeding Billie the Kid earlier that same morning. There were more kisses and lots of laughter in between, until he mentioned Grandma Daisy and they argued about the damn social media posts.

  And then, after he’d gone, Daphne swiping at the tears that slid down her cheeks.

  Watching her cry, knowing he was responsible, made his own heart ache. “I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

  “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” Brittany noted as the scene changed again.

  They were at his office now, though the only light on was over Callie’s desk. His assistant’s fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard as she input data. A man he didn’t know was on the other side of the desk, pacing back and forth impatiently.

  “Why do you have to do this now?” he asked her.

  “Because I didn’t get it finished yesterday, Zach.”

  “But we’ve got tickets for a movie that starts in—” he glanced at his watch “—thirty minutes.”

  “I only need ten,” she said, as she turned the page. “Maybe fifteen.”

  “You don’t get paid enough to work weekends.”

  “It’s enough to pay my bills,” she said. “And it so happens that I like my job.”

  “Your boss is a taskmaster who thinks that just because he has no life, no one who works for him should, either.”

  “He’s not so bad,” Callie said. “I think he’s just unhappy...because he’s alone.”

  “Maybe he’s alone because he makes everyone around him unhappy,” Zach remarked.

  Brittany handed Evan a shiny red apple. “Food for thought.”

  * * *

  Daphne was pleased when Elaine showed up only a short while after Cornelius and Boo had gone, despite the fact that she wasn’t on the schedule for today. Happy Hearts was lucky to have a roster of enthusiastic helpers, and Daphne tried to spread out the schedule and responsibilities so that no one ever felt overwhelmed by the expectations. But it wasn’t unusual for volunteers to show up at other times, just to lend a hand wherever it was needed.

  Today, Elaine helped bathe a filthy—and very unhappy—Bernese mountain dog that had been picked up while digging through the contents of a garbage can in a local park.

  “Is everything okay?” Elaine asked, when the dog that they’d dubbed Rufus was mostly clean and chowing down on a bowl of kibble.

  “Sure. Why?”

  “You seem a little distracted today.”

  “I’ve just got a lot on my mind,” she said. “There’s barely a week and a half until Christmas, and I still have so much to do.”

  “You’re behind s
chedule?” Elaine’s tone was filled with disbelief. “You’re the most organized person I know.”

  “Apparently organizational skills don’t help add hours to a day.”

  “Or maybe it’s the hunky ghost hunter who’s been hanging around that’s responsible for taking up a lot of those hours.”

  “I’ve been spending some time with Evan,” she admitted.

  And she’d been looking forward to spending at least some of Christmas Day with him and meeting his family, but considering the way they’d parted, she didn’t think that was likely to happen this year.

  Or any year.

  Her cell phone rang then, jolting her out of her reverie.

  Her heart skipped again when she saw Evan’s name on the screen.

  “Excuse me a minute,” she said to Elaine, stepping away to connect the call.

  But it wasn’t Evan on the other end of the line, it was a woman who identified herself as Dorothea McGowan.

  “There’s been an accident,” Evan’s grandmother said without further preamble, and everything inside Daphne went cold.

  “Is he...” She hesitated, not sure what she wanted to ask.

  ...hurt?

  Of course, he was hurt, or he’d be the one making the call.

  ...dead?

  No.

  She couldn’t ask that. She wouldn’t even let herself think it.

  “He’s at the hospital,” Dorothea said, answering the unfinished question. “The doctor doesn’t think his injuries are serious, but he’s unconscious.”

  “I’m on my way,” Daphne said.

  “What is it?” Elaine asked when she’d managed to disconnect the call with shaking hands.

  “Evan was in an accident.”

  “How bad?” her friend asked hesitantly.

  “I don’t know.” And the not knowing terrified her. “They took him by ambulance to the hospital...unconscious...” She felt her throat tighten. “I have to go. I have to be there.”

  “Of course,” Elaine agreed. “Do you want me to take you?”

  “No.” She shook her head, fighting to maintain control of her emotions. “I can drive. But I need to feed the animals and—”

  “I can take care of all that,” the other woman reminded her. “Go.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Her friend nodded and gave her a quick hug. “Drive safely. And let me know if there’s anything you need.”

  I need Evan to be okay.

  Of course, her friend couldn’t guarantee that, so Daphne prayed all the way to the hospital.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Evan Cruise?” Daphne was breathless, having run all the way from the hospital parking lot to the nurse’s station. “He was in a car accident...brought here by ambulance.”

  “Are you family?”

  Her heart sank as she realized her frantic rush to get to Evan’s side was likely going to end right here.

  “No,” she reluctantly admitted.

  At the same time another voice said, “Yes.”

  She turned around to see a seventy-something woman with short, stylish gray hair and sparkling hazel eyes. Though the color was different, Daphne recognized Evan’s eyes in his grandmother’s face.

  “Or she will be soon enough,” Dorothea clarified with a conspiratorial wink for Daphne.

  She wanted to protest that Evan’s grandmother was obviously misinformed about their relationship, but she bit her tongue because she knew the little white lie was probably her only hope of getting past the nurse’s desk.

  “I’ll take her back to the family lounge,” the older woman continued, hooking her arm through Daphne’s.

  “The signs says only two visitors per patient in the waiting area, Mrs. McGowan,” the nurse pointed out. “And only one in the patient’s room.”

  “I can read,” Evan’s grandmother said with a friendly wink. “It’s math that always gave me trouble.”

  The nurse shook her head, even as a smile tugged at her lips. “Just so long as Dr. Ruczinski knows that you were informed of our visitation policy.”

  “I’ll be sure to let the doctor know that we were informed,” Dorothea promised.

  “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” Daphne said, walking beside Evan’s grandmother through the sterile corridor. “I could just wait in the coffee shop until—”

  “You’ll wait with the family.” The older woman’s tone brooked no argument. “Evan’s going to want to see you when he wakes up.”

  “I’m not so sure about that,” she heard herself confide. “The last time we talked... Well, I think we both said some things we probably shouldn’t have.”

  “Relationships have their ups and downs, just like roller coasters,” Dorothea said philosophically. “Both the highs and the lows are easier to handle if you stay on the ride together.”

  “He might want to jump out of the car if he wakes up to rumors of an engagement,” Daphne cautioned.

  “Then we’ll try to keep that little detail quiet...for now.”

  * * *

  As his Guide of Christmas Present faded away, Evan breathed in the scent of his grandmother’s perfume.

  “Grandma Daisy?” He blinked, not sure if he was still dreaming or if this was real. “What are you doing here?”

  “I am your Guide of Christmas Yet to Come.”

  He sighed. “For one very brief moment, I was starting to believe this nightmare might finally be over.”

  “Then you obviously weren’t paying close enough attention when I read Dickens to you,” his grandmother chided.

  “Let me guess—you’re here to show me how bleak and lonely my life will be if I don’t mend my ways.”

  “If that was my only purpose and you apparently know it already, then my work here would be done,” she said. “But it’s not.”

  “All right, then,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”

  She shook her head despairingly even as she took his hand. “You were always a good boy, willing to listen, eager to please. Well, almost always.”

  Having so recently been reminded of some less-than-stellar moments from his past, he could hardly argue the point.

  “And you’ve grown into a fine young man, even if you sometimes have trouble seeing the big picture,” she continued.

  “What is the big picture that you think I’m missing?”

  “That the richness of your life has nothing to do with the balance in your bank account.”

  “Maybe not,” he acknowledged. “But being poor sucks.”

  “How would you know?” she challenged. “Have you ever gone to bed with an empty belly? Have you ever been without a bed to lie down on?”

  “No,” he admitted. “But I know Mom worried about those things, especially in the first few years after my dad left.”

  “She worried even more about the fact that you would grow up without a father,” Grandma Daisy confided. “And later, that the failure of her marriage was the reason you hold yourself back from falling in love—because opening up your heart means risking heartbreak.”

  She paused, giving him a moment to think about that.

  “But then you met Daphne.”

  And suddenly she was there, almost close enough for Evan to touch if he reached out.

  And he was tempted, but as the light that shone on Daphne spread outward, he saw that she wasn’t alone.

  She was with a man, though not someone he recognized, and their hands were joined as they made their way toward the church, its bells ringing to call worshippers to the Christmas Eve service. It was only when they turned to walk up the steps that he saw the swell of her belly beneath her coat.

  She was pregnant.

  The joy that had filled his heart when she first appeared, spilled out now and drained away.

 
; “Does she...love him?” he asked.

  “Not yet,” Grandma Daisy said. “In the present-day world, she hasn’t even met him. But she will...and very soon. He’ll be immediately smitten with her—and why not? She’s a beautiful girl, inside and out. He’ll ask if he can buy her a cup of coffee, but she’ll turn down this first invitation, because she’s still tending to the bruises you left on her heart.

  “But if you don’t find a way to fix things with her, she’ll eventually realize there’s no future for the two of you together, and the next time he asks, she’ll say yes.”

  “I was on the way to Happy Hearts when my SUV went off the road,” he pointed out.

  “But you were still angry with her. You still believed that she’d crossed a line, as if lines should exist between a man and a woman who love each other.”

  “I’ve never been very good at sorting through my emotions.”

  “Instead, you buried them deep. Focusing on your business rather than personal relationships.”

  She waved a hand, and they were standing on a sidewalk downtown, facing a wide storefront with the words Bronco Ghost Tours painted on the glass.

  “In this future, Bronco Ghost Tours is a national chain, with tours running in more than one hundred towns, from Juneau to San Diego to Tampa to Bar Harbor.”

  “I’m not seeing anything but an upside here,” Evan noted, pleased that at least something seemed to have gone right in his future.

  “When you realized that you’d destroyed your relationship with Daphne, you refocused all your attention on the business.”

  “Obviously my hard work paid off.”

  “But at what cost?”

  He didn’t know how to answer that as he watched himself—some twenty years older—scan a card to unlock the door and step inside the wide-open office space.

  The older Evan frowned as he noted the empty desks while he stomped the snow off his boots and shrugged out of his coat. “Where the hell is everyone?”