Boughs of Holly

by Shanna Hatfield

  “Is Sam or Seth around?” Rhett asked, one foot in the truck and the other on the running board.

  “Sam’s sleeping and Seth is fixing fence. He thinks a cougar killed one of the calves and caused a stampede last night.”

  Rhett’s eyes widened. “I noticed the ground all churned up and the busted corral fence. He just lost the one calf?”

  Holly nodded. One was too many, but she knew in the grand scheme of things, it could have been far worse.

  “Tell Seth I’ll talk to him later,” Rhett said, climbing in the truck and closing the door.

  Holly backed up a few feet and waved at him, wishing she could have told him how much she enjoyed meeting him and how much she knew Seth needed his friendship. But she couldn’t say all that without breaking down in tears, so she turned to go back inside the house.

  She’d only taken a few steps when a pickup with a fish and wildlife logo on the door pulled up. Holly ran around the side of the house and met the man before he reached the front walk. “Hi. Seth said he was expecting you. If you just drive straight down past the barn you can’t miss him. I’m Holly, by the way.”

  The wildlife officer grinned at Holly and held out his hand. “I’m Craig Thomas, from Fish and Wildlife, but I guess you already figured that out. Did the uniform or the vehicle give me away?”

  “Both,” Holly said with a friendly smile. Officer Craig was good-looking, about her age, and she didn’t see a ring on his left hand. Perhaps it would be easier than she thought to complete her get-away plans. “I was wondering, Officer, if you ever give damsels in distress a ride?”

  His smile widened. “As a matter of fact, I have a time or two. You don’t seem to be in a great deal of distress.”

  Holly stuck out her lip in a coy pout. “Oh, but I will be if I don’t catch a ride to town. You must have seen the tow truck go by with my car. Would it be a terrible imposition if you drop me off in Faraday on your way back?”

  “No imposition at all. I have to drive right by the garage on my way back down the mountain anyway. I’ll swing by to pick you up when I finish talking to Seth.”

  “Perfect,” Holly gave him a bright, fake smile then hurried up the front steps and inside the house.

  Sam stood in the entry with a dark scowl on his face. “What are you up to, honey?”

  Caught off guard by his observant skills, she shook her head. “Come in the kitchen, Sam. I need to tell you something you aren’t going to like.”

  “Just spit it out, Holly. I can take it.”

  “I’m leaving,” she said, then reached out to Sam as the starch went out of his spine and he wobbled on his good leg. “Careful, Sam! Let’s get you to a chair.”

  She helped him into the family room to his recliner. The hurt on his face screamed volumes even though he said nothing as he glared at her.

  Unable to bear his scrutiny any longer, she turned her back to him and fussed with the already perfectly arranged pillows on the couch. “You’re doing so well, Sam. The progress you’ve made is amazing. My supervisor said she’d send a replacement out as soon as she can find one, although it may take a day or two.”

  “A day or two? You mean you’re leaving today? Now?”

  Holly nodded, still unable to face Sam. Pain riddled her heart when she finally turned to look at him. Disapproval was written all over his face and made her wish things could be different. That she could be different.

  But she was her mother’s child, a free spirit incapable of growing roots or attachments.

  Wasn’t she?

  “You know you’re gonna break Seth’s heart?” Sam finally said softly.

  Holly shook her head. “He’ll forget about me by the time Christmas arrives.”

  A short, derisive laugh burst out of Sam. “That boy is head over heels in love with you, honey. A hundred Christmases could come and go and that won’t change a thing.” Sam sighed. “Why are you leaving?”

  “It’s better for me to leave now before…” Holly stopped, interrupted by her thoughts.

  Before what? Before she grew too attached to Sam and Seth and the ranch? It was already far, far too late for that. Before her heart got broken? The razor-sharp edges that threatened to cut off her ability to breathe already testified to it being shattered. Before she hurt Sam or Seth, especially before she hurt Seth. But if the look on the old man’s face was any indication she’d failed on that front as well.

  “Before you get hurt? Before you get attached? Is that it? Look, Holly, I get that you think you can’t stay in any one place for long, but have you tried?” Sam gave her a pointed look. “Are you willing to find out if you can stay? If you might want to set down roots?”

  She shrugged. Did the past year in Portland count? It was the longest she’d stayed anywhere. She liked it here. Hadn’t really planned to leave. What if her mother was wrong? What if Sam was right?

  What if she was walking away from the one and only place she’d ever truly feel at home?

  “Holly, you can’t just leave without an explanation to Seth. You owe him that much.”

  “I know, Sam, but I…” The sound of the door opening and voices drifting down the hall made her close her mouth.

  Seth and Officer Craig appeared in the doorway. A vein throbbed in Seth’s neck and the muscle in his jaw looked like it might explode. His eyes were so cold, Holly was surprised daggers made of ice didn’t shoot across the room and impale her already damaged heart.

  “Why?” he asked in a voice that sounded as frosty as the weather outside.

  Chapter Ten

  “Hey, Rhett. I can’t talk right now. Can I call you back later?” Seth asked as he watched a pickup from the fish and wildlife office head toward the pasture.

  “Holly called and had me tow her car into town. I thought you should know. It looks like the back is full of her stuff. I don’t know what she’s planning, but if I had to guess, I’d say she’s getting ready to run.”

  “Thanks, man,” Seth said as his heart slid from his chest down to his feet. He could almost feel it freezing in the cold snow. “I’ll call you later.”

  He shoved the phone inside his coveralls pocket, pulled his glove back on and went to talk to the wildlife officer. He knew Craig Thomas from past encounters with wild animals bothering the cattle. Together, they studied the kill. Craig agreed it looked like a cougar attack and promised they’d do their best to make sure the animal didn’t strike again.

  “You didn’t get married recently, did you?” Craig asked as they walked back to his truck.

  Seth shook his head. “Nah. Holly is my grandfather’s nurse.”

  “Oh, that makes sense. She asked me to give her a ride into town. Something about her car being towed. She looks like a firecracker, and I don’t mean that head full of gorgeous red hair,” Craig said, giving Seth a knowing look.

  Seth stumbled in the snow and kept from falling by bracing a hand against the door of Craig’s pickup. “She what?”

  Craig’s smile dripped off his face like rapidly melting wax. “She asked for a ride into town. I told her it wouldn’t be a problem. It’s not, is it?”

  Seth wanted to shout it was a monumental problem. The biggest problem he’d ever encountered in his life. If Holly left the ranch, he knew, without a single doubt in his mind, she’d never come back.

  Did he mean so little to her that she could run away without even saying goodbye? How could she hurt Pops like that? He loved her like she was his own granddaughter.

  Anger began to simmer in the pit of Seth’s stomach, like he’d swallowed a ball of fire. It roiled and bubbled until he thought he might open his mouth and spew out flames.

  “Mind giving me a ride?” Seth asked, climbing into Craig’s pickup before the man had a chance to answer.

  Back at the house, Seth hopped out and was halfway up the walk before he even remembered Craig’s presence. He glanced back at the man. “Want to come in for a cup of coffee?”

  “Sure,” Craig said, followin
g him up the back steps and into the kitchen. Seth calmly poured the man a mug full of coffee and handed it to him before he went in search of Holly.

  The moment he saw her with Pops he knew. Knew she was leaving. Knew he couldn’t talk her out of it. He took a step closer to her, feeling like she’d just jumped across a chasm and left him alone and unaware on the other side.

  “Why?” he demanded, crossing the distance between them in a few long strides.

  Instead of answering him, she backed away and shook her head. Tears glistened in eyes the color of stormy skies.

  Everything in Seth wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms, to kiss away her fears, and convince her to stay. But he wouldn’t.

  She’d already made up her mind and he wouldn’t say anything to persuade her otherwise.

  If she could give up what they had, what they were building together, so easily, then he’d been completely wrong about her.

  Leave it to him to finally fall for a woman and have her be one who had no intention of ever staying in the same place for more than a few weeks. No wonder she did so well in her work. She could immerse herself in a new atmosphere every few weeks and then, before she grew too attached, move on.

  What she didn’t realize was that the people she left behind had grown attached to her. How could they help it? She was full of light and laughter, goodness and love.

  Why did she work so hard to block off her heart, especially from him?

  The moment she walked out that door it would no longer be Seth’s concern. But before he could let her go, he had to taste her kiss, just one last time.

  Furious and frustrated, he roughly pulled her to him and kissed her. His kiss wasn’t brutal, but it wasn’t tempered by restraint and sweetened by hope as their earlier kisses had been. No, this one was fueled by desperation and yearning, by shattered dreams and broken promises.

  As suddenly and unexpectedly as he’d taken her mouth captive, he raised his head and let her go. She would have fallen if she hadn’t caught herself on the end of the couch.

  He glowered at her, unable to think with disappointment, hurt, and anger leaving him on the verge of exploding. “Remember that the next time you decide to run off from someone who loves you with every beat of their heart.”

  Without another word, he stalked out of the room. The slamming of the back door echoed in his ears as he walked back to the pasture where he’d been fixing fence. The work might have taxed his body, but it gave his mind way too much time to think.

  He’d loved Holly, really loved her. He knew it seemed too soon. After all, he’d only met her a month ago. But Seth had never felt this way about anyone and he doubted he would again.

  Holly fit on the ranch so perfectly. Just like this morning, when she jumped in and stitched up Fiona. She morphed from a competent caregiver to looking like a little girl on Christmas morning who’d gotten everything she’d asked for when she realized she would get to ride Molly. If he’d known what a big smile it would put on her face, he would have saddled the horse for her sooner.

  She never complained about being cold, and she hadn’t cried and gone into hysterics at the sight of the dead calf.

  Holly was a strong, capable, caring woman. The kind of woman it took to live on a ranch at the edge of the forest where anything could happen. He didn’t think too many women would take being awakened by a stampede in stride the way Holly had.

  Then there was the way she interacted with Pops. The old man loved her, doted on her, admired her. Seth couldn’t blame him. In fact, he’d been thrilled to see the closeness the two of them shared. And it had nothing to do with Holly being Pops’ nurse and everything to do with them forming a special bond of friendship.

  Andy and Brian thought she was the best thing to happen to the ranch since Seth had Wi-Fi installed.

  Even the animals adored her. Steele didn’t cozy up to just anyone, and from the first day, he’d liked Holly. Bullet and Pistol adopted her as their personal human, and then there was Ivy. That cow would be impossible to handle once she figured out Holly was gone. Holly had done as much as Seth to nurse little Rudy back to health, even if she didn’t realize it.

  With his chest aching with a pain so harsh it made it almost impossible to breathe, Seth considered how perfect Holly had fit him, fit into his arms and into his heart. If he cared to admit it, that first day he’d encountered her when she’d stolen his parking space and spilled coffee on him, was when she’d stolen his heart. He might have hidden his attraction behind a façade of irritation, but even then, he’d been fascinated with her, with those gorgeous gray eyes and that flaming mass of red curly hair. He’d noticed the freckles on her nose and the smile that lingered on her lips even then.

  Once she set foot on the ranch, he couldn’t let her get away. He’d used the excuse of the snowy roads and her incapable car as a way to keep her there, to get to know her. In the weeks they spent together, he discovered she was witty and fun, intelligent and caring, playful and gentle. And so beautiful.

  If she’d really wanted to leave, he would have gotten her car to the highway and sent her on her way. But he had the idea she wanted to stay.

  Evidently, he’d been wrong. So incredibly wrong.

  Devastated by how much he’d loved her and how little she’d actually cared about him, Seth went to work repairing the fence with a vengeance. When Andy and Brian came by to help, they took one look at him and moved on to work on another section, away from the wrath he barely managed to keep from escaping.

  Holly was the one who deserved it, yet he didn’t want to hurt her. He supposed he’d done enough of that with the kiss he gave her before she left.

  As the sun dipped behind the mountain and darkness settled around him, Seth wondered if she was back in Portland. He’d overheard her say something about renting her room out, so he questioned if she even had a place to stay. That was her problem, not his. But he couldn’t stop thinking about her, worrying over her. She was probably wrapped around a tree driving that stupid, stupid little car of hers on the snowy roads.

  He’d almost talked himself into getting into his pickup to go look for her when he realized what he was doing.

  He gathered the fencing supplies, dumped them in the back of the work pickup, and drove to the house. After he parked the pickup in the equipment shed, he fed Ivy and spent some time looking over Fiona after he fed her. The horse was doing well and should make a full recovery, thanks to Holly. She’d been a rock this morning, jumping in to help without a thought to her own well-being.

  Brave.

  He had to add that to her list of attributes. The first day Steele bumped into her, she’d been terrified of horses. This morning, she’d stitched up Fiona without blinking, even when the horse kicked at her.

  In spite of her bravery, he couldn’t understand why Holly was running away from him like a coward. Maybe she really was too free-spirited to be tied down with roots.

  With heavy steps and an even heavier heart, Seth made his way to the house. He sat down on the back step and pet both Pistol and Bullet for a while before he went inside. The mouth-watering smell of steak wafted around him as he pried off his boots and shucked out of his coveralls.

  He hadn’t noticed any vehicles parked outside, so he knew no one could have brought dinner to them. Pops wasn’t well enough to cook and his steaks never smelled that good. The old codger generally broiled them until they resembled shoe leather and tasted even worse.

  No one was in the kitchen when he stepped in the room. He peeked inside the oven at three seared steaks and glanced at the thermometer. They’d soon be done to perfection.

  He washed his hands at the sink then dried them on a cheery red and white striped dishtowel. One he didn’t recall seeing before. A snow globe with a reindeer looking up at a jolly-faced snowman sat on the end of the counter. That was new, too.

  Where had it come from?

  Maybe someone had parked out front and he’d missed their vehicle. He started to wal
k around to the foyer to peer outside when something smacked into his chest.

  Instinctively, he reached out and grabbed onto a pair of arms. He glanced down in shock as Holly smiled up at him.

  “Hey,” she said in a soft voice, her eyes glowing like twin pearls.

  Stunned by her presence, he forgot to be angry as he stared at her. “You make it a habit of running into people?”

  She smiled at him. “When it comes to you, I guess I do.”

  He scowled and dropped his hands. “What are you doing here? I thought you were leaving.”

  Holly took a step back. “I did leave. I had Officer Thomas, who is a very nice man by the way, leave me at Rhett’s garage. I spent the whole ride into town realizing what a horrible mistake I’d made. Rhett put chains on my tires and promised to pull me out if I got stuck. You’ll be happy to know my car made it down your wretched driveway just fine.”

  “Why did you leave, Holly?” he crossed his arms over his chest to keep from wrapping them around her and never letting go.

  A sigh rolled out of her and she toyed with one of her curls, twirling it around and around her index finger while her gaze focused on her feet. “I spoke with my mother this morning. She reminded me several times that I’m just like her, someone without roots who’ll never settle down.”

  The frown lines on Seth’s brow deepened, but he remained silent.

  Holly looked up at him and stopped twisting her hair. “I realized five seconds after I left, that I’m nothing like my mother. She wouldn’t have lasted two days in nursing school because she’d have moved on to wanting to do something else. She’d never have stuck with a single career like I have. And I would never, ever, raise a child anywhere but in a stable, solid home. In fact, I’ve stayed in Portland longer than I’ve ever been anywhere and up until she convinced me to leave this morning, I had no plans of heading off on a new adventure. I like it here.”

  Seth’s eyebrow quirked upward. “Here as in the Portland area or here as in the ranch? With us. With me.”

  She reached out and clasped Seth’s hand, holding it between both of hers. “I’ve done a terrible job of showing you, Seth, but I love you. I love you so much it hurts and the thought of never seeing you again makes me want to die. I don’t want to leave the ranch and especially not you. I love you with all my heart and I’ll give up my fly-away wings if you’ll let me stay. Please, may I stay here? With you and Sam, and the dogs, and stampeding cattle and crazy horses, and Ivy and baby Rudy, and even Andy and Brian? May I please, please stay? If it helps convince you, for the first time in my life, I unpacked everything.”