The Secret of Santa

by Liz Isaacson

  Willa laughed, and when Cactus joined his voice to hers, they made such a beautiful harmony together that Willa suddenly felt strong and like she’d done something amazing by asking Cactus to take her to lunch.

  He pulled up to a restaurant on the far end of Main Street Willa had driven past with Patrick before. She didn’t have the expendable income to eat out, so she’d never been to Bowled Over or much of anywhere else in Three Rivers.

  “Stay there,” he said, but it sounded very much like a command. “I’ll come help you, okay?”

  She nodded, though she wanted to see if she could get out of the truck by herself. She didn’t want to stumble and fall, especially in front of the best-looking man in the known universe. When he opened her door, she turned sideways and said, “I want to try it.”

  “It’s okay, Willa. I’ll borrow a smaller car next time, but I don’t want you to get hurt today.”

  She met his eyes, determination streaming through her. “I don’t like feeling weak, Cactus. Can you please let me try?”

  “Of course.” He stepped back, but he didn’t go very far. He kept one hand on the door, which he’d opened as far as it would go.

  Willa wished he’d close his eyes, but she’d made a big deal about getting out, so she had to deal with him watching. She put one hand out on the armrest on the door, and the other on the side of the truck where the door met it.

  She scooted forward, feeling every one of her extra twenty pounds, and put the foot of her bad leg on the running board. She slid out of the car, her good leg taking her full weight as she landed on the ground.

  Her knee smarted at the bend in it, but she brought it quickly to the ground and steadied herself with her hand still on the armrest. Triumph filled her, and she looked up at Cactus. “Victory.”

  He looked down at her with something swimming in his eyes that sent a thrill through Willa’s body.

  Desire.

  Cactus Glover was looking at her with pure desire in those gorgeous eyes, and she felt the same thing blitzing through her veins. She reached for his hand, and said, “Will you be my human cane today, Mister Glover?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, his voice that same gruff one he’d used on the phone. “In fact, it would be my pleasure.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Cactus laughed again, probably for the fifth or sixth time since picking up Willa. He found her real and refreshing, with plenty of the feminine softness that called to his male side. He loved that she’d been vulnerable with him about her injury, but tough enough to try to get in and out of the truck herself.

  He’d immediately run through other vehicles he could use when he came to pick her up, but there wasn’t a single sedan in the Glover family. He’d already decided to go buy one before his next date with Willa, and he could ask Ace if he could keep it in the garage at Bull House.

  Their late lunch at Bowled Over had been delicious, and their conversation had been as easy today as it had been at the tree lighting. Then, they’d had her nieces to distract them in any awkward silences, and today, Cactus had just powered through them.

  He’d learned that Willa didn’t like mushrooms or red onions on her salads, and that she liked a lot of cheese and croutons in her soup. He’d told her his favorite food—steak and eggs—and he’d learned that she’d eat a deep dish pepperoni pizza for every meal if she could.

  She loved spending time with her nieces, and with Abe in her house, she was clearly a dog person. She checked every box on Cactus’s list—well, she would have if he’d had one, which he didn’t.

  They finished lunch, and he helped her back into the truck again. The church was sponsoring a free afternoon at the ice skating rink, and while Cactus wasn’t thrilled to be going, Willa had seemed excited about it.

  Ace would be there selling concessions, and that was only part of why Cactus would rather go somewhere else. He and Willa obviously weren’t going to be ice skating, and he suspected she actually needed to go for PR purposes for the church.

  She’d go around and visit with everyone, and as her escort, he’d be required to do the same. Cactus couldn’t think of anything worse, and he grew quiet the closer to the skating rink he drove.

  They arrived, and Cactus waited while she took her time getting out of the truck again. He found her strength and determination incredibly admirable, and with that cute sweater and that auburn hair…she was easily the sexiest woman he’d met in a decade.

  He swallowed back his desire for her, telling himself he’d been waiting a long time to feel like this about a woman, and he could wait a little longer to make sure he did things right. He didn’t want to move too fast, and he didn’t want to let his temper get the best of him again. He didn’t want any of his harsher character flaws to come out today, or else he wouldn’t be getting a second date.

  He desperately wanted that second date, and this time, he would ask her.

  She laced her arm through his, and they faced the building. Cactus couldn’t get himself to take the first step, because he would never choose to come to a place like this. He would never willingly wade into a crowd of people, and he paused to think about what Dr. Thompson had told him again on Friday.

  Do something outside your comfort zone every single day.

  He’d reported that putting his pants on starting with a different leg had almost killed him, as had leaving a dirty dish in the sink. He’d done them, and he hadn’t died. He hadn’t liked it either, but he’d done it.

  He honestly didn’t think he could do this.

  “Are you okay?” Willa asked.

  Cactus shook his head, his eyes fixed on the door where a family entered. Mom, Dad, four kids. That right there was more people than he wanted to be around. Eating at a restaurant he could handle, because he had a private booth or table. He always asked for a booth if he could get one, but better was having Ace or Bishop bring him food from town.

  Eating out with Willa was extremely far outside his comfort zone, and his mind buzzed at him to leave. He had to leave now.

  Willa stepped in front of him, reaching up and guiding his face so that he was looking at her. “Cactus.”

  He blinked, the panic in his blood ebbing slightly.

  “Talk to me.”

  “I don’t do well in crowds,” he said, his voice way down deep in his throat. He cleared out the emotion. “I don’t want to go in there.” He looked away from her, embarrassed. His body heated from head to toe, because maybe he wasn’t ready to be dating.

  That made no sense, because he’d been out with other women. He’d taken them to restaurants and then along the river, where a nice walking path existed. He’d even planned dinner and a movie, or a coffee date in a new park on the edge of the woods on the east side of town.

  He realized as he stood there that he could enjoy those dates, because he’d planned them. He’d chosen things he could handle, and places where he knew there wouldn’t be hundreds of people.

  “Maybe we could, I don’t know, go see a movie. Or we could go back to your house, and I’ll make you the one kind of cookie I know how to bake. Or you could come with me to buy a car you can get in and out of.”

  Willa blinked at him, then she started laughing. He wasn’t sure why, because nothing he’d said was a joke or even remotely funny. She sobered quickly, and asked, “You’re going to go buy a car?”

  “Well, I don’t have one,” he said. “And all my family owns are trucks.”

  She smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear, looking down at the ground. She reached out and took one of his hands in hers. Cactus pulled in a breath, pure heat roaring through him. Fireworks popped through every cell in his body, and he wanted to hold this woman’s hand for a long, long time.

  “You’re going to buy a car so we can go out again,” she said, her gaze still down.

  “That’s the idea,” he admitted.

  Her phone rang, and Willa fished it out of her coat pocket. Her expression changed from calm and casual to pure
panic in less than a second. “I have to take this,” she said, spinning away from him before he could see who’d called.

  She walked away from him smoothly, and he had to watch very closely for a limp at all. He didn’t think she’d been faking getting in and out of the truck, though, and he still wanted to buy a car.

  Willa froze several feet from him, and an alarm went off in his head. He stepped toward her in case she fell, and he’d just reached her when her legs gave out. “Whoa,” he said, catching her and easing her onto the ground. He glanced around, looking for someone to help.

  “Willa,” he said, peering down at her. Tears ran down her face, which had turned the color of cement. “Talk to me, Willa.” He picked up her phone, which she’d dropped. The line was still connected, and he put it to his ear. “Who is this?”

  “Call her brother,” the man said.

  Cactus pulled the phone from his ear as the call ended, and Willa groaned. “Willa,” he said. “I’m calling Patrick.” He had no idea what had happened, and he quickly tapped and swiped on her phone to get to her brother’s name.

  His line rang, and he answered on the second ring. “Pastor,” Cactus said. “It’s Cactus Glover. Willa got a call and she needs your help.”

  “A call from who?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, but Willa said, “Maurice Maxwell.”

  Cactus repeated the name to the pastor, and he said, “I’ll be right there. Where are you?”

  “In the parking lot at the skating rink,” Cactus said.

  Her brother arrived only sixty seconds later, by which time, Willa had come back to most of her senses, but she’d been crying so hard Cactus hadn’t been able to get anything out of her. Together with Patrick, they helped Willa stand, and Cactus handed her brother her phone.

  “Thank you,” Patrick said, and he led Willa away, his head bent close to hers as they talked. She limped much more noticeably now, and Cactus watched his first date go up in flames and the possibility of a second disappear onto a distant horizon.

  “Maurice Maxwell,” he said to himself, determined to figure out who that was and why he’d made Willa breakdown.

  Cactus stood at the back of True Blue and watched his family assemble for their weekly Sabbath luncheon. Part of him wanted to slip out the door he’d come in, text Bishop that he wouldn’t be there, and make another solitary bowl of soup in his cabin out on the edge of the ranch.

  Something kept him in place, though, and it was the beautiful redhead he’d been out with last week.

  Six days ago, and Cactus had texted Willa a few times. He’d gone to church today, hoping to see her and talk to her. He wanted to find out if she was okay, number one. Number two, he wanted to find out when he could take her to dinner again.

  Number three, he simply wanted to hear her voice.

  She hadn’t been at church, and he’d had to settle for cornering her brother and asking about her. Patrick Corning had said Willa was doing well, but she’d had to return to the Hill Country for a few weeks. When Cactus had pressed him for more details, he’d said, “I’m afraid I can’t say more. Willa will have to choose what she’d like to tell you and what she doesn’t.”

  Cactus had to accept that, because he didn’t need to get into another yelling match with another pastor at the back of the chapel.

  Willa kept him at his family party, because he wanted to be able to become the man that could walk into the skating rink and socialize with the townspeople as Willa clung to his arm. He couldn’t be the cowboy hermit if he wanted to be with Willa, and now that he’d spent a couple of days with her for longer than five minutes, he wanted to be with her more than ever.

  Arizona burst into the barn, practically dragging her boyfriend behind her. Cactus straightened, because he sensed something had happened.

  “Everyone,” Zona called, and she could have a loud voice when she wanted to. She was the youngest of seven kids, and the only girl with six loud, annoying, constantly-jostling-for-position brothers.

  “Hey,” she yelled again, and Bear stepped over to her and looked at her and then Duke. He turned to face the crowd, only about half of whom had heard or listened to Zona. Bear whistled through his teeth, and that got everyone to stop talking and face him.

  He nodded at Zona and Duke and retreated back to the crowd.

  Zona wore pure excitement on her face, and Cactus knew what was coming. “Duke and I are engaged!” she yelled, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. The room held its breath for a moment, and then Sammy rushed at Zona, followed closely by Ida and Etta.

  Cactus met Bear’s eye for a moment, an unspoken conversation happening between them. As far as Cactus knew, only he and Bear knew what Duke had done eighteen years ago. He told himself that Daddy wasn’t here anymore, and he wouldn’t have objected anyway. He’d forgiven Duke and encouraged him to stay and make things right with his folks.

  Instead, Duke had left his family ranch to try to find his own place in the world. He’d returned a little over a year ago, and he and Zona had been dating for months now.

  Mother enveloped Zona in a hug and held her tight. She stepped over to Duke and embraced him too, and Cactus felt Zona’s joy as tears streamed down her face after Mother’s hug. It was an embrace of acceptance, and Cactus often felt like crying after a hug like that from Mother.

  Zona looked at Bear, the pause between them filled with meaning. She sobbed as he enveloped her in his arms, and he held her for several long seconds as he whispered in her ear. She nodded against his chest, finally stepping back and wiping her face. They shared another look, and then Zona hugged Preacher.

  Bear turned and made his way over to Cactus, who’d settled against the wall again. “You knew about this, didn’t you?” Cactus asked.

  “Duke came and asked me for my blessing last month,” he said, turning to face the crowd again. “I told him he had to tell Zona what he’d done, and if she didn’t break up with him, that was my blessing.”

  Cactus had never been more glad to be the second-oldest son. He couldn’t shoulder the responsibility of being the oldest, but there was no one better for the job than Bear. “Smart,” he said. “I wouldn’t have thought of that. Heck, I probably would’ve thrown Duke back to his own ranch the first time he dared to step foot over here.”

  Bear lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug. “Daddy forgave him. I figured I had to as well.”

  “Just another reason you’re better than me.”

  “Nah,” Bear said. “You’ve forgiven him too. You just don’t want to admit it.”

  “He stole a quarter of a million dollars from Daddy,” Cactus said. “From us, Bear.”

  “It was almost two decades ago,” Bear said quietly. “He returned almost all of it. He owned up to what he’d done.”

  Cactus nodded. “I suppose you’re right. I’d like to be forgiven for the things I do wrong.” He watched Duke shaking hands with all the cowboys in the room, his smile wide and permanently stuck to his face. “Was he repentant when you talked to him?”

  “Enough,” Bear said. “Look at her, Cactus. She loves him. How do we hold a grudge forever?”

  “We don’t,” Cactus said. “Look at him, Bear. He loves her too.” He watched Zona migrate back to Duke’s side and look up at him, her eyes shining with the emotion she felt for him. “Who knew someone could tame Zona’s attitude and get her to slow down enough to fall in love?” He chuckled, thrilled for his sister.

  “Love is a remarkable thing,” Bear said. “It makes a man do things he thought he never would.”

  Cactus tossed him a sharp look, because he’d borrowed Bear’s truck to take Willa to lunch. He’d confided in Bear after the date had ended hours early, and he waited for the questions about her to come.

  “Heard from Willa?” Bear asked.

  Cactus shook his head, the unrest in his soul expanding to infect his chest and make breathing feel like a hitch behind his lungs instead of oxygen going where it should.


  “She’ll call you,” Bear said. “Sammy and I are praying for her—and you.”

  “Thank you,” Cactus murmured. He’d had a rough road between him and the Lord, but he hadn’t ever stopped praying. The problem was, he hadn’t even thought to pray for Willa.

  He did now, just pausing right where he stood and closing his eyes. Help her, he prayed. She obviously got some terrible news last week, and she left Three Rivers. Comfort her and bless her and protect her and please, if there’s any way at all, bring her back to me.

  His mind finally felt at peace, and he added a mental Amen, and opened his eyes. Now all he had to do was go congratulate the happy couple, so he pushed away from the wall and started across the hall to Zona and Duke.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ace put a check-mark next to the name the woman had given him and passed the little boy a bag of supplies. “Take that on down the hall, buddy. Room twelve. They’re gonna start in about ten minutes.” He smiled at the little boy and his mother and looked to the next person in line.

  The children’s cookie decorating class was one of his favorite events, because he could work inside and he got to see the wonder and joy of children. He continued to work to get everyone checked in, constantly pushing away thoughts of Holly Ann.

  She’d canceled with him for that night, and if it had been the first time, Ace wouldn’t be as frustrated. But it wasn’t the first time. In the past couple of weeks, since the tree lighting, they’d had five or six nights of plans, and Holly Ann had either broken their plans a few hours beforehand or during the date on all but one of them.

  He told himself he couldn’t be frustrated.

  It isn’t going to be Christmas all year, he thought as he took the clipboard over to the desk at the community center. When he’d prayed after Holly Ann had rushed off during their dessert to deal with an “eggnog emergency” and never returned, that was the message the Lord had given him.