Holidays on the Ranch (Burnt Boot, Texas #1)(89)

“Hey, it’s the boss’s day to give the kids a day off, with pay of course. If all you guys will help Verdie and Olivia with the inside chores until Callie and I get the feeding done, then all four of you can come out to the barn to help with the horses. I might even throw in five dollars extra for each of you for your Christmas shopping money on Monday if you’d consider that,” Finn said.

“We’d sure earn it, ’cause I don’t like to fold clothes either and I hate to make up beds,” Martin said.

“Not me. I’ll do it,” Ricky said. “I don’t mind making up beds or even mopping if I can have more Christmas money.”

“I’m not just giving you the money. You’ll have to do whatever Verdie tells you to do, and she’s one tough boss when it comes to Saturday morning chores,” Finn said. “But if you think you’re not big enough to do what Olivia can do, well, then you can go with me, and Callie will do the tough stuff.”

Adam puffed out his chest. “I can do anything Olivia can do, and I’m tough enough to do whatever Granny tells me to do. I’ll stay in the house. Pass me the bacon. I need lots of bacon for energy.”

“Well, Verdie!” the bird yelled.

Everyone’s heads jerked around to look at the cage.

“Dammit, Verdie, Joe needs a drink,” he said loudly.

“Where did he learn to ask for a drink?” Finn asked.

“Who in the hell knows?” Verdie said.

“Who in the hell knows?” Joe quipped.

“Guess I’d better watch what I say.” Verdie laughed. “It appears he’s broadening his vocabulary daily.”

“Well, hot damn, Verdie.” Joe pranced from one end of the cage to the other, then he stopped abruptly, tucked his head under his wing, and went to sleep.

“Think we could teach him some new things to say?” Adam asked.

“I guess he’s upset because we play with the cat and the dogs more than we do him,” Olivia answered.

“I think he’s plumb took up with Verdie. He can be her pet,” Martin said.

Finn laughed. “Well, Verdie!”

Verdie shook a pot holder at him. “That’ll be enough out of you. Woman can’t have a damn secret in the world with that tattletale watchin’ her every move.”

She might be scolding him, but the twinkle in her eyes said that she liked the parrot, and Finn would be surprised if he didn’t learn even more new phrases in the next few weeks.

He and Callie both finished breakfast at the same time. She pulled her hair up into a messy-looking ponytail on her way to their wing of the house with him right behind her. He wore a red flannel shirt over his thermal knit shirt, put on two pair of socks and his old worn work boots, and whistled for Shotgun on his way back through the house. The big yellow dog bounded out the back door and into the snow, kicking up a cloud of it in his wake.

Callie stomped her way to the old work truck and let herself inside, slammed the door, and then grabbed her head.

“The cure didn’t work?” he asked.

“Not so good.”

“But you weren’t going to tell Verdie for fear she’d make you drink another one, right?”

“You got it. Now why am I doing chores?”

“Thought we’d have some hayloft sex after we got done feeding,” he teased.

“Hell, no! My poor old head would explode like a ripe watermelon.”

“Well, damn! Some Saturdays just start off bad and get worse. You sit in here with your eyes closed, and I’ll load the feed. Deal?”

She nodded without opening her eyes. “Deal.”

He waited until she was behind the wheel after the first cattle feeder had been filled before he asked, “Callie, I’m not sure how to approach this question.”

“You want to take back the proposal, right? You’ve decided you were drunk and you don’t want to take on a wife and four kids,” she said.

He chuckled. “No, the proposal still stands, as informal and unromantic as it was. And I’m not marrying you because I want four kids. I’m asking you to marry me because I love you, and for the first time in my life, I’m happy. I didn’t realize it, but I’ve always been looking at the grass on the other side of the fence, and now I’m happy inside my own pasture. That’s because you’re here with me and I love you.”

“You calling me a cow?”

He laughed harder. “Not today when you have a headache, but sometimes my grandpa calls my granny an old heifer when she’s being stubborn.”

“I think that’s sweet,” she said.

“Are you serious?”

“As a hangover after a night at Polly’s. Now what’s this sensitive matter?”

“Birth control,” he said.

She gripped the steering wheel until her fingers turned white. “Oh, my Lord! I didn’t even think of birth control. My prescription for them ran out six months ago. I should have thought about it.”

“It’s been a long time for me, too, but I should have been more careful,” he said.

“Shit! What is today?”

“December twentieth.”

“I’m regular as clockwork, Finn, and I’m late.”

“You’re worried that I want to marry you just for the kids. Now I’m worried you’ll say yes so you won’t have a child who has to grow up like you did with no father.”