A Cold Creek Noel (The Cowboys of Cold Creek) by RaeAnne Thayne Page B

anticipation. Offering Ben and his family a
place to stay over the holidays had been a friendly, neighborly gesture. She was
grateful those cute kids would be able to have the fun of sneaking downstairs
Christmas morning to see their presents under their very own tree and that Mrs.
Michaels could cook a proper dinner for them instead of something out of the
microwave.
    Even so, she had the strangest feeling that life on the ranch
was about to change, maybe irrevocably.
    It was only for a few weeks, she told herself as she finished
mucking out the stalls with Destry while Sadie plopped on her belly in the warm
straw and watched them. She could handle anything for a few weeks. Still, the
strange, restless mood dogged her heels like the collies in a thunderstorm as
she went through her Saturday chores.
    “You ladies need a hand in here?”
    Destry beamed at her father, thrilled when he called her a
lady. She was, Caidy thought. Her little girl was growing up—nearly eleven now
and going to middle school the next year. She didn’t know what she would do
then.
    “Since we’ve got your muscles here, why don’t you bring us a
couple new straw bales? I’d like to put some fresh down for the foaling
mares.”
    “Will do. Des, come give your old man a hand.”
    The two of them took off, laughing together about something
Destry said in answer, and Caidy again felt that unaccountable depression seep
over her.
    Her brother didn’t really need her help anymore with Destry.
She had been happy to offer it when the girl was young and Ridge had been alone
and struggling. More than happy, really. Relieved,
more like, to have something useful to do with her time, something she thought
she could handle.
    Destry was almost a young woman now and Ridge was an excellent
father who could probably handle things here just fine by himself.
    She leaned her cheek on the handle of the shovel and watched
Sadie snoring away. They didn’t need her. Nobody did. She sighed heavily just as
Ridge came back alone with a bale on each shoulder.
    “That sounds serious. What’s wrong? Having second thoughts
about the new vet and his family moving in?”
    And third and fourth. She shrugged, picked up a pitchfork and
started spreading the straw around. “What’s to have second thoughts about? He
needed a place to stay for a few weeks and we have an empty, furnished house
just sitting there.”
    “Destry will enjoy having other children around the ranch,
especially for Christmas.”
    “Where is she?”
    He grabbed the other pitchfork to help her. “She got distracted
by the new barn kittens. She’s up in the loft giving them a little
attention.”
    Her niece loved animals every bit as much as Caidy had at her
age. Maybe she would be a veterinarian someday. “I’m afraid we’re not very good
company for her this time of year, are we? Things will be better in
January.”
    Ridge gave her a long look. “You remember how much Mom loved
Christmas. She would hate thinking you would let her and Dad’s deaths ruin the
holidays forever.”
    “I know.” It wasn’t a new argument between them and right now
she wasn’t in the mood, not with this melancholy sidling through her. “Don’t
make it sound like I’m the only one. You hate Christmas too.”
    “Yeah, well, I think it’s time we both moved forward with our
lives. Taft and Trace both have.”
    You weren’t there, she wanted to
cry out. None of her brothers were. She had been the one hiding under that shelf
in the pantry, listening to her mother’s dying gasps and knowing there wasn’t a
damn thing she could do about it.
    You weren’t there and you weren’t
responsible.
    She couldn’t say the words to him. She never could. Instead she
spread a little more straw in an area that already had plenty.
    “I think it’s time you went back to school.”
    She didn’t need this again, today, of all days, when she felt
so oddly as if she were teetering on the brink of some major life shift.
    “I’m