Sam grinned. “He allowed Cam and Kirstin to tie the knot fast. Why would he hesitate to let two old warhorses like us get married?”
Maddie swirled the wine in her glass and took a sip. “I’m still not sure about physical intimacy, Sam. You’re in fabulous shape. Without any clothing, I look like an old warhorse.”
Sam gazed at the tree. The play of light on his face cast his rugged features into sharp relief. “Don’t get pissed, but I’ve already seen you without your clothes on.”
“What?”
“It was an accident. I swear. Back in the beginning, when we were feuding, I developed a bad habit of riding upstream across the river and using my binoculars to see what crazy thing Cam had done next. He did some pretty amazing stuff, you know. I wanted to laugh at him, but instead, as much as it rankled, I couldn’t help but feel impressed sometimes. Early one morning, you stepped in front of the trailer window wearing nothing. I had just brought the glasses up and was trying to focus in. Bam. There you were. I was a gentleman. I looked away real quick and only got a glimpse. But with only that glimpse—well, I thought you looked pretty damned good. So did the four fishermen who were floating downriver.”
Maddie gasped, and her eyes went wide. “Fishermen? I remember that morning. My towel slipped! It was the most mortifying moment of my life. I never saw you, though.”
“I’m glad. I was the only one using binoculars, and you would’ve thought I was deliberately spying. It would have been another reason on a long list for you to hate my guts.”
Maddie covered her face with one hand. Sam chuckled. “It was a while back. No point in getting embarrassed all over again. Besides, you’re a handsome woman. If those guys didn’t catch any fish, they still had something to smile about.”
Maddie sighed. “I have another problem that eclipses how embarrassed I felt that morning. I need to tell the kids about my cancer. My daughter called yesterday, and I almost blurted it out, but I just couldn’t do it to her on Christmas. And I absolutely can’t tell Cam until after they go on their honeymoon. The timing is awful.”
“You’ll know when the moment is right. Don’t worry about it now.” He took her glass of wine and set it aside on the refreshment console beside his own. Then he stood and held out his hand to her. “Dance with me.”
Maddie laid her fingers across his hard palm and let him pull her to her feet. “Silent Night” played on the sound system. In her mind, this was the most wonderful Christmas day of her life. Sam drew her gently into his arms and smiled when he realized she was too short to hug his neck.
“Step up on my boots,” he urged.
Maddie did as he suggested and nearly moaned with delight when her body made full contact with his. “I love being in your arms,” she whispered.
“And I love having you in them. I want you to be within hugging distance for the rest of my life.”
Maddie closed her eyes and swayed with him. There had been a time not so very long ago when she couldn’t have imagined loving another man after Graham. Oh, how wrong she had been. Life was full of beautiful surprises, and for her, Sam Conacher was one of them.
Russian Tea Cookies
Every year before Christmas my mother made these delightful cookies. I am not sure where the name came from, but it is a family recipe, so I think it came from my grandmother, who probably got it from her mother, and so on. If you look the name up online, these are nothing like the Russian tea cookies or cakes that people make today.
However, to me, they have always been Russian tea cookies! They were my favorites, and when I make them now, they still are. Mama paid a farmer to deliver raw milk to us in gallon jars. She let the milk sit until the cream rose to the top so it could be skimmed off. She made whipped cream with it. Each week, she put the two gallon jars out on our front porch so the farmer could reuse them, but she must have forgotten to do that a couple of times, because she put our Christmas cookies in those big milk jars and set them under our Christmas tree. I can remember sitting by our tree to rob the cookie jar, and I invariably went for these cookies first. Sometimes my older brother would join me. Mama would wonder aloud where all the Russian tea cookies had gone. Then she would smile and make some more.
I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
—CATHERINE ANDERSON
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
jam or jelly to your taste
powdered sugar
1. In a big bowl, blend sugar and oil. Stir in eggs, flavorings, and lemon rind. In a separate bowl, blend together flour, baking powder, and salt. Make sure they are thoroughly mixed; then slowly add to the mixture of sugar, oil, eggs, flavorings, and lemon rind. Make sure the two mixtures are completely integrated.
2. Use an ungreased cookie sheet. Take a rounded tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball with the palms of your hands. Press each ball down on the cookie sheet with an oiled glass that has a smooth bottom (nowadays you can use nonstick cooking spray to oil the glass) and has been dipped in granulated sugar. Continue to oil and dip the glass in sugar each time you flatten a cookie. Then slightly depress the center of each cookie with your thumb or a teaspoon to create a round well. Be sure not to push too hard so you don’t go clear through the dough.
3. Fill the cookie wells with ¼ to ½ teaspoon of jam or jelly. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar. My mother used different flavors of jam or jelly, which created a variety of tastes.
4. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for eight minutes or until the jelly sets. Cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container until served.
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The Christmas Room Page 39