Christmas at Blue Moon Ranch. Lynnette Kent
of black hair off her brother’s forehead. “What caused Patches to spook like that?”
“I dunno.” Toby shrugged, then winced. “Maybe he saw a snake. A rattler, coiled up on the side of the road, ready to strike.”
Susannah frowned. “I didn’t see a snake when I went by.”
“That doesn’t mean there wasn’t one.”
“But the other horses—”
“Are stupid.” Toby shoved himself away from his sister. “I said I don’t know what happened.”
“That’s okay.” Daniel touched Susannah’s shoulder lightly. “We won’t worry about why right now. You need to stay still, Toby. Lie back down.”
But the boy had his lower lip stuck out and refused to relax. “Let’s just go home.”
“No, we’ll get your mother here first.” At the sound of an approaching engine, Daniel glanced down the road. “There she is, now.”
Willa dropped down from her truck and strode toward Daniel. “Is he hurt?” Her dark eyes were fierce with worry.
“He might have cracked a rib. Otherwise, I think he’s okay.” He stepped back as she reached him, allowing her to peer into the backseat.
“Toby, what have you done this time?”
“Patches spooked and reared,” Susannah said. “He says it was a snake on the road, but I don’t believe him.” She slid out, and Willa took her place next to Toby.
Robbie had come back with his mother, and he walked up while Willa talked to Toby. “Come on, Suze. Let’s get in the truck. Mom wants to take him into town to the doctor.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Can’t you be polite?” Then she looked at Daniel. “Thanks, Major Trent. I appreciate your help.”
Daniel gave her a smile. “I’m glad I was close by.”
Susannah smiled back and started to say something else, but Robbie grabbed her arm. “Come on.” With a jerk, he got her started toward Willa’s vehicle. She glanced back at Daniel and waved, before her brother urged her with both hands into the backseat. The door slammed shut. Despite the shadowed interior, Daniel saw the twins arguing.
Willa backed out of his truck and looked over. “You might be right. He’ll need an X-ray, I guess.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Thanks again for taking care of him.” Blowing out a deep breath, she tented her fingers against her lips for a moment. “I can’t imagine what happened, though. Patches has always been bomb-proof—he never spooks. I’ve been on him when a snake actually crossed his path. On the other hand, Toby usually sticks like a burr. He’s been riding his whole life.”
Daniel decided to keep his thoughts to himself. “Maybe he was thinking about something else. I’m just glad he didn’t hit his head.”
“Me, too.” Her gaze met his for a second. “Robbie said your furniture arrived.”
“Yeah, what there is of it.”
“They rode up to help you, I guess.”
He nodded. “I doubted you knew they’d come over.”
“No.”
“So I sent them home.”
Looking away from him, she nodded. “Um…I appreciate that. Now, we’ll get out of your way, let you move in.” She walked quickly to the other side of the truck, helped Toby out and led him to her vehicle with an arm around his shoulders. Once behind the wheel again, she gave Daniel a wave, echoed by Toby and Susannah, then executed a precise three-point turn and headed back down the hill in a cloud of dust.
Daniel returned to his house to find that the movers, with no direction, had deposited his bedroom furniture in the living room and were ready to be on their way. He offered them fifty bucks in cash to assemble the bed where it belonged and place the dresser and chest of drawers that had belonged to his great-grandmother. Gritting his teeth, he also requested them to unstack the boxes so he could open each one without having to lift. Then, embarrassed, he let them leave.
Sitting in his recliner a few minutes later, he heard the distinct sound of a car engine shutting off outside his door. When he’d levered himself to stand and reached the living room window, he could see that an ancient station wagon—the kind with real wood panels on the sides—had pulled into the yard. As he watched, one of the Mercado ladies came around to the back and lowered the tailgate, at the same time as someone knocked on the door.
The other aunt stood there, as he’d expected. “Good afternoon,” she said brightly. “Lili and I thought you would need some help getting settled. If you’ll hold open the door, we’ll bring these things inside.”
He’d had trouble telling the twins apart at lunch. Now he noticed that Rosa wore a metal bracelet, the kind used to remember prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action. That would help him keep them straight. “Miss Rosa, you don’t have to…”
His protest fell on deaf ears. She went back to the wagon and collected a big basket, as Lili approached carrying a cardboard box. “Hello, again, Major Trent. These go to the kitchen.”
“Miss Lili, I can’t let you—”
She, too, ignored him. And so Daniel stood there, bemused, as the two ladies paraded back and forth from house to wagon, carting in groceries and he didn’t know what else.
“That’s all,” Lili said, as she came in again. “You can close the door now. We’ve let out enough of the cool air.” When Daniel followed her into the kitchen, he found Rosa unpacking pots and pans.
“We weren’t sure whether you had kitchen supplies,” she told him. “And I gather, looking at your boxes, that you don’t.”
“Um…no.” Daniel ran a hand through his hair. “I haven’t cooked much, over the years.”
“That’s quite all right. We have plenty to spare.”
“And dishware?” Lili lifted a stack of plates out of a box. “Do you have your own?”
He shook his head. “You really shouldn’t have—”
Lili waved away his objections. “We didn’t expect a bachelor to have much in the way of provisions. So we brought some basics. And some frozen meals, to get you started. Those are already in the freezer.”
The freezer, Daniel saw when he opened the door, was filled with neatly labeled packages. “Your lasagna,” he said weakly. “That was really good.” He’d been eating peanut butter sandwiches since that one great lunch at Willa’s house.
“And, of course, you’re welcome to any meal at our house,” Lili said. “Even breakfast, if you want to drive down that early. You don’t have to call—just arrive and we’ll feed you.”
“Thanks.” Daniel could just imagine Willa’s face if he showed up for breakfast, or any other meal, unannounced and uninvited by her.
“Now, we’ll get the sheets on your bed.” Rosa headed for the bedroom. “And some towels in the bath.”
“Ladies…” Daniel trailed after them. “I can make the bed. You really don’t have to do all this work.”
Again, his protests fell on deaf ears. The sisters set up his bed and bath to their satisfaction, all the way down to unwrapping the bars of soap for sink and shower. When they started eyeing the boxes, however, Daniel took charge.
“No,” he said firmly, “you aren’t going to unpack for me. I couldn’t live with myself if I let you work so hard. You’ve already done too much.”
“Nonsense.” Lili allowed him to escort her back to the living room. “You’ve saved