Where had the week gone?
Jud proposed on Monday. Not a single member of the family, Dora June and her mother included, was surprised. Happy for them but not surprised.
On Tuesday morning the secretary from Pierce, Davis and Green called and offered her a plane ticket to and from Houston and a car to take her to an interview and then she could catch a flight back home if she would only come to talk to them before the holidays.
When Fiona checked her mother’s flight into Dallas on Wednesday, she saw it would all work out perfectly. Fiona’s return flight would get in thirty minutes before Katy arrived from Florida. Besides, there was still a tiny little niggling thought in the back of her mind that wondered what it would be like to be back in the city, carrying a briefcase—and being the supervisor of an accounting department.
She had to go.
She had to know for sure.
But how did she tell Jud?
That evening she carried a heavy heart to his bedroom and leaned on the door frame. “I need to talk.”
“They called again, didn’t they?” he asked.
“I’m going to go talk to them tomorrow. I’ve got the perfect story. I’m going to Dallas a little early to pick up Mama at the airport, maybe to do some shopping. One of Herman’s granddaughters is going to babysit the store for me.”
Jud pulled her into his arms. “Of course you have to go, darlin’. If you get down there and it’s what you really want, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I love you, Fiona. I would never stand in the way of your dreams.”
“I love you, too, Jud, and we can work this out no matter which way the ball falls.”
Flying first class that morning, the sky was literally the limit. During the hour-long flight from Dallas to Houston, she made herself forget all about Dry Creek and concentrate on the day at hand. She wanted to feel the rush of the big city, of wearing a cute little navy blue suit and high-heeled shoes. If she had time, she might even slip into her old hairdresser’s place of business on the way out of town and get her hair done.
Excitement built higher and higher when she saw the driver holding a tablet with her name on it. He led her out to a limousine and held the door for her. The firm was surely courting her in high style. Twenty minutes later, she was sitting in an office on one side of a highly polished table with four men and a woman on the other side.
“Ms. Logan, I’m very impressed with your résumé. We like your work ethic, your dependability, and your dedication. We do, however, have a few questions. The first one being why have you dropped out of the market for a year?” the oldest one of the four men asked.
“I was working in the same firm as my husband. We divorced,” she said.
“Well, that clears that up. I’m surprised that you didn’t find a job immediately with another firm. We weren’t in the market for your skills but surely there were other places,” the lady said.
“I put in several résumés with several companies. I guess no one was in the market for my skills until now,” Fiona answered honestly.
“Well, we like what we see and we would like to make you an offer and introduce you to the other three people in the department,” one of the men said.
“I have a question,” Fiona asked. “How long have these other three been working for you?”
“One has been here twenty years, one eighteen, and the last one fifteen. The supervisor who left retired after thirty-five years with us. Folks stay with us when they join the firm,” the woman said proudly.
“Why not promote one of those to this position and hire someone to fill that place?” Fiona asked.
“We thought new blood might be good and all three of them will retire in a few years. We don’t want to be left in the same position we are now.”
Fiona turned over her hands, palms up, in her lap. In the left one she put the offer of the new job and thirty years of future work in this firm with all the perks that came with it. There would be hard feelings in the ranks because she was younger than any of the people that she’d be supervising. But she could overcome that with kindness, fairness, and hard work.
She put family, Dry Creek, and Jud in the right one. An old kitchen table in the back room of the store compared to a lovely office—maybe even with a lovely view, with a gorgeous mahogany desk and comfortable chair. Three clients compared to dozens, maybe hundreds. Cute little power suits or jeans and boots.
The lady was shuffling papers and getting ready to take her to see her office but Fiona’s hands were still open. She couldn’t make herself rise out of the chair.
Not yet.
Seeing Jud every day or maybe a couple of short weekends a month. Watching Audrey grow up or making an appearance in her life a few times a year. Being with Granny while she was sporadically lucid or never seeing the light in her eyes again.
Jud had said he would follow her to Timbuktu, but was that fair? He loved the Lucky Penny. He was lucky when it came to oil and he was so excited about drilling in a few months.
The left hand slowly closed into a fist and she brought the right one up to rest on the desk. “I’m sorry if I have wasted your time. I do appreciate the expense that you’ve gone to for this interview, but I’m going to have to refuse your offer.”
“The salary is negotiable,” Mr. Pierce said quickly.
“It’s not the money.”
“Then, what?” the secretary asked.
“My heart is in Dry Creek, Texas, and if I can’t throw everything into a job, I can’t do it,” she answered truthfully.
“That’s exactly the work ethic we want to see. I’m so sorry that we can’t persuade you to join us, but I understand.” Mr. Pierce offered his hand.
Fiona stood up and gave it a firm shake. “Thank you again, sir.”
She walked out of the office, got into the car, and went back to the airport with no regrets and the lyrics of “Breathe” running through her head.
Jud met her and Katy at the door, a question on his face as he brushed a kiss across her lips. “Welcome home to both of you.”
“Can I talk to you upstairs in the hall?” she asked.
He took her hand in his and walked beside her up to the second floor. “I wanted to call or text but this had to be your decision and you didn’t need me to influence you one way or the other.”
When they reached the hall, she kicked off her fancy shoes and wrapped her arms around his neck, drew his face down for a long, lingering kiss. “I love you, Jud. Let’s get married Sunday morning.”
“And the job?”
“I turned them down. When I put everything on the balance scale, that just couldn’t come up to the benefits and joy I have right here with you,” she answered.
“Sunday? That’s Christmas Day,” he said. “But it’s doable if that’s what you want.”
Her feet left the floor when he picked her up and swung her around. “This is the best Christmas present ever for me.”
“Me too,” she giggled. “Now let’s go tell everyone.”
Fiona awoke Christmas morning and was on her way down the stairs when she met Jud coming back up with two cups of coffee in his hands. He handed her one and drawled, “Merry Christmas and happy wedding day, darlin’.”
She took a sip, and then kissed him. “I can’t tell you how happy I am.”
He turned around and followed her down the stairs. “Fiona, I did a fair amount of fighting with myself, too. That’s why I couldn’t be really mad at you when you ran away that night.”
He stopped at the end of the steps and pointed up to the mistletoe hanging above the doorway into the kitchen. She held her coffee cup out to the side, wrapped the other arm around his neck, and tiptoed to kiss him. It only amazed her slightly that his touch and his kisses made her knees go weak and created a place where there was no time, no world, nothing but the two of them.
“I love you, Jud Dawson, and when we are old and gray and chasing grandkids around the property on the Lucky Penny, your kisses will still make me want to drag you off to the bedroom.”
“I hope so,” he chuckled. “That’s exactly what I’d like to do right now but I hear truck doors slamming, which means the rest of the family is here. And your mama and Dora June have been making a buffet breakfast for everyone for the past hour, so I expect we’d better wait until later.”
“Merry Christmas!” Lizzy called out as she and Toby pushed open the door.
“I smell cinnamon.” Blake carried Audrey into the house.
“That’s bacon,” Allie said right behind them. “Mama always makes her famous oven omelets with bacon on Christmas.”
“You are all wrong. It’s coffee.” Deke brought up the tail end of the parade.
Coats came off and were hung on the hall tree, along with cowboy hats. Boots were kicked off and lined up against the wall before everyone padded in their socks to the dining room.
“Merry Christmas to all y’all!” Dora June and Katy said.
“Breakfast before presents,” Katy said. “This is quite a day.”
“And I’ll never forget my anniversary.” Jud kissed Fiona on the top of her head.
“And this morning I’m asking Truman to say grace for us.” Katy bowed her head.
Truman pushed back the chair at the end of the table and stood up. “Thank you, God, for this family, for this beautiful Christmas morning, and for all that you have brought into our lives this past month and for this food. Amen.”
Jud squeezed Fiona’s hand. “I won. He’s no longer Scrooge.”
“Yes, you did.” She smiled up at him.
“He must be hungry for his prayer to be that short.”
“More nervous than hungry. Deke has parked the RV out back. He plans to leave right after the wedding. And Mama says that next Saturday there will be a huge reception at the church for us, and all your family has been invited. Allie and Lizzy say there are lots and lots of Dawsons.”
He put a finger over her lips. “They will love you because you love me.”
“Okay,” she said. “But it’s not fair that you only had to remember a few names and I’ll have to get to know dozens of new faces.”
“Dozens?” Jud chuckled. “Try hundreds. I’m just glad that we’ll be married or my handsome cousins would steal you from me.”
“Not a chance,” she said.
Presents flowed out from under the tree to the sofa, and following tradition, Katy passed them all out before she sat down in a rocking chair. “And now,” she said, “you may start opening.”
“All at once?” Jud asked.
“That’s the way we do it,” Fiona answered. “It’s noisy but it’s so much fun.”
Like a little girl, Dora June ripped into her first package and brought out a lovely set of monogrammed towels. The second one produced a set of pots and pans and the third one a set of dishes and cutlery for four.
Truman’s first present was a pair of red swimming trunks with bright blue dolphins printed on them. His second was a pair of flip-flops and the third was a digital camera from Deke.
“What on earth does Truman need that for?” Dora June asked. “Y’all are playin’ pranks on him, aren’t you?”
“He might want to take a few pictures,” Deke said. “He can send them straight to your phone and you can send them on to us.”
“Well, it will be kiddin’ time before long. I expect he could take pictures of the new baby goats.” She opened a set of king-sized sheets. “This is a wedding shower. I love it all.” Excitement danced around her as she continued to open gifts while everyone else set theirs to the side and watched as Truman handed her a card with a tiny little present on the top.
Dora June’s hand went to her heart and her eyes filled with tears. “You bought me a present, Truman?”
“Guess I did,” he said with a slight grin. “Open the card first.”
Her eyes filled with tears when she read the card. “Oh, Truman, I don’t care what the present is. You bought it for me so it’s going to be special.”
She laid the card to one side and Fiona saw part of the message: I hope this will make up for all the Christmases that I’ve been a jackass. All the rest will be special, I promise.
The whole room went silent as Dora June pulled the ribbon loose from the small package. When she opened the gold box and found keys to a vehicle, she squealed. “Oh, Truman, you’ve gotten me a new truck, haven’t you? But there’s two sets of keys. What’s the second set for?”
“Yes, I did.” He nodded. “And it’s sittin’ right outside the kitchen door. Want to go see it?”
“Right now?”
“Right now,” Deke said. “Do you know how hard it’s been to keep this a secret?”
Truman went ahead of her and slung the back door open. Dora June stepped out onto the porch and immediately tears began to flow down her cheeks, landing on her bright blue Christmas sweatshirt. Her palms flew to her cheeks and she kept blinking as if she wasn’t sure she was seeing things right.
“Well, don’t stand there blubbering, woman.” Truman took her hand in his and opened the door of the enormous RV. “Come on inside and tell me if you like it. I bought one of them crazy-lookin’ smart cars and it’s on a little trailer on the back so we can get around wherever we stop for the nights.”
“Stop for the nights?” Dora June asked.
“Yep. We’ve got a reservation at a campground in Jacksboro. I figure that’s far enough for tonight and then tomorrow we’ll be driving south to Florida. From there, you get to choose where we go next. I hope before we die we have spent a few weeks in every state.”
Dora June wrapped her arms around Truman’s neck and hugged him tightly. “Now I understand the presents.”
“Let’s go back inside,” Katy said softly. “They need to explore their new home for the first time together.”
“Are you going to buy me an RV when we’re married fifty years?” Fiona asked Jud on the way to the living room.
“No, but I could buy you some goats,” he said.
Her eyes widened out. “You didn’t? You wouldn’t?”
Jud hugged her close to his side. “Don’t worry, darlin’. I don’t want goats, either. We talked Deke into buying all of Truman’s stock. Cattle and goats. Truman gave him a deal on his equipment and all the hay in his barns if he’d take on the goats with the deal.”
Paper was scattered everywhere and they were down to only a couple of gifts each when Dora June and Truman came back to the room. They were holding hands and her face was still streaked with tears and be damned if that wasn’t a tear in Truman’s eye.
“Scrooge is officially dead and Truman is alive,” Fiona whispered to Jud.
“I see that,” he said softly.
“Now open our presents,” Dora June said. “Truman, you get that camera and take a picture of Audrey with her dolls.”
“I don’t know how to work that damned thing,” he grumbled.
“Like this,” Deke said, patiently explaining the basics. “If you can learn how to put a tractor together, you can learn this, Truman.”
“I’ll give it a try,” he said stoically.
All the gifts had been opened, but then Katy held up one present that had been overlooked under the tree. “This one has Jud and Fiona’s name on it.”
“Who is it from?” Fiona reached out to take it from her mother.
“Me,” Katy said.
Fiona tore into it to find a letter and three keys. With a quizzical expression, she started to open the letter but her mother put a hand on her arm.
“I’ll explain. The key with the red top is to this house. The one with the blue top is to the store. The one with the fancy stuff is the car keys to my car that I stole from your purse last night because I didn’t have time to get another one made.”
“But I have keys to all those places,” Fiona said.
“These are special keys. They belong to you and Jud, not just to you. I’m giving you Audrey’s Place and the twenty acres it sits on with the stipulation that from now on it’s not Audrey’s Place but part of the Lucky Penny Ranch. I’m giving you the convenience store. Lizzy got the feed store. Allie got the construction business. You get the store. It’s a combination wedding gift, welcome-home-to-where-you-belong gift, and Christmas present all in one.”
Now it was Fiona’s turn to cry. “Mama, I don’t even know what to say. Thank you isn’t nearly enough.” She almost bowled Katy over when she hugged her.
“Yes, it is because I’m buying a condo in Wichita Falls in the same complex with Trudy and Janie. I can be near your grandmother so I can see her every day and I’ve found that I like not having so many responsibilities. It’s close enough to y’all that I can visit any time I want and far enough I won’t be meddling.”
“Jud?” Fiona asked.
“I’m speechless. Thank you, Katy. This is huge,” Jud stammered.
“Not really. It’s a hell of a lot of work, both here and at the store. You’ll earn your living but I’ve got every confidence that you two are going to be just fine.” Katy reached for Jud and made it a three-way hug.
The preacher took his place behind the pulpit and smiled out over the family and few friends who were attending the small wedding. “It dawned on me this morning that all three of the Logan ladies will be married in the same year, and on or near a holiday. That sure makes it easy for the grooms to remember their anniversary.”
He motioned toward the piano player while the chuckles died down. Instead of the traditional wedding song, Fiona had chosen the music from “Breathe.” She’d danced to it with Jud and it had been the song in her head as she left her past behind and looked ahead to a bright future with him.
Deke walked Fiona down the aisle, her arm looped in his. Fiona wore a cute little white lace dress that hugged her body and stopped at midthigh, where a white satin garter shined on her leg. Instead of high-heeled shoes, she’d chosen the cowboy boots that she’d worn the night she and Jud had gone dancing. She carried a bouquet of white roses tied up with dark green ribbons.
When she passed the pew where her granny sat with Allie, Blake, and Katy, Fiona stopped and pulled a rose from her bouquet and handed it to Irene. She planted a kiss on Irene’s forehead and sent up a silent prayer of thanks that her grandmother was lucid right then.
Deke led her right to where Jud waited and kissed her on the cheek. “Be happy, darlin’, and, Jud, you remember who you’ll have to deal with if you ever hurt her feelings.”
“Never happen.” Jud grinned as he took Fiona’s hand in his.
“Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” the preacher asked.
“Her family and I do,” Deke said.
The first chords of “Amazed” began to play on a CD player. Fiona looked deeply into Jud’s eyes all during the song. She’d found her place and now she belonged. Jud had been right when he’d said that maybe what she’d been looking for was someone to put down roots with and she was more than ready to do just that—right there in Dry Creek, Texas.
When the song ended, Fiona took the microphone from the preacher’s hand. “Every word in that song is my vow to you, Jud. I can feel how much you love me and it does blow me away. I truly have never been this close to anyone. I can actually hear your thoughts and see your dreams and I’m so glad that I’m spending the rest of my life with you beside me because I’m totally amazed that we have this love.”
Jud’s lips met hers in a brief kiss as he took the microphone from her. “Darlin’ Fiona. I don’t even believe in love at first sight, but it happened. And those words sunk into my heart at the bar where we danced that night. I realized that I had the best thing that could ever happen to me in my arms and I wanted you to be there forever and ever.”
He gave the microphone to the preacher, who smiled and cleared his throat. “I’m getting used to the Logan ladies doing things their way, so we’ll get right into the ceremony.” He went on to perform a traditional ceremony, ending with, “And now, Jud Dawson, you may kiss your bride again.”
Fiona was breathless when the kiss ended and she was standing upright. She could almost feel the roots growing as she shed her wings that day in front of God and her whole family.
Fiona threw her bouquet toward the back of the church. A pair of hands came up and caught it, but she didn’t notice who it was.
The preacher pulled the microphone closer to his mouth so everyone could hear above the noise. “I would like to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Jud and Fiona Dawson for the first time. I’ll miss these holiday weddings but there are no more Logan ladies so…”
“Whoa!” Fiona said loudly. “There’s still Deke! He’s like our little brother so…”
“And I caught the bouquet.” Deke held it up.
“And I damn sure ain’t married,” Granny Irene piped up.
Jud grabbed her hand and the two of them did a fancy swing dance all the way to the back of the church as “Amazed” played for the second time. At the end of the song, Jud scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the fellowship hall.
“We did it our way, didn’t we, Mrs. Dawson,” he said.
“We did.” She pulled his face to hers for a long, lingering passionate kiss.
“Merry Christmas,” he drawled.
“Merry cowboy Christmas to me.” She grabbed his hand. “And just think, we’ve got a whole lifetime ahead of us,” she said.
Jud carried Fiona from the pickup and across the yard. She used her brand-new key to unlock the door to their house. It wasn’t different than when she’d left it a few hours earlier. The outside lights were still sparkling. The Christmas tree still stood in the corner of the living room. But it felt different because it was now her house and it was part of the Lucky Penny.
He shut the door and locked it without setting her down, then carried her all the way up the stairs and to his bedroom, where he kicked the door shut with the heel of his boot. Then he gently put her feet on the floor and pulled her close to his chest.
“You are really my wife. I’ve lived in fear that something would happen to make you change your mind. I love you so much,” he said.
“Jud Dawson, when I said yes when you proposed, I was more at peace with myself than I’ve ever been in my life. I love you and our hearts are wrapped up together now and forever.”
“Now where are those glow-in-the-dark…” He grinned.
“No need. I made a trip to the doctor in Throckmorton. I got a shot that covers all that for three months. We’ll talk later about whether I’ll take another one or not,” she said as she started unfastening the buttons on his shirt, one by one.
“Merry cowboy Christmas to me,” he singsonged as he slid the zipper of her dress down slowly, the touch of his hands making her insides quiver…again.