“We can work on that, but I hope you and Pete are serious about flying down next spring. My folks would love it.”
“Oh, we are,” Pete said. “I haven’t been to Arizona in years. I’m stoked about going.”
Sarah took a deep breath and pushed back her chair. “And I’m ready for bed. We have a big day tomorrow. The rest of you can stay here as long as you like, but I’m thinking Mary Lou has the right idea. Time to turn in.”
“Yeah, it is for me, too.” Pete stood. “But you kids are welcome to hang out here for awhile. Mary Lou won’t mind if you help yourself to more coffee and dessert if you clean up after yourselves.”
“I’ll just finish what I have in my cup,” Ben said. “It’s great stuff. Then I’ll be off to bed, too. It’s been a long day.”
“I’m sure, driving on those icy roads.” Pete tucked an arm around Sarah’s waist. “See you both in the morning.”
Sarah said good-night, too, and then Molly had her wish, to spend some time alone with Ben. Once Pete and Sarah were out of earshot, she spoke, but kept her voice down. “Rosie Padgett said you were an artist with saddles, and then I knew what you were really here for.”
Ben turned sideways in his chair and gazed at her. “That was nice of her to say, but I sure as hell didn’t think it through when I suggested you should call them. I guess it never occurred to me that you’d call now, before the birthday party.”
She mirrored his position so she could look at him as they talked. “I probably wouldn’t have if Sarah hadn’t encouraged me. As you could probably tell, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what Rosie Padgett had to say.”
“I know, and I didn’t think about the fact that if your cousin had ended up at Thunder Mountain, then your aunt...well, I can’t see that being a good thing where she was concerned.”
“No. But he wasn’t there, so that leaves the mystery unsolved. I wonder if I should leave it alone and imagine they’re doing well but have no interest in reconnecting with their family.”
“That could be the truth. You might not have been aware of problems between your aunt and your grandparents, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any.”
She thought about that for a moment and finally shook her head. “I get what you’re saying, and I suppose anything’s possible, but Grandpa Seth and Grandma Joyce were kind, gentle people. According to my dad, Aunt Heather was a happy person until she hooked up with Rance Marlowe. Then she got pregnant with Cade and...well, there’s never been a divorce in my family.”
“Wow, that’s unusual.”
“I know, and most people who hear that assume it’s because problems were swept under the rug. I think it’s because they were brought out in the open and dealt with. Heather was the big exception. When she had problems with Rance, she cut off communication and hid their troubles from everybody.”
“And you’re worried about how that turned out.”
“Yes. I thought we’d all be better off knowing the truth, but now I’m not so sure.”
Ben sighed. “Well, I don’t have any advice. My knowledge of family dynamics is sadly lacking.”
“Why?”
He met her gaze and smiled. “I should have known you’d ask that. Which means I shouldn’t have made the remark in the first place. Sorry. I’d rather not get into it right now.”
Although his tone was friendly and he was doing his best to be polite, she felt a brick wall go up. She couldn’t blame him. They’d met a few hours ago. Just because she’d blabbed some of her family information didn’t mean that he’d want to do the same. “That’s fine. Let’s switch topics.”
He polished off the last of his coffee. “To what?”
“The saddle you brought here. Where is it?”
He laughed. “You know, I’ve only been around you for a little while, but somehow I knew you’d ask that question. Now that you know about the saddle, its whereabouts is driving you nuts, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I guess I can trust you.”
“You can. I wouldn’t ruin this surprise for anything.”
“It’s in the far back corner of the tractor barn under a blanket.”
“Who’s seen it?”
“Jack, Gabe and Nick. That’s it.”
She gave him her most winsome smile, the one even her brothers had never been able to resist. “Please take me out there. I want to see it, too.”
5
BEN SHOULD HAVE seen this coming. Molly was the most inquisitive woman he’d ever run across, and now that she’d learned about the secret present for Sarah, of course she’d want to see it. She’d want to be one of the privileged few who knew what was coming when the saddle was presented tomorrow evening.
And the fact of the matter was, he wanted to show it to her. He was proud of that saddle and after all three Chance brothers had given it a thumbs-up, he felt pretty confident that Molly would like it, too. Still, he needed to think of the logistics.
He considered what they’d have to go through. “It’s damned cold out there. I’m sure the temperature’s dropped considerably since I was out, and it was freezing, then.”
“I know. We’ll bundle up and go fast.”
“It’s snowing.”
“Not very hard. A few flakes. The shoveled paths should still be fine if we go right away. Please?”
That smile of hers was something. It made her eyes light up and put a cute little dimple in her left cheek. He felt like kissing her, but her glasses would be in the way so he didn’t act on the impulse. Besides, she’d asked him to take her out to see his saddle, not kiss her.
“Come on, Ben. It’ll be fun.” She pushed back her chair and picked up her coffee cup and saucer. “We’ll just put these in the dishwasher, pull on our duds, and be off.”
He stood and collected his dishes. “I’ll bet you got your brothers in all kinds of trouble when you were a kid.”
“Yes, but they never regretted it. I had great ideas. Even if we were punished...well, mostly they were punished because they got blamed...they still had fun.”
Ben laughed. “I’d love to hear their side of that someday.”
“You should! You totally should come to Prescott for a visit. It’s a cute little town. You’d like it.”
“We’ll see.” Whoops. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but suddenly she was inviting him to Prescott so he could meet her brothers.
He wondered how they’d react to a guy who had no intention of starting a family, ever. That wouldn’t work for Miss Molly. Her brothers would probably escort him right out the door. If they thought for one minute he’d misled their baby sister, he might be run out of town on a rail.
But that was a moot point, because he wouldn’t be going to Prescott. If he had any sense, he wouldn’t have told her where the saddle was, but she had a way of making him say things he shouldn’t. Now he had to take her there, because if he didn’t, she’d go by herself. He wasn’t about to let her do that.
They climbed the stairs together and separated at the top to go to their respective rooms and suit up. He wound a wool scarf around his neck before pulling on his sheepskin coat. He left it open so he wouldn’t roast, made sure his fleece-lined leather gloves were in the pockets and settled his Stetson on his head.
What he needed was a lined hat with earflaps, but he hadn’t brought one on this trip. He hadn’t expected to be going outside in subzero weather. But then, he hadn’t counted on a little bit of a thing winding him around her pinky finger, either. At the last minute, he pocketed his phone so he could use its flashlight feature. Jack might not think much of that convenience, but Ben used his all the time.
As he walked out of his room, Molly appeared wearing a puffy, bright-red jacket, a red knit hair band that covered her ears, a red knit cap and rubber boots. She looked adorable.
They met at the top of the stairs once again, and he realized she held mittens in her hand, not gloves. Who wore mittens anymore? She did, apparently.
; She waved them at him. “A gift from one of my sisters-in-law,” she said in a low voice. “She’s just learning to knit. This is their first and maybe their only outing, but I wanted to tell her I used them in Wyoming and this trip to the tractor barn won’t require me to do anything complicated with my fingers.”
Her low-pitched comment, probably designed to keep from waking the household, shouldn’t make him think of sex, but it did. He pictured the interesting things she could do with her fingers if they were free to roam over his naked body. Presently they were about as far from naked as they could get without being zipped into a hazmat suit.
Something was different about her, other than all the stuff she’d put on to guard against the cold, but at first he couldn’t figure out what it was. Then he did. He kept his voice down, too. “Where are your glasses?”
“I popped in my contacts. My glasses would just fog up the minute I stepped outside and started breathing.”
“So why don’t you wear contacts all the time? Do they bother you?”
“Not really. I just...like my glasses. I know that sounds silly, but I started wearing them when I was a kid, and they’re me in a way that contacts aren’t. It’s a cliché, but I feel smarter with them on. Now, see, you’re smiling because you think that’s ridiculous.”
“No, I’m smiling because I like you.”
“You do? How do you mean that, exactly?”
He laughed softly. “I keep forgetting that you have to analyze everything.”
“That’s true, but I just realized I’m getting very hot in this coat, so forget about that question for now. We can talk about it after we come back from the tractor barn and take off all these clothes.”
“Depending on how much you plan to take off, we should definitely talk about it.”
She blushed. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Too bad.” Chuckling, he started down the stairs. She was the wrong woman for him. The absolute worst choice he could make. But when she stood there looking so cute and talking about taking off her clothes, he couldn’t seem to remember that.
He paused in front of the door to button his coat and put on his gloves. Then he turned up his collar.
She pulled a knitted red scarf out of her pocket. “My sister-in-law knitted this before she tackled the mittens.” Molly wrapped it around her neck and then around her nose and mouth so only her eyes showed.
When that was all he could see, he became aware of what a beautiful green they were, and how her long lashes framed them. She might love her glasses, and in a way he preferred that look on her, too. But without her glasses, he could more easily picture her stretched out in his bed, gazing up at him. He’d be wise not to dwell on that or he’d really overheat standing in the entryway.
Last, she put on her mittens, which were too big. “Don’t fit very well.” Her voice was muffled by the scarf as she moved her hands and the mittens turned into flippers.
He bit the inside of his cheek so he wouldn’t laugh. Then, moving cautiously, he opened the front door.
She gasped as frigid air engulfed them.
“We don’t have to go.”
She shook her head and stepped out onto the porch.
He followed her out, closed the door and took the action any man in this situation would. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her close as they navigated down the steps. Close was a relative term in this case. Holding on to her was like holding onto a blow-up Christmas yard decoration. He kept losing his grip because she was so squashy and slippery.
It might have been the coldest walk he’d ever taken in his life. Without any pavement or large buildings giving off heat, the air bit through his coat as if he’d walked out bare-chested. His nipples tightened in response to the icy temperature until they actually hurt.
But she’d been right about the snowfall. The flakes were lazy and slow. That could change at any time, though, so he planned to make this a very quick trip.
The shoveled path led to the horse barn, then branched off to the tractor barn. It was narrow, but by hugging her against him, he was able to steer them along it without either of them stepping into the crusted drifts on each side.
The horse barn was heated, as he’d discovered this afternoon. He considered making a stop there to warm up and decided she wouldn’t go for that. She didn’t strike him as a woman who took very many detours in life.
Besides, the sooner they got to the tractor barn and looked at the saddle, the sooner they could get back to the cozy ranch house. He thought he’d become used to Wyoming winters, but he’d never been outside in a landscape like this, where security lights and a pale moon reflected off untrampled snow. Beyond the soft glow coming from the house and the barn, the surroundings were completely dark.
No sound greeted him, either, not even the hoot of an owl. He knew this was wolf country, but they were silent, too. The frozen world was completely still, without even a breeze. For that he was grateful. They didn’t need a wind-chill factor right now.
The tractor barn was secured by the same method as the horse barn—a wooden bar that slid across when a person wanted to open the double doors, and slid back when they wanted to keep them closed. Ben had to let go of Molly while he pushed the bar aside, and he could swear he heard her teeth chattering, even with the scarf covering her mouth.
He hoped, after braving the cold, she’d like his saddle and feel good about having seen it. Tramping out here tonight was a lot of trouble, particularly if the saddle turned out to be anticlimactic.
The tractor barn wasn’t wired for electricity, which meant no heat and no lights. Once they were inside and he’d pulled the doors shut, the air was marginally warmer, but not by much. He reached into his pocket, but before he could turn on his flashlight app, she’d pulled off one mitten and activated hers.
She tugged her scarf down from her nose and mouth. “That was intense.” Her words came out in little puffs of condensed vapor.
“And we have to do it all over again when we go back.” More clouds fogged the air between them.
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it. Challenges are fun for me.” Mist from their conversation hung between them.
“Me, too, actually.” He’d felt a sense of kinship when she’d said that. Not everyone welcomed challenges in their life. He thought it was the only way a person could grow. “Shine your light along the floor so we don’t trip over anything as we walk back there.”
“Thank you for bringing me.” She held the light steady as they walked to the back of the tractor barn.
In warm weather the place probably smelled of gas and oil, but freezing temperatures cancelled out most of the odor. Ben caught faint whiffs of the metallic scent of machinery, but it was subtle. Light from the phone allowed him to see the hulking forms of tractors. In the dark the barn was a little spooky.
He couldn’t imagine sending her out here by herself, even if she would have been perfectly safe. Maybe her size made him feel protective, but he thought it was more than that. He loved her enthusiasm for new experiences, but having someone around as backup wasn’t a bad idea. He’d never want to suggest she wasn’t capable of anything she put her mind to, but if he could provide a safety net, that would be okay, too.
And what a ridiculous idea that was! He didn’t expect to see her after she left the state on Monday. She had a lifetime of adventures ahead of her and he wouldn’t be a part of any of them. So he could stop fantasizing about his role in her life, because he had none.
“To the right,” he said as they neared the back of the barn. “Over in the corner. Lift the light a little. See that thing over there with the blanket covering it? That’s the saddle. Hold the light steady.”
She did as he asked and he noted that she was excellent at following directions when the situation required it. Stepping into the glow of her phone light, he grabbed two corners of the blanket and pulled. He considered making it even more dramatic by whipping it aside like a magician revealing his
completed trick. But that would be showing off, and he wasn’t into showing off.
“Oh, Ben.”
The awe in her voice thrilled him. “Glad you like it.” He turned toward her.
She was in shadow with her flashlight trained on the saddle. “I don’t just like it. I love it.” She moved forward and angled the light as she examined the saddle more closely. “Rosie Padgett was right. You’re an artist.”
“I don’t know about that.” Good thing he was in shadow, too, so she wouldn’t see him blush. Later, when he was alone, he’d savor those words, but at the moment they made him uncomfortable.
“Then you underestimate yourself.”
“I think of an artist as being somebody like Leonardo da Vinci, not Ben Radcliffe, saddlemaker.”
“Then maybe your definition is a little too narrow.” She traced the tooling on the saddle’s fender. “Did you copy this design from somewhere? Is that why you don’t feel like an artist?”
“No, I made it up.”
“There you go. This is original art. It happens to be on a working saddle instead of on the wall of a museum, but personally, I like the idea of art in everyday life. Useful art. You took something that serves a function and made it beautiful. Like Grecian urns. They were made to be used, but that didn’t keep the potters from decorating them with amazing pictures and turning them into works of art we study today.”
“I guess.”
“Listen to a history professor. If Sarah takes good care of it and passes it down, it could someday end up in a museum as an example of Western art.”
“I think that’s going a little far.” Even though the barn was very cold, he was growing warmer by the minute. No one had ever said such things to him. He didn’t believe a word of it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t like hearing it. “I’ve never studied art, really. I took an art class in high school because it was an easy A, but that doesn’t mean—”
“Be quiet, Ben.” She caressed the saddle one last time and turned back to him, the light moving with her. “Where are you? Oh, I see you.” She walked over to him until she was standing inches away. “What was that you said when we were inside? That you liked me?”
A Last Chance Christmas Page 5