For Claire, quilting was a great stress reliever. That evening after Mavis went home she went straight to the bunkhouse and started to sew pieces together, making perfect little six-inch squares. As she stacked them up beside the machine, she counted off all the stressful things in her life, and one by one put them in a mental box. It was a coping mechanism—once they were inside the box, then she wouldn’t think about them anymore.
Number one was the heightened feeling of chemistry when Levi was around or even when she thought about him. The electricity between them couldn’t be denied, and she wouldn’t mind exploring it further. Levi was everything she liked in a man. He was kind, trustworthy, honest, and honorable. He liked kids and animals, and he treated a woman with respect. It didn’t matter what a man did for a living if he had all that going for him. But did he feel the same way about her? Until she was sure, she folded those feelings and put them inside the box.
Number two was dreading the day she had to leave the ranch with Zaylie. She couldn’t bear to see the child weep, and yet it would be unavoidable. Until then, she shouldn’t worry so much about it. Into the box all that went as the pile of quilt squares grew to Claire’s right.
Three—the insurance company was sending an adjuster to Buddy’s auto shop tomorrow. They’d only give her what it was worth in today’s market. Since it was six years old, she doubted that it would even bring enough to put a down payment on another vehicle.
Four—she worried about Grant every day. About whether he’d come home this time and how she’d deal with Zaylie if she lost her last remaining parent.
Five—had she made the right decision in staying on at the ranch for another week? Retta had been so good to take her and Zaylie in that she couldn’t refuse to help her, and yet if she’d turned her down, her mental box wouldn’t be nearly as full.
A rap on the door sent Zaylie running to open it and throw herself into Levi’s arms. “I’m so glad you came to see me.”
He hugged her tightly, then set her down and brought out a candy bar from his coat pocket. “I think any little girl who helped Mavis all day should have a treat.”
“Thank you! Snickers. It’s my favorite kind. How did you know?” She held it to her heart dramatically.
“I just guessed,” Levi said with a big smile.
She turned toward Claire. “Can I eat it right now, Aunt Claire?”
“Yes, you can.” Claire’s eyes went to Levi’s. Suddenly the mental box flew open, and things began to surface. “Want a cup of coffee or a glass of tea?” She tried to look away, but his eyes held hers.
“Love one but don’t let me keep you from working. I’ll make a pot and bring you a cup.” He removed his coat and hung it over the back of a kitchen chair as he crossed the floor. “Are you working on the quilt that you designed in the cabin?”
“Yep.” She kept sewing even though her hands were trembling slightly.
“How much does one sell for like what you are making?”
“Depends on whether I have it machine quilted or if I get down the frames and quilt it by hand. Machine quilted will go for about six hundred dollars. If I hand quilt it maybe two to three thousand.”
He stopped in his tracks on the way to the coffeepot. “And how many of these do you sell a week?”
“Two to four,” she answered. “I can top out three a week, but I only hand quilt one or two a year. Most of them are machine quilted.”
“Holy shhh—smoke! You do pretty good at that business,” he said.
“I make about twice what I did when I taught school.” She stopped the machine and cocked her head to one side. “Zaylie, darlin’, will you get the phone. It’s on the dresser in my bedroom.”
As always she took off in a dead run, and then her squeal could have been heard halfway to the Red River. “Daddy, is it really you? Guess what? I’m home on the ranch.”
Levi readied the coffee and sat down at the table across from Claire. “Could we talk?”
“About?” Every hair on Claire’s arms stood up.
“Us?” he said simply.
Her chest tightened, and her palms got clammy. “What about us?”
She didn’t want to hear that their kisses were only flirting and that he’d decided they should only be friends or maybe not even that. Or worse yet that an old girlfriend had popped back up in his life.
“I like you, Claire, and if you’re living close by we could date, couldn’t we?” he blurted out.
“Are you asking me for a date, but only if I live in Sunset? Is Randlett too far to drive?” She sewed up a couple more squares.
“If you lived on the moon and you said that you’d go out with me, I’d figure out a way to get there,” he answered.
His tone said he was serious. The way her heart did a double beat said that she believed him.
“I’d love to take you and Zaylie for ice cream after Sunday dinner this next weekend. If it’s a decent day we could take her to the park afterward to play for a little while. But I really want a real date, as in just me and you, like dinner and a movie.” He picked up a quilt square and studied it.
“I’d like that too Levi.” She pushed her chair back.
A date with Levi, a real one—she wanted to tell someone, but her mother wouldn’t understand, her father was too busy with his new life to talk to her, and she didn’t have a friend that close other than Retta. And there was no way she was calling Retta on the first night of her honeymoon.
“How do you get the corners so even?” Levi picked up a completed square.
“Lots of practice.” How could he be interested in quilt squares when her pulse was racing and she wanted to talk about the date?
He put the piece down and laid a hand over hers. “Claire, will you be my date for the Christmas party?”
She felt like the quarterback of the football team had just asked her to the prom. “I’d love to.”
He did a fist pump with his free hand, and then his cheeks turned slightly red. The pulse in his neck quickened, and he squeezed her hand. “I was afraid you’d say no.”
“Why?” Heat from his hand filled her whole body.
“You don’t know how hard it is for someone like me to ask a girl like you out,” he answered.
“What do you mean, like me?” She moved closer and looked up into his eyes.
“There’s something between us for sure, and I don’t want to let it slip away, but what you see is what you get,” he answered. “I’m not poor, but I’m not rich either and probably won’t ever be. But I like my job and love the Longhorn.”
Before Claire could answer, Zaylie ran out of the bedroom and handed the phone to Claire. “Daddy wants to talk to you. Come on, Levi, you got to see Grumpy. He likes to play now.”
Claire was more than a little disappointed when Levi removed his hand and followed Zaylie to the other side of the room and sat down cross-legged on the floor with her. She dangled a scrap of fabric down the side of the basket, and all three kittens attacked it.
“Take the phone off speaker,” Grant said.
“Yes, sir!” Claire snapped a salute and then hit the right button before she put the phone to her ear.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so bossy, but Zaylie just told me that she wants a daddy like Levi for Christmas. When I asked her what she meant, she said one who stayed home and played with kittens with her. That stung, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you,” he said.
“Forgiven,” she told him. “Every time you leave she misses you more.”
“She told me she’d rather that Santa Claus brought me home for good as getting new boots or even kittens.” Grant sighed. “Are you sitting down?”
“Yes, but please don’t tell me you’re going to get deployed for a year,” she said.
“Nothing that drastic. I’ve been seeing Angela for the past six months. In fact, I proposed on Thanksgiving, and she said yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me? Congratulations, brother. I’m so happy for you.”
“We’re looking to turn in our papers and retire after Christmas. I’ve got a job offer at the casino in Randlett as the security supervisor.”
“Are you kiddin’ me?” Claire gasped. “Why aren’t y’all telling Zaylie and Teresa?”
“We want to tell them in person at Christmas. We should be home on the twenty-third if all goes well here. If we do this, we’ll need a place in Randlett, so could you be on a lookout for us?” Grant said.
Now it was official. Her life was about to turn completely around in this new phase, and it scared the bejesus right out of her.
“There’s no need to look for a place in Randlett,” she told him. “You can have Nanny’s place. It was left to us jointly. I’ve been holding out on you too.” Claire told him about her plans and that she was going to see a house in Sunset the day after tomorrow. “There’s one hitch about Nanny’s house though. We were left everything jointly. I get the car.”
“You drive a hard bargain. You know I love that old Lincoln,” he groaned.
“It’s a fair trade. You get a fully furnished house. I get the car that she drove us to school in the year we lived with her, back before she broke her hip and got dementia. Besides you were ashamed of it back then,” she reminded him.
“That’s before I knew what a gem it was,” he said.
“Your choice.” She’d believe that he was actually going to quit the Air Force when she saw the paperwork.
“You win. You get the car. I’ll take the house,” he agreed. “Just don’t tell Zaylie. I want to be right there when she finds out.”
“You got my word,” she said.
“Word about what?” Zaylie looked up from the corner.
Grant laughed. “I guess we were lucky to get it talked through before she caught on.”
“It’s a miracle,” Claire said. “I miss you, brother. Be safe.”
“You too, and I’ll try to call in a couple of days to hear more about this new venture. Good luck with it, sis. You deserve a life of your own,” Grant said. “Love you.”
“Love you more,” she said, and hit the end button.
“What did you give your word about?”
“That I wouldn’t let it slip what you are getting for Christmas from your dad,” Claire answered honestly. She would tell Retta about this new turn of events as well as the date when she talked to her again.
Zaylie cut her eyes around at Claire. “Do you know what Santa is bringing me too?”
“Nope. That’s between you and Santa,” Claire said.
Levi moved to the sofa. “And Santa never tells us anything about what you ask him for because it’s a secret.”
Claire joined him, glad to sit down. She needed to process everything—date, Grant’s engagement, Christmas. It was too much too fast. She took a deep breath and let it out very slowly.
Zaylie sucked in a lung full of air. “Are we going to be here for Christmas? Will Santa bring my boots here?”
Presents? What on earth would Claire get for her new friends?
“Sure, he will,” Levi said.
Zaylie’s blue eyes twinkled. “I want the kittens from you, Levi, and you have to talk my daddy into letting me have them, Aunt Claire. That’s what I want from y’all.”
When Levi winked at Claire she was reminded of that old country song that talked about with one little wink the troubles all took a hike. That’s the way Claire felt that night. Levi had winked at her, and half her troubles had disappeared. Grant was coming home. He and Angela would live close enough that she could see them often. Zaylie could have her precious kittens, and she wouldn’t throw nearly as big a hissy fit if she got to live with Teresa. Now if she could just figure out what to do about Christmas presents for the folks on the ranch.
Levi would gladly give all three of the kittens to Zaylie and go round up another dozen if he could. If her daddy said no, he’d buy her three matching little stuffed toy black cats that she could name Grumpy, Sleepy, and Happy.
“Read me a story, Levi.” She tugged him toward the bookcase. “You pick it out. My daddy reads to me.”
“I don’t mean to…” he started to say to Claire.
“It’s all right.” She held up a hand. “Grant understands.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “But you have to pick the book out.”
“This one.” She carried Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss over to him and crawled up into his lap. “If you read loud enough my kitties will hear.”
He read the first two pages and she sighed. “I really miss my daddy.”
“He’ll be home soon,” Levi said.
“Don’t read no more.” She shut the book. “I’ll put it back and get one about kitties, and I’ll read it to Grumpy, Sleepy, and Happy.”
She slid off his knees and picked out a favorite. In a few seconds she was sitting by the basket and reading the pictures however she saw them.
“My heart hurts for her,” Levi whispered as he watched her pick up the kittens and put them in her lap so they could see the pictures.
“Mine too,” Claire said. “I know exactly how she feels. I always wanted a father that came home every night for supper.”
“Now I’m ready for my bath, Aunt Claire.” Zaylie laid the book aside and put the kittens back in the basket.
“I should go,” Levi said.
“Stay a while. I’d like to talk to you, if you have the time.” Claire got up and headed toward the bathroom to run water in the tub.
He stood up and paced around the perimeter of the room half a dozen times. What if she said she wanted to back out of the date after all, that she couldn’t commit to even that when Zaylie needed her? He wouldn’t blame her if she did—the child needed at least one stable adult in her life, one who was always there for her and had nothing else in her life. It wasn’t fair to Claire, but then life didn’t come with a written guarantee that it would all be a bed of roses.
Claire was back in a few minutes. She led him to the sofa with her small hand in his. She sat down on the sofa and pulled him down beside her. “Please don’t give those kittens to anyone else. Grant is probably going to get out of the service…” She went on to tell him the rest of the news in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Looks like that little girl has a lot of pull with Santa Claus.” Levi was so relieved that she hadn’t called off their date that he shut his eyes and said a quick prayer.
“Put your worries in my pockets,” Zaylie’s little voice floated out of the bathroom.
“Is she singing Conway?” Levi’s eyes popped open.
Claire nodded. “Grant and I love old country music. Probably because Nanny listened to it all the time when we were living with her that year, and we associate it with good times. That’s what I learned, anyway, when I took psychology for my degree.”
“Do you miss teaching?”
She scooted over and laid her head on his shoulder. “Not a bit. Can I put my worries in your pocket, Levi?”
“Anytime, dawlin’,” he drawled.
“Seven ’Panish angels done took my mommy home,” Zaylie sang out loud and clear.
Levi picked Claire up and sat her in his lap and drew her cheek to his chest. “This is going to change your world for sure. Are you going to be all right?” He tipped up her chin with his thumb and softly kissed her lips.
“Sweet as ’trawberry wine,” Zaylie sang to the top of her lungs.
“Well, that song is sure appropriate right now after that kiss,” he said with a grin. “I thought you said she liked old music. I believe that’s Chris Stapleton.”
“We listen to something other than Conway, Willie, and George Jones occasionally,” she said.
Zaylie was singing, “I wanna rust you with my heart.”
“I’m hoping that she means trust.” Levi laughed out loud and then got serious. “Can I trust you with my heart?”
Claire leaned back slightly and locked eyes with his. “I’ll take good care of it. I promise.”
His lips found hers in a long, hot, lingering kiss that left them both breathless, and then Zaylie sang a line or two of “Jesus Loves Me.”
“She only knows a few words of each song, but she covers what she knows when she’s happy,” Claire whispered.
Levi kept Claire in his arms as he stood up. They swayed together as he hummed parts of several country songs. Claire might be short, but she was just the right height for him to rest his chin on the top of her head and breathe in the remnants of the vanilla scent of her shampoo.
“Aunt Claire, the water is cold,” Zaylie yelled.
Claire kissed Levi with so much heat and passion that it took his breath away again. “Thank you for listening and for the dance. It’s been a long time since…”
Their eyes locked again, and she didn’t need to finish the sentence because he felt the same way. “I know…” he whispered without blinking.
“Aunt Claire,” Zaylie hollered again.
“On my way, baby girl. Pull the plug,” Claire said.
“I done did,” she said.
“I should be going now. Tell Zaylie good night for me. I’ll see you in the morning,” Levi said. “And thank you for the dance.”
“Night,” she whispered.
He crammed his hat down on his head and hunched his shoulders against the bitter cold wind, but his heart was so warm he didn’t notice it nearly as much as he had earlier on his way to the bunkhouse. He hummed-whistled the tune to the song about trusting and hoped that he really could trust Claire with his heart.