A Cowboy Christmas Miracle (Burnt Boot, Texas Book 4) (23 page)

Declan stood to the side and let Betsy enter before him, then he took the key to the storage unit from his pocket plus the business card of the establishment. “Here you go. I’ve told the man at the unit you’ll drop the key by on your way out. That will save us a trip back down there, and we only had it rented for a month.”

“Thank you both for this. I appreciate it, but more so, the church is grateful. Without you two working together, this would have never happened. I understand it was a contest. May I ask who won?”

“Declan did for sure after his last delivery, and I’m handing him this check right now in front of you and God.” Betsy laid the check on the preacher’s desk.

Declan slid the check across the desk. “And I’m donating it to you, Kyle. Not to the church but to your honeymoon fund. Just fill in your name and do something special on your trip.”

“That is very generous, but I see this is a check from Wild Horse.”

Betsy eased down into a chair and visualized the office in a couple of weeks with decent furniture. “It’s like this,” she said and told him the whole story.

“I see, and how are you two with everything now?”

“I’m still a Brennan,” Declan said.

Betsy sighed. “And I’m still a Gallagher.”

“Just as I thought,” Kyle said. “Well, thanks again for all of your help, and I’ll look to see you later this evening. Don’t expect that many will be out for Sunday night services tonight, with this weather being what it is, but that’s okay. The ones who I want to hear about my Wednesday night message will be those who’ll spread the news for me.”

“And we’d better get going if we’re going to make it to Lottie’s by four thirty,” Betsy said.

* * *

“So what is the big news that he’s going to deliver on Wednesday?” Lottie asked that evening on the way home.

“You know everything else, so we might as well tell you, but this is something no one can know about before Wednesday, so you can’t tell Polly or Gladys or Verdie,” Declan said.

“I’m a good secret keeper.” Lottie grinned.

Declan looked across the console and nodded at Betsy. “You tell her what’s going on here.”

Betsy gave the shortest version that she could, and Lottie clapped her hands and squealed. “I knew it. This is perfect. Just perfect. I won’t tell a soul, living or dead. I won’t even tell Leland until Wednesday and keeping secrets from him is real hard.”

“You can tell Leland.” Declan smiled.

She clapped her hands again. “He’s going to be so happy.”

When they reached the house, she bustled around getting her coat off and then went straight for the kitchen. “Movie is in the player, and popcorn just needs to be microwaved. Declan, you can have Leland’s recliner, and I’ll get one end of the sofa. Betsy you can have the other one. Y’all get comfortable. While the popcorn cooks, I’m going to make the hot chocolate and bring it in, then we’ll get it started. Hang your coats on the kitchen chairs and kick off your boots. I been waitin’ all day to watch this with y’all. Ain’t seen it since Leland died, and it was one of our favorites.”

“If you snore, you’ll lose points,” Betsy whispered.

“So will you,” Declan shot back.

“What are we watching?”

In a few minutes, Lottie set the mugs of steaming chocolate on the coffee table and handed one to Declan. “Leland liked my hot chocolate. I use real cream and make it with cocoa. None of that artificial stuff. We’re watching
McClintock!
with John Wayne. Y’all ever seen it?”

They both shook their heads.

“It’s an old-days western about a couple who are finally getting a second chance. I got to admit, I don’t take kindly to him spanking her, but it is kind of funny.” Lottie giggled.

She hit a button on the remote and neither Betsy nor Declan snored one time. They laughed with Lottie at the humor and sighed at the end when there was a happily ever after.

Then the day came to an anticlimactic end when Declan folded the throw he’d had over his legs and feet, stretched, and announced that he was going to the bunkhouse for the rest of the evening.

“See you in the morning,” he said and was gone.

Just like that, without even a hand on Betsy’s shoulder, even though it had been possible several times while he was putting on his boots and she was helping Lottie clean up.

“I think I’ll call Verdie and visit for a while. Missed her in church this morning. She wouldn’t let Callie get out in the weather, since she’s supposed to be on bed rest and all,” Lottie said.

“I’m going to read. Thanks for the movie and popcorn, but most of all for the hot chocolate, which is the best I’ve ever had. Probably has a million calories and fat grams, but it was delicious,” Betsy said.

Lottie shook her finger in Betsy’s direction. “You don’t have to worry none about that, girl. You are built just right and a ranchin’ woman don’t have to watch what she eats because she’ll work it all off. Pretty nice first date wasn’t it?”

“Date?”

“Sure. Movie. Popcorn. Y’all can’t go out to the real movies without a load of bad stuff fallin’ down on your heads, but you had a date tonight and guess what, he can kiss you on the second date.” Lottie beamed.

“I’ll sure look forward to that,” Betsy said on her way to her bedroom.

She turned on the light and sat down in the rocking chair. It was past ten o’clock, which was a late night for Lottie. She could read a couple of chapters of
The Traitor
before bedtime even if she couldn’t finish the book.

With book in hand, she noticed a gray thing in the middle of her bed. It had her name on it in Declan’s handwriting.

It wasn’t heavy or sealed, but she held it for several seconds, staring at it the whole time. He must have put it in there when he ran in for the box of Christmas things that Lottie donated to the church. Her hands shook as she opened it and found a length of green ribbon. She held it between her fingers wondering what it had to do with anything as she unfolded the note.

Seventh grade for me. Fifth for you. You dropped this in church one Sunday morning and I’ve kept it ever since. It was Christmas, and you were wearing a green sweater and a red-and-green-plaid skirt. Your red hair was pulled away from your face and had this ribbon in it. I wanted to touch your hair so badly that I did on the way out of church that morning. You never knew. Through the years, I pretended the silk ribbon was your red hair when I touched it.

It was signed with another heart and his name.

She sat down in the rocker with a thud. Declan Brennan had had a crush on her as big as the one she’d had on him. But like she’d told the preacher, she was still a Gallagher.

Not if you changed your name
, her conscience said bluntly.

“That would require more than silk ribbons and Twinkies,” she said aloud.

On Monday morning at breakfast, Lottie announced that Declan would fire up the tractor with the blade on front and plow the snow away from the lane and the road from her place to the church, so they wouldn’t miss the big announcement on Wednesday night.

“And me?” Betsy asked.

“I’ve decided since I only own the one tractor with a blade that you can have a day to go over the books. The card table is in the hall closet, and you can take it to your room because I didn’t get to talk to Gladys and Verdie and Polly nearly enough about this big announcement. Don’t worry, I’m not letting the cat out of the bag, but I do want to hear what everyone is saying about it. I’m glad Kyle isn’t going to resign and that John isn’t coming to town. It would make the feud worse, what with him and Honey all moon-eyed over each other. So y’all get on about your rat killing.”

On Tuesday morning, the puzzle was still the topic of conversation. It had even gone above and beyond the love war, and the phones buzzed all day with information, whether real or not. A big trailer had arrived at the church on Monday night and several men unloaded stuff into the sanctuary and then at the parsonage. Kyle said it was part of the announcement for Wednesday night and the church would be locked until that time.

“Lord only knows that you can’t get a man to talk about anything that goes on,” Verdie fussed when Lottie talked to her that morning before breakfast. “You’d think if he was leaving though he wouldn’t be moving stuff into the parsonage or the church. I’m still on the purchasing committee, and there ain’t been a thing said about any new church pews or choir chairs. I wonder what’s in there that he don’t want us to see.”

“Well, darlin’, I guess we will find out tomorrow like everyone else. I’m awful glad I’m not leaving until Saturday. I don’t want to miss this before I get on that airplane for the first time.” Lottie winked across the room at Betsy. “Betsy is up, and I hear Declan coming down the hallway. I’ll talk to you later.” Lottie put the phone receiver back in the cradle.

“Your first time to fly?” Betsy poured a cup of coffee and sipped at it.

“Yes, and I’m nervous about it. I don’t like the idea of being crammed into a tin can and shot across the skies, but I’m too old to drive, and my old truck wouldn’t make it down there anyway. I sold my car when I decided to do this so I wouldn’t back down,” Lottie answered.

“Are you sure you want to do this? Have you even been to Florida before?”

“Me and Leland drove down there every five years and spent a week in the fall when the ranchin’ slowed down enough we could pay someone to do chores for us.”

“Good morning, ladies. Coffee smells good and so does the bacon. What are our chores today?” Declan asked.

“Whatever you want to do is fine. Today, I need to do some serious thinking,” Lottie said.

“Then I’ll spend the day in town with my dad,” Declan said.

“And maybe I’ll go do some Christmas shopping. I haven’t done any at all,” Betsy said.

“Sounds good to me. I’ll see y’all at suppertime.” Lottie nodded. “I’ll scramble up some eggs, and breakfast will be ready.”

The sun was out brightly on Wednesday morning, but the temperature was well below freezing with no hope of rising. They were finishing breakfast and Lottie was still fussing about the doings at the church when Betsy’s phone rang.

“It’s Kyle,” she said and listened for a minute before she glanced over at Lottie and asked, “He wants to know if me and Declan can come help him today.”

“Lord, yes. Ask him if I can do anything.”

“I heard her, and tell her thanks, but you two will be good enough,” Kyle said.

“He says just us two, and he’ll meet us there in fifteen minutes. He also said we’ll have dinner and supper at the church so not to cook for us and that he hopes to see you at the meeting tonight. Do you want us to come back and get you, or will Verdie pick you up on her way?”

“Verdie can take me,” Lottie said.

* * *

The church looked like it could have been featured in an episode of
Hoarders
. From big items, like the three-sided shed for the live nativity scene, down to the tiniest single ornament, stuff was scattered all over the front six pews and the raised stage where the pulpit stood.

Kyle stood there, bewildered. “I am so happy with all the new furniture for the parsonage and spent all day yesterday arranging it and my new office. I promised that today I’d get this all done, but when I looked at it, I knew that I couldn’t do it alone.”

“We’re here,” Betsy said.

“But where do we begin?” Kyle scratched his head.

Betsy took charge of organization. “First thing is for y’all to get that shed set right there and then set up the Christmas tree over by the piano. While y’all do that, I’m going to unload boxes and lay out the decorations for the tree on the first three pews. Lights will be on the first pew of the Brennan side. There is going to be too many, so we’ll decide where to put the rest when we get done with the tree. Garland on the first row of the neutrals and ornaments on the Gallagher side. We have one big tree and several that are about three feet tall. I guess we could put one in each Sunday school room.”

“One is pink,” Declan warned.

Kyle chuckled. “Put that one in the teenage girls’ room. They’ll get a kick out of it. I knew I was right in calling y’all to help me.”

Kyle and Declan situated the nativity stable complete with a rustic-looking feed box to be used as a manger with a bed of hay. While they decided how much hay to scatter around it, Betsy found the box with Lottie’s donation. She set the pieces on the top of the old upright piano, one by one, and squealed when she found a gorgeous Battenberg lace cloth in the bottom of the box.

She held it up for the guys to see. “I bet she put this on the mantel, and it’s about the same size as the altar. Isn’t it gorgeous?”

“What is it?” Declan asked.

“A mantel cloth,” she answered.

“I’m glad you know that. I wouldn’t have,” Kyle said.

“Tree next and it’s one of those fancy things that you just pull up out of the box, and presto, it’s ready except for a bit of ‘fluffing,’ as Granny says.” Declan removed it from the box and sure enough, it sprung right to life.

“I’ll make sure none of the limbs are twisted if you’ll wrap that first length of lights around your arms,” Betsy said.

The phone startled all three of them, and Kyle laughed. “I’m surprised we got this much done. It’s been like this since Sunday night when I made the announcement. I have to answer every call in case it’s one of the flock in trouble, but most of the time it’s just folks wanting to gossip. Carry on, please.”

“They say the third is the charm,” Declan said as they started circling the tree.

Betsy clipped lights to the tree branches. “What does that mean?”

“This is our third tree to decorate together. The bar, Lottie’s, and now the church.”

Betsy smiled up at him. “What’s it supposed to charm?”

He nudged her shoulder with his. “Betsy, what are we going to do about us?”

“I’d say we have to figure out who we want to be before we can make that decision.” His touch, even though his chambray work shirt and her faded plaid flannel shirt, sent waves of heat from her shoulder to her boots.

“What does that mean?”

She snapped a few more lights in place and said, “Do I want to be a Gallagher all my life? And I’m not just talking about my name. And do you want to be a Brennan? Again it’s attitude, not name. Because a Gallagher and a Brennan have no future together.”

“Just as I thought,” Kyle said as he crossed the room. “It was someone asking me not to leave. Got to admit it is nice to be wanted. Now what?”

“You ever done this job?” Betsy asked.

“Couple of times for my grandmother,” Kyle answered.

“Then take over for me and I’ll unpack more boxes so we can see where we are with all this,” she said.

* * *

Declan kept an eye on what Kyle was doing with the lights, but he also watched Betsy from the corner of his eye. What she said made sense, and although he’d made the decision to separate himself from his family to some degree, was he ready to take it to the final step for Betsy Gallagher? Then again, would she be willing to do even more for him, because if the relationship went to the big step, she would have to change her name to Brennan? They’d both been indoctrinated since they were in diapers that the other side was even more evil than Lucifer, so how would she feel about her final step in the big picture?

“Thinking about her?” Kyle whispered.

Declan nodded. “Can’t seem to stop doing that.”

* * *

Ten minutes before Kyle unlocked the church doors at exactly seven thirty for Wednesday-night service, they plugged in all of the lights. All three of them stood in complete awe at what they’d created that day.

“It’s more beautiful than it’s ever been,” Betsy said softly.

Declan slipped an arm around her shoulders. “We still need to open all the doors into the Sunday school rooms and get those rooms lit up. Who would have thought we’d have enough to do the whole church? I’ve never seen it look like this.”

Kyle nodded seriously. “Well, since this is my first Christmas here, I can’t compare, but it’s the prettiest I’ve ever seen anywhere I have been. If we each get two rooms then we should be ready to open the doors and let the folks in. From the looks of the parking lot, I’d say we’re going to have a packed church tonight,” Kyle said. “I would like for y’all to sit on the deacon’s bench behind me, since you made all this possible from the beginning to the end.”

“I’m not even dressed for church, much less to sit up there for everyone to see,” Betsy said.

“I don’t think God looks at what a child of His is wearing. God is interested in your heart, and believe me He is very pleased with what He sees there tonight. Please humor me,” he said.

“Might as well. Whole town knows we’re both living out at Lottie’s place.” Declan shrugged.

“Five minutes. Let’s light up the Sunday school rooms, then you can take your places on the deacon’s bench and I’ll open the doors. I can’t thank you enough for this and for a decent parsonage and office. My mind is boggled at what all you have accomplished.”

The oak deacons’ bench with high arms was small enough that two people were squished pretty tight together on it. Suddenly, Betsy jumped up, removed the band holding her ponytail up, and shook her red curls free. She tucked her shirt into the band of her jeans and brushed away the dust that had settled on her jeans.

“Thank goodness I didn’t spill any of that delicious tortilla soup Kyle served us for dinner and supper on my shirt,” she mumbled.

“If you had, you would still be beautiful.” He reached into his pocket and brought out a brass button and put it in her hand. “April of your freshman year in high school. I was a junior. We had to hide the Easter eggs for the little kids at church that year. This fell off your sweater.”

“How…” She plopped down.

“I have more than twenty years’ worth of little things in a box. It pains me to share them, darlin’, but you need to know this is not an instant thing that started with a poker game,” he said.

The doors swung open, and people swarmed inside the church, their eyes aglitter and gasps bouncing around. They looked and sounded like little kids on Christmas morning.

“I told you all…” Mavis sucked in a lungful of air as if she were about to deliver a lecture right there in the church.

“Hush and sit down, Mama,” Russell said curtly.

“You are all…” Naomi pointed at several members of her family.

Henry pushed her hand down. “That’s enough, Mama.”

Both women puffed up like bullfrogs and sat down in their pews, each sending glares across the church at the other. Christmas music began to play softly in the background, and Kyle took his place behind the podium.

He held up his palms and leaned toward the microphone. “If I could have your attention, please.” He waited until quiet settled over the amazed crowd like a soft layer of pure-white snow and then waved his hands toward all the decorations. “It’s lovely, isn’t it?”

A dozen amens and a church full of bobbing heads answered him.

“It was made possible by only two people in our congregation. They wanted the people of this church to have a program this year, and they asked to remain anonymous. Not only does the church look like this but my office doors are open. After I finish, take a look at the new rug and furniture in there and the most beautiful credenza I’ve ever seen. It will hold several of my wedding pictures, I’m sure. And the parsonage has new area rugs on the cold hardwoods, new living room furniture, a stove that has all four burners and an oven that works, a refrigerator with all the shelves, and a really nice bedroom suite. I’m totally amazed that this was all done in less than a month.”

“Did those two up there on the bench do this?” Mavis yelled.

“The two that did it made me swear an oath of confidentiality, but the two on the bench, Betsy Gallagher and Declan Brennan, gave a whole day today to the church, making this possible for you to see tonight. We will have a Christmas program on Friday evening instead of the regular services. The Gallaghers will be in charge of the nativity; costumes are in the choir room. The Brennans will be in charge of the actual program, as in readings and music. Quaid, you will take care of that, yes?”

Quaid nodded without even looking at his grandmother.

“And, Angela and Jody, you will be Mary and Joseph with baby Christian having the role of the newborn Savior in the nativity?” Kyle asked.

“Yes.” Angela stood up. “This is the miracle I prayed for, and we’ll be so honored to have that part in the program. And I want everyone here to know that all this had to be by donation from different folks because I gave that angel on the tree to the cause. My granny hand crocheted it when I was a little girl.”

Lottie popped up from her seat. “And that arrangement on the altar is my collection that Leland gave me through the years for Christmas. The lace cloth it’s sitting on was hand made by my sweet sister.”