A Little Country Christmas - Carolyn Brown Page 0,23
She kissed the baby’s little cheeks. “We’ve never been like this with good-byes, not even when your father left us. We’ll just have to be brave and love the memories we’re making with Landon these days.”
She changed Sally’s diaper and carried her to the kitchen. “Let’s have pancakes this morning, and then we’ll make a batch of chocolate chip cookies—just in case someone comes in today. I doubt that anyone will be out on the roads, but we’ll be ready if they do.”
“Nanny?” Sally asked.
Dixie settled the baby into her high chair and kissed her on the top of her blond hair. “Never know what one of your nannies might do, but I don’t expect them to get out in this kind of a mess.”
* * *
Levi arrived in the bunkhouse that morning right after the hired hands had finished breakfast. “All right, guys, it’s a mess out there. We’ve got the cattle pretty much contained in two pastures, but we’ve got to break ice in their watering troughs at least twice today. I’ll take Landon with me, and we’ll take hay and feed out to the west pasture. The rest of you take care of the east pasture. I don’t have to tell you to check every head of cattle.”
Landon pulled on a pair of mustard-colored insulated coveralls and a ski mask, stomped his feet down into his boots, and followed Levi out the door.
“Do you ever wish that you were doing another job when weather like this sets in?” Levi asked as he climbed into one of the old ranch work trucks and started the engine. He put the truck in gear, backed out a ways, and then headed toward the pasture.
“Nope.” Landon shook his head. “Weather is part of ranchin’, whether it’s hot enough to boil your brains or cold enough to turn your blood into ice pops. You got to love it to be able to do it.”
“That’s the gospel truth. You are a natural-born foreman. I sure do wish you’d stick around. I’m willing to give you a foreman’s assistant title, and you know you’re welcome to move out to the cabin,” Levi said.
The two of them got out and, working together, they hitched up a trailer already loaded with two big round bales of hay. Without being told, Landon went straight to the stacks of feed and hoisted two bags onto his shoulders.
“I’ve been givin’ that some thought, but I’m not sure I’m ready for a title. If I was to stay, I would sure like to live in the cabin though.” He carried the feed to the truck and tossed it in the back. “Do you think we need four or six this morning?”
“Four should do it now, and then we’ll take more out this evening,” Levi said as he leaned against the truck fender. “You talked to your brothers?”
“Nope.” Landon loaded two more bags and got back into the truck. “I got to figure out things for myself before I talk to them.”
Levi slid in behind the wheel, started the engine, and headed out across the ice-covered ground. “The cabin is yours anytime you want it. We haven’t had weather this bad since back in the late nineties. That one knocked out our power and we were without electricity for five days.”
“What did you do?” Landon asked, but his mind wasn’t on the ice storm or the electricity.
“In between taking care of chores, we all snuggled up to the fireplaces,” Levi answered.
“Ranchers through thick and thin,” Landon chuckled, but the picture in his mind was one of Dixie and Sally and himself in the old cabin at the back side of the ranch. They were cuddled up together on a quilt in front of the stone fireplace, and the logs were blazing on the andirons. Just thinking about that made him happy.
Now think about leaving here and going back to the other side of Texas and figure out which one makes you happier, the pesky voice inside his head suggested.
I know that I have to make a definite decision before the first of the year, he argued, so get out of my head and leave me alone so I can figure things out on my own.
“Speaking of huddling around the fire, telling tall tales, and soaking up enough warmth, that’s what the hired hands do in between jobs on these cold days. I’m not interested in tall tales. I think I’ll go out to the tack room and do some cleaning,” Landon