Oh God, she didn’t think she could take any more of this happiness. Garrett had conditioned her to expect so little from him in the way of concessions that this filled her heart to overflowing. All she wanted to do was throw her arms around him and hug him, but she had no idea how he’d react to that around his niece, so she did her level best to contain her exuberance.
Instead, she extended her father’s invitation. “Gunny invited us all to dinner.”
The announcement caught Garrett off guard. “Why would he invite me?” he asked, surprised.
Out of the corner of his eye, he was watching Ellie rip away wrapping paper. Most of the gifts had come from Lani. The woman had a generous heart, he couldn’t help thinking. But then, she would have to, he reasoned, to put up with him the way she had been doing.
Lucky for you, he thought.
“You can ask him that yourself tonight at dinner,” Lani answered matter-of-factly. Whatever it took to get him there, she was determined to do it. This time, she absolutely refused to take that one step back for every two steps forward.
“And if I choose not to go?” He struggled to keep a straight, stern face.
“Not your choice to make,” she told him without blinking an eye. “Gunny has an extensive gun collection and he knows how to use it. The thing he hates most is hearing no for an answer.”
A smile came into Garrett’s eyes as the corners of his mouth rose. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Okay, who are you and what have you done with Sheriff Tanner?” she asked.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he answered innocently.
Now came the real test, Lani thought. This time, she was going for broke. “Oh,” she began innocently as she started picking up torn wrapping paper from the rug, “I thought that after breakfast, the two of us could take Ellie to the celebration.”
Garrett eyed her suspiciously. “What celebration?”
“The one in the town square.” She saw his blank expression. Was he serious? She realized that he didn’t know what she was talking about. “Come on, you’ve lived here for most of your life. You can’t tell me you don’t know about the Christmas Day celebration. Everyone comes out, gathers around the town square, sings carols around the tree, shares food.” She peered at him closely. “Is any of this ringing a bell?”
He was aware of what took place in the square, but for one reason or another, had never joined in. And at this point, he would have been content to continue that little nontradition. But since it apparently meant something to Lani—and she was right, it would be good for Ellie, as well—he had already decided that he was willing to be shanghaied into coming along. But he couldn’t make it too easy for Lani. Knowing her, if she was given an inch, she’d take a mile.
“Not in the slightest,” he told her.
He had to be pulling her leg, Lani thought. Either way, she continued undaunted. “Then it’ll be a brand-new experience for you.”
His eyes met hers. “Not if I don’t go,” Garrett dead-panned.
“But you will,” she told him with confidence. “You’ll go for Ellie’s sake.”
He couldn’t help wondering just how far Lani was capable of pushing. “And she’ll be permanently scarred if I don’t?”
Lani looked up at him, a solemn expression on her face. “You never know. But I’d say it’s not something you should risk.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “You really are a pain in the butt, you know that?”
It wasn’t the first time he’d told her that. But it was the first time he’d said it with a laugh.
“There are worse things to be,” she murmured.
This had to be good, he thought. “Like what?”
Lani’s answer came without any hesitation. “Like being lonely.”
Garrett looked at her for a long moment, knowing she was right. He’d been lonely for most of his life. It had taken being around her for him to realize that.
He glanced toward Ellie, who appeared to be in seventh heaven, sitting amid her newly amassed treasures. “Can’t say I’m that.”
“Good,” Lani exclaimed with a satisfied smile.
Still riding high on Christmas adrenaline, Ellie came rushing over to them, a pile of ripped wrapping paper in her wake.
“Look what Santa brought!” she cried, wanting to share her bounty with them. And then she stopped as she took a quick inventory. “You didn’t open your presents, Uncle Garrett.”
He was surprised at the little girl’s comment. “Didn’t know I had any.”
“Santa doesn’t forget anybody,” she told him with authority, lending extra credence to her statement by adding, “Aunt Lani said so.” Turning away from her own gifts, Ellie quickly went to collect his presents, and brought them over to him.
He grew very quiet, then glanced toward Lani, raising a quizzical eyebrow.
She shrugged innocently. “Don’t look at me. Must be another Christmas miracle.”
“Yeah, right,” he murmured under his breath.
“Open them, Uncle Garrett,” Ellie urged like a pint-size cheerleader. “Open them!”
Feeling slightly awkward, he did as she asked.
After finding a rather nice winter muffler and a blue sweater “to bring out your eyes,” Ellie said, parroting what Lani had told her, he was surprised to discover that one of his gifts was a new book by an author he had discovered and taken a liking to a couple years ago. He leafed through the pages, then looked up at Lani.
“How did you…?”
Lani grinned, pleased that she’d managed to surprise him. “You forget. I’m a cop. I pay attention.” In this case, it hadn’t taken much. She’d seen several novels by the same author on his bookshelf the evening she’d converted the den into Ellie’s bedroom. Knowing how Spartan Garrett kept his living quarters, she’d decided he really must like this author’s work. The rest was simple.
“How could I forget that?” he asked, paging through the book again. “You remind me of that just about every day.”
“Aunt Lani, Santa didn’t bring you anything,” Ellie said, looking rather upset about her discovery. And then she rallied. “Hey, I’ll bet that Santa brought your presents to your house.”
Lani was quick to agree, not wanting to draw any attention to the fact that there wasn’t anything for her under the tree.
“That must be it. But Santa did bring me a present here,” she told the little girl. She looked from the angel on top of the tree to Garrett. “A very big present.”
Ellie looked around, puzzled. “Where is it?”
“Right here in this room. It’s you two,” she told Ellie, just before she kissed the top of the little girl’s head and then turned to kiss Garrett’s cheek. He surprised her by turning his head at the last moment, and she wound up brushing her lips against his.
Electricity streaked through her. Same as it had that first time, she caught herself thinking.
She heard Ellie giggling in the background.
“Definitely left me a present here,” Lani said, her eyes meeting Garrett’s.
She could swear that she felt his smile unfurling in her chest.
A really wonderful present, Lani added silently.
Chapter Eleven
If Garrett had thought that he could somehow slip in unnoticed amid the crowd gathering around the giant Christmas tree in the town square, those hopes quickly vanished the moment he, Lani and Ellie parked and got out of his vehicle.
“Hey, now, Sheriff, we saved a spot for you and your ladies right up here, close to the Christmas tree,” Burt Howard, Booth’s mayor for the last six years, called out the second they set foot in the square.
Garrett had no choice but to shepherd Ellie before him and slip into the place that the tall, redheaded mayor was holding for him.
The jovial man beamed at Ellie, proclaiming, “You’re just in time, little lady. Santa Claus is about to pay all you kids an extra special visit.”
“But he alread
y came,” she protested politely.
“Well, he’s coming again,” the mayor assured her.
“Really?” Ellie asked, her eyes bright with anticipation.
The official’s red head bobbed up and down. “I have it on the best authority,” he told her solemnly.
Within seconds, the promised legendary elf, lifesize now, came ambling out into the square from around the thirty-foot-tall Christmas tree. He had a bulging sack slung over his shoulder and he filled the air with loud, boisterous “ho-ho-hos.”
The mayor stood back and enjoyed the show as his brother-in-law threw himself into the role of Santa Claus to entertain the younger children.
Since Ellie was distracted, Garrett took the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity. In all the years he’d lived in Booth, he had never once come to the town’s Christmas Day celebration. He sincerely doubted that a place had been saved for him even once in all that time. Why today?
Turning toward the mayor, he asked, “How did you know we were coming?”
Mayor Howard looked surprised at the question. He nodded toward Lani, who was standing on Garrett’s other side, watching Ellie. “Deputy Chisholm told me that you and the little girl were coming.”
Garrett glanced in Lani’s direction. “Oh she did, did she?”
Lani flashed him an innocent smile. “I thought coming to the celebration would be a nice change of pace for you, now that you’re Ellie’s guardian.”
He leaned over and whispered into her ear. “You do like to run things, don’t you?”
She looked up at him to see if he was angry, and was relieved to find that his expression was unmarred by impatience or exasperation.
This really was the season for miracles, she thought happily. “I just like giving things a little push,” she replied.
“Right. And the Mississippi is a little puddle in the middle of the country,” he murmured, but he still didn’t look annoyed.
Lani took that as a very good sign.
They stayed, singing Christmas carols and sampling the various treats and desserts that had been prepared by a number of the town’s citizens who had a gift for such things, for the next two hours.
Having braced himself to endure an ordeal, Garrett discovered to his surprise that it wasn’t nearly as painful as he had anticipated. If he was being honest, he would have admitted that he had “almost” enjoyed himself.
What he did enjoy, again to his surprise, was watching Ellie having fun. He caught himself seeing the holiday through her innocent, six-year-old eyes, and found his heart being warmed as it never had been, even when he was a child.
And he knew he had Lani to thank for it.
He had Lani to thank for a lot of things, Garrett thought. Admitting it to her, though, was another matter entirely.
“Okay, what’s next on your list?” he asked her as they left the town square.
“It’s not a list if it has only two things on it,” she informed him.
“Okay, so what’s the second thing on the list?” he asked.
“Just dinner at my dad’s,” she answered.
He had a feeling there was nothing “just” about it, but given that Ellie was obviously looking forward to it, he couldn’t bring himself to suddenly veto the invitation.
Besides, he was curious about the kind of man who had sired a ball of fire like Lani.
Which was how he wound up standing beside his niece and his deputy ringing retired Gunnery Sergeant Wayne Chisholm’s doorbell on Christmas Day.
The door swung open immediately and a sturdy-looking man with graying hair and a wide, welcoming smile invited them in.
Since Ellie had whispered to Lani, just as they had driven up, that she needed to go to the bathroom, Lani escorted the little girl down the hall, promising to be “right back.”
And that left Garrett alone with her father in what the sheriff anticipated was going to be an awkward few minutes.
He was wrong.
Gunny looked him up and down, making no secret of his scrutiny. “How about something to warm you up, Sheriff?” he suggested.
When Garrett agreed, he fully expected to be handed a cup of hot chocolate or something along those lines. Instead, Gunny asked, “Scotch okay with you?”
Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a bad afternoon, after all. “More than okay,” Garrett answered.
The ex-marine grinned as he poured two fingers worth into a glass and handed it to his guest, then poured the same for himself. He gestured for Garrett to take a seat in the living room.
Getting comfortable, Gunny told him, “Lani always speaks very highly of you.”
Garrett looked at him for a long moment, then said, “No, she doesn’t.”
The older man laughed. “You’re right,” he admitted. “Not always—but she has lately. She says things are improving. You have to forgive her. She takes after her mother like that.”
“Like what?”
Gunny looked into his drink for a moment, as if recalling things from the past. “She tries to fix things. When she was a little girl, she used to bring home strays. The animals were usually hurt in some way and she’d nurse them back to health. I’m not saying you’re a stray, you understand, but Lani can’t stand to see anything hurting or unhappy. She doesn’t rest until she can set things right.” Gunny looked at him knowingly. “Sometimes she can drive you crazy that way.”
Garrett was spared having to answer, as Lani and Ellie rejoined them.
Glancing from one man to the other, Lani asked, “What are you two talking about?”
Her dad rose to his feet. “What an angel of mercy you are,” he told her, kissing the top of her head quickly.
“Yeah, right,” she said sarcastically. She knew better. “That’s not what you called me when I hounded you until you gave up smoking.”
“I believe at that point I was begging for mercy,” Gunny chuckled. “And in the long run, you were right,” he conceded. He turned toward Garrett and asked, “How are you at starting a fire, Sheriff?”
That Garrett and his daughter exchanged quick looks was not lost on the man. He kept his smile to himself as he requested, “See if you can get one going in the fireplace, will you? I always like seeing a good blaze.” Then he looked down at his youngest guest and said, “I need some help in the kitchen. Think you’re up to it, young lady?”
Ellie bobbed her head, eager to be of service.
“Good, come with me,” he said, putting an arm around her shoulders and ushering her into the kitchen.
Debating whether to pitch in with dinner preparations or help Garrett with the fire, Lani found the decision made for her when she heard Garrett calling, “Need a little help over here, Lani.”
“You got it,” she answered as she hurried off to see what he needed.
This, Lani couldn’t help thinking happily, was the way Christmas was meant to be spent.
Chapter Twelve
“Come here for a minute,” Garrett called to Lani as she reentered his living room later that evening.
She had just put a very exhausted but extremely contented Ellie to bed. The little girl had confided to her, just before her eyes shut for the final time tonight, “I like it here, Aunt Lani. It’s really nice.”
Lani couldn’t help but take that as a compliment to her efforts. After all, she’d been the one to get the ball rolling, to get the stoic Garrett Tanner to open up a little.
And now, she thought, it was time to give credit where credit was due. The last thing she wanted was for the man to revert back to his previous stoic behavior for lack of positive reinforcement.
“You made your niece very happy today with that angel,” she told him, taking the seat next to Garrett on the sofa and making herself comfortable. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt his arm steal about her shoulders. She’d been thinking all day about being this close to him, ever since their lips had accidentally brushed together this morning.
Garrett shrugged. Dealing with compliments wa
s not something he was familiar with nor comfortable about.
“Little enough I could do,” he said dismissively. “Seeing as how, like you said, this was her first Christmas without her mother. By the way,” he continued, suddenly switching subjects, “you didn’t open your present.”
Lani frowned. There hadn’t been anything under the tree for her, not that she’d expected there to be. What was he talking about? “I didn’t see anything. What present?”
“This one,” Garrett replied. The next moment, he produced a medium-size box wrapped in silver paper, and held it out to her.
Not knowing what to think, and afraid to allow her imagination to take flight, Lani took the gift from him. As she did, she felt as well as heard something inside the box slide from one side to the other.
“What is it?” she asked him, half-amused, half-nervous, though she wouldn’t have been able to explain why.
“Opening it might give you a clue,” Garrett suggested drily.
She’d assumed he wouldn’t give her anything. He didn’t seem the type who believed in exchanging gifts or going through the trouble of actually shopping for presents. She was still stunned, and very happy, that he had carved that angel for Ellie. But she was his niece, and Lani was just his deputy. His “annoying” deputy, as he had told her more than once in the last seven months.
Maybe this meant that she was something more, she thought, a little thrill zipping through her even though she was cautioning herself not to get carried away or expect too much.
Holding her breath, she began to remove the wrapping paper.
“You planning on saving that paper to use again?” he asked.
She could take a hint. He was telling her she was taking too much time. Picking up her pace, Lani tore off the rest of the paper.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him nodding in approval.
And then, for the second time that day, Lani’s jaw dropped.
Inside the box was another box. A small velvet one. The velvet looked to be worn in places, as if it had been around for a very long time.
It was the kind of box people put rings in.
Holiday in a Stetson: The Sheriff Who Found ChristmasA Rancho Diablo Christmas Page 7