A Little Country Christmas - Carolyn Brown Page 0,12

under the bottom like this. Now Miss Nosy Pants can’t get into them.”

“You are a genius, and now it doesn’t matter if she takes the ornaments off and plays with them.”

“What do you mean, ‘if’?” Dixie pointed at the baby, who had already taken several of the little balls from the lower limbs.

“We can always put them back on each evening,” Landon told her.

“And now it’s time for Sally to have her bath and go to bed,” Dixie said.

“And I get to rock her to sleep after her bath?” he asked.

“She always loves for you to put her to sleep,” Dixie said. “Sure you’ve got time to stick around that long? It’s getting late.”

“I can always make time for you and Sally, and besides, your foot has to hurt, so I’ll take on the bedtime duty tonight.” He grinned. Dixie picked up the baby and carried her into the bathroom.

Help with supper. Help with the baby. Help with decorating the tree and then rehanging the ornaments that Sally kept taking off without even scolding her. That was more than she’d ever seen her father, her boyfriend, and her stepdad all do combined.

“Lan-Lan,” Sally said when Dixie set her in the tub. “My Lan-Lan.”

“No, mine.” Dixie played along with her. Sometimes she would say “my mama,” or sometimes it was “my baby” when she wanted her favorite doll in the bath with her.

Sally drew her chin down to her chest, and she looked up at her mother from under blond lashes. “Mine.” She pointed to her chest.

“I can be both,” Landon said from the doorway. “I kind of like being y’all’s Lan-Lan.”

Heat flooded Dixie’s face so fast that she didn’t have time to even attempt to control the blush. “Trouble is that tomorrow it might be that we’re arguing over whose baby doll or whose mama is hers.”

“That’s all right,” Landon said. “Tonight, right now at this moment, I get to be her Lan-Lan and I like it.”

Sally reached up and flashed a bright smile. “Lan-Lan hold?”

“Yes, I will soon as your mama dries you off and gets you ready for bed. I get to read to you tonight too. Isn’t that great?” Landon said.

He didn’t say that he had to read to her, but that he got to read to her. His tone and his sparkling eyes left no doubt that it was a privilege, not a chore to rush through. Dixie’s heart swelled with happiness and sucking on a lemon couldn’t have wiped the smile off her face. She could really get used to this kind of arrangement.

Every night while Dixie brushed the tangles from Sally’s blond hair and put sweet-smelling baby lotion on her body, she gave thanks for all her blessings. That night when she put pink pajamas on her daughter, Landon Griffin was on the top of that list. When she finished getting the baby dressed and carried her out of the bedroom into the shop, Sally reached out to Landon and said, “My Lan-Lan.”

“That’s right, princess.” He took her from Dixie and went straight to the rocking chair. “I’ve picked out four books. Which one do you want me to read first?”

Sally pointed at the one with a squirrel on the front of it and settled down with her head on his chest. Before he had finished reading half the book, her eyes fluttered shut, and she was asleep.

“That didn’t take nearly long enough,” he whispered. “Does she always fall right to sleep like that?”

“She’s had a really big evening.” Dixie left the table where she had just finished making the star for the top of the tree. “Slip her over into my arms and I will…”

“No need for that,” Landon said. “Just lead the way, and I’ll put her in her crib.”

Ever so gently, he stood up with the toddler still in his arms and followed Dixie down the hallway. He noticed a door to the left that led into a room with a huge machine. That had to be where they made their quilts. Then she turned right into a bedroom with a crib only a few feet from a big four-poster bed. He laid the baby down on her back, and Dixie covered her with a blanket that looked like it had seen better days.

“It’s her favorite, and she’ll fret if she doesn’t have it next to her face,” Dixie explained in a soft voice.

Landon bent forward and kissed Sally on the forehead. “Sleep tight, princess. Dream of squirrels and Santa Claus