Cowboy Boots for Christmas (14 page)

She poured a healthy two fingers in each glass and held it up to the sunlight. “Damn pretty, ain’t it?”

Callie touched her glass to Verdie’s and said, “Merry Christmas.”

Verdie sipped, shut her eyes to enjoy every smoky bit of the flavor, and held it in her mouth awhile before she swallowed. Callie did the same. It had been a very long time since she’d had liquor. A beer once in a while, but the last time she’d had anything stronger was in Afghanistan when she and Finn finished off the last of what was in one of many mouthwash bottles smuggled in by Finn’s cousin Sawyer.

When she opened her eyes, Verdie was in the recliner, a smile on her face and her feet propped up. “Tell me how the feud is going. I want to hear more about you shooting at those women, and then tell me all about any rumors you’ve heard.”

“They were acting like hussies,” Callie said.

“Run, dog. Hussies are coming,” Joe said.

Verdie giggled. “He is entertaining, but is there nothing he can’t repeat? Ignore him and enjoy your whiskey.”

“Joe is spittin’ dust. He needs a drink.” He made noises like he was spitting.

Verdie shook her finger at him. “Shut up, bird. Now back to the whiskey. It’s not to be thrown back like an old cowboy would in a Western movie but savored and sipped. It’s time for us to talk. I like to cook for a family. Hated to make a mess for just me all those years, but I do like to fix and fuss around in the kitchen for a family. Way I figure it is I’m too damned old and my bones aren’t strong as they used to be for me to get out there and do ranchin’. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have sold the place to Finn. But I can cook.”

In one swift leap, Angel was in Verdie’s lap. She turned around a couple of times and settled down for a nap.

“She likes you,” Callie said.

“Always did like cats. Last house cat passed on right after Halloween. That kind of fixed it in my mind that it was time to get serious about selling Salt Draw. Got real lonely without nothing to talk to around here, and that damned old barn cat wouldn’t have a thing to do with me.”

“Verdie, you don’t have to cook or do anything. You’re a guest here,” Callie said.

“No, I’m at home here, and I’ll pull my weight, but if I’m overstepping my boundaries in the kitchen, then I’ll dust or clean or do laundry, all of which I can do but I hate.”

“You can cook all you want. No complaints from me,” Callie said.

“Good. That’ll leave you free in the mornings to help feed after y’all do that damned workout shit. I swear, the way you two look all fit, I don’t know why you’d want to go run in this shit. Martin idolizes Finn, so it’s good for him to help when he’s here. Now let’s talk about Finn. He was like a haunted lost soul when I sold him this ranch. He’s more alive now. I think you did that,” Verdie said.

“Sometimes I could just kick him in the butt,” Callie said.

“‘Ass,’ darlin’. Women who drink Jack at ten in the morning don’t kick butt, they kick ass. Why are you ready to put the boot to his ass?”

“I had a crush on him over there, but, oh, no, he had to fall for one of the translators who came to the base every day. I knew something was wrong with her, but I couldn’t figure out what it was,” Callie said.

Lord, why was she discussing this with a woman she’d only met the day before and talked to once on the phone? What was the matter with her? She could hold her liquor better than that.

“That’s life. Things were like green fruit then and would have been bitter if you’d bit into it. Now the fruit is ripe and ready to be harvested. Just be sure you want it, because a serious relationship takes a lot of work and energy,” Verdie told her.

“Sounds like the voice of experience,” Callie said.

“It is, and we’ll talk about my story another time. It’s time for me to start dinner. Those boys are going to come in here starving in about an hour. What’s on your list for the rest of the morning?”

Callie carried her glass to the kitchen. “Are there any mice up there in the attic?”

Verdie shook her head. “Not that I know about. Might be a spider or two, though.”

“Those don’t scare me. I’ll bring down the Christmas boxes. Are they all marked, or do I open up each one? And, Verdie, I can’t stand the idea of you being at the funny farm for Christmas, so please say you’ll stay with us through the holidays.”

Verdie poured another bit of whiskey in her glass and tossed it back. “That’s the best damn Christmas present anyone ever gave me.”

“A second shot of whiskey?” Callie asked.

“Hell no! The invitation to spend the holidays with y’all. We’ve got to go shopping soon as this weather clears up and buy presents to go under the tree. I’m getting that kid some boots. He can’t do ranch work in them shoes. He’ll catch pneumonia, and you need a pair, too.” Verdie threw the switch to cover up the bar. “This is our secret. We wouldn’t want the kids to know it’s here.”

“Kids?” Callie asked.

Verdie just smiled again and set about peeling potatoes. “There’s a rope on the trapdoor. Pull it and one of them fold-up ladders will come down for you.”

The attic was a treasure trove of antiques. Fully floored, it was dusty, and the only place Callie could stand up straight was in the middle, but everything stored up there intrigued Callie.

What could Verdie have been thinking to leave all this family history? Callie would have loved to be able to say that cradle over there in the corner was where her great-grandfather had slept.

Using a rag she found draped over a rolltop steamer chest, she dusted off a sewing rocker and sat down.

“Roots,” she said. “Mama and my sister were blessed with wings, but I have roots.”

When she was old enough to ask questions about her father, her mother told her very little. Her exact words were burned onto Callie’s brain: “I’ll always love your father, Callie. He was my first love. We were going to get married and he got killed in a motorcycle wreck.”

Sitting there with the old chair squeaking with every rocking movement, she wondered if maybe that’s why her mama kept running away. She was simply looking for that first love feeling again.

“You okay up there?” Verdie’s voice filtered up through the opening.

“I’m fine. I found a sewing rocker, and I’m just sitting here looking at all this stuff,” she answered.

“That was my mama’s chair. Woman didn’t want arms on a chair when she was knitting. You find the Christmas stuff?”

“I did.”

“I’ll come about halfway up, and you can hand it to me. Make sure there ain’t no spiders on the boxes. Don’t want to fall and break a hip when you’ve invited me to stick around for Christmas. Can’t believe it’s been sixty years since this nursery was even used. All of us kids plus my two sons slept in this baby bed,” she said.

“Not your grandchildren?”

“My boys didn’t like the ranch. Got off it soon as they could. Oldest one went straight into the army, married a girl from California, and settled out there when he’d finished twenty years. Raised his kids in California, and believe me, that bunch of grandkids damn sure don’t want anything to do with this old place. I used to feel sorry for myself because they left Burnt Boot, but then I realized one of them could have married a Gallagher and one a Brennan, and my family would have been split down the middle for all eternity,” she answered.

Callie picked up a lightweight box and handed it to Verdie, who’d come far enough up the ladder that Callie only had to stoop to put it in Verdie’s hands.

“And the other son?”

“He went to college and became an engineer. Met a girl at the college who was from Florida and raised his kids down there. Never got to know any of my grandkids too well.”

“I’m sorry. They’ve missed a lot,” Callie said.

“So have I, but this Christmas I’ve got y’all, and I’m going to make the best of it,” Verdie said. “Oh, there’s the phone. Maybe it’s Polly or Gladys with some news on the feud. Speakin’ of which, us old-timers around here remember things pretty often by what was going on with the feud during that time of our lives. It’s like our history clock in Burnt Boot. Be right back.”

Callie sat down in the rocker again and let the peace settle around her like a worn, old, favorite coat in cold weather. She heard someone coming up the ladder and figured Verdie was bringing news about the children, but it was Finn’s beautiful smile that popped up in the opening the next time.

“Hey, Verdie is on the phone and she just pointed in this direction. I got the feeling she’s talking to Gladys, because they were talking about the store shelves getting scarce. Holy shit! What is all this stuff?” Finn stopped with just his head showing.

“History. I’d love to know more about it,” she answered. “Come on up here and take a look. I bet some of it’s been up here since before that rotten feud even started.”

“Was it spiders that spook you? I can’t remember if it was that or mice or snakes,” he said.

“Snakes belong to Martin and spiders to Verdie. I killed a spider awhile ago. Don’t know if it was a good one or a bad one, but now it’s a dead one.”

“I want you to get up slowly and come down the steps,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because there’s a rat the size of a possum over there beside that box marked
Christmas
,” he said.

“That’s not funny,” she told him.

“I’m not kiddin’, Callie. Just get up real easy and come down the steps. It’s not moving right now, so it might run and hide when you start this way.”

She followed his eyes to the biggest, ugliest rat she’d ever seen. He was right about the size, and it was glaring at her, teeth bared, not moving a muscle.

She froze. Plain and simple, she couldn’t move a muscle. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t speak.

“Callie, I’m coming up to get you. Don’t move. I think the thing is deaf,” Finn whispered.

Move, hell! Her vocal cords had tightened up to the point that she couldn’t even squeak. Which was a crappy word to enter her mind right then. Any minute that critter was going to run right at her, and she’d have a heart attack. Twenty-seven years old and dead because of a damned rat. And she hadn’t even told Finn exactly how she felt about him.

He had just cleared the top of the steps and taken a step toward her when Verdie scrambled up the ladder. “Well, I’ll be damned,” she said with a giggle. “There’s one of them rotten old rats that Patrick worked on when he started taxidermy classes. Ugly son of a bitch, ain’t it? I bet you raked him out of the corner when you was fiddlin’ with them boxes. Y’all come on down here for dinner. Me and Martin are already washed up and ready to eat.”

“It’s dead,” Finn told Callie. “Did you hear Verdie? The thing is dead.”

Verdie was gone, and Callie could hear Martin talking about the chores they’d done, but she still could not move.

“I’d carry you out of here, but I don’t think we’d fit down the stairs, so you’re going to have to move,” Finn said. “You didn’t act like this over there when we saw a rat, and there were lots of them.”

“I had a gun on my leg and one in my boot and a knife in my belt,” she whispered.

He chuckled. “It is pretty fierce-looking. Don’t come back up here without a gun and a knife, and I think you’ll be all right.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and shivered from head to toe. “Hold me, Finn. I’m more scared right now than I was over there with bombs all around us. I’m not coming up here again. The past can stay in the past if it includes rats.”

“This place looks like we’re either moving in or moving out,” Finn said when all the boxes were out of the attic and in the living room.

“We’re” moving…not “I’m” moving…
Callie’s heart did one of those crazy twists that left her breathless.

“About ten of them are full of outside lights. The hooks stay up on the roof all year so it’s not as tough a job as it could be and the sun is shining. But the lights ain’t been up in years, so some of them might have gotten busted up. Last time I put them up, I remember Polly callin’ to tell me the feud had fired up hotter’n a two-dollar pistol. There was talk that Naomi’s son was seen at a movie theater with one of the Brennan girls, and all holy hell broke loose that year,” Verdie said.

“And it’s not snowing,” Martin chimed in. “This box says it’s for the tree. Can I open it, Granny Verdie?”

“It all belongs to Finn, so you’d best ask him,” she answered.

He pulled a knife from his pocket and cut the tape loose. “Now see what you got in there, but remember that Angel is in the house, so don’t hang any breakables too low on the branches.”

Callie pointed at the tree. “I don’t think it’ll matter where we hang them.”

There was Angel in the fork of a branch watching them from between the greenery. She tilted her head to one side and was completely hidden, as if she knew that Callie would be reaching in to take her away from her newfound safe spot.

“Come on, girl. You can’t be in there. I know it’s a nice little place to hide from those mean old dog boys, but you’ll hurt your shoulder trying to get down.” She talked to the cat as she laid her on the corner of the sofa on a soft throw. “See there. That’s not nearly as scratchy as those cedar branches.”

Verdie pulled the box over toward the sofa, sat down, and started removing tissue paper from around each ornament.

Callie took one look and inhaled deeply. “That is an antique. It should be in a museum, not on a tree where a cat might knock it off or a dog’s tail might get to going too hard and send it flying.”

Verdie handed it to her. “They’re just things, Callie. If they get broken, then at least they were being enjoyed. Hang every one in the box on the tree, and then you boys need to get those boxes labeled
outside
lights
and check them while we put all this stuff on the tree and out in the house,” she said.

“What do you mean check the lights?” Martin asked.

“They’re the kind like what is on the tree. If one is shot, then the whole string won’t light up. So you plug them in, and if it don’t light up, you start at one end and replace bulbs until you find the shot one,” she explained. “Make sure every light is working before you get out there on the roof, and it’ll make your job go faster. Plus it’s warmer in the house.”

Finn and Martin used the dining room and kitchen to stretch out the first strand of lights and both let out a whoop when it lit up. When they’d checked the rest of the lights and none of them had bad bulbs, they carefully carried out the first strand like it was a twenty-five-foot-long snake. Finn crawled up on a ladder and Martin fed the wire up to him while he snapped it into place.

While they were doing that, Callie took two glass ornaments from Verdie’s hand and held them up to the light. “They’re gorgeous.”

“I think Mama called it mercury glass. They were her favorites,” Verdie said.

“We really shouldn’t be taking the chance of getting them broken. I’ll cry if they get destroyed.”

“If they get broke, at least I got to be here the last time they were used and I got to enjoy being with y’all. You want something worthwhile to worry about, I’ll give it to you. Polly called this morning right after you went up to the attic,” Verdie said.

Callie stopped halfway to the tree and looked over her shoulder. “And?”

“She got ahold of her contact, and it’s like this. Nobody in this part of the state is willin’ to take on three kids right here at the holidays. Some folks out in west Texas said they had room for one. Someone down near Corpus Christi says they’ll take one, and another family in the middle of Fort Worth will take the third one, so they’re not staying in Burnt Boot, and they aren’t staying together,” Verdie whispered.

“When?” Callie asked.

“The Laytons are plannin’ to leave on Sunday morning, so the kids will be taken somewhere that day and then split up on Monday morning, I guess. Martin probably won’t even see them again.”

Callie hung the two ornaments and sat down in the recliner, put her hands over her eyes, and let the tears flow.

Verdie patted her on the shoulder. “Polly says she could probably put in a word if someone wanted them through the holidays around here, so they could finish out the semester at school and not be yanked up right here at the finish, but who’s going to take on three orphans a couple of weeks before Christmas?”

Callie pinched her nose with her two fingers, but it didn’t stop the headache. “You think they’d let me have them?”

“Don’t know. You sure couldn’t do it without talking to Finn first. Now let’s get these decorations up. You and I will do some shopping on Monday and even have presents under the tree when Martin gets off the school bus. That might help a little bit,” Verdie said.

“Come outside and see the front of the house,” Martin yelled from the door. “Oh, oh, what is that? Is it a cookie jar shaped like Santa Claus?”

Verdie held it up. “Yes, it is, and it’s guaranteed to stay on the cabinet and have magic cookies in it every day for your after-school snack.”

Martin let out a whoop. “What’s magic cookies?”

“It’s not the cookies that are magic. It’s the jar. It never runs out of cookies,” Verdie answered.

“Hey, you hear that, Finn? We got magic in this place until after Christmas.”

“Shut the door before you let all the warmth out, and we’ll be out there in a few minutes. Got to get our jackets. Don’t get chilled. We can always finish decorating tomorrow if we don’t get it done today,” Verdie said.

“I can’t wait to see it all lit up.” Martin’s last two words were muffled through the door.

“See there, the decoratin’ business is takin’ his mind off it.” Verdie set the cookie jar on the coffee table and pulled out a small nativity scene. “We used to put this on the mantel. I see that Finn hasn’t put anything on it yet. What do you think? Mantel or foyer table?”

“Mantel,” Callie said. “I’ll put the cookie jar in the kitchen, and then we’ll work on the mantel together.”

Verdie handed the jar up to her. “I’ll sit here and unpack. My old bones are like Pistol’s. We like to settle in and get comfortable. You’re like Angel, climbing trees to get a better look at the world. And them boys out there are like Shotgun, full of piss and vinegar. You can arrange the mantel while you tell me a story about that boot in the tree. I haven’t ever seen a real leather boot ornament before. Aha, that brought a smile to your face. It must be a good one.”

“It is, but first we’ve got to go brag on the outside lights.”

“My coat is hanging on the back of the rocking chair in my room. Would you get it for me, please?” Verdie asked.

***

A pang of guilt hit Finn right in the gut when he realized snow was over the top of Martin’s shoes. He should have fought harder to get the kid a pair of boots.

The guilt trip was cut short when he saw Callie’s face. She looked as if she’d been crying, and only one thing could have caused that. Polly had called with bad news. He quickly went to her side and took her hands in his.

“I’m sorry.”

“He’s going to be devastated. Don’t tell him now. It’ll spoil his fun,” she whispered.

“Dammit, Callie! I want to hold you and kiss you and make it all go away,” he said.

“Me too. Maybe later.”

Verdie pushed outside in an old coat not so very different from his grandmother’s work coat. Callie was right; they couldn’t let her go back to that impersonal place for the holidays. They had to invite her to stay on at the ranch and enjoy Christmas in Burnt Boot.

“Goin’ up good and tight,” Verdie said.

Martin clapped his hands in excitement. “It’s going to be beautiful. Santa won’t have a bit of a problem finding this place in the dark. With that big old roof and these lights, he’ll think he’s on a landing strip.”

Verdie laid a hand on Martin’s shoulder. “You got that right. When you get that strand up, you need to come inside for some hot chocolate and have some cookies. Your nose looks like it’s about to freeze and fall plumb off. A boy would look just plain weird without a nose.”

“Yes, ma’am. Now y’all got to come all the way to the back side of the house. We got a lot done.” Martin took off in a run, oblivious of the snow packing around the hem of his jeans.

“Boy needs boots,” Verdie mumbled right behind him.

Finn nodded. “I been tellin’ this stubborn woman that ever since they got here.”

“Don’t say a word to me about boots or snow or strays,” she said.

“I was fixin’ to tell you how beautiful you look out here in the snow.” Finn kissed her on the forehead in front of Verdie and Martin. Verdie winked. Martin made fake gagging noises.

She shook her head at him. “You were thinking about how right you were in the Western-wear store and how wrong I was. This isn’t our first rodeo, Finn. I practically lived inside your head for a whole year, remember?”

He shivered. “Yes, darlin’, I remember.”

“I know his feet are cold, but I still don’t want him to have cowboy boots.” Her body had stiffened and her tone was colder than the snow.

“Callie, you aren’t losing control, I promise,” he whispered.

“I’m not a control freak,” she said.

“Yes, you are, and with good reason, but it’s okay to let go,” Finn said.

“What are you two whispering about?” Martin yelled.

“Nothing,” Callie said. “We’re just talking about your Christmas presents.”

“I hope it’s cowboy boots. I want to grow up to be just like Finn.”

“We’ll talk about it later,” Callie said.

Finn whispered for Callie’s ears only, “And, honey, this is not the time or the place to pick a fight so you can get mad and run away.”

She took a few steps toward the porch. “You could just write my weekly paycheck, and I’ll…”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “You will what? Walk twenty miles to town? There’s very little traffic out there on those twisty roads, so you wouldn’t have much luck hitchhiking with a boy who doesn’t even have proper boots. You are the most bullheaded, stubborn woman I’ve ever encountered.”

She shook his arm from her shoulders and stormed into the house, slamming the door. He followed her, with Verdie and Martin right behind him. They stopped in the living room, but he followed her right into her bedroom, not giving a damn if he left bits of snow on the floor in his wake. He didn’t even knock on the door but plowed right into her room.

Callie was standing in front of the window, staring out like a bird in a cage. He crossed the room in long strides, scooped her up, and sat down in the rocking chair with her.

“I’m scared,” she said.

“I know. So am I.”

“This is too perfect, Finn. There’s a grenade somewhere, and the pin is pulled. It’s just a matter of time until it all goes boom. I figured if I left now, it would be with good memories and not horrible ones. But I don’t want to leave. Just thinking of walking away from you and Salt Draw, even Verdie and the animals, breaks my heart.”

He tangled his fingers in her hair and held her head against his chest. “I’ll help you work through the fear if you’ll do the same for me.”

She drew her head back, her aqua-colored eyes swimming in tears. “Don’t bullshit me, O’Donnell. You’d face off with the devil.”

He let go of her hair and bent just enough that their lips touched in a salty kiss. Her arms sent desire shooting through his body when they laced around his neck. The kiss deepened into more as she opened her mouth and let his tongue inside to make love to her mouth.

“Darlin’, never doubt that my fears are every bit as big as yours, with commitment topping the list in big bold letters. Don’t run away, Callie. I need you to stay,” he whispered softly.

“I want to stay,” she said just before he kissed her again. She drew away and laid her head back on his chest. “We should go. They’ll be waiting.”

“They know how to make hot chocolate, and we don’t have to leave until you’re ready,” he said.

“I like it here. Can we stay forever?”

“We might get hungry.”

“There’s things other than food that will satisfy a body,” she whispered.

“But if the body is weak, it doesn’t perform too well, does it?” he chuckled.

“I’m not fighting any more today. I don’t have it in me. But I do have to tell you this before we go out there and get lectured by Verdie. Martin’s friends are going to be split up and sent to different homes on Sunday, and there doesn’t seem to be a damn thing we can do about it. He’s going to be so sad.”

“Then let’s go take our medicine from Verdie for fighting. Afterward we will make this place as happy as we can for him,” Finn said.

“I always wanted a grandmother like her,” Callie said, but she didn’t make a move to get up from his lap.

With his boot heel, he set the rocker into motion. “I have two just like her. Love them both. They’ll come see us in the spring, I’m sure. They didn’t help with the move, and my grandfathers will have lots of advice for the ranch.”

“You are a very lucky man,” she said.

His strong arm shifted to hold her tighter. “Yes, Callie, I am.”

A gentle knock on the door was followed by a low voice. “Callie, is it time for me to pack?”

“Is he crying?” Finn asked.

“Probably. I really have to go take care of this.” She hurried to open the door.

“Hush, kid. He’s not dead,” Joe said as he flitted from one side of his clothes dryer perch to the other.

Martin looked up at her with tears streaming down his face.

Verdie was right behind him, arms crossed, her wrinkled face drawn up in a frown.

Callie dropped down on her knees and hugged Martin. “Finn and I had a fight. We do that sometimes, but we aren’t leaving Salt Draw.”