Cowboy Boots for Christmas (19 page)

Callie removed a quilt from the rack under the window and curled up under it on the bed in her room. It wasn’t long until her closet door opened and Finn padded barefoot across the floor. She held the quilt up for him, and he crawled in with her, pulled her into his arms, and kissed the top of her head.

“You smell wonderful, like fresh air and vanilla ice cream,” he said.

“That would be because I stepped out on the front porch for a minute, and I wear warm vanilla sugar perfume,” she said. “You smell like Stetson, and let me see...” She kissed him soundly on the lips, letting her tongue slide between his lips. “And sweet tea and roast with a little bit of chocolate cake thrown in for sexiness.”

His blue eyes sparkled, and she realized that something was different.

“What?” he asked.

She raised an eyebrow.

“I can tell when something is on your mind,” he said. “We didn’t just meet a couple of weeks ago, Callie. We’ve known each other for years.”

“Want me to speak freely, sir?”

“Yes, please, Brewster.”

“The anger at Lala is gone.”

Finn kissed her on the forehead. “I realized last night before I came through the secret door that I had moved on and the anger was gone. I couldn’t stop smiling all day because I’m so damn happy.”

She laid her head on his chest and ran her hands under his shirt. She’d never grow tired of feeling his skin under her hands, of kissing him and sinking into his blue eyes.

“Okay, now what?” she asked.

“I was thinking about a nap.”

“Right now?”

He rolled on top of her and pinned her arms above her head with his fingers tangled in hers. He bent forward and claimed her lips in a hard kiss that answered her question without another word. He moved from her mouth to that soft spot in the curve of her neck. He damn sure knew his way around the female body, and she damn sure enjoyed every second of it.

“Got a house full of kids out there,” she whispered.

“So we’ll be quiet,” he said. “Besides, they’re in the kitchen, and they’re making enough noise to raise the roof.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

“Might be easier if we weren’t dressed,” he answered.

She pushed him off, crawled out of bed, and hurriedly dropped all her clothing on the floor. His eyes never left her body during the undressing process. Combined with the heat from his hands on her body and the tingle of his fingers entwined with hers, her hands shook as she pushed her underpants down to the floor.

“You are beautiful in the moonlight, but you are absolutely breathtaking in the sunlight, Callie.” He slid over the bed and quickly undressed.

Her arms went around his neck, and with a little hop, her legs were firmly wrapped around his waist. His big rough hands cupped her bottom as he sat down on the bed. In one swift roll, she was underneath him and he was already sinking inside her.

She buried her face in his shoulder and tasted the remnants of his shaving lotion and the delicious part that was just plain old Finn O’Donnell. “It’s a good thing we didn’t know each other like this over there.”

“I know,” he said softly. “We would have never gotten a single mission done.”

Talk stopped.

The rhythm took over with every hormone in her body crying out for release. He took her to the top of a high cliff several times, but he didn’t allow her to tumble over the side into that cool body of water waiting at the bottom. Her body was an electric heater, and he held the remote control. He’d switch it to hot, then back to warm, only to jack it up to scorching hot, and then finally she grabbed the imaginary remote, arched against him, tangled her hands in his thick dark hair, nipped his lip, and said his name in a muffled scream.

“God almighty, Callie.” He collapsed on her.

They were both panting in a rasp when he rolled to one side and took her with him in a tight embrace. “My knees may never work again,” he said hoarsely.

“Mine either,” she said.

And then they slept that deep sleep reserved for babies and consenting adults who have worn their bodies out with hot sex.

***

Snow still lingered on the patches of ground in the deep shade, but for the most part it had melted. Finn and the boys changed the tire on the old truck, and he showed them how to put a piece of wood under the back tires so they wouldn’t spin any farther down into the mud. Then he let them ride in the back of the truck back to the house, where they all gathered the eggs and then helped him muck out the stables.

“Isn’t this a morning job?” Martin asked.

“Can be, but since my ranch hands have to go to school in the morning, I figured maybe we’d turn it into an evening job. We’ll shovel out the stalls, put fresh hay in, groom the horses, and then saddle them up for a twenty-minute ride around this part of the ranch. They haven’t been exercised every day like they should be. Pretty soon I’ll turn them out to pasture, and they’ll get plenty of running. Then you can rub them down and feed them,” Finn said. “While you do that, I’ll go out to the barn and take care of the milking.”

“You mean we get to ride?” Adam said.

“And we get paid to do it?” Ricky said with wide eyes.

“I’ll lead the horses out. A saddle is pretty heavy, so I’ll help you get the horses rigged up to ride when I get done,” he said.

“I only ever rode a horse one time,” Adam admitted.

“It’s okay. We’ll all be learning how to ride. I ain’t rode a real horse either, but I bet we’ll do all right. We’re cowboys,” Martin said. “Come on. I’ll show you where the shovels and the wheelbarrow are kept.”

Finn had never seen three little boys clean faster or harder than those kids did. The stalls were spotless by the time he returned with the brushes from the tack room.

Martin set down a three-legged milking stool and be damned if Rebel stood still and let the kid brush his coat.

Adam balanced on the bottom rung of a stall and Glory’s muscles rippled at every brush stroke.

Ricky found a five-gallon bucket, turned it upside down, and was using it to brush tangles from Miss Mary’s mane. The tamest of all the horses, the old black mare looked like she’d fallen in love with the kid.

“Well, I’ll be triple damned,” he said. “They’re all three naturals.”

When he settled the boys in the saddle and gave them a few basic instructions about how to use the reins to guide them, he found out real quick that they might be naturals with a brush, but they needed some serious training in the saddle.

Martin was the first to slide right out of the saddle, landing in a mud puddle and soaking his whole upper body in icy water the color of chocolate milk. Finn sent him straight to the house.

Adam lasted five minutes longer, and when he tumbled off the horse, he landed in a pile of fresh cow crap. Straight to the house he went, too.

He tied Rebel to the barn door and slung a leg up in Glory’s saddle. The big black horse recognized his rider and pranced around in the yard for twenty minutes, strutting in front of Rebel, who voiced his disapproval every two minutes.

Ricky didn’t fall off, but he carefully kept Miss Mary moving in wide circles, letting her have the lead most of the time. He sat as straight as he could in the saddle while Finn exercised both of the other horses and then just sat there inside the barn while Finn unsaddled the other two.

“You can get down now, son,” Finn said.

“I don’t know how and it’s a long way down and I don’t want to fall,” Ricky said honestly.

Finn strolled over to the boy, picked him off the horse like he was a feather pillow, and set him on the ground.

“My legs feel funny,” Ricky said.

“They will every time you ride,” Finn told him.

“Do yours?” Ricky asked.

“Oh, yeah, they do. You think you can rub Miss Mary down if I unsaddle her?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll work ’til dark if you want me to.”

“I reckon by the time we get these horses fed, we’ll be done for the night.”

“Finn, if we’re still here in the summertime and I used my own money that I save up, do you reckon I could buy a lamb to show at the stock show? I always wanted to be in 4H, but I never could have an animal.”

“I’m sure that would be possible. What would you think about showing a steer? We’ve already got lots of those on the ranch,” Finn asked.

“I’d like that real good, but I’m not big like you. I don’t think I could control one of them in the show ring, but I think I could train up a sheep and then when I got to be a big cowboy like you, I could show a steer,” Ricky said.

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Finn said.

If he had to move heaven and earth and hock the ranch, he planned on keeping those kids at Salt Draw until he had them raised. In just two days, the whole bunch of them had flat-out stolen his heart.

But Callie was the biggest thief of all.

***

Olivia danced around the kitchen table. “I love my braids. Can I have them for school tomorrow?”

“You sure can. I was thinking maybe we’d take you to the beauty shop and have your hair trimmed and maybe thinned,” Callie said.

Olivia stopped. “Please don’t cut it off. I’ve wanted long hair all my life, but all the places where I lived didn’t want to help me with it. If I could just have braids like this, it could grow long, and I’m learnin’ how to brush it myself.”

“I’ll help her,” Verdie said. “We might have to get up fifteen minutes early, but that ain’t no big deal. Come on over here and get these bowls and set the table for supper.”

“It does look pretty in braids, and when it’s pulled back from your face, your eyes just shine,” Callie said.

“Really? You think my eyes are pretty?” Olivia asked.

“Pretty, damn pretty.” Joe’s wolf whistle was long and drawn out.

“Of course. They’re gorgeous.” Callie hugged her. “Even Joe thinks so.”

“I’m so mad, I could spit tacks.” Martin threw himself on the sofa. He’d changed out of his wet clothes, taken a shower, washed the mud from his hair, and was now wearing pajamas. “I can’t believe that Ricky stayed on that horse, and me and Adam both fell off.”

Shotgun crawled up beside him and laid his head on Martin’s lap. The boy stroked his fur from the tip of his nose down his backbone to his tail and then started all over again.

“At least you fell in mud. I’m glad I hadn’t had my supper. It would have come right up the way I smelled. That cow stuff is worse smelling than what we shoveled out of the stalls.”

Martin scooted down to give Adam room to sit down. “You want something real bad? You ought to fall in pig crap.”

Callie noticed that Adam’s pajamas were faded and a couple of sizes too big. She started a mental list of things they needed before the Christmas holidays. Pajamas and shoes were at the top.

“Pigs.” Olivia stopped in her tracks. “I want a pig to show in the stock show.”

“How about a lamb?” Verdie asked.

Olivia shook her head. “I read
Charlotte’s Web
, and I want a pig. Not a black one but a white one like Wilbur, so when it’s all cleaned up, it almost looks pink.”

“They stink. You remember when we went to that farmer’s place on a field trip when we lived with the Crowder family? Remember how bad them pigs smelled?” Adam yelled from the living room.

“Animals stink. That’s just the way of it, and I’m going to save my money for a pig,” Olivia said.

Verdie patted Olivia on the back. “I bet you could train a pig to do tricks in the show ring, Olivia. We’ll have to see if the Brennans will part with one of their Poland China piglets next spring, but Adam is right about the smell.”

“Hey, where are you guys? Guess what! Finn says I can buy a lamb and keep it on the ranch, and someday when I’m big like he is, I can show a steer at the stock show.” Ricky came through the kitchen more animated than Callie had seen him yet.

Finn slipped an arm around her waist and squeezed. “We’ve got to keep them, Callie. I’m already attached to the critters.”

“We talkin’ about Angel and Pistol or the kids?”

“The whole lot of them. Verdie included. A ranch is just dirt without kids and animals, even if they knock over Christmas trees and fall in mud and cow shit. But it needs a good woman, too.”

“You callin’ me a good woman, or are you going to put an ad in the newspaper for one?” she asked.

“Open that closet door later on tonight, and we’ll discuss that,” he whispered.

The air was so crisp that it made its way through the heaviest coats to chill Callie to the bone. She worried that Verdie would freeze as they dashed from the truck into the Western-wear store not far from the outlet mall. Finn held the door for her and Verdie, and the familiar smell of leather, starched denim, and cedar paneling filled her nose. Christmas carols played through a couple of speakers attached to the wall above the boots, a green jar candle burned on the counter, and folks bustled around the racks. Martin would love this store. So would the other three kids. She could picture Olivia in a show ring all dolled up in that cute little pink shirt and that blinged-out pink belt with the rhinestone-studded buckle.

“This is my Christmas present.” Verdie stopped beside a round display of purses, wallets, key rings, and belts.

“What? That fancy purse?” Callie asked.

“No, just getting to shop for presents. I haven’t done this in years. Even before Patrick died, we got to where we just sent gift cards to the grandkids. We didn’t know what they liked, what sizes they wore, or even what kind of music they listened to. And truth be told right here and now, Patrick said he wasn’t buying that shit that sounded like a truckload of squealing hogs collided with a truckload of china dishes.”

Finn chuckled. “That’s what my grandpa says.”

“Well, let’s get to it,” Verdie said. “I’m buying the kids boots. They all need a pair, and I checked their sizes before I left the house.”

Callie could feel Finn’s eyes on her.

She shrugged. “You can’t fight city hall.”

“What are you two fighting about?” Verdie asked.

“She wouldn’t let me buy Martin a pair of boots,” he answered.

Verdie stopped in her tracks. “Are you crazy, girl? Burnt Boot is country livin’, and that means boots, jeans, and belts with silver lacin’ and silver buckles for church. Old wore-out boots, faded jeans, and work belts for school.”

“I didn’t want him to be a cowboy,” Callie said.

“Then you shouldn’t have brought him to Burnt Boot, Texas. Both of y’all come on and help me pick out four pairs of kids’ boots. I feel like I done died and went to heaven,” Verdie said. “Oh, and Olivia needs some Sunday shoes, too, so we might have to go on down to Denton after lunch. I figured we’d eat dinner today at that Cracker Barrel right there beside the outlet mall. I do like their ham steaks, and we’ll have worked up an appetite by then.”

Callie pushed a strand of dark hair back behind her ear and looked up into Finn’s blue eyes. “So what are you buying now that they’ll have cowboy boots from Verdie?”

“Rubber boots they can use for work boots until they get those too worn in for church. Verdie will go for fancy. I’ll go for tough, but they get their rubber boots today, not for Christmas,” he said. “And you?”

“Belts. Might as well jump in the deep end if I’m going to swim in the water at all.” She smiled. “And Olivia needs that pink pearl-snap shirt over there.”

He dropped a kiss on the top of her head and said above the music and the noise of the conversation all around them, “We’ve got a convert, Verdie.”

“Praise the Lord. What do you think of these for Martin?” She held up a pair of black cowboy boots with rounded toes and a walking heel.

“He will love them,” Callie said.

“These are for Sunday,” Verdie said. “It’s a toss-up between this one and this one.” The one in her other hand was black eel with a hand-stitched top and a price tag of over two hundred dollars.

Callie gasped. “Good Lord, Verdie. He’ll outgrow them in no time, and that’s too much money for a pair of boots for anyone.”

“My thinkin’ exactly. So we’ll have three pair like this. They all wear different sizes with Ricky having the smallest foot and Martin having the biggest one. Way I figure it is when they outgrow them, they can be passed down for work boots.”

A sales clerk appeared from the backside of a round rack and held out her hands. “I’d be glad to wrap those for you, ma’am. No charge for anything if you spend more than twenty dollars in the store.”

Verdie loaded her down with three boxes. “Thank you. I’ll have these three pair, and you come on back when you get that done, because we’ll have some more picked out. What do you think of these for Olivia, Callie?” She held up a pair of brown boots with white tops and a brown cross cut into the leather. All the fancy stitching was done in pink and they had a thin leather pink insert around the top and down the sides.

“They are beautiful,” Callie said. “And they match that shirt and belt I want to buy for her.”

It took three trips for Finn to take all the packages to the truck, and the backseat was half-full when they left the store.

“Be right back,” Finn said, and he went back into the store.

Callie watched him as long as she could. The way he walked—with that tight little strut, his arms straight at his sides rather than swinging, his shoulders squared, and his head held high—made her knees go weak, and she was sitting down, for God’s sake.

In an attempt to corral her thoughts, she unfastened her seat belt and turned around to face Verdie, who barely had enough room to sit surrounded by all the brightly wrapped packages.

“How in the hell are we going to take them kids shopping?” Verdie asked.

“Same way we take them to church.” Callie turned back to face the front and checked her reflection in the mirror behind the sun visor. Yep, she was pink, but at least the hives hadn’t set in like they usually did when she spent too much money. It wasn’t that she’d come to Burnt Boot broke, but she had a constant fear that the lack of start-over money would make her stay in a place when she wanted to leave.

“Think, Callie,” Verdie said.

“Oh!”

“Yes. Oh! We’re crammed in this thing with all of us, and I don’t have the old work truck tagged or insured to take off the ranch property. We need a van,” Verdie said.

Callie’s hands started to sweat. She’d had a small car that was paid for, but since it was traceable, the government told her it would be best if she sold it. She got a mere two thousand dollars for it. It was in her cash bag at the ranch, but there wasn’t a dependable van out there for that kind of money.

“Before we do anything else, we’re going to that car dealership across the road and I’m buying a van. A brand-spanking-new one that will seat seven people and has a good amount of space in the rear end for Christmas packages,” Verdie announced.

“But,” Callie gasped.

“I’ve got more money right now than I could burn through in what’s left of my life. I want a van and I’m having one, so I’ll hear no arguments. I just hope that we can get it all done pretty quick. I’ve got lots more shopping to do, and the kids get home from school at four,” Verdie said.

“That’s impulsive,” Callie said when she could catch her breath.

“No, it’s necessary. That way you can drive me back down to Dallas to get my things when I move out of the funny farm. I’ll still drive in Burnt Boot and Gainesville and even Denton, but I will not fight the damn Dallas traffic.”

“What’s necessary?” Finn tossed a pair of black rubber boots with bright pink hearts on them into Callie’s lap. “They aren’t cowboy boots, so don’t hang me from the nearest scrub oak with a moldy old rope. They’ll keep your feet dry when you help me with morning chores.”

Hearts. They had hearts on them. That’s one of those subliminal messages for
sure.

“Thank you,” she said. “I love them, Finn. I really do.”

“Good. Now where to next?”

“Verdie says we’re going across the street to the car dealership.” Callie hugged the boots to her chest.

“I’m buying a van. Don’t try to talk me out of it. I’ve got the money, and I want a red one. I don’t give a shit if it’s a Ford or a Cadillac as long as all my kids can ride comfortably in it and it’s an automatic shift. I’m too damn old to drive a stick,” she declared.

“Yes, ma’am,” Finn said.

Callie shot a look at him across the console.

He reached across and patted her on the cheek. “Like you said, darlin’. You can’t fight city hall.”

Verdie couldn’t find a red one, so she settled on a black one that had all the bells and whistles. While she completed the paperwork and Finn talked to one of the salesmen about a new truck he intended to buy before the end of the year, Callie wandered through the showroom.

“Can’t a woman go anywhere without running into you?” Betsy asked from the other side of a brand-new red truck.

“It’s a small world,” Callie said.

“Well, shit! What are you doing here?” Honey said.

“Lookin’ at vehicles,” Callie said.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Honey smarted off.

“Good,” Callie said and kept walking.

“Where’s Finn?” Honey asked.

“It’s not my day to watch him,” Callie threw over her shoulder.

Lord, love a freakin’ duck! The feud followed her around worse than Pistol.

Honey’s high-heeled boots made a clicking sound on the shiny tile floor when she spotted Finn outside. Not to be outdone, Betsy beat her to the door and was plastered up against Finn’s side before Honey could get to him.

Callie leaned against the fender of a brand-new Caddy and wished she could read lips. She’d had a dustup, as Verdie called it, with each of those bitches. It was Finn’s turn to put them in their place. He did a speedy good job, because in less than a minute, they were all up in each other’s faces. The poor salesman tried to talk sense to them right up until Honey blackened his eye and then grabbed Betsy by the hair.

Someone must have called Orville, because he showed up pretty quick, and between him and the salesman, they dragged the two women apart. Honey was screaming something about burning Wild Horse down, and Betsy wasn’t making any bones about what she intended to do to River Bend.

Verdie came out of the office with keys dangling from her hand and saw what was going on. “Where’s Finn?”

“He was out there, and then he left. I reckon he’s sitting in his truck waiting on us to plow through that bloody field,” Callie said.

“You reckon you ought to teach them all a survival course before they do something other than pullin’ hair and scratchin’?” Verdie laughed.

“How much you reckon they’d pay?” Callie hooked her arm through Verdie’s, and they went out a side door, leaving Orville with the mess.

***

Three boys and one little blond-haired girl brought home worried expressions on their faces that afternoon. They went straight to their rooms without stopping, put their backpacks away, and filed out with big eyes. Martin was the first one to the kitchen, where Finn was sitting at the table and Callie was busy pouring hot chocolate into cups.

“They were wrong, weren’t they, Callie?” His voice quivered and only his thick black lashes held the tears at bay. “They ain’t goin’ to let us keep the kids, are they? We done saw the van in the yard. Where are they, anyway?”

“That’s my new van.” Verdie brought a platter of homemade ginger cookies from the pantry. “I wanted a red one, but they said it would take four weeks to get it, and we needed it now, so I had to buy a black one.”

The whooping, slapping each other on the back, and high fives went on for a solid minute before Verdie stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled. “Cookie and hot chocolate time and then chores, supper, and homework. Lord, I’d hate to see what you kids would do if you saw presents under the Christmas tree.”

They all whipped around at the same time. They stood like little concrete statues without even a whisper of breath escaping their lips. Presents were stacked behind the tree, on both sides as far as possible, and extended out into the living room by six feet.

Olivia was the first one to move; she ran to Verdie and hugged her tightly. “I can’t believe it, Granny.”

The boys followed her lead and Verdie shooed them back to the table. “It’s Christmas for God’s sake. That means presents. But Monday means chores. All y’all got a new pair of rubber boots lined up at the back door. You can thank Finn for buying them for you. I best not catch any of you outside in your shoes, getting your feet wet and catchin’ cold,” Verdie fussed.

***

Finn’s finger made lazy circles on Callie’s shoulder that night while the fire crackled as it burned down to embers in the fireplace not far from his bed. “They were a happy bunch of kids at the supper table, weren’t they?” he said.

“I think Verdie was even happier than they were.”

“How about you, Callie? Are you happy? Or have you just settled into this?”

She thought about the questions for a few seconds before she answered. “I’m happy and I haven’t just settled. It’s like running away from something, Finn. Only instead of running away, you’ve run in a big circle and just made your way back to where you belonged the whole time.” What she couldn’t say was that her heart was so entangled with his that she’d never run again. If she did, she’d have to do it with half a heart, and she didn’t think living like that was even possible.

“How about you, Finn? Are you happy? You’ve had a lot shoved at you in a short time.”

“I’m happier than I thought I could ever be, Callie. You put into words what I was thinking. I ran and ran and finally came right back to where I belong. Changing the subject now. Your hair is so silky,” he said.

“You are making me hot as hell touching my shoulder, not my hair,” she said.

“Oh, really? Well, darlin’, your hair is brushing against my cheek and making me just as hot,” he told her.

She propped up on an elbow and bent to kiss him, her hair making a veil over their faces. His hands found their way under her nightshirt and massaged her back.

“I can’t think when you do that,” she whispered.

“Good, because I can’t think when you are anywhere near me. But before we go another minute, I do need to ask you something. Do you have something to wear to a ranch party?”

“Why? Are we throwing one?”

“No, going to one. Quaid Brennan called while I was out there with the kids. We’re invited to the River Bend Christmas party next Friday night. I said we’d be there, and now I wish I hadn’t.”

“Why?”