Christmas Gifts: Small Town ChristmasHer Christmas Cowboy

by Gail Gaymer Martin

  Oh, she remembered. She’d panicked. When Travis had kissed her she’d panicked because she’d already been hurt, recently hurt. And he could hurt her again.

  A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She’d panicked. She’d packed her bags because that kiss at the Back Street Church had changed things. He’d gone from temporary distraction to someone she could imagine in her life forever.

  She peeked through the peephole and then unlocked the door to let her neighbor Mrs. Golden in. Sixty and retired, Mrs. Golden had nothing but time to watch what was going on in their hall.

  “Well, now, it’s about time you got back. I was afraid you’d run off to parts unknown.” Mrs. Golden handed her a stack of mail. “I got your mail, just like you asked.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Golden. And no, it really was just Oklahoma.”

  “A business trip, so soon after, well, you know?”

  “No, not really. I stepped in for my dad at a charity bull riding event and then got delayed due to the storm.”

  Mrs. Golden smiled big. “Oh, bull riding. I do love cowboys. Mr. Golden grew up on a ranch. That was a long time ago and he’s been gone longer. Well, we won’t talk about that. But did you meet a good-looking cowboy while you were there?”

  “There were quite a few cowboys.” She flipped through her mail, dropping junk mail into the trash can next to the door.

  “Oh, goodness.”

  Elizabeth looked up. “What?

  “You fell in love. I can see it in your eyes. Oh my, is he handsome?”

  “Mrs. Golden, I was gone only a week. That isn’t time to fall in love.”

  “Of course it is. Sometimes a heart just knows.”

  “Does it? I thought I was in love before.”

  “Sweetie, you didn’t have that look in your eyes when you were engaged to that young man. Sometimes love just happens.”

  “Yes, but sometimes it isn’t love. Sometimes it’s just…”

  “What?”

  Elizabeth looked down at her mail, wishing she hadn’t opened the door to her nosy but well-meaning neighbor. For some reason she always felt compelled to talk to Mrs. Golden. She’d shared a lot with the lady in the five years they’d been neighbors.

  “What if he’s like Richard?”

  Mrs. Golden shrugged. “Honey, what if he isn’t? What if he’s as in love with you as you are with him, and you’ll never know because you ran off and didn’t give it time. If your heart is breaking at the thought of never seeing him again, then I’d say you’d better give me that key to your mailbox and get yourself a flight back to Tulsa.”

  Elizabeth laughed a little. “I’ll think about it.”

  Mrs. Golden, gray-haired and slim, patted her cheek. “You do that. Now I’m going to go and let you think about what you’re going to be doing for Christmas.”

  Christmas. She closed her door and walked into the living room. No tree. No decorations. No Christmas gifts.

  Gifts. The children at Samaritan House. But of course Travis would take care of them. He would buy their gifts. He would play Santa for them.

  She would miss out. Her heart ached at the thought. It ached to think of spending Christmas here alone. Especially when she thought about the nativity. She would miss watching it at Back Street Community Center.

  So what should she do? Put her heart on the line? Risk being hurt again?

  She picked up her mail and a postcard fell out. From her parents. They were having a great time and hoped she was doing okay. They encouraged her to do something for Christmas, not just sit in the apartment but go somewhere or at least stay with friends.

  Yes, friends, like the Coopers, a family she hadn’t known until last week. She smiled, remembering the tree they’d taken down. For her. And now she’d left and they didn’t have their traditional tree.

  Her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and recognized the Oklahoma area code. She let it ring, let it go to voice mail. And then she walked into the bathroom with her fluffy robe.

  But she could hear the message from the answering machine. It was Heather’s voice asking if Elizabeth would be back for Christmas.

  “What do you want her to think about you?” Uri asked Travis as the two of them sat in the dining room of the bed-and-breakfast. “And most important, why is she different?”

  “I want her to realize that I’m a man who is worthy of her. I want her to realize that I’m a man who will stay in her life. When I’m with her, I don’t think of moving on. I think of settling down. And I think of tomorrow with her, and the next day and the day after.”

  His uncle laughed. “Sounds like love, if you want the opinion of an old man.”

  “I wanted your opinion. That’s why I’m here.” Travis stood up, stretching to relieve the kinks from sitting too long. “But I’m still not sure what to do. She’s been hurt and I’m sure she’s thinking that I’ll hurt her, too.”

  Uri poured himself another cup of coffee from the carafe on the table. “You’ve created a reputation for yourself, Travis. Sometimes a man has to prove his mettle.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true. But it will have to wait. As much as I want to jump on a plane and fly to St. Louis, I can’t. I have a group of kids waiting for gifts and winter coats. And I have people expecting me back home tonight for the living nativity.”

  “You’ll work this out.” Uri stirred sugar into his coffee. “And I know you’ll pray about it. You can’t drag someone into your life just because you want them there. If this relationship is what God has for you, then let God bring it all together.”

  Travis sat back down. “I’ve known her less than two weeks. I can’t imagine that it’s love. It’s just that she changes me. When I’m with her…”

  “I know, you feel like a better man.”

  “Well, I’m not sure I would have said that, but okay.”

  “If you want to be a better man for her sake, then I think it’s time you stop and think that it might be love. At least give it a chance.”

  “Thanks, Uri. I should go now. I’ve got everything loaded in the truck.”

  “Where’s your Santa suit?”

  “In the truck. I left the Mrs. Claus costume at Samaritan House. I guess we won’t need it this year.” It wasn’t as if they’d ever had a Mrs. Claus. The kids were used to his showing up alone.

  “Maybe next year there will be a Mrs. Claus. And if it isn’t Elizabeth Harden, well, at least you know that when the right woman comes along, you’ll know it.”

  “Right, I’ll know it.”

  A few minutes later he pulled up to Samaritan House. He backed up the driveway to make it easier to unload the truck. As he cut the engine the garage door opened. He glanced in his rearview mirror and smiled at Dutch who had walked out through the garage.

  “Hey, Dutch.” Travis got out of the truck, grabbing the Santa suit on the way out. “Are the kids excited?”

  “Oh yeah, they’re excited. Where’s Mrs. Claus? They were looking forward to seeing her again.”

  “Yeah, bad news on that. She’s back in St. Louis.”

  And he’d let her go. He’d been thinking about that a lot. He’d been thinking he should hightail it up to St. Louis and tell her she couldn’t walk out on a Cooper, not without a real good reason. Especially when that Cooper thought he might be in love for the first time ever.

  “I wouldn’t let that one get away, Travis.” Dutch grabbed a couple of the big boxes from the back of the truck. “Man, this is a lot of stuff.”

  “Gloves, coats, snow boots and toys. We really did great this year, Dutch. We got everything on their list.”

  Dutch shook his head. “I don’t know what we’d do without you, Travis. That new heating system you all put in is making a real difference.”

  “That’s what Christmas is all about, Dutch. If we aren’t showing a little love, His love, then what in the world are we doing calling ourselves Christians? There isn’t much in this world I want or need, so why buy myself more or ask f
or more? But these kids, they need everything and they didn’t ask for much at all.”

  “They’re great kids, Travis. They fill this big old house up with laughter and love.”

  Travis grabbed a couple of huge bags and followed Dutch into the garage.

  “Let’s leave it out here. Jemma can sort it out.”

  “We’ve got it sorted. Now the coats and such, that you can sort out, but the gifts are in individual bags inside the big bags.”

  “I’ve never known you to be so organized, Travis.” Dutch opened the bags and peered in. He whistled. “You did real good.”

  “Yeah, I just thought it would be easier this way. I’ve spent the last couple of days getting it all together and organized.”

  And thinking about Elizabeth. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her. Another reason why he needed to talk to her.

  “Let’s grab a cup of coffee before you change into your costume.”

  “That sounds good.” Travis followed him up the steps and into the house. “Is that chocolate chip cookies I smell?”

  “I think it might be. The kids have been making Christmas cookies today, too.” Dutch slipped off his coat and hung it in the hall closet. “Did you want to go in there and change into your costume?”

  Travis shrugged, “Yeah, I guess I can.”

  “I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

  Travis walked down the hall a few minutes later, decked out in his red suit, boots clomping on the floor. Yeah, true, none of the kids were fooled by the costume. He doubted any of them believed in Santa, and they definitely knew that Christmas was about the birth of Jesus. But the Santa gig had become tradition. It was fun for him, fun for the kids. If it made them smile, he’d do it forever.

  The smell of chocolate chip cookies lured him to the kitchen and he stopped short in the doorway, forgetting about the mouth-watering smells, forgetting that he was dressed in red velvet. He forgot pretty much everything, maybe even his name.

  Because Mrs. Claus was standing in the kitchen, her cheeks pink, her hair tucked up in the red-and-white bonnet. Her brown eyes flickered and sparkled with moisture. She whispered, “Hello, Santa. I hope you don’t mind. It was lonely up north.”

  “I don’t.” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t know. When did you get here?”

  She smiled a sweet smile and stepped closer. “Yesterday. I stayed here last night.”

  “You were here? Last night?”

  She nodded. “I was. You see, my family doesn’t have a lot of Christmas traditions and I decided to make a few of my own. Most of them have to do with Oklahoma.”

  “I see. I take it you’re planning on spending Christmas here?”

  She bit down on her bottom lip and nodded again. “I think I plan on spending Christmas at Cooper Creek, if that’s okay.”

  “I think that’s more than okay. How long do you plan on staying?” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dutch and Jemma leave the room, and they were alone, he and Elizabeth.

  Elizabeth had worried he’d be upset. She’d thought this through, kind of. She’d thought about it enough to know that her heart could be broken if he didn’t want her here. But he wasn’t upset, he was smiling. He stepped closer, close enough to touch.

  “I think I might stay for a while.” She looked down at the ground and when he touched her chin, raising it with a finger, she smiled.

  “A while?”

  She nodded. “There’s this cowboy that I kind of like. He’s cute in a red Santa suit and he thinks I make a pretty decent Mrs. Claus. A few days ago I got scared, thinking he might not like me as much as I like him. And then I decided that it would be wrong to stay away, to not take a chance.”

  “I’m glad you’re willing to take a chance because the cowboy in mind is pretty crazy about you. He felt his own heart break a little when you left.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. Because for the first time in his life, in my life, I think I’ve met someone who makes me think about settling down.”

  “I love you, Travis.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.

  He whispered that he loved her back and then she was in his arms, no regrets. His hands held her close and his lips touched hers, promising so much. He moved, his mouth hovering and then returning. “Elizabeth, I love you.”

  Little feet pitter-pattered down the hall. Elizabeth stepped back, running her hands down her sides to smooth the Mrs. Claus suit. But her eyes were locked with the eyes of a guy who played the cutest, skinniest Santa she’d ever seen.

  Then suddenly they were surrounded by children. Christmas had never meant as much as it meant at that moment. She and Travis already had their tradition.

  Most of all, they had each other. And she knew that he would always be her Christmas cowboy.

  Dear Reader,

  It’s Christmas in Dawson. Join the Coopers for a season of tradition, love and faith. In Her Christmas Cowboy, the heroine, Elizabeth Harden, learns a valuable lesson about love and loss. She also learns that traditions aren’t as important as the faith behind those traditions.

  When it comes to Christmas, the folks in Dawson understand the real meaning behind the season. Celebrate with them as they celebrate the birth of a savior.

  Merry Christmas!

  Questions for Discussion

  Elizabeth Harden expected to be one place for Christmas but she finds herself in the place she least expected to be. Would faith have helped her to handle the situation differently? Or did she handle the upset as well as expected?

  Travis Cooper has always been rowdy and a little high-strung. He has faults, as we all do. How does accepting help him to be a better person?

  Elizabeth expected to go home to her empty apartment. That was her plan. How do her plans change and how will that change her life?

  Angie Cooper explains to Elizabeth that the cedar tree the family brings into the home is just part of tradition, it can be replaced. What can’t be replaced and what is the real focus of Christmas for the Coopers?

  How do traditions help the family to celebrate?

  What does Elizabeth learn about herself during the living nativity?

  In helping the children at Samaritan House, what does Travis learn about himself?

  How does Elizabeth take control of her own life to find where she needs to be?

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-1618-1

  CHRISTMAS GIFTS

  Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:

  SMALL TOWN CHRISTMAS

  Copyright © 2011 by Gail Gaymer Martin

  HER CHRISTMAS COWBOY

  Copyright © 2011 by Brenda Minton

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Love Inspired Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ® and TM are trademarks of the publisher, used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

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