“Just a few more feet, Callie. Martin is going to get his snowman this weekend for sure the way this stuff is coming down.”
“My feet are freezing.”
“You are getting boots as soon as I can get to the store and buy them, and so is Martin. He needs them in weather like this, and you can argue with me until hell freezes over, but you both will be getting boots,” Finn declared.
She didn’t argue. Swallowing her pride was easy when she couldn’t even feel her toes. She didn’t wait for him to be a gentleman and open the door for her but rushed in ahead of him, sat down on the chair under the phone, and kicked off her shoes. Then she peeled off her wet socks and started rubbing her feet. A towel landed in her lap as Finn stomped the snow from his boots and jerked them off. She rubbed feeling back into her bright red feet before she looked up to see where the towel came from. Then the aroma of ginger mixed with something that smelled wonderfully like tacos or Mexican food hit her nose.
A short woman with short jet-black hair and brown eyes set in a bed of deep wrinkles poked her head around the door. “Y’all best go on and change clothes while I put this dinner on the table. Old truck finally give up the ghost, did it? It’s been a good one, but the damned old bastard could have gotten you home before it quit. I hope y’all meant it when you said I could come for a visit. I put my things in the bedroom across the hall from the bunk room.”
Callie stuck out her hand. “Hello, Verdie. That truck hasn’t given up the ghost. I can put a new thermostat in it, and with a new tire, it’ll be good for another ten years.”
Verdie bypassed Callie’s hand and hugged her tightly. “It’s so good to be home. I can move my things if you want me to.” Then she moved past Callie and hugged Finn. “Y’all are about frozen. You’d best get out of them wet clothes and get over there by the fire to get warmed up. I’ll make a fresh pot of coffee.”
“Thank you, Verdie, and you can stay in the room where you put your things. I hope it was clean, and you are very welcome to stay as long as you like. Is that taco soup I smell?” Callie said.
“I hope it’s taco soup, because I’m cold and hungry, and that would sure taste good,” Finn said.
Verdie swiped at her eyes with the tail of her apron and said, “I was hungry for it, but they don’t serve anything that’s got any flavor to it at the funny farm I was stupid enough to run off to. Y’all go on and change, and I’ll put it all on the table. Oh, the school called a few minutes ago. They’ll be letting out early. Bus drivers are afraid that they can’t get through the back roads the way it’s coming down out there. Glad I got here when I did.”
“Did you drive?” Callie asked.
“Hell no! Didn’t have anything to drive. Left my old truck here. I caught a ride to Gainesville with the daughter of a lady who lives in the funny farm. Then I paid a cab double fare to bring me on home.”
When a timer bell dinged, she whipped around and picked up a pot holder. “Last of the cookies is ready. I ate most of the first dozen soon as they came out of the oven.”
“Well, soon as I get into some dry clothes, I’m going to eat that dozen.” Finn grinned.
Callie’s feet tingled as she made her way to the bedroom where she rustled up a sweat suit and a pair of fluffy socks. She towel dried her dark hair and drew it up into a fresh ponytail. She was crossing the room when she realized that Joe hadn’t said a word since she and Finn came into the house.
She glanced in his direction to find a crazy contraption sitting on two bars of the drying rack. It had a brightly colored apron tied around the top of it.
“Damn bird was driving me crazy. He needs to be covered at night and when he gets too noisy. I put a tomato cage over him and tied an old apron around it. He’s sleeping like a baby,” Verdie said. “That constant shit he spits out would drive a woman to drinkin’.”
Before Callie could say thank you, the front door flew open. Martin ran across the floor without even wiping his feet and threw himself into her arms, sobbing like his heart was broken.
“Callie, you got to do something. They can’t go to another of them foster places. I won’t even ask for a Christmas present. I don’t need no cowboy boots anyway. It’s Olivia and her brothers. We’ve got to help them.” The words came out in ragged gasps between sobs.
She drew him to the sofa and sat down with him right beside her. “Dry up the tears and tell me what’s going on.”
“That’s the kids that the Laytons have, isn’t it?” Verdie asked.
Martin wiped his eyes and stared at her.
“I’m Verdie. I used to own Salt Draw. I’m here for a visit. Now tell me what’s happening to the children. They’ve been with the Layton family about six months.”
Fresh tears washed down his face. “The mama is real sick, and she can’t keep them no more, and Adam said that they liked it here and they don’t want to leave, and Olivia was crying.”
“What’s goin’ on in here?” Finn’s big frame filled the hallway door.
“I’ll work real hard if you can let them stay here. We got lots of room, and they’re just little kids, so they won’t eat much,” Martin said.
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Verdie said and went on to explain the situation to Finn. “But Polly used to work for the office that takes care of foster kids, so I’ll call her and see what can be done. Right now all y’all need good warm food in your stomachs. And then we’re going to talk about decorations for that tree in there. Something that big needs more foo-rah on it, and I know just where to find it.”
Martin nodded and removed his coat, hung it on the rack, and kicked his shoes off beside the door.
Finn patted Callie on the back. “It’ll be all right. Don’t worry.”
“Easier said than done,” she said.
Chapter 13
Nothing was awkward, and that made everything awkward. One minute Callie and Finn were jogging home through the snow and then boom! They had a houseguest who wasn’t really a visitor because she was part of the ranch even more than they were. Callie could count on the fingers of one hand the times she’d entertained an overnight guest, and not a single one of them had ever moved right into the kitchen and taken over the cooking.
She tried reading a book when she went to bed, but her mind wouldn’t shut off. Next she tried visualizing a black dot and making it bigger like her therapist suggested. That didn’t work, either. Finally, she got out of bed, wrapped the chenille bedspread around her like a cape, and tiptoed across the cold hardwood floor to the den.
Shotgun’s tail thumped on the floor a couple of times, then he tucked his head under his paw and went back to sleep in front of the glowing fireplace with Pistol and Angel snuggled up against him. Callie settled into the corner of the sofa, tucked her feet up under the bedspread, and hoped the warmth of the fire mesmerized her right into sleep.
“You couldn’t sleep either?” Finn’s deep drawl came from the recliner in the shadows.
His voice startled her, but it didn’t surprise her.
“It’s been a crazy day, hasn’t it? It keeps playing through my mind on a continuous loop.”
“Verdie?” he whispered.
She heard his movements before she saw him shift from chair to sofa. The chair popped down, Shotgun raised his head to check out the noise, and then Finn was sitting next to her. The scent of masculine soap and shampoo filled the space between them and sent her senses into a spiral.
It was a full minute before she could get a hold on her emotions and answer. “Not so much Verdie as those poor children. She’ll be gone back to her new place in a few days. Probably as soon as the weather clears up. I overheard her telling Martin while she was helping him with his English assignment that she had to visit with Gladys and Polly before she went home.”
“The kids and even Verdie aren’t kittens or a stray Chihuahua,” he said.
“I know that, Finn.”
He moved closer so he could wrap her in his arms. “B
ut?”
She sighed. “But I’ve never seen Martin so upset. He’s made friends here in Burnt Boot. It would be different if they were snatched away because their parents were moving, but this hits a raw nerve.”
Finn slid farther down the sofa until they were touching, then reached out to take her hand in his. “He have trouble in foster care?”
“Not really, but Lacy was all he had, and then she was gone. She’d left a will of sorts saying she wanted to be cremated, and there was enough of a life insurance policy to make that happen. They let me leave two days early so I could get home, but Martin had to go into foster care until I could prove that I could take care of him.”
“Proves my point, again.”
She snuggled down into the curve of his shoulder. “What point?”
“You aren’t a runner. They don’t worry. They just go wherever the wind takes them.”
“Verdie is a settler, too, Finn. She’s not happy in her new world and is still hanging on to this one. We should ask her to stay until after Christmas. There’s lots of room here, and she and Martin have struck up a granny-slash-grandkid relationship already. She told him to call her Granny Verdie. If his friends get taken away, it might help to have her here. Did you know that she read to him tonight? She’s so happy to be back on the ranch. I hate to think of her down there in that place with no family,” Callie said.
***
A week ago Finn had a dog. Period. Now there was a sassy parrot that never shut up.
“Kill the bastards and kiss the girl!” Joe said.
“Time for his tomato cage and apron,” Callie said.
Finn hurried to the corner and slipped the wire cage down over the bird and tied the apron around it.
“Good night, Irene,” the bird singsonged and then was quiet.
“Simple enough. Verdie is a genius for coming up with it.” Finn settled back into his place beside Callie. “Now back to what we were talking about. I don’t think Verdie will agree. She wanted to sell. Remember when you couldn’t wait to join the army and then after a few days of basic you wondered what in the hell you had done? Then you went home for a visit after basic and couldn’t wait to go back to the army. A visit is one thing; an extended stay is another thing altogether.”
Callie looked up at him and nodded. “So you think she’ll spend a few days here and be ready to leave. I don’t think so, Finn. She’s not a runner. I think she made a mistake when she sold the ranch.”
He could hear her talking, but it was just noise. He cupped her face with his hands, and his lips found hers in a soft kiss that soon deepened in raw passion that yearned to be satisfied. One of his hands moved to her neck; the other to the small of her back to draw her even closer.
“Callie, where are you?” Martin’s whisper cut through the darkness.
Finn quickly moved to the recliner, and Callie tucked the bedspread back around her body. His heart thumped in his chest and his breathing was still labored as he grabbed a throw to cover his lap.
“I’m right here, Martin,” Callie called out softly. “On the sofa by the fire.”
He curled up beside her and she wrapped the edge of the spread around him. “It was the dream again, Callie. I couldn’t get back to sleep.”
Like mother and child, Finn thought.
“That man was looking right at me, and he chased me. When I got to our apartment, the police sirens started and he ran the other way,” Martin said.
“I’m right here. Shut your eyes. We’ll rest awhile on the sofa. Shotgun is here, too. Nobody can get past him. And you can’t see him, but Pistol is curled up right at his back. Remember, he’s our alarm dog.”
“Granny Verdie made it past both of them. I like her just fine, but what if she’d been one of them bad people, and what if they’re still looking for us? I wish Finn was in here. Nothing gets past him,” Martin said.
“I’m right here in the recliner, son,” Finn said.
“I’m glad. You know what I want for Christmas, Callie? I want Finn to always be here, because he’ll keep us safe.”
***
All the tension left his small body as he stretched out beside Callie and went back to sleep. She wiggled down and used the wide sofa arm for a pillow.
“Is he asleep?” Finn whispered.
“Out like a light. He thinks he’s too big to crawl into bed with me, so when he has the nightmares, we sleep on the sofa the rest of the night.”
“So you are the nightmare whisperer.” He chuckled.
“What?”
“Like the horse whisperer. Only you banish nightmares with your presence. Damn, Callie! I wish I’d have known that two years ago. I would have looked you up and slept on the sofa with you,” he said.
“You are full of bullshit.” She giggled. “Go back to bed, or else pop up that footrest and go to sleep. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. There must be six inches of snow out there by now. There are cattle to feed and a truck to tow home, and Verdie says we’ll be putting up more decorations after we do chores.”
She heard the recliner pop as it went back. Shotgun moved away from the fire, checked on Finn, and then hopped up on the other end of the sofa.
She awoke early the next morning when sunrays had just begun to filter in through the mini-blinds, creating stripes of light across Finn’s face. She’d seen him with scruff on his face when they went out on a mission, but that was before they’d shared kisses that tilted the world off its axis.
Pots and pans rattled in the kitchen, awakening Shotgun, who cocked an eye that way and growled deep in his throat. The hackles on his back stood up, and his ears laid back.
“It’s just Verdie,” Callie whispered.
Shotgun peeked over the arm of the sofa and caught a glimpse of the newcomer. His tail set up a drumbeat on the leather, and that woke Martin, who hopped up and grabbed the dog around the neck.
“Where’s the other two?” Martin asked.
Pistol waddled in from the utility room, and Angel slunk down the hallway from Finn’s bedroom.
“Here we are. One big old happy family. I wish my friends could be here with us this morning. I know that would make them so happy.” Martin sighed.
Verdie yelled from the kitchen area of the great room, “Well, good morning. Looks like I missed the party, but I’m not bitchin’ a bit. I slept like a baby. I called the school, and it’s canceled for today. Weatherman says this will melt by Sunday and we got another front moving in on Monday. Biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast this morning and an oven omelet to go with it. Y’all goin’ to sleep all day, or are we going to make this house look like Christmas after chores are done?”
“Did Polly call?” Martin asked.
“Not yet, but the office where she worked don’t even open until nine, and since this bad weather has hit, it might take her awhile longer to get ahold of her friends who work there.”
Martin looked over Shotgun’s big head at Finn and then back at Callie. “What? Did I do something wrong?”
“What are you talkin’ about?” Callie asked.
“Y’all was talkin’ to each other with your eyes.”
“We were?” Finn asked.
Martin nodded. “Grown-ups do it all the time. They’ve got a secret language us kids can’t understand. Can I help you with the chores this morning, Finn?”
“I’d appreciate a good hand. Dress warm and put on two pairs of socks.” Finn stretched, flipped the lever on the side of the recliner, and sat up.
“We’re burnin’ daylight,” Martin announced. “And I’m starving. Granny Verdie, you will tell me when Polly calls, even if it ain’t good news.”
“I’ll be honest,” Verdie said.
He took off for his room in a run, yelling back over his shoulder that Callie promised they could make snow ice cream if there was enough snow.
The coffeepot gurgled its last, and Verdie carried two full mugs to the living room. “Polly told me this morning over the phone that Beth L
ayton is sick, but they didn’t tell the kids that she’s only got a few weeks to live. Stage four liver cancer. And Arlan is taking her home to Kentucky, where their people are from, to live out her last days. He doesn’t plan to come back to Texas.”
“I hope someone around here is willing to step up and take them in,” Callie said. “Martin has never made friends like he has here.”
“It’s Christmas. Miracles do happen,” Verdie said. “The biggest one is that I haven’t killed that damn bird. Which reminds me, it’s time to uncover him and let him start his perpetual speechifyin’ again.”
By the time Callie brushed her teeth and dressed in faded jeans, a clean sweatshirt, and a pair of socks, breakfast was waiting on the bar. Finn came from his end of the house just as she pulled four plates down from the cabinet. Verdie brought out orange juice and milk from the refrigerator.
“Y’all don’t say the blessin’ without me,” Martin yelled.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. It’s your turn,” Finn said.
“It’s Verdie’s turn,” Martin said.
“Be my pleasure.” She bowed her head. “Dear Lord, thank you for the life inside this old house and for this wonderful little family who is sharing it with me. Thank you for the good food and for the company. Amen.”
“Amen,” Joe said. “Now pass the biscuits, Mary.”
When Callie raised her head, her eyes caught Finn’s and, in that secret language that Martin had talked about, she told him that she’d been right—Verdie was a settler and she had come home.
“Okay, now dig in before it gets cold. Ain’t nothing worse than cold gravy or eggs, neither one,” Verdie said. “The decorations are up in the attic and you get up there through an opening in the nursery closet, so when you cowboys get done with chores, we’ll send Finn to get them. They ain’t been brought down since Patrick died twenty years ago, so there’ll be some dust. I lost the desire to put them up and”—she leaned forward and lowered her voice—“there are spiders up there, and I do not go where there is a spider.”
Cowboy Boots for Christmas Page 13
