Levi awoke to find Zaylie’s big blue eyes boring holes into his face. She stood back a few feet, but she wasn’t blinking as she cocked her head to one side and then the other as she studied him. It was even more unnerving than the hard north wind that rattled the windows. Who was she and how in the devil had she gotten into his bedroom? He glanced toward the ceiling, realized he was on a narrow bunk bed, and then it all came back to him in a flash. He shifted his eyes toward the window at the foot of the bed only to see nothing but blowing snow continuing to build up on the sash.
He bumped his head on the top bunk when he tried to sit up, but the little girl didn’t budge from her spot or look away. It was as if she saw straight into his soul. Grabbing his head with both hands, he moaned as he eased his way to a standing position.
“That hurted, didn’t it?” she said.
“Yes, it did,” he answered.
“It’s time for a snack,” she told him. “We get a snack after we rest our eyes.”
On a ranch the size of Longhorn Canyon, it wasn’t uncommon to lose cell phone power at the end of a day, so he’d learned to carry a simple pocket watch. Glad that he had, he worked it up out of his pocket and checked the time.
“Three o’clock. You’re probably right about snack time,” he said.
Claire shot up like a wind-up doll and was on her feet in a split second. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
Zaylie spun around and threw her arms around Claire’s waist. “We all rested our eyes. It’s snack time now. He said so.”
“How about crackers with peanut butter and hot tea?” Levi asked.
Zaylie raised one shoulder slightly. “I like milk better.”
“Sorry, princess, we don’t have any milk in the cabin,” he said. “But we do have tea bags and sugar.”
Zaylie sighed. “Got any candy bars?”
“Zaylie Noelle Mason!” Claire scolded.
Levi put another log on the fire and then crossed the room. “I see there’s a few cans of green beans if you’d rather have that for a snack.”
Zaylie’s nose curled as she shook her head from side to side. “Crackers and tea is fine.”
“And?” Claire coaxed.
Zaylie sighed. “And thank you.”
Levi brought an old blue granite coffeepot from the cabinet, filled it with water, and put it on the stove to heat. “I’m glad that we’ve still got runnin’ water and the pipes haven’t frozen. I can’t remember the last time we had a snow storm this early in the fall and without much warning.” He moved things around in the cabinets to see if there might be something Zaylie would like better than crackers and peanut butter. He almost shouted when he found a package of chocolate cookies and the expiration date was two weeks away. “Look what I found.” He held them up.
“Yay!” Zaylie pumped her fist in the air. “My favorite. You sure there’s not any milk up there?”
“Haven’t found any yet,” he said.
“Did you ride here?” Zaylie asked.
“I was on the four-wheeler tryin’ to find a bull that got out of the corral. When I realized I didn’t have enough gas to get back to the house, I decided to hole up here until the storm passed by.”
It would sure help if Claire would either add to the conversation or else stop looking at him like that.
Like how is she lookin’ at you? asked that aggravating voice in his head.
Like she’s afraid I’m going to hurt her or Zaylie, he answered himself as he found the box of tea bags, and right beside them was instant hot chocolate.
“So how far is your ranch house from where we are right now?” Claire led Zaylie to the table.
“A couple of miles,” he answered. “The Longhorn Canyon covers a pretty good chunk of land.”
Zaylie crawled up into the pink chair. “Can this be my forever chair?”
“Of course it can. Pink is for a princess, right?” Levi asked.
Zaylie giggled. “It’s my color, but I’m not a real princess. I’m just a little girl.”
“So you have a color and it’s pink. Do you like unicorns or dragons better?” Levi opened the package of cookies and set them in the middle of the table.
“Unicorns with pink wings and glitter on their horns.” Zaylie picked up a cookie.
“I didn’t find any milk, Miz Zaylie, but look at what was hiding at the back of the cabinet.” Levi showed her the box of hot chocolate mix. “Would you rather have this than tea?”
“Yes!” Zaylie squealed. “I love hot chocolate, and Aunt Claire makes the bestest in the whole world.”
“And it comes out of a package just like that.” Claire finally smiled.
“I bet the unicorns put it here while we took a nap because I sure didn’t see it when I was makin’ hoecakes for dinner.” Levi dumped a package into Zaylie’s cup and then raised an eyebrow at Claire. “Tea or chocolate?”
“I’d rather have tea. No sugar though.” Her eyes moved to the window. “It’s hard to judge time when it’s like this.”
He pulled the pocket watch out and took a couple of steps toward the table to show her. “Three fifteen.”
“Seems like it should be later. If I had my new fabric in here, I could at least be cutting out squares or patterns. I’m not used to being still,” she said.
“What?” Levi raised an eyebrow.
“Aunt Claire makes quilts,” Zaylie said. “And we got lots of stuff in the van.”
“I was just thinkin’ out loud,” Claire said.
“So you do pretty good selling quilts?” Levi asked as he made a cup of tea for Claire and hot chocolate for himself.
“I make a living at it. I probably won’t ever be a millionaire, but we pay the bills and have what we need,” she answered. “They are custom designs and usually one of a kind.”
“Do you have a store as well as this Etsy place?” He set Zaylie’s hot chocolate in front of her. “Be careful now. It’s really hot.”
“No, I just sell online,” Claire answered.
Her voice had a sweet Southern lilt to it that appealed to him so much he could’ve listened to her read the entire dictionary and not gotten bored. Add that to the fact that she was so danged cute with those green eyes and delicate face, and he wanted to gather her up in his arms and protect her.
“I noticed that Benjy left one of his sketch pads on the top bunk. I guess you could design new patterns while we wait.” He went back to the cabinet and picked up Claire’s tea and his hot chocolate to carry to the table.
“That’s a great idea.” She took a sip of the tea. “You don’t think he’d mind if I used a few pages?”
“Who’s Benjy?” Zaylie reached for a second cookie.
“He’s a young boy who is an amazing artist,” Levi answered.
Zaylie took a sip. “Yep, just like Aunt Claire makes for me. Can I dip my cookie in it?”
“I always dip mine.” Levi set the mugs down before he pulled out his chair. “But you better ask your aunt about that. She’s the real boss.”
Thank you, Claire mouthed toward Levi and then turned to Zaylie. “Yes, you may dip your cookies but only a couple more.”
“Daddy is the real boss,” Zaylie informed him seriously. “But when he’s gone, he lets Aunt Claire be the boss.” She dipped a third cookie into the hot chocolate and quickly put it into her mouth. “This is so good, and it’s not cold.”
Levi raised an eyebrow toward Claire, but before she could explain, Zaylie piped up again. “I’m glad that Levi found us and can cook.”
“Hey, I can cook,” Claire said.
“Yep, but he’s not afraid to turn on the stove,” Zaylie said.
“I’ve been replaced with nothing more than a cup of warm chocolate.” Claire sighed.
Levi shook his head. “I could use some help in the kitchen. I’ve exhausted my knowledge in the make-it-out-of-what’s-here department. The cabinets aren’t well stocked this time of year, so if we’re stuck here another couple of days feel free to help me out.”
“And after we get rescued?” Claire asked.
“Then we’ll take your car to a repair shop and you can stay on the ranch until it’s fixed,” he said.
“Oh no!” She held up a hand. “Thank you for the offer, but I can’t impose on you and your friends like that. I’ll just go to the nearest hotel until the weather lets up. I have another car in Randlett that I can drive for a while,” she said.
“Not on these roads you won’t. It’s at least twenty miles to the nearest motel, and that’s not a decent one. You’ve landed in the country, lady. Matter of fact, you’ve kind of landed in the backwoods of the country. We’d be glad to put you up until your van is fixed.”
“What about turkey day and Miz Franny?” Zaylie groaned.
“Don’t worry, sweet girl.” Claire reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind Zaylie’s ear. “That’s not until the end of the week. The snow will all melt, and our van will be fixed; we’ll be home long before that. We’ll call Miz Franny as soon as I get my phone charged.”
“Good,” Zaylie said. “I don’t want to eat soup on turkey day.” She looked around the cabin. “We got to have chocolate pie and banana pudding.”
Levi nodded. “I agree. And mashed potatoes and giblet gravy.”
“And banana pudding.” Zaylie made a motion with her hand to include everything they’d mentioned.
“What’s your favorite side dish? Mine is sweet potato casserole,” he answered.
“Macaroni and cheese is my favorite vegabull.” Zaylie picked up another cookie.
“Mac and cheese is not a vegetable,” Claire said.
“It is in my make-believe world,” Zaylie declared.
“Mac and cheese is not a vegetable in any world,” Claire informed her.
The woman might be small, but with her sass, Levi wouldn’t argue with her, even if she didn’t tote around a pistol in her purse.
“Uh-huh,” Zaylie argued.
Claire rolled her eyes and then brought them to rest on Levi.
“Don’t look at me. I thought it was too,” he said with a big grin on his face. “And I love mac and cheese. Too bad we don’t have the stuff to make it.” It wouldn’t take that child long to completely wrap him around her tiny pinky finger. “Anyone for more chocolate or tea?”
“No, but I’d sure like to see that sketchbook,” Claire answered.
Zaylie clapped her hands. “Can I draw too?”
“Sure you can.” Levi brought it down from the top bunk.
Expecting Claire to work on her designs at the table, he picked up a well-read Louis L’Amour novel from the fireplace mantel and sank down on the sofa to give her plenty of space. She fumbled around in a tote bag and found a couple of pencils and a small ruler. Then she sat down cross-legged on the floor between him and the fireplace. She tore one sheet from the book and gave it to Zaylie along with a pencil, and then she went to work.
Levi read a couple of pages, but he couldn’t keep his attention on the book. He kept peeking over the top to see what Claire was doing. She’d measure and work, sigh and erase, and then repeat the same thing.
“What’re you trying to draw?” he finally asked.
“This house to show my daddy,” Zaylie said before Claire could answer. “Aunt Claire can’t take a picture of it ’cause her phone ain’t workin’.”
“I see.” Levi smiled and nodded toward Claire. “And what about you?”
“A log cabin pattern using yellows and blues. It will remind me of this experience.”
“And how’s that?” Levi asked.
“We’re in a cabin,” she answered shortly.
“I got that much,” he shot back.
“Blue is a cold color and yellow is warm. So the blue is for the snow, and the yellow is the fire that keeps us warm,” she explained.
“Why are you erasing so much?” he asked.
It looked like an abstract painting to him, done in black and white. He cocked his head to one side and frowned. Maybe it was more like a stained-glass window with no color. How on earth that could be a quilt someday was beyond his comprehension.
“I’m trying to decide how big it will be and where the colors will fit best. Do I want them to be a small size, like maybe for a throw instead of a full-size or king-size quilt or larger? And do I start with yellow in the middle to illustrate hope at the center or with the snow in the middle and then the fire like it really happened?”
“In our part of the world, this kind of weather won’t last very long. Fire melts snow, so it could go either way you want to design it,” he said.
“You aren’t much help,” she said.
“Well, darlin’, designin’ quilts ain’t my expertise,” he told her.
“Evidently not,” she said.
He bit back the grin that tickled the corners of his mouth. “Sassy, ain’t you?”
“Been accused of it a few times. I’ve decided that this should be a king-size quilt. Darker blue calico in the middle with the colors lightening by degrees out to a blue and yellow print just before a more solid yellow at the edges.”
The only thing that Levi knew about quilts was that they kept him warm in the winter, and he knew even less about design and art. He went back to his book, but he still couldn’t focus on it. Finally, he laid it on the end table.
“So do y’all live in town or out in the country?” he asked.
“In town.” She didn’t even look up from the sketch pad.
“We were up that way last year to a bull sale. Bought a big old Angus that’s been a good breeder for us,” Levi said.
Zaylie looked up from her drawing. “What’s a breeder?”
“Well, that would be a—” He stammered trying to find a simple way to answer a four-year-old. With those big blue eyes staring at him, he couldn’t begin to find the words to explain in simple terms. “Uh…”
“It’s a bull or a boy cow,” Claire explained simply.
“Okay.” Zaylie went back to drawing.
“Thank you,” Levi whispered.
“Always keep it simple when it comes to explainin’ anything to a four-year-old.” Claire nodded and turned her attention to Zaylie. “Are you going to put a sun in your picture?”
“Nope, there ain’t no sun out there, so I can’t draw it. And”—Zaylie frowned—“I’m almost five.”
“Yes, you are,” Claire said.
“I’m going to draw lots of snow, but now I’m going to turn it over and draw the inside of the cabin,” Zaylie said.
“Great idea,” Claire told her. “Do you plan on putting people in your picture?”
“Maybe,” Zaylie answered.
“Then please don’t make me shorter than you.”
Zaylie giggled. “I drew that one for Daddy because I wanted him to see how much I growed.”
“Did you say that he’s coming home by Christmas?” Levi would never want a job that made him leave his child for weeks on end even if she was in amazingly good hands.
“Yep.” Zaylie nodded.
“When did you draw the one where Claire was shorter than you?”
“Last time he went away. He was gone a long time.” She sighed. “This time he’s on a mission not a ployment. I like them better because they ain’t as long.”
“Does your mama go on missions too?” Levi asked.
“Nope, she went to heaven when I was a baby. She got a neurasm in her head and the angels took her away,” Zaylie answered as she drew a fireplace.
“Aneurysm,” Claire explained. “Zaylie was less than a year old.”
“That’s terrible.” Levi could sympathize with Zaylie since his own mother had taken off with her new husband when Levi was only three years old. Since both Skip and Mavis worked at the Longhorn Canyon Ranch, he’d spent his days there with Cade and Justin even before they ever started to school. By the time he was thirteen, he was on the payroll. Even though Skip and Mavis had given him a wonderful life, there’d always been something missing that he couldn’t put a finger on. Maybe it was because he was so close to Justin and Cade Maguire they were like brothers—and yet they weren’t. If he’d had a sibling perhaps that would have filled the empty hole that he felt in his life but never talked about.
Zaylie’s chin jacked up a couple of inches. “No, it’s not. The angels love her. My daddy said so.”
She was as full of sass as her aunt. Levi bit back a grin, not wanting her to think he was making fun of her. Being a big kid in school and not playing football or even basketball, he’d had his share of folks making fun of him, and he’d never do that to anyone.
“I meant that I’m sorry that she couldn’t stay with you.” Levi stumbled over the words.
“Someday Daddy is goin’ to get me a new mommy. But I got a picture of my mommy so I don’t forget her. I bring it with me when I stay with Aunt Claire,” Zaylie said.
“I bet she was beautiful.” Levi wanted to hug Zaylie but feared Claire might stab him with her pencil. Despite falling asleep earlier, she still hadn’t relaxed around him. Hopefully, when she got to know him better, she’d see that he just wanted to help her, that he would protect her and Zaylie.
“Yep, she was.” Zaylie jumped up and went to dig around in a tote bag. In a few seconds she was back with a box of crayons and a small, framed picture. “This is me and my mama.” She handed the photo to him.
Levi held it up to get the glare off the glass. The woman had blond hair, big blue eyes, and delicate features. The woman in the picture gave off the same confidence as Claire had when she’d pointed that gun at him.
“You look a lot like her.”
Zaylie’s smile showed that she hadn’t lost a single baby tooth yet. “That’s what Aunt Claire says. Daddy likes for me to color my pictures. He says it makes them real.”
“I agree with your daddy.” Levi handed the picture back to her and watched her start to color the picture she’d drawn. “You color in the lines really well.”
“I’m not a baby,” she scolded as she chose yellow for the fire.
“That’s a pretty sassy tone, young lady.” Claire wrote something in the quilt square she’d made on the paper.
Levi held up a palm and chuckled. “It’s okay. I kind of waded into that one.”
Zaylie frowned. “I have to make it pretty for Daddy.”
“Yes, you do,” Levi agreed.
Claire shut her eyes and visualized the bolts of fabric she’d bought in San Antonio that were now stacked neatly in the back of the van. The colors would be perfect for the new project. She could get all the pieces cut, and when she got home, she’d be ready to start sewing the top together. If only the ladies in Randlett were interested in quilting, she wouldn’t be looking around for a place to put in a small quilt shop. She’d tried twice in the past three years to start a quilting bee at her church, and once she’d bought an advertisement in the local paper offering quilting classes for free. Neither had worked—the women there just weren’t interested.
Suddenly, the vision of a dozen bolts of fabric lining the shelves of her new shop faded and was replaced with one of Levi standing in the doorway earlier that day. She still wasn’t ready to let her guard down completely, but it was nice to have an adult to talk to. She blinked away the picture in her head and opened her eyes. He’d gone back to reading, and Zaylie was busy coloring. If someone peeked in the window they’d think a young family had taken up residence in the cabin.
Are you going to trust him enough to get some sleep tonight? Her brother Grant’s voice was clear in her head. Who knows what he’s capable of? And you’ve always been gullible.
I am not gullible. I’m a grown woman who’s vigilant, and besides I have a gun. I’ll keep it at my fingertips, and Zaylie will be right beside me in the bed. I’m a big girl. I can take care of us. Like always, arguing with her brother put a frown on her face.
She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and noticed more than a dozen pictures lined up on the fireplace mantel. “Who are the people in those photos?” Ha! That was one way to find out if Levi really was who he said, and it would take her mind off her brother’s smart-ass remarks.
She stood up and walked across the room to get a closer look herself. “This is you. Who are these other people?”
“That’s Cade and Justin with me in that picture. The one next to it is Retta and Cade on their wedding day. The event was held outside in the front yard last month with the reception right here in the cabin.”
“And this one?” She picked up a picture of Levi with a young boy. “How old is this boy?”
“He’s twelve. That would be Benjy, the boy I told you about who can draw so well,” Levi responded.
That much pride in his tone said that Benjy had to be his son. She slid a sideways look over at Levi and then back to the picture. The kid didn’t look a thing like Levi, but maybe he got his looks from his mother. She set the picture back on the mantel.
Levi went on, “We open up the ranch every summer for about five or six weeks for city kids to get to experience ranch life. We always have four girls and four boys, and Benjy was here every summer for three years. Last summer his granny died and there was no one to take care of him, so my adoptive parents, Mavis and Skip, decided to take him in. The formal papers will be signed right after the new year if all goes well,” he explained. “That will legally make him my little brother, even though we don’t have an ounce of shared DNA.”
She had no doubts now that he was telling the truth, but there was still something unsettling about the man. What kind of person offered to take in a complete stranger and a child? She might be there to rob him blind—not that she would, but he didn’t know that, did he?
To take her mind off all the questions, she handed him the picture and said, “Tell me about this boy.”
“Benjy is a really good kid, but he’s what they call high-functioning autistic—” Levi touched the picture as if he were brushing back Benjy’s hair. “He’s great help on the ranch with small jobs, and he loves to be here. He remembers everything he reads and sometimes spouts it off at strange times, but he’s got the sweetest nature of anybody in the whole state of Texas.”
She decided that anyone who had that much compassion for a child couldn’t be a bad person. She’d still keep her little gun handy, but she wasn’t nearly as uneasy about spending the night in the cabin with Levi as she’d been a few hours earlier.