A Cowgirl's Christmas (3 page)

Once he was ready, Court headed down to the lobby to wait for Ren. The lawyer had sounded intelligent and thoughtful over the phone. He’d also demonstrated a certain sensitivity to the situation, cautiously warning Court about the potential for trouble.

Before he’d left, his father had given him a pep talk, too.

“Remember son, this is righting a long-ago wrong. And it’s what Hawksley wanted. It meant a lot to him.”

After a quick study of the lobby, Court stepped outside. The Montana air had a bite, but the sky was blue and sun was still warm as it fell on his face. He squinted and glanced around. On the other side of Front Avenue was a pizza parlor that might come in handy. He doubted he’d need the bridal shop or kids clothing store next to it. But the Palace Movie Theatre could be promising. He hadn’t seen either of the feature films.

He was just checking the show times when an SUV drove up and a man called out from the open window. “Court McAllister?”

“Yup.” He hopped in the passenger side, then shook hand with the dark-haired man in the driver’s seat. Seemed pretty buff for a small town lawyer. Intelligent, cautious look about him. Court could tell Ren Fletcher was sizing him up, too.

“You don’t look much like old Hawksley,” Ren Fletcher commented. “Which most people would take as a compliment.”

“I’m told I take after my mother’s side of the family, as far as looks go.”

“So your old man used to spend his summers at the Circle C?”

Court nodded. “Among the happiest days of his life, going by the stories. I’m looking forward to seeing the place.”

“It won’t disappoint.”

On the drive up, Ren provided a running commentary about the history of the town and when they turned off the main highway onto the road that traversed Paradise Valley, he pointed out the ranches. They’d been driving a good while when he suddenly eased off the accelerator. “This is the Sheenan place. Bill Sheenan was probably one of the people your uncle most disliked in the world.”

“Some sort of land or water dispute?” Court guessed at the most likely cause of friction between two neighboring ranchers.

“They used to pretend it was,” Ren said. “But the real cause of their discord was the good old-fashioned love-triangle.”

“I know Hawksley was crazy about his wife, Beverly. The year she died was the only time he didn’t come up for a visit. And the next time we saw him, he’d changed. Dad said Beverly’s death aged him ten years.”

“Yes, well, Hawksley wasn’t the only man around Marietta who loved Beverly.”

“You mean Sheenan?”

“Bill. Yes. But he died as well this year.” Ren shook his head. “Lots of changes.”

“Do you know who’s taking over that ranch?”

“Not sure. Will is still in probate.”

Court stared out the window, spellbound for a moment by the beauty, the colors, the enormity of it all. Up ahead was the Circle C, comprising all the land up to the snow-capped mountains on the horizon. “Speaking of wills...”

Ren held up his hand. “Not yet, Court. One thing at a time. First, you meet the family.”

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T
he night after her father died was the longest of Callan’s life. Sage made her some soup for dinner, then turned on the country music station and played cribbage with her until Mattie and Nat arrived. The four of them talked for hours, then Mattie and Nat retired upstairs to sleep.

Sage and Callan resumed their cribbage match. Shortly after two a.m. Sage stretched out on the sofa and fell asleep. Callan, who was six inches shorter, took the love seat, and despite being reasonably comfortable, only managed to doze off around three. An hour later she awoke abruptly with her heart pounding and the sense that something terrible had happened.

And of course it had.

She drifted back to sleep eventually, waking just before dawn to the sound of someone making coffee in the kitchen.

She found Mattie at the kitchen sink, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, her thick brown hair tied back from her pretty face. Judging from the dark circles under her eyes, she hadn’t slept well either.

“Morning. Where’s Nat?” Callan slid onto a stool at the island and yawned. A box of half-eaten chocolates that Sage had brought with her last night was open in front of her so she grabbed one. The flavor was lost on her, she might as well have been eating gruel for all she enjoyed it.

“He’s gone out to help with chores.” Mattie was holding a mug under the drip spout of the coffee maker. Once it was full, she passed it to Callan. “Did you get any sleep?”

“A little. How’s Nat doing?” Just this September, Mattie had learned Nat had multiple sclerosis. So far his symptoms had been mild. When he was tired he had a slight limp. If there was pain he never complained.

“About the same.” Mattie gave her a brave smile. “We’re hoping he’ll be one of the lucky ones, but MS is so damned unpredictable.”

Nat was such an active man. Callan knew it would break his heart if he had to stop riding and working on his ranch. She hoped he had many good years left, for both his sake and Mattie’s.

“Nat is so worried I’m going to regret marrying him. But I’d do it again in a heartbeat. He’s such a great guy, Callan, I can’t believe he was living right next door for all those years and I didn’t realize how perfect he was for me.”

“You were married to another man. You wouldn’t let yourself think that.” Her sister was an honorable woman. Callan sipped the aromatic coffee. “This is hitting the spot, but I should go look after the horses.”

Mattie placed her hand over Callan’s. “Why not let Nat handle them for you? It’s going to be a busy day. My girls, and Dani, Eliot and the baby will all be here soon, and then we have the meeting with the lawyer at four.”

“The lawyer and Court McAllister,” Callan reminded her. She was terribly curious about this mystery cousin of theirs. “It’s so strange that in all these years we never met anyone from that side of the family.”

“I agree. It’s almost as if Dad deliberately wanted to keep us apart.”

“Is that coffee I smell?” Sage called out from the family room.

For the rest of that morning Callan was busy with her sisters, first helping Mattie and Sage cook a big breakfast then preparing bedrooms for Mattie’s twins, and Dani, Eliot and baby Bev.

Everyone would be arriving together. Portia had coordinated her travel with Dani and Eliot, while Wren, coming in from Denver, was arriving in Bozeman at around the same time.

“I hope Dani rented a large SUV,” Sage said.

Callan nodded. “This house is going to be filled to the rafters again.” It hadn’t been long since Sage’s wedding, only that had been a much happier time. “Lucky thing you and Dawson didn’t decide on a long honeymoon.”

“Our weekend in Vegas was fun. Dawson didn’t want to be away from Savannah longer than that and I agreed with him.”

No sooner had lunch dishes been slotted into the dishwasher than a horn honked from outside, announcing the arrival of the packed SUV, with Eliot at the wheel.  The baby was crying, and Dani was the first one out, rushing her hellos so she could get inside to feed and change baby Bev.

While Mattie hugged her daughters moments after they emerged from the back seat, Nat and Eliot unloaded suitcases. Callan directed them to the proper rooms then went to help Eliot set up baby Bev’s portable crib in their room. She was still trying to get a read on Eliot, whom she’d first met at Sage and Dawson’s wedding. Eliot was a divorce attorney from Seattle. Charming, funny, but very urban and sophisticated, too.

Callan wasn’t convinced Eliot was the right man for Dani. Though she acted all confident and professional, Dani was more vulnerable than she let on, especially now that she had a baby to look after.

“So how is Dani doing?” she asked, as Eliot quickly set up the crib. Clearly he’d done this before and didn’t need assistance from her. Score one for the divorce attorney.

“She’s amazing. Such a natural mother. Thanks to the nanny she’s hired, she’s even found time to start working from home a few hours a day.”

For Dani, who loved her research, that was a good thing. And since it was Eliot who had found the nanny, Callan supposed he deserved a point for that, as well.

“You’re not bad for a city guy,” she concluded as they left the room together.

Eliot laughed. “So have I won you over, then?”

“Not quite. But you’re getting there.”

Around two o’clock, when Portia and Wren were taking baby Bev for a walk and the guys were outside helping repair the fences, Callan had her first opportunity to talk privately with her three sisters. They were all in the kitchen, sipping coffee and nibbling at chocolate.

“So tell us how it happened,” Dani said, looking awesome in dark jeans and a turquoise cardigan. You would never guess she’d delivered a baby less than two months ago.

Though Callan had described their father’s death to each of them over the phone, she understood that they wanted to hear it together. And she, too, was anxious to air the story again, this time including details she’d forgotten the first time around. So she started at the beginning, including every single thing she could remember.

When she got to the part where her father had collapsed, and she’d found him on the ground, she had to stop. Mattie wrapped her in a hug, then Sage moved in and Dani, too. After a few moments, Callan continued.

“When Dad came to, the first time, he said something. Though he was looking in my direction, it sounded like he was talking to Mom. I’m not sure he even recognized me.”

“What did he say?” Sage asked.

“I kept my word, Bev. I kept my word.” She’d repeated the words to herself so often, she knew she had them exactly right.

“I wonder what his promise was?” Mattie looked thoughtful.

“Did he say anything else?” Dani asked.

“Not until we got him back to the ranch. The paramedics were transferring him to the ambulance, when he opened his eyes, looked right at me and said, ‘bastard.’”

Her sisters looked taken aback.

“Are you sure you heard that correctly?” Sage asked.

Callan nodded.

“Trust Dad to go out with a swear word,” Dani said.

Dani was right. Their father did swear a lot. But why had he chosen that particular word? Callan had been thinking about it a great deal. “I wonder if he wasn’t swearing, but giving me a rather blunt message.”

Mattie’s eyes went round. “What are you suggesting, Callan?”

“Well, thanks to Sage, we all know Mom wasn’t faithful to Dad later in their marriage.” When Mattie’s marriage began falling apart last spring, Sage had shared the story of what she’d seen as a little girl—their mother and neighboring rancher, Bill Sheenan, having oral sex in their parents’ bedroom here at the Circle C. The point of sharing the story had been to let Mattie know that a marriage didn’t necessarily break up because of infidelity.

But Callan thought the example had backfired. Based on the rocky relationship that had existed between her father and mother, she suspected both would have been happier if they had gone their separate ways.

“You think Bill Sheenan got Mom pregnant?” Dani asked.

“It’s possible. And since I’m the youngest child...maybe Bill Sheenan was my real father?”

“No.” All three of the sisters shook their heads.

After a few moments their expressions of denial softened into thoughtfulness.

So Callan knew the idea wasn’t crazy. It might be true.

All these years she’d worked by her father’s side, getting a lot more abuse than praise. She’d tried to be strong and take it. Had worked even harder, to make him proud. But what if he’d never really loved her...because she was another man’s child?

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A
t ten minutes to four Eliot packed Nat, Portia and Wren into the SUV and drove off.  The plan was to have pizza with Sage’s husband Dawson and his little girl Savannah in Marietta, leaving the sisters free to focus on the meeting with the lawyer and Court McAllister.

The house seemed dreadfully solemn to Callan once they’d left. Even baby Bev was quiet, fast asleep since her afternoon feeding.

“I’m going to put on a fresh pot of coffee,” Mattie said.