Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(5)

“Why are you thankful for Walter?” Fiona asked.

“He made your grandpa realize that I wasn’t an old shoe that he could toss in the garbage. He broke it off with that other woman and came home.”

“And you forgave him?” Katy asked.

“Course I did. I had no right to judge him when I’d done the same thing with Walter. Besides, Walter wasn’t nearly as good in bed as your grandpa,” Irene said bluntly. “Now pass me those potatoes and, Deke, carve me off another piece of turkey. I’d like dark meat this time.”

And there it was, the truth according to Granny when she was lucid. Fiona was amazed that no one was asking a million questions.

“Where is Walter now?” She finally broke the awkward silence.

“Walter?” The light went out of Irene’s eyes in an instant. “Is he a new boy in town? I’m ready for dessert.”

“I thought you wanted more potatoes,” Katy said gently.

“I want cherry pie with ice cream on top and then I want a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. Then I want to go outside and play in the snow.” Irene crossed her bony arms over her chest and glared down the table. “I do not want potatoes.”

“Miz Irene, how old are you? You told me but I forgot,” Deke asked.

“I am thirteen,” she said defiantly.

“Well, I think you should have pie,” Fiona said. “I will bring it to the table and we won’t wait for everyone to finish before we have dessert.”

Irene cocked her head to one side. “I like you. You can stay and talk to me after dinner, right? Is that new boy named Walter cute? Will I like him?”

“I don’t know but I’ll stay and we can talk about him,” Fiona said.

“Who are you?” Irene frowned.

“She’s Fiona, your granddaughter,” Allie said gently.

Irene ran a hand across her forehead, smudging the dark eyebrows. “I forget things sometimes. Can I take a nap now? Would you take me to my room, Nurse?”

Katy pushed back her chair and laid her napkin beside her plate. “Yes, you can take a nap. I’ll show you to your room and sit with you while you fall asleep.”

Fiona swallowed hard but the lump in her throat wouldn’t go away.

“It’s okay.” Deke patted her on the shoulder. “We’ve seen this happen so often that it doesn’t surprise us. We’re just grateful for the times when she does have it all together.”

“But not when she admits to having an affair,” Allie protested.

“Why not? We’d figured out that Walter lived on the Lucky Penny at one time. Now we know what happened,” Fiona said.

“But Grandpa?” Lizzy groaned.

Fiona smiled. “Made a mistake and I bet he paid for it for a long time, knowing Granny.”

“She did the same,” Allie said.

“I bet she never told him that and I bet that’s why she still feels guilty and keeps revisiting that part of her life,” Deke said. “Hey, Blake, if she ever comes back over to the Lucky Penny and thinks you are Walter, you should break up with her or make her so mad she’ll break up with you. Maybe that would bring closure to her.”

Fiona threw an arm around Deke and hugged him. “Great idea. I might like being your best friend.”





Chapter Three



There’s nothing as empty as a big house after the family all goes home in the middle of the afternoon after Thanksgiving dinner. Katy had invited Fiona to ride with her to take Irene back to the facility in Wichita Falls. Allie had insisted that she go home with her, and Fiona had been tempted to go over to the Lucky Penny and hold that precious baby all afternoon. Lizzy had wanted Fiona to go see her new house, which was now part of the Lucky Penny also. But Fiona begged off every offer, saying she wanted to put her things away.

She stood in the middle of her old room, where not one thing had changed since she graduated from high school. She opened a few drawers to find them still organized with scarves in one, pajama pants and knit shirts in another one. Things that she’d left behind when she went to college. The closet was the same—jeans, shirts, boots, and a couple of heavy, warm coats.

“A fresh start,” she murmured.

She’d left everything behind for a purpose: so she wouldn’t be reminded of home. It had worked. She hadn’t been homesick like the other girls—not one time. She’d lost herself in classes, in the social life, in living on a shoestring budget and working as a waitress at a steak house. And now here she was back, with the same old third-wheel attitude that had made her want to leave Dry Creek.

She sighed and stretched out on the bed. Allie had been the smart one. She’d always been Daddy’s girl because of her love for carpentry. Lizzy was the pretty one and had been Grandpa’s favorite because she liked the feed store business. It wasn’t that Fiona didn’t feel loved; God, no! Her mama and granny loved all three girls as equally as humanly possible. And it wasn’t that she was jealous of her sisters and their ambition or their inheritance.

Lacing her hands behind her head, she stared at the ceiling. “It was the belonging that I had trouble with,” she whispered.

While Allie and Lizzy put down deep roots, Fiona had grown wings. And now she was right back in the same place with the same feelings as she’d had then. She popped up to a sitting position and shook her head. She wasn’t eighteen anymore. She’d flown the coop and even if she was back in it temporarily, that did not mean she had to clip her wings and settle down in Dry Creek.