Christmas in Winter Valley

by Jodi Thomas

  Cooper leaned on his crutch. “Let me get this straight, you’re not dating her, but you’ve come to ask her to marry you?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, Mr. Holloway, but if you must know, we were dating and she got the crazy idea that we take a break.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “Three years ago. I gave her some time. Like I said, she doesn’t know her own mind. She needs someone to tell her what to do. Take care of her. Keep track of her. Put the brakes on when she gets one of her ideas or takes off on a mission to save some animal no one cares about, anyway.”

  “She saved my life,” Cooper said. “I’m glad she took off on that mission.”

  “I’m sure she helped you, but I doubt Hayley has ever saved anyone’s life. She’s a vet. If she had any brains, she wouldn’t have spent eight years of college becoming a vet to make only sixty thousand a year. If that much. She needs to be working with pets, not horses.”

  Johnson straightened. “Now, it’s been nice talking to you, but I really am short on time. Tell me where she might be and I’ll find her.”

  Cooper turned to the brothers. “You men want to show him the way to Winter Valley? She was up there last week. It’s a clear day. He should have no trouble walking through the trees. She might be there.”

  Looking at the stranger, Coop added, “Just park your car next to her Jeep and head up the hill.”

  Johnson took one look at the two men behind Cooper and said, “Never mind, boys. I have GPS. I’ll find it myself. How hard can it be? You can see a hundred miles in every direction in this godforsaken country.”

  Coop had to eat a few words before he managed to speak. “If you get lost, light a fire. We’ll take on a mission to find you.”

  One of the Garrett boys tossed him a lighter.

  “I never get lost.” He looked insulted, but he pocketed the lighter.

  Cooper sat back in his rocker and watched the red sports car drive off toward the hills, which were barely visible in the distance.

  “Do you think you should have told him all cell service runs out at the pass?” Patrick asked.

  Coop shook his head. “He’ll figure it out. If you see him when you drop off the trailer, don’t bring him back here. I don’t care where you direct him to, but it better not be here.”

  Pete puffed up. “Can you believe he thought he was gonna tell our little doctor what to do? She’s not some pet trained to come when he calls. She took charge when you were dying, practically carried you in to the shack by herself, yelled at you to keep breathing.”

  Raising an eyebrow, Coop asked, “How do you know all this? You weren’t there.”

  “Tatum told the whole bunkhouse at dinner last night. That how it happened? He even said you asked her out while she was sewing up the gaps in your head.”

  “Yep.” Coop shrugged. Tatum had been more awake than he was. Sounded like an eyewitness account.

  All the words he’d mumbled to himself and Elliot this morning came back to Cooper. He never realized how wrong he’d been acting until some idiot in a suit held a mirror up to his face.

  “Boys, pull your mother’s ATV around. You’re driving me to the barn before you leave. I’ve got work to do. I’ve sat around enough.”

  Five minutes later Cooper was back to work and had every man tackling new projects. In a few days, most of them would be heading home for Christmas, and the place needed to be in top shape.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  December 22

  BY THE TIME the buggy made it back and they’d eaten lunch, decorating was in full swing. Elliot had a text telling him that Griffin and Sunlan were flying home with Jaci tomorrow morning. Sunlan’s dad was out of any danger.

  The house had to be ready. Elliot found men to go up to bring down the tree, and Jess helped with getting every neatly marked box down from the attic and placed in the right room.

  Right in the middle of the mess, a tall woman with flaming red hair walked in on the arm of a lean cowboy with several days’ growth of beard.

  “Creed!” Elliot and Coop both yelled. “You’re back.” Both Holloways started patting the foreman on the back as if he might be choking.

  The redhead looked bothered. “Well, what about me? I’m back, too.”

  Everyone watched Jess hug her awkwardly. “Welcome back. Dallas, right? We haven’t formally met, but I’ve heard a great deal about you.”

  “Yes, I’m Dallas, and you’re the accountant. You’ve apparently gone native. Don’t accountants usually wear suits? Personally, I wouldn’t trust one who didn’t.”

  Jess took no offense. “I’m glad you’re back.”

  Elliot gave his almost cousin a one-armed hug. “Me, too. We need to help get this place ready. By nightfall, it’s going to be nothing but Christmas around here.”

  Dallas straightened to her full six feet. “I must have a bath first. Then, while we decorate, I want to talk to you about putting a proper bathroom in the line shack. Maybe a kitchen, too. And windows so you can see the view. And a porch. Those rocks just don’t work. Of course, it should be painted the color of the sky up there. I’ll help you with the colors you’ll need.”

  She whirled, hitting Elliot in the face with her wild hair, and headed upstairs to her room. “I’ll be back when the hot water runs out.”

  Elliot turned to Creed. “How’d it go up there? Seems like you were gone forever.”

  “Fine. The mustangs were all treated. They’ll be all right for another year, the doc said. Tye was a great help.”

  “No, not that.” Elliot tried again as he looked toward the stairs. “I meant how did it go with Dallas?”

  For once Creed acted like he didn’t hear the boss’s question. “I should inform you, I ran into a guy wandering around, looking for the doc. Told him he was heading in the wrong direction. He said some things about the doc and I corrected him.” Creed grinned. “He didn’t look like he planned to take my advice on which way to go.”

  “Good, but what about you and Dallas?”

  “It was fine.” Creed’s face was blank.

  “Anything else?”

  “Her hair went curly when she washed it in the river.”

  Elliot gave up. Creed wasn’t a talker. “After you clean up, go with the men to bring down an evergreen, would you?”

  “No problem.” Creed disappeared as silently as usual.

  Five minutes later, Coop yelled from the front door, “That red sports car is back. The Garrett boys must have missed him. I told them not to invite him back here.”

  Elliot decided he’d better stand beside Cooper. From what he’d heard, Coop didn’t like the stranger, but there didn’t need to be a scene. Just telling him to get off their land would be enough. He lifted down his grandfather’s old rifle from the mantel. It hadn’t been fired in fifty years, but it’d probably scare off a man who was dumb enough to drive a back road in a sports car.

  Cooper was watching the car pull up when Elliot stepped out.

  The man in a wrinkled suit, with one pant leg ripped, stormed up the steps. When he saw Elliot standing behind Cooper he backed down one.

  “Are you aware, Mr. Holloway, that you gave me the wrong directions?”

  “I told you I didn’t know where the doc is right now, but you didn’t seem to like that answer. So I guessed.” Cooper leaned down, looking at the stranger more carefully. “You got a black eye, Johnson?”

  “That’s another complaint I have. Are you aware that you have a mad cowboy riding around up there? I told him I was looking for the doc because she probably didn’t have the sense to find her way home. Without a word the man slugged me. I can feel my eye swelling closed as we speak.”

  Coop looked back at Elliot, and they both mouthed, Creed.

  Johnson jerked out his card. “I’ll find her. If she comes by h
ere, give her my card.”

  “Will do.” Coop shoved the card in his pocket.

  “Tell her to call me right away. Evidently she changed her number and forgot to let me know. I swear she has butter for brains.”

  “Good day,” Cooper said.

  When the stranger hesitated, Elliot raised the rifle a few inches.

  Johnson turned and walked to his car, but before he stepped in, he turned back. “It frightens me to think she even knows someone like you, Holloway.”

  Coop smiled. “I was having that very same thought.”

  The brothers watched him drive away.

  “You going to give the doc that man’s card?” Elliot whispered as he rested the rifle on his shoulder.

  Coop nodded. “I will. It’s her decision to make, not mine. Hayley is a woman who knows her own mind.”

  Elliot stared at his brother. “What blew through here since we talked this morning?”

  “Johnson Sanders blew through, and the way he talked about the doc left a bad taste in my mouth.”

  “So you’re not going to tell her what to do when she gets back?”

  “Nope. I think I’ll just listen.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  December 22

  Crossroads, Texas

  IT WAS ALMOST dark by the time Tye and the doc made it back to Crossroads. She’d invited him back to the ranch for supper, but he’d said he had plans. He knew she’d be welcomed to join him for dinner with the sisters, but she shook her head.

  “Spend your days off with them. You’ll enjoy it and so will they.”

  When she let him off, he shook her hand. “Thanks. I’d never have found those horses if you hadn’t been with me. I feel like the old man gave me a fresh start and I aim to take advantage of it.”

  “You would have found Dusty on your own. Do you have any idea what you’re going to do with them? They’ve got to be worth close to a million dollars, maybe more.”

  “I’m not going to sell them. It’s like they’re part of my family. I’ve got to find a way to take care of them. They’re depending on me. I don’t think Dusty will mind me keeping them there until I find the right place.”

  “Good luck, Tye.”

  “You, too, Doc. I’ll see you around.”

  Tye walked up the winding sidewalk to the bed-and-breakfast, planning his next move. If he went back to work for the Holloways, he could pay for feed and still save most of his pay. A few evenings a week he’d go over and work with the horses. A few needed work on their hooves. All could use a good brushing.

  He’d never been responsible for anyone but himself, and the weight on his shoulders somehow made him feel stronger. Twenty-seven horses. He owned a herd.

  As he stepped into the Franklin sisters’ old home, he smelled a pot roast cooking. He and Hayley hadn’t stopped to eat lunch, and right now, home cooking smelled like heaven.

  When he got to the kitchen door, he saw Dani sitting at the table, visiting with the sisters. She had on a shirt he’d never seen. It was green, like her eyes.

  Eyes that no longer held anger.

  Tye smiled. Things were looking up. She didn’t have a plate in her hand or any offspring in sight.

  Daisy bounced up and hugged him. “Finally, you’re here. We invited another guest. She says she knows you.”

  Tye removed his hat. “Danielle.”

  “Tyson,” she answered.

  Even if they’d had anything else to say, neither guest could get a word in between the chatter of the sisters. As Daisy set food on the table and Rose poured tea, Daisy said, “Dani brought us a basket of biscuits and some honey. She told us she thought you once said you liked her biscuits.”

  Tye smiled, deciding this was about the best day of his life, and he was stone-cold sober. As they talked and ate, he couldn’t take his eyes off Dani.

  Finally, when the dishes were done and the sisters said good-night, he walked Dani out to her car.

  “Are you coming back to the ranch?” she whispered.

  “I am. I’ll even let your boys beat me up this time, but I’m not stopping seeing you until you tell me to go.”

  “I’m not doing that. Not ever, I think. You ate half a dozen of my biscuits tonight. You owe me several nights, so you best be thinking of taking naps.”

  He laughed and kissed her. His hands moved beneath her coat and touched her. “Did I ever tell you that I love the way you feel?”

  “Many times. When you get back, I expect you to prove it.”

  “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “I’ll be waiting tomorrow night.”

  He stood in the dark and watched her drive away. She’d come after him, he decided. He liked that she was so brave. No one had ever cared that much for him.

  Tye walked slowly up to his room. He doubted he’d sleep much tonight. He had plans to make.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  December 22

  Maverick Ranch

  TO ELLIOT’S SURPRISE, supper in the bunkhouse turned out to be a great success. Hayley had made a huge salad to go with the dozen pizzas that were delivered, and Dallas had driven to town and bought brownies and ice cream for dessert. When she served the brownies with ice cream and a cherry on top, she told all the men that she’d made it herself.

  A few of the guys were playing guitars, and all were on their best behavior. They played through all the old country favorites. When Dallas asked Tatum to dance, all the men cheered them on.

  Elliot stayed longer than he’d planned, but Jess seemed to be having so much fun he couldn’t call it a night. He was seeing the ranch through her eyes, and she was seeing it through his.

  “Did you have fun?” he said as they walked from the bunkhouse to the main headquarters.

  “I did.” She cuddled up to him as they walked. “It’s a different world out here.”

  “I guess so.” He thought about it and added, “It’s my world.”

  “I know. Today I learned just how much you gave up even to dream in my world for a while. I didn’t know the life you had here was so rich.”

  “It’s just life.” He’d never walked in her life, either. He had no idea what her days were like now. Living where she couldn’t see the sky. Never walking on dirt.

  She let out a sigh. “We never got around to finishing up today.”

  “It’s too late tonight. The paperwork can wait. How about we work in the morning?”

  She nodded. “All I have to do is make it back before six. Or as you’d put it, before dark.”

  He escorted her to the stairs and stopped.

  Jess turned and looked up at him. “You coming up?”

  “No. I don’t think I could sleep next to you tonight without doing a whole lot more than sleeping.”

  “It’s all right,” she whispered as she hugged him. “I’d like loving you tonight. For old times’ sake. We were always great together. I don’t think we ever had an argument in bed.” She tugged on his shirt.

  “I can’t.” He pushed a few inches away. “You’re planning to marry someone else. Before, all those years ago, I thought we were going to marry, we were almost married, already married in our hearts. Whatever you want to call it. But now it’d be something else.” He studied her face, memorizing every curve. “I’m not a man who can settle for something else, Jess, no matter how much I wish I was right now.”

  He saw the disappointment in her eyes. “I can’t be your fling before you walk down the aisle with Richard.”

  She started up the stairs, then turned. “You want this as much as I do.”

  “It’s not fair, Jess. Not to any of us.”

  “It’s not right, you mean.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “It’s not right and Elliot Holloway always does what is right, no matter who he hurts.”

  The pain was back. They we
re going to part hating each other again. He felt he was going a hundred miles an hour toward a concrete wall and he knew he was going to crash and burn. Again!

  “Do you love Richard more than you love me?”

  “No. But it doesn’t matter. I’m marrying him.”

  He saw that his hurt was hers, as well. “Ask yourself if getting what you want is worth sacrificing you and me for. I can’t love anyone else while I’m still in love with you, and you won’t be happy married to a man you don’t love. You might as well send us both to hell.”

  She turned and ran up the stairs. He gripped the railing so hard he was surprised the wood didn’t splinter in his hand.

  The thought of going to bed without her seemed impossible. He grabbed his coat and stepped outside. He might as well be cold outside, because he felt frozen inside.

  Tonight he saw none of the beauty of his ranch. There was no joy in his world; he’d gone deaf and blind to everything. Maybe the only way he could survive was to feel nothing, to see nothing, to love nothing.

  The night was cool, but not freezing. Normally, he loved fresh air. He worked with his office windows open year-round, and he slept with his bedroom window raised. But tonight he could barely breathe. The air might as well be dusted with coal.

  He moved to the rocker in the darkest corner of the porch. Logs shot out where a bay window had been built in the office. There he became invisible.

  Part of him wanted to scream that tonight was not the time to do the right thing. For once he should have gone with his feelings. He should have climbed the stairs. He could be holding her now if he stopped thinking.

  Music drifted in the air from the bunkhouse. He heard horses shifting in the corral, restless as the wind howling through the night. A barn owl hooted.

  The ranch was still breathing, very much alive, but Elliot had turned to stone. He didn’t feel the cold. He didn’t care about the time. He couldn’t figure out how to live without a heart.

  The big old house seemed to settle with the night. One by one, the lights went out. Tatum opened a window on the second floor and howled at the wind, then banged it closed. Cooper and the doc went into the house by way of the side door. Probably planning to have a midnight snack.