Chapter One

 

 

As the road got harder to see through the falling snow, Gloria Munson clutched the steering wheel and slowed to barely more than a crawl. At least she was the only vehicle on the road, which was probably a bad sign, now that she thought about it. She leaned forward into the vents noisily blasting heat (sort of) from her car's semi-functional heater, and muttered to herself, "Why did I think this trip was a good idea, again?"

She wished she'd stayed on the interstate. But in this terrible weather, an accident had closed both westbound lanes, so rather than waiting while it got later and the snow piled deeper, she'd decided to see if she could find a way around.

And now she was driving down smaller and smaller highways, through towns she'd never heard of, while her phone's GPS cut in and out (and kept telling her to make a U-turn and get back on the interstate—yeah, like she didn't know that).

She'd lived all her life in Georgia, where two inches of snow was a statewide emergency. There was more than that piled up on the hood of her car right now!

"In one hundred yards," the phone declared, "make a right and continue straight on for two hundred yards."

"Oh no," Gloria told it. "You're not foolin' me. I know you're just trying to make me turn around."

Though maybe I should listen ...

A 25 mph sign let her know she was going to have to slow down for yet another small town; conveniently, she was already going even slower than that.

Welcome to Spring Meadow, County Seat of Pinerock County, the sign said.

It seemed like a nice town, except for being located in the middle of frozen nowhere. The pretty little downtown looked like something out of a picture postcard. The old-fashioned, wrought-iron lampposts were strung with lights and wreaths, and everything was covered in a light blanket of snow. At any other time, she'd have wanted to get out and walk around a little.

Any other time. Definitely not when the blue winter dusk was already creeping across the landscape (how could it get dark so early here?) and she was supposed to have been across the Washington state line by now.

At the rate she was going, there was absolutely no way she was going to make it to Spokane in time to celebrate Christmas with her brother's family, which had been the one bright spot she was looking forward to at the end of a dismal year.

And then her engine sputtered, coughed, and died.

"Oh no, no, no!"

She coasted into an open spot (not hard; in late afternoon on Christmas Eve, nearly every spot was an open spot) in the parallel parking along Spring Meadow's Main Street. Her parking job was mostly sideways, but at least she was out of the road.

She tried to restart the car. The starter cranked, but nothing happened.

"You have got to be kidding me!" she screamed, pounding her fist on the steering wheel. Gloria wasn't a person who normally had temper tantrums, but she figured at this point, life had piled so much misery on top of her that it was either get mad or cry.

Or, she thought as the colorful Christmas lights started to blur in the gathering darkness, how about both at once?

It looked like instead of pulling up to the welcoming lights of Bobby's house, to be welcomed by Bobby and his wife and four kids, instead she was going to spend her Christmas Eve trying, and probably failing, to find a mechanic who was open this close to the holiday. Or a motel; did a town this tiny even have motels? Let alone motels that weren't closed up tight, because their owners, like everyone else except her, were with their family for the holidays.

"I'm going to die here in the snow," Gloria whimpered, draping herself over the steering wheel pitifully. "I'm going to die alone, with everything I own in the backseat, after breaking up with my awful boyfriend and losing my job. My life sucks."

Okay, enough pity party. She took a deep, steadying breath, wiped her eyes, and got out of her car. Maybe whatever was wrong with her car was something she could fix. Hadn't she taken that auto shop class in high school? She knew how to change her own oil and check her spark plugs. How bad could it possibly be?

Wait ... was that smoke coming out from under her car's hood?

Gloria popped open the hood with one hand and jumped back as steam gushed out. At least there didn't seem to be any flames, but she had a bad feeling that whatever was wrong with her car was well beyond her ability to fix.

And now her fingers hurt because she wasn't wearing gloves and her skin had tried to stick to the wet, cold hood of the car. Plus, the wind was going right through her light coat. Whoever decided people could live north of 35 degrees latitude needed to be taken out back and given a stern talking-to.

This, Gloria decided, was going to be the worst Christmas ever.

 

***

 

There were advantages, Charmian thought as she stepped out of Mary's Candle Emporium into a flurry of swirling snowflakes, to doing last-minute Christmas shopping in a town as small as Spring Meadow.

There were disadvantages too, such as the limited number of stores and the fact that, on Christmas Eve, most of them were low on stock and intended to close early so their owners could hurry home to their families. Charmian's sister-in-law Tara had done all her Christmas shopping from catalogs and Amazon, most of it months ago, because Tara was annoyingly well organized.

But Charmian really liked shopping in a place where most of the business owners knew her by name, pointed her to displays of things they thought her various in-laws might like, and tucked freebies into her shopping bags. Almost every store had trays of gingerbread and cocoa laid out near the door to entice the handful of last-minute shoppers. Mary in the candle store had put aside her last vanilla-scented candles because she knew Charmian liked them, and Mr. Jones at the hardware store had insisted on throwing in a bag of mixed nuts in their shells and a holiday nutcracker "for the kids." Charmian politely didn't point out that the oldest kid on the ranch was Baz, who was a few months short of his third birthday and probably wouldn't know what to do with shelled nuts other than throw them at his cousins. Tara's Lexie had just turned two, and Daisy's little Fern was still a baby.

But, she thought, if the kids were too young, the adults would enjoy them. A bowl of mixed nuts in their shells would look very nice on the old-fashioned mantel in the ranch house.

Yes, she liked shopping in Spring Meadow, and right now, she couldn't imagine a more festive place for picking up her last few Christmas presents. Spring Meadow's small downtown might consist of just one main street and a few cross streets, but all of it was lit up gorgeously. The town council had outdone themselves this year, she thought approvingly as she crossed the street, picking her way between piles of snow churned up by the handful of passing cars. There were wreaths and light-up candy canes on every one of the old-fashioned lampposts along Main Street, glowing Santas and reindeer in the little park between Spring Meadow Antiques and the hardware store, and a glittering banner hanging across the street wished everyone A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS! and under that, courtesy of the town's Chamber of Commerce, urged them to SHOP LOCAL!

Done and done, she thought happily, peeking into her bags. A set of nice leather gloves for Tara's mate Axl nestled beside a doll for Lexie and a gift certificate to Taylor's Farm & Feed for Cody and Crystal. She had found a lovely jewel-green scarf that she thought would set off Tara's red hair beautifully, a sunflower purse for Daisy (who loved all things bright-colored and floral), and some sturdy pine-scented candles that she thought Daisy's mate, Gannon, would find both appealing and practical for his cabin.

In fact, the one person she hadn't found a gift for was her mate and husband, Alec Tanner, the clan alpha.

Well, she thought with an anxious glance at the snow swirling down from the darkening sky, there were still a few hours left, right? Or at least ... an hour? Or two? She cast a glance down the street, where CLOSED signs were beginning to appear in the windows of some of the businesses, though it was barely 3 p.m.

As she pondered where to go next, aware of time slipping away, someone waved to her from across the street. "Charmian! Hey, Charmian! Wait up!"

"Oh, hi, Crystal!" Charmian called, as the newest addition to the Circle B clan hurried across the street to join her.

At the moment, with her dark hair tucked under a knit cap and a white wool coat straining its buttons over her pregnant belly, Crystal Hayes née Martinez looked more like she had when Charmian first met her—a stylish city girl—and less like the happily dirt-smudged farmer she'd turned into since she had moved into the farm next door to the Circle B. Her husband Cody was Alec's cousin, and formerly the member of the clan who Alec had leaned on the most in the day-to-day running of the ranch. They'd all had to pick up the slack since Cody moved next door to run Treasure Spring Farm with Crystal—even Charmian, who had absolutely zero instinct or inclination for ranch work.

But it was impossible to begrudge Cody his happy ending. He'd worked quietly for years, serving as peacemaker in his volatile clan, helping all his clan brothers as they'd found their mates and settled down one by one. He had earned a quiet farm life, with his family close enough that he could see them anytime he wanted, but far enough away that he wasn't constantly having to put his own life on hold to help fix their problems.

And even though Crystal could slip back into her city girl persona when she wanted to, Charmian knew that Crystal—like all of them—wouldn't trade anything for her life here in Pinerock County. Cody had found himself a good mate and a good partner for the farming life.

Plus, Charmian thought as she took a professional look at Crystal's midsection, there were going to be little ones on Treasure Spring Farm before too long. Charmian didn't plan on kids of her own—that ship had sailed, and she and Alec were fine with it—but the other women in the clan were giving her more than enough opportunities to practice her midwifery.

"I see that look," Crystal sighed. "I can't believe I'm this huge when I'm only seven months along. Daisy wasn't this big when she was pregnant with Fern."

"Well, you're carrying twins," Charmian pointed out. "You're going to be bigger because of that. And both of them looked beautiful and healthy on their last ultrasound."

Crystal's faintly worried look brightened. She nodded to Charmian's shopping bags; she was clutching a few of her own too."I see we're in the same boat."

"If you mean we're both fools who wait until the last minute, then yes, we certainly are." Charmian smiled ruefully. "The one person I haven't found anything for yet is Alec, of course."

Crystal laughed. "Then we really are in the same boat, because I've got something for everyone except Cody! Why are men so hard to shop for?"

"What do you buy for the bear who has everything?" Charmian said dryly. "And that really is the problem. They're men of simple tastes. Alec really does have everything he wants or needs on the ranch. Oh, I could buy him cattle feed or something; he'd probably appreciate it. But ..."

"But you want it to be special." Crystal sighed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Right now we're up to our eyeballs in bills because of starting up the farm. I'm sure Cody would tell me that I should take every penny I'd spend on him and put it back into the farm instead. But I'm also positive he's got some thoughtful gift waiting for me, already wrapped, because he remembers some random thing I said to him six months ago."

"Poor us," Charmian said, straight-faced. "We are cursed with loving, attentive men who want us to have everything our hearts desire. However will we cope?"

Crystal giggled behind her hand. "Honestly, though, I just wish they'd communicate a bit better. I'm sure Cody must have at least hinted at something that he wants. What did you get him?"

She leaned forward, trying to peek into the bags. Charmian clapped her hand over the top, well aware that her gift for Cody was actually for both of them.

"Oh, no you don't. You're on your own, girl."

"Oh come on, give me a hint," Crystal began, when she was interrupted by a plaintive wail from across the darkening street:

"No, you stupid ... thing! Oh, fudge!"

They both squinted across the street through the falling snow.

"Is it just me," Crystal said slowly, "or is that woman ... standing on that car ..?"

Even as they both stopped to look, the woman's feet went out from under her on the slippery car roof, and with a shrill squeal, she tumbled off the top of her car into a snowbank.

Crystal gave a tiny shriek.

There was no traffic to get in the way. They both ran across the street as the woman began to thrash her way out of the pile of snow she'd fallen into. She seemed to be both laughing and crying.

"Are you all right?" Charmian asked. She held out a hand and helped the woman to her feet. "That's terribly unsafe! What on Earth were you doing?"

"Trying to hold up my phone and get reception." The woman wiped at her eyes. She was in her mid-20s, with a freckled, heart-shaped face and curly brown hair. She had a light, pleasant Southern accent. "And now I can't even find my phone. I don't know why I can't stop laughing—well, yes I do," she added, sobering up a little. "It's because it's that or just start cussing a blue streak, probably with some yelling mixed in. I don't want to speak ill of your town, but do you even have phone service?"

"We do, but it's a little flaky for some providers," Crystal said. She squatted awkwardly, put down her shopping bags, and started running her hands through the snow, trying to find the lost phone. "Trust me, we cuss about it all the time."

Charmian, meanwhile, was helping the stranger brush herself off, though it was hopeless; there was snow caked all over the woman's jeans and coat. "You're soaked through. And this coat is no good at all for this weather. You must be freezing. Do you have a hat? Or boots?"

The woman shook her head. "Uh, maybe in one of the boxes in the back? It was seventy degrees when I left home! Not that it's home anymore," she added in a sad undertone.

Crystal looked up "They've been forecasting a blizzard all week. Where are you from?"

"Columbus," the woman said.

"Columbus? It's seventy degrees in Ohio right now?"

"No, no. Columbus, Georgia. I'm Gloria, by the way. Gloria Munson."

"Charmian Tanner, and this is my sister-in-law Crystal. You've sure come a long way, haven't you?" Charmian opened the front door of the car and helped Gloria sit on the seat to shake the snow out of her shoes. "Are you going somewhere nearby for Christmas?"

"Not nearby, unfortunately. I'm driving to Spokane. My brother and his wife live there. And then my car broke down because it's a million years old, and everything I own is in the backseat—" She sniffled and wiped her hand across her eyes.

"Aha!" Crystal brandished the phone from her crouched position. "Found it! And if someone could help me up, that'd be great, since I'm the size of a hippo right now."

"I can do that, at least." Gloria put on a smile and gripped Crystal's hand to pull her up. "Thank you so much. At least it still works?" She poked at the phone hopefully. "And ... no bars. I guess it's not like a dunking in a pile of snow would fix it ..."

"You can use mine," Charmian offered.

Gloria stuck the phone in her pocket and tucked her bare, wet hands under her arms as snowflakes continued to settle on her shoulders and her hatless head. "It's hopeless anyway. I wanted to try to find a mechanic, but ..." She looked up the street as the last business turned its OPEN sign off. "I bet they're all closed. So here I am, stuck in the middle of nowhere ... my brother's probably going to think I'm dead in a ditch."

Crystal and Charmian looked at each other. "We can't do much about most of that," Crystal said, "but why don't you come back to the ranch with us?"

"Yes, heavens, at least you need to get somewhere warm," Charmian declared. "You're going to freeze. Why don't you spend the night with us—there's plenty of room. And in the morning, some of our menfolk can come down and see if they can get your car started."

"My brother-in-law is a mechanic," Crystal said. "And all farm guys are handy with motors. I bet they can fix it in no time."

"But ..." Gloria stammered. "I can't just invite myself into the middle of your family Christmas—!"

"You aren't inviting yourself," Charmian said firmly. "We are inviting you. Why don't you get a change of clothes from your car—is there anything in the back that can't freeze?"

"I—I don't think so ... is it okay to just leave it here? Will anyone mind?"

"I'll leave a note. Anyone who has a problem with it can call up to the ranch. The only thing that might be an issue is if they have to move it for plowing, but I doubt if they'll be doing a whole lot of plowing with it being Christmas Eve and all, except on the main highways." Charmian found a pad of paper with a motel logo in the car's passenger seat and began to scribble busily.

"We've found it's easiest to just go along with her when she's like this," Crystal told Gloria in a carrying whisper.

"I can hear you, you know."

"I know." Crystal stuck out her tongue very quickly, and winked at Gloria. "C'mon, she's right, though. We should get you out of these wet clothes. I'm parked around the corner—"

"And there you will remain," Charmian told her, "because if Cody finds out that I let you drive back to the farm by yourself in a blizzard—"

"He'll be perfectly fine with it, because Cody knows that I'm pregnant, not an invalid." Crystal crossed her arms, spoiling the effect somewhat since she had to cross them on top of her pregnant belly.

"Look, let's say you're humoring me for my peace of mind," Charmian said. "I'll just bring my Jeep around and drive us all up to the main ranch."

"See what I mean?" Crystal said to Gloria. "Why don't you pack yourself an overnight bag and we'll let Mom here drive us to the ranch."

Gloria got a suitcase out of the backseat. "I don't want to put anyone to any trouble. Y'all sure I won't be underfoot?"

"Trust me, the more the merrier," Charmian reassured her. "It's not like anybody'll even notice an extra seat at the table, not in this enormous clan. In fact, with the weather being what it is, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out some of the rest of them have invited a stray or two of their own."