The males in the room rushed to help her carry in food, which wasn’t surprising since they would eat most of it. And it wasn’t like Harry just roasted a turkey; she’d made prime rib, Swedish meatballs, ribs, fish...a variety of side dishes in order to please everyone, and Blythe had baked her legendary rolls, so it was quite a varied feast, as Raine had come to expect. Ask for it, and you got it as a special Harry gift. Dessert was a miracle, too, with everyone’s favorites on the table, but then again, with all the leftovers, Harry would get a few days off to balance all the marathon baking and cooking.
Today, she also got another special gift.
When Harry sat down with the inevitable cup of tea, she picked up the envelope that had mysteriously appeared on her placemat during her last trip into the kitchen. “What’s this?”
It was almost as much of a pleasure to see her open that envelope as it was to see Daisy sitting with her precious purse at the table, trying to eat one-handed because she didn’t want to let go of it.
Harry’s eyes widened. “A European River cruise? Airline tickets?”
“For you and your sister.” Blythe smiled. “It’s from all of us, so don’t just thank me. You’ve always said you wanted to go, so go. I can manage this house alone for a couple of weeks and Raine is going to do lunches for the hands. Everyone is pitching in so you can just relax and enjoy. Take pictures of the castles, please.”
“Stephano has volunteered to cook,” Grace added, as Harry continued to look stunned. “I’m bringing home dinner from the resort’s restaurant every night. You do realize he’ll try to outdo you, right?”
“I’m making my famous chili on the weekends,” Luce said. “In exchange for river pics. I hope you’ll throw in some vineyards snaps for Mace.”
Kelly piped up, “Yes, do. I’d like to frame one for the store. By the way, I’m in charge of dessert. If you’d leave out a few recipes I’d appreciate it.”
“I will.” Harry looked endearingly touched, maybe even teary-eyed, as she opened the brochure. “My sister is going to love this.”
That translated to Harry loving it. Raine suspected Harriet Armstrong could be the most sentimental woman on this earth, but she was too stubborn to admit it.
Seated next to her, Mick whispered, “Is she a wizard or something? How many people does it take to fill her shoes?”
Raine whispered back, “A tyrant wizard. I believe that’s her official job description. You’ve eaten her food, so you know she has magical powers.”
He was way too handsome, especially when he smiled. Hearts probably fluttered all over California, and apparently in foreign countries as well, since she assumed business didn’t take up all his time there.
But he’d evidently thought of her on his travels.
“I agree.”
“Why do you keep checking the clock?” She had to ask because she’d seen him keeping a close eye on it. Not that she was watching him or anything like that...no, not at all.
Right.
Mick just said in a neutral tone, “I have a good reason, and no, I won’t explain. Trust me, it will be worth it.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, and I always keep my promises. Just wait.”
6
IF THERE WAS one thing Mick knew, it was that surprises didn’t always go according to plan. Still, he was pleased with the way his unfolded.
Dinner was over, the table cleared and the adults sipped wine. Snow had begun to fall again, so the ranch looked like an idyllic cowboy poster.
“Slater!” Ryder rushed in, waving his hands. “Dude, your movie is about to come on.”
Mick smiled. It would’ve been fun to spring the news himself, but the teen’s wide-eyed announcement added a nice hint of drama.
Slater, by contrast, was calm when he replied, “Don’t call me dude, Ryder. I don’t play on your basketball team and have the locker next to you. And what film do you mean?”
“Wild West...Still Wild. Your documentary. I just saw an ad for it.”
Mace perked up. “Really?”
Mick hoped he was pleased. There was a short ad for the winery at the beginning of the film, and also an ad for the resort and spa Grace managed.
“Yeah, du... I mean, Uncle Mace, really.”
“But it isn’t out for another month.”
Mick cleared his throat. The cat was officially out of the bag. “Actually, it might be premiering in...oh, about twenty-eight minutes.”
It wasn’t surprising Slater was visibly taken aback. “Mick, that’s why you’re here?” He turned to his wife, who was beaming smugly. “You knew, didn’t you? And you didn’t tell me?”
Grace, looking unrepentant, lifted her slim shoulders. “If you think I’d spoil a great surprise, think again. Surprise!”
“Christmas Day?” Slater looked floored, staring at Mick. “How’d you pull that off?”
“I have strings I tighten now and again.” Mick wasn’t lying about that. Those were some hard-won tug-o-wars.
“It isn’t possible. Not for a documentary.”
“Tell me that again in twenty-seven minutes.”
“I just saw the ad. Like a major commercial!” Ryder was jacked up, his thin face alight. Mick could swear the kid had grown about four inches since his last visit to Bliss County and when he filled out, he was going to be quite the broad-shouldered man. “I was watching football.”
So far the films had all made a good profit and that’s why Mick could still get investors on board, but that ad had taken a lot of money and some true finesse. Everyone involved had agreed that maybe it was time to notch it up, especially once they’d viewed the film. They’d thought the investment would pay off.
“During a football game on a major network?” Drake wasn’t a wine drinker so he lifted his bottle of beer in a salute. “Look at you, Showbiz.”
I think you’re the one we’ll be looking at,” Mick informed him, enjoying the moment. “Remember how the film opens? I think millions are about to get a peek at you kissing your lovely wife.”
“Oh, hell,” Drake muttered in obvious chagrin. “I’d either forgotten or blocked that out of my mind. Tell me you aren’t serious.”
Luce laughed. “Relax, you’re not being rocketed into instant stardom, honey. In that footage no one can really tell it’s us, and besides, they’ll all be looking at the wild stallion in the background. I’m sorry, but I think Smoke is the one who will steal the show.”
“He’s welcome to it,” her husband responded darkly.
Maybe it was the Hollywood in him, but Mick had always thought each of the Carson brothers would make a fascinating leading man in his own way. All three were intense, but he’d describe Slater as artistic, Drake as the quiet cowboy, and Mace the wildcard.
What was he?
Focused, maybe. Not artistic, that was for sure. Though he appreciated art in all forms, he couldn’t draw so much as a square. “The gloves were just for show, Showbiz,” he told Slater. “Your real gift is going to be the next couple of hours. I don’t know how you’re going to outdo this one, but you should have the opportunity if this doc goes over like I think it will. The backers loved it enough that the commercial was a sell.”
“They loved it?”
“Of course. I held a showing. This is business, Carson. Don’t look so surprised that they enjoyed it.”
Raine was the one who elbowed him. “I’m with Slater. This is like having someone tell you if your child is ugly or pretty, Branson. It’s nerve-wracking stuff.”
He did get that. He really did, at least on an intellectual level. Defensively, he murmured, “He doesn’t make movies just to make them. He wants people to watch them. Slater knows what he’s doing.”
“Yes, but no,” she corrected. “He really does make movies
just because he loves them. Having people watch and enjoy them is a bonus. But without someone like you, he could never do it on this scale.”
Raine was an intellectual challenge at times. Maybe that was why he liked her so much. No agenda. “What’s the point of doing it if no one sees it?”
“Because of the sheer joy of creation. I have artwork I’ve done I wouldn’t sell even if offered a fortune for it.”
“A private showing of those pieces would interest me a great deal.” He made his tone deliberately suggestive.
Raine looked amused. “Please tell me you’re usually more subtle when you flirt, Branson.”
“You’re harder to flirt with than most women, Ms. McCall.”
“I’d like to think I’m not most women.”
“You’ve got that right.”
Her beautiful eyes softened. “That’s improvement right there. I’m going to help clear the table. I think we all have a movie to watch.”
* * *
The film was brilliant, but Raine had expected that. Though she and Slater hadn’t ended up on the same page in life, they certainly connected on different levels, and one of them was their mutual understanding of the emotional significance of vision.
The documentary was a love letter to Mustang Creek, taking viewers on a journey through its rich history. There were pictures of the old hotel that was there before the new resort, and video of a snowboarder in mid-air doing an Olympic-style flip, and then photos of cowboys digging a path for their horses out of the snow. Ranch hands around a table wearing chaps and drinking coffee from tin cups, and the same table a hundred years later, same cups, different men. The main street of Mustang Creek back in the day, and the similarity to the modernized version, including the wine store, before and after. Elk grazing next to cattle, the wild horses at full gallop, fluttering fall leaves and an eagle soaring above, a mountain lion perched above a walking trail...
And her grandfather’s cabin, so unchanged from when it was built except for the slow process of aging. She drew in a breath at the picture of him when he was a boy happily playing on the steps, and later a picture she’d provided of an old man sitting on the front porch smoking a pipe—that child grown and weathered by time but still content. In the latter photograph there was a book on a simple table next to him; one of his, of course.
Her mother had taken the picture and Raine wasn’t immune to a nostalgic moment. It was telling that even the kids didn’t get restless, but watched intently. When it was over, there was a resounding silence.
Then Blythe began to clap, Daisy jumped up to run and kiss her dad, and everyone was talking at once.
The beginning of the film had been fantastic, with an unintentional shot of Drake leaning in to Luce for a passionate kiss, accidentally captured by remote cameras but, fortunately for the couple, entirely in silhouette. Luce had been right—the setting took over.
But the ending was astounding.
The wild horses were being herded off and Slater had taken gorgeous footage of the warrior stallion stopping to nudge a gangly colt, gently urging the youngster into the herd because he wasn’t quite able yet to keep up.
It was so well done, emphasizing the continuing cycle of life.
“Let’s hope the ratings reflect the quality of the work.” Mick sounded optimistic, his long legs extended, Delilah yet again camped out on his foot.
“They will.” Raine was able to say it with utter conviction.
Mick didn’t hesitate. “I loved the idea, loved the execution, and Slater’s style and his sense of timing are distinctive. I could tune in and know right away who ran the production. That isn’t easy to come by.”
“He’s a bright man,” Grace interjected, snuggling into her husband as he grinned and ran a hand over Daisy’s hair.
“He has excellent taste,” Raine agreed. She glanced at Mick’s feet. “And apparently so does a certain small, floppy dog.”
“Thanks.” Mick eyed his snoozing new best friend, and the sleeping giant at her feet. “Raine, you do realize you’re going to need a larger yard for that beast.”
Samson had come over and collapsed at her feet mid-movie and, even at his young age, he already snored. His head was significantly bigger than her foot. She offered helpfully, “If you decide you want my grandfather’s property, I’ll throw him in for free. Problem solved. That’s one big yard.”
Mick chuckled. “Oh yes, I bet your daughter would let that fly. And I might have always wanted a dog, but I’m not sure about a rambunctious horse in canine form.”
“Yeah, I guess I’m stuck with him. But there’s one thing I can give you.” She was impulsive and she knew it. It was exactly how she ordered her world. Follow the heart. If she had a motto, that was it. Raine took a breath and blurted out, “What if I just deeded the property to you on the proviso you keep the cabin as it is? Yours, free and clear.”
It wasn’t hard to see Mick was flabbergasted. He looked at her like she was insane. “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
She stood her ground. “I don’t agree. I think it makes perfect sense.”
“Raine...the property is like what I’m looking for and I can afford to buy it.”
“I believe I already told you that I want someone who appreciates it to have it. If you can afford to buy it, you can afford the taxes and to put in a decent road. Fix that top step on the porch, too, will you? Say you’ll keep the cabin. We’ll call it even.”
It seemed like he was searching for words. “You...you can’t give a hundred acres and a historical cabin away.”
The more she thought about it, the better the idea seemed to be. “You want land in this area, and you’d have it.” She needed to make her position clear so she chose her next words carefully. “I’m really being selfish. Mick, I don’t want to sell it. But I can’t justifiably keep it either and let it fall apart. This seems a lot more right to me. You’d be doing me a favor. The guilt of having it on the market has been eating away at me. I think, given your friendship with Slater, you’d let Daisy come out there every once in a while to visit the cabin. That’s so much better than a stranger buying it and not caring that he was Matthew Brighton, the author, and getting rid of it.”
“If you get that animated movie deal I mentioned, you could afford all of that.”
“That’s a big ‘if.’ And I assume these things take time. I would have given it to the Carson family, but they really don’t need more land. For them, it would just be taxes and something else to manage. They would do it, but it would be an imposition on my part.”
“You are part of the Carson family.”
He was right, and he was wrong. “My daughter is. I’ve been made welcome, no doubt about it, but there’s a reason I spend Christmas Eve on my own.”
“Not this year.”
She held his gaze, remembering that brief kiss that was still a spine-tingling experience, the second one even better. “No. I want you to know I don’t share my green chilis with just anyone.”
“That was a Christmas gift all its own. If a genie had popped out of a bottle and asked what I wanted for dinner, that selection would have been my choice.”
There came that heart-stopping smile again. She pounced on the moment. “So we have a deal then? Take the land, keep the cabin, and I’ll make you green chili cheeseburgers every Christmas Eve if you want.”
“Okay, we have a standing date.”
“Mom, Mom.” Daisy rushed in and flopped down on the floor next to Samson, who promptly rolled over to get his belly rubbed. Her blue eyes were alight. “Dad and Uncle Mace are going to take me and Ryder for a midnight ride in the snow tonight. Is that okay? I can just stay over again, unless you mind.”
At least they’d spent the day together, and it was Christmas after all. “I don’t mind.” But Raine ha
d to ask, “Are you going to take your purse on the ride?”
Daisy was appalled. “No. What if snow got on it?”
“Oh no, hadn’t thought of that. It would be a tragedy.” She bent to kiss her daughter’s head. “Go and have fun.”
“Thanks, Mom.” She jumped up and ran off, and Samson decided maybe something was afoot and followed in a lumbering gait, clumsy but somehow still cute despite his size.
“Don’t look smug,” Raine informed Mick. “She loved my gift, too.”
“I’d love to take credit but I can’t.” He didn’t heed her request but looked smug anyway. “There’s a very efficient clerk who understands both retail and young girls and does an excellent job for her company. Daisy should really thank her for the purse. So now you’re free for the evening?”
What she said next might be life-changing. Raine thought it over—letting him know she wasn’t always impulsive. She trusted him absolutely with her grandfather’s property. Her heart was a different matter, because it also included her child. So when she spoke, her tone was cautious. “It seems like I am.”
“Can we spend it together?”
“Are we talking the entire night?” She looked him squarely in the eyes.
He looked right back. “You just don’t pull punches, do you? I’m talking whatever you want.”
“I hope you can accept I’m not sure.”
“I’m fairly aware there’s a guarded side of you. Kind of like a prickly pear cactus.”
“Those plants have beautiful flowers, so I’ll take that as a compliment.” She shot him her sweetest smile.
“I meant it as one,” he replied. “I know you have reason to be cautious, and that you’re used to being independent.”
“I think learning to rely on yourself is a very valuable lesson. I remember as a child once asking my grandfather if he wasn’t lonely sometimes, all alone in that old secluded place, and he answered that it never even occurred to him. He was happy with himself for company. I think I took to that mentality.”
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