Unforgettable Christmas Dreams: Gifts of Joy

by Rebecca York

  “But your research?”

  “All done except for writing up the concluding paper on it. They gave me the grant as a compensation for work already done.”

  Her phone rang and she picked it up. “Oh. Well, yes. We’ll do that. For sure. Tomorrow.” She hung up and looked at him, smiling.

  “Frank says to come over there tomorrow. He’ll help us with the phone call. He says I should come prepared, with all my paperwork.” She was trembling again, but this time with excitement.

  Carlton nodded. It was slowly getting through to her that this might actually happen. He prayed that it would. It would be a terrible blow to her to find there was no help after all.

  He looked over at Todd, wondering how he was doing.

  Todd had been watching his mother, and now looked back at Carlton and nodded. “Let’s hope,” he said.

  “Right. Let’s pray. We can’t win if we don’t try.”

  The youth nodded again. “What kind of thumb hold did you use on my uncle?” he asked, looking curious. He took hold of his own thumb and tried holding it several different ways. “It looked so simple. I’ve never seen that in the movies.”

  “It’s not shown because it doesn’t look dramatic enough. I’ll show you. It won’t work if there is more than one man attacking you, but for a single attacker, it puts them down on the ground immediately. You should know it, since you and your mom are out here all by yourselves. Except for Rufus here. That dog could take off a man’s head and barely burp.”

  Hearing his name, Rufus raised his head and wagged his tail. Carlton smiled at the dog. He was glad Rufus considered him a friend.

  He walked over to Todd and took his hand. “You want to grab the thumb this way. Not this way.” He demonstrated. “This way you can put just a little bit of pressure on it, and the person will move wherever you want him to.”

  Helen was watching. “You too,” he told her. “All women need to know how to defend themselves, and this one is easy. You have to be somewhere where you can let go eventually and he can’t renew his attack on you, but this will stop an attacker first. Then you can figure out what to do with him.”

  He had them practice on each other and on him. “Be gentle, practicing. It hurts.”

  Chapter Five

  Helen put the supper on the table with a newfound cheerfulness. If only this source of money panned out and kept Ben from stealing the ranch. She trusted Carlton, she realized. The Traherns had always been good to Ken and her, and Carlton was a Trahern, on his mother’s side.

  Later, after Todd went to bed, Helen lingered to talk to Carlton. She was physically and emotionally exhausted, but she needed some questions answered. She went back into the living room where he was removing the cushions from the couch and placing them on the floor. He paused when she entered.

  “Yes?” he asked, still holding the last cushion. “Do you need something?”

  “In a way.” She looked at him, a good man, but one she still didn’t know very well. How do you ask what she wanted to ask him? “I just need to know more.”

  “More of what?”

  “More about your plans. Like how much you are willing to help. Would you want to stay on the ranch, or just invest?”

  She stopped. She could see he was mulling it over. “I need to know,” she said, “because this ranch is too big for Todd and me to keep going. I’ll need to hire help, or I’ll eventually lose it anyway.”

  “I hadn’t given that any thought.” He paused, rubbing his chin, then motioned toward the outdoors as he talked. “I love this area. I wouldn’t mind settling down here. I just hadn’t thought about the ranch any further than stopping Ben from grabbing it, and keeping it for you.”

  “Would you consider it? Living here?” She didn’t want to beg, but she needed him.

  “Yes.” He put the last cushion down on the floor. “Yes, I would. But I can’t see myself living here.”

  Oh, no, she thought. I’ve run him off. It was the last thing she wanted to do. She had been right to be concerned about asking him to stay. Some men just didn’t want to work a small ranch. And why should he? After all, he had gone as far as he could, education-wise. He could easily have a six-figure income, instead of working on a one-family ranch, which meant hard work and little pay.

  He paused, shifted his weight. “Well, maybe I could. But only on one condition.”

  “What is that?”

  He looked a little uncomfortable. “I wouldn’t be able to stay here and just work for you.”

  “You wouldn’t?” What was he implying?

  “I think...no, I know that we’d have to consider marriage somewhere along the line, because I couldn’t live here under any other condition. Not for long anyway.” He met her gaze directly, as if he had come to some decision “First of all, it wouldn’t look right if I stayed here with you for any length of time, without us being married.”

  “Oh.” She stared at him, wide-eyed, then nodded. “You’re right.” She hadn’t thought it through. If he stayed here, she wouldn’t be satisfied for him just to remain a part owner. She would want him as a husband, or else he would have to leave. And was that the only reason he would marry her?

  “I’m glad you see it my way.”

  “But...why would you want to stay here, with me? You could probably get a job with almost any corporation now.”

  “You’re an exceptionally beautiful woman, Helen.”

  “I don’t feel beautiful right now,” she said, suddenly overwhelmed. How could he think her beautiful when she’d been crying for an hour? She didn’t feel beautiful at all. “Look at my hands.” She held them out, all red and chapped from the cold and the snow.

  He put his hands around hers, enfolding them. “I’m talking about you, not your skin. Your goodness.”

  She shook her head, still not believing him. “After I sicced the dog on you?”

  “Ha. I’m just glad you didn’t shoot me.” He grinned at her. “You sure had me scared.”

  “I shot into the ground. I didn’t want to chance hitting you. Or Rufus,” she added, remembering that day. “Buckshot scatters widely.”

  “Thanks. I think.”

  “Just scare you away.” He had strong hands. Like Ken’s. He would have liked Carlton, she thought. “I’m glad you came back,” she said and looked directly at him, wanting him to know she meant every word.

  “Same here.” He held her hands and looked deep into her eyes. It was as if he were making her a promise, to always care for her, to keep her safe. He didn’t say it, but she felt that way. This man’s word would be his bond. An honest man. One like him didn’t come along very often. A wise woman made sure she didn’t lose him.

  “It doesn’t bother you anymore about the eggs, does it?” he asked.

  “No. You left money for them, like you said.”

  “It bothered my conscience a lot. Three eggs. I didn’t think it would matter, but it did.”

  “Don’t let it. Not now. You risked your life to save Todd. And you are willing to help save my ranch. Forget the eggs.”

  He nodded, as if that milestone in their lives was finally done and a new one started. “Grab your loan papers, your identification, social security number, uh... tax records, bank statements...and whatever else you might need.”

  “I will. I’ve tried to get a new loan at two other places. I know what they’ll ask for.”

  “I’ll help Todd with the chores tomorrow morning, so we can drive over to my grandparent’s home first thing. I was going to make the call to California from here, but since my grandpa offered his help, I’ll take it. I think it will be better if we have him there to back up our request.”

  “Yes. He might also know about something we haven’t considered.” She turned and walked toward the hall door.

  “He might. And Helen...”

  “Yes?” She paused in the doorway.

  “You are beautiful, whether you realize it or not.”

  “The face to sink a tho
usand ships?” she joked.

  “You’ve got it wrong. Helen of Troy made those ships sail.”

  She smiled, feeling a sudden lightening of her spirits. Ken had always told her she was pretty. She didn’t remember him using the word “beautiful.” He might have.

  Although reluctant to leave Carlton, she went into the ranch office and gathered the papers. With so much time spent working on the ranch, she had not been able to keep the office up, so papers were everywhere. Thankfully, the types of papers Carlton had mentioned were permanently filed, so she just had to pull them out of the cabinet and put them inside an empty briefcase.

  She slept better that night than she had in months.

  ***

  The next morning, while Helen got breakfast, Carlton went out with Todd to shovel the snow away enough to be able to get the truck out of the shed. Todd wielded the shovel with the skill of a man used to working.

  His work ethic impressed Carlton. The youth might not have the size of a full-grown man yet, but he was the equal of any of those whom Carlton had known in the military. He was enough of a man that Carlton would trust his life to him, if he had to. Like Helen, he had an inner beauty of character. Got it from his mother, probably.

  Somehow they had to save this property for Todd and Helen. Maybe only for Todd, Carlton mused as he tossed the heavy snow to one side. If he married Helen, would they stay here, or perhaps leave this for Todd and his wife, whoever that turned out to be? He stopped long enough to look out through the crystal clear mountain air, the stillness broken only by the sound of Todd working at his side.

  He really didn’t want to leave this place. Or this woman. He felt a bond with her that went beyond physical. First they had to save it. If they couldn’t raise the money with a loan, maybe Frank would give him a small loan, so that they could make the payments for a year, hopefully less, while they searched for a new way to raise money.

  With the morning chores finished, they put some diesel in the truck, piled into the cab and drove to the Trahern ranch. Once there, they found that Frank’s foreman, who was putting the tractor away when they arrived, had already plowed the quarter-mile distance from the road to the house.

  They scrunched through the snow to the large ranch house where Frank and Roberta greeted them warmly. Roberta threw her arms around Carlton’s neck, and he gave her the big hug he knew she always expected from him. His Grammy was dear to him. Always had been.

  His grandfather looked to be over the flu, as energetic as normal, although he admitted to having to rest more since he got sick.

  Frank got right down to business, saying it should be taken care of first, then they could visit. He led them directly into the ranch office and they pulled the chairs up around the full-sized table.

  Frank brought out a yellow legal tablet and pen. “Roberta said something about Ben coming out and causing problems. What happened?” he asked.

  Helen explained, ending with, “He came out to browbeat me, and he would have succeeded only Carlton was there and ran him off. He’s trying to take the ranch.”

  “What makes him think he can get it?”

  “I can’t meet the mortgage payments and the bank won’t extend the time or lower the rate. Somehow he knew all about my financial situation. It isn’t public information, but he knew all the details. I think he’s made a deal with the banker to get some of the profit when he sells it.”

  “Sounds like him. He always was a weasel. What do you owe on it?” Frank asked her, leaning forward in his chair.

  “Two hundred thirty three thousand.”

  “Humph! A trifle of what it’s worth.”

  “And the bank won’t extend?” Roberta asked her, her face showing concern.

  Helen shook her head. “They demanded such a high rate of interest. At first I thought I could meet it, but other medical bills kept coming through the mail, bills I didn’t even know I had. We kept paying those and then we reached a point where the debt seemed to snowball. The interest was so high, we didn’t have anything left to pay down the principal.” She looked bewildered, as if to ask how this had happened to her. “I’ve never ever had a debt I couldn’t pay.”

  Frank tapped his fingers on the table. “I know the group in California lends to small businesses, but I don’t know if they’ve ever made that big a loan. It was a good idea to come here, where we can conference call them. It’s two days after Christmas, they should be back in the office.”

  He jotted down some items on the paper. “I need a few more facts. How many head are you running?”

  “I only have one bull and twenty cows left. I was forced to sell most of the stock to pay Ken’s medical expenses. The bills all carried a threat to add a high percentage if we didn’t pay immediately. There were so many things our insurance didn’t cover. We didn’t realize it when we got the policy.”

  Carlton had rarely been sick, so this was all new to him.

  Helen shook her head. “Hospital coverage didn’t include the doctors or the staff. Just the rooms and food. We had to pay extra for the specialist and everyone he called in, the x-ray technicians, the blood work, the bandages used, the extra nursing Ken required... Every little thing. It was all too much. Overwhelming. I kept paying and paying.”

  “You should have called us,” Roberta said. “We would have helped and enlisted the community to help. Now you’re in debt through no fault of your own.”

  Frank tapped the tablet. “Debt is easy to get into and nigh on impossible to get out of. You said twenty. One bull and twenty cows. That’s not many cows.”

  “I know. I can sell the rest, but there’s no point. I still won’t have enough to keep the ranch running. Ben will get it anyway.”

  “Hum,” Frank said. “There are seven other big ranchers in this valley. If we could get each of them to give you two young heifers this winter, on the promise that you would give them the first calves after they’ve been weaned, we could tell the California group that you had forty cows.”

  Helen paused, staring at him, then shook her head. “Um...that only adds up to thirty-four.”

  “You didn’t count the ones I’d put in.”

  “Oh,” she said looking slightly confused, and Carlton grinned at his grandfather. The old man knew how to count, very well. He acknowledged Carlton’s smile with a wink.

  “Thank you. Thank you. But...but would they do it?”

  “I expect they will. They’ve done it before. Twice. Some can give only one, others three. Some want only heifers back, others don’t care. It’s a little to their advantage, as they will give you a six to seven year old heifer and get a weaned calf back. In the end they will get more productive years out of the new calves.”

  She nodded. “I see.”

  “Once we have the loan, we can adjust the cattle count. You may have to buy some. Right now we want enough to show California that you’ll be able to repay the loan eventually. That you have a viable, working ranch, and can keep it going.”

  “I see. If we can’t keep it going, there’s no sense getting the loan.”

  “How else can we strengthen your hand?” Frank asked, looking at them, his bushy eyebrows, now a silver white, lifted in question. He still had all his hair, also silver, forming a wavy crown above his face, and Carlton hoped he’d look as good as him when he reached that age.

  “I’m adding my grant money to the mix,” Carlton said. “It will keep us from having to ask for the total amount that Helen owes.”

  Frank stroked his chin with his free hand, frowning in thought. “No, we’ll ask for all of it. You hang onto that cash to keep the ranch going. Buy supplies, hire laborers, vet bills, all the little things that cost so much. Maybe even a couple of cows. You’re including yourself in bailing out this ranch, I take it?”

  “Yes. Definitely.”

  “You’ll find your grant money doesn’t go as far as you think it will.”

  Carlton nodded. He figured his grandfather knew about that sort of thing.
r />   “Who do you have working the ranch, Helen?” Frank asked. “Just you and Todd? Or by ‘us,’ is Carlton throwing in with you?”

  Both of his grandparents looked at him expectantly.

  “I...I... It looks like I’m going to be your neighbor,” he said, noticing Todd’s gaze going from him to Helen and back again, as if just becoming aware of the two of them. “I’ll be working it, too. Although I’m going to have a lot to learn.”

  He wasn’t going to mention marriage, as he and Helen needed to talk about it some more, and get used to the idea. At least for her to get used to the idea. She was the best match he’d run into, and he’d dated quite a few women along the way. He was ready to settle down, he realized, and be a fool if he didn’t marry her.

  “I’m the biggest tenderfoot of all,” he added. “Helen and Todd are going to have to educate me.”

  “Now that’s the smartest thing I’ve heard you say lately,” Frank said. “All that book learning don’t do you much good out here.”

  “Now, Frank,” his wife admonished him, “Carlton was your first choice to take over this spread.”

  “Yes. But he said he didn’t want to live out here.”

  “Not at the time,” Carlton said. “That was before I spent four months in a line shack.” Or met Helen and Todd and three French hens, he added to himself. They made a powerful argument, even though silent, for him to remain. “I assume one of your other grandchildren is in line for your ranch now.”

  Frank shrugged. “Maybe a great grandchild. Haven’t decided yet. I’m still able to run this. Got a good foreman.” He turned to Helen. “Got your papers ready?”

  “Yes.”

  ***

  Helen took a deep breath, put her briefcase on the table, opened it up and took out the papers. Was this really happening? It seemed unreal.

  Frank nodded at her, picked up the phone, punched in the numbers, and then put it on speaker. “Hello?”

  Helen realized she was holding her breath. Carlton must have seen her nervousness, as he reached under the table, took her hand, and squeezed it.