Holidays on the Ranch (Burnt Boot, Texas #1)(91)

“No need to buy a guitar. I own three and play them all. I can teach Snoopy how to play if he really wants to.” He grinned.

She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. Finn really would make a wonderful father, and all four of those kids needed him, so why was there still a tiny doubt in her mind?

It’s not about Finn. It’s about me, she argued with the voice in her head.

***

“Did we do good, huh, huh, huh?” Martin bounced around in the van like a puppet on a broken string. “Did we surprise you? Did you see that I got to be Charlie Brown? I never got to play the big part before we moved to Burnt Boot.”

“And I was Lucy,” Olivia said.

“Well, I was Snoopy and we decided this morning to name the new puppies Snoopy and…” Ricky stopped for a breath of air.

Adam picked up where he left off, “Snoopy and Linus. We was going to name them Snoopy and Schroeder, but Linus is easier to spell. Granny, I saw you clapping for us. Did you like the play?”

Verdie held up a palm to quiet them. “It was the best one of the whole season. And y’all did so good, I think we should celebrate. Finn, you think this van can get us all the way to the McDonald’s place in Gainesville? And maybe afterward we could go do some shopping at the Dollar Tree. I heard that’s a real good place to do some serious present buying.”

“I bet if the kids would sing their songs one more time, this brand-new van might go that far,” Finn said.

“But we left our money at home,” Olivia groaned.

“I’ll pay for your presents, and you can pay me back when we get home,” Verdie said.

Verdie nodded at Ricky. “Okay, Snoopy, you get to lead us in the first song y’all did this morning.”

The song started kind of shy-like, but by the time they got into the second song, the van was filled with loud singing, and Verdie was singing right along with them. Finn kept time with his thumb on the steering wheel and shot an occasional wink toward Callie.

“You like this, don’t you?” Callie asked.

“Love it, darlin’. Reminds me of when we used to get out the stringed instruments and sing under the shade tree on Sunday. Us kids got to sing right along with the adults, and soon as we could play an instrument, we got to relieve them when they needed a break. You’re going to love the O’Donnell family.”

“But are they going to love me?” she said softly.

Finn reached across the distance separating the two bucket seats and patted her on the knee. “Yes, they are. It’s the season of love, darlin’.”

“Did I hear that your family is coming for Christmas?” Verdie yelled above the singing from the seat right behind Finn.

“Maybe after Christmas. Callie and I are still working out the details,” he said.

“Won’t that be fun? If they’ve got travel trailers, we’ll line ’em up in the backyard. If they don’t, we’ll put the kids in the living room in sleeping bags and give them the bedrooms, right, kids? We could put a bunch of them in the old bunkhouse if y’all will shift all your gym stuff to the side. It sleeps about twenty, or double that if they bring sleeping bags and line ’em up on the big living area floor.” Verdie had already started making plans.

Olivia stopped singing. “Do they have kids?”

“Oh, honey, the O’Donnells bring a whole bunch of kids,” Finn answered.

“Then Christmas won’t be the end but the beginning,” Martin said.

“You got that right,” Finn told him, but he was staring into Callie’s eyes when he said it.

***

Shopping with the kids was a whole new experience. Since the store was so small, Verdie organized the whole affair. Finn and Callie would take all but one kid to Walmart to buy dog and cat food for the animals while she shopped with Olivia. When they returned, she swapped out kids until each one had time to do their shopping. At the end, they sent Verdie and Finn across the street to get a cup of coffee, and Callie took all four of the children into the store to shop for Verdie.

It took a couple of hours, but when they were finished, the back of the van was full of bags. Verdie had bought a box of labels at the Dollar Tree and slapped a sticker on each bag so the kids could identify them when they got home.

“And now,” Finn said when they were all back in the van, “is this wagon train ready to go home, or would we like to go to the Braum’s store for an ice cream cone? You kids probably won’t be coming back to town before Christmas, since Granny Verdie decided to shop today instead of next week. So…” He paused and winked at Callie. “If you have any idea you might get hungry for one of those big old waffle cones filled up with soft ice cream, you’d better let me hear something from the back seat.”

“Ice cream, ice cream,” Verdie started the chant.

“Do we have four kids or five?” Callie asked.

“Right now I think it’s four, but maybe we can make that number grow in a couple of years.” Finn laughed.

She slapped him on the arm, and Verdie leaned up as far as her seat belt allowed. “Did I hear something about adopting more kids, or was that more cats and dogs? I’d rather have more kids if my two cents means anything.”

“I think those four are keeping you busy enough,” Finn answered. “But if you want us to go over to the Walmart parking lot and see if anyone has tossed out any kittens or puppies or maybe a kid or two, we could go back,” Finn said.