Merry Cowboy Christmas (25 page)

F
iona overslept on Sunday morning and grabbed a biscuit stuffed with bacon on the way out the back door. Dora June and Truman had left more than an hour before because she had Sunday school class. If Jud hadn't knocked on Fiona's bedroom door as he was leaving, she'd still be asleep.

She'd dashed across the hall to her still messy room, found a bright green skirt that had a matching sweater, and gotten dressed in record time. She'd gone to bed with her hair still swept to one side and it looked like an upside down string mop that had been set out in the sun to dry. She pulled it up into a bun on the back of her head, letting a few curls escape to frame her face. Forget makeup, she didn't have time for that.

Everyone was singing when she slipped in the back door of the church and tiptoed up the aisle to sit at the end of the Logan pew beside Jud. He shared the hymnal with her, but they were on the very last line of the final verse.

The preacher took the pulpit and covered a yawn with the back of his hand. “Y'all excuse me. If you didn't go to the ranch party at the Lucky Penny last night, you missed a good time. I'll make the sermon short this morning. If you will open your Bibles to the twenty-third Psalms, I'm going to talk about the present. The previous two Psalms talk about the future and the past, but this one tells us what we can expect from the present and that's what's important because it's what we have today.”

Work all week, church on Sunday, go see Granny when possible. Fiona asked herself if this was what she wanted out of life as she tuned the preacher out and thought about her own past, present, and future.

Jud laid a hand on the back of the pew and let it fall over her shoulder. A smile tilted the corners of her mouth upward. The past hadn't been so great. A job was a job if it was in a fancy office with a view or if it was in the back room of a little convenience store. The future was as uncertain as Texas weather. This was the present and for right now, she liked her place in it.

“A reminder”—the preacher was winding down when she started to listen again—“we are having our annual Christmas dinner in the fellowship hall today. After we eat, I understand Santa Claus will be ready for pictures and will give out candy and fruit to all the children here today. I'll say our ending prayer and the blessing for today's food at the same time so that y'all can go on and eat as soon you get there.”

Everyone's head bowed and the preacher said a very short prayer, which led Fiona to believe that he hadn't had time for a proper breakfast, either. Immediately afterward, there was a mass exodus as the women hurried off to the kitchen, leaving the men folks behind to find their own way in their own time.

“So why aren't you hurrying off to get our donation to the church dinner?” Jud asked.

“Dora June brought our contribution this morning. We had leftover brisket and dozens of cookies from the party last night. Besides, there's enough cooks in the kitchen right now,” she answered.

Truth of the matter was, she didn't want to answer a million questions. She'd shared Jud's hymnal, even if only for a few seconds, and he'd put his arm around her. In small-town Texas, those two gestures carried weight and lots of it. Hopefully, everyone would still be talking about Truman, but if they saw her, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that poor old Truman would take a backseat.

“You look pretty serious.” Jud propped a hip on the arm of the first pew and waited for the line to go from the sanctuary through a narrow hallway to the fellowship hall to thin out. “What were you thinking about?”

“Truman deserves the place of honor,” she said.

“And that means?” Jud raised an eyebrow.

“What does it mean in your part of Texas if a cowboy shares his hymnbook with a woman and then puts his arm around her in church?” she asked.

“What's that got to do with Truman?” Jud asked.

“Everyone is probably talking about him, but when they see us, he'll go to second place and they're going to bombard me with questions,” she answered honestly.

“We could always sneak out the front door, go have Sunday dinner in Seymour and go to a movie after all. We could use the excuse that you needed to see your granny.” He took both her hands in his.

“I promised to be there for the rental company. Besides, if we aren't at the potluck, the rumors will get even worse. We might as well go on and take our medicine.”

“Then I say let's give them something to talk about.”

Eyebrows shot up when they entered the room holding hands, but everyone was so busy either getting food ready or dishing it up that no one approached Fiona right away. It wasn't until she and Jud sat down at a table with Allie and Blake that anyone said a word. Then it was her oldest sister.

“So it's happening, isn't it?” Allie asked.

“Yes, it is. I'm guilty. I'm having all these carbs when I know they'll go straight to my butt,” Fiona answered.

Lizzy leaned around her sister. “You can't run from the truth any more than you could run from your heart.”

“What? That my jeans will be too tight after dinner today?” Fiona asked.

“You know exactly what I'm talking about.” Lizzy frowned.

“So?” Fiona asked.

“Be careful,” Allie whispered.

“I told you the same thing,” Fiona reminded her. “I don't believe either of you listened to me. Where is Audrey?”

“You can't change the subject like that, but Dora June is rocking her while I eat and then I'll take over.” Allie nodded toward the oversized chairs they'd brought in for Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus.

“How serious?” Allie whispered.

“It was just a hymnbook and we were so damn close together that his arm was pinched,” Fiona said.

“And the hand-holding?”

Fiona giggled. “We thought we'd give everyone something to talk about. Looks like it's working.”

“Well, dammit!” Lizzy said. “I should have known you'd stir up trouble.”

“Me! If you two hadn't already created gossip with your escapades, then no one would even think of throwing me and Jud together.”

“Did I hear my name?” Jud asked.

“Of course you did,” Fiona said. “I said that you liked sweet potato casserole.”

“Yes, I do.” He grinned.

After the meal, Santa Claus appeared and everyone was so involved with him that only a few folks noticed when Jud and Fiona left by a side door. The snow had completely stopped and the sun was shining but the north wind bit through her coat and flipped her skirt tail up more than once on the way to her car.

Jud followed her in his truck. Déjà vu all over again so much that she kept her eyes on the road and her hands on the wheel. She did not intend for her mother to come home and find that Fiona had driven her car through a barbed wire fence.

She parked in the front yard of Audrey's Place at the same time the rental company truck backed in beside her, and Jud pulled up on the other side. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. She shut off the engine and had reached for the door handle when Jud opened it for her.

“How about that for getting here at the right minute?” he asked.

She unfastened her seat belt and put her feet out on the ground. “Pretty good, I'd say. I'll get the door open for them and then I'm going up to my room to change and straighten things up enough so I can stand to be in there. I'm the neat freak in the family. My sisters, especially Lizzy, never put anything away.”

“While you are doing that, I will set up our theater,” he said.

“What are we watching?” She opened the door and motioned for the three rental guys to come on inside.

“You have a choice. It's one of those six screen things so you can pick which one you want.” He held the door while they brought in their dollies to help get things out easier.

“Why only six?”

“Because that's all Josie would let me have. She said I'd have company and she was out there in the boonies all alone so I couldn't have all the movies.”

“Okay, then, see you in a few.”

Fiona changed into yoga pants and an oversized T-shirt, straightened her room in record time, and then started toward Jud's room when she noticed that he'd set up his laptop on the credenza in the hall and the two wingback chairs were pulled up close enough so she and Jud could see the screen.

Three movie cases were on one side of the computer, three on the other. Some of the
Fast & Furious
movies took the right side. On the left, she had a choice of
Something to Talk About
with Julia Roberts, the first
Lethal Weapon
with Mel Gibson, and
Shooter
with Mark Wahlberg. She'd seen them all at least once and some several times but she chose the Julia Roberts movie.

“I can't believe you even have a chick flick in your stash,” she said.

“It's got a good lesson in it.” He slid the DVD drawer out of the side of the laptop, put the disk in, and started the movie. “Popcorn or a drink before it starts?”

“Too full still for popcorn. What do we have to drink?”

“Enough Jack for a shot each. Two beers and enough Crown Royal for a Crown and Coke. Your sisters pirated off the rest of it,” he said.

“A beer would be great.” She settled into one of the chairs and wiggled but couldn't get comfortable. “I've got a better idea about how to watch a movie. Please push these chairs back where they belong.”

He went into his room, brought out two beers, set them on the credenza, picked up a chair, and put it where it belonged. She glanced over her shoulder as she headed for her bedroom and watched him pick up the second chair. Muscles straining at the sleeve of his shirt, his stance all powerful—her pulse jacked up at least three notches.

She disappeared into her room and brought out a down comforter and two pillows. She fluffed the comforter out on the floor in front of the laptop, tossed the pillows onto it, and stretched out on her stomach.

He eased down beside her with a groan as the movie started. “And to think that tomorrow night we have to move all that furniture back into the house.”

“Poor baby, want me to kiss it and make it all better?” She inched over and kissed him long, hard, and with so much heat that they were both panting when it ended.

“That definitely makes it all better,” he said.

Three hours later, the movie had long since finished, the beers were warm and flat, and Fiona was curled up in Jud's arms as they both slept. The rental company had finished and locked the door behind them.

They were sleeping so soundly that neither of them heard Dora June's labored breathing as she climbed the steps. It wasn't until she yelled from the top of the stairs that Fiona set up with a start.

“I was worried about y'all,” she giggled like a schoolgirl. “We brought some fried chicken from Wichita Falls. Went on up there to see Irene after the church thing and I talked Truman into wearing his Santa suit. We took the extra candy bags and passed them out to the folks in the home there.”

“I could eat some chicken.” Fiona stretched and yawned. “We were watching a movie and fell asleep.”

“I see that. You might as well pour them beers down the drain, though. They won't be fit to drink. Come on down to the kitchen with us and have some chicken. Your granny was having a good day and we talked about all you girls. And guess what, we drove past that RV place. I know Truman would never do it but sometimes I sure do yearn to see things before I die,” she said.

“We'll be right down,” Fiona said.

“Are we in trouble?” Jud opened one eye a slit.

“I don't think so. She didn't catch us in a bedroom. And I think she wants an RV so bad that she's got that on her mind.”

“It was nice to wake up with you in my arms,” he said.

“I thought so, too,” she said softly. “It felt right.”

O
nly four shopping days until Christmas and Katy would be home the next day. Suddenly, Fiona realized that she had not bought a single thing for Jud or for her mother. She'd gotten gifts for everyone else, including Truman, but not one thing had caught her eye for the man she'd fallen in love with or her mother.

Love!

She stopped in her tracks going from the back of the store to the checkout counter and gasped. There was no use in running from the truth. She was in love with Jud Dawson and there was no denying it.

The morning coffee drinkers had just left when the store phone rang. She picked up the receiver from the base with one hand and a wet dishcloth with the other.

“This is Fiona,” she said.

“Fiona Logan?” a deep masculine voice asked.

“Yes,” she said cautiously. The first thought that sent her heart to her throat was that something had happened to her mother.

“You are a difficult woman to track down.”

“Who is this?” she asked bluntly.

“Walton Pierce of Pierce, Davis and Green Law Firm in Pasadena, Texas. You brought your résumé to us almost a year ago and we are interested in interviewing you for a job. Are you still in Houston? If so, we'd like to schedule a meeting before Christmas.”

“I left Houston a few weeks ago,” she said.

“Then I suppose we'll have to schedule for the week after New Year's. It's our company policy to close the offices from Christmas through New Year's Day. How about January fifth? My secretary will be in touch with you to set up a flight from the city nearest to you and we'll arrange for you to stay at the downtown Westin Hotel while you are here. Any questions?”

“What's the job?” she asked.

“We need an accountant who will oversee three other people in that office. Basically the same job you had before but with a little more responsibility.”

She popped herself on the forehead with the back of her hand. Pierce, Davis and Green was her in-law's biggest rival. But why now? Why did Fate put this job in her path right now?

“Interested?” he asked.

“Can I think about it? This has fallen out of the sky, so to speak,” she said.

“Of course. I'd expect you to need some time. We'll look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. My secretary is out today but she'll be in touch to set up an appointment. Merry Christmas, Miss Logan.”

“Merry Christmas to you,” Fiona said.

The line went quiet and she set the phone back on the base.

She carried the cloth to the table, wiped it down, and then eased into one chair and used another to prop her feet. She was trying to wrap her mind around the phone call and what it meant to her future. Was the coffee shop experience and the trip to Dry Creek a bump in the road or was it to teach her that she didn't want to work in a big city for a big firm? But Lord have mercy, Pierce, Davis and Green? The biggest firm in Houston had asked for an interview. Walton Pierce had called her personally. That meant volumes.

“Hey,” Deke yelled as he entered the store by the back door.

“In here. At the table,” she raised her voice to say.

He stopped and drew up a cup of coffee. “I was wondering if you'd go with me to Wichita Falls tonight. I haven't done a damn bit of Christmas shopping.” He set his coffee on the table, pulled out a chair, shucked out of his heavy coat, hung it on the back, and then sat down. Removing his hat, he looked at her with pleading hazel eyes. “Say you'll go with me. I don't know how to shop for babies and this is important. It's Audrey's first Christmas.”

“Sure. I need to pick up some last-minute things, too.” How could life go on like this when she had such a big decision to make?

“Good, I'll tell Blake and Jud.”

“What do they have to do with us shopping?”

“They need to get theirs done, too, and we all need a woman's opinion, but I asked first so you have to shop with me before you do them,” Deke answered. “What's put a frown on your face? Don't you want to go with Blake and Jud?”

“No, I don't mind at all. But what about Toby?”

Deke shook his head slowly from side to side. “He and Lizzy have everything done. He's so damned organized that it makes the rest of us look bad.”

Her cell phone rang and she worked it up out of her hip pocket. The jeans that had been baggy on her three weeks ago were fitting pretty dang snug these days. “Hello, Lizzy, what's goin' on down at your end of the street?”

“Allie needs to do some more shopping, so all us girls are going out for one more night to finish up. Dora June is going with us and we'll stop by and see Granny. Leaving at five on the dot. Be ready,” Lizzy said.

“I just promised Deke that I'd go with him,” Fiona said.

“That rat! He came by here and I told him I was going to call you; then I had a rush of customers.”

“Maybe our paths will cross and we'll take a break and have an Orange Julius together,” Fiona suggested.

“I hope not. Allie is shopping for Blake and he'll be with y'all. If you see us, steer those cowboys another way. Oh, and Toby is taking Truman to the RV shop tonight. They are bringing the new toy home and we're keeping it out behind our house until Christmas morning.”

“Dora June is going to be speechless,” Fiona giggled.

“And that will be the real Christmas miracle.”

“Ha! Happy shopping tonight.”

“Good luck to you. I wouldn't trade places with you for anything. Customer coming through the door. Bye, now.”

Fiona shook a finger at Deke. “You are in trouble.”

“I know, but it's worth it. Now what's troubling you?”

Fiona told him about the job interview. “It's a big thing, Deke. It's what I'm trained for and it's the city I love.”

“Hard decision you got to make. If you need to talk, holler at me. I'm a good listener,” he said.

“I'm in love with Jud,” she blurted.

“Well, that ain't no surprise. But I do reckon it makes a difference in your decision about Houston.”

“Yes, it sure does.”

The mall was crazy that night. Christmas music played over the speakers. Last-minute shoppers raced from store to store. And Fiona found out that shopping with men was a whole different experience than with women. They found what they wanted, got her opinion and bought it, had it wrapped if that was an option, and went on to the next person on their list.

For the most part, they were very practical. Sweaters, new work coats, boots, and wallets, belts—that kind of thing was what they were interested in buying. Two western wear stores pretty much finished their job. Blake did want her to go to Victoria's Secret to pick out something pretty in lingerie for Allie. From the time they entered the store to the time they walked out with a lovely bright red silky nightgown in a gift bag, ten minutes had elapsed.

Jud glanced up from the bench where he and Deke had opted to sit. “Are we all done, then? Can we grab some Chinese food at that place?” He pointed. “My treat since you came with us, Fiona.”

Deke whispered something in Jud's ear and Fiona heard her name in the mix of muted words. Jud nodded the whole time and clamped a hand on Deke's shoulder.

Fiona hoped to hell that Deke had not just told him about the interview. She wanted to make up her mind about it before she mentioned it to her mother or to Jud. She fought the urge to pop herself on the forehead. She should have told Deke it was a secret.

“We'll eat first and then, Fiona, we want you to call the girls and go with them for a while,” Deke said. “We have to shop for you.”

She wanted to wipe her forehead in relief but she held her hands together tightly. “I'll call Lizzy. If they're hungry, maybe they can join us.”

“Sounds good,” Jud said.

Thank goodness the mall hours had been extended from Monday through Christmas Eve because after they'd eaten and the guys had gone off in a different direction from the ladies, Fiona was completely at a loss.

Where did she shop and what did she buy for Jud?

“Did you see that Santa right back there?” Dora June asked.

“You want to go back and sit on his lap?” Fiona asked.

“No, but my Truman looked better than that. I bet he could get a job being Santa and he'd look better than that guy did,” Dora June declared. “That man's eyes were glazed over. I bet he's been drinking. I wouldn't let my kids sit in his lap. Oh, here's the toy store. I want to look for a Raggedy Andy doll for Audrey to go with Ann doll I got her last time.”

“Y'all go on. I'm going to sneak into this bookstore,” Fiona said.

Nothing took Fiona's eye in the store until she was leaving and noticed a small display at the end of an aisle. A cowboy hat hung on a nail up above stacks of long, narrow booklets titled
Merry Christmas Cowboy
. The tagline said, “Something special for the sexy cowboy in your life.”

She picked one up and flipped it open to find a coupon for each week of the upcoming year and they all had to do with something a cowboy would like. A night of western movies. A picnic in the pasture. Plus there were a few that made her blush but Jud would love it.

Did buying it mean that she was staying in Dry Creek? Or did it mean he'd have to drive or fly to Houston to collect once a week? She wasn't sure but she bought the booklet anyway and meandered on down the mall alone.

A sex toy place caught her eye because of the silk boxer shorts hanging in the window. She chose a pair with a picture of glow-in-the-dark tangled Christmas lights printed on the front. With their past experience with the condoms, he'd think those were funny.

Two presents and neither one of them could be wrapped to go under the tree. Now it was time to get serious and buy something for him that he could unwrap in front of the family. She stopped at a jewelry store and stared at the display in the window. A tie tack caught her eye. Shaped like steer horns, it was something that Jud would really like—and then she glanced over at the wedding bands.

She'd had diamonds the first time around and they hadn't helped things to work. Next time all she wanted was a plain gold band—if there was a next time. An antsy feeling told her that someone was staring at her and she looked up to see the manager of the jewelry store smiling from the other side of the glass.

Then an arm slipped around her waist and Jud was there beside her. Her heart jacked up its speed a few notches and her palms got a little clammy as he pulled her close enough that they were touching from shoulder to thigh.

“I've bought you a couple of private things to be opened when it's just us,” he said. “But I can't find anything that looks right, that tells you what is in my heart and yet can be opened in front of the family.”

“Me too,” she sighed.

“How about that?” He pointed toward a red velvet box with a set of matching gold bands.

“Are you serious?” Fiona asked. “We've barely known each other a month.”

Her heart fluttered and her hands trembled. She should panic or run but all she wanted to do grab hold of Jud and never let him go.

“We could put them on a shelf until you're ready,” he said. “I'm not going anywhere.” He dropped down on one knee right there in front of the jewelry store and held her hands in his. “I think I knew I was in love with you the moment you kicked the crap out of the tires on that old truck you drove into town. And since then all I can think about is you. When I go to sleep, I relive the day we've had. When I wake up, I can't wait to see you again. When we dance, it's like the world disappears. I never want to live a day without you. Fiona Logan, will you marry me?”

It was too soon. She had a decision to make about the Houston job. She couldn't rush into anything. She had to plan things out. She couldn't say yes. It was crazy. It was too fast.

She fell to her knees in front of him, hands still in his, and listened to her heart instead of all the noise in her head.

“Yes,” she said, and all the doubts and fears about decisions disappeared into the air along with the Christmas music.

He let go of one hand and tipped her chin up with the back of his forefinger. When his lips met with hers, they were the only two people on the whole planet and she knew she'd made the right decision even if it was impulsive.

“I didn't plan this,” he whispered softly.

“Neither did I.”

“Let's go in here and buy you an engagement ring. We can wait until summer for a wedding.” He straightened up and pulled her to her feet.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I want everyone in the whole world to know that you're mine,” he said.

“No, I mean, why wait until summer? I don't want a long drawn out affair that will drive us both crazy. Lizzy did that when she was engaged to Mitch. It was horrible. That's not for me.”

“Spring?” Jud asked.

“We could get a license tomorrow and the preacher could perform the ceremony after the Christmas church service. We can have a reception later with all our families there but Dora June and Truman won't miss the wedding that way.”

He picked her up and twirled her around half a dozen times until they were both dizzy with happiness. Everyone near them had stopped to stare, so he yelled, “She said yes!”

The applause echoed off the walls of the mall and several people started a mob humming of the traditional wedding song.

Jud bent her backward in a true Hollywood kiss before he led her into the jewelry store.

“Congratulations.” The store manager grinned.

“We need to look at that set of wedding bands in the window,” Jud said. “We're getting married this week.”

The jeweler held the rings out. “They can be resized by tomorrow afternoon.”

Jud slipped the smaller one on Fiona's finger and the larger one on his. They fit perfectly.