A Lawman's Christmas_ A McKettricks of Texas Novel - Linda Lael Miller [68]
Putting a hand on the small of Peg’s bony back, she steered her friend toward the part of the schoolhouse where the food awaited, helped her to fill plates for Addie and the little boys and find places for them to sit.
After that, everyone sort of stampeded forward, and there was much merriment and laughter as the people of Blue River, Texas, shared a simple Christmas.
Although she made sure Edrina and Harriet had sup per, Dara Rose barely saw her husband for the rest of the evening. He was always on the other side of the crowded schoolhouse, it seemed, but each time she found him with her eyes, he smiled and winked and made her blush.
They finally converged at the cloakroom—Clay and Dara Rose, Edrina and Harriet—and the girls, probably exhausted, seemed unusually reticent.
Harriet tugged at Dara Rose’s skirt and said, “Mama, bend down so I can speak to you.”
Smiling, Dara Rose leaned to look directly into her youngest daughter’s face.
“We have lots of presents at home,” Harriet said, with a rueful glance at her lovely doll, which was now looking a bit rumpled from being clenched so tightly in her arms.
“And the O’Reillys didn’t get anything at all,” Edrina added, shifting her checkers game from one arm to the other. “They didn’t even have a tree.”
Clay had joined them by then, and he’d managed to collect their coats from the conglomeration in the cloak room, but he didn’t say anything.
“Do you think St. Nicholas would be sad if I gave Florence to Addie?” Harriet asked, her eyes luminous as she searched Dara Rose’s face.
“And her brothers would probably like this checkers game,” Edrina added.
Dara Rose’s vision blurred.
She looked helplessly up at Clay.
He laid a hand on Edrina’s shoulder, smiled down at Harriet. “I think a thing like that would make St. Nicholas mighty happy,” he said.
Both girls shifted their gazes to Dara Rose.
She could only nod, since her throat had tightened around any words she might have said, cinching them inside her.
Edrina and Harriet raced off, beaming, to give away their Christmas presents.
Epilogue
December 26, 1914
Clay gave Dara Rose plenty of time to settle into their room at the Texas Arms Hotel that evening, making his usual rounds as marshal, tending to Out law in his stall at the livery stable and the chickens in the backyard at home. The children were spending the night with Miss Krenshaw, in the teacher’s quarters be hind the schoolhouse, and the thought made her smile every time it came to her. After all the times Edrina had played hooky, it was ironic, her being so pleased by the idea of sleeping there.
At her leisure, Dara Rose unpacked her tattered carpetbag, took a long, luxurious bath in the gleaming cop per tub carried in, set down in front of the room’s simple fireplace, the hearth blazing with a crackling and fragrant fire, and filled with steaming, fragrant water. She soaked and scrubbed and dreamed, and when she heard Clay’s light knock at the door, she started.
She’d lost track of time. Meant to be properly clad in the lovely lace-trimmed nightgown and wrapper Clay had given her for a private Christmas gift, presented when the children were asleep and they were alone. Instead, though, here she was, stark naked, her skin slick with moisture, her hair still pinned up in a knot at the back of her neck. She stood, trembling, not with fear, but with anticipation, and reached for her towel.
“It’s me, Mrs. McKettrick,” Clay said, from the other side of the door. “May I come in?”
Dara Rose gulped hard. “Yes,” she said.
His key turned in the lock, and the door opened, and Clay stepped inside. His eyes drank her in even as he shut the door again. Slowly, he took off his hat and then his coat, with its star-shaped badge, unbuckled the ominous gun belt he wore when he was working, set it aside.
“Do you really need that towel?” he asked, with a hint of mischief in his eyes, as he ran a hand through his dark hair.
Dara Rose, feeling deliciously reckless, let the towel drop.
Clay looked at her frankly, his gaze touching her bare breasts, rousing her