* * *
The next night, after Sawyer and his grandmother finished their meal of fried venison, beans and corn bread, they retired to the living room, where the television was tuned to an oldie station that was broadcasting holiday programs from years past.
In one corner, opposite of the television set, stood a small pine tree that Nashota had chosen from the woods at the back of their property. Before Sawyer had chopped it down, he’d attempted to tell his grandmother that the tree was scraggly with very few limbs to decorate. Yet she’d refused to look for another tree. Instead, she’d talked to him about humility and how the Savior had been born in a stable.
Now as he thought about Nashota’s wish to always remain humble and never display a need for things that were out of her reach, he wondered if it was wrong of him to need Vivian so badly. Was it hopeless for him to love her the way his heart ached to love her?
Oh, yes, he’d fallen very, very hard for her. He could admit that much. But admitting his feelings didn’t fix anything. Especially when he could see she was growing closer and closer to him. That was something he hadn’t wanted or expected. He wanted to simply enjoy being with her while he was at Lake Pleasant and then move on. But now the thought of giving her up to some other man was tearing at him.
What the hell do you want, Sawyer? Vivian is the most precious thing you’ll ever have in your life. What are you going to do? Ruin it all by running scared? By letting your parents’ disastrous marriage ruin your chance at happiness?
“You’re awfully quiet tonight, Sawyer.”
He looked over to where Nashota was sitting in the same wooden rocker she’d had for years. Most generally at this time of the evening she would be dragging out her beadwork, but tonight she was simply rocking gently back and forth, her hands lying idly in her lap. Each time Sawyer looked at her gnarled fingers, he thought of how it had been her hands who’d soothed him when, as a child, he’d been frightened or sick. Her hands who’d patted him with encouragement and helped him up after he’d fallen.
“I’m thinking about all you’ve done for me after my mot—after Onida left,” he finished, surprising himself that he’d almost said mother. What was coming over him, anyway? Were his feelings for Vivian making him soft and vulnerable?
Her smile was thoughtful. “And I think about all you’ve done for me, so we’re even, my grandson.” She gestured to the sparsely decorated tree. “I have a gift for you. Don’t you want to open it?”
As a robed choir on the TV screen sang “Joy to the World,” Sawyer collected the wrapped gift he’d purchased for her and the smaller one she had for him.
After placing her gift at her feet, he carried his over to the couch and sat down to open it.
Wrapped inside the green foil paper, he discovered a leather sheath for his knife. Beautifully hand tooled in a feather and sunburst design, the case was fashioned with a clip on the back to attach to his belt. The time and intricate workmanship that his grandmother had put into the gift brought a lump of emotion to his throat.
He looked at her with surprise. “You made this. When? I’ve not seen you working on it.”
She chuckled. “You don’t know everything I do around here.”
“I guess not. This is beautiful, Grandmother. Thank you.” He left the couch and after placing a grateful kiss on her wrinkled cheek, he squatted on his heels next to her rocker.
“Now you open your gift,” he urged.
“When did you get this?” she asked. “When you went shopping with Vivian?”
“No. I found it in Camp Verde yesterday. See, you’re lucky you even got a gift,” he teased.
She reached over and patted his hand that was resting on the arm of her rocker. “You’re the only gift I need.”
After tearing away the paper, she opened the cardboard to pull out a snow globe perched on a gold filigree base.
Holding it carefully in both palms, Nashota gazed at the wintery scene as though she’d been transported to a dreamland.
“I know how much you’d like to see it snow, but it never does, so now you can shake the globe and watch the snowfall,” he told her. “Here, let me show you.”
He took the globe from her hands and shook it until the glittery white flakes were falling over the log cabin, then pointed to the tiny figures of a man and woman standing near a fir tree. “See, that’s you and Grandfather when you were young and together.”
She smiled and Sawyer didn’t miss the lone tear rolling down her wrinkled cheek.
The next afternoon, after Vivian had helped clear away the huge mess left over from Christmas dinner, she walked down to the horse barn in search of Hannah and Nick and found the children inside the cavernous building, feeding cookies to the stalled horses.
Slipping quietly up behind them, she said in the gruffest voice she could muster, “Okay, you two are caught!”
Both children jumped with fright, then whirled around. Nick’s mouth was hanging open, while Hannah’s eyes were wide with surprise.
“Oh, Aunt Viv! We’re just giving the horses a holiday treat,” Nick quickly explained. “Uncle Holt gave us permission. As long as we only feed one cookie to each horse.”
Laughing, Vivian hugged an arm around her nephew’s shoulders. “I’m only teasing. I’m sure if the horses could talk they’d be saying Merry Christmas.”
“What are you doing down here at the barn, Mom?” Hannah asked curiously. “I thought you’d be in the den with everybody else.”
Vivian’s sly smile included both Hannah and Nick. “I’m going to take a little trip and I thought you two might like to go with me. It’s a special Christmas trip,” she added.
The cousins shared a look of surprise, then began to jump up and down with eager anticipation.
Hannah was the first to ask, “Right now? Where?”
“Do we have to dress up?” Nick wanted to know. “Did my parents say I could go, too?”
Vivian held up a hand to quieten them. “Yes, Nick, your parents have already okayed it with me. And there’s no need for either of you to change clothes. I’m going to visit Sawyer and his grandmother on the Camp Verde reservation. I thought we’d take them some food and gifts.”
“We’re going to see Sawyer? Yippee!” Hannah shouted gleefully and grabbed her mother by the arm. “Let’s go! We can finish giving cookies to the horses tomorrow. Right, Nick?”
“Right!” Nick soundly agreed. “I’ve never been to a reservation before. And I want to see Sawyer again. He’s a really neat guy.”
Vivian smiled at her nephew as the three of them started out of the barn. “You’re right, Nick. Sawyer is a neat guy.”
He was also the man she’d been waiting on all these years to come into her life, Vivian thought. Yet convincing him that he could be a family man wasn’t going to be easy. She could only hope that a bit of Christmas magic would begin to change his way of thinking.
* * *
Sawyer was outside, watering the flower garden he’d planted for his grandmother, when he heard a vehicle approaching on the graveled drive that led to the front of the house.
Since the main road branched off before it reached Whitehorse property, there was hardly ever traffic this far back. Most likely one of Nashota’s old friends must have decided to drop by to wish her a merry Christmas.
Turning off the hydrant, he put the hose away and turned to see a white truck pulling to a stop in front of the short yard fence. The familiar-looking vehicle caused him to pause. That couldn’t be Vivian, could it? She didn’t know where he lived. Besides, this was Christmas Day! She was supposed to be with her family.
Walking slowly toward the vehicle, he spotted Vivian stepping down from the driver’s side. On the opposite side, Hannah and Nick emerged from the back passenger door.
Both children waved eagerly to him and called out in unison, “Hi, Sawyer! Merry
Christmas!”
Lifting an acknowledging hand, he walked through the gate to meet them, and grinning ear to ear, the youngsters raced over to him.
“Are you surprised to see us?” Hannah asked.
“You three have certainly surprised me,” he admitted.
He glanced over to see Vivian had opened the back door on the truck and before Sawyer could ask, Nick said, “Aunt Viv brought some stuff. Maybe we should go help her carry everything.”
Sawyer followed the children out to the truck and Vivian promptly turned around and gave him an achingly sweet smile.
“Merry Christmas, Sawyer. I hope you feel like company.”
So far today he’d been telling himself how much he was enjoying the quiet. He’d convinced himself that Vivian was right where she belonged, on Three Rivers with her family. But now as he looked at her beautiful, cheery face, he realized how much he’d been missing her.
“Well, since Santa has already come and gone, Grandmother and I could use some company.”
“Great!” She reached into the back seat and lifted out a large cardboard box. “You can carry this in for me and I’ll let Hannah and Nick carry the gifts.”
“You brought gifts?”
Smiling smugly, she placed the box into his outstretched arms. “You didn’t think I’d forget you and your grandmother, did you?”
At this moment he wasn’t sure what he was thinking. He’d never had a woman visit his home, much less bring gifts on Christmas Day.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you today,” he admitted. “Isn’t your family having a big celebration back at the ranch?”
“Don’t worry. They’ll still be celebrating tonight. Is your grandmother here? I can’t wait to meet her.”
“She’s in the house. Come along and I’ll take you to her.”
They headed to the house with the children following behind. When they entered the living room, he said, “Grandmother is probably in the kitchen. We can go in there if you like.”
“Sure,” Vivian said, then instructed the kids to put the gifts under the tree.
“Oh, this pine is so pretty,” Hannah remarked. “Look, Mom, it has tinsel made of real cranberries. That’s so cool. We need to make one of these next Christmas.”
Nick placed the gift he was carrying alongside the others, but his attention wasn’t on the tree, it had already been distracted by a small glass case lying on a nearby table.
“This is really cool, too!” he exclaimed. “Look, Hannah! Here’s a bunch of real arrowheads!”
Hannah joined her cousin and immediately gushed over the collections. “Gosh, ours aren’t nearly this good. We’re going to have to go back to Apache Cove and hunt for more.”
Vivian explained to Sawyer. “Hannah and Nick found several arrowheads at Lake Pleasant.”
He frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t recall seeing that name on the park map. It must be a spot I’ve never been to.”
Vivian shook her head. “It’s a secluded area on the shoreline of the lake. And the place doesn’t have a real name. Apache Cove is just what I named it.”
He smiled at her. “You named it for me and just didn’t know it.”
Her green eyes twinkled with promises. “I’ll take you there. It’s...very private,” she added in a voice only he could hear.
“I’ll hold you to that promise,” he said, then taking her by the arm, urged her toward an open doorway.
She called to the children and Sawyer led the four of them across a short hallway to the kitchen. When they entered another open doorway, his grandmother was making coffee in a blue granite pot on the stove.
Sawyer expected Nashota to be very surprised at the sight of Vivian and the children. Instead, the smile on her face implied she’d been expecting them.
He placed the box on the small kitchen table. “Grandmother, we have company. This is Vivian and her daughter, Hannah, and her nephew Nick.”
Vivian went straight to Nashota and reached for both her hands. “Hello, Mrs. Whitehorse. I hope you don’t mind us showing up without warning,” she told her. “I’ve been wanting to meet you and I didn’t want to wait around until Sawyer invited me.”
Nashota cast a reproving glance at Sawyer, then nodded at Vivian. “Call me Nashota. And I’m very glad you’re here. You and the children.”
“Thank you for being so gracious,” Vivian told her.
To Sawyer’s utter amazement, his grandmother reached up and lovingly framed Vivian’s face. “You’re very beautiful. And I knew you would come on this Christmas Day.”
How could his grandmother have possibly known such a thing? He hadn’t known it himself. And why was she treating Vivian as though she’d known her and loved her for years? That wasn’t like Nashota. His grandmother had always been careful about who she allowed into her home and her life.
Vivian kissed Nashota’s cheek, then motioned for the children to come forward and join them. “You two come say hello to Nashota.”
The children politely greeted her with handshakes.
“We brought all kinds of good things to eat,” Hannah told her. “Mom made some of her special pumpkin bread. It’s yummy.”
“My mom is kinda sick,” Nick explained to Nashota. “She can hardly eat. She’s going to have twins!”
“You’re a lucky boy.” Nashota patted Nick’s shoulder before leveling another pointed look at Sawyer. “Maybe Sawyer will give me twin great-grandchildren someday.”
Sawyer cleared his throat. “Why don’t we see what’s in this food box? I’m hungry.”
“Me, too,” Nick declared. “I want a piece of toffee.”
“Not me. I want ham,” Hannah said.
He began to pull out the covered dishes and the five of them gathered around the table.
Nashota poured coffee for the adults and found sodas for the children. After everyone enjoyed the little impromptu meal, they migrated to the living room where Nashota took a seat in her rocker and Sawyer and Vivian shared the couch.
Hannah and Nick played Santa and handed out the gifts. Two to Nashota and one to Sawyer.
“Open yours first, Nashota,” Vivian encouraged her, while giving Sawyer a wink. “I’m anxious to see if you like them.”
Sawyer watched his grandmother deal with the beautifully wrapped packages while wondering what she could possibly be thinking. Most always she was quiet and guarded around people she’d just met, but today she seemed relaxed and totally enjoying herself.
But when she pulled a cream-colored crocheted shawl from a long flat box, he could see that she was overwhelmed with emotions.
Leaving the couch, he went to her and gently draped the garment over her shoulders. “You look beautiful, Grandmother. Like a Christmas flower.”
She laughed softly. “A faded one, my grandson.”
The next gift was a sewing basket filled with all sorts of notions, including a few skeins of bright red yarn.
After Nashota expressed her delight over both gifts, Nick gestured to Sawyer’s. “Open yours, Sawyer. Hannah and I helped Vivian pick it out.”
Returning to his seat next to Vivian, he picked up the little square box and quickly tore into it. “I wasn’t expecting a gift,” he said, while tossing the paper aside. “I’m not sure I deserve it.”
“Why not?” Hannah piped up. “Grandma says even naughty folks deserve gifts. Cause all of us are naughty at times.”
Everyone in the room laughed at that, including his grandmother. “Maureen is obviously a wise woman,” he said.
The gift turned out to be a Western-style leather belt tooled in an oak leaf and acorn pattern and buck stitched on both edges. He didn’t have to ask to know that the piece had cost Vivian a pretty penny.
“Okay, Sawyer, it’s your turn. Do you like your gift?” Vivian asked playfully.
Why was a lump of emotion suddenly choking him? Why was this whole visit from Vivian and the children turning him into a softhearted, sentimental sap? Why was he letting it?
He cleared the tightness in his throat and hoped the questions in his mind would leave with it. “Very much. And it’s just my size. How did you guess?”
Her smile was cagey. “I have my ways.”
As he thanked her and the children for the gift, Nashota rose from the rocker.
“Would you two kids like to go outside with me? The hens should’ve laid by now. You can help me gather the eggs.”
Nick looked blankly at Hannah, then back to Nashota. “Gosh, you have chickens?”
The boy’s surprised reaction clearly amused Nashota. “I sure do. You don’t have chickens?”
“No. We only have horses and cows and bulls,” Hannah said.
“And dogs and cats,” Nick added.
“I see,” Nashota said and motioned for the children to follow her. “Well, come with me and I’ll teach you about chickens and show you how to gather the eggs.”
The three of them left the house and Vivian smiled impishly at him.
“I think your grandmother is trying to give us a few quiet moments together. She’s a very special woman, Sawyer. I love her already.”
He reached for her hand and pressed it between the two of his. “Trust me, Viv, my grandmother is not that much of a social person. She’s never cared much for entertaining. But I can tell she’s thrilled about you three being here today. And don’t ask me why. I honestly don’t know why she’s taken to you and the kids.”
She leaned close enough to cause her shoulder to press into his and it was all Sawyer could do not to pull her into his arms and place a ravaging kiss on her lips.
“Oh, that’s easy to answer, Sawyer. She can see that we truly care about her grandson.”
Care? Was this her way of saying love? No! She didn’t love him. If she thought she did, then she was as confused and misguided as she’d been back when she’d married her ex, he thought grimly.
“Maybe so. I will say that it’s hard to fool Grandmother about anything.” He pushed himself up from the couch. “Stay right there. I’ll be back in a minute.”
A Ranger For Christmas (Linda Lael Miller Presents; Men 0f The West Book 40) Page 17