Song of the Road (47 page)

A
LIGHT SNOW HAD FALLEN DURING THE NIGHT
, leaving the landscape pristine white. When Mary Lee opened the door of the ranch house, a gust of cold air hit her flushed face. She slipped outside and hurried across the yard to the barn. Pulling aside the heavy door, she entered and closed it behind her. The barn was warm and smelled of hay and animals.

A big buckskin mare neighed a greeting as she passed her stall. Mary Lee paused and rubbed the mare’s nose, then moved on when her husband came out of a stall at the far end and waited for her to join him.

“How did you manage to escape that madhouse?” Jake reached for her and pulled her to him.

“I’ll not even be missed. Trudy is helping María with the dinner. Ocie, in his chair, is chasing Scotty on his tricycle. Deke is watching to make sure Patricia doesn’t crawl into the fireplace or get run over by Ocie or Scotty. Eli is rocking Temple, who is enjoying all the confusion.”

“Well, then, come here to me. We’ve got all of ten minutes to ourselves. Kiss me, sweetheart. Have I told you today that I love you?”

“Uh-huh. This morning, after you woke me up complaining that because it was a holiday you needed extra loving.”

“That’s right, I did. And you gave it to me.”

“It was a chore, but somebody had to do it.” She wound her arms around his neck and stood on her toes to reach his mouth with hers.

After several deep kisses they strolled arm in arm down the center aisle of the barn.

“Did I tell you that Eli talked to me about going to veterinarian school as soon as he graduates this spring?” Jake asked.

“I had a suspicion he would want to do something like that. He spends all his spare time here in the barn.”

“I wasn’t so sure. He spends a good amount of time down at Deke’s garage.”

“Trudy’s pregnant again. She said Deke wants to sell the motor court. He thinks it’s too much work for her.”

“He may be right.”

Mary Lee snuggled in her husband’s arms. “Can you believe it’s been five years since we came here? I wasn’t sure how living with Ocie was going to work out.”

“The old goat sure was stubborn at first,” Jake chuckled.

“He isn’t the same man he was when we came here. He loves being with the children, and they love their Uncle Ocie. I was half mad when he ordered the tricycle for Scotty. He should have waited for Christmas. I won’t have that boy spoiled.”

“Then you’d better do something, little mother. I caught the two of them going through the Sears catalog.” Jake laughed and hugged her.

“Have you been out here all this time looking at that new foal?”

“No, ma’am. I was in the bunkhouse for a while. Cookie’s got four turkeys in the oven and six pumpkin pies on the shelf. Two poker games were going, and there was lots of cussin’ and spittin’. Ben and Tom were playing pool.”

“It was good of you to get the pool table.”

“I like to play too.”

“Now the truth comes out.”

“But I’d rather play with you,” he whispered, and nipped her earlobe.

“Jake Ramero Clawson, if you think I’m going to stay out here in the barn and roll in the hay with you on this Thanksgiving Day, you’d better think again.”

“You’ve done it before.”

“I didn’t have a houseful of company and a dinner to get on the table.”

“How do you feel about rolling around in the bed with me on Thanksgiving night?” They walked to the door and stepped out into the crisp air.

“That’s a different matter altogether. I’ll meet you as soon as the kids are put to bed.”

“It’s a date. Don’t bother to dress.”

“Are you planning on showing me the stars again,
darlin’
?”

“Where you’ll be, there won’t be a star in sight,
darlin’
.” He bent and scooped up a handful of snow.

“Don’t you dare!” she shouted, and raced for the door.