Holidays on the Ranch (Burnt Boot, Texas #1)(64)

Verdie patted him on the hair and said, “You young’uns go on to your rooms and get changed into play clothes, then you can help me put it all on the table.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Olivia beamed.

Callie and Verdie reached for bibbed aprons at the same time, tossed the neck strings over their heads in unison, and tied each other’s waist strings.

Family. Home. One week and one day since she and Martin showed up. Less than a week since Verdie had moved in. Only twenty-four hours since the three kids had arrived. But it seemed like they’d all been connected forever. She’d heard that miracles happened in December. Hearing the kids’ giggles, Finn’s whistling, and, oh my God, what was that?

Finn yelled from the living room. “Looks like Angel crawled out on a limb that was too little to support her. She’s hightailed it toward Olivia’s room with Pistol right behind her. Poor old boy was sleeping when the tree went down on top of him. He must’ve thought the world had come to an end.”

“Oh, no!” Olivia slapped her hands over her cheeks. “Our beautiful tree. Oh, Miz Verdie…I mean Granny…I’m so sorry.”

“Kids and pets.” Verdie laughed. “Never a boring moment.”

“But your precious ornaments,” Callie almost cried.

“That had been in the attic for ten years because I didn’t have kids and pets. I’ll take the loss of the whole lot of them to have kids in the house again,” Verdie told her. “Come on, boys, help Finn set this thing up. Olivia, you get the paper towels so we can clean up the water that spilled from the pan. And would you look at this. Only one ornament is broken. Now that’s a miracle for sure. Set it up easy now. That’s good. I believe they’re all going to hang just right. Did bust a string of cranberries.” She wrapped the two ends around branches and stood back. “There, now it’s perfect again. Finn, you might put some water in the pan. And Olivia, honey, throw those wet paper towels in the trash can.”

“You are amazing,” Callie said.

Verdie blew off the compliment with the wave of a hand. “We’ve got dinner to get on the table. Olivia, you and Martin get down seven plates. Adam, you and Ricky get seven forks, knives, and spoons and meet me at the table. Finn, you can slice the roast soon as Callie finishes using the electric knife for the bread.”

The house phone rang, and Verdie reached around the doorjamb to grab it. She put her hand over the receiver and said, “It’s Polly. Y’all go on and do what I told you. I’ll just be a minute.”

Verdie listened for a few minutes, then giggled. “Imagine that. Why don’t y’all come visit sometime this week, and we’ll see if we can straighten all this out before they go to settin’ fire to things. Bye now.”

Verdie patted Callie on the shoulder on her way back into the kitchen. “What was it that you did before you came to Salt Draw, Callie?”

“I worked in a gym and taught a class in self-protection to women. Lots of times it was battered women,” she said.

“Well, I guess you showed Honey that you don’t need a gun to protect yourself, didn’t you?” Verdie laughed.

“What?” Finn asked.

“Later. I’ll tell you about it after a while,” Callie said with a wink.

Callie assigned seats around the table—Finn at the head with Callie to his right, Olivia between her and Verdie, the three boys across from them. The moment the kids sat down, they bowed their heads.

Finn looked at Callie, who looked at Verdie.

“This is your house, Finn. You’ll either take care of grace or tell us who is saying it,” she said.

“I’ll give the blessing today,” Finn said. He reached for Callie’s hand and the gesture went around the table until they were one family circle. He bowed his head and blessed the food in a couple of short sentences.

“Wow!” Adam dropped his brother’s hand and Martin’s at the same time. “I like your blessing. Arlan prayed for hours, until we thought we’d starve plumb to death just sittin’ there waitin’.”

Verdie laughed. “Used to have a man like that in church. We all wanted to string him up by the damn rafters when the preacher asked him to do the benediction.”

Callie took the platter of roast from Finn’s hands. “Which one? The preacher for asking or the long-winded man?”

“Both of them,” Verdie said. “And I can say damn, but you had better not let me hear you sayin’ bad words, or you’ll be doin’ chores on Sunday afternoon rather than going outside to play.” She punctuated each word with a fork toward a child.

“But, Granny, it’s too muddy to go play outside,” Ricky said.

“If it’s muddy, can we cuss? And we’re supposed to call her Granny Verdie.” Martin had an impish expression on his face.

“Hell no!” Verdie said. “Since it’s too muddy to go outside, I vote we get out the Monopoly game and the bunch of us play all afternoon. And Granny is just fine or Granny Verdie is just fine. Either one works.”

“You mean it?” Olivia asked. “I love that game.”

“I love roast and carrots,” Ricky said. “And I love green beans with bacon in them just like this. Man, you are a good cook, Granny.”