Western Kisses – Old West Christmas Romances (Boxed Set) (19 page)

Lottie took only a moment to gather her thoughts and make sure she had her pouches and all of her clothing gathered. A heavy, dusky atmosphere hung around her. Inside the house, a year of being locked up and untouched by moving air left behind a smell of decay, and as cold air entered the house, the boards creaked like an old man standing up after a long time in a chair.

“Okay, Lottie,” she said into the darkness. Hearing a voice – even if it was her own – gave her some much needed comfort. “If you were a cellar, where would you be?”

In the day’s first good turn of fortune, she didn’t have to search long. Only a few feet from the crashed-in back door, she saw the telltale sign of brown pig-iron. Rough, heavy, sturdy, and almost unbreakable, the rough metal sent a thrill up her arm when she wrapped her hands around the handle, bent low and groaned when she wrenched it open.

A powerful, sucking gust of wind slid past Lottie when she broke the cellar’s seal. She stood atop the stairs that led down into the storage space for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the lack of light as best she possibly could. Deep inside it, she saw a sliver of silver coming through what must have been a window.

Advancing slowly, she avoided a cobweb and something that squished under her foot. She drew in a lungful of wet, cool, and yet somehow still dusty air before finally putting her feet on the floor of the cellar. Countless cans and jars lined the shelf in front of her.

In the shimmering moonlight, she could barely make out anything she grabbed, Lottie took one in her hand and tried to break the top, but with her frozen fingers and lack of sight, she couldn’t manage. Instead, she bashed it on the floor and dropped to her knees, dipped her finger in the sticky mess and smiled as the taste of sweet, jellied strawberries filled her mouth.

Moments later she emerged from the house and stared at the moon. Day was fully gone, but just as it gave her a glimpse of the cellar, the moon lit her way as far as the road. Once she was there, it was only a matter of will and strength that she made it home.

“Well Ernie,” she said as she pushed open the barn door and began stashing her jars along with the rest of the scavenged goods she’d found and lugged back in secret over the past few days. “This looks to be quite a feast after all.”

She stacked jars of beans, potatoes, other savory vegetables, and a wide array of sweets as well. Softened sweet potatoes, several cans of the strawberries she’d tasted, and even apple and some cherry that had probably been purchased elsewhere. Just as she finished, and arranged straw up over the gathered items, she heard a noise in the doorway behind her.

“How have you not frozen to death?” Colton said, helping her to her feet and warming her arms by rubbing them. “You’ve been out here quite some time, young lady.”

“Oh,” she said with a sly grin. “I must have lost track of time. Talking with the horses can do that to me. Is pa all right?”

“Of course,” Colton said as he wrapped his arm around Lottie’s shoulder. “He took a nip of whiskey and went to sleep about an hour ago. I was waiting up for you, decided to come out here and see what you could possibly be up to.”

“Nothing much,” Lottie said with a smile. “Just getting some things together, ordering the barn some.”

As they made their way back to the house, Colton shivered visibly. Wearing nothing more than long-johns, a flannel shirt and denim trousers, he was terribly unprepared for the cold he found outside.

“You might have to warm
me
up if I go out in that weather again. I don’t know how you do it. Guess my blood’s too thin for these sorts of winters.”

The two of them walked the rest of the distance in silence, but Lottie couldn’t stop grinning. She didn’t know if she’d manage when she started gathering all the things she could find for a Christmas dinner, but as she finally entered the warmth of the house, she knew she’d done it.

“Have you seen Lottie?” William asked Colton, turning around in his chair that faced the window. “Still off with the horses?” He blew on his coffee and took a sip.

The three days leading up to Christmas were busy for Lottie. She was forever going in and out of the house, even in the worst weather. Her excuse was always the same,
“I’m going to tend the horses”
though after the third trip to brush them before noon, neither her father nor Colton were convinced.

Two of the drift nets had failed, leaving huge mounds of snow between the house and the barn, but Lottie never seemed bothered by them. She’d traveled back and forth so many times in the past few days that she had cut her own path.

Colton shook his head. “I was up early today. I got myself all twisted up in my blankets or some such thing and bumped into the—”

Snorting a laugh, Will tried his best to calm himself before he hyperventilated.

“Laugh and laugh,” Colton said with a grin. “I’ve got no regrets. I myself don’t find the humor in other people’s pain.”

The feigned offense got Will laughing even harder, and before long he was doubled over, squeezing his knees and almost turning purple. Colton watched, open mouthed, at the spectacle of this normally collected, dignified old farmer absolutely honking at him.

“Glad I could entertain, I suppose,” he said.

Just then, the back door clanged against the kitchen wall, and both men were up to their feet in an instant.

“Stay out there!” Lottie shouted. “I’m fine! Don’t come back here, I’ve got a surprise for you two!”

The two men looked at one another, and when William finally stopped chuckling, they shrugged and returned to their seats. Shortly after, a smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and something else neither of them could name wafted from the kitchen.

“What in the world is that, you suppose?” Will asked Colton as he dealt a hand of poker. “Aces wild, by the way.”

“Who plays with wild cards?” Colton laughed. “But to the point, I haven’t any idea what that smell is, though it certainly is making my mouth water something fierce.”

“I hope you’re both thirsty,” Lottie said from the kitchen. “Or at least cold.”

A tray with two small mugs on it rattled as she entered.

“What’s all this? Oh wow,” Colton said, swooning. “That smell is so—”

“Wait until you taste it. I had a little myself, but... well, you’ll see.”

Colton and her father both took a sip. Will whistled, the way he does when he’s too impressed to say anything useful.

“How did you,” Colton took another sip. “What
is
this?”

“Spiced wine,” Lottie said. “I found it in the Jenkins’s cellar. That’s where all the cinnamon and everything else came from, too. Well, most of it. Some came from other farms, but... Oh,” she added. “Stir it with the stick. Just like that, take the cinnamon and...”

“Lottie,” William said, “I can’t believe this. You just found all this? When?”

She grinned. “It doesn’t take
that
long to brush horses. Besides, I promised a nice dinner, didn’t I? I wanted to celebrate,” she trailed off. “Well... you two,” she said, blushing.

Her father smiled, and Colton just stared, clearly amazed. He took another sip, and then set his cup on the table. “I want to,” he chewed on his bottom lip. “What I mean to say is that I do too.”

Lottie and William stayed silent, waiting for him to gather his courage. She’d never seen Colton so flustered before. William had, but only once.

“I can’t... thank you both kindly for not laughing,” he said. “This has been the year of my life that’s never seen equal. Everything that happened, from my brother to everything else, it seems like it came to a point.”

He coughed and soothed himself by draining his cup.

Colton’s nervousness came out in a laugh. “You’ll have to excuse me. I’m not much one for speeches.”

Lottie walked across the room and put her hand on his arm, squeezing softly. “Take your time,” she said.

William cleared his throat. “If it helps anything, I can offer a little bit of a toast. Lottie, why don’t you get Colton another fill and some for yourself while you’re at it?”

When she returned, she had only the one mug of wine. “I better hold off for right now,” she said. “I’d hate to be muddled while I cooked.” She smoothed down her pleated apron and stood close enough to Colton that she felt his heat against her side.

“Hum, well, all right then,” William said. “I want to make a toast to you two. Without Lottie, my life would be horribly empty, and without you, Colton, I wouldn’t have seen my dear daughter smile anywhere near so much this year.”

The two men clinked their glasses together then drank.

“I don’t know about all that,” Colton said, looking down.

“It’s true, it really is. No reason to be bashful about anything,” Lottie said. She felt so warm that she forgot she hadn’t been drinking. A wave of comfort slid down her back that she quickly realized was Colton’s hand.

He nodded. “Well, I suppose what I want to say is that I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve never had two people just take me in for no good reason and make sure I was fed and warm. I don’t quite know what to say that is equal to what the two of you have done for me.”

Colton’s hand started shaking on Lottie’s back, but when she reached back and patted him, he calmed. “No reason to say anything,” she said. “We both know how you feel.”

“No, no, that won’t do at all,” Colton said. “You two gave me something I never knew I lost. Between the two of you, I learned what it was to have a,” he gulped, “a father. And,” his voice went wobbly. He had to clear his throat again.

“Thank you, Colton,” Will said. “I don’t think you need any fathering, but if that’s how you see me, I’m proud to be such.”

“And Lottie,” Colton said, nodding to Will in appreciation. “Lottie, I... I don’t know quite how to say this, but you’ve taught me what it is to...” he gulped again. “What it is to fall in love.”

Lottie gasped, smiling so brightly the corners of her mouth ached.

Will gave Colton a knowing nod that said more than any words ever could.

“Both of you, you’ve made me feel like I have a family. A family I never really had,” he said, curling his fingers against Lottie’s back.

She gave him another squeeze, patted his arm, and pulled away. “I’ve got to tend the pots,” she said with a smile.

“Pots? Lottie, what did you get yourself up to?”

“You’ll see,” she said. “I’m not sure how it’ll all turn out, but I think you’ll like it. I found some yams, some beans, corn, rice, peppers... it’s all a little thrown together, but I think it’ll turn out okay. The only thing I’m missing is—”

“A bird? I can’t believe you didn’t notice what’s sitting on the back porch.” Colton grinned down at her. “It’s not the biggest turkey I’ve ever seen, but it was a stroke of luck that I found it anyway. Hard to see those things in the middle of the night.”

“You old dog you,” William said with a wheezing laugh. “When did you go far enough south to find a
turkey
?”

“Man’s got to have his secrets,” Colton said. “No, I had my suspicions about Lottie’s plans when I found a couple of jars of candied plums in the barn. I suppose it may have been an ill-informed decision, but I took Ernie out last night and hunted up that tom along the brush-line down south about ten miles or so.”

“Now I’m the one freeloading,” William laughed. “I can’t believe you two.”

With his arm around Lottie’s waist, Colton pulled her close. “It’s the least I could do for you two. I wanted to do something special to show you how much I appreciate the kindness you’ve shown me.”

“I just can’t believe it!” Lottie was almost in tears she was smiling so broadly. “It all came together, didn’t it?”

For a moment the three of them stood in silence.

“There’s... one thing though,” Colton said as soon as Lottie pulled away to go back to the other end of the house. “I lied about something else.”

Her face suddenly darkened. “Colton, what could it be? Nothing serious? I hope it’s...”

“My uncle,” he said. “The ranger? Preston Grant? He’s not my uncle. He’s my step-father, and he’s had it out for me ever since...”

Outside, something creaked and whined with a pained noise as the wind picked up.

“But if he wasn’t,” Lottie swallowed. “What are you saying?”

“This is hard for me to say,” he said.

“Get it out!” Lottie spun around. “You told me we were finished with the lies and whatever else. You said—”

Colton put his hands up, deflecting her rage. “I did, and... I’m sorry. But, I just,” he let out a sigh. “I never thought it would matter is all.”

“Then why are you saying anything now? We can’t do this, whatever it is, if we’re not going to be honest with each other.”

He thought for a moment. “I’m saying it because I
want
you to know me. I want you to be a part of my life like no one else ever has. Lottie,” he grabbed her hand.

Her voice grew tense and she clenched his shirt. “Then why do you keep lying to me, Colton?” she said. “Why can’t you just be honest with me? With us? What is it about me that keeps you from being open?”

“Because,” he said, taking a deep breath.

“Why?” she shouted. “Why can’t you just tell the—”

“Because I don’t want to admit to anyone that my own father blames me for killing my brother, okay? Because I can’t handle that!”

Lottie’s mouth fell open. Colton took a deep breath, held it in and turned away.

“And I didn’t want that to get between us. I didn’t... mean for this to happen. Any of it.”

Sniffing, Lottie turned away from him, going back to the kitchen. “Well, Colton, it did.” She stuffed her hands in the pockets on her apron.

~*~

Hours passed with only a few words between Colton and William as Lottie continually clanked and clanged away in the kitchen, never once emerging. When she first disappeared to the back of the house, Colton offered to pluck the turkey, but she just put her hand on his chest and shook her head.

Of all the things he’d done, all his regrets, somehow, the one he wanted most to reverse was coming clean on a lie. If only he’d kept quiet, if only he’d
stayed
dishonest about this one thing that, thinking about it, Colton knew never mattered, they’d all be sipping wine and laughing.