Heat crawled up from her neck to her cheeks. The song that had been playing while they made love the night before played through her head as her face went from red to crimson.
“Little warm there?” Retta asked.
“Nope, downright hot,” Claire answered.
“You’re too young for hot flashes.” Mavis put a large pan of biscuits in the oven.
“Depends on who’s makin’ you hot,” Retta said. “Mavis, I don’t think you’ve ever told me about when you met Skip. Did you ever get a hot flash when you first met him?”
Mavis chuckled. “Oh, honey, you might not know it now, but Skip was the sexiest cowboy in the whole state of Texas at one time, and I was one lucky girl that he fell in love with me.”
“How old were you?” Retta winked at Claire.
“Sixteen. We married when I was seventeen. That was fifty years ago. We ran off to Wichita Falls, got married at the county clerk’s, and spent a night in a motel. Then we came home to face the music.” Mavis crumbled sausage into a big cast iron skillet and handed a wooden spoon to Claire. “You can keep this stirred while it browns.”
“Face the music?” Retta asked.
“My daddy thought Skip wasn’t good enough for his little girl,” Mavis answered.
“Ever have any regrets?” Claire asked.
Mavis whipped around to stare at her. “Not a single one.”
“I love that story,” Claire said. “It reminds me of the one that Franny told me when I was…” She started to say home, but if it was true that home was where the heart is, she wasn’t sure where it was that morning. She cleared her throat and went on. “When Zaylie and I went to Randlett.”
Retta got down the plates to set the table. “Changing the subject. Are you and Skip coming to the nursing home to see my Sunday school girls sing to the old folks tonight?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Got lots of friends in the home,” Mavis said.
“Are you like Cinderella?” Zaylie asked Mavis. “Did you live happy ever after?”
Mavis touched Zaylie on the cheek. “I was at one time. Now I’m the fairy godmother.”
“Oh!” Zaylie’s blue eyes widened. “Do you have a magic wand? Can you turn a pumpkin into a coach?”
“I’m sure Mavis can do anything.” Claire smiled.
“Then she can do her wand like this.” Zaylie picked up a spoon and waved it around. “And my daddy will come home forever.”
“I bet she can.” Claire’s smile turned to laughter. “But right now we’ve got breakfast to think about, so put the spoon down and come help.”
“Let’s talk about them Santa cookies,” Zaylie said as she returned the spoon to the table.
“I agree,” Mavis said. “One more question. What is your brother going to say?”
“I run my own life, not my parents or my brother. They’ve lived the way they wanted all their lives, so they don’t have any room to be tellin’ me how or what to do with my heart,” Claire answered.
Retta bumped her hip against Mavis’s. “Who does that remind you of?”
“You,” Mavis answered.
“I was thinkin’ someone a little shorter, older, and with kinky hair.” Retta laughed.
“Like Mavis?” Zaylie asked.
“Out of the mouths of babes,” Retta said. “Zaylie, would you go tell the guys that by the time they get washed up, we’ll have breakfast on the table.”
Because there were too many for the kitchen table, the one in the dining room had been set up for breakfast. Levi usually sat across from Claire in the kitchen, but that morning he chose the chair right next to her. When Cade asked Skip to say grace, Levi laid his hand on Claire’s knee. She tucked her hand into his, and he squeezed it gently. That simple gesture meant more to her than a room full of expensive roses or a dinner at a five-star restaurant.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Claire dressed four times that evening before she finally settled on a straight denim skirt that skimmed her knees and a bright red Christmas sweater with crossed candy canes on the front. She put a few bouncy curls in her long, dark hair and applied a little more makeup than usual.
“When can I have makeup?” Zaylie asked as she watched her put on mascara.
“That’s between you and your daddy, but I’m thinkin’ maybe when you are twenty-one,” Claire answered.
“That’s forever,” she groaned.
“Yes it is, and I hope it goes slow. I like you as a little girl,” Claire said.
A hard rap on the door sent Zaylie out of the room, her ponytail flying behind her like a frayed flag of victory.
Levi’s deep drawl floated into the bedroom. “Well, now, you sure do look just like a princess tonight.”
Claire checked her reflection one more time. She’d give a year’s salary to be at least six inches taller and ten pounds thinner, but that wasn’t happening. She slipped her feet into a pair of red high heels and went out into the living room.
“Well, good evening, beautiful.” His eyes started at her feet and traveled up to her hair, made a trip back down—stopping at her chest for an extra second—and then making one more sweep back up to her eyes.
“Is she a princess too?” Zaylie asked.
“No, darlin’, she’s the queen,” Levi answered.
“Thank you, but I’m really just Claire.” She smiled at him.
He picked up her coat and held it out. “To the rest of the world, maybe, but to me you are the queen of my heart.”
Zaylie handed him her jacket. “And I’m the princess, right?”
“You got it.” Levi buttoned her coat and pulled the hood up over her hair. “I’m takin’ the two prettiest girls in Montague County to the singing tonight.” He straightened up and escorted Claire outside.
Warmth penetrated all the way to her insides, and yet a shiver danced up her spine. Would Levi’s touch always affect her like that, or would it someday get to be old hat and she wouldn’t feel a thing?
The nursing home was only a fifteen-minute drive from the house, but Zaylie wiggled and asked how much farther it was at least a dozen times. When they arrived, Retta and Cade parked right beside them, and she could hardly wait to get out and put her hand in Retta’s.
“Looks like I’m losin’ my place,” Claire said.
Levi laced his fingers in hers. “Darlin’, you’ll always be number one with me.”
“Is that a pickup line?” she asked.
“No, ma’am, it’s the gospel truth,” he answered. “But if it was, would it work?”
“Maybe,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been number one with anyone. I kind of like the feelin’.”
The lobby of the nursing home was filled with old folks on sofas, chairs, and even in wheelchairs. The glee in their wrinkled faces said that they were as excited to have children in the house as the kids were to be there. Claire and Levi found two empty chairs at the back of the room and settled into them. He helped her remove her coat and then took her hand in his again, resting it on his knee.
She tried to take in the whole, huge room with one glance, but it was impossible. Decorations were everywhere—from coloring sheets from the local school kids taped to the walls to bright-colored garland looped around the windows. A tree that had to be eight feet tall was placed in one corner and had every kind of ornament imaginable adorning it, from cartoon characters to plain red and green bulbs.
Someone from the nursing home staff tapped on the microphone and introduced Retta and the kids. Then the piano player sat down behind the old upright piano and hit a few keys. The little girls gathered up around the microphone, and Retta sat down on a chair in front of them.
“I understand that the lady playing the piano could have been your wife if you’d played your cards right,” Claire whispered to Levi.
“Glad I didn’t. Something better came along,” he said.
“And if something better than me comes along in a few weeks?” she asked.
“Impossible. You can’t get no better than perfection.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Silent night, holy night,” the little girls started. One of the elderly ladies joined in and then several more. Before long they were singing louder than the girls.
When that finished, the older four girls started singing “Jingle Bells.” The younger ones like Zaylie shook ribbons with jingle bells attached to them every time they sang the words. She was in her element up there with all those kids.
“I’m just glad that she’s not substituting the words to ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ to any of the carols,” Claire told Levi.
“Might liven this crowd up even more,” he said, and chuckled.
“Could give them all heart attacks,” she said out the corner of her mouth.
“You ever think about a place like this when you get old?” he asked.
She shook her head. No, she didn’t want to be tucked away in a nursing home. She wanted to make her quilts and have so many kids that they’d fight over who got to have her in their home when she was old. She wanted a close-knit family, not one like she’d grown up in, but one like Levi had known.
“Me either. When I’m old and gray, I want to sit on the porch in a rocking chair and laugh at my great-grandkids playin’ in the yard.”
She nodded. “Or sit on a quilt under a shade tree and reminisce about a night in the tack room?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“And that’s all of our program,” Retta said. “But we’ve got cookies and punch in the dining room for everyone. Our girls made the treats special for you folks, and they’ll be serving y’all.”
The old folks applauded loudly, and Zaylie bowed twice before she ran back to Claire and Levi. “Did I do good?”
“Yes, you did, and now you’ve got to go with Retta and help give out cookies and carry punch,” Claire told her. “Want me to go with you?”
“No, I want Levi. I don’t know them people, and he’ll rescue me, ’cause he can walk on water,” Zaylie answered.
“Wow!” Levi barely got out one word.
“Don’t let your head get too big for your hat. She got that from that song about a grandpa walkin’ on water,” Claire informed him.
“Ouch!” he said.
Zaylie grabbed his free hand and tugged. “Come on. We gots to help Retta now.”
“Yes, ma’am. Can Claire come with us?”
“Okay,” Zaylie said. “Did you take pictures for Teresa?”
“Retta had a camera set up at the front, and she’s going to let me have a copy. It’ll be better than what I could do.” Claire followed her and Levi down the hallway to the dining room, where Christmas carols were playing on a CD player and a table had been laid out with cookies, punch, and finger foods.
She wasn’t surprised that Zaylie intermingled with the elderly strangers. The child had, after all, been raised close to a grandmother and with Franny right next door. But she did notice as she helped take small plates to the folks in wheelchairs that Zaylie made sure Levi was close enough that she could see him at all times.
In that moment, Claire was glad that Grant was coming home. Zaylie needed a daddy in her life on a permanent basis. Keeping her had been a delight, and Claire would miss her so much, but she’d be able to drive up to Randlett any evening or Sunday afternoon that she wanted.
Her phone rang, and she pulled it out of her skirt pocket. “Hello, Franny. What’s going on?”
“Just makin’ sure that you’re comin’ to Randlett in time for church this next Sunday. You bringin’ that cowboy with you?”
“Plannin’ on it.” She told her where they were right then.
“That’s great. But I hear something sad in your voice. What’s wrong?”
“Even though I’m happy for my brother and the new little family, I’ll still miss Zaylie. She’ll have a new mama and a sister, and there’s even a possibility she’ll have more siblings later on down the road. I’ll just be her aunt from now on. How can a person be sad when there’s so much happiness about to happen?” Claire asked.
“Honey, she’s always going to love you, you’ll see. But right now I want to hear more about Levi. How are things going?” Franny asked.
“Going well. We’re dating or in a relationship or we’re a couple. I never really know what to call it,” Claire answered.
“Well, holy smoke, girl. Don’t stand there talkin’ to me. Go on over to wherever he is and stand next to him. I been in them nursing homes, and the girls who work there is goin’ to flirt with him if they don’t know he’s a marked man,” Franny said. “I’ll look to see you on Sunday, and bring pictures of Zaylie singing so I can see them. Good-bye.”
She didn’t even have time to say good-bye back to Franny when the call ended.
“Grant?” Levi asked.
“No, Franny checkin’ to see if we were comin’ to church with her on Sunday.”
“It’ll mean gettin’ up a little early after the ranch party. Maybe I should have a sleepover at your bunkhouse so we won’t oversleep,” he teased.
“Oh, honey, we wouldn’t sleep at all if we did that,” she said.
“That’s what I was countin’ on. I haven’t had time to talk to you alone since last night,” he said.
With a wave of her hand, she took in the whole room. “You call this alone?”
“The best place in the world to be alone is in a crowd of people who aren’t a bit interested in what you are sayin’. I dreamed about you last night and woke up frustrated because you weren’t in bed with me,” he said.
“I woke up afraid that you’d have second thoughts about things,” she admitted.
“Not me. You?” he asked.
“Not a single one. Do you really think we can make this work? I won’t be right here on the ranch and we won’t see each other every single day.”
“Anything, darlin’”—he brought her fingertips to his lips and kissed each one of them—“is possible with a little work.”
“I believe you. After all, you can walk on water.” Her fingers could sure use a little dousing in ice water about then.
“Not until I’m a grandpa, but don’t tell Zaylie.” He grinned.
Chapter Twenty-Three
For the next two days everyone had a job to do on the ranch. Mavis, Retta, and Claire kept the oven going from daylight until after supper making dozens and dozens of cookies. The guys worked outside getting decorations all put up and ready for the party on Saturday night. Mavis was the ultimate boss about everything. She’d organized the parties for so long that she knew exactly what to get done and how to tell everyone how to do their jobs including Claire and Retta.
Claire had managed to get a lot of quilting done during the previous days, but that evening she’d put aside the throw to talk to a supplier about buying bolts of fabric wholesale. While she was on her cell, one of the kittens got stuck under the sofa and set up a howl that sounded like it was dying. Gussie was running back and forth from basket to sofa. The supplier was talking fast, and Claire was trying to take notes. Then the house phone rang, and Zaylie was throwing such a fit about her cat, which she was sure was dying, that she couldn’t answer it for the sobs. As if that wasn’t enough, the electricity blinked off for five seconds. Claire didn’t know whether the cat or Zaylie was crying the hardest.
Just as the lights came back on, Levi rapped on the door, but he didn’t wait to be invited in. “What is going on?”
“My kitty cat is hurtin’, and Aunt Claire won’t get off the phone, and I miss my daddy and…”
“Help me, please,” Claire begged.
Levi picked Zaylie up and dried her tears. Then he turned the sofa over and rescued the kitten. “I believe that Grumpy is hungry. Let’s put him in the basket with Gussie. And we’ll get your coat on and take a ride out to the barn to see Nomie.”
Thank you, Claire mouthed.
Levi’s head bobbed in a brief nod, and just like that the bunkhouse was quiet enoug
h that she could give the supplier her business number and make a huge order for the quilt shop. She ended the call and put her head in her hands.
Did that hurt? Her grandmother popped into her head.
“Yes, it did. My poor nerves were so frazzled, I wanted to scream,” she answered out loud.
Not that. Did it hurt to ask for help?
Claire pushed back her chair and paced around the table a couple of times. Levi had come to her rescue, and it felt right. Maybe she’d shed some of those porcupine quills without even knowing it.
“And he’ll always be here for me. I know it because that’s the kind of man he is.” A smile spread across her face as she picked up small pieces of fabric and sewed them together. “I’m beginning to believe that maybe he can walk on water.”
Half an hour later, Zaylie bounced into the house with Levi right behind her. She went straight to the basket of kittens. She was in the process of kissing Grumpy on the nose when the phone rang.
Claire was never so glad in her life to see a picture of her brother pop up on the screen. “Hello! I’m going to put you on speaker, and you talk to your daughter for thirty minutes.”
“With pleasure,” Grant said.
“Daddy, Daddy,” Zaylie squealed. “We made cookies for three days and I put Santa’s hat on them and I ate six today. And Levi came and took me to the barn because Aunt Claire wouldn’t get off the phone and help me.”
“What was your aunt doing?” he asked.
“Just talkin’ on the phone. I’m mad at her. I’m going to take the phone to my kitties so you can see how scared Grumpy still is,” Zaylie said.
“You should go take a long soaking bath while she’s on the phone.” Levi kissed Claire on the forehead.
“I’d rather spend time with you,” she said.
“Who says you can’t have both?” Levi waggled his eyebrows.
She shot a look toward Zaylie.
“Just go take a bath. You need it to relax.” After a sweet kiss brushed across her lips, he left.
Claire ran a tub of water, shook some bath salts into it, and stripped out of her clothing. She’d just gotten into the tub and hadn’t even sat down yet when she heard gravel hitting the bathroom window. She peeked through the curtains to find Levi with his nose pressed against the glass.
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