Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(56)



“I will call her soon as we get home,” Lizzy said.

“Okay, now tell me, Dora, about your house burnin’ down. Did it hurt any of your goats?” Irene asked.

Fiona didn’t care if she had to hear about a fire and goats. It could be the last time she’d ever see her grandmother even in a semi-lucid state and she intended to capture every moment in a memory so she could visit it again when the dementia claimed Irene’s mind forever. Dora June talked and Irene hummed as she rocked back and forth on the sofa with the baby in her arms.

When Dora June finished talking, Irene smiled sweetly. “I’m so sorry but I’m glad that you and Truman finally came to your senses and adopted some kids. Now you can have this baby back and I think maybe it’s time for my nap. This baby reminds me of a little girl I knew a long time ago but I can’t remember her name today.”

Dora June took Audrey and held her close. “It’s okay. Next time maybe me and you will break out of this place and go to Frankie’s to do some dancing.”

Irene put a finger over her lips. “Shhh, don’t tell the girls about that night. Our mamas would have sent us off to a convent if they’d known.”

“Yes, they would have but it was the last night before I married Truman and we wanted to be wild and free,” Dora June said.

Allie gasped.

Lizzy giggled softly.

Fiona grinned so big that her face hurt.

“Frankie’s isn’t a place for young ladies,” Irene declared vehemently as she shook her finger at Allie, Lizzy, and Fiona. “Don’t any of you go there.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Allie nodded.

“Now get on out of here and let me sleep. Sometimes I have the best dreams about a house and a bunch of little girls in it.”

Tears streamed down Fiona’s cheeks and dripped onto her shirt as they walked Irene down the hallway to her room. Lizzy’s hand closed around hers and Allie hugged her from the other side. It wasn’t fair that the grandmother who had lived with them her whole life was in that condition. Fiona’s heart was heavy with guilt. She should have come home more often. She should have told her mother about the divorce when it happened rather than being so stubborn; then she would have been here the whole past year.

“It’s okay,” Lizzy whispered as she wrapped an arm around her sister. “We still cry, too, but today was a good day. She knew all of us for a little while.”

Irene went right to her bed and curled up like a little child. Fiona covered her with a crocheted throw and they all tiptoed out of the room. Allie closed the door behind them and Dora June put the baby in Fiona’s arms instead of Allie’s. “You need this right now.”

“My heart is breaking,” Fiona said when they were in the lobby again. “I had no idea that it would be this hard.”

“Before we take another step, I owe every one of you an apology,” Dora June said. “I wouldn’t blame you if you kicked me out on the road halfway home the way I’ve acted in the past. Allie, I was beyond rude to you. Lizzy, I tried to run your life. Fiona, I gave you advice against Jud and I didn’t even know him or Blake or Toby before I judged them.”

“Accepted and you are forgiven,” Lizzy said. “Now let’s go get some retail therapy to make Fiona feel better. What store are we going to first?”

“Whichever one is closest to the front door at the mall.” Dora June smiled. “Thank you all for everything.”

“Merry Christmas to us all,” Lizzy said. “Now that you are our friend, maybe Fiona won’t be in trouble as much as we were.”

“Not if she’ll hang up her coat, turn out the lights, and lock the door. Truman fussed all day yesterday about that,” Dora June said.

“You left your coat on the floor?” Lizzy whispered incredulously. “What…oh, my God…were you drunk or undressing on the way up the stairs?”

“Was Jud involved in this?” Allie asked.

Fiona widened her big green eyes, smiled, and told a lie. “No, he was not.” She did cross her fingers behind her back and since it was the Christmas season and everyone was in a forgiving mood, maybe God would let it slide. She changed the subject. “Next Sunday I am going to decorate a tree for Granny in her room. Who is coming with me?”

Three hands shot up in the air.

“Good. I’m holding you to it. We need to have presents to put under the tree. Candy. Cookies. Stuff that she’ll enjoy. Let’s wrap it all up so she’ll have lots of presents.”

“Chocolate,” Lizzy said. “She loves chocolate on anything from doughnuts to ice cream.”

They all nodded in agreement. Fiona felt a little better when Allie parked at the front entrance of the mall. She fully well intended to buy Audrey something first, but her mind was on what she’d like to get for Jud when she and the entourage entered the mall.



Jud was waiting in the chair on the landing when Fiona and Dora June came home that evening. Truman was snoring in the recliner in front of the television in the living room but he roused enough to fuss about all the bags Dora June brought into the house, his voice carrying up the stairs without losing a bit of its volume.

“What’d you do, buy out the whole store? We ain’t got a house to keep all this stuff in anymore. All we got is one room,” Truman complained.

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