by Mary Leo
“Ready?” Travis asked as he tapped her on the shoulder.
She turned and at first glance she didn’t recognize him. His beard was pure white and he wore a bright red cowboy hat.
“What’s all this?” she asked tugging on his whiskers.
“I’ll tell you in the sleigh. We’re running late.”
Then as if it was as natural as snowflakes, he took her hand and led her out the door, but before he’d turned she caught the look on his face, the same look her dad had while he was singing: the look of pure joy.
Chapter Eight
“Where are we going?” Bella asked once she was tucked in under the blanket. This time she liked the sensation of touching his leg with hers, of being close to him under a sky now heavy with snow clouds. “And what’s under the tarp in the back?”
The entire back of the sleigh was covered with a deep red tarp. If Bella didn’t know better she’d think she was going for a ride in Santa’s sleigh.
“A surprise for a lot of important people.”
“Don’t tell me you’re Santa.”
“Milo Gump is the town’s Santa. I’m just a cowboy—”
“With a white beard.”
“How do you like it?” He mugged for her.
“Cute.”
“You’re cute. I’m supposed to look manly.”
“...in a Santa sort of way.”
He hesitated and she thought he was going to kiss her again, but instead he said, “Ready?”
“Yep. Let’s get this rig moving.”
And with that he snapped the reigns and the regal Clydesdales took off as if they already knew their destination. He took a route that avoided the cleared roads and instead stayed on back roads which were still caked with snow and ice. They glided over the roads giving Bella the feeling they were floating. The horses’ hooves made a distinctive clomping sound as they pulled the sleigh. Bella couldn’t stop smiling as she threaded her arm through Travis’s and held on tight.
Fifteen minutes later he pulled up in front of the Teton Valley Hospital, jumped down and secured his horses to a special Santa post as several of the medical staff, both men and women, all wearing Santa hats, came rushing out to greet him. Bella carefully stepped down out of the sleigh, trying to act as excited as everyone else, but she had no idea what they were doing at the hospital. Travis peeled off his coat to reveal a bright red flannel shirt over his black jeans and black cowboy boots. Then he grabbed a great big red sack which someone had pulled out from under the tarp and slung it over his shoulder. Moments later he walked toward the glass doors while three of the staff members lugged in smaller red fuzzy sacks right behind him.
One of the staff members, a girl in her early twenties wearing blue scrubs handed Bella a smaller sack and a red cowgirl hat. “Cowboy Santa needs all the help he can get,” the girl said. Then she giggled and followed the group inside.
The concept that Travis Granger was known as Cowboy Santa and apparently handed out presents at the local hospital was almost too much for Bella to take in. Did the man have no vices? Was he always this generous? Was he some kind of saint? Compared to her, he was all those things and more. The townsfolk at the inn who were badmouthing her were right. Not only didn’t she belong in the town, she most certainly didn’t belong with Travis Granger: Cowboy Santa.
Bella had a choice to make. She could call a cab, go back to the inn, pack and catch the next plane out of the Teton Valley or she could help Travis and his helpers deliver the presents.
She reached for her phone to call the cab when she caught sight of Travis on the other side of the glass double doors and waved at her to follow him inside. Without hesitation she slid her phone back in her pocket, secured the red cowgirl hat on her head, flung the sack over her shoulder and took off for the double glass doors.
“Wait for me!” she called and ran to catch up.
For the next few hours the group handed out presents to some of the most grateful people Bella had ever met. Each patient seemed both surprised and thankful. Everyone, that is, except for Harry B. Truman, an eighty-something man who cussed and yelled when Bella and Travis entered his room bearing gifts.
“Get out! Get out!”
Then he flung his plastic cup in their direction and yelled some of the foulest language Bella had ever heard.
Bella and Travis high-tailed it out of there, but before they left, Bella noticed the picture of a shaggy-haired dog on the nightstand next to his bed. The dog wore two pink bows in its hair with the cutest little face Bella had ever seen. A man who kept a picture of a dog like that next to his hospital bed couldn’t be all bad.
According to one of the nurses who helped deliver the gifts, a willowy girl in her early thirties named Lexi, Harry’s problems began when a man in a Santa costume broke into his house several years ago and stole Harry’s collection of snow globes. Harry had tried to stop the snow-globe thief, but the thieving Santa socked him in the jaw while his elves held him down. The bad Santa then stuffed all of Harry’s snow globes in a sack and took off up the chimney.
“At least that was the story he gave to the local sheriff, and ever since then, whenever Harry sees a Santa, any kind of Santa, he has a panic attack and winds up here. Harry doesn’t have any family in the valley so we take care of him during the holidays.”
“What about his cute little dog?”
“I take care of Puddles when Harry’s stuck in here. She’s a sweetheart. Sometimes I sneak her in so Harry can visit with her. Don’t tell anybody. I could lose my job.”
“I promise,” Bella said knowing perfectly well there was no one for her to tell.
As Travis and the group hustled away from Harry’s room, Bella crept back in and gave Harry a soft-pink scarf despite the fact he told her he “didn’t need no stinking gifts” and just wanted to be left alone. And he especially “didn’t need no pink scarf.”
But she left it, anyway.
A couple doors down an older lady with snow-white hair thanked Bella several times for her new knit hat, which she promptly slipped on her head. “If you keep your head warm, your whole body stays warm,” she told Bella as she pulled the hat down over her ears.
In another room, Bella met a man who looked like he might be in his eighties, sitting in a wheelchair. He blessed her for giving him a new pair of slippers.
An attractive middle-aged woman gave Bella an unopened box of candy in exchange for the lovely French soap Bella insisted she take.
Every room she and Travis visited caused Bella to tear up when she left. They all seemed to know Travis or know his family and if they didn’t know the Grangers they knew her dad.
“Nick and I used to go fishing together when we were kids to get away from our parents in the summertime,” a man around her dad’s age told her. His name was Jimmy Prince and apparently he’d been a good friend. He seemed familiar to Bella, but she couldn’t quite place him. “We’d sneak off in the afternoons and wouldn’t get home until after dark. His mom would get so mad she’d threaten to whoop us both until she saw the load of fish we’d caught in the river. You tell your dad I’ll be out to see him as soon as I get out of this dang place. They’re making me stay when there’s no need.”
“I will,” Bella told him, knowing her dad would be in Florida by the time Jimmy Prince got around to the visit. Jimmy was recovering from a broken hip.
Then in room three-forty-seven, a private room in the children’s section, Bella met a little boy who warmed up to her like he’d been part of her life since he was born.
“What’s your name, little man?” Bella asked, his cherub face beaming at the sight of Travis. In turn, Travis seemed to enjoy kids more than Bella thought a single guy could. And not just his nieces and nephews, but all kids. He knew exactly how to get a child to relax or giggle and he always spoke to them
with respect, a trait Bella was learning.
In the past, she barely spoke to children, let alone had a respectful conversation with anyone under the age of puberty, and even then it was doubtful the conversation would amount to anything but awkward small talk. She’d ask a question and they’d give her a yes or no response. Not much communication going on there.
“Georgie.” His voice was barely audible. The sweet little boy with the curly dark hair and big sad eyes looked up at Travis. “Are you Cowboy Santa? My mom promised me you’d stop by tonight and here you are. My mom never lies.”
“Yep, and this here is my helper, Cowgirl Santa.”
Georgie held out his hand for Bella to shake. She took it and immediately felt that his body temperature was too warm.
Georgie giggled. “I never met Cowgirl Santa before.” He tried to push himself up in his big bed, but couldn’t quite do it. Travis pressed a button and the back of his bed lifted.
“Then this is a first.” Bella raked his mop of curly hair off his forehead and noticed he was sweating. Apprehension surged through her as she wondered what was wrong with Georgie to make him sweaty and in a hospital bed so close to Christmas.
“Did you bring me a pony?” Georgie asked as he strained to look behind Travis.
“You know they won’t let ponies in a hospital,” Travis told him. “That would be against all the rules and you know how strict hospitals are about their rules.”
Crestfallen, Georgie protested. “I know, but it’s the only thing I ever wanted. I asked for a pony last year, too, but Santa didn’t bring it. I thought for sure you would bring me a pony.”
“Now why’s that? If Santa can’t do it, what makes you think I can?”
“’Cause you’re a cowboy and cowboys ride horses. Everybody knows that.”
“Tell you what, as soon as you get out of here I’ll take you for a ride in my sleigh. You can hold on to the reins. How’s that?”
That didn’t appease Georgie, and big tears slid down his cheeks. “Okay,” he said, rubbing the tears away with his little fists.
It broke Bella’s heart.
She was about to offer to buy the child a pony when a familiar voice echoed behind her.
“Georgie, sweetheart, Cowboy Santa can’t bring you a pony. It wouldn’t fit in his sleigh.”
“Oh, Mama, I want one so bad.”
Bella turned to see her friend Jaycee step up to the bed and soothe her little boy. She gave him a hug, rubbed his back and offered him the juice box on the tray next to his bed.
Georgie didn’t take the juice, but he did stop crying.
“Somehow, I knew you’d be here tonight,” Jaycee said as she hugged Bella so tight she had a difficult time breathing. “You’re such a sweetheart.”
“Thanks.” The word stuck in Bella’s throat as emotion and concern for Georgie welled up inside her.
“He’s doing really well this time, and we should be able to take him home by Christmas Eve,” Jaycee said as if Bella already knew why Georgie was in the hospital.
But she didn’t and no one seemed to be offering the information. Whatever it was that had brought Georgie to the hospital seemed to be something serious and it broke Bella’s heart to know that such a courageous boy was so sick.
The entire evening had proven to be unsettling to Bella, and rewarding at the same time, especially after she peeked into Harry’s room and saw that he’d wrapped the scarf around his neck. Never in her adult life had she felt such a mix of emotions in one night and it was all due to Cowboy Santa. He truly was a special man, but then she’d always known that since they were kids. He would give away almost anything he owned if he thought someone needed it more than he did. Plus, he would do almost anything for a friend, and especially for a girlfriend. She’d sometimes make him wear her grandpa’s clothes and hat, and not once did he ever complain, even when she’d make him walk into town and the other kids made fun of him. He’d just smile and tip his big hat.
Travis Granger had stolen her heart a long time ago and no other man would ever have the key.
“Where are we going next?” Bella asked once she and Travis were back in the sleigh. It had turned into a windy, cold night, with cornflake-sized snow falling from the heavens. Bella slipped on the silly puppet gloves, the only gloves she could find in her purse. She took his arm and pressed in closer then she opened her mouth, tilted her head up to the sky, stuck out her tongue and waited for a snowflake to land. She felt like a kid, like a happy, dizzy kid amazed by the magic of snow.
When snowflakes not only landed on her tongue but on her eyes and nose and cheeks, goose bumps danced over her entire body.
She closed her mouth, looked over at Travis and giggled.
“Thank you for that.”
“For what?”
“For letting me watch you act like a kid again.”
“You can watch me anytime.”
“Is that a promise?”
She chuckled. “What do you have in mind?”
He smirked and lifted an eyebrow. “My place is less than a mile from here and it might be easier if we spent the night there...in separate bedrooms, of course.”
“Of course,” she said as she tipped her head back to the sky and moved in closer, giggling every time a snowflake touched her face.
* * *
ONCE TRAVIS SECURED the team in the heated corral behind his house, he and Bella hurried inside. At least four inches of snow had collected on the ground and the drifts were almost as tall as Bella. Getting back to his house had been a challenge, but with Bella by his side keeping him warm, and his strong Clydesdale team leading the way, Travis knew they’d all get home safe.
“I think we just made it before those roads became impassable,” Travis said as he unlocked the back door to the mud room, and flicked on the lights. Bella sat on the bench he’d made that last summer, and removed her boots, then hung her coat and scarf on one of the hooks above her. Travis did the same. She took off her gloves and shoved them in the back pocket of her jeans. His hat went up on the shelf along with hers and his many other hats. He estimated he owned somewhere between fifteen and twenty Western hats, a fact his dad always made fun of. His dad owned three, one for the summer, one for the winter and one for dress up. According to Dodge, “a cowboy don’t need more than three hats, any more than that and he’s a milliner not a cowboy.”
Travis opened the kitchen door and hit the switch for the lights. As soon as Bella stepped inside a great big smile spread across her face and her eyes lit up like they used to when they were younger. He wanted to pick her up and take her directly to his bedroom and make love to her. Her naked body lying under his was about all he could think of on the ride home, how her skin would feel when he touched her, how she would taste, how he would kiss her lips, her neck, her breasts, her belly, her...
“Oh, Travis, this place is charming.”
She broke his trance, which was probably a good thing considering all the adrenaline that was pumping through his veins. He tried to focus on his house and giving her a tour.
“Would you like to see the rest of the place?” Each word was a struggle to get out, but by darn he would act like a gentleman even if it killed him.
“Yes, please,” she said holding out her hand.
He took it and a spark shot out.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
She giggled. “It tickled.”
He encircled her soft hand, clearing his throat from the lump that was forming. He’d always dreamed that one day he’d show her his house, and now that it was happening emotion began to creep up inside him. Never in a million years would he have expected to feel such a rush of excitement as he guided her through the rooms he so carefully crafted and decorated. She stood next to him, and he realized he’d created this house and everyth
ing in it with Bella in mind. Funny how the unconscious mind took over even when he thought he was creating something entirely for his own comforts.
“I built this house almost exactly to the plans your dad and I drew up that winter you and your mom left. I added a second bathroom and a home office, but other than those two adjustments, we followed the plans, exactly.”
The house had turned out to be the perfect respite for Travis. No matter what was going on in his life, once he stepped through the door, all his worries vanished like so much smoke.
He’d built the kitchen with glass front cabinetry, soapstone counter tops, a deep country sink, a six-burner industrial stove and installed a fridge with a glass door and a separate freezer hidden behind a cabinet door.
“The kitchen is perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing,” she said, letting go of his hand then walking through the large doorway into the dining room. She was like a kid in a toy store, eager to discover what wonders lay ahead. He stood back and watched as she seemed to marvel at it all. Travis had become an expert carpenter and craftsman, and each room contained his handiwork. Not only had he created his own crown molding and base boards, but he’d constructed his own mantels around the four fireplaces, one in the living room, the family room, the master bedroom and the loft.
“The house is beautiful, Travis, but I can’t believe you didn’t put up a tree.”
“It’s up in the loft,” he told her, not wanting to go up there with her.
“There’s a loft?”
“Yep. My nieces and nephews love it. It’s more of a converted attic than anything else, but I opened up one side of it in the master bedroom.”
She walked past him in the living room, and headed down the hall toward the bedrooms. He waited for her response and when he didn’t hear her, he figured it was appropriate behavior for Scrooge Bella. She’d look at that room and think it was ridiculous, but part of him hoped the child in her might show up despite her adult dislike of all things Christmas.