Merry Cowboy Christmas

by Carolyn Brown

  Chapter Nine

  Fiona hummed Christmas carols all day long as she waited on customers at the store and worked on the accounting in the back room. It had been years since she’d been home on the evening they decorated the tree, and her spirits were high, even when she had to enter miles and miles of numbers into the computer.

  At noon, Katy went up to Nadine’s and brought back a couple of big juicy burgers and they had lunch together at the yellow table. “You are in one fine mood today,” Katy said.

  “I can’t wait to decorate the tree, and Dora June said she was making cookies.” Fiona bit into the burger and groaned. “I love good burgers. This is amazing. Nadine should have put in a café years ago.”

  “She’s doing a good business. Speaking of businesses—do you remember my friends Trudy and Janie?”

  “Those are the women you went to supper with the other night, right?”

  “Yes,” Katy said. “They’re both retired and they’re going to Florida for three months. They asked me to go with them. They’ve rented a condo right on the beach where a bunch of retired folks go for the winter. Trudy has done this for years but it’s Janie’s first time to go with her.”

  “And?” Fiona held her breath.

  Katy laughed. “Don’t panic. I told them no. I can’t be away from Audrey for three months or your grandmother, either.”

  “But you could be away for a week or maybe even two. Are they flying?”

  “No, they’re driving in Trudy’s van,” Katy answered.

  “You want to go, don’t you?”

  “I haven’t been away like that in…” Katy paused.

  “Did you even have a honeymoon when you and Daddy married?” Fiona could never remember a time that her mother had been out of Dry Creek for more than a day.

  “We went to Dallas for the weekend but he had to be back on the job Monday morning and I was helping Mama run this store so…” Katy shrugged.

  Fiona shoved some paperwork to the side and reached across the table to lay a hand on her mother’s. “Go with them. Stay a week or two and then fly home. You can be back in plenty of time for Christmas, and I’ll see to it that Audrey gets lots of love and I’ll check on Granny every Sunday afternoon that you are gone.”

  “But…”

  Fiona gently squeezed Katy’s hand. “You told us girls no buts, so I’m sayin’ the same thing to you. I can hold down this place for a couple of weeks. Getting away will do you a world of good. When are they leaving?”

  “Tomorrow,” Katy sighed.

  “Perfect. The tree will be up. Granny can spend the evening with us, so you’ll get to have that time with her and then you can leave in the morning. That’s only two Sundays and I’ll visit her both of them, I promise, and take care of anything that comes up with her. You’re only a phone call away and if something drastic happens, you can be home in a few hours. Planes go from there to Dallas every day.”

  “You should have been a lawyer rather than an accountant. You present a strong case.” Katy smiled.

  “Then you’ll do it?”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Fair enough,” Fiona said.

  Fiona was not one bit disappointed when she and Katy came home that evening. The lights coming from the windows of Audrey’s Place cast a yellow glow on the falling snow, creating a picture fit for a Christmas card. The warm house smelled like pine and sugar cookies mixed in with something chocolate and was that chicken? A blaze crackled in the fireplace and Christmas carols were playing. Fiona removed her coat, hat, and gloves and took it all in like a thirsty person who’d just crossed the desert with no water.

  “Well, let’s get started decorating the tree?” Irene started to unbutton her coat.

  “I’ll help you.” Fiona hurried to her grandmother’s side.

  “Bein’ forgetful is a bitch, but it don’t make me helpless.” Irene pushed Fiona’s hand away. “I’m hungry. I hope there’s Christmas cookies with icing on them in the kitchen.”

  “I bet there is.” Fiona stood back and let Irene hang up her own coat.

  The whole family was there to help put up the decorations and supper was laid out buffet style on the dining room table. Chicken salad sandwiches, chips, three kinds of dip, and all kinds of cookies and finger foods. Dora June was bustling around like she did at a church supper, playing with Audrey one minute and fussing about no one eating enough the next.

  “What in the devil are you doing here, Dora June?” Irene asked as she removed her coat and hat. She handed them to Fiona and went straight for the table, where she picked up a cookie. “Did you make these?”

  “I’m staying here for a while,” Dora June answered. “My house burned down and Katy is letting us stay with her. And, yes, I did make the cookies.”

  “You ain’t lost your touch.” Irene picked up a second one. “Allie, you need to take that baby into the living room. She won’t remember today when she’s old as I am but we will remember the look on her little face when the tree is lit up.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Allie crossed the room and hugged Irene. “How was your ride down here tonight? Were the roads clear?”

  “They were. According to the weather report, the snow stops just north of us and is going to the east,” Katy answered.

  “Hey, y’all, I hear there’s a tree decoratin’ goin’ on tonight.” Deke swept into the house through the kitchen door, hung up his coat and hat, and grabbed two sandwiches on his way to the living room. “Granny! I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

  “I’m always here when it’s time to decorate,” Irene said.

  “It’s a Christmas miracle,” Dora June whispered to Fiona. “She’s good tonight.”

  “I know.” Fiona nodded.

  For someone who had put up such a fuss about Allie and Lizzy marrying those two Dawson brothers, Dora June sure was acting like a loving grandmother that night. Maybe since she’d figured out she couldn’t lick them, she’d join them as the old saying went. Truman was nowhere to be seen, but then Fiona didn’t expect him to come out of his cave and be civil.

  “We’ve been waiting for y’all to get home,” Lizzy said. “The guys brought down all the Christmas decorations, and we’re ready to start putting up the tree. The outside will have to wait until the weekend. We can’t get the lights up out there in this blinding snow.”

  Fiona picked up a sandwich and ate it on the way to the living room. “Holy smoke, Allie! There’s enough stuff in here to decorate half the state of Texas.”

  “Ain’t it wonderful.” Dora June almost swooned. “This is the most exciting day I’ve had in as long as I can remember. Give me that baby and let me sit in the rocker and just watch. Come and sit beside me, Irene, and we’ll talk about old times.”

  Irene stacked three more cookies in her hand and followed Dora June to the living room, sat down on the end of the sofa, and asked Dora June to tell her about the fire.

  Allie put Audrey in Dora June’s lap. “When it comes to putting on the ornaments, you have to help.”

  Fiona sat down on the other end of the sofa and watched the guys put together the eight-foot artificial tree. Thank goodness they built houses with high ceilings in the early part of the previous century.

  “I can’t believe Allie and Lizzy are nice to me. I’ve been so nervous about this all day that I almost spent the evening in the bedroom with Truman, but I want to watch the Christmas decorations going up and I do love holding a baby. This is my favorite season of the whole year,” Dora June whispered behind her hand to Fiona.

  “Us Logans don’t carry grudges…not for very long,” Fiona said softly. “Besides, it’s Christmas and miracles happen at this time of year.”

  “Thank you, Lord.” Dora June looked toward the ceiling.

  “I love Christmas,” Irene said.

  “You think if I invited Truman to join us it might help?” Fiona asked.

  Dora June shook her head. “If he comes out of the room, it has to
be his decision. He didn’t help with decorations, but he did sit in his recliner and eat cookies the day that I put the tree up. He’s not much of a shopper, but he does pick out a card every year and he puts a hundred-dollar bill in it for me to spend on whatever I want. He might have been different if we’d had kids, but the mumps fixed Truman right before we married.”

  “I’m sorry. You would have made a good mama and grandma,” Fiona said.

  “I wanted a family but we’ve done all right except for the Christmas thing. Maybe it was because he had the mumps at Christmas and that soured him on the holiday. But I love it and I’ve had my tree and my decorations every year. I’m glad y’all are putting up one here since mine burned,” Dora June said sadly.

  “Fiona, Jud needs help getting the lights on the tree,” Katy said. “I do believe y’all will have to wait until the weekend to get the outside stuff up and running. That wind is getting fierce out there.”

  Fiona whipped around to lock gazes with her mother. “You’ve decided to go?”

  “I have. I called Trudy while you were tidying up your paperwork and told her to pick me up in the morning,” Katy answered. “And thank you.”

  “Go where?” Allie asked.

  Fiona draped an arm around her mother’s shoulders. “She is going on a two-week vacation to Florida with her friends.”

  “I can…”

  “We will…”

  Jud and Dora June both spoke at once and then stopped.

  “Nothing needs to change. The only difference in the routine is that I won’t be here,” Katy said. “Now let’s get started on this tree. Fiona, you help Jud. Lizzy, you and Allie unpack the other boxes of decorations.”

  “Are you sure?” Dora June asked.

  “Absolutely. You’ll need to keep an eye on these two kids I’m leaving in your care.” Katy grinned. “And you two kids will have to keep a watch out for Dora June and Truman. Don’t let them work too hard.”

  “Well, I think it’s a great idea for you to get away for a little while—long as you don’t decide to stay down there,” Allie said.

  “Me too. I’d sure want you here for Christmas,” Lizzy chimed in.

  “The timing is perfect.” Fiona started clipping lights to the tree. “Mama can have the fun of the trip and be home a few days before the holiday. Don’t go so fast, Jud. This part takes time and patience.”

  “Oh, honey,” Jud whispered for Fiona’s ears only, “I can go fast or I can have patience, depending on whatever you want.”

  “Hush.” She blushed.

  “Dora June can hold Audrey while we do all this,” Allie said.

  “No, that’s my job since I won’t see her for a couple of weeks.” Katy took the baby from Dora June and sat down on the sofa with her. “We are going to watch this whole process together. Dora June, darlin’, will you unpack the ornaments and line them up on the coffee table so that they’ll be ready when the time comes?”

  Dora June clapped her hands. “I love looking at the pretty ornaments and it’s a special year when me and Irene can put them on the tree together.”

  When she turned around to pick up the box that had been marked ORNAMENTS, Fiona noticed that she wiped a tear from her eyes.

  Fiona felt a sting of sadness for Dora June. She’d never had a big family around her as she decorated her tree. Even with Truman sitting in the background enjoying her cookies, it had to be lonely. Then another shot filled her heart as she watched Irene struggling to hold on to everything she held dear. Two old ladies: one with family that she didn’t even know some of the time, the other who wished she had family.

  Lizzy bumped Fiona on the shoulder. “Time to get busy if we’re going to get this done tonight.”

  “What are you and Allie going to do while I’m doing the hard work?” Fiona asked.

  “We’re unpacking the boxes with the stuff in them like Mama said.”

  “Mama lets me help with the ornaments,” Irene said.

  “You can help tonight,” Katy told her. “You and Dora June can do that job together.”

  “I think I’m supposed to be mad at Dora June but I can’t remember why,” Irene whispered.

  “Y’all aren’t mad at each other anymore.” Katy patted her on the shoulder. “The miniature nativity scene goes on the mantel and the collection of snowmen goes on the top of the bookcase and the secretary and wherever you can find a place,” Katy said. “This is the last year we’ll put them on the end tables. Next year Audrey will be walking and she might hurt herself if she knocked one off and broke it.”

  “And the snow globes?” Lizzy asked.

  “Exactly in all the traditional places this year. We may have to rethink things next year since Audrey will be walking by then,” Irene answered.

  “Have the lights been tested?” Fiona asked before she clipped another one to the branches. “This tree is artificial but I swear I smell pine.”

  “I lit a pine-scented candle,” Dora June said. “And thank you, Katy for letting us continue to stay here while you are gone.”

  Fiona’s hand brushed against Jud’s bare arm and the electricity was nothing short of pure static. How no one else saw it was a complete mystery.

  “To answer your question about the lights, Fiona, the guys and I did that before you got home,” Jud answered.

  Tradition: that’s what her mother said years ago when she asked why they still used the ancient lights on their tree when everyone else had gone to the flashing twinkle lights.

  He stopped and she took another step, her whole body plastering against his, sending little spurts of heat from her toes to the ends of every red hair.

  “Where does a person even buy the bulbs for these antiques anymore?” she murmured breathlessly as she took a step back.

  “Anywhere,” Jud answered. “They sell every color imaginable for night-lights now. Same size as these are. My grandparents still use this kind. I saw a place online last week that’s selling strands of these again and I plan to buy some when I have my own home and Christmas tree.”

  He bumped against her hip and more sparks flashed around like dozens of stars falling from the sky. Everyone talking at once covered Fiona’s quick intake of breath, thank God. She clipped the bulb to the tree and took a step, putting a foot of space between her and Jud but that didn’t do much for the heat between them.

  “I’d offer you a penny for your thoughts but I bet you wouldn’t sell them that cheap,” Jud whispered.

  Sweet Lord! She wouldn’t sell what she’d just been thinking for any amount of money.

  “You got that right.” Crimson filled her cheeks.

  “Are you blushing? Now I really want to know what you were thinking.” His warm breath caressed that soft spot on her neck, sending shivers up her back.

  “You aren’t getting them spread out enough. We’ve only got two more strands and they have to do the whole tree,” Lizzy bossed from the sidelines.

  “You worry about your job and leave me alone. The nativity is off center. The shed and manger go smack dab in the middle, or you won’t have enough room for all the rest of the animals,” Fiona told her.

  “The joys of sisterhood.” Allie winked.

  Toby unpacked figurines of sheep, a donkey, a few cows, and a couple goats. “Hey, where is Truman? I found goats.”

  “Not even nativity goats would get him out here,” Dora June said above the noise. “The music has stopped. Someone needs to start another CD. I always play music when I’m decorating.”

  “It ain’t Christmas without music,” Irene said.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Blake crossed the floor to the corner where the CD player was located and chose an album with a mixture of country music artists.

  Fiona wiggled her hips to the song, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” When she stopped and went back to work, Jud nudged her with his shoulder.

  “Great moves there. Want to go out Friday night and do some dancin’?” he asked.

  “Are you ask
ing me for a date?” she whispered.

  “I guess I am. We could go to Wichita Falls or maybe to a place called Frankie’s.” He drawled so low that only she could hear him.

  “Frankie’s? How do you even know about that place?” Her big green eyes widened and she cocked her head to one side.

  “Deke offered to take me. He took Lizzy, you know.”

  “No!” Fiona gasped. “Does Mama know?”

  “Have no idea. You’ll have to ask her,” Jud said.

  “What are y’all whispering about?” Dora June asked.

  “I was asking her to teach me to do that dance. I can two-step or swing dance, but I can’t do the shuffle and she’s really good at it,” Jud answered.

  “It looks like a pagan mating dance to me,” Dora June huffed. “Y’all get on with the lights so I can help put the ornaments on. Audrey gets to put the star on the top when we get done. I promised her she could do it if she wouldn’t go to sleep. That way she’ll stay awake and then sleep good tonight for her mama.”

  “But”—Allie glanced over toward the rocking chair—“she’s not even two months old, Dora June. How is she going to put the star on the tree?”

  “We’ll really put it on the tree.” Dora June smiled.

  “Blake will hold her up there beside it like she did it,” Irene said. “Y’all can take a picture of her up there beside it. The rule in our house says the youngest kid gets to put the star on the tree. Who knows? It could be the only year she’ll get to put the star on the tree. She might have a little brother or a cousin next year at this time.”

  “Bite your tongue,” Allie gasped.

  “One never knows what another year will bring. I sure wouldn’t mind giving Audrey a little cousin next year,” Lizzy said.

  Dora June’s eyes shifted to Fiona.

  She popped up both palms, fingers splayed out in defense. “Don’t look at me. I’m not in the market for a baby, not even to put the star on the tree.”

  “Best be careful. God has a way of throwing monkey wrenches into the best plans,” Dora June giggled.