Zaylie awoke in a whiny mood the next morning, and wasn’t her usual zippy self, eager to drag the kittens out of the basket and kiss them.
“I want my daddy.” She sighed. “When is he going to call me?”
Claire sat down on the sofa and pulled Zaylie into her lap. “He will call as soon as he can. How about if after breakfast you call Teresa? We’ve got cell phone service back up. I bet she’s missin’ her mommy as much as you are your daddy.”
“I miss Retta too. Can we call her?” Zaylie asked.
“Let’s wait and let her call us. She might not be feeling too good this early in the morning,” Claire said. “But we might ask Levi if it’s all right for us to go see Little Bit and Hopalong after breakfast.”
Another long sigh and she crawled off Claire’s lap. “Can Levi go with us?”
“If he’s not too busy, maybe he can. You like him, don’t you?” Claire followed her into the bedroom and got out a hot pink sweat suit for her to wear that day.
“I wish my daddy was like him.” Zaylie lifted her arms so Claire could remove her pajamas.
“How’s that?” Claire frowned.
“I wish my daddy was home all the time like Levi is,” Zaylie said. “I wish he didn’t have to go away no more. It hurts me right here.” She pointed to her chest.
“I know, baby girl. Maybe someday he can stay home all the time,” Claire said.
“After Christmas?” Zaylie pushed.
“I don’t know about that, but you can ask him when he calls,” Claire answered.
“Can Santa bring him home and make it so he never has to go away?”
Tears welled up in Claire’s eyes as she remembered wishing the same thing when she was about five years old. “I don’t think he’ll fit in Santa’s bag with those cowboy boots and kittens that you’ve ordered.”
“What if Santa takes out everything but my daddy?” Zaylie asked.
Claire turned around and grabbed a tissue. If and when she ever settled into a permanent relationship, it was going to be with a man whose job did not take him away from home, not even for a few days. She dabbed her eyes, and when she turned around, Zaylie had left her bedroom.
She was sitting on the floor in front of the kitten basket petting Gussie. “You are a good mommy. I had a mommy, but the angels took her away.”
Claire reached for another tissue. If there was a Santa and if he could grant wishes, then she wouldn’t ask for anything for herself—she’d ask him to bring Grant home for good so that Zaylie could have at least one full-time parent.
Levi had already made coffee when Claire and Zaylie reached the ranch house that morning. He poured a cup and handed it to Claire, then ran a hand through his unruly hair. The thought of touching it herself, combined with the sparkle of mischief in his green eyes, put a little extra speed in her pulse.
“So how’s the princess this morning?” he asked.
“Whiny, but we’ll get through it,” Claire whispered.
Just then Beau barked at the kitchen door. Zaylie ran to let him and Mavis in. “I remember you. You’re Benjy’s mama.”
“Yes, I am, and you are Zaylie. We’re going to get to know each other real good this next little while. You think you can help me cook and do some cleanin’?” Mavis asked.
“Yes, I can.” She nodded seriously. “But I have to talk to my friend Teresa too. And right now I need to tell Beau all about my friend.” She followed the dog out of the kitchen.
“I reckon that would be fine.” Mavis hung up her coat. “You boys haven’t started breakfast?”
“Naw, we was waitin’ on you.” Levi crossed the room and hugged her. “Want me to get the cast iron skillets out?”
“That’s a start.” Mavis put a bibbed apron over her red sweat suit. “Heard from Cade and Retta?”
Levi nodded. “He called last night. They’d checked in at the hotel in Dallas and would be flying out about noon today.”
“Shall I make biscuits, Mavis?” Claire offered.
“That would be great,” Mavis said. “Is this little friend of Zaylie’s got a daddy that’s in the service too?”
“No, a mama. And she’s on the same team as Zaylie’s dad,” Levi answered.
“No wonder Zaylie and Teresa are such good friends. Did you ever have a friend like that, Claire?” Mavis asked.
Claire shrugged. “Not really. My situation was different. We weren’t at one post as long as Grant has been. I keep thinking that they’ll move him, but so far they’ve kept him and Angela, that’s Teresa’s mother, in the same place for four years.”
“I can’t even imagine moving around so much. I wouldn’t like it at all,” Levi said.
“Me either. I was born in Sunset and will probably die there,” Mavis said.
“Good mornin’.” Justin came into the kitchen with water droplets from his shower still hanging on his dark hair.
“Mornin’,” Claire and Levi said at the same time.
Levi poured a cup of coffee and handed it off to him. “I’m going to see if I can cheer her up a little. I don’t suppose she even knows just how dangerous some of those missions her daddy goes on are, does she?”
Claire shook her head. “And I hope that he retires before she gets old enough to realize.”
He shook his head slowly. “I can’t imagine the worry that you have when he leaves, him bein’ your only sibling and you havin’ the responsibilities that you do.”
She smiled up at him. “Appreciate the roots that you have. Don’t ever take them for granted.”
“Listen to her, son,” Mavis said. “That’s good advice.”
The noise of a chair dragged across the floor startled her. She whipped around to see Zaylie crawling up in it and reaching for the carton of eggs. “Is it time to crack the eggs?”
“I think it just might be, and I thought that we’d show Mavis the quilt top we designed in the cabin after we eat. Would you like that?”
“Okay.” She sighed. “Maybe Daddy will call and I can show him the colors.”
“I’m sure he would like that,” Claire said around the lump in her throat.
Levi got out to the cabin where Claire and Zaylie had taken shelter and surveyed the damage to her van. There was no way the thing was worth fixing. He folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the other side of the big scrub oak tree Claire had crashed into. He played the old “what if” game while he waited on Buddy to arrive with his tow truck.
What if Claire did buy the Harris house? That would mean she’d be close by, and he could ask her out.
What if he did ask her on a real date? What if she’d rather just be friends?
What if she said yes? Would that lead to a real relationship?
What if he had to give up his Saturday-night partying with Justin? It hadn’t been so hard to be a man down when Cade fell in love with Retta, but that would leave poor old Justin all alone for the bar hopping.
What if he fell in love with Claire? She was a successful businesswoman and might think a fling was all right, but anything long term with a ranch foreman—well that might be another matter.
He was so deep in thought that he didn’t even hear Buddy’s truck until the man leaned on the horn and startled him.
“I thought you might be frozen to death.” Buddy laughed as he got out of the truck. “You wasn’t movin’ a muscle.”
A short, round guy with close-cut hair and wearing mustard yellow coveralls, Buddy was always happy and had a smile that covered his round face. He’d been like that in high school, and folks thought he’d go on to college to play football like Cade had since he had speed and power in spite of his height. But his father died right before graduation, and Buddy settled into the auto repair business like it was what he’d always wanted to do.
“Hey, are you as ready to see the last of this snow as I am?” Buddy waved as he got out. “Man, alive! Was anyone hurt in this wreck?”
“Just some bruises, and if another snowflake don’t fall this whole winter, I’m good with that. I’m not dreamin’ of a white Christmas,” Levi said.
“Me either.” Buddy walked around the van, shaking his head the whole time. “That was one lucky lady drivin’ this thing. If she’d been goin’ any faster, that engine would have wound up in her lap. Talk has it that y’all were sharing a hymnbook at church. Has the lady caught your eye?”
Levi clamped a hand on Buddy’s shoulder. “You know how old men and women love to gossip.”
Buddy chuckled. “Yep, I do. They have to be inside durin’ this kind of weather, so they keep the phone lines hot. I had to go take care of a wreck yesterday mornin’, so I missed church, but my aunt was there, and she said that Claire is real cute. She thought that we’d make a real sweet little couple and I should ask her out. You know Aunt Maribeth. She’s always tryin’ to get me to settle down. But I don’t want to get in the way of something you got goin’. But then again, if you ain’t got an eye for her, you should ask me to dinner today so I can meet her. I’m tired of Saturday-night bar dates. I want someone permanent in my life.” In addition to his ready smile, Buddy loved to talk, and it was hard to get a word in edgewise when he got started on something.
When Buddy finally stopped to draw in another breath, Levi said, “Okay, okay, I might have some chemistry with her, but that’s confidential. I don’t want to jinx it by sayin’ too much.”
“Your secret’s safe with me, but if you change your mind, I expect a phone call invitin’ me to stop by for dinner. I’ll get all cleaned up in my Sunday best and bring her roses and champagne,” Buddy said.
“You got it.” Levi had never had a jealous streak until that moment. Just thinking of Claire with Buddy or anyone else made him feel like he was turning bullfrog green. “Now let’s get this van hooked up so you can haul it away.”
“Sounds good to me.” Buddy got back into the tow truck and backed it up to the tail end of the van.
In only a few minutes, he’d pulled the vehicle away from the tree and was on his way back toward Sunset with it. He waved out the window at Levi and was gone, leaving only a scar on the old scrub oak tree and a bushel of unanswered questions in Levi’s mind.
It was close enough to noon that he went on back to the house to find Zaylie waving at him through the window and holding up a rag of some kind.
“Levi!” She ran to him as he hung up his coat. “Look at the quilt I’m makin’ for the kitties. Me and Mavis done dusted the livin’ room and she said I’m a good duster and that my quilt is pretty.” She held up the colorful rag she’d been waving.
He squatted down to her level and eyed them carefully. “I’d say that those little black kittens are really lucky to have you as their friend.”
She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “Aunt Claire says we can go see Little Bit and Hopalong after we eat. Can you go with us?”
“You bet I can, and they’ll be so happy to see you. I was thinkin’ that today we might turn Little Bit out into the corral,” Levi told her, and looked up at Claire who was putting the last touches on dinner.
“Y’all need to wash up while I get dinner on the table,” she said.
“Where’s Mavis?”
“Right here.” She came out of the pantry with a jar of home-canned peaches in her hand. “Did Buddy come get that wrecked car?”
“Yep, he did. And he agrees with me that it’s totaled. He also does a little resell business on the side. Fixes up cars, both newer ones and vintage ones. We could go there one evening if you’re interested.”
“I’m not interested in buying a car right now. I can drive Nanny’s Lincoln until I decide what I want to buy next,” Claire said.
Zaylie grabbed Levi by the hand and pulled him toward the bathroom. “We can wash our hands together. Mavis made noonels and I love ’em.”
“Chicken and noodles,” Claire translated. “With leftover sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving.”
He couldn’t remember ever sitting at the table on the ranch without either or both of the Maguire brothers being there, so he stopped in his tracks when he and Zaylie reentered the kitchen. Should he take a place at one end or the other or sit in his customary spot? Finally, he pulled out a chair for Claire and took his normal seat across the table from her.
“It’s good to have you at the table with us, Mavis. I’ve missed you,” Levi said.
“Mavis used to eat here?” Zaylie asked.
“She took care of the cookin’ until this past summer. And she supervised the housekeeper that comes in every week. When Skip was on the ranch he ate with us too. Want me to dip up the noodles?”
“To tell the truth I missed bein’ here, but Benjy needs me, and I can’t be in two places at once. And yes, son, you can dip the noodles for us.” Mavis passed Zaylie’s bowl to him.
“Where’s Justin?”
“Right here.” He rushed in and sat in his normal place, leaving Cade’s spot empty.
“I will say the blessin’.” Zaylie bowed her head. “Jesus, will you tell Santa Claus to bring my daddy home forever? That’s what I want more than cowboy boots. And thank you for the noonels. Amen.”
Levi caught Claire’s gaze when he looked up, and the tears in her eyes mirrored his. If it were in his power to answer Zaylie’s prayer, he would have done it in a heartbeat.
“How much do you want, Miz Zaylie?” he managed to say around the lemon-size lump in his throat.
“Half a bowl please,” Claire answered for her.
Levi dipped it up and thought that maybe he should say the prayer at the next meal. He could ask Jesus to tell Santa Claus to bring him a woman who’d be happy with being only a ranch foreman’s wife.