Christmas Kisses (Romance on the Ranch Series #5) (2 page)

Cecelia bounced Sunny Beatrice on her knees and
listened to Tooty and Miles try to persuade their children to go to bed. Each
one had an excuse. Harris had homework, Eli wanted to finish the last chapter
of his book, Morgan was afraid of the dark, and Austin just didn't want to.

Finally, Miles said in his no-nonsense tone,
"Boys, either you say goodnight to our guests and head to bed, or we don't
go to the movies on Saturday. It's up to you."

Immediately, Miles' children said a hasty
goodnight before scurrying to their rooms. Obviously, they knew their father
stood by his word.

Tooty grinned at her guests. "I love it
when he talks like that. It works every time."

Alligator and Dixie, who had been invited to supper,
laughed along with Cecelia. Alligator held his newly adopted daughter, Pilar,
in the crook of his huge arm and when she started to squirm, he handed her to
Dixie. He said, "Honey, I'll let you take over before she cuts loose with
that operatic voice."

Dixie smiled lovingly at her husband and child
and accepted their three month old. The baby stopped squirming when Dixie
placed her over her shoulder and patted her back.

A stab of envy and sadness pricked Cecelia's
heart as she watched them. To hide her melancholy, she bent her head and kissed
her niece, loving the smell of her baby scent.

Tooty said, "Let's see if Sunny Beatrice goes
to bed as easily."

Reluctantly, Cecelia handed the child to Tooty.
Tooty walked to Miles and held his daughter out to him for a goodnight kiss. Cecelia
got a lump in her throat watching her brother and Tooty, and Alligator and
Dixie, shower love on their babies.

While Tooty tucked her children in, Miles asked
if anyone wanted coffee and everyone agreed. He excused himself and started to
roll his wheelchair from the den to the kitchen and Cecelia jumped to her feet.
"Here, let me pour for everyone."

Miles chuckled, "No, baby sis, you stay
here and relax. You're on vacation. I've got everything handled."

Cecelia settled back on the couch hiding her
disappointment. Since Miles' accident, she'd always tried to "do" for
him. As unreasonable as it was, she was saddened that he no longer needed her for
anything—not like when he was a teenager, and later, when he'd gone through
deep depression after the ending of a love affair with a younger woman he had
been engaged to.

After meeting Tooty, however, all that had
changed. Tooty was his perfect mate and they'd been married for eight years.

Cecelia turned her attention to Alligator and
Dixie. She'd first been introduced to them a few years back while visiting
Miles and Tooty. The couple owned the only coffee shop in the small town of
Paxtonville with the cute name of
Dixie's Cuppa Joe,
and ran a thriving coffee,
pastry, and candy business. They'd met when Al Kosky or "Alligator,"
so named because of his gigantic height and breadth, was working for the FBI investigating
a local resident. After marriage to Dixie, he'd retired from service and moved
to Paxtonville and founded Choco-Drops, a candy company specializing in unique
chocolates.

Cecelia always made it a point to treat Tooty
and her friends to the fabulous treats and coffee at Dixie's Cuppa Joe whenever
she visited. Over the years, she'd come to know many of Tooty's girlfriends,
and usually a group of eight or ten women would show up to relax and chitchat
in the homey atmosphere.

Miles returned with a tray perched on his knees
and loaded with a carafe, mugs, and cream and sugar. He set the tray on the
coffee table at the same time Tooty came back into the room. She said,
"Another bedtime battle won thanks to Miles."

Miles poured coffee into a mug, added cream, and
handed it to Tooty. "Here's some refreshment for my battle weary
wife."

Tooty accepted the cup, laughed, and said,
"I have a feeling the battles are going to worsen before they get
better."

Cecelia interjected, "As I recall, mother
and father had to combat us to go to bed, too. Isn't that right, Miles?"

Her brother laughed. "Yep. Guess I can feel
my boys' pain and I kind of sympathize with them."

After joking about the children, Tooty looked at
Alligator and said, "Okay. I just tasted your latest Choco-Drops flavor and
I'm hooked. I think persimmon is my favorite so far."

Miles laughed. "Honey, you say that about every
new flavor."

"I know. But each one tops the last."
Tooty returned her attention to Alligator. "How do you decide what to try
next?"

He laughed. "I can't take the credit.
Dixie's always throwing suggestions out and when she said persimmon, something
clicked, and when the lab's kitchen experimented with it, I must confess, it became
my second favorite." He winked. "My favorite has always been
jalapeño."

Cecelia said, "I have to agree. I've tried
them all and loved them, but jalapeño is fabulous. In fact, I plan on ordering
a suitcase full of every flavor to bring back as gifts, but I'm going to stock
my cupboard with jalapeño."

Dixie grinned, smoothed her baby's curly black
hair, and looked at her husband.

Tooty said, "Okay, what's up? You two have
been fairly bursting at the seams all night. You can't hide anything from
me."

Alligator nodded at Dixie, apparently giving her
permission to reveal a secret, and Dixie gushed, "Do you know anyone who might
be interested in buying Dixie's Cuppa Joe? Alligator and I are moving to
Denver."

Tooty gasped. "What!"

Miles asked, "What brought this
about?"

Cecelia leaned forward.

Dixie said with excitement, "Well, you know
the kitchen that develops Alligator's candies is located in Denver and he
spends a lot of time there, and, well, Choco-Drops are taking off and we're
getting large orders. We want to expand our candy business. But to do so,
Alligator needs to spend even more time at the kitchen, and we hate being away
from each other."

Alligator interrupted, "I refuse to be away
from Dixie and Pilar for more than a few days."

Dixie gave him a loving look and continued,
"We've given it a lot of thought and decided to sell the coffee shop.
We're going to open a candy store in Denver and maybe franchise it. We've
already found the mall we want to be in and met with the leasing agent.
Everything is falling into place on that end, so now we just need to sell the
coffee shop. It's a great business and fun to operate. You're the first to know
about this, so if you think of anyone who might be interested, feel free to
pass the word on."

Miles said, "We're going to miss you, but I
can see how excited you are. We'll–"

Cecelia interrupted, "I'll buy your
business."

All heads jerked in her direction.

Connor MacKenzie lowered his paintbrush when his
hand started its usual cramping.

Looks like I'm done for the day.

With a disgusted toss of his brush onto the
table beside his easel, he reached for his cane and limped to his chair in the
living room. Easing into the recliner, he pushed it back and closed his eyes,
focusing on relaxing his right hand and arm. If he couldn't get the muscles to
relax, he'd have another sleepless night. His doctor was pressing him to have
surgery to reconstruct damaged nerves, and he was given an eighty percent chance
of almost full recovery. It was the other twenty percent that gave him night
sweats. He'd been warned for years that this time would come. If he lost his
ability to paint, after losing his wife in the same car accident that injured
him, and then his baby son because he couldn't care for the child during the
years his recovery had taken, he figured he'd probably shrivel up and die.

Thinking about his boy stuck a lump the size of
Mt. Whitney in his throat. After the accident, when the foster care system had talked
of placing the two month old under their authority, he'd known he had to do
something. The doctors said he was looking at the likelihood of a minimum of four
years recovery time. He'd done it in three. It had taken two years to get out
of the wheelchair and walk with a cane, and another year to regain function of
his right hand.

So, in the best interest of his son, because he
and Rose had no living relatives, he had allowed his child to be adopted by a
couple his doctor referred. The couple was childless, well-educated, wealthy, but
most importantly, loving. They had come to visit Connor and he'd checked them
out big time, even hiring an investigator. They had passed the investigation
squeaky clean.

All too clearly he remembered that rainy day as
he lay immobilized in a hospital bed with pins in his head and pain wracking his
body, his gut-wrenching decision to let Sean be adopted.

Connor swiped a hand over his eyes. He hadn't
thought about that day for a long time, but Sean's fifteenth birthday had just
passed, and he always became melancholy around that time.

Breathing slowly—in and out, in and out—he
worked at relaxing. Forcing his mind away from his son, he wondered if the
charity foundation had received his painting yet, and what they thought of it.
When he'd read the letter from a representative, his first inclination had been
to refuse, but then he'd seen the name of the organization the proceeds would be
funneled to. It was the same one that had arranged the adoption of his son. It
was a wonderful non-profit and they had done right by him and Sean. He knew his
boy was happy and loved.

One of the criteria that Loving Arms Adoption
Agency encouraged was for the adoptive family to send updates at least yearly
to the birth parent or parents. Every January, Connor received a letter and
pictures from the Barfields encapsulating his son's previous year. As always,
they encouraged him to let his son know he was alive and spend time with him, and
he always sent a thank you card, never accepting their offer. The pain would be
too much.

An hour later, he felt his body relax and he
dozed.

Cecelia unlocked the door to Dixie's Cuppa Joe
and stepped inside. It was five-thirty and the sun was making a glorious appearance.
For a moment she simply glanced around the darkened room and then remembered
she needed to disarm the alarm. Reaching for the light switch, she illuminated the
shop and walked to the box in the back near the delivery entrance. She was so
excited it took two attempts to enter the code.

I own a coffee shop in this wonderful town!

For the past three months, since her crazy
declaration that she would buy Dixie's Cuppa Joe, she had prepared for this
cross country move. Her New York employer had been shocked, but not as shocked
as her mother and father. They simply could not understand why she would want
to leave her charity work, her beautiful penthouse, and friends from a lifetime
spent in the Big Apple.

Explaining her decision was not easy because, in
some ways, she couldn't understand it herself. She only knew it was what she
wanted more than anything. She wanted
connection.
However, even fully
understanding that desire eluded her.

Brushing her musings aside, she walked to stand behind
the counter to gaze at the chairs and tables scattered throughout the cozy
room. For the past week, after signing the papers finalizing her transaction
and funding the purchase, Dixie had taken her through the daily ropes of
running a coffee shop. She now knew the secrets to brewing coffee that brought
huge numbers of residents and tourists to Dixie's Cuppa Joe. And although she
still had much to learn, she could prepare some of the coffee drinks and
smoothies that made the shop so trendy. Quickly, she reviewed a few of the most
popular selections—Mocha Madness, CinnaBomb, Very Vanilla Velvet Vienna—and
hoped she could remember how to make them. Of course, Julie Hackstetter, who
worked at the shop part-time, and Justin Blake, who worked full time, as well
as two other part-timers, knew everything there was to know. Cecelia
appreciated the fact that Dixie had trained her employees in every aspect. She
almost giggled when she realized that soon she would be considered a barista.

The shop door opened and Justin entered. With a
drawl, he said, "Howdy, Miz Cecelia! Looks like this is D-Day, as in
Dixie's Cuppa Joe New-Owner Day."

She smiled at the twenty-something young man who
said he'd moved to the town from Dallas, Texas, at the age of fifteen to live
with his grandmother after the death of his parents in a small plane accident.
Although he was well acquainted with grief, she never saw Justin without a
smile or kind word on his lips. He was the main barista and proclaimed he loved
his job.

Cecelia confided, "I'm so nervous my knees
are shaking."

Justin laughed, "Now don't you worry,
ma'am. Me and the workers got everything under control."

Sincerely, Cecelia said, "I know you do.
This is just so mind-bending. I never thought I'd leave New York and I'm
feeling a little overwhelmed."

Justin approached the counter and reached across
the granite countertop to pat Cecelia's shoulder. "We're going to have a
wonderful day."

The door opened and Julie entered with two other
employees. She gushed, "Gosh, I can't believe I made it on time, what with
getting a cranky fourteen month old up and dressed and then having my seven
year old decide she hates everything in her closet. Maudie gave me the worst
time. Sadly, it appears the princess phase of her life is over. Now she's moved
on to hobo. She wanted to wear Levis with holes in the knees and a ratty
T-shirt."

Julie seemed to realize she was rambling and
grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. As ya'll know, I talk too much."

Cecelia laughed. "What did Maudie finally
wear?"

Julie chuckled. "I gave her an ultimatum
with three outfits. Two of them were frou-frou, so she was somewhat placated
with the third, a pair of Levis sans holes and a nicer T-shirt."

Trying to be helpful, Cecelia offered,
"Julie, if you need to adjust your work hours, I'd be happy to do so."

"Oh, goodness, no. Jacob takes Maudie to
the bus stop when he leaves for work at my dad's ranch and he drops the baby
off with Sarah. It works perfectly." She rushed past the counter. "Just
let me put my purse in my locker and I'll be right back."

Samantha and Tilly said greetings and rushed
after Julie. By now it was almost six and Cecelia continued the routine already
set by Dixie in meeting with everyone in the main room. It was a time for
discussing new drinks, answering questions, but mostly for starting the day off
on a good note. With a voice full of excitement, she said after everyone gathered,
"I want you all to know how much I appreciate the support and help you've
given this past week while I transitioned from city gal to country gal. As far
as understanding this business, I know I've only scratched the surface, but
I've a mind to learn. This place would be nothing without you and I welcome
your input and suggestions." She paused and then confided, "Whenever
I visited my brother and his family, I'd always come to Dixie's Cuppa Joe just
to bask in the homey atmosphere and talk with locals. It was then that my
secret desire to become a part of this community was birthed." She
swallowed thickly. "Thank you for making this possible."

Justin said, "We're going to have an
awesome day!"

The other employees immediately agreed and Cecelia
said, "Okay, my friends. Let's get to work."

At six, the
OPEN
sign was turned over and the first customers
entered the shop. Mostly, they were ranchers or farmers getting a head start on
the day. Around seven, locals who lived in town began arriving, and closer to
eight, owners of nearby businesses grabbed their morning coffees. By
eight-thirty, every table was full and several people stood in line. Justin and
Julie were the baristas that day and Tilly ran the cash register while Samantha
organized and kept the glass case full of pastries that had been delivered
shortly before six from a local bakery. Angie, a woman of around sixty, who handled
bookkeeping and bank deposits, would arrive around nine. Cecelia had
deliberately asked all of the employees to work that first day. Later, that
would change to two or three employees opening the shop and the bookkeeper
going back to afternoon hours.

Cecelia now walked from table-to-table greeting known
patrons, introducing herself to others, and making everyone feel welcome. As
she moved from one group to another, a wave of happiness engulfed her and she
almost pinched herself. She hadn't felt so alive in years.

At nine, the crowd of customers was almost out
the door. Justin called, "The daily delivery to Maple Street is ready."
He pushed the cardboard carton holding a giant coffee and a Cinnamon Fluffy-Puffy
toward Tilly. Tilly bagged it and handed it back to him.

Cecelia said, "Do you want me to make the
delivery?"

Justin replied, "No, but thanks. Julie is
taking over for the few minutes I'll be gone. Besides, you should keep getting
to know the townspeople."

Cecelia watched Justin leave and gave passing
thought to the man who had come to be known as Mystery Man. According to Dixie,
she'd received a call several months back from a guy she said had the hottest
voice she'd ever heard, that is, besides Alligator's. He'd asked to have a standing
order of coffee and a Fluffy-Puffy delivered every morning at nine. He'd said he
wanted to start a tab and he'd pay once a month. He always paid on time and
included a generous tip. The check came from a trust fund that gave no clue as
to the identity of the man and he was the recipient of much speculation. Justin
said that during one of his deliveries, groceries were also being left on the
porch by an employee of Biggie Bag-n-Save Big Mart.

So far, everyone except Cecelia had made the coffee
delivery. His instruction for leaving his order was to set the bag on the table
beside the front door. None of the employees had ever seen him up close. Tilly
speculated that he was horribly scarred, like in Phantom of the Opera. Justin
said he was a mafia hit-man hiding from the CIA. Julie said he had lost the
love of his life and spent his days wasting away in drunkenness and that's why
he needed coffee every morning. Dixie speculated that he was an alien from Mars
plotting the demise of the earth. Alligator said he was a nutcase. Whatever the
truth, they had fun inventing stories.

Justin returned shortly and shrugged, meaning
nothing had changed.

By three o'clock, which was closing time, Cecelia
and her employees were exhausted. She and Justin were the last to leave and she
locked the door behind them. He grinned and teased, "I think ya done good,
Miz Cecelia."

Cecelia reached to touch his arm and said
sincerely, "I couldn't have done it without you and the others."

Justin didn't refute the obvious. He just waved
and headed down the street to his shiny red, classic pickup that he'd once
informed her was a 1965 Ford F250.

Cecelia turned in the opposite direction to walk
toward the home she had leased. She glanced at the clear blue sky and thought,
Life
is good.

That evening, while relaxing in a tub of bubbles
in the small bathroom, as opposed to the state-of-the art bathroom in her
penthouse, she laughed at the change in her lifestyle. It seemed that she was
following the lead of her brother. After he had married Tooty, even before,
while writing his latest suspense novel and staying at Julie and Jacob's place,
and later at Tooty's inherited home, he had given up luxury for country living.
He said he'd never regretted his decision. Cecelia could understand why. She
loved the quaint little white clapboard cottage that was now her home, with its
yellow shutters and red flower boxes. The maple floors, mellowed with age, and
a few antique pieces of furniture that came with the house—dining table, hutches,
and bedroom set—gave the place character and charm. She had purchased a floral
couch of greens and yellows and matching green chairs. Little by little the
cottage was turning into a beautiful
home.
She was even considering
asking the owner to sell it to her.

Her mind wandered in a different direction and
she sighed with happiness—so many of Miles and Tooty's friends had come to wish
her well on her first day. Of course, she had met many of them on previous
visits, but now they were fast becoming
her
friends, too.

She lifted a cloth and dripped water down her
neck, loving the honeysuckle fragrance of her favorite bubble bath. Her eyes
drifted closed and she thought about the different families, trying to fit all
the relationships together.

Sage and Sarah Tanner were pillars of the
community with fourteen year old twin boys, Preston and Toby, and an eight year
old daughter, Hannah. Cecelia's employee, Julie Hackstetter, was Sage's
daughter from a previous marriage. Julie had told Cecelia a little about Sage
and Sarah's tumultuous meeting and romance. Seems Sarah, a romance writer, had
met Sage at a photo shoot in which he was the hero on the cover of her book.
They had had a rocky beginning which caused Sarah to dislike him. When she'd
shown up at the Lazy M Ranch for six weeks of dude lessons, she hadn't known
Sage was the owner and sparks had ignited.

As for Julie, she had married Jacob, a young man
she'd met as a teenager when he vacationed with his parents at the dude ranch,
the same summer that Sarah arrived. It had been at Julie and Jacob's wedding
that Cecelia's brother, Miles, had met Tooty for the first time. He'd come to
the area to finish his current novel. Later, he'd asked Sarah Tanner if she
could recommend someone as his assistant. When Tooty showed up for the
interview, he'd thought her much too young for the position.

Cecelia smiled and ran more hot water in her
bath. Life sure had thrown her brother a curve. Now he was married to the love
of his life and they had five children.

Thinking about life's quirks, she laughed and
shook her head. The woman Miles had been dating in New York, Monica Newport,
was now also a resident of this quaint town. Through unforeseen circumstances,
she had been hired to care for the daughter of the local rodeo star, Dirk
Branigan, while he convalesced with a broken leg. Of all the people in the
world, Cecelia would never have believed that spoiled Monica could become such
a sweet woman. In fact, as impossible as it seemed, she was one of Tooty's
friends and didn't resemble the socialite she had once personified. She was
married to her rodeo star and mother to Dirk's twelve year old daughter, Tessa,
and their adorable baby named Candi.

Cecelia rose from the tub and grabbed a fluffy
towel, still thinking about the townspeople. Another family she had become
friends with was Jackson and Annie Martinez. Annie was the mother of Jacob
Hackstetter, Julie's husband. After being widowed, she'd moved to Paxtonville
to be near Jacob and Julie and fallen in love with Jackson, a much younger man.
Angel was their ten year old daughter.

Annie's grandmother had even moved to
Paxtonville after marrying one of Sage's ranch hands, Newt Tucker, a died-in-the-wool
crotchety old bachelor who'd changed his mind after meeting spitfire Molly.

Throughout the evening, a grin kept escaping Cecelia's
lips as she pondered her new town, her new friends, and her new lifestyle.